Michael Atchison

Latest Articles

Excerpt: Evening’s Empire by Bill Flanagan

In this chapter, "The Drugs Don't Work," aging rock star Emerson Cutler and his manager, Jack Flynn, are seeking inspiration — and desperately trying to jumpstart his career.
By BILL FLANAGAN | February 05, 2010

Lowe life

Nick Lowe on growing up and growing old in the music business
Nick Lowe is a rare creature, a punk rock founding father who has endured and evolved gracefully.
By MICHAEL ATCHISON | October 07, 2009

Solo contender

A.C. Newman adjusts to the limelight on Get Guilty
When Carl Newman walks down a New York City sidewalk and seizes some sudden flicker of inspiration by humming bits of melody into his Blackberry.
By ZETH LUNDY | March 10, 2009

Guilty pleasure

A.C. [Carl] Newman talks pop and the making of his new album
A.C. Newman is on fire. One of indie rock's most prolific songwriters and performers, Newman has six albums to his credit this decade...
By MICHAEL ATCHISON | March 10, 2009

Towns on the edge of darkness

The Hold Steady explore the shadows on Stay Positive
If 2006’s Boys and Girls in America was the Hold Steady’s Born to Run, Stay Positive is their Darkness On the Edge of Town , where the cocksure auteur grows older and less certain of his place in the world.
By MICHAEL ATCHISON | July 14, 2008