Rapper KC Ortiz grew up in Mobile, Alabama, and fell in love with Chicago after her drag mother showed her a video of local female-impersonation pageant Miss Continental. As she told Windy City Times last year, “I hadn’t transitioned at that time and didn’t know that world existed. When I saw that video, I wanted […]
Tag: Alabama
Posted inMusic
Man or Astro-Man? go surfing in outer space
There’s a difference between surf and instrumental rock—not every rock ’n’ roll tune without a vocal is surf. The likes of Duane Eddy, Link Wray, and even Booker T. & the MGs have all been mistaken for surf artists, but none of them have had that “wet” reverb sound favored by west-coast guitarists such as […]
Posted inMusic
George ‘Wild Child’ Butler breathed new life into raw, old-fashioned blues
This stubbornly idiosyncratic harmonica player had lousy luck with recordings, but he thrived for four decades onstage.
Posted inMusic
Southern-tinged emo artists All Get Out bring out their hook-driven anthems
For emo-rock outfit All Get Out, the 2010s were a turbulent decade. Originally from Charleston, South Carolina, the band made their breakthrough in 2011 with their second full-length, The Season, before relocating to Texas, where it took them five years to put out their follow-up, 2016’s Nobody Likes a Quitter (Bad Timing). Though it was […]
Posted inMusic
‘Do what the good Lord gave you and keep going’
The new compilation No Other Love shines a light on a self-reliant strain of midwest gospel that’s survived outside the mainstream for more than 50 years.
Posted inMusic
JPEGMafia offers an escape from single-genre monotony on the eclectic All My Heroes Are Cornballs
On his new third studio album, All My Heroes Are Cornballs, Brooklyn-born, Baltimore-based hip-hop artist Barrington Devaughn Hendricks, aka JPEGmafia (Peggy for short), offers an escape from the monotony of music that’s restricted by genre. Hendricks dives headfirst into his attention-deficit-fueled opener, “Jesus Forgive Me, I Am a Thot,” which is the album’s most concise […]
Posted inMusic
Bacon fat, corn liquor, and tail feathers: remembering R&B legend Andre Williams
R&B legend Andre Williams influenced generations of rockers and rappers—and his decades-long comeback ended only with his death at 82.
Posted inBlogs
Talking about God, the air force, and Britney Spears with Chicago rapper KC Ortiz
This weekend Alabama transplant KC Ortiz performs at a showcase hosted by local label Futurehood, which supports gay and trans musicians of color.
Posted inMusic
Blues drummer Sam Lay has made five careers’ worth of music
Sharp-dressed drummer Sam Lay has played with Dylan and Howlin’ Wolf, and in 2015 he was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame with the Paul Butterfield Blues Band.
Posted inColumns & Opinion
How to take a fly on that workplace romance
Dan advises an out lesbian interested in a coworker, a sixtysomething would-be lesbian, and more.
Posted inMusic
In 1924 Maxwell Street regular Daddy Stovepipe became one of the first bluesmen ever recorded
Bluesman Daddy Stovepipe was born during Reconstruction and lived long enough to be “rediscovered” in 1960, during the folk-music revival.
Posted inBlogs
How Jon Langford’s Four Lost Souls found a second home in Muscle Shoals, Alabama
Four Lost Souls—Jon Langford, Tawny Newsome, John Szymanski, and Bethany Thomas—celebrate their new album on Wednesday at the Hideout.
Posted inBlogs
On ‘Lay Down,’ rising rapper OMB Peezy balances his native Alabama with his adopted home in California
Recent 300 signee OMB Peezy, who plays Reggie’s on Thursday, is being hailed as a new avatar of regional rap—and his breakout single shows how distinctive he can be.
Posted inNews & Politics
How a Chicago priest became an unwitting civil rights figure
Former Catholic priest Richard Morrisroe reflects on his friend and fellow civil rights activist Jonathan Daniels who was gunned down by a segregationist in Alabama 50 years ago.
Posted inBlogs
South Carolina is more educated about its history than you might think
Did public educatiion in South Carolina lead to the vote to furl the battle flag?