A delicate balance
When Joe Giunta, music director and conductor of the Des Moines Symphony Orchestra, came to town in 1989, he knew he had his work cut out for him. “I had [...]
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Posted September 24, 2014in The Sound
Posted September 17, 2014in The Sound
Taking snapshots
All bands — well, all the good ones, anyway — are constantly evolving. That evolution stems not from the need to follow trends or the constant reach to stay relevant, [...]
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Posted September 10, 2014in The Sound
A conscious decision
Eric Church is blowing up. His last album, 2011’s “Chief” hit No. 1, and included two singles (“Drink in my Hand” and “Springsteen”) that also hit No. 1 individually. This [...]
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Posted September 03, 2014in The Sound
Keep crawling
I don’t want to start mixing my pop culture metaphors, but Dick Prall is kind of like Andy Dufresne of “The Shawshank Redemption.” If you’ve seen the movie, you’ll remember [...]
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Posted August 27, 2014in The Sound
Secretly good
The Secret Sisters — a neotraditional country duo consisting of not-so-secret sisters Laura and Lydia Rogers — have all the right hallmarks to appeal to anyone with a sense for [...]
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Posted August 20, 2014in The Sound
Rare air
Atmosphere comes from a different time. In the mid-’90s when Atmosphere got its start, gangster rap reigned supreme and the violent posturing of the rap lifestyle was at its most [...]
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Posted August 13, 2014in The Sound
Always learning
The key in life is to continue learning. Not every decision that doesn’t pan out is automatically a mistake, as long as you can take something away from it. It’s [...]
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Posted August 06, 2014in The Sound
Homeward bound
We’ve had to deal with 311 a bit longer than everyone else. For most of the music-listening world, 311 seemed to start around 1995, with the release of its self-titled [...]
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Posted July 30, 2014in The Sound
Defining success
Success is a relative term. For example, by being signed to a major label, Sevendust can ostensibly be deemed more successful than 90 percent of the bands out there. However, [...]
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Posted July 23, 2014in The Sound
Taking the long view
The evolution of Fitz & The Tantrums can be viewed in microcosm in their music. One song, specifically: 2013’s “Out of My League.” “Out of My League” was a song [...]
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