Mike Ragogna

Author Archives: Mike Ragogna

July 9, 2019

The Ann Arbor Blues Festival Celebrates 50th Anniversary With Historic Album Release

Back in August 15-18, 1969, more than 400,000 young people descended on Bethel, New York, at Max Yasgur’s dairy farm for a series of concerts since dubbed “Woodstock” after a town 43 miles southwest of the event. Though Woodstock would become the most historically referenced musical gathering of that year and possibly all time, earlier […]

Continue reading
July 8, 2019

Blinded By The Light Movie & Soundtrack Coming

In the same approach as the massively popular, Beatles-inspired Yesterday comes a movie inspired by the music of Bruce Springsteen, Blinded By The Light, guided by Bend It Like Beckham director Gurinder Chadha. The film received critical acclaim when released at Sundance and will be released in theaters on August 14. Its accompanying soundtrack features […]

Continue reading
July 3, 2019

Celebrating Country Music’s Bakersfield Sound

Many country music lovers who are into the genre’s early “Bakersfield Sound” immediately conjur memories of Merle Haggard and Buck Owens, the field’s biggest and most storied stars. But beyond the hillbilly and variations on folk and bluegrass that evolved into the Nashvillian soundtrack to America’s working class, Bakersville’s blend of California attitude, honky-tonk, smokey […]

Continue reading
July 1, 2019

Turning On and Tuning In with NRBQ Live

Assembling their six Sirius/XM performances on “The Loft” (November 30, 2015) and WFMU-FM’s Monty Hall, Jersey City, NJ concert (August 20, 2017), NRBQ’s new album Turn On, Tune In features the innovative band at their best live, containing six previously unrecorded songs among the 21 tracks. Bob Brainen wrote the liner notes for Turn On, […]

Continue reading
June 28, 2019

The Black Keys Rock…Because They Can

The Black Keys are back for their ninth album, Let’s Rock. It’s released today on Easy Eye Sound/Nonesuch, and this one’s a rocker. Let’s Rock is a collection of what’s being called “straightforward rock,” the kind that singer/guitarist Dan Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney played in their early days as a band. “When we’re together, […]

Continue reading
June 27, 2019

Brian Eno Flies “Capsule,” Relaunches Apollo, Awarded Asteroid

Ambient musician Brian Eno recently advanced the track “Capsule” that is taken from the bonus disc “album” included as the second disc of his upcoming July 19 release, a remastered and “extended” version of his classic Apollo: Atmospheres & Soundtracks. “Capsule” reunites Eno with Apollo‘s original musical cast, his brother Roger and famed producer Daniel […]

Continue reading