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What the Boom in Country and Western Music Says About America
A diverse and talented new generation of singer/songwriters are steeped in country music's oldest stylings, but telling stories of a modern America struggling with its identity.
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Crooked Time with Riddy Arman
Arman’s 2021 self-titled collection contains one gut-wrenching gem after another, her voice like a cello, narrating weary, leathery, patient stories drawn from a sparse Western landscape.
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Meet Ian Noe, The Rising Singer/Songwriter Penning Unvarnished, Specific Portraits Of America
Noe's sophomore album, 'River Fools and Mountain Saints' is a familiar and resonant portrait of growing up Appalachian, told with descriptive brushstrokes that evoke some of Americana's master storytellers.
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On fatherhood, and the important business of remembering
I'm on the lookout for my own behaviors that will become a source of their bemused assessment of me. Not so I can avoid the behaviors — so I can accentuate them. Because I want them to remember.
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Father’s Day reflection: Singing my sons to sleep
I opt for songs from the canon of old-time country music, some of which are contemporary, whose lyrics and melodies are imprinted onto my soul.
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Prairie in Bloom: Colter Wall “Live in Front of Nobody”
Colter Wall is now a mature, fully realized music creator, exploring and reinventing the canon of western songs, and contributing to it with his own pieces.
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The Hidden Messages in My Kid’s Pandemic Drawings
I’m grateful we've allowed our boys to tattoo their minds onto the walls of our house. It’s another way we get to hear them.
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Seeking the rites of summer in the 2020 pandemic
Summer days spent at Grandma’s house are an underappreciated childhood rite of passage. Amidst the global pandemic, I was able to observe my own kids’ first time experiencing this ritual.
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A Tidy Dad on the Life-Changing Magic of Cleaning Up After Kids
Even as a child, I was aware that my mom’s efforts to pick up after us kids was an act of true love. Now it’s my turn.
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Why My Oldest Child Is Already More Courageous Than I’ll Ever Be
My son occupies a status I never will: an oldest child. I marvel at the bravery required to be in the family’s pole position.
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Going Cold Turkey This Football Season
Sometimes the hobbies that have sustained us for a lifetime need to be reassessed. That’s what happened with me and football.
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How I Survived Seven Days as a Solo Parent
Having two kids by yourself for a few days is an exercise in bandwidth expansion.
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Ink Spill: Inside the Battle to Shape the News Coverage of Last Year’s Oil Gusher
Behind the Obama administration’s communications strategy during the BP Oil Spill
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Let Obama Be Obama
There’s the dirty little secret; he’s governing exactly like he said he would.
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Assessing the early stages of people’s changing news habits
Pop programs are giving people more of what they want. When sizing up potential presidents, or the current administration, these exchanges are far more important to the average American than listening to politicians repeat scripted statements on taxes or prescription drugs to Koppel or Tim Russert.