I want to be an outlaw like Beyoncé. I want to show up where I’m not expected and rock the house, bring the people to their feet.

Country music has always taken on the greatest human emotions: grief, loss, betrayal, love.

I was known as the guy who knew the words to more old songs than anybody else. Which might be why Guy Clark and I became fast friends.

Ken Burns and Rhiannon Giddens discuss the legibility of African and African-American contributions to country music.

Ease was one part of the pleasure and disruption; a sense of pride in Black artistry was another.

I’ve been a New Yorker for more than twenty years, but my memories of the South are potent. Some are truly mine, and some I have borrowed.