There are bluesmen in Canada. Â Some damn good ones. Â Folks like Jim Byrnes, Amos Garrett, and David Wilcox (no relation), have been tearing it up for decades, and relative newcomers like Sue Foley, Colin James and JW-Jones have blazed their own trails to excellence. Â But through the years, one of the mainstays of Canadian blues […]
Juliet Simms on Rockin’ a Kia Hybrid and Getting Fired From Her First Job
LA by way of Florida singer-songwriter Juliet Simms talks about why getting sick before her first gig turned out to be a good thing and how she earns a living in, or rather alongside, the music industry.
Monday Morning Video – David Ramirez
Austin-based singer-songwriter David Ramirez passed through Boston last week as part of his “Bootleg Tour,” for which every audience members gets a digital recording of the show). Standing alone on stage (save a coffee table with a lamp and a framed Bill Murray promo picture from the movie “Stripes”), Ramirez mesmerized the crowd with a […]
Readers’ Pick: All Night Live, Vol. 1 by The Mavericks
THE MAVERICKS, All Night Live, Vol. 1 beats out BLACKBERRY SMOKE, Like An Arrow as your favorite for the week of October 14, 2016. Poll Results New Releases Did we miss something? If you feel a new release is missing from our current poll, please let us know in the comments. Readers’ Tops Fall 2016 THE […]
Dan Layus – Dangerous Things
One of the amazing things about the Great Plains this time of year is the sunrise. Â The flat, or gently rolling, geography lets you see things develop for an hour before the sun actually gets above the horizon. Â The mornings are crisp and you know that the long, cold winter is just around the corner, […]
Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit/Live from Columbia, SC, October 16, 2016
Photo by Darren Woodlief The first big concert I remember attending, besides a church revival or Fifth Sunday Night Singing, was Charlie Daniels at the Peach Festival in Gaffney, SC with the Pirates of the Mississippi opening. I was around 14 years old and my dad took me. It was a great time and I […]
Boston’s Best Kept Festy – Sunday
After an Americana love festival on Saturday, the true bluegrassers came out to play on Sunday. No this wasn’t Fresh Grass but it did share Sierra Hull and Festy hosts and curators Infamous Stringdusters. The day started with newly crowned IBMA award winning mandolin player of the year/singer-songwriter Sierra Hull. I’d seen her previously with […]
Monday Morning Video – Jason Isbell “Something More Than Free”
Here’s one of my favorites – and the title track – from Jason Isbell’s most recent release. This solo acoustic version was recorded in Austin, Texas last June. You see a hammer finds a nail And a freight train needs the rails And I’m doin’ what I’m on this earth to do
Readers’ Pick: Eastside Bulldog by Todd Snider
TODD SNIDER, Eastside Bulldog beats out SHOVELS AND ROPE, Little Seeds as your favorite for the week of October 7, 2016. Poll Results New Releases Did we miss something? If you feel a new release is missing from our current poll, please let us know in the comments. Readers’ Tops Fall 2016 TODD SNIDER, Eastside Bulldog […]
Boston’s Best Kept Festy – Saturday
I have to admit, I was surprised to see the lineup at such a relatively unknown festival called Festy this year. Where else can you see Americana stalwarts Josh Ritter and Justin Townes Earle on the same day? And when my wife and I waltzed in to the show at a hair past noon, I […]