Linda Ronstadt – “I Can’t Help It”: when a song becomes a confession
When Linda Ronstadt stepped to the microphone and began “I Can’t Help It,” the room changed temperature. Conversations stilled. Glasses…
David Ryan
Linda Ronstadt – “Tracks of My Tears”: when Motown ache meets Southwestern light
Prepare yourself. Linda Ronstadt, the queen of heartfelt storytelling, has done it again. Her rendition of “Tracks of My Tears”…
Dean Martin – “Ain’t That a Kick in the Head”: A Swinging Lesson in Charm
There are singers who master a song, and then there are singers who make a song feel like the way…
Dean Martin’s Final Performance with Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. during the Iconic ‘Together Again’ Tour of 1988
There are moments in popular music that feel less like events and more like punctuation marks—the kind that bring a…
The Chi-Lites – Oh Girl
I first learned the shape of “Oh Girl” on a night drive when the roads were nearly empty and the…
La-La (Means I Love You) – The Delfonics
I first heard “La-La (Means I Love You)” the way it should be heard: drifting from a small radio after…
The Kingston Trio – Tom Dooley
I sometimes imagine a single microphone, a circle of voices, and the light hiss of tape waiting for truth. That’s…
A Whiter Shade Of Pale – Procol Harum
I first hear it the way so many did: not as a song arriving with fanfare, but as a hush…
Small Faces – Itchycoo Park
It starts with a breath—no, with air being shaped like clay. You hear the band lock into a gentle sway,…
(We’re Gonna) Rock Around the Clock – Bill Haley & His Comets
When the lights came up in certain American theaters in the spring of 1955, the ushers had stories. The kids…