William Brownlee

July 27, 2026

July 2026 Recap: A Monthly Exercise in Critical Transparency

William Brownlee

July 27, 2026

Screenshot of the trailer for Gran Teatre del Liceu’s production of Giuseppe Verdi’s “Falstaff” by There Stands the Glass.

The Top Ten Albums of July 2026 (through July 26)
1. Play Time- Magic Object
My review.

2. Lesley Mok- transient
My review.

3. Charli xcx- Music, Fashion, Film
Pop nihilism.

4. Oscar Maydon- Música En Mi Jetski
The cure for the summertime blues.

5. Matt Otto- Ephemeral
My review.

6. Nu Jazz- Un Jazz
My review.

7. Orquesta Akokán- América!
Mambo!

8. Punch Brothers- The Unsung Adventures of Punch Brothers
Highfalutin pickin’.

9. Willow- The Thread
Arena-jazz.

10. Jack White- Frozen Charlotte
He’s back in Wichita.

The Top Three Reissues and Reimaginings of July 2026 (through July 26)
1. Gary Stewart- One Track Mind
Jukin’.

2. Seamus Blake- EH!: Plays the Music of Eddie Harris
Trying to make it real.

3. Nicholas Payton and Butcher Brown- A Supreme Blue
A bad idea made good.

The Top Ten Songs of July 2026 (through July 26)
1. Shenseea- “Brucksweat”
Sweltering.

2. Larry June and DJ Fresh- “Organic Motion”
Blurry.

3. Tinashe- “Crash Out”
Psychotic reaction.

4. Ken Carson with Playboi Carti- “deaf note”
What?

5. Fathers- “STUB”
Nate Smith, Kiefer, Carrtoons and Kenny Beats.

6. Dinner Party- "Piece of Mind"
Kamasi Washington, Robert Glasper, Terrace Martin and 9th Wonder.

7. Syd featuring James Fauntleroy- "Any Time"
Diamonds and pearls.

8. Nick Hakim- “The Reason”
Slow jam.

9. Show Me the Body- “Do What’s Right (Happy)”
Backsliding.

10. Rome Streetz featuring Westside Gunn- "Marathon Or Race"
Tortoise and hare.

The Top Ten Performances of July 2026 (through July 26)
1. Bob Dylan, Lucinda Williams and John Doe at Starlight Theatre
My review.

2. Extemporaneous Music and Arts Society’s “A Convocation of Exoplanets” at Charlotte Street Foundation
My review.

3. Graham Nash at Muriel Kauffman Theatre
My review.

4. Gerald Spaits’ Sax & Violins at Greenwood Social Hall
My review.

5. Drew Williams, Ben Tervort and Brian Steever at the Ship
My Instagram snapshot.

6. The Overland Park Civic Band at Thompson Park
My Instagram clip.

7. JWB with Ernest Melton at 515 Music Hub
My Instagram clip.

8. Trinity Jazz Ensemble at Prairie Baptist Church
My Instagram clip.

9. Eboni Fondren at Vine Street Brewing
My Instagram snapshot.

10. Sally’s Tomato at Black Dolphin
My Instagram clip.

The previous monthly recap is here.

William Brownlee

July 5, 2026

Concert Review: Bob Dylan, Lucinda Williams and John Doe at Starlight Theatre

William Brownlee

July 5, 2026

Image of the John Doe Folk Trio by There Stands the Glass.

I was walking past the designated standing area closest to the stage at Starlight Theatre when John Doe opened a Fourth of July concert with a rendition of Jimmie Dale Gilmore’s “Tonight I Think I’m Gonna Go Downtown”. Much to the chagrin of the ushers, I decided to post up at the spot rather than make my way to my assigned seat at the back of the venue. (I paid $61 to enter.)

I didn’t become a nuisance until Doe revived X’s “See How We Are”. Involuntarily, I became the first of the mentally unhinged superfans who went into ecstatic paroxysms of nostalgia during the next three-and-one-half hours. The dire message of the 1987 protest song- the ongoing deterioration of American society is inevitable- walloped me in ways I didn’t imagine 39 years ago.

X means a lot more to me than Lucinda Williams. Even so, I relished her literate Southern rock jams bolstered by the presence of Black Crowes guitarist Marc Ford. Williams diffused the tension incited by her strident compositions by insisting she’s a patriot, a savvy move, given the surprising number of people wearing MAGA-related clothing amid the audience of about 5,000.

Speaking of unaccountable perversities, Bob Dylan’s confrontational performance art routine rolls on. The distinguishing characteristic of Saturday’s concert was a relentless battery of private armaments unleashed in the public park surrounding the venue.

Fireworks repeatedly drowned out Dylan and his band from the seat I illicitly claimed in the front half of the amphitheater. An absurd Irving Berlin-style take on “When I Paint My Masterpiece,” Dylan’s eccentric jazz-based keyboard work and Joel Paterson’s Jimmy Rogers-style guitar riffs were the best bits of what was audible. Ka-boom!

William Brownlee

December 13, 2025

Woody Guthrie: There Stands the Glass’ 2025 Artist of the Year

William Brownlee

December 13, 2025

Original image by There Stand the Glass.

Suggesting that an aged work of political art is as relevant as ever is a tired trope. Yet these are exhausting times. Woody Guthrie died in 1967, but he was never far from my mind in 2025. Essential anthems including “Deportee,” “Pastures of Plenty” and “This Land Is Your Land” mirrored unwelcome headlines.

A set of Guthrie’s home demos was among the year’s most essential reissues. Contemporary folkies such as the duo of Haley Heynderickx and Max García Conover upheld Guthrie’s legacy. Three Guthrie covers are included in Bob Dylan’s October release Through the Open Window: The Bootleg Series, Vol. 18.

Speaking of Guthrie’s most famous acolyte, I was pleased to see that a heartrending portrayal of a debilitated Guthrie bookends A Complete Unknown when I got around to watching the 2024 Dylan biopic a couple months ago.

I made a pilgrimage in July to Woody Fest in Okemah and The Woody Guthrie Center in Tulsa in July. The trip made the icon the incontrovertible choice as the There Stands the Glass Artist of the Year.

Amid a downpour, I commandeered a complimentary shuttle bus to deliver me to the original Guthrie digs in Okemah. I was devastated to discover that he literally ain't got no home in this world anymore. Yet Guthrie’s legacy doesn’t require sacred ground or holy relics. His work is embedded in my soul.

Honorable mentions: Gerald Clayton, Sylvie Courvoisier and Wadada Leo Smith. Previous recipients of There Stands the Glass’ Artist of the Year designation are Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (2024), Hilary Hahn (2023), Joyce DiDonato (2022), Pat Metheny (2021) and Bad Bunny (2020).

William Brownlee

July 17, 2025

Take Me Back to Tulsa

William Brownlee

July 17, 2025

Original image of Butch Hancock by There Stands the Glass.

My ramblin’ jones led me to Oklahoma last week. People who aren’t obsessive about music may find the concept of music tourism in a state sandwiched between Kansas and Texas laughable. Yet Oklahoma made a huge impact on American music in the 20th century. It’s still a hub for a distinctive, commercially viable sound.

Here’s a partial roll call of prominent Oklahomans: Garth Brooks, J.J. Cale, Charlie Christian, the Flaming Lips, the Gap Band, Woody Guthrie, Jay McShann, Jimmy Rushing, Leon Russell and Bob Wills. Today, hordes of homegrown red dirt country bands like Turnpike Troubadours play to big crowds across the country.

I wheeled my road trip around Butch Hancock’s 80th birthday celebration at Woody Fest in Okemah, Oklahoma. I hadn’t previously patronized the folk festival in Woody Guthrie’s hometown. Furthermore, I couldn’t recall attending a Hancock performance, although I surely did in the late ‘80s and/or early ‘90s.

If The Flatlanders were more a legend than a band, Hancock is more a rumor than a man. His music isn’t available on DSPs and he’s certainly not the social media type. Fortunately for me, plenty of Hancock’s music is available in the Museum of Dead People and Outmoded Formats located in my basement.

Even if I was disappointed that the songwriter remained seated as his colleagues performed their favorite Hancock compositions for most of the show, I was glad to have been present at the heartwarming event that concluded with Hancock’s reading of “If You Were a Bluebird.”

I was dismayed to discover the Guthrie homestead is a vacant lot while in Okemah. I also became a Bonnie Whitmore fan, finally “got” Aaron Lee Tasjan and was reduced to a puddle of tears upon hearing My Politic’s “Buzzards on a Powerline” for the first time. I’m still reeling.

Tulsa’s bustling earthiness reminds me of Austin, Texas, circa 1995. I became intimate with the streets in and around the pretty campus of the University of Tulsa and spent quality time at the verdant Gathering Place. The Bob Dylan Center and The Woody Guthrie Center are located on Reconciliation Way at the site of one of the United State’s most horrific atrocities.

The Dylan Center is filled with the sort of crucial relics that are curiously missing at the Guthrie Center. Yet the Okie’s museum is currently hosting the touring Hip-Hop America: The Mixtape Exhibit. It also featured a strident poetry reading and a separate performance of union songs associated with Joe Hill on the day of my visit. I miss the town already. Take me back to Tulsa.

William Brownlee

December 13, 2023

The Top Reissues and EPs of 2023

William Brownlee

December 13, 2023

The Top Ten Reissues and Reimaginings of 2023

1. Bob Dylan- Fragments: Time Out of Mind Sessions (1996-1997); The Bootleg Series, Vol. 17

2. Jessye Norman- The Unreleased Masters

3. Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Charles Mingus and Max Roach- Hot House: The Complete Jazz at Massey Hall Recordings

4. Milford Graves- Children of the Forest

5. Fred Davis- Cleveland Blues

6. Bob Weir- Ace: 50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition

7. Reba McEntire- Not That Fancy

8. RP Boo- Legacy, Volume 2

9. William Basinski- The Clocktower at the Beach

10. Cat Power- Sings Dylan: The 1966 Royal Albert Hall Concert

The Top Ten EPs of 2023

1. Julian Lage- The Layers

2. Theo Croker- By the Way

3. Noah Preminger and Kim Cass- The Dank

4. Truth Cult- Walk the Feel

5. Midwestern- Cartoon Network

6. Big Boss Vette- Resilience

7. $uicideboy$- Yinyang Tapes: Spring Season 1989-1990

8. Mozzy- Kollect Kall

9. Ilhan Ersahin, Dave Harrington and Kenny Wollesen- Your Head You Know

10. Marquis Hill- Rituals + Routines

William Brownlee

December 2, 2023

Album Review: Bob Dylan- The Complete Bukokan 1978

William Brownlee

December 2, 2023

For decades I thought I couldn’t have picked a worse era in which to see Bob Dylan for the first time. I didn’t know what to make of the 1978 concert at Kansas City’s Kemper Arena.

I accepted the conventional wisdom that Dylan’s tour in support of Street Legal was an artistic debacle. The new four-hour and thirty-minute The Complete Budokan 1978 changed my mind

Forty-five years later, the arrangements rendered by the band still sound more suited to Neil Diamond or Elvis Presley than to Dylan. Yet I now appreciate how much fun Dylan was having. Besides, I like Diamond and Presley.

The cheese doesn’t lend itself to protest material, but readings of love songs like “Is Your Love in Vain?” and "The Man in Me" fill me with the sort of giddy yearning I’ve rarely felt since I was a teen.

William Brownlee

October 3, 2023

Smooth

William Brownlee

October 3, 2023

Original image by There Stands the Glass.

The cheesy 1999 hit "Smooth" almost ruined my beach vacation. An open air bar fifty steps from the room I rented in Southern California blared Santana’s hit around midnight each night of my trip. After exhausting myself on the beach, I was subjected to played-out rock songs as I tried to sleep. The torture wasn’t cheap. I couldn’t afford pricey tickets to the concerts by Beyoncé and Bob Dylan that open my October concert recommendations for KCUR.

William Brownlee

February 6, 2023

Album Review: Bob Dylan: Fragments- Time Out of Mind Sessions (1996-1997): The Bootleg Series, Vol. 17 (Deluxe Edition)

William Brownlee

February 6, 2023

I resorted to desperate counter-programming as I drove home from pre-pandemic Folk Alliance International Conference sessions. After being deluged with hours of banjo and conscientious protest songs, I felt compelled to queue up digital productions by the antisocial likes of Kevin Gates. Not this year. I’m all in on the six-hour and thirteen-minute reissue of Bob Dylan’s Time Out of Mind. I loved the album as a new release in 1997. It sounds even better now. The former folkie’s ravaged voice, gothic blues and frequently hilarious lyrics reflect my current worldview. My default soundtrack also led to a synchronized bout of serendipity. A 16-minute version of “Highlands” began as I left the garage of a midtown hotel after midnight last week. The song ended when I pulled into my driveway. I too “feel like a prisoner in a world of mystery.”

William Brownlee

December 3, 2021

Take What You Want: The Top Albums, EPs and Reissues of 2021

William Brownlee

December 3, 2021

The Top 50 Albums of 2021

1. Kanye West- Donda