Posts From Sam Sutherland

Sam Sutherland

Sam Sutherland

Sam Sutherland has worked both sides of the music biz street as music industry journalist at Billboard and Record World (as well as freelancing for Phonograph Record, Musician Magazine, High Fidelity and Rolling Stone), and in the label trenches with Elektra/Asylum, Windham Hill Productions and Discovery Records. In the ‘90s, he was beamed up to the digital rapture via software and early online projects for Microsoft and Amazon’s original music and video storefronts. He’s since produced entertainment content for Windows Media and, most recently, MSN Music. Nevertheless, he still prefers vinyl to digital. A New York ex-pat, Sutherland lives near Seattle.

The Byrds’ ‘Sweetheart of the Rodeo’: Cornerstone of Country-Rock

Their most consequential stylistic stroke since their pioneering folk-rock debut three years earlier, it ushered in country-rock and Americana.

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‘Graceland’—The World Music Reset From Paul Simon

The album that would become Simon’s grandest statement came into view when he was gifted with a tape of South African music.

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‘Who’s Next’: Plan B Yields a Career Blockbuster

Born from the ashes of an abandoned project Pete Townshend called ‘Life House,’ the band’s 1971 masterwork triumphed through songcraft and performance.

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Dave Edmunds’ ‘Repeat When Necessary’: Where the New Wave Met the Old

The Welsh rocker’s fifth solo album, made with the great Rockpile, captures him at the pinnacle of his influence as an architect of late ’70s new wave.

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The Souther Hillman Furay Band’s Debut LP: Less Than the Sum of its Parts

The SHF Band accomplished its commercial mission and displayed the stylistic DNA of the Byrds, Poco and, yes, the Eagles.

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Steely Dan ‘The Royal Scam’: Rock on a Grand Scale

The 1976 LP proved divisive, augmenting the leaner ensemble core of prior albums with more aggressive ensemble arrangements.

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‘Desperado’—Eagles’ Sagebrush Country-Rock Opera

With its sophomore effort, the band tethered its polished country-rock to a concept album driven by a Wild West narrative.

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Flying Burrito Bros.’ Seminal Country-Rock Debut, ‘Gilded Palace’

Gram Parsons had envisioned the Burritos as “his” band, but The Gilded Palace of Sin underscores the partnership between Parsons and Chris Hillman.

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‘Dixie Chicken’: Little Feat, Secret Southern Sauce

The group drew on Lowell George’s versatile command of blues, country, folk and R&B for its third—and many feel finest—studio album.

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The Poco Country-Rock Legacy: “Deliverin’,” With a Gallop

With its stellar vocal harmonies and instrumental dexterity, the album established Poco for decades to come and drew a blueprint for country-rock’s future.

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