Tricked-Out Whiskeys

There are currently more whiskey distilleries in Virginia—55 and counting—than in Kentucky or Tennessee, and many operations, established and new, are helping to push the palate on how whiskey can taste.

Using unique smoking and aging methods, bold flavor infusions, and even ingredients that are way out of the norm, Virginia is at the vanguard of tricked-out whiskeys. My feature on steeping and infusing is now online at the Virginia Living Magazine website. You can read it right here.

In this piece, I profile the pioneering whiskey flavorists at Belmont Farms Distillery, Copper Fox Distillery, Virginia Distillery Co., Belle Isle Craft Spirits, MurLarkey's, among others.

(Photo of Chuck Miller of Belmont Farms Distillery courtesy of Belmont Farms)

Interview with Jon Spencer

It might come as a surprise that Jon Spencer — the guiding force behind some of the best, most dangerously playful rock 'n' roll of the modern era — would only now be releasing his first solo album. The 12-song Spencer Sings the Hits is of a piece with the trademark punk blues and fuzzed-out retro rock he's specialized in for 30 years with bands like Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Boss Hogg and Heavy Trash.

"Part of the reason I used my name is so I can let people know what to expect," the 53-year-old performer says, calling from his New York City home base.

Spencer's music and cameo performance in last year's hit film “Baby Driver” introduced his yowling, beat-heavy sonics to a new generation. Read my Richmond Magazine interview with the man by clicking right here.

And for more on the solo music of Jon Spencer, go right here.

(Photo courtesy Jon Spencer)

Sarah White: High Flyer

“When you’re around for 20 years,” singer-songwriter Sarah White says, humbled, “I guess you do have some fans out there.”

White successfully crowd funded her new album, High Flyer, through Kickstarter. It came with some trepidation. "All my life, I’ve never liked asking for help. I like for people to think I’ve got my [act] together all the time. I don’t, of course, but I didn’t want to beg.”

The resulting 11-song disc, praised by Rolling Stone. and featuring an appearance by Dave Matthews, is a landscape of both familiar and uncharted territory for the soulful performer, a Central Virginia mainstay who has leapfrogged from folk to lo-fi pop to indie-rock to country in her troubadour’s journey.

Read my profile of Sarah White by going to the Virginia Living Magazine website.

And for more on Sarah White and High Flyer, go here.

(Photo courtesy Sarah White)

King Vinyl: Record Stores in Virginia

With more new vinyl being manufactured—and available in chain outlets Barnes & Noble, Urban Outfitters and others—sales of record albums keep climbing. Nielsen Soundscan reports that 2017 marked the 12th straight year of growth for the once-abandoned LP format.

“People like the ritual of putting on an album, looking at the cover, the aroma of it,” says Ian Little, co-owner of Roanoke's Vintage Vault. “Vinyl just has more personality to it. The gatefold covers, the inserts, they are sort of like art objects.”

Virginia Living Magazine has posted my October music column about the resurgence of vinyl and the growing number of independent record retailers. There are nearly three dozen brick-and-mortar album outlets currently making noise across Virginia, including longtime fixtures like Richmond's Plan 9 and Birdland in Virginia Beach,. but also newer spots like Vintage Vault, Richmond's Steady Sounds, and Sound Idea, which is located on the Eastern Shore.  In Virginia, it seems, albums never went away and are as hot as ever.

To read "King Vinyl," go here.

Do you want to take an Old Dominion Record Store Tour? Here's a list of selected vinyl shops across Virginia. 

(Photo of Steady Sounds Records by the mighty Markus Schmidt)

Tear the Roof Off the Hof: Bigfoot's P-Funk

How did legendary Parliament-Funkadelic drummer Jerome "Bigfoot" Brailey get his nickname?

"It's because of how I hit the bass drum. I like that push in the music," he says. "When we'd be in the studio, George [Clinton] would say to turn the bass drum up, yelling, 'Give me that foot, give me that foot.' "

Brailey leads a band of ex-P-Funk vets and family members -- including bassist Jeff "Cherokee" Bunn and the original Sir Nose D'Voidafunk, dancer Larry Heckstall -- in a big New Years Eve show at the historic Hofheimer Building in Richmond.

Find out all about this revamped Grooveallegiance -- and the enduring appeal of P-Funk -- in my new  feature on the Richmond magazine website.

The Ancient Art of Bowhunting

Here's a past epic just making its way online -- my Virginia Living Magazine feature on the ancient art of Bowhunting.

As with my stories on quilts, hot rods, candy making, and moonshine cooking,  I started off not knowing one whit about archery or hunting wild game with a bow, and ended up fairly fascinated with not only the difficult mechanics of the sport, but also the respectful code of conduct that the hunters shared. These are hardly Ted Nugent-like yahoos just out to kill stuff.

In the end, I'm proud of the results, titled "Me and My Arrow." Read it here at the Virginia Living Magazine website. The article ran in the mag's October 2015 issue, so note that the stats, fees and such were correct up to that time (I never know when they are going to put these up, folks).


The photos are by the mighty Adam Ewing! I mean it, Adam. You scored a bullseye here.Thanks!

Interview with Carlene Carter

Singer-songwriter Carlene Carter comes from country music royalty.

She’s the granddaughter of Mother Maybelle Carter of the legendary Carter Family; the daughter of June Carter Cash and her first husband, country singer Carl Smith; and the stepdaughter of Johnny Cash.

Carlene, 62, was the rebel of the clan. With and without her now ex-husband Nick Lowe, she made new wave country-rock, scandalizing the Nashville tastemakers. "I think they thought I was being a little bitch and running off to England of all places, but it wasn’t some master plan that I had, it just sort of happened..."

My interview with the fascinating Ms. Carter can be found at the Richmond Magazine website by going right here.