Prophecy of Machines
Technology has surpassed art, not only in its power to influence public imagination, but also in prophetic vision.
View ArticleThe Battle Hymn of John Brown
The lyrics to "John Brown's Body" and "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" are more similar than people think.
View ArticleA Song of Woe, Gone Viral
My song "Anxiety Attack" has developed a life of its own. There must be something about being devoured by personal demons that brings people together.
View ArticleA Song of Woe, Gone Viral (Bonus Comic Strip)
How the song "Anxiety Attack" took on an online life of its own.
View ArticleNotes on (Civil War) Camp
For the average soldier, life during wartime was about letter writing, singing, baseball and avoiding malaria.
View ArticleBirth of the ‘Battle Cry’
The origins of one of the Civil War's most famous fighting songs.
View ArticleThe Song Remains the Same
What I learned sweating out solos on the bluegrass bandstand came in handy as a new father.
View ArticleMusic of the Unquiet Mind
John Cage's 1944 piece "Four Walls" translated the innermost rooms of my obsessive-compulsive mind into sound.
View ArticleThe Music of ‘Flow’
From Debussy on, non-musical systems have influenced composers. Here's how Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's concept of flow shaped my work for strings.
View ArticleThe Hitless Songwriter
The series on songwriting resumes, with a piece -- and a new track -- from Terre Roche.
View ArticleWhat the Woodpecker Told Me
Stuck without a lyric in sight, pondering the intricacies of a little bird's brain, I suddenly thought about crazy Mary Sweeney.
View ArticleSimple or Impossible
Writing a song is a little like trying to hit a bottle cap with a wire coat hanger.
View ArticleUntamed Melody
With words and homemade audio, the songwriter documents the birth of a few melodies and, hopefully, a song.
View ArticleSong for My Father
For Father's Day, the singer of The Red House Painters and Sun Kil Moon shares an unreleased song, an homage to his father's survival and painful past.
View ArticleSongwriting on Demand
Was it fair to ask songwriting students to access an emotion for a homework assignment? (Sure.) Would it result in any good songs? (It did.)
View ArticleWhat Do You Reveal Onstage?
If a performer's mind isn’t on the show, the audience can tell.
View ArticleThere’s a Rock Star in My Office
Decades of roaring around the country in a van full of gear, beer and sweat didn’t prepare me for sitting at a computer all day, except maybe for the sitting part.
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