Complete works of gospel piano pioneer Arizona Dranes, with a comprehensive booklet. Also Grammy-nominated. That’s the exciting part for Corcoran: the limitless possibilities of reporting on gospel music, a rich genre that’s not capitalized on by many music writers. – Texas Monthly $20 (includes shipping) via paypal. NPR did a 9-minute segment on this […]
Beautifully illustrated by the photos of Scott Newton and others, this book profiles 42 Texas musicians who left their mark and inspired others, including Janis Joplin, Lefty Frizzell, T-Bone Walker, Ella Mae Morse, King Curtis and Townes Van Zandt. “The best book ever written about Texas music,” – Joe Nick Patoski. $22-signed trade paperback (includes […]
Return of the drunken Irish bastard.
By Michael Corcoran Austin was not big enough to hold all its grief on May 18, 1978, when two authority figures- a policeman and a schoolteacher- were shot to death hours apart while doing their jobs. The murder of Ralph Ablanedo of APD made news all over again in June 2010 when his killer David […]
By Michael Corcoran First published April 2003 in AAS Willie understood. When Frank Sinatra kept touring well into his 70s, reading the words of his classic songs off giant TelePrompTers, critics and fans wondered why he didn’t retire. How much money did he need? But Willie Nelson knew that concert receipts had nothing to do […]
The night I joined the rock n’ roll circus
Bobby Keys was the larger-than-life Texan the Rolling Stones had hoped to meet on their first visit to the mythical Lone Star State to play the Teenage World’s Fair in 1964.
By Michael Corcoran A year ago, almost to the day, the Washington Post published the most brutal takedown of a musician ever. Writer Jeff Weiss called Post Malone “a rhinestone cowboy who looks like he crawled out of a primordial swamp of nacho cheese.” And that was just the appetizer. “Post Malone’s music is dead-eyed […]
This oral history was originally published in the Diboll Buzzsaw newspaper in August 1947, when Will “Professor” Jackson was 77 years old. by William James Jackson (1870- 1972) My musical career began when I was six years of age. A Dr. J. L. Tylon took me in his care with three other colored boys and […]
By Michael Corcoran It’s East Austin in 2003 and the slow and furious promenade rolls almost non-stop. When an SUV, spewing trunk-rattling bass, sidles up to the corner of 12th and Chicon, the intersection sounds like Vietnam, 1968. You’ve heard the stuff — that rap music with the nuclear bass that flattens out and sustains […]
