Geoffrey Himes
Geoffrey Himes has written about pop music on a weekly basis in the Washington Post since 1977, and has been a contributing editor to No Depression magazine since 1998. He has also written about pop music for Rolling Stone, the Oxford American, Musician Magazine, National Public Radio, Crawdaddy, Fi Magazine, Request Magazine, Downbeat Magazine, Country Music Magazine, Jazz Times, Bluegrass Unlimited, New Country Magazine, Sing Out, the Chicago Tribune, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Baltimore Sun, Harley Davidson Magazine, the Unicorn Times, the Patuxent Newspapers and other outlets. He has been honored for Music Feature Writing by the Deems Taylor/ASCAP Awards and by the Music Journalism Awards.
Himes wrote two chapters for the book The Blackwell Guide to Recorded Country Music, and contributed entries to the The Encyclopedia of Country Music, The Music Hound Folk Album Guide and The Rolling Stone Jazz & Blues Album Guide. He has written liner notes for albums by the Isley Brothers, the Beach Boys, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Carey Bell, Tony Rice, Chris Hillman, Beau Jocque, Earl King and others. He is currently working on a book about Emmylou Harris, Rosanne Cash, Rodney Crowell and Ricky Skaggs for the Country Music Hall of Fame.
Himes has lived in Baltimore since 1974. His lyrics have been recorded by Billy Kemp & the Paradise Rockers, the Kinsey Report, Mojo Filter, Edge City and Pete Kennedy & Bound for Glory.
189 articles
List of articles in the library
Wendy Waldman: The Main Refrain (Warner Bros. BS 2974)
Review by Geoffrey Himes, Crawdaddy!, February 1977
HER SURF'S UP, SHE'S NO PET ...
The Band, Rick Danko: Danko: Happy With His Band — And The Band
Report and Interview by Geoffrey Himes, Unicorn Times, February 1978
THE LIGHTS went down at the Cellar Door and the disembodied voice purred: "Please welcome to our stage, Arista recording artists the Rick Danko Group." ...
Warren Zevon: Excitable Boy (Asylum 6E-118)
Review by Geoffrey Himes, Unicorn Times, April 1978
The Excitable Warren Zevon: Accidently Like a Rock Star ...
The Rolling Stones: Stones Still Hungry After All These Years
Review by Geoffrey Himes, Unicorn Times, 1 July 1978
THE ROLLING STONES first crawled into our collective hearts as a teenage working class street punk band. And now, here are Keith Richard and Mick ...
Report and Interview by Geoffrey Himes, Unicorn Times, May 1979
GARY SHIDER and Mike Hampton held the stage at the Capital Centre in the fiercest rock'n'roll guitar duet in any local hall recently. Shider's fingers ...
Essay by Geoffrey Himes, Musician, April 1981
ON JULY 4, 1980, the Beach Boys sat at the base of the Washington Monument and played to a vast sea of half a million ...
Essay by Geoffrey Himes, Baltimore Sun, 14 June 1981
ON SATURDAY nights in 1956, transistor radios in the hands of eager teenagers all over America shuddered with the sensual sound of Elvis Presley's 'Hound ...
The Beach Boys, Carl Wilson: Carl Wilson to Beach Boys: Let's play '80s music
Interview by Geoffrey Himes, Baltimore Sun, 17 July 1981
THE FIRST thing to remember about the Beach Boys is they're a family. When Brian Wilson formed the band in 1961, he recruited his two ...
Beaver Brown, The Bill Blue Band, Iron City Houserockers: The Heart Of Blue-Collar Rock
Report and Interview by Geoffrey Himes, Musician, August 1981
The voices of the American working class, a gritty chorus or struggle, boredom, and uneasy weekend refuge, are heard in the music of the Iron ...
Interview by Geoffrey Himes, Baltimore Sun, 25 September 1981
JOHN HAMMOND is a rare figure in the American recording industry. In an industry that worships last year's trends, Mr. Hammond discovered such original artists ...
Profile and Interview by Geoffrey Himes, Musician, October 1981
Urban time warps and geomusical quantum leaps later, Kid Creole and his pal Sugar-Coated are washed up on a sandy Island with only their wits ...
Live Review by Geoffrey Himes, Musician, November 1981
AL ANDERSON, NRBQ's rotund bear of a lead guitarist, gave his meanest squint and chewed up the title line to his rollicking, vintage-sounding rockabilly tune: ...
Earth, Wind & Fire, Funkadelic, Prince: Whites Are Missing Good Rock By Blacks
Overview by Geoffrey Himes, Baltimore Sun, 15 November 1981
IF YOU LISTEN to Baltimore's album-oriented rock (AOR) radio stations or any of dozens of similar stations around the country, you're unlikely to hear any ...
Prince: Warner Theater, Washington DC
Live Review by Geoffrey Himes, The Washington Post, 21 November 1981
PRINCE PUT on a dazzling show of screaming guitar solos, irresistible dance rhythms and charismatic showmanship at the Warner Theater Saturday night. Leading a powerful ...
Report by Geoffrey Himes, Musician, 1982
THE DOOBIE Brothers are one of the last great AM radio bands, one of the last rock groups to concentrate primarily on hit singles. Now ...
Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Rossington Collins Band: The Rossington Collins Band
Profile and Interview by Geoffrey Himes, Musician, February 1982
Southern Rock Survival Among the Alligators ...
Chic To Take The Disco Wraps Off Inspired Guitar Work
Profile and Interview by Geoffrey Himes, Baltimore Sun, 6 February 1982
ANYONE WHO still suffers from the delusion that disco was simple, unchallenging music should listen again to Chic's hit single, 'Good Times'. Dig under the ...
Prince: Warner Theater, Washington DC
Live Review by Geoffrey Himes, Musician, April 1982
DRY ICE smoke drifted across the darkened stage of Washington's Warner Theater, as an unreleased tape played of Prince singing the double orgasm lyrics of ...
Graham Parker: Rock's Last Angry Man Reflects On Life After The Rumour.
Interview by Geoffrey Himes, Musician, June 1982
ON GRAHAM Parker's last American tour, he and the Rumour visited Washington's Lisner Auditorium in 1979 with one of the greatest rock'n'roll shows this writer ...
Profile by Geoffrey Himes, Musician, June 1982
WITH A WHOLE February afternoon to spend at home, the mailman's latest batch of new wave releases went on the turntable. They told a distressing ...
The Temptations: Temptations Reunited and on the Road Again
Interview by Geoffrey Himes, Baltimore Sun, 6 June 1982
IN THE MINDS of many, the greatest soul record ever made was the Temptations' performance of Smokey Robinson's 'My Girl' on Motown's Gordy Records in ...
Allman Brothers Band, The Marshall Tucker Band: Tucker Band Keeps Southern Rock Alive
Profile and Interview by Geoffrey Himes, Baltimore Sun, 27 June 1982
SPARTANBURG IS a mill town of 50,000 nestled in the hills of western South Carolina. All six members of the Marshall Tucker Band grew up ...
Laurie Anderson: Big Science (Warner Bros.)
Review by Geoffrey Himes, Musician, July 1982
THIS IS THE avant-garde art music album for folks who generally hate the stuff. Anderson captures the rarely realized potential of modern art music and ...
Willie Nelson: Always On My Mind (Columbia)
Review by Geoffrey Himes, Musician, July 1982
JUST WHEN you thought you couldn't bear one more version of Paul Simon's 'Bridge Over Troubled Water', Willie Nelson comes by and makes the song ...
Smokey Robinson: Painters Mill Star Theatre, Owings Mill MD
Live Review by Geoffrey Himes, Baltimore Sun, 3 July 1982
Robinson in fine sinuous form at Painters Mill ...
Squeeze: The Fine Art Of Pop Songwriting
Interview by Geoffrey Himes, Musician, August 1982
ATTENTION! LINDA Ronstadt and Willie Nelson! Attention Bonnie Raitt and Judy Collins! Attention Aretha Franklin and Frank Sinatra! Attention all you interpretive pop singers who ...
Doobie Brothers: The Doobie Brothers: Merriweather Post Pavilion, Columbia MD
Live Review by Geoffrey Himes, Baltimore Sun, 5 August 1982
A sloppy good-bye kiss from the Doobies at Post. ...
Rickie Lee Jones: Songs From a Bohemian Past
Interview by Geoffrey Himes, Baltimore Sun, 10 August 1982
RICKIE LEE Jones appeared out of nowhere in 1979 with a stunning self-titled debut album. The mysterious bohemian blonde — who comes to the Merriweather ...
Talking Heads: Merriweather Post Pavilion, Baltimore MA
Live Review by Geoffrey Himes, Baltimore Sun, 25 August 1982
Talking Heads at last bring mind, body together ...
The Clash: Still Scruffy, But Now Rock Heroes
Profile by Geoffrey Himes, Baltimore Sun, 5 September 1982
NEW YORK — Four musicians sauntered onto New York's Pier 84 Tuesday. Tall, gangly, ragtag and scarred, they looked like the scruffy street fighters they ...
Rosanne Cash: Romance, rock and realism in the new Country
Interview by Geoffrey Himes, Musician, October 1982
THE ENDURING appeal of country music has been its ability to describe the messy problems between men and women with accuracy and poignancy. For years, ...
Rosanne Cash: Wax Museum, Baltimore MA
Live Review by Geoffrey Himes, Baltimore Sun, 22 October 1982
Rosanne Cash: genuine country ...
Charley Pride: Painters Mill Star Theatre, Owings Mills MD
Live Review by Geoffrey Himes, Baltimore Sun, 8 November 1982
Charley Pride has the voice but not verve. ...
The Beat: For English Beat, Dance Music is the Medium for Tolerance
Profile and Interview by Geoffrey Himes, Baltimore Sun, 20 November 1982
ANDY COX, a young British lad with thick, wavy hair, plays a choppy guitar riff that's part slam-bang punk and part chinka-chinka reggae. Dave Wakeling, ...
Interview by Geoffrey Himes, Musician, December 1982
LUTHER VANDROSS curled up in the stuffed arm chair with his Wizard-of-Oz red ruby shoes tucked under his massive bulk. When he described Dionne Warwick's ...
George Thorogood & The Destroyers: Thorogood's Blues-Rock Has Made Big Leagues
Interview by Geoffrey Himes, Baltimore Sun, 17 December 1982
IN 1980, GEORGE Thorogood and the Delaware Destroyers, were really gathering momentum with their traditional brand of blues-based rock. Their second album, Move It On ...
Luther Vandross: Vandross adds '60s Emotion to '80s Technology
Profile and Interview by Geoffrey Himes, Baltimore Sun, 17 December 1982
ANY REASONABLE list of this year's best soul albums has to include Cheryl Lynn's Instant Love (Columbia), Aretha Franklin's Jump To It (Arista), and Luther ...
Review by Geoffrey Himes, The Washington Post, 30 December 1982
Urban Anthems of Rap Music ...
Jonathan Richman: Wax Museum, Washington DC
Live Review by Geoffrey Himes, Musician, January 1983
IT'S EASY TO laugh at Jonathan Richman's wavering, off-key singing as he drifts off into naive, spoken monologues. When he visited Washington's Wax Museum this ...
The Roches: Three Sides to Every Situation
Interview by Geoffrey Himes, Musician, March 1983
AT TIMES, the three Roche sisters seem blissfully oblivious to how the rest of the world operates. Take their clothes. Backstage at Washington's Wax Museum, ...
Prince, The Time, Vanity 6: Civic Center, Baltimore MD
Live Review by Geoffrey Himes, Baltimore Sun, 7 March 1983
Prince sustains dramatic opening with music that obliterates rules ...
Willie Nelson: Capital Centre, Landover MA
Live Review by Geoffrey Himes, Baltimore Sun, 16 March 1983
Nelson's style: spare but brilliant ...
Laurie Anderson: Anderson Brings Everyday Life And Humor To Performance Art
Interview by Geoffrey Himes, Baltimore Sun, 27 March 1983
IT WAS a strange kind of love song. The singer wore a shiny black jacket over a black shirt and black tie. Her blond hair ...
Live Review by Geoffrey Himes, The Washington Post, 28 March 1983
FOR 16 YEARS, the ever-shifting, overlapping line-ups of Parliament, Funkadelic and Bootsy's Rubber Band have contained the best funk musicians anywhere. After three disorganized, unproductive ...
Al Green: Sanctity & Sexuality on a Higher Plane
Interview by Geoffrey Himes, Musician, April 1983
LISTENING TO Al Green's three gospel albums for Myrrh Records is a disorienting experience. The songs are traditional hymns that have been sung in black ...
Ray Charles: Charles Sticks With Tune That Hyped His Career
Profile and Interview by Geoffrey Himes, Baltimore Sun, 6 May 1983
RAY CHARLES will no doubt finish his show at the Meyerhoff Symphony Hall tonight the same way he finishes every concert: with a wildly improvised ...
Labelle, Patti LaBelle: Labelle: Girl Group to Gospel
Interview by Geoffrey Himes, Baltimore Sun, 8 May 1983
THE 18 CHORUS members of Your Arms Too Short to Box With God were assembled like a church choir in their red and white gowns ...
Arlo Guthrie, Pete Seeger: Seeger and Guthrie: A Tradition Continues
Interview by Geoffrey Himes, Baltimore Sun, 22 July 1983
WHEN ARLO Guthrie and Pete Seeger performed together at Wolf Trap three summers ago, they managed to convince the sell-out crowd that they weren't really ...
Culture Club: Soft Rock Beats Beneath Culture Club's Wild Image
Interview by Geoffrey Himes, Baltimore Sun, 30 August 1983
NEW YORK — The cover of Culture Club's first album, Kissing to Be Clever, featured lead singer Boy George in all his glory: glistening red ...
Culture Club: Hey Fella, You Wanna Step Outside And Say That?
Interview by Geoffrey Himes, Musician, October 1983
BOY GEORGE and Culture Club aren't what they seem. ...
Stevie Wonder: Capital Centre, Landover MD
Live Review by Geoffrey Himes, Baltimore Sun, 17 January 1984
Wonder lights up Cap Centre ...
Apollonia, Prince: First Avenue is New 2nd Family, Apollonia Says
Interview by Geoffrey Himes, Baltimore Sun, 5 August 1984
MOST OF Purple Rain takes place in an actual nightclub in downtown Minneapolis. In the film, the First Avenue club becomes a self-contained world, a ...
Michael Jackson, The Jacksons: The Jacksons: RFK Stadium, Washington DC
Live Review by Geoffrey Himes, Baltimore Sun, 22 September 1984
Michael shines through audio troubles, theatrics ...
Patti LaBelle: Lyric Opera House, Baltimore MD
Live Review by Geoffrey Himes, Baltimore Sun, 11 October 1984
Patti LaBelle: one of the biggest voices around ...
Elton John: Capital Centre, Landover MD
Live Review by Geoffrey Himes, Baltimore Sun, 18 October 1984
Elton John offers finest of throwaway pop-rock ...
Talking Heads Film Combines Rock Show With Light Show
Interview by Geoffrey Himes, Baltimore Sun, 27 January 1985
"THE PROBLEM with the rock concert films I've seen," argues David Byrne of Talking Heads, "is they have no beginning, middle and end. But neither ...
The Neville Brothers: Neville Brothers, rhythm and blues kings, are still just neighborhood guys
Profile and Interview by Geoffrey Himes, Baltimore Sun, 5 May 1985
IF THE MARSALIS clan is the first family of New Orleans jazz, then Neville Brothers are the first family of New Orleans rhythm and blues. ...
Bob Dylan, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers: Bob Dylan In Concert - An HBO Special
Film/DVD/TV Review by Geoffrey Himes, Columbia Flier , 3 July 1986
THE RECENT HBO cable TV special, Bob Dylan in Concert, gave us a sneak preview of what we can expect when Dylan arrives in Washington ...
Review by Geoffrey Himes, The Washington Post, 24 July 1986
THE POOR SOUND wasn’t the only problem with Bob Dylan’s recent concert in Washington. A far more fundamental problem was the overbearing preachiness and unrelenting ...
Bruce Springsteen: Tunnel of Love (Columbia, OC 40999)
Review by Geoffrey Himes, Evening Sun (Baltimore), The , 5 October 1987
Latest by Springsteen a subdued look at love ...
Bruce Springsteen: Tougher Than Most: Bruce Springsteen's Tunnel of Love tour
Review by Geoffrey Himes, Baltimore Sun, 24 March 1988
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN'S 'Tougher Than the Rest' is a sombre, unforgiving song typical of his recent Tunnel of Love album. It describes love not as an ...
Willie Nelson: Merriweather Post Pavilion, Baltimore MD
Live Review by Geoffrey Himes, Evening Sun (Baltimore), The , 27 May 1988
Despite many styles, Nelson is a hit ...
Profile and Interview by Geoffrey Himes, Evening Sun (Baltimore), The , 3 June 1988
MAY DAY WAS the last day of this year's New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, and the honorary slot of the last set was once ...
U2's Journey Through The Past: Rattle and Hum
Review by Geoffrey Himes, The Washington Post, 12 October 1988
BY THEIR OWN admission, the members of U2 had little sense of history when they started making music. Like so many of their generation, the ...
Los Lobos: La Pistola y El Corazon
Review by Geoffrey Himes, The Washington Post, 14 October 1988
THE DIFFERENCE between Linda Ronstadt's recent album of Mexican folk standards and Los Lobos' new album of Mexican folk standards, La Pistola y El Corazon, ...
Review by Geoffrey Himes, Columbia Flier , 20 October 1988
BOTH PRINCE and Michael Jackson came to the Capital Centre last week for a showdown between the two reigning giants of rock'n'soul. Appearing in the ...
Live Review by Geoffrey Himes, Evening Sun (Baltimore), The , 31 July 1989
5 Kids, 5,000 screamers produce A YYYEEEEEYEYEOHOOOWWWW!!! ...
George Jones, Loretta Lynn: Merriweather Post Pavilion, Baltimore MA
Live Review by Geoffrey Himes, Evening Sun (Baltimore), The , 14 August 1989
Erratic Jones is nearly perfect at Merriweather ...
k.d. lang: Painters Mill Music Fair, Owings Mills MD
Live Review by Geoffrey Himes, Evening Sun (Baltimore), The , 15 February 1990
Painters Mill rocks again with k.d. lang ...
The Beach Boys: The Endless Echo of Pet Sounds
Essay by Geoffrey Himes, The Washington Post, 19 June 1990
COMIC STRIP characters rarely die, but Andy, the wisecracking AIDS patient in Garry Trudeau's Doonesbury strip, endured a long death watch this spring. When he ...
Danny Gatton: Of Cars, Bars and Vintage Guitars
Interview by Geoffrey Himes, Downbeat, April 1991
IMAGINE THAT you're an English roots-rock guitarist — say, Dave Edmunds or Billy Bremner — and you've spent your whole life trying to look and ...
Review by Geoffrey Himes, The Washington Post, 28 April 1991
YOU HEAR Luther Vandross's voice everywhere these days — and not merely on his own recordings. Listen to the recent albums by Freddie Jackson, Will ...
Miles Davis Inspired 4 Decades Of Jazz
Obituary by Geoffrey Himes, Evening Sun (Baltimore), The , 30 September 1991
FEW JAZZMEN are ever identified with even one major innovation in the music. Miles Davis, who died Saturday at age 65, was associated with at ...
Interview by Geoffrey Himes, Downbeat, October 1991
WHEN A 20-year-old Freddie Hubbard moved from Indianapolis to New York in 1958, every young trumpeter was being compared to Miles Davis, who was then ...
Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown: But Don't Fence Me In
Interview by Geoffrey Himes, Downbeat, April 1992
WHEN CLARENCE "Gatemouth" Brown visited Washington, D.C., recently, the 67-year-old Texan presided over his eight-piece band like a professor leading a survey course in American ...
Martina McBride: The Time Has Come (RCA 66002-2)
Review by Geoffrey Himes, Country Music, July 1992
WHEN MARTINA McBride stares out from the eight — count 'em, eight — photos on her debut CD, with her blue eyes and high cheekbones, ...
George Strait: Lead On (MCA 11092)
Review by Geoffrey Himes, Country Music, January 1993
YOUNGER COUNTRY fans who kick themselves for missing the glory clays of Lefty Frizzell and Merle Haggard should thank their lucky stars they're living through ...
Review by Geoffrey Himes, The Washington Post, March 1993
DONALD FAGEN'S first album in 11 years, Kamakiriad, can be judged from two different perspectives. On the one hand, it marries tartly ironic lyrics with ...
Richard Thompson: Watching The Dark: The History of Richard Thompson
Review by Geoffrey Himes, Request, June 1993
LIKE MUCH OF his later writing, Greil Marcus' introductory notes to the new Richard Thompson box set, Watching the Dark, are a hodge-podge of strained ...
Elvis Presley: From Nashville to Memphis: The Essential '60s Masters 1
Review by Geoffrey Himes, The Washington Post, 1 October 1993
IT'S EASY TO DISMISS ELVIS PRESLEY'S post-army career – easy, that is, until one is forced to sit down and listen to a song like ...
The Cox Family, Alison Krauss: Alison Krauss: Music That's Timeless
Interview by Geoffrey Himes, Country Music, April 1994
It's the timelessness of bluegrass that appeals to Krauss, but hers is a bluegrass that's different, one that combines elements of the past, the present ...
Bob Dylan: Warner Theatre, Washington D.C.
Live Review by Geoffrey Himes, The Washington Post, 31 October 1994
BOB DYLAN'S show at the Warner Theatre last night was rapidly going down the tubes when the singer suddenly focused himself and turned the second ...
Walter Becker: 11 Tracks Of Whack
Review by Geoffrey Himes, The Washington Post, December 1994
AS THE TEAM called Steely Dan, Donald Fagen and Walter Becker wrote, produced and performed some of the smartest, most seductive rock-and-roll of the '70s. ...
Bob Dylan: MTV Unplugged (Columbia)
Review by Geoffrey Himes, The Washington Post, 24 May 1995
BOB DYLAN has released 52 songs on five different albums since 1992 but has not included one song of his own written after 1990. This ...
Review by Geoffrey Himes, The Washington Post, 25 June 1995
IT'S EASY to understand why so many jazz and pop musicians have gravitated toward the buzzing, grinding and squealing of guitar distortion, even if those ...
Alanis Morissette: Jagged Little Pill
Review by Geoffrey Himes, Request, September 1995
IT'S AS IF Annette Funicello had grown up and become Janis Joplin. Just 11 years ago, Alanis Morissette was a cute, 10-year-old actress on Nickelodeon's ...
Faith Hill: It Matters to Me (Warner Bros. 9 A5872)
Review by Geoffrey Himes, Country Music, November 1995
TO MENTION the similarities between Linda Ronstadt and the new crop of female country singers — Trisha Yearwood, Faith Hill, Pam Tillis, Martina McBride and ...
Obituary by Geoffrey Himes, Rolling Stone, 30 November 1995
TRUMPETER DON Cherry died of liver failure on Oct, 18 near Malaga, Spain. He was 58. As a member of the Ornette Coleman Quartet in ...
Elvis Presley: Walk a Mile in My Shoes: The Essential ‘70s Masters
Review by Geoffrey Himes, The Washington Post, 13 December 1995
ELVIS PRESLEY'S music in the 1970s is often dismissed as the bombastic, half-hearted hack work of an overweight, pill-addicted, badly dressed has-been. In the liner ...
Review by Geoffrey Himes, Rolling Stone, 14 December 1995
EVEN TODAY the stereotype lingers that country songs are all words – storytelling lyrics backed by merely functional music. That cliché can be shattered once ...
Junior Walker & the All Stars: Junior Walker 1931-1995
Obituary by Geoffrey Himes, Rolling Stone, 25 January 1996
IN EARLY 1965, a new single lit up American radio. It began with a gunshot, echoed by the snare drum that followed. Then a tenor ...
Review by Geoffrey Himes, Rolling Stone, 8 February 1996
ARETHA FRANKLIN AND VAN MORRISON are the best vocal improvisers of their generation, but neither can be accurately described as a jazz singer. When authentic ...
Cassandra Wilson: New Moon Daughter (Blue Note)
Review by Geoffrey Himes, Rolling Stone, 21 March 1996
ON FIRST listen, Cassandra Wilson's latest release, New Moon Daughter, seems like a sequel to 1993's Blue Light 'Til Dawn. The two albums share the ...
Steve Earle: I Feel Alright (E-Squared/Warner Bros. 46201)
Review by Geoffrey Himes, Country Music, April 1996
STEVE EARLE started a revolution in Nashville, but he left it unfinished. ...
Obituary by Geoffrey Himes, Rolling Stone, 4 April 1996
AS A GUITARIST, Brownie McGhee was a master of the intricate, ragtime-influenced patterns that define the blues of the South's Piedmont region. As a singer ...
Steve Earle: Back in the Saddle
Interview by Geoffrey Himes, Rolling Stone, 18 April 1996
C&W outlaw STEVE EARLE returns from his lost years ...
Review by Geoffrey Himes, New Country, June 1996
WHEN ROBBIE ROBERTSON and the rest of the Band split into two camps in the late '70s, who ever thought Robertson would get the worst ...
Chic: Bernard Edwards, 1952-1996
Obituary by Geoffrey Himes, Rolling Stone, 13 June 1996
BACK IN THE DISCO era, when most records went thump-thump-thump, the music produced by Bernard Edwards and Nile Rodgers went bumpity-bip-bop, bing-bang-boom. ...
Report by Geoffrey Himes, Crawdaddy!, October 1996
ON OCTOBER 20th, 1977, the single-engine prop plane carrying Lynyrd Skynyrd crashed into a swamp in Gillsburg, Mississippi, killing the band's lead singer Ronnie Van ...
Trisha Yearwood: Everybody Knows (MCA MCAD11477)
Review by Geoffrey Himes, Country Music, November 1996
THE PROBLEM with most country-pop hybrids is they blend the worst of both genres — the most predictable rhythms and melodies of country and the ...
David Lee Murphy: Genuine Redneck Stuff
Interview by Geoffrey Himes, Country Music, January 1997
Whether singing about fast cars, rowdy bars or quiet lakes, David Lee's sense of redneck pride is all over his music. ...
Danny Thompson, Richard Thompson: Industry: A Tale of Two Thompsons
Review by Geoffrey Himes, The Washington Post, 4 July 1997
DANNY THOMPSON grew up in the world described in the movie Brassed Off--the northern British villages where men scrub off the soot of the ...
Clint Black: Nothin' But the Taillights (RCA 67515)
Review by Geoffrey Himes, Country Music, November 1997
WHEN CLINT Black neared the end of his 1995 tour, he realized he had been on the album-tour-album-tour tread mill for seven years without a ...
The Beach Boys: The Disciples of Brian: The Beach Boys' legacy in Decade #4
Essay by Geoffrey Himes, Crawdaddy!, 1998
What were the best Beach Boys records of the 1990s? Geoffrey Himes takes issue with his friend Paul Williams. ...
Steve Earle's Politics and Prose
Report and Interview by Geoffrey Himes, The Washington Post, 6 February 1998
IT WAS the kind of night that could only take place in Nashville, a town with as many songwriters as Washington has bureaucrats. ...
Obituary by Geoffrey Himes, Rolling Stone, 5 March 1998
DAVID "JUNIOR" Kimbrough didn't release his first album until 1992, when he was 62, but when Fat Possum Records issued All Night Long, Rolling Stone ...
Martina McBride: Singer, Producer, Mother & Wife
Interview by Geoffrey Himes, Country Music, April 1998
Taking a hands-on approach to all she does makes Martina's world a bit hectic, but she wouldn't have it any other way. ...
Toby Keith: Home Is Where His Heart Is
Interview by Geoffrey Himes, Country Music, April 1998
Success has found Toby Keith in terms of hit records, a new business venture and, award nominations. And though he's enjoying it all, Toby still ...
Allen Toussaint, Lee Dorsey: Lee Dorsey: Why Isn't This Man in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame?
Retrospective by Geoffrey Himes, Oxford American, July 1998
NO SINGER in the Big Easy had a more easygoing manner than Lee Dorsey. The rhythms behind him could be wickedly syncopated (they usually were), ...
Mavis Staples, Pop Staples: Pops Staples
Interview by Geoffrey Himes, Oxford American, July 1998
THE STAPLE Singers didn't get started until ten years after the family patriarch, Roebuck "Pops" Staples, moved the clan from Winona, Mississippi, to Chicago in ...
Ralph Stanley: Back to Clinch Mountain: Ralph Stanley
Report and Interview by Geoffrey Himes, Country Music, September 1998
"THREE GROUPS shaped bluegrass music," Ricky Skaggs told me recently, "Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys, the Stanley Brothers, and Flatt & Scruggs. Everyone ...
Bob Dylan: Live 1966 (Columbia/Legacy)
Review by Geoffrey Himes, Baltimore City Paper, 4 November 1998
CALL IT the triumph of the bootleggers. ...
Alison Krauss, Meshell Ndegeocello: Sounds of Heartache: Alison Krauss and Me'Shell Ndegeocello
Essay by Geoffrey Himes, Baltimore City Paper, 18 August 1999
IT WOULD BE hard to think of two female singers more different than Alison Krauss and Me'Shell Ndegeocello. Krauss, a straight European-American from the Midwestern ...
Merle Haggard: For The Record: The Hag Tells It Like It Is
Interview by Geoffrey Himes, Country Music, November 1999
LAST APRIL Merle Haggard turned 62, well past the age when most men slow down and mellow out. The Hag, however, is busier and ornerier ...
Brooks & Dunn: Brooks and Dunn: Over & Done
Interview by Geoffrey Himes, Country Music, April 2000
Rumor has Brooks and Dunn headed for splitsville, but country's biggest duo says that ain't no way to go. ...
Phish in the Farmhouse: An Interview with Trey Anastasio
Interview by Geoffrey Himes, guitar.com, June 2000
THE FIRST WORDS you hear on the new Phish album are, "Welcome, this is our farmhouse," and you are invited, as never before, into the ...
Nelly: Country Grammarian: Nelly
Interview by Geoffrey Himes, Baltimore City Paper, 6 September 2000
THIS IS WHAT pop music is all about. A radio single with a sing-along hook so catchy and so danceable you can't resist it. A ...
Dwight Yoakam: Dwightyoakamacoustic.net
Review by Geoffrey Himes, Country Music, October 2000
DWIGHT YOAKAM has released seven albums since 1993: live disc, a Christmas album, a set of cover songs, a greatest hits anthology, an unplugged project, ...
Los Lobos: Just Another Band From East L.A./El Cancionero – Mas y Mas
Review by Geoffrey Himes, Rolling Stone, 9 November 2000
The rare first album and a new four-disc set from the Mexican-American greats ...
Alejandro Escovedo Under the Influence
Report and Interview by Geoffrey Himes, Baltimore City Paper, 25 April 2001
ON MARCH 22, 1998, Alejandro Escovedo introduced a new song at La Zona Rosa in his hometown of Austin, Texas. He was dressed cowboy-formal in ...
Report and Interview by Geoffrey Himes, Chicago Tribune, 22 July 2001
TO UNDERSTAND WHY the Roots are the world's best live-on-stage hip-hop act, you have to look past the front line of rappers and check out ...
The Statler Brothers: Showtime
Review by Geoffrey Himes, Country Music, August 2001
WHEN ERIC HEATHERLY enjoyed a hit last year with 'Flowers On The Wall', his remake proved that The Statler Brothers' distinctive formula hadn't lost its ...
Diana Krall: In Defence of Diana Krall
Comment by Geoffrey Himes, Baltimore City Paper, 5 March 2002
Diana Krall and Jane Monheit are better than you think. Geoffrey Himes explains why. ...
Husker Du, Bob Mould: The Real Godfather of Grunge: Bob Mould's Modulate
Review by Geoffrey Himes, Baltimore City Paper, 20 March 2002
KURT COBAIN WAS a wonderful musician, but the combination of a best-selling record, a tabloid marriage and a lurid suicide inflated his reputation all out ...
Billy Bragg: I Smell the Blood of a Half-Englishman: Billy Bragg
Interview by Geoffrey Himes, Harp, May 2002
What does it mean to be an Englishman? Billy Bragg explains it to Geoffrey Himes. ...
Caitlin Cary, Ryan Adams, Whiskeytown: Life After Whiskeytown: Ryan Adams and Caitlin Cary
Comment by Geoffrey Himes, Baltimore City Paper, 1 May 2002
Who was the most important figure to emerge from the break-up of Whiskeytown – Ryan Adams or Caitlin Cary? Geoffrey Himes ponders the issue. ...
Al Green: Higher Ground: Al Green Blends His Sacred and Secular Instincts When He Steps Onstage
Retrospective by Geoffrey Himes, Baltimore City Paper, 17 July 2002
ALBUMS ARE NOT the only means of making great music any more than movies are the only means of doing great acting. Every time a ...
Beth Nielsen Chapman: Deeper Still
Review by Geoffrey Himes, Country Music, August 2002
BETH NIELSEN CHAPMAN has enjoyed a successful career as a Nashville songwriter, penning No. 1 hits for Faith Hill, Willie Nelson, Tanya Tucker and Lorrie ...
Overview by Geoffrey Himes, Harp, Spring 2002
LIKE DR. JOHN in New Orleans and Paul Butterfield in Chicago, Doug Sahm was a white kid whose musical curiosity led him to the wrong ...
Interview by Geoffrey Himes, Harp, Summer 2002
TO APPRECIATE how special Beth Orton is, it helps to catch her at a show like the one she did at the 1999 South by ...
Interview by Geoffrey Himes, Harp, Summer 2002
After more than 30 years since their first recorded project together, the Flatlanders have come together again to record Now Again. Forward all 'thank you' ...
Rhonda Vincent: One Step Ahead
Review by Geoffrey Himes, Country Music, July 2003
THE TITLE TRACK on Vincent's new album finds her singing harmony on the chorus with Alison Krauss. ...
Retrospective and Interview by Geoffrey Himes, Baltimore City Paper, 2 March 2005
BY EARLY 1964, the 24-year-old Solomon Burke had already been a bishop in his grandmother's church for 17 years but he wanted to be king. ...
Sleater-Kinney: The Gamblers: Sleater-Kinney Makes A Stab At Greatness With Its Ambitious New Album
Report and Interview by Geoffrey Himes, Baltimore City Paper, 22 June 2005
RARE IS THE punk-rock band that makes its best music 11 years after starting. Few punk bands even make it to the 11-year mark and ...
Caitlin Cary & Thad Cockrell: Begonias
Review by Geoffrey Himes, The Washington Post, 24 June 2005
Traditional country music is marriage music, and there's no better way to dissect a troubled marriage than to have a female country singer and a ...
Report by Geoffrey Himes, Baltimore City Paper, 29 June 2005
HUMAN TOUCH: After mastering the rockin' Bruce album, Bruce Springsteen is now honing the acoustic Bruce album. ...
Review by Geoffrey Himes, The Washington Post, 3 March 2006
HOW DO YOU write a song about homeland security without sounding preachy or trite? On the other hand, how do you make honest music in ...
The Raconteurs: Raconteurs: Rac & Roll!
Interview by Geoffrey Himes, Harp, June 2006
THE BRICKS stuck around to cheer on their pals in the Greenhornes, a Cincinnati garage-rock trio that played so often in Detroit they seemed like ...
Review by Geoffrey Himes, Baltimore City Paper, 26 June 2006
NOVELIST/CRITIC George Pelecanos has called them "the American band of the decade". Amazon.com extended it to "the greatest band in the world". Blender said they ...
Ruthie Foster: The Phenomenal Ruthie Foster
Review by Geoffrey Himes, The Washington Post, 30 March 2007
WHEN RUTHIE FOSTER performed at the South by Southwest Music Conference two weeks ago, the short, dreadlocked singer demanded attention with the sheer power of ...
Retrospective by Geoffrey Himes, Baltimore City Paper, 31 October 2007
ON MARCH 18, 1993, Arthur Alexander was the guest star at Jimmie Dale Gilmore's birthday party at the Broken Spoke dance hall in Austin, Texas. ...
Bob Dylan: Jokerman For a Generation: Bob Dylan's Legendary Grin
Essay by Geoffrey Himes, Baltimore City Paper, 21 November 2007
SINCE 1968, Bob Dylan's past has been chasing him like a pack of wild dogs. There's a reason he's pegged his concerts as the "Never ...
Chuck Brown & the Soul Searchers: Going to a Go-Go: Hip-Hop Repays Its Debt to Chuck Brown
Report and Interview by Geoffrey Himes, Baltimore City Paper, 26 December 2007
CHUCKY THOMPSON was just a teenager from the streets of Washington when he became a drummer for Chuck Brown and the Soul Searchers in the ...
Miranda Lambert, Carrie Underwood: Carrie Underwood/Miranda Lambert: Blonde Ambition
Comment by Geoffrey Himes, Nashville Scene, 24 January 2008
Carrie Underwood's sold more records, so why did Miranda Lambert sweep our poll? ...
J.J. Cale: Laying Low: The Elusive J.J. Cale Releases Possibly His Final Opus
Report by Geoffrey Himes, Baltimore City Paper, 25 February 2009
THE POPULAR MYTH about the Velvet Underground is that the band never sold many records, but everyone who bought one started a band. As exaggerations ...
Review by Geoffrey Himes, Nashville Scene, 3 December 2009
Bob Dylan's latest follows the tradition of the weird Christmas album ...
Miranda Lambert: The House That Miranda Built
Interview by Geoffrey Himes, Nashville Scene, 26 January 2012
With two critically acclaimed albums out in 2011, Miranda Lambert finds that integrity and success aren't mutually exclusive ...
The Gift of Music: Anthologies to please
Review by Geoffrey Himes, Baltimore City Paper, 14 November 2012
WHY ARE multi-disc collections of old music still valuable in an era of downloads retrieved from nearly boundless clouds? Because these box sets and greatest-hit ...
Graham Parker repeats the Rumour
Report and Interview by Geoffrey Himes, The Washington Post, 23 November 2012
IN THE NEW Judd Apatow movie, This Is 40, Paul Rudd's character runs an indie record label that reunites Graham Parker and the Rumour, the ...
The Bad Plus: Artfully drawn characters
Interview by Geoffrey Himes, Downbeat, January 2013
The Bad Plus is often described as a jazz-rock trio, but their recent studio album, Made Possible (eOne), is the first to use electric instruments. ...
Interview by Geoffrey Himes, Nashville Scene, 31 January 2013
Performer Willy Mason returns home, searches through the fog, and carries on ...
Film/DVD/TV Review by Geoffrey Himes, Baltimore City Paper, 10 March 2013
THE SOUTH BY Southwest Conference got underway yesterday with SXSW Film, one leg of the tripod extravaganza that also features Interactive and Music components. Twenty-two ...
Billy Bragg: SXSW: Billy Bragg plays songs from new album, plus one inspired by the Bible
Report and Interview by Geoffrey Himes, Baltimore City Paper, 15 March 2013
"THE PROBLEM with most protest songs," Billy Bragg said Wednesday afternoon, "is people spend all their time on the protest and not enough on the ...
Bad Religion: No Assumption Safe with Punk Vets
Report and Interview by Geoffrey Himes, The Washington Post, 22 March 2013
THE TITLE OF the first single from Bad Religion's new album, True North, is unprintable in this newspaper, but the two-word expletive advises one to ...
St. Vincent: The Totally Original Sound of St. Vincent
Profile and Interview by Geoffrey Himes, Smithsonian , December 2013
TO UNDERSTAND Annie Clark's inventiveness as a composer, it helps to listen more closely to the first single off her latest solo album, Strange Mercy. ...
Kacey Musgraves: A Whole New Trailer Park
Interview by Geoffrey Himes, Nashville Scene, 23 January 2014
Kacey Musgraves tops this year's poll for one simple reason: good, smart songs ...
Charles Bradley is off Script at Jazz Fest
Report and Interview by Geoffrey Himes, Offbeat, 1 May 2014
ON THE FIRST Saturday of Jazz Fest 2013, Charles Bradley strode out on the Blues Tent stage as if he weren't 65 years old but ...
Elbow: With Maturity, U.K. art-rockers Elbow finally stick the Landing
Profile and Interview by Geoffrey Himes, The Washington Post, 8 May 2014
BIG HANDS, a pub in Manchester, England, that takes its name from a Violent Femmes song, has long been a watering hole for local bands. ...
Bob Dylan: DAR Constitution Hall, Washington DC
Live Review by Geoffrey Himes, Baltimore City Paper, 26 November 2014
FOR YEARS, ONE of the pleasures of going to a Bob Dylan concert was the guessing game of "What will he play tonight?" It wasn't ...
The Black Keys: Royal Farms Arena, Baltimore
Live Review by Geoffrey Himes, Baltimore City Paper, 5 December 2014
GUITARIST DAN AUERBACH sings all the vocals, takes all the solos, and plays the fundamental riffs, so why is drummer Patrick Carney considered an equal ...
Chuck Brown & the Soul Searchers: Chuck Brown Band, still crankin'
Report and Interview by Geoffrey Himes, The Washington Post, 26 December 2014
CHUCKY THOMPSON had to lie about his age to play with Chuck Brown. It was 1984, and Thompson, 16 years old and already one of the ...
Emmylou Harris, back where it all started
Profile by Geoffrey Himes, The Washington Post, 8 January 2015
THERE'S A REASON so many artists have signed on to take part in The Life and Songs of Emmylou Harris: An All-Star Concert Celebration on ...
Kat Edmonson, Robert Ellis: Kat Edmonson/Robert Ellis: Rams Head On Stage, Annapolis
Live Review by Geoffrey Himes, Baltimore City Paper, 25 February 2015
KAT EDMONSON AND Robert Ellis, who brought their tour to Annapolis Tuesday night, are Houston singers with the same final initial and current Brooklyn addresses. ...
James McMurtry: Landscape Artist
Profile and Interview by Geoffrey Himes, American Songwriter, 5 March 2015
MOST OF JAMES MCMURTRY's songs are populated by rural and small-town characters, but these are not pastoral hymns to the easygoing joys of country living. ...
Gurf Morlix: Strange Brew, Austin
Live Review by Geoffrey Himes, Baltimore City Paper, 16 March 2015
BEFORE BOBBY Womack and then the Rolling Stones turned it into a romantic-ultimatum pop song, 'The Last Time' was a bluesy gospel song performed by ...
Mavis Staples: The music doc Mavis! lets the powerful performances do the talking
Film/DVD/TV Review by Geoffrey Himes, Baltimore City Paper, 16 March 2015
LIKE THE MARYLAND Film Festival, the South by Southwest Film Festival follows each screening by a discussion with the movie's creative team. After SXSW presented ...
Ray Wylie Hubbard, James McMurtry: Down in Austin, music is something of a family business
Live Review by Geoffrey Himes, Baltimore City Paper, 19 March 2015
AUSTIN MUSIC IS becoming a family business. Parents are passing down to their children songwriter/performer brand names as if they were used-car lots, drug stores, ...
Report and Interview by Geoffrey Himes, Baltimore City Paper, 20 March 2015
Neil Young discusses remastering his dystopian sci-fi flick at SXSW ...
Charlie Parker: Various Artists: The Complete Dial Modern Jazz Sessions (Mosaic Records)
Review by Geoffrey Himes, JazzTimes, 29 March 2015
TO UNDERSTAND the significance of Dial Records, a good place to start is the tune 'Relaxin' at Camarillo'. ...
Blind Boy Fuller: Piedmont Blues' Notorious B.I.G.
Retrospective by Geoffrey Himes, American Songwriter, 13 May 2015
WHERE DID the Rolling Stones get the title for their 1970 live album, Get Yer Ya-Yas Out? From Blind Boy Fuller's 1938 single of the ...
The Decemberists: Merriweather Post Pavilion
Live Review by Geoffrey Himes, Baltimore City Paper, 5 June 2015
EARLY IN THE Decemberists' show at the Merriweather Post Pavilion Thursday night, silver-suited lead singer Colin Meloy was explaining how one of his songs started ...
Report by Geoffrey Himes, The Washington Post, 28 June 2015
FEW POP MUSIC acts have enjoyed a year like Creedence Clearwater Revival had in 1969. That year, the John Fogerty-led quartet released three top-10 albums: ...
Report and Interview by Geoffrey Himes, The Washington Post, 16 July 2015
LAST SUMMER, when the James Brown biopic Get on Up opened on movie screens, jazz bassist Christian McBride organized an all-star concert at the Hollywood ...
Live Review by Geoffrey Himes, Baltimore City Paper, 27 July 2015
JASON ISBELL came to the Merriweather Post Pavilion Sunday evening just nine days after releasing one of the year's best albums, Something More Than Free. ...
Sam Smith shows effortless talent, tasteful restraint at Merriweather show
Live Review by Geoffrey Himes, Baltimore City Paper, 27 July 2015
WHEN YOU HAVE a voice as spectacular as Sam Smith's—an instrument that can glide across multiple octaves without a break or apparent effort—the temptation to ...
Elton John, Mika: Is There a "Gay Aesthetic" to Pop Music?
Comment by Geoffrey Himes, Smithsonian , 12 August 2015
From Elton John to Mika, the "glam piano" genre may be as integral to the Gay American experience as hip-hop and the blues are to ...
Overview by Geoffrey Himes, American Songwriter, 8 October 2015
RUTH UNGAR understands that a lot of people can't tell the difference between bluegrass and old-time music. Anytime they see a group with a fiddle ...
Mose Allison: Who Is... Mose Allison?
Retrospective by Geoffrey Himes, Music Aficionado, October 2016
THE LEGENDARY British organ player Georgie Fame once described his hero Mose Allison as "the jazz version of Bob Dylan." When an interviewer asked Fame's ...
The National's Bryce Dessner: A man of many talents
Report by Geoffrey Himes, The Washington Post, 18 November 2016
Show: With the National Symphony Orchestra and conductor Jacomo Bairos on Friday at the Kennedy Center. ...
Review by Geoffrey Himes, The Washington Post, 29 September 2017
HARRY STYLES has gone back to the future. Sooner or later, this short, wiry singer with the tousled hair and giddy tenor had to leave ...
St. Vincent: Catching St. Vincent at the Anthem? Expect to see two acts, like a play.
Profile and Interview by Geoffrey Himes, The Washington Post, 24 November 2017
THE LAST SONG that Annie Clark wrote for Masseduction, the new St. Vincent album, was the title tune. The track begins with a stuttering percussion ...
Report and Interview by Geoffrey Himes, Nashville Scene, 6 September 2018
A look at new work by Nathaniel Rateliff, Anderson East, Shemekia Copeland and other artists playing AmericanaFest ...
Essay by Geoffrey Himes, American Songwriter, November 2018
MANY NEW ORLEANS pianists are better known — Dr. John, Allen Toussaint, Harry Con- nick Jr., Professor Longhair, Fats Domino and Art Neville — but those ...
David Sanborn: Sanborn Reimagines Night Music for the 21st Century
Report and Interview by Geoffrey Himes, Downbeat, 9 November 2018
WHEN DAVID SANBORN talks to people during tours, they often bring up Night Music (aka Sunday Night), the late-night TV show the alto saxophonist hosted from 1988 to ...
Report and Interview by Geoffrey Himes, American Songwriter, 7 October 2020
THE TITLE OF the first album featuring Elvin Bishop and Charlie Musselwhite as co-leaders is called 100 Years of Blues. That's a reference to the ...
John Doe, X: John Doe: How Antioch Prepared The X Co-Founder To Make Punk Rock History
Retrospective and Interview by Geoffrey Himes, Antioch Alumni Magazine, Fall 2020
WHEN THE California quartet X released its first album in 1980, it upended everyone's assumptions about punk rock. The twin lead vocals from a man ...
Buddy Guy: My Time After Awhile: Buddy Guy's Long Apprenticeship
Review by Geoffrey Himes, The Coda Collection, February 2021
BUDDY GUY turned 84 in 2020, and he's been a blues legend for a long time. It's a good thing he's lasted so long, because ...
Earl King: Poet Laureate of New Orleans
Retrospective by Geoffrey Himes, The Bitter Southerner, 2 February 2021
Earl King's lyrical blues and electric stage presence set him apart. But he's never been properly honored as a Louisiana writer who penned songs for ...
Report and Interview by Geoffrey Himes, American Songwriter, 15 March 2021
The documentary movie, Without Getting Killed or Caught, is as much about Susanna Clark as it is about her husband Guy. Which makes sense, because ...
back to LIBRARY
