Caryn Rose

The 1978 tour in support of Darkness on the Edge of Town seemed to span a lifetime in E Street years. Out from under the yoke of the lawsuit that had prevented Bruce Springsteen from recording new music (and kept the E Street Band on the road for two years as a way to move forward and, quite frankly, pay the bills), '78 was about freedom and redemption, of definitely and defiantly planting the E Street flag on solid ground.

From the collected satire of The Hard Times to the queering of Karen Carpenter, these books captivated our staff and contributors this year.

The country's most distinguished gospel artist, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, arrived in Washington, D.C., to perform a sold-out concert. Sister Tharpe spoke to your reporter before her sold-out concert, sitting on her customized tour bus parked outside the venue. The bus — which Sister Thorpe believes is the first of its kind! — is emblazoned with the words SISTER ROSETTA THARPE - DECCA RECORDING ARTIST, painted in a bright and distinctive blue script along the side of the bus.
Sister Tharpe and he...

The Center Won’t Hold, Sleater-Kinney’s ninth album, is about ambition, desire, and fear.

Hollywood came to Asbury Park Wednesday night with the official premiere of Blinded by the Light, the Gurinder Chadha film based on Sarfraz Manzoor’s memoir, Greetings From Bury Park.

Blinded by the Light should probably have been called Badlands, because it embodies the song’s key lyric: “It ain’t no sin to be glad you’re alive.” The film, which was adapted by screenwriter and director Gurinder Chadha (Bend It Like Beckham), gleefully and unironically feels like living inside a Springsteen song, complete with angry fathers, dead-end towns, young love—hell, there’s even a dying factory.
The story draws loosely from screenwriter Sarfraz Manzoor’s 2007 memoir Greetings From ...

Fifty years after the three-day concert made rock’n’roll history, a gargantuan, 38-disc set attempts to tell the full story of the event for the very first time.
The mythological status of 1969’s Woodstock Music and Arts Festival can sometimes feel overpowering. The festival is the ultimate expression of the 1960s. Moments from the three-day concert have crystallized as symbols of the era, with details like Richie Havens’ acoustic prayer for freedom, Roger Daltrey’s fringed leather vest, or J...

In 1974, a random phrase popped into Bruce Springsteen’s head as he was writing, one that seemed to match the music he was hearing in his mind. It took Springsteen six months to turn that phrase, “Born to Run,” into a song, and it was a watershed moment for his work: the first time he wrote a song with the studio in mind rather than how it would sound onstage.

The very first recordings of Aretha Franklin, captured in Detroit when she was all of 14 years old, are remastered and offer a window into the early sounds of a genius.

Sam Moore and Dave Prater, otherwise known as the legendary Stax duo Sam & Dave, will be honored at the 2019 Grammy Awards with a Lifetime Achievement Award. Joining Moore and Prater in the Lifetime Achievement class will also be Black Sabbath, George Clinton and Parliament-Funkadelic, Billy Eckstine, Donny Hathaway, Julio Iglesias, and Dionne Warwick. These awards are part of the Recording Academy’s “Special Merit Awards” (AKA the category best understood as, “These artists have not won suff...

Even when Bruce sticks to the script in a playhouse, he can deliver a ranging and intimate performance full of the history and emotion befitting his long career.

On the occasion of the release of U2’s 14th studio album, Songs of Experience, it is worth noting how remarkable it actually is that this band has remained a going concern for over 40 years, since Larry Mullen Jr. put up a notice at Mount Temple Comprehensive School: “Drummer seeks musicians to form band.”

Easter embraces and rebukes rock’n’roll. It’s a love letter and a break-up letter all in one, the album that brought Patti Smith fame, the rebirth of her career, and her most controversial song.

When Bruce Springsteen decided to go on the road with the E Street Band to tour for Tunnel of Love, he knew that he didn't want to ride in on the coattails of Born in the U.S.A., and he knew he didn't want to be a nostalgia act.