TERRY PAUL ROLAND

In the Los Angeles Americana-folk music scene, opportunities abound for rare and off-the-radar concert experiences that allow veteran artists to quietly deliver unique treasure troves of songs and stories to appreciative fans. No live music venue supports this experience with as much consistency and integrity as The Coffee Gallery Backstage in Altadena in Southern California just a few miles north of Pasadena.
And few artists can bring honest, heart-felt simplicity and soul to live-acoustic m...

With a career as diverse as the emerging genre we call ‘Americana,’ Jim Lauderdale continues on the same track toward collaboration, generosity and an imagination fused with the influence of Country and Bluegrass traditions. His December, 2012 release with musical cohort, Buddy Miller, is a
collection of songs, some covers and some originals, that focuses on the tight harmony vocal approach eschewing style over the feel and soul of the song. It’s a typical move for Lauderdale who has made a c...

Photographs by Jacki Sackheim
During her recent interview with Scott Goldman at the Grammy Museum’s “An Evening With” series, singer-songwriter Brandi Carlile paused for a moment, then spoke about the distinction between being an artist and an entertainer. It is a fine line many artists have wrestled with over the years. When does the artist simply entertain and when does she persevere on to something deeper and more enduring than the momentary celebration? And more important, does she bring ...

By Terry Roland
Thank God for singers of songs. In past music eras, they were the stars. Frank Sinatra and Elvis are two iconic examples of singers who most songwriters would give up their first-born to cover their songs. Songwriter’s needed them to be heard. One listen to the voices of Burt Bacharach or Jimmy Webb, can send fans running for their Glen Campbell or B.J. Thomas vinyl. Since the advent of the singer-songwriter era, beginning with Bob Dylan in the early ’60s and accelerating with...

"Had the punk scene existed in 1812 Lord Byron would have easily claimed the mantle as the First Bad Boy of Rock for having created the original blueprint of a sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll life template that would pave the way for rebels to come like Arthur Rimbaud, William Burroughs, James Dean and Jim Morrison." Eric Andersen
What do singer-songwriter Eric Andersen and poet Lord Byron have in common? As fate would have it, there is a strong creative connection between the two. It’s a bond t...

A Larger Living Room, a Taller Stage: Watkins Famil...

"When he took the stage and the music began, if you listened closely, through the drums, the organ, the electric guitars, you could hear thunder, feel its movement, you could see the mist of blue rain falling onto the stage and over the ocean of people, hands in the air, waves of pure rock ‘n’ roll. Electric nights in rock ‘n’ roll heaven on earth." -tr
In a week of tragedy and violence that has sent shock waves across the land, the loss of beloved rock ‘n’ roll artist, Tom Petty, has created...

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