You picked Ben Davis Jr. and The Revelry – Suthernahlia as your favorite new release for the week of August 16, 2019. 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 Summer & Fall 2019 Ben Davis […]
Mayer’s Playlist for Summer 2019, Part 2
Have You Seen My Girl, Todd May (from the self-released Let’s Go Get Lost) There are certain albums that were meant to be heard on vinyl. While the latest from Todd May isn’t available in that format, one can hear both its inherent warmth and insistent crackle in every song – even when streamed or […]
Video Premiere: Eleni Mandell
Earlier this summer, L.A. folk music fixture Eleni Mandell came out with her 11th album, Wake Up Again. Between some of her songwriting students and collaborations with musicians like Tom Waits, Chuck E. Weiss, and Tony Gilkyson, she’s developed a real knack for telling stories in her songs. Frequently they’re about people and places that […]
Marc Cohn & Blind Boys Of Alabama – Work To Do
Several years later I still remember seeing them do it. The Blind Boys Of Alabama, that night accompanied by the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, doing Amazing Grace, set to the tune of House Of the Rising Sun. It was the first 20 years of gospel influence in rock boiled down to its essence in a […]
Quick Hits – Brad Sanzenbacher, Leroy From The North
Like a lazy river winding through the woods on a hot summer day, the new EP, Dying Old Flower, from Santa Cruz Mountains-based Brad Sanzenbacher is as much a feeling as a sight or sound. You can practically smell the riverside rhododendrons on Cacapon, perhaps named after a park in West Virginia with just that […]
Photos that ROCK! The Highwomen at Newport Folk Festival
Unless you slept through the 2019 Newport Folk Festival, you could feel the buzz leading up to The Highwomen’s set at the quad stage on Friday afternoon. Made up of Brandi Carlile, Amanda Shires, Maren Morris, and Natalie Hemby (with special guest Yola), this group of badass ladies have started a band AND a movement. […]
Newport Folk Festival 2019 – Looking Back at the New Faces
Newport Folk Festival has made it a practice to bring fresh faces in front of a discerning crowd of music fans. The 2019 edition was no different and the new artists certainly made a splash. J.S. Ondara only needed one song to bowl me over. I heard him sing “Saying Goodbye” as his last song […]
Newport Folk Festival 2019 Feature – Gregory Alan Isakov Transports Listeners to Other Worlds
When I think about atmospheric music, I picture lots of instrumentation and layered tracks. I don’t picture a guy and a guitar. Gregory Alan Isakov has somehow merged the world of a singer/songwriter with moody ethereal music in a way that defies logic. My wife and I had a chance to sit down with Gregory […]
Mayer’s Playlist for Summer 2019, Part 1
Love Is Dangerous, Dalton Domino (from the Lightning Rod Records release Songs from the Exile) Dalton Domino does more than wear his heart on his sleeve; he lays it bare. Much of his latest release finds him cycling through the various stages and emotions of heartbreak, from bitterness to self-reflection. He opens with the brooding […]
Newport Folk Festival 2019 – Looking Back at the Big Names
Surprise guests are really nothing new at Newport Folk Festival but the 2019 edition highlighted a particularly timely legendary performer in Dolly Parton. The emcee of the Saturday night performance was Newport Folk Festival stalwart Brandi Carlile (introduced by Executive Produced of the Newport Folk Festival Jay Sweet) who introduced the country legend. Parton regaled […]