Steve Knopper

R.L. Burnside Mississippi Hill Country Blues (Fat Possum/Epitaph) Before Holly Springs, Miss., juke-joint fixture R.L. Burnside became a blues hero for jaded punk rockers in the mid-'90s, he was another...

After 17 years of the big red nose, pointy hair and permanent smiley face, Joey "Bozo" D'Auria is through with "The Bozo Super Sunday Show." The beloved program's finale (with...

G. Love & Special Sauce Electric Mile (Okeh/Epic/Sony) Once a Philadelphia hip-hop kid who retrofitted the Beastie Boys' bratty attitudes into an R&B shell, Garrett "G. Love" Dutton has drifted...

The Blind Boys of Alabama Spirit of the Century (RealWorld) That old southern preacher, the Rev. Mick Jagger, would undoubtedly hear these versions of "Just Wanna See His Face" and...

Marcia Ball Presumed Innocent (Alligator) The "New Orleans boogie-woogie" tag may have once applied to Texas pianist Marcia Ball, who learned her best tricks from Dr. John, Allen Toussaint and...

Songs we hope Oink the Barnyard Baritone, a 400-pound pig, will sing at the Medinah Shrine Circus: "Bacon the Beguine," "I Want to Hold Your Ham," "Trougher Than the Rest"...

Stomping Japanese bands like Guitar Wolf and Shonen Knife, when they spilled over into America during the mid-'90s, were more than an exotic punk-rock fad. They were the beginning of...

Women warriors have never had it so good, what with Buffy whacking the undead every Tuesday night and that riot grrrl from "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" dismantling an entire seedy...

With "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" reruns showing up on television 789 times a week, improvisational comedy is suddenly hot again. Taking cues from the famous Second City, the Old...

Big Bill Morganfield Ramblin' Mind (Blind Pig) Though it's unfair to compare Big Bill Morganfield to his father, blues legend McKinley "Muddy Waters" Morganfield, the Atlanta singer-guitarist has clearly inherited...