Life is unpredictable. That’s maybe the lesson learned from Austin native, now Colorado resident Chris Roberts. Unlike many musicians that throw away other opportunities to make music, Roberts’ success as a hat maker drove him to concentrate more on the music, perhaps as a creative counterbalance to the rigors of being a successful entrepreneur. His […]
Geoff Bradford – Texas Psychedelic
Now Austin based, Geoff Bradford grew up in New York City before living in locales as different as France and Venezuela. That diversity no doubt influenced his musical tastes, as evidenced in his new EP, Texas Psychedelic. If there’s a musical theme that runs through the record, I’d have to say it’s 70’s pop, with […]
Folk Alliance Int’l – Folk Unlocked Preview
For most of the last several years I’ve flown back east for what I consider to be the most under-appreciated music festival in the country; the annual Folk Alliance International conference. FAI does a tremendous amount of good for musicians, and the conference itself has many seminars targeted to beginners, long-time musicians and industry professionals. […]
In Memoriam – Chick Corea
When John Prine passed last spring, a lot of praise and admiration came out of tweets and web sites and publications that would never consider covering Americana, or folk, or whatever you want to call John’s music. His talent was so immense it surpassed a single genre and came to be a gold standard for […]
These Fine Moments – Season 10
Ten years ago producer Mark Hallman sent a new singer-songwriter duo out of his Congress House studio in Austin with a finished EP, their first recording. A decade on Hilary Kaufmann and Robert Watts as their nom de plume, These Fine Moments, have another record, this time full length and also produced by Hallman. In […]
Beth Lee – Waiting On You Tonight
I have a friend who likes to say that people need to get repotted every now and then. They get root-bound and need a new container to explore, and some new scenery. I’ve found that to be mostly true. Beth Lee seems to have also found benefit in that. After spending her early career as […]
Rod Abernethy – Normal Isn’t Normal Anymore
Sometimes songs capture in a snapshot what ends up being a universal truth. John Prine certainly had a knack for it, and a lot of Woody Guthrie’s material is relevant 60 or 70 years later. Rod Abernethy bottled a bit of that with the title track from his latest record, Normal Isn’t Normal Anymore. Written […]
Shawn’s 2020 Album Favorites
I’ve never made it a secret how much of an influence John Hartford’s music had on me. Yet I surprised even myself when I realized On the Road: A Tribute To John Hartford was my favorite album of 2020. I suppose in this year of chaos the combination of new versions of songs I’ve loved […]
Old Californio – Songs From the Sea Of Cortez
There’s a very California sound you get by taking the twangy guitar and rock solid rhythm line associated with Bakersfield and overlaying it with the acoustic guitar and multi-part harmonies that sprang from the hills and canyons northwest of LA in the 60’s. You could probably argue Graham Parsons first touched that nerve with Sweetheart […]
Band Premiere – The Great Outdoors
The pandemic has been hard on bands. How’s that for an understatement? With touring shut down, and even gathering in the studio a challenge, many musicians have had to focus on more essential elements of life. In no way, though, has that diminished the passion that made them eschew a normal day job in the […]