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Tony Scherman

Tony Scherman

Tony Scherman has been a journalist and non-fiction author since the early 1980s. A former boss, Bill Flanagan, now Executive Vice President of MTV, wrote that "Tony Scherman is one of the best pure writers ever to come out of music journalism". He has written for dozens of magazines, and his two books are Backbeat: Earl Palmer’s Story (1999) and POP: The Genius of Andy Warhol (2009). His work has been widely anthologized.

36 articles

List of articles in the library

By date | By artist | Most recently added

Ry Cooder, Frank Frost: Ry Cooder's Crossroads Blues

Report and Interview by Tony Scherman, Rolling Stone, 10 October 1985

THERE'S NO MONEY IN BEING A ROOTS-MUSIC VIRTUOSO, BUT THIS GUITARIST'S CAREER TURNED THE CORNER WHEN HE STARTED WRITING SOUNDTRACKS. ...

Pete Seeger on Moe Asch and Folkways Records (1987)

Interview by Tony Scherman, Rock's Backpages audio, January 1987

The folk revival's elder statesman pays tribute to Folkways founder Moe Asch: talks about the label's evolution, its principles and modus operandi, and its value as a preserver of marginal musical forms. Plus he speaks about Asch's relationship with Woody Guthrie and the EP This Land is Your Land; about Asch's business practices and the issues of royalties and copyrights. Finally, Seeger sums up Asch the man...

File format: mp3; file size: 55.5mb, interview length: 57' 46" sound quality: ***

Sam Charters on Folkways Records' Moe Asch (1987)

Interview by Tony Scherman, Rock's Backpages audio, January 1987

Charters talks about his friend, colleague and mentor Moe Asch: about starting to release his field recordings through Folkways; the importance of the label; the Harry Smith anthology; Sam Goody's support for the label; the label's bankruptcy and tax problems; Asch's brilliance, but being a difficult man to work with; the magnificent catalogue, and the scene surrounding the label.

File format: mp3; file size: 56.8mb, interview length: 59' 08" sound quality: **

Ry Cooder, Jim Dickinson, Green On Red, The Replacements: Jim Dickinson and the New Low-Fi

Interview by Tony Scherman, Musician, November 1987

Wherein a dangerous redneck weirdo becomes studio godfather to post-punk's finest. ...

Steve Winwood: The Lord-Alge Brothers — The First Family of Engineering

Interview by Tony Scherman, Musician, March 1988

The three stooges of the studio get the last laugh. ...

ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons (1990)

Interview by Tony Scherman, Rock's Backpages audio, August 1990

The hirsute guitar wonder starts off with memories of recently-deceased fellow Texan Stevie Ray Vaughan, then discusses the new ZZ Top album Recycler... plus the trio's return to a rootsier sound; the technology used on preceding albums Eliminator and Afterburner; the place of the blues in today's music; and getting to play cards with Muddy Waters.

File format: mp3; file size: 23.8mb, interview length: 24' 48" sound quality: ***

ZZ Top: Front Man: Billy Gibbons

Interview by Tony Scherman, Musician, November 1990

DID YOU ever play with Stevie Ray? Of course. [ZZ Top's] Frank and Dusty grew up with him in Dallas, and just this morning we ...

Stevie Ray Vaughan: Lost and Found and Lost Again: Stevie Ray Vaughan 1954-1990

Retrospective by Tony Scherman, Musician, November 1990

"STEVIE WAS on it. Playin' great, kickin' butt," says Robert Cray, and when Double Trouble was done, everybody — the Vaughan brothers, Cray, Buddy Guy ...

Robert Johnson, ZZ Top: Billy Gibbons on Robert Johnson (1990)

Interview by Tony Scherman, Rock's Backpages audio, Fall 1990

The ZZ Topper talks about his enduring love for bluesman Robert Johnson: on first hearing Columbia's 1961 release King of the Delta Blues Singers; the dark impact of his music; the aspects of mystery surrounding Johnson; his favourite songs; Johnson's superb technique and delivery; the "pact with the Devil" myth, and being given dirt from that crossroads; the newly discovered photograph of Johnson, and his hands; his impact on ZZ Top, and the blues psychogeography of the Mississippi Delta.

File format: mp3; file size: 32.9mb, interview length: 34' 18" sound quality: ** (phoner)

Tony Williams Reinvents Himself

Interview by Tony Scherman, Musician, June 1991

Can't stop worrying, can't stop growing. The world's best drummer turns to composing. ...

Neil Young: Frontman: Neil Young

Interview by Tony Scherman, Musician, December 1991

WHAT'S THE best way for you to write? I pick up things from people on the streets, in airports, at parties. The night before last ...

The Band, Roy Buchanan, Ronnie Hawkins, Robbie Robertson, Sonny Boy Williamson II (Rice Miller): Youngblood: The Wild Youth of Robbie Robertson

Interview by Tony Scherman, Musician, December 1991

Before Storyville, before the Band, a Toronto street punk headed down the Crazy River. ...

The Band, Robbie Robertson: The Band's Robbie Robertson (1991)

Interview by Tony Scherman, Rock's Backpages audio, Fall 1991

Robbie looks back at his days as a teenage guitar-slinger with Ronnie Hawkins: why Ronnie hired him; the dreadful gigs they played; fitting in down south; his mother's Indian roots; holding up a craps game; learning from Levon; not being allowed girlfriends; rousted by the cops with Sonny Boy Williamson; the genius of Garth Hudson, and much more...

File format: mp3; file size: 56.9mb, interview length: 59' 14" sound quality: ***

John Lee Hooker (1992)

Interview by Tony Scherman, Rock's Backpages audio, 1992

The blues veteran talks about his roots outside Clarksdale, Mississippi; the influence of his stepfather Will Moore; how his style evolved into the "boogie" rhythm; his memories of B.B. King, Howlin’ Wolf, and Sonny Boy Williamson; his first big hit 'Boogie Chillen’; hanging out with Bob Dylan in early ’60s New York; his latest album Mr. Lucky and his experiences in the studio; covering ‘I'm in the Mood’ with Bonnie Raitt; his friendship with Van Morrison... and what he's up to next.

File format: mp3; file size: 46.1mb, interview length: 47' 59" sound quality: ** (phoner)

Earl Palmer the Rhythm Bomber, the Funk Machine from New Orleans

Retrospective and Interview by Tony Scherman, Musician, January 1992

From Bessie Smith to Elvis Costello, the Amazing Life and Perfect Time of a Great Rock 'n' Roll Pioneer ...

Dennis Chambers' Pillow Talk

Interview by Tony Scherman, Musician, May 1992

The bedroom secrets of a drummer's hands ...

Billy Cobham (1992)

Interview by Tony Scherman, Rock's Backpages audio, 1993

Between demonstrations of drum techniques and expositions on the philosophy of drumming, Cobham talks about his African and Caribbean roots; his Panamanian family background, and their move to New York City; starting out drumming and listening to big band jazz; his education in drum & bugle corps, and marching bands in Queens; his education at the High School of Music & Art in New York, and joining the military and his time at the Naval School of Music.

File format: mp3; file size: 100.5mb, total interview length: 1h 44' 42" sound quality: ***

The Shangri-Las: Shadow Morton (1993)

Interview by Tony Scherman, Rock's Backpages audio, Fall 1993

The legendary songwriter/producer takes us back to his days in the Brill Building: the Shangri-Las' '(Remember) Walking In The Sand'; the people who surrounded him: Leiber & Stoller, Jeff Barry & Ellie Greenwich, George Goldner, Cynthia Weill & Barry Mann, and Seymour Stein; Kama Sutra and Red Bird records; the insanity of the scene, and his personal style. He also talks about his Brooklyn and Long Island childhood, his alcoholism, his break from music and surviving his aneurysm.

File format: mp3; file size: 118.3mb, interview length: 2h 03' 14" sound quality: ** (background noise)

Alison Krauss (1994)

Interview by Tony Scherman, Rock's Backpages audio, March 1994

The Bluegrass Queen talks about playing in contests; on improvising and soloing; on her encouraging parents, and learning the violin as a child; on the complexities or otherwise of bluegrass; on the difference between classical violin and bluegrass fiddle; starting to sing, and forming her band Union Station; not signing to a major label, and her relationship with Rounder; on just wanting to make great records... and the influence of Pac-Man!

File format: mp3; file size: 69.2mb, interview length: 1h 12' 02" sound quality: ****

Alison Krauss (1994) [transcript]

Transcript of audio interview by Tony Scherman, Rock's Backpages transcripts, March 1994

This is a transcript of Tony's audio interview with Alison. Listen to the audio of this interview. ...

Alison Krauss: Once a "Fiddlin' Teen", She's Now in Demand

Profile and Interview by Tony Scherman, The New York Times, 24 April 1994

ALISON KRAUSS'S eyes bulged at the old newspaper clipping, an arrow from the past headlined, "Fiddlin' Teen Burns Up the Competition." Sitting upstairs in her ...

Chris Whitley: A Latter-Day Folkie Gets Noisy

Profile and Interview by Tony Scherman, The New York Times, 26 March 1995

THE ROCKER TODAY whose music evokes Jimi Hendrix's splendid noise more powerfully than anyone else's is Chris Whitley – an improbable claim, given Mr. Whitley's ...

Wilco: A.M.

Review by Tony Scherman, Entertainment Weekly, 7 April 1995

WHEN CO-LEADER Jay Farrar quit the rootsy alternative-rock band Uncle Tupelo last year, the group renamed itself Wilco and cut A.M. (Reprise). As it turns ...

Wynton Marsalis: What Is Jazz?

Interview by Tony Scherman, American Heritage, October 1995

Wynton Marsalis believes America is in danger of losing the truest mirror of our national identity. If that's the case, we are at least fortunate ...

Wynton Marsalis (1996)

Interview by Tony Scherman, Rock's Backpages audio, 1996

The jazz trumpeter and composer talks about his impact on the form and its current state; his involvement in teaching and his proteges; where he's at, and his ambitions; on studying composition, and the nature of compositon and improvisation; his impact as a spokesman; his involvement in the Lincoln Center Jazz Program; on why he's attacked; his current projects; his luck being surrounded by good people, and some of the turning points in his career.

File format: mp3; file size: 87mb, interview length: 1h 30' 39" sound quality: ***

Bob Neuwirth: Look Up (Watermelon)

Review by Tony Scherman, Entertainment Weekly, April 1996

AT FIRST you notice Neuwirth's puny vocals – he makes guest Peter Case's scrawny voice sound positively rich. ...

Earl Palmer, Dave Bartholomew and Alvin "Red" Tyler (1997)

Interview by Tony Scherman, Rock's Backpages audio, March 1997

Three giants of New Orleans R&B — bandleader Bartholomew, drummer Palmer and sax player Tyler — look back on the days on the bandstand and NOLA studios: on recording with Fats Domino and Little Richard; on the characters — Lightnin' Slim, the unlucky Smiley Lewis and more; on hassles with the Musicians' Union; on Palmer leaving for L.A.; on squeezing in bebop; on the beloved Dew Drop Inn... and what made the Crescent City sound. [NOTE: The most audibly prominent voice belongs to Tyler, with Palmer's the most distant. Bartholomew's is somewhere in the middle, with the deepest register.]

File format: mp3; file size: 94.7mb, interview length: 1h 38' 35" sound quality: ***

Hal Blaine, Earl Palmer: A Vote for the Hired Guns of Rock-and-Roll

Comment by Tony Scherman, The New York Times, 26 July 1998

EVER SINCE the Rock-and-Roll Hall of Fame gave itself the ticklish job of anointing a rock-and-roll pantheon, one of its stated goals has been to ...

Robert Johnson: Demythologizing Robert Johnson: Chipping Away at the Myths That Encrust a Blues Legend

Essay by Tony Scherman, The New York Times, 20 September 1998

ALTHOUGH THE great blues singer and guitarist Robert Johnson died 60 years ago, swallowed up at 27 by the rural Mississippi demiworld of juke joints ...

Taj Mahal: In Progress and Motion (Columbia/Legacy)

Review by Tony Scherman, The New York Times, 29 November 1998

EMERGING IN THE late '60s as an anomaly – one of the few young black musicians to embrace the folk-blues revival – Taj Mahal flirted ...

Geoff Muldaur: The Secret Handshake

Review by Tony Scherman, The New York Times, 13 December 1998

"THE WHITE MAN cannot vocal the blues,'' said the blues singer Muddy Waters with grave finality, and his maxim has only rarely been disproved. ...

The Chemical Brothers: Warhol: The Herald Of Sampling

Comment by Tony Scherman, The New York Times, 7 November 1999

MENTION ANDY Warhol's relationship to pop music, and the first name to crop up will be that of the Velvet Underground, the band Warhol championed ...

Mark O'Connor: Fiddling While the Old Barriers Burn

Profile by Tony Scherman, The New York Times, 2 April 2000

WHEN THE cellist Yo-Yo Ma, the bassist Edgar Meyer and the violinist Mark O'Connor take the stage on Wednesday at Avery Fisher Hall to play ...

Bill Monroe: Before Bluegrass, Bill Monroe Was Already a Star

Retrospective by Tony Scherman, The New York Times, July 2000

SO CLOSELY IS the late Bill Monroe identified with his musical creation, bluegrass, that it's almost as if man and music called each other into ...

Strike the Band: Pop Music Without Musicians

Report and Interview by Tony Scherman, The New York Times, 10 February 2001

IN THE 1950s and '60s, the recording studio became an instrument. From its humble origins documenting live performances, the studio turned into a music-maker itself, ...

Aretha Franklin: Preacher's Daughter

Book Excerpt by Tony Scherman, PopMatters, 12 March 2021

Our recent glimpse of Tony Scherman's biography in progress, I Gave My Heart and Soul to You: The Triumph of Aretha Franklin, told the story ...

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