By Ron Wynn Harmonica ace Mark Hummel has long been blending vintage and contemporary influences in his writing and playing, perfecting for decades a style that manages to balance modern concerns with the classic ethos and sensibility of the classic blues from the ‘30s and ‘40s that Hummel admires. That’s definitely the case on his latest LP “Wayback Machine” (Electro-Fi) that’s being released this week. Hummel is joined on this stirring session by guitarist Billy Flynn, Mississippi blues star Joe Beard and the West Coast combo The Deep Basement Shakers. It was recorded by Chris Kid Andersen at Greaseland Studios…
Author: Ron Wynn
By Ron Wynn Xandra Lee embodies a new artistic vision for contemporary Nashville vocalists, an engaging mix of vintage influences and modern production techniques and musical elements. Gifted with a powerful, rangy and highly expressive mezzo soprano voice, Lee has both a strong natural sound and polished performance ethic that reflects her longtime involvement in the arts world, despite still being quite young. Lee has been a Music City resident for over five years now, but was born in Arizona and started her career as a dancer. She calls herself “an old soul in a young person’s body,” something that’s…
David Stern was the longest serving commissioner in NBA history, remaining in that position over three decades after taking over in 1984. Stern died last week at 77, and many across the world of sports paid tribute to his impact and influence on the game. For the most part, Stern’s tenure will be seen as a positive one, and even his most severe critics acknowledge that the league is better off in many ways as a result of things that he did. But there were also some controversial things he did that weren’t so positive, many of which folks were…
By Ron Wynn Jordan Peele is now one of Hollywood’s busiest producers, writers and actors, and he shows no signs of slowing down in 2020. His next project will be for Amazon and this week they released the first trailer for “Hunters.” It’s Peele’s production about Nazi hunters, and it’s also been renamed and retooled. The original title was “The Hunt.” Amazon has also announced the release date is Feb. 21. It’s a joint venture between Peele’s Monkeypaw Productions and Sonar Entertainment, but was created by David Weil. Weil will also serve as head writer and executive producer. The teaser…
By Ron Wynn The Tennessee Volunteers came back from a 13-point fourth quarter deficit with a pair of touchdowns to grab a stunning 23-22 win over Indiana Thursday in the Gator Bowl. Indiana was ahead 22-9, and the Volunteer fans among the crowd of nearly 62,000 in Jacksonville looked glum. But then the Vols drove 82 yards to pull within six points, and made the play of the year on the following kickoff. Paxton Brooks perfectly executed an onside kick, with the game’s MVP Eric Gray recovering it. It took only three plays before Gray went 16 yards for the…
By Ron Wynn Things started well for Mississippi State as they took an early 14-point lead, but everything turned sour in the second half as they were defeated 38-28 in the 22nd annual Music City Bowl Monday at Nissan Stadium. Louisville would score 31 unanswered points. and eventually post their eighth win of the year. It was an impressive turnaround after last season’s 10 losses that resulted in the hiring of a new head coach, Scott Satterfield. He was voted Atlantic Coast Conference Coach of the Year prior to the Music City Bowl. The Cardinals’ QB Micale Cunningham completed 16…
Seldom has the hypocrisy that’s at the foundation of bigtime college sports been more evident than in a couple of events that occurred last week. One involved a former college freshman leaving school, the other the upcoming new television contract for one of the Power Five conferences. While not seemingly related, when viewed within the total lens of NCAA issues they are illustrative of just how totally ridiculous the NCAA’s organizational stance has been for many years, and how completely at odds what they say is in terms of how they operate. James Wiseman, an 18-year-old seven-foot center who moved…
By Ron Wynn Depending on how one views things, the recent list of the decade’s top films published last week by the Hollywood Reporter represents either real progress or a tacit acknowledgement great improvement in the areas of diversity and inclusion was necessary. A trio of Black films made the Top 10, and this list is a lot different from a fan poll. It was done by 3,500 industry professionals. These were actors, writers, producers, directors and technical people who actually worked on films throughout the decade, not journalists or fans. Leading the way was Jordan Peele’s “Get Out” from…
The 2020 Pro Bowl on January 26 in Orlando will be an historic one for several reasons. First, it will be the latest celebration of the NFL’s centennial season, the topper to a host of other events that have been happening the entire year. Second, it’s the first time since 2008 that the New England Patriots’ Tom Brady wasn’t selected as either a starter or alternate, a reflection of the team’s struggling offense and his less than impressive (certainly be his past standards) offensive statistics. But most importantly, it marks a historic occasion for Black NFL quarterbacks. All three of…
By Ron Wynn NASHVILLE, TN — Kelly “The Ghost” Pavlik and Billy “Pride of Ohio” Lyell both achieved impressive success as professional boxers. Pavlik had a 40-2 record with 34 knockouts and won middleweight titles from Ring Magazine, the World Boxing Council (WBC) and World Boxing Association (WBA). Lyell competed for both the International Boxing Federation (IBF) and the WBC middleweight crowns on the way to a 25-11 record with five knockouts. Now they’re utilizing their experiences outside the ring. They are business partners and recently launched the mobile app “Sweet Science+,” currently available for IOS devices. “We wanted to…