The Easy Truth A Q&A with Coco Montoya By Geoff Gehman Coco Montoya seizes opportunity like a snake wrangler seizes rattlers. He hit the road with his first blues mentor, the highly influential singing guitarist Albert Collins; a mere three hours after Collins invited him to hit the road. His second blues ... Read More
This Is the Year, This Is the Life A Q&A with Blake Christiana of Yarn By Geoff Gehman Blake Christiana once lived on a Lehigh County farm owned by big fans of Yarn, the alternative Americana band he birthed in Brooklyn. The New Tripoli home doubled as a sanctuary for writing songs and escaping the ... Read More
The Changeling A Q&A with Tony Fernandez Of Peace Frog By Geoff Gehman Tony Fernandez was 11 when the Doors began opening his doors to a life without domestic violence. The freedom march began when he first heard “The End,” the psychedelic tone poem that turns apocalyptic when Jim Morrison says, with spooky serenity, “Father ... Read More
I Feel Like I Win When I Lose A Q&A with Halina Ulatowski Of Dancing Dream By Geoff Gehman Halina Ulatowski fell under the spell of ABBA the night that millions of fellow Europeans were spellbound by Agnetha, Anni-Frid, Benny and Bjorn. Then 11 and living in her native Poland, she was totally tuned into ... Read More
Your Gold Teeth III A Q&A with Dale DeJoy of Hey Nineteen By Geoff Gehman Dale DeJoy was a high schooler when he turned a Steely Dan lyric into a Christmas-dinner blessing. It all began when his mother asked him to say grace before the holiday meal. Not knowing any graces, he decided to recite ... Read More
Making a Joyful Noise A Q&A with Larry Campbell and Teresa Williams By Geoff Gehman Larry Campbell and Teresa Williams are deeply, truly rooted. The musicians married in 1988 under a cedar tree planted by her great-great grandmother on her home turf, a seventh-generation cotton farm in Peckerwood Point, Tenn. She originated the role ... Read More
One Man Guy A Q&A with Loudon Wainwright III By Geoff Gehman “The Man Who Couldn’t Cry” was the first song by Loudon Wainwright III that made me realize that the man has the goods. Released on his 1973 album “Attempted Mustache,” it’s the shaggy saga of a writer whose inability to shed tears ... Read More
Cosmic Contemplations A Q&A with Hiroya Tsukamoto By Geoff Gehman Hiroya Tsukamoto likes to call his music “Cinematic Guitar Poetry.” The acoustic guitarist composes meditative mini-movies inspired by everything from the Colorado mountain town he imagined as a youngster in Japan to the West Virginia mountain home where he heard an opera-house manager recall the ... Read More
Everyone Is Someone A Q&A with Amanda Walther of Dala By Geoff Gehman Pretty much everything about the duo Dala is as tight as a peapod. Amanda Walther and Sheila Carabine grew up singing Beatles tunes with their musical dads and brothers in their hometown of Scarborough, Ontario, where they met in high-school ... Read More
Cleaning Out the Cobwebs A Q&A with Julian Dorio of the Whigs By Geoff Gehman Julian Dorio has done a ton as the drummer for the Whigs, the buzzing, buzzsawing band he co-founded 14 years ago as a college student in Athens, Ga. The 34-year-old Atlanta native has played 10 times for five top ... Read More
