Jim Allen, Author at

Author: Jim Allen

Jim Allen's night job is fronting country band The Ramblin' Kind, rock band Lazy Lions, and working as a solo singer/songwriter. His day job is writing about other people's music. He has contributed to NPR, Billboard, RollingStone.com, and many more, and written liner notes for reissues of everyone from OMD to Bob Seger, but his proudest achievement is crafting a completely acceptable egg cream armed only with milk, Bosco, and a SodaStream seltzer maker.

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Aretha’s Roots: The Gospel and Jazz Years

If the Queen of Soul had stuck with either jazz or gospel, she could easily have become a sovereign of those music genres too.

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5 “Stealth” Prince Albums: The Purple One’s Side Projects

The girl-group Vanity 6 and the jazz project Madhouse were just some of the ways that Prince indulged his hunger for creating new sounds. We’ve gathered five of his 80s side gigs worth hearing.

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Tex-Mex Music: The Best of the Border

The Sir Douglas Quintet, Augie Meyers, and Joe “King” Carrasco have spiced up Tex-Mex music over the years. How international is its appeal? Well, some of its practitioners are British!

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Beyond Dead & Company: 5 Great Grateful Dead Offshoots

David & The Dorks is an early example but other Dead spin-off bands include Old and In the Way, Go Ahead, Weir & Wasserman, Dead & Company, and Golden Gate Wingmen.

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Beyond Santana: 5 Classic Latin Rock Bands Worth a Listen

With the release of “Latin Bugaloo: The Warner Bros. Singles,” now’s the time to get acquainted with Jorge Santana and Malo (not to mention Sapo, Azteca, Dakila, and El Chicano).