As many of you know, I was honored and privileged to work with the great New York Yankees pitcher Ralph Terry on his as-told-to autobiography, RIGHT DOWN THE MIDDLE (available on amazon.com in a variety of formats). This month in OKLAHOMA Magazine, I get to tell the story of one of his boyhood friends from Chelsea, Oklahoma, Gerome Riley,… Read More »A Racial Separation of Paths/Neighborhood Influences
Drummer, composer, and bandleader Jared Johnson’s affinity for John Steinbeck’s work isn’t just a fan thing. He’s actually created a full-blown jazz concert inspired by Steinbeck’s GRAPES OF WRATH. To find out more about Jared and his GRAPES OF WRATH PROJECT, check out my newest OKLAHOMA Magazine column, HERE.
Maybe you’ve asked yourself why, of all the great music acts to come out of Oklahoma, Leon Russell seems to be the one who still inspires the most intense emotion. When I asked myself that question, I came up with my latest OKLAHOMA Magazine column, which you can find HERE.
It was somewhere around 15 years ago that my longtime chum Robert A. Brown started sending me letters, usually a page or so long, written with a manual typewriter on authentic 1930s air-mail stationery — and sent with real old air-mail stamps. Something like this might have been surprising coming from anyone else in my… Read More »THE CLEANSING: BOOK I
WITH THANKS TO HUGH KIERIG “Oh Monah,” Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys “Mutton Swing,” Tom Morrell and the Time-Warp Tophands “Town Drunk,” Mountain Sprout (for AP MCQUIDDY and the GLASS LIFTERS) “Hop, Skip & Jump,” Speedy West and Jimmy Bryant “Loch Lomond,” Hot Club… Read More »15 FEBRUARY 2020
“Blues for Dixie,” Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys “Me and the Man in the Moon,” Solitaire Miles “Hangover Tavern,” Hank Thompson (for BRAD & ANN JAMES and the GLASS LIFTERS) “Milk Cow Blues,” Jana Jae “Hillbilly Jump,” Hank Penny “San Antonio Rose,” Sons of… Read More »8 FEBRUARY 2019
The first time I interviewed bassist Dean DeMerritt, following his return to Tulsa from Atlanta four years ago, he told me he’d read and enjoyed GHOST BAND, my spook novel set in the world of touring musicians. Of course, that made me happy, but I guess it was kind of logical, since Dean spent a… Read More »Coming Full Circle
The first of the Red Dirt acts to crack the national charts, Stillwater’s Great Divide has persevered for a quarter of a century. Read their story in my latest OKLAHOMA Magazine column, HERE.
Tulsa’s Caravan Swing Band may have been the best unrecorded band in the history of western-swing music, with ex-Texas Playboys like Glenn “Blub” Rhees. Tommy Perkins, and the incomparable Eldon Shamblin on its roster. In fact, however, it was informally recorded at least once, in 1981, on reel-to-reel tapes during a live show. Now, producers… Read More »More Than the Wills Boys