Tom Lane's Music Blog

   Back in 2014, I participated in an online poll ranking Bob Dylan's songs/albums/cover versions by other artists.  Now on his 85th bir...

Kacey Musgraves - Middle of Nowhere  Ringo Starr - Long Long Road Band of Heathens - Country Sides Black Crowes - A Pound of Feathers  Lemon...

  It took Billy Joel 3 albums on Columbia before number four broke him in a big way.  Today The Stranger is a diamond selling album.  Its fa...

Updated for 2026 When most people think of Mother's Day songs, sentimentality usually wins out.  I've got a few of those listed belo...

Black America sings Stevie Wonder - Various Wednesday Morning 6AM-Radio Hits from the Small Hours 70-83 - Various Mitski - Nothing's Abo...

   April 1968.  I'm a month away from turning four years old.  I don't think I remember these songs from that month.  But artists?  ...

  I wrote this piece two days after Prince died on April 21, 2016.   Prince's albums up until the mid-90's are uniformly strong.  As...

  It wasn't until 1990 that I started listening more intently to Americana music.  Most of my listening habits until then were taken up ...

   I joined host Nick Bambach and 3 others to talk about the 2026 Rock Hall inductees. Rock in Retrospect

   The first time I saw Whitney Houston was in 1983 on the Merv Griffin show.  She sang "Home" from The Wiz .  It was a great perf...

Megan Moroney - Cloud 9 Charli xcx - Wuthering Heights Paranoid Style - Known Associates Clover County - Finer Things Lone Bellow - What A T...

CBGB: A New York City Soundtrack 75-86 - Various (Box Set) Musik Music Musique 1979 - Various (Box Set) Kashus Culpepper - Act I Beck - Ever...

Below are my Predictions for the 2026 Rock Hall, listed in alphabetical order.  Some things to consider:  There were 14 nominees last year. ...

  1976.  One of my favorite years for music.  Check out my article on that year:  1976 .   So I was very happy to see this year turn up in t...

The 2026 Country Hall inductees were announced today: Tim McGraw  (Modern Era),  Stanley Brothers  (Veterans Era),  Paul Overstreet  (Songwr...

Below are my Personal picks for the 2026 Rock Hall, listed in alphabetical order.  Most of the 17 nominees could get a "Yes" vote...

   Writing the songs in a single weekend, the Bee Gees reached a creative zenith with the original songs featured in Saturday Night Fever . ...

Lucinda Williams - World's Gone Wrong U2 - Days of Ash James Hunter Six - Off the Fence Zach Bryan - With Heaven On Top  Robbie Williams...

  Neil Sedaka first became a star in the post-Elvis Army/pre-Beatles era of the early 1960's.  It's a part of Rock history that ofte...

 I joined host Nick Bambach's the Rock in Retrospect podcast, with some others, to talk about the 2026 Rock Hall nominees.   Rock in Ret...