Steve Nichols is a commanding musician. The guitarist has performed with just about everybody. Among the top stars with whom he has shared the stage are jazz legend Barney Kessel, blues giant B.B. King, even the southern country-rock band Charlie Daniels. His local resume is equally impressive. Among others, Nichols has performed with Gypsy Groove, […]
Considering this list, I’ve been attracted again to “Queen Jane Approximately,” one of Dylan’s best “list-making” songs. One the sharpest songs on his 1965 album Highway 61 Revisited, this love-sick lament is deceptively simple. It first reads as the agony of a young man moaning in the moonlight, but the closer look, the harder listen […]
In early March of 2020, Tim Flannery and his band, the Lunatic Fringe, were having a blast. They were in Northern California playing a gig and celebrating guitarist Jeff Berkley’s 50th birthday. Flannery recalled, “We knew about COVID-19 and thought no one would venture out, but those two nights were packed. On the second night, […]
The sad news is that Byron Berline, fiddler extraordinaire, and John Hickman, outstanding banjo player, have both passed away. Byron Berline died from a stroke at age 77 in July and John Hickman left us in May after a long illness. Byron and John were long-time compatriots, playing together in a number of great bands […]
Russ Hamm and I are starting in on the work of transferring the material in my library to digital format. As I told you previously, the Grammy Foundation gave us a grant to do just that. Mostly the material we will transfer will come from the series of festivals we did from 1967 thru 1987 […]
Ken Lehnig’s newest music is a 15-track set of devotional songs, 13 of them originals. I Can Hear You Now! was put together by the same studio crew that has appeared on many of Lehnig’s secular albums, but this time the focus is on Faith, as he is all in on a batch of Christian […]
It is heartbreaking to be writing a second article for the Troubadour in just a few months about yet another San Diego linchpin, lost in another devastating accident. This time I’m writing through tears about a dear friend of mine. J.d. Boucharde was the first musician I played with in San Diego almost two decades […]
Hello Troubadourians! Do you remember your guitar teacher… or really any music teacher you’ve ever had? Some of us took private lessons, some of us had some music training in school, and many of us are self-taught. Regardless of where and how you started, have you continued to add to your musical knowledge? That concept […]
