A half-dozen cool things in music, from two points of view:
The Wild Feathers, Turf Club. The perfect Nashville blend of Black Crowes-meets-Tom Petty. The three-part harmonies were a rare treat.
Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, "Give the People What They Want." Soulful and sassy as ever, this Brooklyn R&B band has returned just in time to save us all from Miley Cyrus.
"The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon." Fallon packed his first week at the big desk with U2, Arcade Fire, Justin Timberlake and, most important, brought the Roots along to his new gig. Music fans of all genres have a new ally at 10:35 every weeknight.
Jim olson, St. Louis Park
E-mail popmusic@startribune.com.
Real Phonic Radio Hour, J.J. Hill Library. Working with their own groups and together, Twin Cities country singer Erik Koskinen and local roots/gospel singer Chastity Brown showed soulfulness comes in different musical flavors.
"The Sad, Strange Battle Over Casey Kasem," Billboard magazine. Hal Espen's deeply reported piece details the schism between the famous Top 40 DJ's adult children and their stepmother over access to see their fading father, who is suffering from Parkinson's. Kasem's is a rags-to-richness-to-sadness story.
Dierks Bentley, "Drunk on a Plane." In the middle of his new album "Riser" comes Nashville's freshest, funniest party song of the past two years. His fiancé bailed and he had two weeks of vacation and nonrefundable tickets for the honeymoon, so he's getting mile-high drunk en route to Cancun.
Jon Bream, Star Tribune
