“When you talk American culture, you’ve got to start with music,” says Ray Condo, frontman of Ray Condo and His Ricochets. “That’s the meat and potatoes of this country. It’s the music that broke all the rules, and society followed. There’s nothing better in the history of the world than…

Wayne “The Train” Hancock should be in the mood to celebrate. After all, he’s earned critical acclaim and the undying gratitude of y’allternative listeners for his first two albums of rousing, staunchly traditional Texas swing, 1995’s Thunderstorms and Neon Signs and the new That’s What Daddy Wants. His personal life’s…

The Capitol Hill neighborhood has gone through plenty of changes during the last 75 years. But on this Thursday night at the Denver Turnverein, a funky structure at 1570 Clarkson that has welcomed the city’s German population since 1922, time is standing still. Put your ear to the door beneath…

Over the fifty years he’s been performing in public, Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown, 73, has earned seven Grammy nominations and numerous W.C. Handy awards, played alongside pupils such as Eric Clapton, Leon Russell and Ry Cooder, and developed a multi-genre sound that he refers to as “American music, Texas style.” But…

Tony Villanueva, singer and guitarist for the Texas-based Derailers, sports a hairdo like no other. Buzzed close on top, left long and slick on the sides, it’s the quintessential anti-pompadour, more Glenn Ford and Fuller Brush than Elvis Presley and pomade. “A ‘Hollywood flat top’ is what my barber Pete…

In 1958, Ronnie Dawson, a nineteen-year-old Dallas native, cut “Rockin’ Bones,” a wildcat anthem about boogying beyond the grave whose refrain boasted, “There’s still a lot of rhythm in these rockin’ bones.” Almost forty years later, Dawson has reached an age when most of his peers are rocking in chairs,…

Hattiesburg, Mississippi, native Webb Wilder has produced one of the most literate, entertaining and flat-out barn-burning musical catalogues of the past couple of decades–which means that he’s done more than a few interviews in his day. So before launching into another one, he makes a declaration. “I’ve been asked everything…

In 1989, Andy Daring was a successful mortgage banker with a six-figure income and a lifestyle to match. But he was also a guitarist who played alongside his wife, Chris, a gifted fiddler whom he had married five years earlier–and when he resolved to quit his day job in part…

“On our first tour, our van caught on fire in Missouri,” recalls Matt Beld, guitarist for Los Infernos. “It was the coldest night of the year, and the wind chill was probably about twenty below. Transmission fluid got all over the transmission, man–it just lit up. It was pretty hairy.”…

Wu-Tang Clan Wu-Tang Forever (Loud) Anyone who doubts that the Wu-Tang Clan has effectively made the transition from band to corporate entity is hereby advised to scope the notes included with this package (two CDs, natch); in addition to a roster of 900-numbers personalized for each member and an offer…

When Chuck Tinsley, guitarist for the Denver-based bluegrass act High Plains Tradition, talks about close-harmony singing, the accent is on “close.” In performance, Tinsley and his mates (mandolinist Doug Elrick, bassist Kenny Pabst and banjo player Dan Carter) croon while standing around a lone microphone. This approach makes for tight…

Long before the word “Americana” defined a radio format, guitarist Dave Alvin was leading a musical cattle drive whose path is still being followed by performers caught up in the current alt-country groundswell. The Blasters, which Alvin formed in 1980 with his brother, vocalist Phil Alvin, delivered rousing romps that…

Joey D’Ambrosio makes no bones about his band’s place in music history. “We were the first rock-and-roll band to ever be signed to a major label, and the first rock-and-roll band to ever have a hit,” he says. “We were also the first to have a song in a feature…

As he prepares to perform at Thornton Fest, an annual event in the metro-area suburb, Denver’s Bob Haworth, clad in patriotic garb that includes a stars-and-stripes stovepipe hat and red, white and blue boots, quickly inventories the weapons in his musical arsenal. “There’s one,” he says, kicking his leg to…

Even musicians who’ve played hundreds of concerts can usually cite a single show that was pivotal to their careers. The members of Colorado’s Fiddlin’ Foresters are no different–but their definitive gig certainly was. “One of the big turning points for us that really helped us gel,” notes Foresters guitarist Jane…

The Holmes Brothers Promised Land (Rounder) Most of the CD stores that stock material by the New York-based Brothers Holmes–and not nearly enough of them do–place it in the blues section, as if that’s the only kind of music that three African-Americans of a certain age could possibly be making…

Like countless groups before it, Denver’s Electric Summer formed on a university campus. But there’s a difference between the average college combo and this punk-rock quartet. You see, the school in question is Teikyo Loretto Heights University, a southwest Denver institution that’s primarily populated by students who are natives of…

Pat Kincaid, frontman for Denver’s Foggy Mountain Fuckers, first encountered country music at age seven. “I had this babysitter who I’d stay with, and she was really into country,” he says. “Every day for about a year, she played the live Waylon Jennings-Willie Nelson record, so all those songs were…

For over a decade, singer Blag Dahlia and the band he fronts, the Dwarves, have done a good job of rattling the cages of rock-music fans. Since its 1986 debut, the group’s players (currently Dahlia, guitarist Whslley Smskes, bassist Gash Money and drummer Vadge Moore) have offered up a blistering,…

To many observers, the 39 members of the Heaven’s Gate sect who recently committed suicide in Rancho Santa Fe, California, are tragic figures. To the Rev. Billy C. Wirtz, they’re something more: material. The good reverend, who specializes in comic entertainment of an especially Southern-fried sort, has already been working…

Since making his major-label debut in 1991, Lee Roy Parnell has been an unexpectedly fresh presence on hit country radio. With his trademark slide guitar and soulful voice, he has served up four discs of a unique brand of bluesy C&W that stands out among the watered-down country pop currently…

U2 Pop (Island) The hype, the hype, the hype. Regular reports over the course of a year about the making of U2’s latest–who was producing, who was mixing, who was standing in the spotlight, who was standing on the sideline. Internet leaks (which were probably intentional). Cease-and-desist orders (which were…