Arts and Entertainment

In case you hadn't noticed, Laurel Canyon is having a moment, and it's not just the new Springsteen album. Jakob Dylan has put together a documentary called "Echo in the…

This isn't John Prine's most famous song, but it's the one that many of his fans -- including Bob Dylan -- consider his greatest. Unlike most of his story songs,…

Here's another song that, for reasons I can't fathom, has never been employed for its obvious calling as a TV commercial. It's Hoagiefest time at the region's favorite convenience store,…

"Hooked on a Feeling" had been a hit twice and been recorded by several artists before it hit No. 1 in America in 1974 with this version by a group…

Huzzah! Tonight's Firefly lineup actually includes a band whose name I recognize. After a string of successful albums in the '00s, Death Cab seemed to peak in 2008 with its…

A message slipped into this chess metaphor was as close to political as Yes ever got. If you only heard it on AM radio when it was released as a…

As an antidote to the new Bruce Springsteen album, a pleasant enough departure from his usual sound but about as energetic as a Perry Como record, here's the song that…

The Thorns was an interesting experiment. Solo artists Shawn Mullins, Pete Droge and Matthew Sweet began working together as a CS&N-style acoustic harmony group in 2002 for an album that…

Al Kooper is one of rock's Zelig characters. His career started in the 1950s as a member of the Royal Teens, responsible for the single "Short Shorts." In the 1960s…

This is probably the only piece of music in the classical canon inspired by a political speech. Henry A. Wallace, FDR's third-term vice president, proclaimed in early 1942, "Some have…

Back when Midwestern power trios like Grand Funk Railroad ruled American rock, none was better than the classic lineup of the James Gang -- Jim Fox on drums, Dale Peters…

After that '80s-sounding song yesterday, I got to wondering what would be the most '80s song ever -- the one that best embodied the sound of the decade, for good…

This song was born in the wrong decade. If it had been written and released before the mid-'70s it would be considered a Carolina beach music classic -- it's got…