New Book By Darryl Holter: Driving Force: Automobiles and the New American City, 1900–1930
New Book Reveals L.A.’s Incredible Impact on the Early Auto Industry Click Here for all Driving Force Events and News Driving Force: Automobiles and the New American City, 1900–1930 is the First Major History of Car Dealers at Work LOS ANGELES —Have you ever wondered how and why Los Angeles became so obsessed with cars? While historians and sociologists have provided numerous explanations, little or no credit has been given to the dealers, who ventured into unknown territory to sell a product regarded by nearly all banks and most businesses as a fad at best. Released on May 9, 2023, ... [Read More]
Resolution Calling for New Streaming Royalty to Fairly Pay Music Artists
Congresswoman Tlaib Introduces Resolution Calling for New Streaming Royalty to Fairly Pay Music Artists Aug 11, 2022 WASHINGTON, D.C. – This week, Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (MI-13) introduced House Concurrent Resolution 102, a new resolution recognizing the need to establish a new royalty program that would directly compensate musicians with a fairer royalty payment every time their music is listened to on a streaming music service, like Spotify. “Streaming has become an increasingly popular choice for people to enjoy music, but unfortunately while streaming services and record labels continue to make tons of money off of these platforms, the artists who make this music are ... [Read More]
Anaïs Mitchell and “Hadestown” Opens in Los Angeles
After playing to sold-out audiences on Broadway prior to the pandemic, and winning a dozen Tony and Grammy Awards, the musical “Hadestown” arrived in Los Angles a few nights ago. Julia and I joined a jam-packed crowd at the Ahmanson Theatre two nights ago and it was a ball. Based on the mythological story of Orpheus and Eurydice, “Hadestown” is set in the Depression years and features 21 great songs. The music, lyrics, and book were written by an incredibly talented woman, Anaïs Mitchell. “Hadestown” plays in Los Angeles for about a month. I noticed that several shows are sold ... [Read More]
Honoring Esteban Torres with Guthrie’s “Plain Wreck at Los Gatos (Deportee)”
Recently I learned that retired U.S. Representative Esteban Torres had passed away at the age of 92. Although I had met Congressman Torres (or “E.T.” as friends called him) several years ago, I never really knew him, but I knew about his incredible career. Born in the copper mining region of Arizona, his father, a miner, was deported to Mexico in 1935, when E.T. was three years. This was during the depths of the Great Depression and thousands of Mexican laborers were deported. E.T. never saw his father again but he went on to an inspiring career serving in the ... [Read More]
All They Will Call You: The Telling of the Plane Wreck at Los Gatos Canyon – Darryl Holter Book Review
Tim Z. Hernandez, All They Will Call You: The Telling of the Plane Wreck at Los Gatos Canyon. University of Arizona Press, 2017. Book Review by Darryl Holter | Woody Guthrie Annual, 3 (2017) Woody Guthrie made lists. He compiled lists of all the songs he had written and then made new lists, sometimes changing the titles. In private notebooks he made lists of songs he wanted to write, headlines from newspapers, and names of friends he planned to write. On New Year’s Day in 1943 he recorded a list of thirty-three resolutions including “work more and better,” “change socks,” ... [Read More]
Happy Birthday, Waylon Jennings! (No, not that Waylon Jennings.)
Happy Birthday, Waylon Jennings! No, not that Waylon Jennings. I mean my dog and BTW, I didn’t name him. Waylon turned 15 years on January 16th, so we had a little party for him. I adopted Waylon from a rescue service in 2008. I’ve always liked the songs by Waylon Jennings so I liked the dog’s name. Also, I am a bit of a Francophile and Waylon is a French Brittany, the largest of the Spaniel family, a bird dog who loves to retrieve tennis balls. Unlike American Brittanys, which are brown and white or liver and white, French Brittanys ... [Read More]
Happy Birthday, Bob Dylan
It's Bob Dylan's 80th Birthday and that reminded me of this incident. - DH It was December 1977 or 1978 and I was driving from Madison to Minneapolis with April and Rachael to visit our families for Christmas. We stopped in Menominee to pick up April’s brother, Dean. Around midnight I stopped at the Big Steer truck stop outside of Osseo, Wisconsin, to get some coffee so I could make the next hundred miles to the Twin Cities. I saw a new red Cadillac in the parking lot. We sat in a booth and ordered. Dean, who was sitting across ... [Read More]
Don Heffington, Lone Justice drummer and session musician for roots stars, dies at 70
I had the pleasure of working with Don Heffington on two albums, Crooked Hearts and Roots and Branches. Don was a consummate professional. He arrived ahead of time, set up his drum kit, and was ready to roll when most of us were still tuning up. The long list of artists lucky enough to hire Don for percussion reads like a who’s who in roots and Americana music. In the studio Don was low-key and serious, but I remember when we knocked off for lunch while recording at Sunset Sounds, Don asked me why I changed the tempo of “A ... [Read More]
“Hadestown” is Front-Runner for Tony Awards
Update - "Hadestown" Wins 8 Tony Awards Anais Mitchell won a Tony for best musical score and Hadestown won for best musical. 8 Tony Awards in all! - DH "Hadestown" is Front-Runner for Tony Awards The brilliant singer-songwriter, Anaïs Mitchell, who sang with me on my Roots and Branches album last year, was just nominated for two Tony Awards for writing the book and musical score for Hadestown, a folk-blues musical playing on Broadway. The unconventional play, a reimagining of the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, earned 14 nominations, more than any other musical, and is a front-runner to ... [Read More]
5th and Broadway
5th and Broadway By Darryl Holter | December 2018 In the fall of 1997, while walking around the nascent Art District of LA, I met an artist named John Kilduff. He did his painting in the open air, setting up his easel on sidewalks and alleys in Downtown Los Angeles and produced wonderful oil paintings of street scenes. When I squinted and looked at his small 12” by 12” painting called “7th and Broadway” I thought I was standing on the street next to John as he painted. I bought it as a gift for my wife. Later I met ... [Read More]
Darryl Holter grew up playing the guitar and singing country and rock and roll songs in Minneapolis, Minnesota. His current brand of Americana music draws from country, blues and folk traditions and often tells stories about people, places and events.