Josh Ritter talks about songwriting, novels, and the open road

C-VILLE Weekly’s Graelyn Brashear sat down with singer/songwriter and novelist Josh Ritter for a radio interview live on WTJU before his show last night at the Jefferson Theater. Ritter, a remarkably candid interview and a compelling communicator, talks about his friendship with C’ville musicians, his attachment to Appalachia, and his love of writing. Graelyn Brashear: […]

Meet the man who’s quietly bringing ancient Tibet to Charlottesville

Gyaltsen Sangpo Druknya was born in the northeast corner of the Tibetan Plateau in a region called Amdo, a land of arid grasslands, huge blue lakes, and deep, pine covered valleys. Three of Asia’s most famous rivers—the Yangtze, the Yellow, and the Mekong—have their beginnings in the snow-covered mountains that ring the area. Amdo is […]

Who/What/Wear: All maxi’d out

I ran into local student PANSY on UVA Grounds while she was taking a walk with friends. Seen here wearing a maxi skirt from Urban Outfitters and a simple black tank, this easy, breezy summer look is elevated with a vintage Coach bag handed down from Pansy’s mother —and Pansy’s own outstanding curls. I saw EMILY, a floral […]

Wilco cruises into Pavilion with good vibes

Wilco is in a good place. The band’s near-two-decade slog through the music world has had its fair share of adversity: addiction, line-up shuffles, and a gut-punch rejection from Reprise Records of what turned out to be its most successful album (2002’s Yankee Hotel Foxtrot). Now, the band has held the same crew together for […]

Freedom is just another word for Kris Kristofferson

At some point quite early in your long life it dawned on you that you had already written the words the world is going to want to see on your tombstone. That’s not a particularly easy thing to live with. You wrote them in the song “The Pilgrim: Chapter 33” about a rogues gallery of […]

Adam Brock’s vision shines on Borrowed Beams of Light’s new EP

For years, local music fans only knew Adam Brock as a drummer, the powerful force behind bands like The Nice Jenkins and Invisible Hand. But it’s always been clear that Brock was capable of more. His clear and exuberant singing voice added a perfect pop edge to his bands’ tunes, and his enthusiastic taste as […]

Gettin’ sweet on sweet corn

Garrison Keillor once said, “Sex is good, but not as good as fresh, sweet corn.” To which we add—especially when it’s slathered in lots of butter. Corn tastes like nature’s candy, but it loses 50 percent of its sugar in the first 24 hours after it’s picked, so start gorging yourself now on these dishes […]

A biography of Charlottesville’s coal tower

A partly cloudy day, late March, unseasonably warm. Two men look up as I step into a small clearing in the woods beyond the coal tower. “Hope I’m not bothering you.” “It’s cool,” one of them says. He moves over on the makeshift bench so I have room to sit down. “I saw you taking […]