Blog Posts by Rob O' Connor

[Photo: Douglas Mason/Getty Images]Most people knew Richie Havens as the guy in the Woodstock movie that plays a modified version of the old blues "Motherless Children" as "Freedom" to an audience young enough to think sitting in a huge field for three days is a good idea.

While the "Woodstock" sales pitch lingered for years after the date, the various performers went on to live out different fortunes. Crosby, Stills, Nash and sometimes Young became superstars. Tim Hardin, who tragically didn't appear in the film, struggled with personal demons and writer's block. Jimi Hendrix died soon after. The Who sold their songs to anyone who would buy them.

And Richie Havens played dinner theaters where he could count on $45 a head from a well-heeled crowd who remembered their time in the mud of Woodstock, whether or not they were actually there. Havens wrote a few songs of his own, but mostly depended on an ear that knew the kind of song he could sing. Pop music moved away from folksingers and Richie flirted with

Read More »from Richie Havens -- Greenwich Village Folksinger, Woodstock Icon, PBS Tote Bag Warrior!

[Photo: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images]What do I mean by 'The Last Country Star,' you ask? I mean, nothing. It's just one of those stupid titles you give things because it sounds important and definitive. Try it for dinner. 'Hot Dogs -- The Last Supper!' Or for breakfast. 'Jolt Cola -- The Final Drink!'

Fact is, George Jones is one of the very few musicians you can wing superlatives at and never overstate your case. His early manager and "producer" Pappy Daily sent him into the recording studio the way young parents send their kids into the bathroom. If Jones wasn't in the studio making hits, he was out on the road telling everyone about what he just did.

While this meant the quality of his records were hit and miss, it also ensured that he was never out of the public eye for very long. In an age when musicians take years to make a single 11-track album, Jones recorded 151 tracks in two years at United Artists in 1962-64 and then went to Musicor Records where he recorded nearly double that in seven more.

This list is obviously

Read More »from George Jones -- The Last Country Star!

Vanilla Ice & Public Enemy [Photos: Paul Natkin/WireImage; Michael Ochs Archives/GettyImages]The worst cover versions of most songs are heard at the local open mic. But we clap politely because the guy doing the off-key version of "Wish You Were Here" is a sweet guy who's just so happy to be out of the house for an evening that to let him in on his lousiness would be inhumane.

Popular recording artists, though, deserve to be called out when they harm a great song. They're big boys. They can take it.

I pulled off the novelties. William Shatner was odd in his day and Paul Anka and Pat Boone have come back to haunt us with deliberate camp of modern songs, but there's something too deliberate there. Maybe next time.

Check out the horrible covers here, but for sanity's sake, listen to the originals to remind yourself of what good music is and to cleanse your head.

Read More »from The Ten Worst Cover Songs of All-Time

Photos:Tom Copi/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images; Bryan Bedder/Getty Images for Delta Air Lines)After reading through the thousands of emails from readers just like you, all telling me how much you enjoyed that first 'Experiment In Sound' where we put up three songs that sounded quite a bit like three other ones, I realized that there was a 'sincere hunger' for more items like this. If you enjoyed checking out three soundalikes, you'll really love checking out five soundalikes! Because five is more than three!

I went back into the Y! Music vault and there between the data telling me where everyone who works here lives and the data telling me how much my co-workers are paid and which part of the Yahoo! compound they are legally entitled to when they turn 65, I found the information regarding every song ever recorded. I spent the new few weeks listening to every song in the database and discovered just how much I like The Incredible String Band and 1980s-era Rod Stewart.

In the meantime, these songs came screaming to my door. Thy name might not be ripoff, per se, but the results are uncomfortably familiar.

Read More »from Five Great Songs That Sound Like Five Other Great Songs!

Michelle Shocked [Photo: Rick Diamond/Getty Images]Michelle Shocked went out of her way the other night at Yoshi's in San Francisco to destroy what was left of her career with remarks against homosexuality that sounded more like the sentiments of Freddie Phelps and his Westboro Baptist Church than that of an alternative folk singer who many in the audience assumed was gay.

Well, don't assume anything, folks. Gigs have been canceled, aside from perhaps a new career playing for…the Westboro Baptist Church. Of course, Shocked would be best served in therapy where she could work out where this self-destructive behavior took root.

In the meantime, rushing to delete Michele Shocked songs from your playlists is likely on your agenda, lest her "Anchorage" song suddenly pop up during a party and ruin it with heavy discussions about the meaning of life and who's Michelle Shocked. ("Anchorage" is the only song I know of hers.)

Let's find five artists to replace Michelle Shocked on your playlists.

5) Trixie Whitley -- "Breathe You In

Read More »from Five Artists to Check Out While You're Deleting Your Michelle Shocked MP3s

Dave Grohl and the Sound City Players [Photo: Randy Holmes/ABC via Getty Images]

For anyone attending the annual South By Southwest Festival (SXSW) in Austin, Texas the week of March 12, the decisions are painstaking. Who do you miss, so you can see someone else? You can't see everything, but here are the big names who you likely don't want to miss this Thursday.

1) Meat Puppets, Dave Grohl, and the Sound City Players, 8pm, Stubb's - If you're up at 11am, then you should be at the Austin Convention Center for Dave Grohl's SXSW keynote address. But at night, it's time for rock's friendliest superstar to invite the Meat Puppets to open and then for Stevie Nicks, John Fogerty, Nirvana's Krist Novoselic, Rick Springfield, Fear's Lee Ving, Cheap Trick's Rick Nielsen, Rage Against The Machine's Brad Wilk, Slipnot's Corey Taylor, and more to play at what is the festival's craziest, most star-studded concert. If you end up having grandkids, you'll be telling them about this one.

2) Buddy Miller & Jim Lauderdale, Richard Thompson, Emmylou Harris & Rodney Crowell, 9pm,

Read More »from SXSW 2013: Five Best Shows To Catch On Thursday, March 14

For anyone attending the annual South By Southwest Festival (SXSW) in Austin, Texas the week of March 12, the decisions are painstaking. Who do you miss so you can see someone else? A Green Day fan who also loves the Flaming Lips and Depeche Mode will know this catch-22 all too well come this Friday.

But before then, for your convenience, here are the big names playing this Wednesday. Mark your calendars and go out there and help keep Austin weird!

1) Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds/Yeah Yeah Yeahs, 7:45pm, Stubb's - Will Karen O be this year's PJ Harvey and toy with Nick Cave for a duet, or will Cave insist on bringing his best album in years, the brooding Push The Sky Away, to the cognoscenti in its purest, most unadulterated form? Either way, Yeah Yeah Yeahs will surely burn down the house--figuratively, of course--with previews from their upcoming April release Mosquito. And Cave will be Nick Cave, the creepiest and coolest guy in the business.

2) Iron & Wine, 11pm, Austin City Limits

Read More »from SXSW 2013: Six Best Shows To Catch On Wednesday, March 13

The Polyphonic Spree [Photo: Michael Tullberg/Getty Images]

For anyone attending the annual South By Southwest Festival (SXSW) in Austin, Texas, the week of March 12, the decisions are painstaking. Who do you miss, so you can see someone else? A Green Day fan who also loves the Flaming Lips and Depeche Mode will know this catch-22 all too well come Friday night.

ut before then, for your convenience, here are the big names kicking off the Music portion of the festival on Tuesday, all of which you likely won't want to miss.

1) Butch Hancock and Rory Hancock, 8pm, Saxon Pub - Any trip to Texas should include a moment with a member of the Flatlanders. Some years it's Joe Ely, others it's Jimmie Dale Gilmore. This year it's Butch Hancock, whose peerless songwriting reminds us of why you don't mess with Texas.

Read More »from SXSW 2013: Five Best Shows To Catch On Tuesday, March 12