For decades–probably as long as there’s been recorded music–people have looked back on the music of summers past and said: “That was THE best summer of music.” From 1969–when the Woodstock Festival attracted international attention with its lineup that included Janis Joplin, The Who, Jimi Hendrix and over 20 other acts– to 1984, when several […]
Levon Helm, drummer and singer for the Band, died yesterday from complications of cancer. He was 71. Helm is best remembered as the sole American in the otherwise Canadian group that became Bob Dylan’s backup band and later, simply “The Band.” In the past decade, he gained a reputation as a roots-music patriarch, hosting a […]
In 1969, Jimi Hendrix’s performance of the national anthem at Woodstock hit like a shock wave; with its distortion and chaos, it sounded like a rupture in something sacred. Two music scholars and two rock guitarists put together the pieces. Produced by David Krasnow.