If you’re a fan of country music, you know Radney Foster. Even if you don’t know that you know Radney Foster, by way of hits like “Nobody Wins,” “Crazy Over You,” and “Just Call Me Lonesome,” you know versions of his songs sung by Holly Dunn, Keith Urban, Tanya Tucker, Sara Evans, and other top artists. Altogether, as of this year, Foster has penned eight number 1 hits, two of them performed by him, and plenty of lesser-charting tunes, some with the help of backup singers like Mary Chapin Carpenter and Kasey Musgraves and a host of marquee players. Foster will be making his next Tucson stand a ..read more

Tucson Comic Con returned this year with a star-studded lineup, fun panels, and an excellent exhibit hall. The exhibit hall is always the highlight of the convention, and this year was no different. Small local artists shared the aisles with long-time Tucson Comic Con staples like Bookmans, Zia Records, and Tucson Games and Gadgets, which allowed guests to seamlessly explore the more than 300 vendors, with plenty of variety, unlike the repetitive displays so often seen at other conventions. There was a large variety of artists highlighted and a strong sense of diverse interests represented ..read more

Back in the 1980s, when downtown was a pretty quiet place, I lived across the street from a fellow who would open his doors and windows, turn up a Christopher Cross album—if you don’t know, you may not want to know—and play his drums along with it at maximum volume. I’m not sure if there were noise ordinances back in the day, but I retaliated by opening my doors and windows and playing The Clash and Dead Kennedys a decibel or two louder. The phantom drummer seemed not to mind. Today, The Clash has attained grand old band status. Christopher Cross, meanwhile, has gone from ironic to iconic—at l ..read more

Demon City Wreckers are back for the first time since 2011 and playing a 20th anniversary show at 191 Toole on Sunday December 4 with psychobilly legends Koffin Kats. Demon City Wreckers have been a fixture of the Tucson psychobilly scene since 2002, when they played their first show together as a band. Mike O’Brien had wanted to get a band together but had some difficulties doing so. After a little while, he turned to a few friends he had known for years and recorded an EP as a sort of recruiting tool to get permanent members of the band. Little did he know that doing that would form the ..read more

Though it was the first week of October, monsoon season decided to make one more appearance the night that Dorothy rocked the Rialto Theatre. After they commuted through lakes and downpours, the venue welcomed concertgoers with the promise of a night full of excitement and rock and roll. Regardless of the rain, Tucsonans came out ready to party, and the crowd was even more amped up after the opener, Mac Saturn, brought a fun electricity to the stage. Dorothy Martin, lead singer of Dorothy, came out and instantly had the crowd moving with the funky guitar riffs and her powerful voice. The blue ..read more

The blues come in many flavors and tones, from the muddy depths of Skip James’s “Devil Got My Woman” to the soaring heights of Henry Thomas’s “Bulldozer Blues” all down the line to the blistering Stones and Winters and Wolfs—Howling and Peter, that is. There’s the bouncing lilt of Freddie King’s “Get Out of My Life, Woman,” the bright top notes of B.B. King’s “The Thrill Is Gone,” the rumbling menace of Albert King’s “Born Under a Bad Sign”—and that’s just the Kings. It’s a genre that forgives experimentation while valuing tradition, one that eludes easy definition but that, as the saying goe ..read more

Fifty-five years ago, a group of Southern California folkies had an unexpected hit with a country-tinged song called “Buy for Me the Rain,” one of a dozen songs on their debut album, with two of the others penned by a then-unknown composer named Jackson Browne. With that self-titled debut and its charting single, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band was off and running, on the way to perfecting its trademark blend of bluegrass, country, folk, rock, jug band music, and Delta blues. Photo by Jeff Fasano Founding member Jeff Hanna, who sang lead on “Buy for Me the Rain,” remembers the time well. “We were s ..read more

Zócalo correspondent Kathleen Williamson joins Aspen Green and Kathy Harris of KXCI-FM’s Broad Perspectives for a lively interview with veteran singer-songwriter-guitarist-activist Ani DiFranco about her music, love, and urgent American politics. DiFranco will appear at the Fox Theatre (17 W. Congress St.) on June 18 at 7:30pm to support her new album Revolutionary Love. Tickets are available here. The post Ani DiFranco Brings Revolutionary Love to Tucson first appeared on Zocalo Magazine - Tucson Arts and Culture ..read more

Is there any music lover in Tucson who doesn’t know the work of longtime local Peter McLaughlin and frequent visitor/sometime resident Chris Brashear? Whether you do or don’t, if you’re a fan of the roots/Americana/old-time music that you’ll hear in the better quarters of Nashville, you need to betake yourself to the Old Pueblo’s answer, courtesy of those two: Tucson Opry, that is, the debut edition of which will take place at 7:00 pm on May 30 at the Hotel Congress (311 E. Congress). Tickets are going fast, so grab yours at the front desk or online. Our correspondent Kathleen Williamson talk ..read more

Americana pioneer and country legend Jim Lauderdale is coming to town to play songs from his catalogue and his new album Hope. Our correspondent Kathleen Williamson is here to greet him with a wide-ranging interview in partnership with KXCI-FM and Zócalo. Enjoy—and get to the show, which, to judge by past performances, promises to be one of the best of the year. Jim Lauderdale. Photo by Scott Simontacchi. Jim Lauderdale and His Band will play at the Hotel Congress Plaza (311 E. Congress) on Saturday, May 14, at 7:30pm. Tickets $28 in advance at www.hotelcongress.com. The post Americana Great J ..read more