The making of “Sultans of Swing”

In 1997 or '98, Guitar World did a cover story on the 100 greatest guitar solos of all time. I wrote many of the entries and will repost a bunch of them over the next month or so. I've been listening to Mark Knopfler's new album Privateering,…

Derek and Susan “It’s So Heavy”

I've been thoroughly enjoying the Tedeschi Trucks Band's new album Made Up Mind and was happy to come across this acoustic duo take of the album's "It's So Heavy" recorded on their bus. Derek has called this song their tribute to…

I really like the North Mississippi All Stars

I am just finishing up a feature on the North Mississippi All Stars for Relix. I love the band and I love Luther and Cody Dickinson as people. I spent a fair amount of time hanging with Luther last June at Butch Trucks' Roots Rock Revival and…

Howard Stern interviews Graham Nash and digs deep

I'm not the biggest fan of Howard Stern and have never spent hours listening to him. I find a lot of his schtick juvenile and just not funny. But, man, when he's engaged, he's a great, great interviewer. Having essentially unlimited time allows…

The Making of Texas Flood

In honor of Stevie Ray Vaughan's birthday, the 30th anniversary of his debut recording and the release of a new version,  Texas Flood (30th Anniversary Collection), I present the following story of the making of Texas Flood. This was written…

The story behind “Some Kind of Wonderful”

Bob Lefsetz wrote about the song "Some Kind of Wonderful," made into a hit by Grand Funk Railroad, which prompted the song's writer and original singer John Ellison, of the great, forgotten Soul Brothers Six, to respond. I found his story about…

Try a new Chinese cuisine

In 2008, I was asked by NBC.com to make a list of things for Olympics visitors to do in Beijing. One of my suggestions was to try a new kind of Chinese cuisine. I stand by the list - but not the restaurant recommendations, which are five years…

World blues: guqin/guitar duet

This was a fully improvised performance at the Xiamen Beach Festival discussed in the Big in China prologue. Zhang Yong opened up with a solo guqin piece and 10 minutes before he went on, e told me to come out when he looked at me and nodded…

Why I Write

I did in an interview for the Why I Write website, and I think it came out pretty well. It's really hard to read something like about yourself and not feel a little pompous, but it captures my method of writing, or lack thereof. Amazon.com…

How David Bowie saved Peter Frampton’s career…

I interviewed Peter Frampton for the WSJ Speakeasy blog. I enjoyed doing it... He's a smart, interesting guy and a real gentleman. I never knew about the Bowie connection.