Appreciating all that makes America special

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Just think of all the music that’s distinctly American. Jazz. Rock and roll. Motown. The blues. Zydeco. (And if we didn’t invent it here, we found a way to make it better.) We tap our toes, we dance, we thrill to the music of America.


Music: Cole Porter

Posted by on Jun 22, 2009 in Music | 1 comment

They had to invent a term to accommodate Porter’s contributions to the popular music canon: The Great American Songbook. Of course,...

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Singer: Jimi Hendrix

Posted by on Jun 15, 2009 in Singer | 2 comments

Time has allowed us to get a little perspective on this comet that briefly blazed across the rock and roll firmament. He was one of those...

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Singer: Johnny Cash

Posted by on Jun 6, 2009 in Singer | 1 comment

In its infancy, rock and roll quickly crowned its king. At the same time, another member of R&R royalty was making his name: The Man in...

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Singer: Ray Charles

Posted by on May 27, 2009 in Singer | Comments Off on Singer: Ray Charles

Ray Charles was a country singer. Now, of course, he wasn’t just a country singer. But the mere fact that he was able to perform such...

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Singers: The Beach Boys

Posted by on May 16, 2009 in Singer | 1 comment

From 1964 to roughly 1967 or so, America experienced what was called “The British Invasion.” Following the success of the...

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Singer: Louis Armstrong

Posted by on May 11, 2009 in Music, Singer | Comments Off on Singer: Louis Armstrong

Nicknamed “Satchmo,” Louis Armstrong was a crossover artist before people knew such a thing existed. It’s probably a...

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Singer: Bruce Springsteen

Posted by on Apr 22, 2009 in Music, Singer | Comments Off on Singer: Bruce Springsteen

  A first for me: a guest blogger. Reader JMQ from New Jersey (surprise!) sent not just a suggestion, but a fully written entry about...

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Music: Grand Ole Opry

Posted by on Apr 13, 2009 in Americana, Music | 2 comments

You don’t have to like country music to appreciate the legacy of the Grand Ole Opry. Growing from a live radio broadcast (The WSM...

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Singer: Marvin Gaye

Posted by on Apr 2, 2009 in Singer | 4 comments

He would have turned 70 today. Hard to comprehend. But he never made it, and we can only guess how depleted our musical heritage is as a...

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