Writing about, curating and consulting on music and culture in context for magazines, recordings, books, podcasts, movies. Bylines: BIllboard, Audible, uDiscover, Vinyl Me Please, Gladys Palmera, Concord, No Depression and many more.
‘La Historia de un Minuto’: Efecto Tequila’s Unlikely Triumph
How the famed song came to be recorded is a tale as long and winding as Mexico City’s subway system.
Noah Kahan: A New Season
The setting of Noah Kahan's album "Stick Season" in Vermont, where I have family ties; his meaning-layered songs, and his advocacy for young people's mental health have all struck a chord with me. As the leafless trees, grayness and cold of Vermont's "season of the sticks" was approaching, I interviewed Noah for No Depression's winter 2023 issue.
The Best Camarón de la Isla Songs: 15 Revolutionary Flamenco Tracks
There’s one word commonly associated with Camarón de la Isla’s voice: goosebumps. Others call it simply “the Camarón effect.” Young, old, gypsies, non-gypsies, and, at this point, several generations of Spanish and global fans regard Camarón as the greatest flamenco singer of all time. Here, I told Camarón's story through his timeless recordings for uDiscoverMusic.
Júlia Colom: Sing to Live
I traveled to Mallorca to profile singer Júlia Colom for No Depression magazine and explore the forgotten history of the island's tradition of agricultural work songs, and the people who sang them.
El Delirio Cósmico de Niño de Elche
Las contradicciones de un artista conocido por su coraje creativo.
Flamenco Resistance
In a low-lit, cave-like, whitewashed room two guitarists and two singers sit on high-backed cane chairs. Over the next hour, the quick-fire tapping of heels and handclaps contrast with the keen of a veteran singer’s voice that’s been marinated for a lifetime in the deep corners of the soul. It’s the sound of what’s often called the Spanish blues.
The flamenco tablao is a typical Spanish postcard scene. It's also the lifeblood of flamenco dancers and musicians, and since the pandemic began, shutting down live music clubs, a symbol of the artform's inherent resistance to a changing world.
Cándido con las manos ardiendo
El legendario percusionista Cándido Camero cumple 98 años y está como un roble.
Miro's Music
When the artist Joan Miró died in 1989, at the age of 90, he left behind an extensive and eclectic record collection as well as his famous body of work. As this playlist attests, his taste knew no borders, and his obsessions ranged from jazz and flamenco to the most cutting electronic edge sounds. The music he embraced was both spiritual and experimental, and always inspirational. Click through to read more, and listen to the playlist here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/56QmLYSR0ubmZStzvzvjzd?si=a91a8339022b4aef
Silvio Rodriguez’s Watershed Moment
Silvio Rodríguez’s sold out June 4, 2010 concert at Carnegie Hall was a watershed moment.
Michael League's Musical Movement in a Small Town in Spain
For No Depression magazine, I traveled to Els Prats de Rei, a medieval town of 500 people with one bar and a community pool an hour from Barcelona, where Snarky Puppy's Michael League and other international musicians have made a home in what were neglected but amazing stone-walled houses.
The Drain in Spain: Why Late-Night Spanish TV Is Costing Global Music Publishers Tens of Millions A Year
The telenovela that is Spain's authors and publishers rights society SGAE.
‘Cole Espanol’: Nat King Cole In Spanish
Nat King Cole made his debut under the stars on the Tropicana’s outdoor stage in March of 1956 with a setlist of satiny American hits that were just as popular in Havana. Cole performed with Armando Romeu Jr.’s orchestra, the famed nightclub’s house band, which would later record the tracks for the King’s first album of swinging romantic Latin ballads in Spanish: Cole Español. I had a swinging time myself revisiting one of my favorite albums for Udiscover Music.
El renacimiento de Ansonia Records
This story of the revival of a vintage indie Latin record label, and a music supervisor who loved the music and ended up buying the label herself, was close to my heart. Readers who don't speak spanish can listen to the playlist at the end of the article, which tells a story itself.
Sammy Figueroa Discovers His Father's Music
On his new album, the Puerto Rican percussionist embraces the music of bolero singer Charlie Figueroa, the father he never knew.
Poetry, Guts, and Keyboards: Charly Garcia’s Iconic Songs
I was inspired by the Oscar-nominated movie "Argentina 1985" to take a look back at Charly Garcia's early songs.