by Josh Hurst

by Jonathan Keefe by Josh Hurst Feature Articles Music Rooted & Restless

Rooted & Restless | Issue 2

April 8, 2019

Our new monthly music feature, Rooted & Restless, finds country music aficionados Josh Hurst and Jonathan Keefe wading into all things Americana, expanding the definition of ‘country’ to incorporate all the permutations that the genre has opened itself up to, especially in recent years. We feel that there are quite enough dividing lines being drawn right now; as such, Rooted & Restless is about striving to view borderlessness as a source of strength — or, to quote Hurst, about “music that…

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by Josh Hurst Music

Brad Mehldau | 10 Years Solo Live

One of the brainiest guys in jazz, Brad Mehldau is likened to classical composers as often as he is boppin’ piano men; he is famous for his heady liner notes, and nearly everything he does comes with a conceptual thrust. So if Brad Mehldau…

December 1, 2015
#KickingtheCanon by Josh Hurst Music

Bob Dylan | John Wesley Harding

Perhaps sensing that he couldn’t push his electric mayhem any further, Bob Dylan retreated from his wild, boozy rock and roll with John Wesley Harding, returning to largely acoustic arrangements but — crucially — not to the sound of The Times They Are a-Changin’ or The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan. For one thing, these are full-band…

July 17, 2015
#KickingtheCanon by Josh Hurst Music

The Roots | Things Fall Apart

They could have called it Young, Gifted and Black, were the name not otherwise in use. Not until Robert Glasper convened his Black Radio sessions in 2012 would there be such a significant summit meeting of black American bohemians: Things Fall Apart finds The Roots’ roster swelling to include Erykah…

July 15, 2015
#KickingtheCanon by Josh Hurst Music

Bob Dylan | The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan

Though the cumulative impact of The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan is considerable, and its achievement is towering, it remains a strangely difficult record to discuss by way of synopsis or generalization; there’s simply no way to avoid digging into specific virtues of its songs, because the songs…

May 29, 2015
#KickingtheCanon by Josh Hurst Music

Bob Dylan | Blonde on Blonde

The boozy, bloozy, cacophonous conclusion to Bob Dylan’s mid-60s “electric” trilogy, Blonde on Blonde feels every bit the culmination of…something. A wild fever dream of an album, owing as much to Fellini and T.S. Eliot as to Woody and Leadbelly, it’s the sound of Dylan’s imagination pushed…

May 15, 2015