About Us

Alison Aves, Editor
Alison Aves is a freelance writer and editor living in the Bay Area. When not futzing with words she can usually be found baking, running, running after her toddler, or cursing the rate at which weeds grow in her garden.

Alison's Top Five Albums
Manu Chao, Clandestino
The Police, Every Breath You Take
Michael Jackson, Thriller
Ozomatli, Ozomatli
Liz Phair, Exile in Guyville


Sarah Bardeen, World/Reggae Editor
Sarah Bardeen is a writer based in Berkeley, California. For the past decade, she's been opening her ears and writing about what she hears for a variety of print, online and radio media. She's served as Rhapsody's Latin and World music editor for a significant chunk of that time.

Sarah’s Top Five
The Foundations
The Stooges, Raw Power
Minutemen, Double Nickels on the Dime
Television, Marquee Moon


Stephanie Benson, Alt/Indie Editor
An avid concertgoer, closet backup-dancer, shower singer, Rock Band drummer and three-chord guitar player, Stephanie Benson employs such talents as a Rhapsody editor, managing and writing about alternative and indie rock, and the occasional weepy singer-songwriter. Aside from music, she has a mild TV obsession. She offsets these somewhat idle hobbies by walking on her hands and doing the rare backflip.

Stephanie's Top Five Concert Experiences
Daft Punk
Paul McCartney
Radiohead
The Swell Season
Metallica


Sam Chennault, Managing Editor
They umpteenth iteration in the Chennault line, Sam is an enjoyable, if largely uneven, case study of a music writer in the digital age. Gone are the long-form magazine pieces: the artist bios, reviews and trend pieces written for Black Book, Wax Poetics and various print publications. In their place, Chennault focuses on haiku-like reviews, blog feature facilitation and dull Web analytic surveys. It’s an esoteric and curious role, a balance between behind-the-scenes positioning and front-of-the-“book” authorial tomfoolery, making Chennault recommendable, if provisionally so.

Top Five Albums (unordered & subject to change at any second)
Quasimoto, The Unseen
Sly & the Family Stone, There's a Riot Going On
Nas, Illmatic
Bob Dylan, Highway 61 Revisited
Leonard Cohen, The Future


Nick Dedina, Jazz Editor
Nick Dedina has been with Rhapsody since 1999 (which is 793 Internet years) and is its jazz editor when he is not heading up radio programming or being its trouble-shooting man-about-town. Freakishly enthusiastic about music, movies, food, animals (mammal, cartoon or Muppet varieties) and anything else that keeps him away from the ugly real world, Dedina writes the Coup De Stereo, Frank’s World and upcoming Rhapsody Devices blog columns.

Nick’s Top Five
The Zombies, Odessey and Oracle
Sinatra/Jobim, Francis Albert Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim
Bill Withers, Live at Carnegie Hall
Herbie Hancock, Fat Albert Rotunda
Punch Brothers, Punch


Rachel Devitt, Pop Editor
Rachel Devitt's writings about pop, world and Latin music have appeared in the Village Voice, SF Weekly and the Seattle Times -- and of course, right here on the Rhapsody blog. In her other life, she is also an academic with a PhD in ethnomusicology who studies, teaches and writes about burlesque, drag, and uh, pop, world and Latin music. So yeah, not so different, actually. She would like to meet people who think they aren't Britney Spears fans in order to explain to them that such a thing is inconceivable and show them the light.

The Albums that Make Me Want to Be a Drag Queen
Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Labelle, Nightbirds
Gossip, That's Not What I Heard
Yma Sumac, Mambo!
Scissor Sisters, Scissor Sisters
Lady Gaga, The Fame Monster


Chuck Eddy, Editor
Chuck Eddy, a Detroit native and graduate of the University of Missouri's journalism school, spent several years as music editor of The Village Voice and as senior editor at Billboard. He is the author of the books Stairway to Hell and The Accidental Evolution of Rock and Roll, and has served as an officer in the Army Signal Corps, covered sewage issues for suburban weeklies in Michigan and written thousands of music pieces over the years for Spin, Rolling Stone, Creem and countless other publications in addition to Rhapsody. He likes Tommy Roe and Ram Jam, and lives in Austin, Texas.

Chuck’s Five Favorite Rock 'n' Roll Albums of the '20s and '30s
Various Artists, White Country Blues 1926-1938: A Lighter Shade of Blue
Various Artists, You Ain’t Talkin’ to Me: Charlie Poole and the Roots of Country Music
Memphis Jug Band, The Best of the Memphis Jug Band
Uncle Dave Macon, The Very Best Of
Hoosier Hot Shots, The Very Best Of


Justin Farrar, Rock/Folk Editor
Justin Farrar is a hardcore record nerd who just so happens to write about music. His articles have appeared in numerous publications, including The Village Voice, Seattle Weekly, Cleveland’s Scene magazine, Yeti, SF Weekly, Galactic Zoo Dossier and Ugly Things. Justin, along with his lovely wife Mehgan and Mac the cat, call the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina home. When not cranking the jams Justin is either hiking or worshipping John Carpenter.

Five Killer Jams
Scott Tuma, Hard Again
Masters of Reality, Masters of Reality
Jack Rose, Kensington Blues
The Walker Brothers, Nite Flights
Sightings, Through the Panama


Garrett Kamps, Editor In Chief
Garrett Kamps has paid rent writing about music since roughly 2001. Mr. Kamps' formal training in this field consists of drives to Los Angeles from Orange County listening to records by the Smiths and Tortoise; walks across Manhattan in the days before iPods, blasting mix tapes in his cassette player; and an inability to “score” with the ladies in high school. His other interests include outdoor activity, the culinary arts and walking his dog Marshall. He lives in San Francisco.

Garrett’s Top 5 Owl City Songs
"Hello Seattle"
"Umbrella Beach"
"Strawberry Avalanche"
"Fireflies"
"Vanilla Twilight"


Mike McGuirk, Editor
Posing as an expert in new country and Christian rock, Mike McGuirk began writing for Rhapsody back in 1999, when it was a startup called Listen.com. Since then he has parlayed his geek-level interest in everything from blues masters Howlin' Wolf and James Booker to grindcore kings Pig Destroyer and Swedish torture-metal duo Abruptum (with a concentration in the rock music of the '70s) into writing gigs mainly with Rhapsody and the San Francisco Bay Guardian. He lives in Cambridge, Mass., where he spends the majority of his free time interfacing with his PS3 unit.

McGuirk’s Top Five
Sleep, Sleep's Holy Mountain
James Gang, Live in Concert
Jerry Lee Lewis, Killer Country
Otha Turner, From Senegal to Senatobia
Brainbombs, Urge to Kill


Wendy Lee Nentwig, Christian Editor
Born and raised near San Francisco, Wendy Lee Nentwig now lives in Nashville, a town that’s also home to Jack White, Ben Folds and Jars of Clay. A freelance writer and editor, she covers Christian music for Rhapsody and admits to a soft spot for singer-songwriters like Derek Webb, Patty Griffin, Sara Groves and Andrew Peterson. Her credits include books co-written with Michael W. Smith, John Tesh and Bart Millard, plus artist interviews with Steven Curtis Chapman, Chris Tomlin, Darlene Zschech, Amy Grant, MercyMe, Jeremy Camp, Israel Houghton, Newsboys, a young Katy Perry and dozens more.

5 Christian Albums That Changed My World
Jennifer Knapp, Kansas
Tonio K., Romeo Unchained
Burlap to Cashmere, Anybody Out There?
Derek Webb, She Must and Shall Go Free
Rich Mullins, A Liturgy, a Legacy & a Ragamuffin Band


Linda Ryan, Country Editor
With an overarching enthusiasm for music that started in college radio, Linda Ryan started writing for Rhapsody in 2000, when it was the startup known as Listen.com. Since then, Linda has ridden a wave of adventure (read: numerous business models) that has allowed her eagerness to explore new music to blossom. Currently Linda displays knowledge of, and passion for, all things relating to the country music genre -- whether it’s the traditional twang of George Strait, the fire and brimstone of Miranda Lambert or the sublime pleasure found in a George and Tammy duet.

Top 5 Country(ish) Albums to Clean My House To
Miranda Lambert, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
The Wolfe Tones, Up the Rebels
Keith Urban, Be Here
Steve Earle, Copperhead Road (1988)
Dwight Yoakam, Hillbilly Deluxe


Philip Sherburne, Electronic Editor
Raised in Portland, Ore., and based these days in Berlin, Philip Sherburne has been writing about music and culture for over a decade. Published in Pitchfork, the Wire, SPIN, the New York Times, Resident Advisor and many others, he's one of the leading voices in electronic-music criticism. When he's not writing, you can find him releasing obscure 12-inch singles and DJing at places like Berlin's Panorama Bar.

Philip's Top 5 Teen Faves Still Valid Today
The Cure, Seventeen Seconds
Bauhaus, The Sky's Gone Out
New Order, Power, Corruption & Lies
Thomas Dolby, The Flat Earth
Prince, Around the World in a Day


Lauren Tabak, Manager, Original Programming & Development
Lauren likes making music, videos, music videos and videos about music. She’s also a fan of fancy food, fresh fruit cocktails and general “fun in the sun.”

Five Top Albums to Party Like It's 2006!
Hot Chip, The Warning
CSS, Cansei De Ser Sexy
Klaxons, Myths of the Near Future
Simian Mobile Disco, Attack Sustain Decay Release
The Rapture, Pieces of the People We Love



Max Warsh, Photo Editor
Prior to coming to Rhapsody, Max has hauled his cumbersome record collection from New York City to Chicago, Chicago to Los Angeles and then back to New York. When he’s not hunting down the most recent photo of the latest pop sensation, he also enjoys pulling a cassette out of a bag, at random, and throwing it in the tape deck; and making collages.

Five Great Records
Duke Ellington, In the Uncommon Market
Smif-n-Wessun, Dah Shinin’
Elvis Costello, My Aim Is True
Jacob Miller, Who Say Jah No Dread
Count Basie/Joe Turner, The Bosses