Spins: Dixie Chicks, "Not Ready to Make Nice"

This track from the forthcoming album Taking the Long Way (due in May) responds to the hubbub a few years back about the Chicks' politics, and gives a taste of a more rocking sound that suits them quite well.

Check out the song here.

Suzanne Vega on her first gigs, 1992

I think I used to feel angry at the audience for looking at me, because I was very shy and not very comfortable with myself. And I’ve learned that you can’t do that; if someone is looking at you, if they’ve paid money to see you, then you’d better put on a show and not sit there and be morose.

From the book The Complete Singer-Songwriter: A Troubadour's Guide to Writing, Performing, Recording, and Business

Billy Bragg on politics and pop, 2005

I think a sense of humor is crucial in any kind of songwriting.... And if you’re writing political songs and playing them on [the BBC hit parade] Top of the Pops—I did “Between the Wars” on Top of the Pops—it’s utterly ridiculous because there you are with Duran Duran and the other bands of the day all dressed up in their finery, and you’re singing this song about the miners’ strike. If you didn’t have a sense of humor and see the ridiculous side of that, I think you’d come across as very very earnest, which I’m not particularly. But by the same token, going to play on Top of the Pops allowed me to get my ideas in everybody’s living room.

Outtake from a feature in the May 2006 issue of Acoustic Guitar magazine.

Listen to my review of the box set Billy Bragg, Volume 1, on NPR's All Things Considered.

Spins: Jennifer Kimball, Oh Hear Us

It's a long-awaited treat to hear new music from this great voice of the singer-songwriter world, best known for her dynamic duo with Jonatha Brooke, the Story. Kimball made a standout solo debut in 1998 with Veering from the Wave, and Oh Hear Us continues in a similar vein with literate, gorgeously sung original songs. Producer Duke Levine plays all manner of six-string boxes on tunes that touch on pop rock, trad ballads, and even crooner jazz.

Spin tracks from the new CD, the inaugural release on Kimball's own Epoisse Records, here.

Read my feature on Kimball, from 1999, here.