Dec 25th, 2008 · The jazz musician's new album is a departure from his usual style. But bassist Hadin grew up performing on his family's country music radio show. In Rambling Boy, Haden's family performs with him, including his son-in-law and actor Jack Black. Also making appearances are country music singers Vince Gill, Ricky Skaggs, and Roseanne Cash, as well as Elvis Costello, Bruce Hornsby, and Pat Metheny.
Dec 23rd, 2008 · Though Haden is best known for his jazz explorations, his latest effort, Rambling Boy, straddles Americana, folk and country. It's a return to his musical roots that brims with nostalgia for his days growing up in the American heartland. Hear a session from WXPN.
Sep 24th, 2008 · Bassist Charlie Haden is known as a great jazz musician, but his lineage is all country: Growing up, he performed alongside his brothers and sister in the Haden Family Band, a country group led by parents, Carl and Virginia.
Aug 26th, 2008 · The rock icon's early work was liberally infused with humor, but his new album is perhaps his darkest yet. He explains how he writes lyrics off the top of his head — and what that has to do with his jive-talking grandfather.
May 22nd, 2008 · The music of Mt. Wilson repeater sounds like it's about to swerve off a cliff. The songs lurch drunkenly into the night with rambling, off-kilter rhythms, glitchy digital textures and the occasional, dizzying slide guitar. The band says it sounds like "chimps smashing laptops for birthday cake." Whatever that means, it all makes for some delicious ear-candy on the band's self-titled debut album, out now on Eastern Fiction records.
May 5th, 2008 · Author Marisa de los Santos recalls the worries of her childhood, and the escape she found in The Four-Story Mistake, Elizabeth Enright's tale of four siblings living with their father and a housekeeper in a big, rambling house in the country.
Feb 18th, 2008 · The cottage that was Abraham Lincoln's refuge during the Civil War was reopened Monday. The rambling Victorian house stands on the grounds of the Soldier's Home in Washington, D.C., and has some of the most sweeping views of the city. Lincoln spent summers there, grieving the death of his son, Willie, reading Shakespeare and interacting with wounded soldiers and former slaves.
May 30th, 2007 · Jonathan Lethem's new book, You Don't Love Me Yet, is a spirited comedy about a struggling rock band in L.A. and its unlikely source of inspiration, the seductive ramblings of a complaint-hotline caller.