When I got the double-disc "Columbia Legacy" edition of Prefab Sprout's Steve McQueen in the mail last week, my first thought was, "Great! One for Permanent Records!" But a few complications arose.

I found this album through an interview with Will Oldham where he talks about Merle’s cover of Iris Dement’s “No Time to Cry.” It’s one of the saddest songs I’ve ever heard, and his version on this ...

Back in the summer of 1985, I was a DJ at an alternative rock station in the Baltimore-Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. I remember rummaging through the new-release bin one night until I spotted ...