Barney Hoskyns is an experienced music writer and editor having written for Vogue, GQ, Rolling Stone, Spin, Harper's Bazaar, and CD Nows and penned books Across the Great Divide-The Band and America and Waiting For The Sun.  

Yet in the midst of all that recognition and perhaps, publishing chaos, he's had time to found an incredible music website and archive called Rock's Backpages, that includes a library of over 15,000 interviews conducted by the best music writers and journalists in the business, an archive of music magazine past, an audio library with over 200 interviews including some from music legend Jimi Hendrix and blogs from veteran writers.  

Now here's a man who's a conservatory trained composer and conductor, who's dabbled in guitars, who's tried his hand at songwriting, and who helped set up a forum for discussion on NY's live music scene and its music critics.

He's the Editor at Large for Counter Critic, a site that provides a forum to discuss a plethora of arts and music reviews written by NY's professional critics. He's written songs.  He's strummed a few guitar chords.  He's even written an opera score! Whooo, I gasp for air just thinking about all of it! 

What hasn't he done? Why, get interviewed by Jemsite on his musical talents, of course!  Well, that's all about to change...

While Ryan does believe everyone is a music critic in some way, he still continues to stay open minded.  Read on to find out how he does just that and more.

It's a lucid dream come true for music fans!

Lucid Culture is a rapidly growing website toting live music and much of the NY music scene through an online presence that is rapidly increasing in popularity.  It was created in April 2007 from a now-defunct music and politics e-zine and remains the antidote for music lovers who crave reviews for the local live music scene.

Now going through a small, but worthwhile revamp, the site has more to love including a live music calendar, countdowns of the best songs around, reviews of top albums, and a constantly updated guide to New York area live music venues.

He may only be a fan, but Nialler9 knows what he's talking about when it comes to music.  The highly popular Nialler9 Music Blog features the indie, electronica, hip-hop, folk, dubstep and other kinds of music he loves--as Nialler9 himself quips: "As long as it's good." 

But more than that, what makes Nialler's site so special is his sprinkling of the most popular music in Ireland.  With this, the music blog has become highly influential on the Irish music scene, giving Nialler the chance to write Internet-related content for the most popular newspaper in the country as well as other newspapers and music publications, and a spot on the judge panel for the annual Irish album of the year award--the Choice Music Prize.  He's also received the Irish Blog Award in 2007, 2008, and 2009.

Nialler may not play or teach guitar, but he certainly knows what he's talking about when it comes to this and other music topics. He certainly knows what he's doing!

Album Name: Orange Days on Lemon Street
Artist: Lex Land
Year/Label: 2009 / Intelligent Noise Records
Lex Land - Orange Days On Lemon Street
Buy at Amazon!

Songs include: voice, acoustic guitar, piano, drums, bass, electric guitar.

Review by Amy Lotsberg, Producer of Collected Sounds

God, I love this record. You have no idea. I love everything about it. The album art, the name, the lead vocals, the melodies, the musicianship, hell, I love the font used on the liner notes. This is MY kind of record. Once in a (great) while I have that thought, ‘why do I keep doing this?’ then I get a record like this and I remember.