By: Brian Berger

He recorded boogies of warmth, menace, sorrow and whimsy.

By: Brian Berger

“He was a genius at the register of the speaking voice.”

By: Brian Berger

His albums demonstrated traditional music’s avant-garde potential.

By: Brian Berger

Why wasn’t “Boll Weevil” #1?

By: Brian Berger

His Mumbo Jumbo promised: “We will make our own future Text.”

By: Brian Berger

Nobody in American music did more with less.

By: Brian Berger

The tenor saxophonist’s tone was a marvel of fluid sincerity.

By: Brian Berger

His U.S.A. trilogy is the ne plus ultra of avant-garde historical fiction.

By: Brian Berger

He fused old-timey vernacular, post-Dylan poetics, and orchestral pop.

By: Brian Berger

Much has been said of those like gods. Now hear her speak of Nixon and Reagan.

By: Brian Berger

That absolutely crucial center; that ear that could hear us all.

By: Brian Berger

“Master of the whimsical tone, the unexpected insight, the hidden bite.”

By: Brian Berger

Ridiculous and terrifying, aunt and prophetess.

By: Brian Berger

A divisive figure: minimalist or tintinnabulist?

By: Brian Berger

“I’m not a humanitarian, I’m a hell-raiser!”