For the last month or so I've been taking classes at Pottery House Studio here in Bloomington. This is the first piece that I've thrown, glazed, and fired.

I’m very excited to announce that I’ve signed a contract with @uncpress.bsky.social to write a book about Memphis music. Tentatively titled Memphis in the Meantime: 50 More Years of Bluff City Pop, Punk, Blues, Hip-Hop & Roots Music, it’ll start in the late 70s and end roughly in the present.

had the pleasure of writing up Bill Fox's new album Resonance for @pitchfork.com It's his first in 13 years, and who knows when the songs were written or recorded? But they're full of great hooks and timely outrage.

I spoke to Rhiannon Giddens for Stereogum, and we discussed a variety of topics -- her Pulitzer for "Omar," her upcoming culture festival in Durham, Our Native Daughters, that time she was on "Nurse Jackie," and getting upstaged by a brood of cicadas on her new album. [link just below]

Wrote about the excellent new album from my old Pilates partner Bonnie "Prince" Billy for @pitchfork.com It's his Nashville country album, with some remarkable writing, playing, and singing. And "Boise, Idaho" is immediately one of my favorite songs of his.

Had the pleasure of writing the Wilco cover story for the new issue of @uncutmagazine.bsky.social & came to the realization that Ghost Is Born is maybe their greatest album. The new box set -- and the exclusive covermount CD! -- really expand that world in some beautiful ways.

Had the honor of talking to Steacy Easton about their great new book on Dolly Parton's "White Limozeen." It's a 2-part Q&A about why it's more fun to write about a flawed album than a masterpiece & how Dolly was redefining herself for a new era in country music.

Me (far right), my brothers, and Grandmother Love at the Jimmy Carter Presidential Campaign Headquarters, sometime in the late '70s. He was a good president and the best former president of my lifetime.

Excited beyond words to have a feature in the new Oxford American Music Issue. AND the theme is Memphis, which looms impossibly large in my my musical imagination. AND I got to write about Lorette Velvette! I was obsessed with her cover of T. Rex's "20th Century Boy" back in the '90s.

The demonic Fosse routine in Smile 2 is my favorite movie scene of 2024. Still not as scary as All That Jazz but close

Dottie

My wife does latchhook versions of album covers. Here's her latest, hanging at Landlocked Music in Bloomington.