Rock & Roots

This past weekend, WUKY sent us music junkies, Mary Allen and Saraya Brewer, to experience the 4-day Tennessee music & art circus known as Bonnaroo. Here’s a list of who we saw, broken down by day (spoiler alert: while some acts obviously stood out more than others, we weren’t really disappointed by anyone we saw). We’ll be filing a handful of reports and reactions throughout the rest of the week, starting with a post titled “Top 5 Acts We Didn’t Know We’d Love” later this afternoon.

Who We Saw

Author Colin Fleming is an avowed superfan, but he has one deeply held opinion about the band that other fans might find heretical. in this month's issue of The Atlantic, Fleming argues that the Fab Four's most emblematic, "Beatle-esque" year was 1963, before they'd even made it big in the States. His evidence? A set of sessions that John, Paul, George and Ringo recorded that year at the BBC, which Fleming argues are the quintessence of everything the group would become.

Now in its seventh decade, ' career has taken her through chart-topping hits with the gospel-soul family band The Staple Singers, performances for Martin Luther King Jr., enshrinement in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and a recent string of highly regarded solo albums. One of Staples' many high-profile fans, 's Jeff Tweedy, produced and plays on Staples' 2010 album You Are Not Alone, and he returns to steer its fine follow-up, One True Vine.

Single ‘Don’t Reach Too Far’

Produced By Long-Time Collaborator Ryan Adams

There are a few things worth knowing about singer-songwriter : The round softness of his speech comes from his roots in rural Alabama. He has lyrics from a song inked on his forearm. He got his musical start with the hard-charging alt-country and Southern-rock band , and during those years, Isbell was drunk on stage — pretty much every time.

READ and LISTEN to the complete story HERE...

Listen and win a copy of the CD at 10:50, 12:50 and 2:50...

Comedian George Carlin liked to say that art doesn't have a finish line. The trio behind Ghost Brothers of Darkland County are the embodiment of that idea. Each is a superstar in his chosen field: rock music legend, best-selling novelist, record producer — trades they could have been content to pursue to the grave. Instead, they went and wrote a musical together, 13 years in the making.

HEAR the complete Weekend Saturday ATC story HERE...

BONNAROO 2013 - A PREVIEW from Saraya Brewer...

Forecastle Festival (July 12-14, 2013) Louisville, KY

Rock out to the Flaming Lips, the Black Keys, Robert Plant, Avett Brothers, Jim James and 50 other amazing bands.

Check out the new Flaming Lips album "Terror"...

The Flaming Lips will be performing at The Muhammad Ali Center during a private concert...

Check out The Muhammad Ali Center HERE...

Listen and win a copy of the CD at 10:50, 12:50 and 2:50...

Daft Punk: Accessing Electronic Music's Humanity

by NPR's Ken Tucker

I freely admit that, until the new Random Access Memories, I wasn't much of a fan. I could appreciate the craft and imagination that went into creating the French duo's mixture of electronic genres — techno, house, disco — but the mechanical repetitions and heavily filtered vocals didn't turn me on in any other way.