I generally focus on live performance videos for our Monday Morning Video series however I’m going to make an exception this week. Longtime Twangville fave Matthew Ryan will be releasing a new album on October 14th. We’re beyond excited for it but, not surprisingly, the anticipation has sent us back into his archives. “The World […]
Photos that ROCK! Newport Folk Festival 2014
When the e-mail arrived confirming my press credentials for the Newport Folk Festival, I did a little dance around my living room. Not only is this the holy grail of music festivals (you may remember an incident with Bob Dylan and an electric guitar in 1965…), but I have been not-so- patiently waiting 12 years […]
Newport Folk Festival – Saturday
With his days in the blues-rock duo White Stripes now comfortably behind him, Jack White has become a bit of a generational connector. He’s paid homage to country, blues and rock legends, yet he keeps winning new fans. When he stepped on to the stage at Newport Folk Fest, the standing area at the front […]
Mayer’s Playlist for August 2014, Part 2
ALBUMS OF THE MONTH Uncle John Farquhar, by Goodnight, Texas Goodnight, Texas are on a journey, if not across geography then certainly through time. The bi-coastal group – songwriters Avi Vinocur and Patrick Dyer Wolf live in San Francisco, CA and Chapel Hill, NC respectively – are committed to taking listeners on a musical tour […]
Down by the Green River
It’s the best little festival you’ve never heard of. At least I hadn’t until this year. Who knew that over the span of 28 years the little known festival in central Massachusetts would host the likes of Gillian Wellch, Mavis Staples, Alison Kraus & Union Station, Buddy Guy, and Lucinda Williams to name a few. […]
Frank Solivan & Dirty Kitchen – Cold Spell
By the late 60’s and early 70’s bluegrass had evolved from Bill Monroe’s radical take on old-timey music to a relatively known and expected performance and sound.  The Stanley Brothers, the Foggy Mountain Boys, The Osborne Brothers, and many of their peers followed a set framework and style with matching dress and choreographed solos.  It’s hard […]
Haas Kowert Tice – You Got This
A few years ago I saw Casey Driessen at a music festival down in Austin. Â Of the perhaps 100 people backstage at the moment, I’d guess half of them were fiddle players. Â Every fiddle player who was performing that day was there. Â It was impressive to see all that talent make their way to see […]
Mayer’s Playlist for July 2014, Part 1
ALBUMS OF THE MONTH Resolution Road, by Easton Stagger Phillips I don’t like to draw direct comparisons between artists but it’s hard not to do so with the latest release from Tim Easton, Leeroy Stagger and Evan Phillips. This talented trio of singer-songwriters conjure up the finer moments of Crosby, Stills and Nash. Resolution Road […]
Mayer’s Picks: The Best of 2014, So Far (the Songs)
Rubicon, Chris Mills (from the Loud Romantic Records release Alexandria) Mills lulls you in with a lilting melody before unleashing the jaw-dropping emotion of lyrics and voice. The results are heartwrenching. Really Wanna See You, Lydia Loveless (from the Bloodshot Records release Somewhere Else) This is the way rock and roll is supposed to sound: […]