Twangville

A music blog featuring Alt-Country, Americana, Indie, Rock, Folk & Blues. Est. 2005.

Dead Winter Carpenters – Washoe

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For most travelers, the next stop out of Bakersfield is either the high desert and Las Vegas, or the sprawl of Los Angeles.  Musically, Bakersfield leads to the honky tonk of rural California, or the alternative rock and roll sprouting out of the Mojave.  There’s a third path, though, north to the mountains and the […]

Folk Alliance 2016 – The Video Companion

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Actual videos of our fave Folk Alliance performances are hard to come by, well at least good quality ones. So we decided to go with the next best thing – videos of these performers captured in other, sometimes unique, locations. Featured in this video playlist are: The Show Ponies, Parsonsfield, Aoife O’Donovan, Session Americana, Bob […]

Mayer’s Playlist for February 2016, Part 2

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ALBUMS OF THE MONTH Meridian Rising by Paul Burch Paul Burch is a musician’s musician in the truest sense of the word. Admired by peers (who regularly lend their talents to his recordings), he is also ambitious with his musical exploration. Case in point – his latest release is a fictionalized take on the life […]

Professor Louie & the Crowmatrix – Music From Hurley Mountain

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Americana music encompasses many different strains of homegrown sounds. Professor Louie and the Crowmatrix have tapped into a number of those sounds on their compelling new album, Music From Hurley Mountain. Denizens of Woodstock, NY, the Crowmatrix, featuring Aaron Hurwitz – “Professor Louie” – and his songwriting partner “Miss Marie” Spinosa, grew together in the […]

Mayer’s Picks – Best Albums of 2015, Boston Edition

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This has been a great year for music in Boston and throughout New England. Here, in no particular order, are some favorites 2015 releases from area artists. SESSION AMERICANA, Pack Up the Circus What started as an informal gathering of friends playing primarily cover songs has blossomed into a remarkable musical collective. The group’s latest […]

Three Additional Gems

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Sometimes I get records I really enjoy, but I can’t quite seem to get a full length review out of them, or there are just too many things in my queue.  Frequently that happens with some really good EP’s, but also sometimes with full length releases.  With releases slowing down this time of hear, I thought […]

The Blackberry Bushes String Band – Three Red Feathers

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I love it when music transports you to another time or place.  Some musicians do it with their stories.  We wrote about Kevin Gordon last week.  John Prine and Robert Earl Keen also come to mind.  Other musicians do it with the music itself.  The Mavericks always make my short list for that, as does […]

Mea Culpa! A Special Summer Playlist, Part 3

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Hard Work, Christopher Paul Stelling (from the Anti Records release Labor Against Waste) Count Labor Against Waste among the most powerful albums that you’ll hear this year. Wandering troubadour Stelling uses his songs to offer taut social commentary, peering into human intentions and sharing pointed perspectives on life’s opportunities and challenges. The mesmerizing ballad “Scarecrow” […]

Peace, Love and Twang at the Philadelphia Folk Festival

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The Philadelphia Folk Festival, which has been around for 54 years, isn’t your grandfather’s folk festival. While there is still a smattering of venerable acoustic solo folksingers on its program like Arlo Guthrie, Bruce Cockburn and Tom Paxton, the festival has become a great platform for Americana artists of all flavors as well as for […]