Hackney Empire is one of those gorgeous spaces that hides in a city. Its exterior – completely deceiving, just another big, boxy building on a street of big, boxy buildings, but its interior – completely transporting. It’s one of those spectacular theaters that just seems to go up and up and up – shallow but […]
Monday Morning Video – Folk Alliance 2018 Video Companion
We’ll wrap up our Folk Alliance International coverage with a collection of videos from this year’s conference. Most of these performances are from the official performances that took place in hotel ballrooms but you’ll see a few from the late night hotel room showcases. This video playlist includes Colter Wall, John Gorka, Jaimee Harris, John […]
Folk Alliance 2018 – Shawn’s Picks
With over 3000 showcases in 4 nights, and perhaps an average of 5 gigs/musician, it was of course impossible to see the roughly 600 acts that works out from that math. Â So when I say these were my favorites, it’s from a relatively small sampling. Â Nonetheless, I saw some great music. Â What’s Old Is New […]
Folk Alliance 2018 – Mayer’s Picks, Part 2
Ruby BootsNashville by way of Australia singer-songwriter Ruby Boots was celebrating the release of her just released Bloodshot Records debut. She brought together an infectious enthusiasm with stellar songs, mostly about relationships, that matched catchy melodies with lyrical fervor. Una and Bob WalkenhorstThere aren’t many father-daughter duos in music. Then again, there aren’t many songwriters […]
Folk Alliance 2018 – Mayer’s Picks, Part 1
The Accidentals I first saw this young trio from Michigan at Folk Alliance a few years ago. They were certainly talented then but several more years of writing and performing have propelled them into another musical stratosphere. I caught them several times — at least once a day — during the course of the conference, […]
Folk Alliance International – The Best Music Festival You’ve Never Heard About
With slightly less than 4000 attendees, the annual gathering of Folk Alliance International is still small enough to be held in a hotel. Â It doesn’t have a stadium-draw headliner, but other than that and lack of a campground, there’s everything else you’d want in a music festival. Â And most of it is done better than […]
Waterloo Sunset – AmericanaFest UK 2018
If you’ve ever traveled to another country, you know the quiz well. Border control agent: “So, what brings you to (insert country name here)?†What you may be less familiar with is the variety of quizzical expressions you get from those border control agents when you’re traveling to England and your answer is: “an Americana […]
I’m With Her – See You Around
The term “folk supergroup” seems a little like an oxymoron.  Calling anyone in the folk music business a superstar is probably pushing it.  Having said that, there aren’t many musicians in this genre that can draw crowds like Sarah Jarosz, Sara Watkins, or Aoife O’Donovan pull in individually.  So if they do something together, yeah, I […]
The Twangville 2018 Release Preview
If the albums scheduled for release over the next few months are any indication, there’s a great year of music ahead of us. Here are just a few forthcoming long-players that we are eagerly anticipating in 2018. BETWEEN TWO SHORES by GLEN HANSARD (19 January on Anti- Records) Hansard has the unique ability to combine […]
Monday Morning Video – The Accidentals Look “Across the Universe”
In a turbulent world it’s sometimes nice to get lost in music. You’ll be hard-pressed to find a more uplifting moment of escape than this version of the Beatles “Across the Universe.” Talented folk trio the Accidentals are joined by members of the Decemberists for this mesmerizing performance.