Ian Noe and I are hunched over bowls of chili at Honky Tonk BBQ next door to Chicago’s Thalia Hall, where he’ll open for Son Volt in a couple hours’ time. Yesterday was beautiful outside, but last night brought a sudden, last-gasp winter storm, and now snow is speeding past the restaurant’s windows while frost creeps…

In 1976, filmmaker Barbara Kopple released Harlan County U.S.A., a documentary delving into Kentucky coal miners’ 1973 Brookside Strike against the Eastover Coal Company and its larger corporate owners. Critics largely regarded the film as an instant classic, with Kopple receiving an Oscar for Best Documentary…

For most Americans, kosher wines are the sickly sweet, syrupy beverages that taste like they contain more high-fructose corn syrup than actual grapes. It’s a strange association, as wine—like in many religions—has provided the backbone for Judaic rituals since biblical times. The fact that you don’t see many kosher…

It’s no coincidence that the two most popular non-water drinks in the world, tea and coffee, contain robust amounts of society’s most-consumed drug: caffeine. In America, consumers overwhelmingly prefer the morning joe; a recent Pew study showed that over three-quarters of those surveyed opted for coffee over tea. Of…

If you’ve ever eaten pork skin at a pig roast, you’ll notice it’s chewy and gummy—sort of the textural opposite of pork rinds you find in convenience stores. So how does one transform pork skin to those crackly, puffy, aerated snacks?

With Reading List, The A.V. Club asks one of our favorite pop-culture creators to describe a list of reading materials that are tied together by a singular theme.

Permanent Records is an ongoing closer look at the records that matter most.

Permanent Records is an ongoing closer look at the records that matter most.