Agent Palmer

It is no secret that I enjoy listening to podcasts. I have written about them, I have reviewed them, I have participated in them, and then I created and continue to publish my own. But I am also a lover of music, which I have also written about, reviewed, and played.

Of late, podcast listening has taken a back burner to music, specifically Bob Dylan, R.E.M., and some curated playlists on Spotify and Amazon Music.

Not all documentaries are created equal. Some are out to prove a point, others hope to make you think, and even more are out to entertain, uncover, or educate. Music documentaries do a lot of those things, except they obviously tend to have music.

In having said music, the talking heads are commonly musicians or fans, and even the most serious music documentary has some light moments of laughter.

This blog post was written as a response to a podcast, where the mandolin was unfairly and viciously attacked because, well, there was no reason. It was entirely unprovoked and someone needs to stand in and defend the mandolin from Matt’s attacks on Our Liner Notes.

And apparently, I have decided that I am that person. So in defense of the mandolin, here are some tracks that include and even feature the little instrument that could.

What we know of as rock n roll, is not only the story of music but the history of instruments as well. The Birth of Loud chronicles a rivalry that was at the center of more than one musical movement and it is superbly written by Ian S. Port who not only describes the people and their instruments, the trials and innovation, but the feelings of change and moments of inspiration.

Author Ian S. Port writes this book not only with great prose, but there’s some poetry in there too. His description of Hendrix at Woodstock performing the Star-Spangled Banner is the best I have ever read…