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Why I’m driving to Pittsburgh for a baseball game

Tomorrow morning, I will see my kids off to school, kiss Becky good bye, gas up my Chevrolet and drive 357 miles from my New Jersey home to see a baseball game in my hometown of Pittsburgh. It was not a difficult decision. The NL Wildcard…
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One Way Out: The Inside History of the Allman Brothers Band… Coming Soon!

Just a Friday reminder...  It's Coming soon - February 18, 2014 St. Martin’s will be publishing One Way Out: The Inside History of the Allman Brothers Band on February 18, 2014, to coincide with the band’s 45th anniversary. This…

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…
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Dickey Betts joins Tedeschi Trucks Band on stage at the Beacon

Dickey Betts joined Derek Trucks and the Tedeschi Trucks Band onstage at the Beacon Theatre Saturday night, September 21 for three songs: "Blue Sky," "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed," and "The Sky Is Crying." Dickey's son and bandmate Duane…
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New Warren Haynes interview

My latest interview with Warren Haynes is out in the latest Guitar World... November 2013 issue, on sale now... Go buy it! We discuss Gov't Mule's new album Shout! and the symphonic Jerry Garcia tour. A tiny sample: GW: It’s been four…

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…
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Playing Duane Allman’s guitar

A special guest post: What was it like to play Duane Allman’s guitar? by Sonny Moorman I had the thrill of my musical life last year when I got to play Duane Allman’s 1957 Goldtop Les Paul on a Macon, Georgia, stage. I grew…

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.