“Modernity” is the central theme of Roberto Calasso’s La Folie Baudelaire (Farrar, Straus & Giroux), which, among many other things, explores the origins of the word as defined and executed by Baudelaire between

 Bob Dylan is inarguably an American icon, one whose music has transcended the passage of time, but for many people he’ll forever be a symbol of the promise and problems of the ’60s, which begs the question

 There is pensive wandering into the past on this massive collection of songs, moving smoothly through two discs in the CD version. Neil Young’s artistry is at its height. “Twisted Road” contains revelatory lines that capture

 A significant changing of the guard occurred at last year’s Chicago Blues Festival when Koko Taylor’s daughter, Cookie, crowned Shemekia Copeland the new “Queen of the Blues.” It’s an honor richly deserved, as Copeland...

 The title track of Bob Dylan’s remarkable, 35th studio album delves into the sinking of the Titanic with the innovatively poetic songwriting style developed by Dylan in the ’60s and brought into the 21st...

With his new “folk music” album Americana, a documentary film going into theaters this summer titled Journeys and his memoirs forthcoming this fall, it is impossible to dispute the prodigious artistry of Neil Young. Separating Young from...

On Sunshine Blues, multi-instrumentalist and Wisconsin native Bob Parduhn explores various genres, including swing jazz (“Tailspin”), classic reggae (“Babylon Falling”) and R&B (“Chase Away the Blues”). This is Parduhn's fifth solo album...

Covers records are often a band's attempt to showcase their influences and explain how their...

The two Dylan covers, both from Time Out of Mind, no less, reveal the state of Bonnie Raitt's old heart: full of appreciation, wonder and tough nostalgia for “the rest of us, who used to rule the world.” Sure, the smooth blues...

Mike Seeger was a founding member of the folk-blues revival string band the New Lost City Ramblers as well as a distinguished solo artist, concentrating on early American music. He was a virtuoso on many instruments, such as banjo...