Anytime the roll call of the great American songwriters rings out, right in there among Gershwin, Berlin & co., you'll inevitably find Peru, Indiana's favorite son, Cole Porter. Like a lot of his conte …

Vibrant voices have been serving up sizzling takes on Cole Porter's tunes since the 1920s, but a new generation takes up the torch to interpret his evergreens for the 21st century. British boy wonder J …

When Otis Redding first set foot in Memphis' Stax Records, he was a driver for blues guitarist Johnny Jenkins. Sure enough, when Jenkins' session went south, Otis stepped up to the mic, let loose with  …

The lines famously quoted from Kris Kristofferson's "The Pilgrim, Chapter 33" in the movie Taxi Driver - about a man who's a poet, a picker, a prophet, and more - were written about somebody els …

Kristofferson has become as famous for his movie roles as his music, but it was the former Rhodes scholar's way with words that put him on the map. His early song "Best of All Possible Worlds" - covere …

It was the 1920s, and the tenor sax was still a Vaudeville oddity when young prodigy Coleman Hawkins decided he could do wild and wondrous things with the horn's undiscovered potential. With a tone tha …

Like any true jazz great, Coleman Hawkins played well with others - sometimes to historical proportions, like the 1944 session with Dizzy Gillespie, Max Roach, and others that produced not only a swing …

Sometimes only a cold beer will suffice - cracked open in the company of old friends at a bar where time once stood still; where every awkward guy fell in love with every awkward girl at least once, li …

"Guitar Hero" doesn't begin to describe the genius of Jimi Hendrix. His six-string wizardry was matched with visionary songwriting and startling showmanship. Use these 25 crucial tracks to embark on yo …