There was nothing even remotely threatening about clean-cut, smooth-singing George Hamilton IV. He wasn’t a pompadoured, swivel-hipped rockabilly like Elvis or a blues-influenced juke joint rounder a la Charlie Feathers or Carl Perkins. Yet at the start of his musical career (it’s still underway), the tall young North Carolinian did dabble in rock and roll. Quite convincingly, too.

Jay & the Americans did their country proud, and this comprehensive 66-song compilation does the same for them…

Rhino’s two previous Nuggets compilations, the first devoted to American garage bands and the followup to European aggregations, were admittedly fantastic. Yet the regionally specific Where the Action Is! may well be the most valuable compilation of the bunch.

Chicago Folk: Images of the Sixties Music Scene is a splendid tribute to the luminous photography of Ray Flerlage.

A reclusive spirit even in the best of times, south Louisiana singer/songwriter Bobby Charles hadn’t had nearly enough of those recently, thanks to a destructive force they called Rita that wiped out both of his homes in Abbeville….

Memphis soul was never so elegant as when Willie Mitchell sat regally at its helm….

When I interviewed him in 2001, Kenny Martin was thoroughly primed to take a fresh shot at achieving long-overdue singing stardom….

The second edition of the Numero Group’s Eccentric Soul Revue, staged November 7 at the brand-new Lincoln Hall on Chicago’s North Side, sizzled just as hotly as its predecessor a little while back at Park West….

Only 21 years of age when he died in a terrible 1960 auto wreck in England, Eddie Cochran was a truly prolific young musician–so much so that the brilliant guitarist’s collected works span eight jam-packed discs on Bear Family’s amazing CD boxed set “Somethin’ Else–The Ultimate Collection.”

Not only was Les Paul a musical visionary on umpteen fronts, he was one of the nicest gentlemen I’ve ever met in all my years of writing about music…