“No, no, no, no.” Ry Cooder is quick to put something to rest as he talks by phone from his home in the hills above Pasadena, California. Yes, he and Taj Mahal went a full 54 years between recording projects together — from Cooder playing on Mahal’s 1968 solo debut, which grew from them co-fronting…

From Blue Velvet to One Tree Hill, scores of movies & TV shows have been filmed in & around Wilmington, North Carolina. Perhaps the best-known is Dawson’s Creek, the popular late-'90s coming-of-age drama series. While the show tried to tackle progressive storylines, its stark lack of diversity made Dawson’s Creek frequently cited as the whitest…

"Deep Roots, Many Voices" is a project by the Blue Ridge Music Center exploring diversity and inclusion in roots-based music. In these videos, we pair two musicians in each episode to talk about issues related to race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation; how these issues have been part of their personal stories; and the importance of…

It’s true: it just doesn’t get cooler than Trombone Shorty. After a few years without releasing music, he's just announced a new studio record to be released on April 29 via Blue Note Records, and if the single is an indicator of what’s to come, then buckle up. The lead single for Lifted is called…

Artist: Larry McCray Hometown: Saginaw, Michigan Song: "Down to the Bottom" (feat. Warren Haynes) Album: Blues Without You (produced by Joe Bonamassa and Josh Smith) Release Date: March 25, 2022 Label: KTBA Records In Their Words: "Albert King, Albert Collins and B.B. King really had the most influence on me because, in my mind, they…