Gram Parsons

In Defense of the Eagles

By Mike Seely [Editor's Note: Fuck Guilty Pleasures celebrates the over-produced, commercial, artless, lowbrow music that we believe is genuinely worthwhile. Like, among the best music ever.] Shitting on the Eagles is basically a national pastime for hard-core Americana fans. In fact, while there ... More >>

The Cult of Gram Parsons Lives on in Joshua Tree

Forty years after his sensational death, the country-rock pioneer remains beloved in the desert

The Definitive Guide to the Music of The Big Lebowski

L.A. Weekly is celebrating The Big Lebowski's 15th anniversary with a massive cover story tribute! Check out our other Lebowski-themed stories. Not doing so would be very un-Dude. The Dude's identity is strongly informed by music. As a former Metallica roadie and free love-era denizen still trying ... More >>

Beachwood Sparks Are One of L.A.'s Most Influential Bands You Don't Know

With folk music back in the mainstream consciousness via acts like Bon Iver and Fleet Foxes, the timing for Beachwood Sparks' reunion is right. "I think we were one of the bands that paved the way for that," founding member and bassist Brent Rademaker tells us. He's excited to talk about their new a ... More >>

Best of Coachella: Sunday, April 22

See also: Our complete Coachella coverage By the third day of Coachella's second weekend -- the sixth and final day of this year's festival -- folks had more or less learned to ignore the dust and the heat. Here are our intrepid writers' favorite things about the final hours of the 2012 event.

Music Picks: Lila Downs, Merle Haggard, I See Hawks in L.A., Die Antwoord

Also, Das Racist, Gonjasufi, Roky Erickson and others

Music Picks: Method Man, Sufjan Stevens and Raymond Raposa, Billy Childs Jazz Chamber Ensemble

Also, Lights, Gallows, Slow Club

Tommy Keene, Power Pop's Dark Knight

Chris Rady ​Power pop, like bubblegum before it, is often viewed as the domain of skinny-tie moptoppers singing ditties about girls and cars. Longtime power pop icon Tommy Keene, however, doesn't fit this stereotype. His moodier music accentuates the "power" in power pop, building his muscular ... More >>

Falling James' Gig of the Week: Buffalo Springfield at the Wiltern, 6/4

Falling James​A few years ago, the notoriously forward-looking Neil Young was in a curiously sentimental mood, waxing nostalgic on his solo tune "Buffalo Springfield Again": "Used to play in a rock & roll band/But they broke up ... I'd like to see those guys again/and give it a shot/Maybe now ... More >>

Emmylou Harris at El Rey Theatre: Live Review

Falling JamesEmmylou Harris​There were rumors that a surprise special guest would open Emmylou Harris' show Thursday night at El Rey Theatre. Beforehand, fans tried to guess who the secret performer might be -- no easy task since Harris has collaborated with so many pop celebrities, including ... More >>

Music Picks: Coachella, Girls in Trouble, Ms. Lauryn Hill, Paul Simon

Also, Mary Anne Hobbs, Yoni Wolf, Emmylou Harris and others

Paz Lenchantin, Psychedelic Goddess

The Entrance Band's bassist discusses her inspirations and their Satellite residency

Charlie Louvin, Member of Influential Country Duo the Louvin Brothers, Dead at 83

The Louvin Brothers' masterpiece: "Satan Is Real"​ The New York Times reports that Charlie Louvin, member of the country duo the Louvin Brothers and a huge influence on Gram Parsons, the Byrds and the development of country-rock, died today at his home in Wartrace, Tenn. Louvin was 83. Acc ... More >>

Music Picks: Amy Kuney, Whispertown, the Civil Wars, Jake Bellows, Plan B

Also, Thom Bresh, Pictureplane, James Intveld and others

Music Picks: Sunset Junction Street Fair, Lucinda Williams, Y & T, Tanya Morgan

Also, GZA, Jimmy Webb, Fol Chen and others

Music Picks: Liz Pappademas, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Mad Professor, Bill Frisell

Also, Taylor Swift, Los Tres, Saint Motel, David Allan Coe and others

Review: Amanda Jo Williams @ Echo Country Outpost

​Strumming a small child's guitar and tapping a giant bass drum that rattles like an earthquake, Amanda Jo Williams spins country-fried yarns about growing up in Georgia, hitchhiking to Woodstock, the men she's loved and the cosmos she abides by, with a voice somewhere between Minnie Mouse and ... More >>

Last Word on SXSW: Jeff Miller's Top 3 Picks (LA band, Coming Soon, Wild Card)

[Ed's note: SXSW coverage all over has been as chaotic and overwhelming as the event itself. If you don't have time to read all the pieces and wanna know what our writers thought the pick of the litter was, here's our reporters' highly personal (the way we like it) must-hear digest. First up, Thrill ... More >>

Live Review: Black Rebel Motorcycle Club @ the Echoplex

Six albums of girls-gone-bad and civilian unrest fantasies supplied Black Rebel Motorcycle Club with more than enough material to fill their three-show stint at the Echoplex this past week. On Friday (night two), perfectly back-lit by a rolling blue mist, bassist Robert Been greeted the audience and ... More >>

Keeping Up With the Times

Tonight at 826LA East: LA Music Writers Hold a "Seminar," Discuss Amazing Opportunities in Journalism

Tonight at the ever-inspiring 826LA East in Echo Park, directly behind the Echo Park Time Travel Mart, a bunch of music writers will be discussing their, er, craft, no doubt addressing hot button issues in the ever-exciting world of music journalism, a profession that is growing by leaps and bound ... More >>

Chris Darrow's Kaleidoscopic Vision

A mentor to Ben Harper; a "world music" propenent before there was even a name for it

Rock Picks: Thurston Moore, James Blackshaw, Lisa Hannigan, Modest Mouse

Plus, Scott Walker Night, Dead Confederate, A.C. Newman

Best Gay L.A. Nightlife

Sexy time

Over the Weekend: Beck at the Bowl, Man Man Taco Fiesta, and Anniversary of Gram Parsons' Death

I've never welcomed a Monday with more relief. Over the weekend, pre-Emmy parties on Friday and Saturday crowded Hollywood, while the actual ceremony on Sunday at the Nokia made living downtown a pain the ass for anyone like me who wasn't glued to a television. Plus, we got a shock Saturday morning ... More >>

Getting the Shaft at the Sunset Junction Street Fair

Black Moses mojo was conjured all over this year's Sunset Junction Street Fair, from the beauteous Isaac Hayes painting done by local artist Kofie (live and to the beats of the nearby I&I Sound System reggae ice cream truck), to the numerous Hayes shout-outs at the Sanborn stage (which was a non-sto ... More >>

Rock Picks: Rupa & the April Fishes, Gnarls Barkley, Emmylou Harris

Also, Black Kids, Chromeo, Alejandro Escovedo

I See Hawks In L.A. with the Chapin Sisters @ The Echo 6.8.08

Photos by Rena Kosnett. Los Angeles' own country heroes, I See Hawks In L.A., celebrated the release of their 4th album, Hallowed Ground, at the Echo. The Chapin Sisters proclaimed their love for I See Hawks by singing a few numbers with the quartet before the guests of honor wrastled the mic. T ... More >>

The 10 Best Local Albums Of 2007

10. Sea Wolf-Leaves in the River At times, Leaves In the River reads a little predictably quirky, but Alex Church's pop heart salvages this from being the effort of another accordian-toting, maritime metaphor-using copycat. The sound might not be the most original (I can't wait for Colin Meloy' ... More >>

Rock Picks: Ruins, Beirut, Turbonegro, Metric

Also, Bill Callahan, Emmylou Harris and more picks for the week of October 4 –11

Wings & Things

Reviews of Willie Nelson's Songbird and Meat Loaf's Bat Out of Hell III: The Monster Is Loose

Dear Colleen

Letters from a sucker new in Hollywood, 1974–1976

Breakfast with Tiffany

E=MC⁵

Twists and Kisses

Ear pretzels from Television

Six Pack of Lonely

Mike Stinson in the late great Golden State

Two Chords and a Pazam!

Burning Gram

Your Time Is Now

Country Countdown

onnie Mack’s Barn Dance is lookin’ for love

In Character

The mayor of Joshua Tree

Playlist

Songs for Camden Joy

Midnight at the Oasis

Sleepless in Hamtramack

The Sun Unplugged

Beats, blood and Infesticons

Angel in Spurs

Strange Effects

The truthful way of Billie Holiday

Under Desert Skies

Beachwood Sparks, sons of the pioneers

Shout at the Devil

Public Enemy rants to the music

We're Earnest, and Contagious

How grunge killed alternative country, and why Trailer Bride could save it