Articles by Robert Hilburn

A pair of Bo Diddley retrospectives offers an especially revealing look at the late Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member’s studio experimentation. Read more

From Del Mar’s upper grandstand levels, you can see the glistening Pacific. Read more

When a bootleg album of David Bowie’s Santa Monica Civic Auditorium stop on his 1972 Ziggy Stardust tour hit the market several years ago, I didn’t even bother to listen to it because I couldn’t imagine the music alone living up to my memory of such a spectacular visual presentation. Read more

There have been so many Beach Boys greatest-hits packages that you wouldn’t think Capitol Records had the nerve to release “California Girls” and “Fun, Fun, Fun” all over again. Read more

If you are a fan of Bob Dylan and the Band, you might have heard the name Ronnie Hawkins quite a bit over the years, though you probably haven’t heard much of his actual music – the Canadian-based rocker has had little sales chart presence in this country. Read more

If Eddy Arnold really is the most successful country music hit maker of all time, why haven’t we heard more about him in recent years? Read more

If asked to name the recording artist whose music came closest to serving as a soundtrack for the civil rights movement in the 1960s, most pop fans would probably think of James Brown, Stevie Wonder and Bob Dylan. Read more

Carole King’s “Tapestry,” which has been rereleased in a deluxe CD package, is one of the biggest-selling and most honored albums of all time, but it’s 37 years old, so a few words of reintroduction may be necessary. Read more

Willie Nelson An Epic Life Joe Nick Patoski Little, Brown: 568 pp., $27.99 MY favorite Willie Nelson story is of the young harmonica player who wanted to be in Nelson’s band so much that he’d drive to shows just for the chance to sit in on stage. Read more