Happy Halloween! All right, now that’s out of the way let me say that there are different kinds of blues musicians. There are blues rockers who make their reputations with searing guitar solos and there are blues bar bands who may be great musicians but whose focus is making sure you have a good time. […]
Garrett Owen – Memoriam
The words “surprising” and “folk music” rarely appear together in the same sentence. There are plenty of good reasons for that. Perhaps the most common is just that people like what’s familiar. Most artists are trying, at some level, to perform music their fans like. So picking up where you left off the last time […]
Long Prairie – By Sunrise
Movies made the transition to color from black-and-white along about the time of The Wizard of Oz, held back only by the economics in the years of the Depression. Photography, on the other hand, maintains a vibrant vein of black-and-white artistry to this day. Monochrome enhances the effect of light and shadow without the distraction […]
Amy Speace – The American Dream
In this year of election divisiveness perhaps no topic separates people more than what it means to live the American dream. When I saw the title of Amy Speace’s latest album, I wondered how she was going to address the issue. Instead of painting a picture of what it is, Speace instead offers vignettes of […]
Americana 2024, Mayer’s Picks (Part 2)
LYDIA LOVELESS Loveless played two shows to celebrate a new album, Something Else, a reimagined version of her 2014 release Somewhere Else. The new release is nearly entirely Loveless solo on piano and was the focus of a stunning Thursday appearance at Todd Snider’s Purple Building. The next afternoon Loveless and John Calvin Abney brought […]
Americana 2024, Mayer’s Picks (Part 1)
Every fall, The Americana Music Association gathers members, artists and music fans together in Nashville for its annual conference. Starting with the Americana Music Awards and continuing through several days of showcases and panel discussions, it is a tremendous celebration of Americana music. Here are but a few of my favorite performers and performances from […]
Mindy Smith – Quiet Town
In what you could only characterize as an auspicious start, Mindy Smith’s first commercial song release was a cover of Jolene, on a tribute album put together by the record label Dolly herself was on. Shortly thereafter Smith released her debut album and started down a path to become an acclaimed Nashville songwriter. She’s about […]
Monday Morning Video – Joni Mitchell “Both Sides Now”
Let’s celebrate the greatness that is Joni Mitchell with these two performances of one of her signature songs at two legendary festivals. First is a 1970 appearance at the Isle of Wight Festival and then her surprise 2022 performance at the Newport Folk Festival.
David Luning – Lessons
I think it’s rare when someone can look back on their life and point to a single event that made them change course. It’s more likely a series of things building up to something that becomes the proverbial straw. In the case of Californian David Luning, it was having friends turn him on to the […]
Willie Watson on Touring in the “Wanderlodge”, Odetta, and Working in Vineyards
Singer-songwriter, poet, actor and multi-instrumentalist Willie Watson talks about 2 days spent at West Virginia’s Hillybilly Truck Repair and recalls his first gig, playing Bianca’s Daughters, an Italian restaurant in Watkin’s Glen, NY.