Behind The Song

In 2002, Keith Urban was still a rising star, not the Academy of Country Music and Country Music Association Entertainer of the Year that he is today. His second solo album, Golden Road, was climbing the charts,...

Fifty years ago this past December, the Rolling Stones solidified the bluesy rebirth they had begun on Beggars Banquet with Let It Bleed. It was an album which found them in transition, with Brian Jones playing on...

The Kinks "Days" Behind the Song

As all songwriters know, the song is such a small form that every aspect of it is consequential. The choice of one word, for example, can be momentous, and change the entire tone of the song. The...

"Gypsy" (Written by Stevie Nicks) Often associated with witches, hippies, and yes, gypsies, Stevie Nicks remains one of the most widely known members of Fleetwood Mac.  Her iconic image, songwriting skills, and unforgettable vocal rasp place her in a league...

French-speaking Canadian Celine Dion was a young unknown – especially in the US – when she released her first English-language album, Unison. The third single from the album, the 1990 power-pop heartbreak ballad, “Where Does My Heart...

Written by Gary B. White Going solo wasn’t so easy for Linda Ronstadt. Coming off her debut record, Hand Sown.. Home Grown, Ronstadt felt she “was floundering as a singer,” as she writes in...

When his contract with MGM Records took effect (on April 1, 1947), Hank Williams earned his first artist royalty of his career. Those initial label sessions produced his first songs, including “I Saw the Light,” which bore...

Written by Carole King By the time Carole King was 17, she had written a No. 1 hit single (“Will You Love Me Tomorrow,” a co-write with her first husband Geoff Goffin, as recorded...

It’s not exactly a Christmas standard on the order of “O Holy Night” or “Jingle Bells,” but “Pretty Paper” – written by Willie Nelson and first recorded by Roy Orbison – is one of the best-known Christmas...