j. poet
A San Francisco-based journalist whose main interests include World Music, Native American Music and Americana (folk, blues, singer/songwriter, traditional country), i.e. American Roots Music, j poet has been writing for close to 30 years. He has interviewed and reviewed most of the biggest names in World and Roots Music, including Dolly Parton, Merle Haggard, David Byrne, Baaba Maal, Thomas Mapfumo and more. In 1978 he initiated the first nationally-distributed World Music column in the US, for Pulse! Magazine. He has been a contributing editor at Pulse, Native Peoples, Grammy.com, Rhythm and SF Gate, and has contributed regularly to E!online, Drum, Folk Roots, San Francisco Chronicle, New York Times Syndicate, Wired, Performing Songwriter, Boston Phoenix, Earwax, Gallery of Sound and Stereotype.
45 articles
List of articles in the library
¡Cubanismo!, Jesús Alemañy: ¡Cubanismo!: Jesús Alemañy goes beyond Buena Vista
Report and Interview by j. poet, The Boston Phoenix, 17 April 2000
IT'S BEEN EASY to get the impression over the past couple of years that Cuban music starts and ends with the Buena Vista Social Club. ...
Mose Allison: Mose And His Muse
Profile and Interview by j. poet, San Francisco Chronicle, 23 October 2005
MOSE ALLISON can be summed up in two words – Mose Allison. ...
Review by j. poet, Paste, 1 October 2003
JOAN BAEZ hasn't written a song in 10 years, but she maintains an unerring instinct for choosing good material. ...
Tywanna Jo Baskette: A Profile
Profile and Interview by j. poet, Harp, October 2003
NASHVILLE-BASED Tywanna Jo Baskette lives the life she sings about. ...
Harry Belafonte Follows New Rhythm
Profile and Interview by j. poet, San Francisco Chronicle, 21 September 1997
Singer makes his first CD in nine years ...
Toni Brown, Chi Coltrane, Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon: Albums from Carly Simon, Joni Mitchell et al
Review by j. poet, The Berkeley Barb, 22 February 1974
j poet advertizes fer joni: male groopie wanted ...
Solomon Burke: Don't Give Up On Me
Review by j. poet, Paste, 7 January 2003
WHEN CRITICS began raving about Burke's comeback album, more than a few fools in the crowd asked "Solomon who?" ...
Can, Irmin Schmidt: Irmin Schmidt: Confusion and Collaboration
Report and Interview by j. poet, Stereotype, 1999
THIRTY YEARS AGO a classically trained keyboard player and composer named Irmin Schmidt turned his back on the world of classical music and founded Can, ...
Report and Interview by j. poet, Paste, 15 June 2003
"I'M NOT A militant female songwriter, and I wouldn't want to be considered some kind of new age uber-feminist," Rosanne Cash says. "But having said that, ...
Review by j. poet, Paste, 18 January 2005
CERTAIN TRACKS on Beat Cafe sound like they could be outtakes from Donovan's 1967 album Mellow Yellow, but I'll let you decide if that's a ...
Review by j. poet, The Berkeley Barb, 7 June 1974
j poet moans: step on me i like it ...
Fairport Convention: Fairport Still On Course At 40
Interview by j. poet, San Francisco Chronicle, 25 June 2006
FAIRPORT CONVENTION kicked the British folk revival into high gear in 1969 when they released Liege and Lief, their first album with Sandy Denny as ...
Michael Franti: Various Artists: Reggae on the River
Film/DVD/TV Review by j. poet, Paste, October 2004
TWENTY YEARS AGO, the residents of Piercy, Calif., held a benefit concert to rebuild a community centre torched by a local arsonist. ...
Review by j. poet, Creem, February 1983
THE GUN CLUB plays for keeps. Their songs crackle like dry corpse skin turning to parchment under the caress of a rattlesnake belly. Jeffrey Lee ...
Interview by j. poet, Stereotype, November 2000
MERLE HAGGARD IS The Okie From Muskogee, the Untamed Hawk, the Poet of the Working Man. He has a reputation for honestly speaking his mind, ...
Wayne Hancock’s Real Country Music
Interview by j. poet, Stereotype, September 2001
WAYNE HANCOCK'S NO-NONSENSE approach to hardcore honky tonk, Texas swing and cowboy blues has made him a cult hero to alt.country fans and his latest ...
The Handsome Family: Singing Bones (Carrot Top)
Review by j. poet, Harp, December 2003
THE HANDSOME FAMILY - the duo of Brett Sparks, composer, singer and instrumental jack of all trades and Rennie Sparks lyricist, harmony vocalist and plucker ...
Review by j. poet, Creem, May 1983
BACK IN 1980, after producing two terminally grim LPs that delighted morbid brooders worldwide, Human League split up trumpeting the usual clichés, vis-a-vis artistic differences ...
Profile and Interview by j. poet, San Francisco Chronicle, 10 July 2005
LEGEND HAS it that when Marty Balin went looking for a singer to fill out the lineup of the Jefferson Airplane, he told people he ...
Kelly Hogan: Because It Feel Good
Review by j. poet, Country Music, February 2002
LET YOUR MIND wander back about years ago, to a recording studio noted for churning out reverb-drenched country, pop and rhythm and blues. ...
Howlin' Wolf: The Howlin' Wolf Story
Film/DVD/TV Review by j. poet, Paste, 23 January 2004
THE DEBATE ABOUT precisely when the blues became rock'n'roll will go on forever, but the footage of The Howlin' Wolf Story makes a good case ...
Salif Keita: Rockin' With Soul Of Africa
Profile and Interview by j. poet, San Francisco Chronicle, 6 August 2006
SALIF KEITA grins when he says: "I love rock'n'roll." It may seem like an unlikely sentiment since Keita's last two albums, this year's M'Bemba (Ancestor) ...
Kid Creole & the Coconuts: Wise Guy (Ze/Sire)
Review by j. poet, Creem, October 1982
EVERY SO often a record comes along sporting such wit, style, finess, integrity, imagination, good taste, humor, and originality that you suspect the poor sucker ...
Baaba Maal: Going Home: Baaba Maal Returns To The Roots Of His Music
Profile and Interview by j. poet, SF Gate, 10 August 2001
WHEN BAABA MAAL comes to the Fillmore on Saturday, August 11, Bay Area audiences will get to hear a voice that is one of the ...
Report and Interview by j. poet, Paste, 1 December 2004
AT THE BEGINNING of every autumn, the local music community in Martha's Vineyard comes alive. That's when the vacationers leave and the working-class folks who ...
Scott McCaughey, Young Fresh Fellows: Head Fellow: Scott McCaughey
Report and Interview by j. poet, Stereotype, 2001
IN THE EYES of many, Scott McCaughey, the front man of Seattle’s infamous musical wise guys, The Young Fresh Fellows, has finally got it made. ...
The Moody Blues: Never Reaching The End
Interview by j. poet, San Francisco Chronicle, 13 November 2005
THE MOODY Blues are a rock'n'roll band. That statement may come as a shock to fans who grew up with the lushly orchestrated psychedelic pop ...
Gurf Morlix: Love in the Time of COVID
Interview by j. poet, Rock & Roll Globe, 24 September 2020
GURF MORLIX FIRST GAINED RECOGNITION as Lucinda Williams' guitar player, musical director and producer, but he said he's been writing songs almost as long as ...
New York Dolls: Matrix, San Francisco CA
Live Review by j. poet, The Berkeley Barb, 14 September 1973
j. poet loves dolls: BEST BAND YET! ...
New York Dolls: The New York Dolls: The New York Dolls (Mercury)
Review by j. poet, The Berkeley Barb, 7 September 1973
j poet guilty: DISGUSTING DOLLS DELIGHT ...
Review by j. poet, Crawdaddy!, 14 January 2009
WHEN YOU PUSH THE PLAY BUTTON on a track by Jeb Loy Nichols, you never know what you're going to get. Parish Bar opens with ...
Gary Numan: Numan Finds His Way
Profile and Interview by j. poet, San Francisco Chronicle, 13 August 2006
"IN AMERICA I'm still the classic one hit wonder," Gary Numan says philosophically, via phone from his home outside of London. ...
Interview by j. poet, Stereotype, 2000
THE MUSIC BUSINESS IS FULL OF ironies and insane contradictions, and Dolly Parton – a savvy businesswoman as well as an all-round entertainer – is ...
The Persuasions: Perpetual Harmony
Profile and Interview by j. poet, San Francisco Chronicle, 7 May 2006
"THE PERSUASIONS! Aren't you that old do-wop group?" ...
Pet Shop Boys: The Pet Shop Boys: Pet Peeves
Interview by j. poet, San Francisco Chronicle, 5 November 2006
THE PET SHOP Boys – singer/lyricist Neil Tennant and keyboard player/composer Chris Lowe – are renowned for their intelligent songwriting. ...
The Rave-Ups: The Book Of Your Regrets (Epic)
Review by j. poet, Creem, September 1988
THERE ARE times when I hate music. Like when yer walking down the street feeling like the sky's gonna fall on yer head and you've ...
Rodriguez: Coming in From the Cold
Retrospective and Interview by j. poet, Alarm, July 2008
RODRIGUEZ IS ON STAGE in a bar called The Sewer by the Sea. The club is filled with smoke, thick almost blinding smoke, as dense ...
P. F. Sloan: PF Sloan: Rising from 'Destruction'
Profile and Interview by j. poet, San Francisco Chronicle, 24 September 2006
"PF SLOAN was born sometime between midnight and dawn on an inspired evening in 1964," PF Sloan says, from his small Los Angeles apartment. That ...
The Stranglers: Stranglers: Visas Revoked!
Live Review by j. poet, Creem, November 1978
HUGH CORNWELL and Jean Jacques Burnel, guitarist and bassist for the Stranglers, recently made headlines in Britain by beating the shit out of a critic ...
George Thorogood & The Destroyers: Keystone, Berkeley
Live Review by j. poet, Creem, November 1978
AS THE FRIDAY nite police cars go drooling thru the streets the air inside Keystone, Berkeley is thick enough to cut with a chain-saw. The ...
Martha Wainwright: Martha's Extending The Musical Family
Profile and Interview by j. poet, San Francisco Chronicle, 2 October 2005
MARTHA WAINWRIGHT has a pedigree that could be daunting. She's the daughter of Loudon Wainwright III and Kate McGarrigle (of the McGarrigle Sisters), sister of ...
Rufus Wainwright: The Rueful Master Wainwright
Interview by j. poet, Stereotype, 2001
"A LOT OF SONGWRITING is revenge," Rufus Wainwright quipped, from his New York City hotel room. ...
Dar Williams: End of the Summer (Razor & Tie, $15.98) ****
Review by j. poet, San Francisco Chronicle, 13 July 1997
Dar Williams Plays With Pop Impulses ...
Jesse Winchester: Taking Another Shot
Profile and Interview by j. poet, San Francisco Chronicle, 21 January 2001
Eclectic singer-songwriter Jesse Winchester cuts his first new album in 11 years ...
List of genre pieces
Perspectives on Ralph J. Gleason
Memoir by j. poet, Rolling Stone, 17 July 1975
ONE OF THE things that inspired me to become a record reviewer was Ralph Gleason's record collection. It completely filled all the walls of his ...
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