THE SCOOP

Raw riffs, Southern soul, and blues bones: the music of Jive Mother Mary is more than a throwback —it’s a natural companion to the legacy of ZZ Top. Last Halloween we had Jive Mother Mary ready to rock your world, Barcelona -- literally. For those of you who never heard: they canceled for the best reason ever: they got booked to open for ZZ Top Autumn of 2025. When ZZ Top hit the stage October 2025, fans expected everything they’ve loved for decades— gnarly guitar tone, Texas

It’s a soothing experience to listen to someone speak with such fluency from the creative otherworld. Tori Sparks strikes an elegant balance between the shaman and the technician. Listening to her talk about music is like a masterclass in the business and practice of the music industry. She speaks as fluently on the athletics of caring for her voice as she speaks about the strategy of band management, flitting from subject to subject with the speed and grace of a bird.

Every now and then, life feels like a story. It’s poetic and makes sense. If you pay attention, you can even see it. A few years ago, I had a conversation with Dylan Cloud about a song that he talked about as one of the first times he properly felt like he knew what he was doing. It was called “Straight On,” and it was cool. And yesterday, a more thoughtful and self-aware Dylan Cloud expressed to me that he’s sitting on a library of material that he’s all but vibrating to sha

I just had a conversation with a name you will be more familiar with soon, Adam Giles-Levy, about his upcoming EP, Deliri(um). Adam Giles Levy. Adam struck me as the sort of person who could have waxed philosophical with me for hours, but we talked about gigging and production instead.