Huddie Ledbetter had a difficult life, one that informed and begot his incredible musical career as Lead Belly. The folk and blues that Lead Belly practiced was anchored in a distinctly American tradition, brought to vibrant life by the man’s twelve-string guitar playing and powerful voice. Lead Belly was born…

Muse is one of those bands that I look back on with a mixed reaction. While I was never an uber-fan, I definitely listened to the alt/prog/electronic rock group with a frequency that I wouldn’t want to match today. And it is true that in their heyday, Muse delivered some…

I’ve come upon a startling revelation: a lot of people really hate director Jeff Baena’s movies. Perhaps best known as the long-time-boyfriend-turned-husband of Aubrey Plaza, the guy has turned out five indie-flavored comedy movies in the eight years since 2014. Plaza has starred in four of those five, and indeed…

Dive just far enough into the history of progressive folk music in this country and hopefully you’ll come across The Almanac Singers. This group of Communists and “fellow travelers” operated only for a short time and were inextricably tied to the politics of World War II, being active only from…

David Leitch exploded onto the directorial scene with JOHN WICK in 2014 and has since made a name for himself in action films left in its wake. Well, he exploded as an uncredited director; thanks to Directors Guild of America rules, he was listed as a producer and sole directorial…

This is the first in a series of pieces ranking the best albums of every year. This installment starts with the entire 1940s, the decade that began yielding the format we now expect music to be released in. As opposed to film, which is my foremost discipline of study and…

The music of Beyoncé, Bey, Queen B, Sasha Fierce, etc., looms large. From her days in Destiny’s Child (who I’ve written about before) to early solo success to Jay-Z marriage to childbirth and many, many more iconic and extensively covered career and life changes, Beyoncé has reigned as one of…

Rising from an already great comic career, from MADTV (1995–2016) to KEY & PEELE (2012–2015), Jordan Peele has, in the five short years since 2017 and across just three films, made a name for himself as one of the most exciting working American directors. Focused so far on the horror…

Shortly after the dissolution of The Alan Parsons Project in 1990, the titular producer and songwriter went “solo.” Releasing under his name sans Project, Alan Parsons has essentially recreated the work he did in the 1970s and ’80s, both in sound and collaboration structure. The prog/pop/soft rock aesthetic the Project…