Musicians With Blogs

There are by now a number of musicians both reasonably well-known and reasonably worthy who have taken to blogging. I find the idea fascinating. On the one hand, reading a musician's blog can humanize him or her, give us a sense of what their lives and thought patterns are like above and beyond what we get from the music. On the other hand, with the right musician, the blog can actually deepen our appreciation of the human being behind the music--provided the blog is a record of more than "Hooray, the CD is finally out!" and "Wow, the fans last night were so awesome!"

So I'm compiling a decidedly idiosyncratic list of noteworthy musicians' blogs. Note that "noteworthy" applies to both the musician and the blog. To begin with, we'd be here all day if I were to list blogs written by any sort of musician at all, however obscure. More important, I firmly believe the blog is only interesting in this context if the musician has achieved a certain level of success (musically, if not commercially). And yet what is written must also be of a certain quality. In most cases, I will only list blogs that first of all get beyond banal gig descriptions and second of all are updated with at least a bit of frequency.

A tip of the hat goes out to Neil at BeatnikPad, whose initial list inspired (and largely informed) mine. As I come across more I'll try to keep adding; consider this very much a list-in-progress.



Adrian Belew NEW
http://elephant-blog.blogspot.com/
Adrian Belew, perhaps best known as guitarist and lead singer for the resuscitated '80s version of King Crimson, posts a fair number of free downloads as he blogs--usually remixes or live versions of existing songs, but quite a nice thing if you happen to be a fan. He tells easy-going, offhanded stories on occasion as well.

Belle and Sebastian
http://www.belleandsebastian.com/diarylist.php
Stuart Murdoch updates this so-called "diary" a few times every month, and he's rather endearingly forthcoming. Who knew this fragile-sounding musician from Glasgow was such a baseball fan?

Jonatha Brooke
http://www.jonathabrooke.com/jonatha/
Brooke has recently overhauled her web site; the look is tighter, sharper, and more compelling. Don't know if she always had this "journal" section but here it is, full of entries as engaging and intelligent as you'd expect from this engaging, intelligent singer/songwriter. My only quibble: the entries aren't dated. Must be an oversight--journal entries without dates are kind of weird.

David Byrne
http://www.davidbyrne.com/journal/current.php
The former Talking Heads frontman has an engaging, philosophically heady blog going. Note that he prefers simply to call it a journal. A good idea, come to think of it.

Camera Obscura
http://cameraobscura-.blogspot.com/
The lovely-music-making Scottish band has been blogging semi-actively since December 2004. One of the refreshing things about this blog is that at least four of the band members appear to contribute; I like when a band acts like a band, with more than just the lead singer being visible.

Peter Case
http://bloggn.petercase.com
Power pop band leader turned road toughened troubadour Peter Case has an active blog going that mixes straightforward gig announcements and record review links to political commentary and short fiction.

Rosanne Cash
http://www.rosannecash.com/monthly.html
So she doesn't call it a blog, but a "column"; it goes by the oddly quaint name of "Mrs. L's Monthly." But it's a regularly updated journal (not always monthly however), as personal and casually well-written as one might hope a musician's blog could be. Also note that she does another "column" where she lists her monthly picks in the areas of books, music, and film. I can't say I find my taste overlapping with hers very often, but I like how engaged she is in our culture.

Lloyd Cole
http://www.lloydcole.com/weblog/index.php
Detail-oriented, matter-of-fact reporting, updated regularly. If you register you can ask him questions that he seems quite willing to answer.

Death Cab For Cutie
http://www.deathcabforcutie.com/blogs/view/band/
While veering sometimes towards uninteresting "thanks, everyone!" sorts of commentary, the band's journal--written mostly by Ben Gibbard and Chris Walla--is reasonably substantive, if not too frequently updated. And let it be known that I really dislike it when blogs are embedded in Flash-based web sites. Doesn't seem like text and words anymore, to me.

Chris Difford
http://www.chrisdifford.com/journal.php
Chris Difford was one half of the songwriting pair behind the great British band Squeeze. He keeps an online journal, intermittently, on his web site. Okay, it's not really very interesting, but I keep thinking it's about to be. And it does seem quite personal in spots. Squeeze fans might want to check it out.

Mike Doughty
http://www.mikedoughty.com/blog/
The former Soul Coughing frontman has been blogging regularly--some might even say talkatively--since August 2004. He likes photos. He comes across as both friendly and obnoxious at the same time. He likes talking about weird things that happen to him. Check it out. (And thanks to visitor Amanda for this one.)

The Dresden Dolls
http://dresdendollsdiary.blogspot.com/
Lots and lots of words here, but darn if Amanda Palmer doesn't have a mysteriously appealing voice in writing to go with her mysteriously appealing singing voice.

Adam Duritz
http://adam.countingcrows.com
The lead singer from the Counting Crows has an intermittently updated, refreshingly conversational blog.

Kathleen Edwards
http://www.kathleenedwards.com/blog/
Written mostly as a road journal, largely because this woman spends a f&*kload of time on the road. But if you love her music as I do, you'll love this little glimpse into her itinerant lifestyle, complete with pictures.

Robert Fripp
http://www.disciplineglobalmobile.com/
This one's pretty arcane if you're not already into Fripp. Scroll down a little on the main page to where it says "Latest Diary" and click on "Read more."

Kristin Hersh
http://www.throwingmusic.com/blog
This is more of a genuine blog than most musicians bother with: it's set up like a classic blog, it's easy to scroll through (no Flash or frames or any distracting design stuff), it's updated with regularity, and Hersh speaks both candidly and (important) only when she has something to say.

Ted Leo
http://www.tedleo.com/news.php
The blog comes up automatically as the "news" section on the left-hand side of the Ted Leo and the Pharmacists site. I'm not completely in love with the rant-y vibe, but fans may dig it.

Brian May
http://www.brianmay.com/brian/brianssb/brianssb.html
The Queen guitarist, who recently completed his PhD in astrophysics, calls his blog his "soapbox." Entries don't seem to dig too deep, but hey, he must have a pretty good head on his shoulders, underneath that hair.

Roger McGuinn
http://www.ibiblio.org/jimmy/folkden-wp/
Former Byrds leader and general folk-rock icon Roger McGuinn has an interesting blog going where each entry features an MP3 of an old folk song, as performed by him with his guitar. He's been posting these once a month for quite a while. McGuinn also has a more standard blog here, but most of the entries there, road journal sorts of things, are written by his wife and business partner Camilla.

Moby
http://www.moby.com/journal
Moby may well be the granddaddy of blogging musicians--his online journal dates back to October 2000. Lots of political thoughts here. I've never been a big fan of his music, but I can here appreciate his thoughtfulness and sensitivity.

Bob Mould   (Boblog)
http://modulate.blogspot.com
Bob was one of the earlier practitioners in the scheme of things, a blogger since January 2004. And he's a true blogger, committed to the nascent writing form, covering a range of topics that are on his mind.

Bill Nelson   (William's Study)
http://www.billnelson.com/html/villa/study.php
One-time Be Bop Deluxe front man keeps a deliciously word journal within the realm of his "Dreamsville" web site.

Rose Polenzani
http://www.rosepolenzani.com/library/journal.asp
The fine singer/songwriter and guitarist Rose Polenzani has a candid and sensitive journal unfolding on her web site. She doesn't update too regularly but she writes from the heart; I'll go for quality over quantity every time.

Portastatic  (Mac McCaughan)
http://www.portastatic.blogspot.com
Mac McCaughan, a North Carolina musician with a semi-cult-like following for his work in Superchunk and Portastatic, has just the sort of smart, friendly, and personable blog you'd expect from him. Thanks to the PowerPop blog for the head's up.

Radiohead  (Dead Air Space)
http://www.radiohead.com/deadairspace
Mystifying noodlings from Thom, mostly. Worth a peak if you're a fan of this worthy band.

Duncan Sheik
http://www.duncansheik.com/blog
Sheik's is sleek: a clean, simple blog, lots of white space, not a lot of muss and fuss to the layout. Fans may love the fact that he (unusually) solicits comments (you have to be registered and logged in to do so). On the other hand, this is not the most active blog in the world.

Suzanne Vega
http://web.mac.com/suzannevega/iWeb/Site/Blog/Blog.html
I've long admired Suzanne Vega for her intelligence, craftsmanship, sensitivity, and consistently high-quality (and usually underrated) music. She's exactly the sort of musician who should be blogging. And yet she's also such a precise writer that she does not tend to run off at the mouth in the blog--entries are pretty much short and to the point. I'd actually like a little more excess here!







last updated 9 May 08





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