Spring has officially arrived mid-April when I make my way to Camp Ben McCulloch and the Salt Lick Pavillon outside of Austin for the Old Settler’s Music Festival.  Although from now through early October there’s a big music festival every weekend somewhere in the country, the combination of being the right size, boasting a stellar line-up with […]
Robbie Fulks On Empurpling the Gendarmes at Rehearsal and Covering Oscar the Grouch at his First Gig
Robbie Fulks talks about what to do when you forget lyrics to a song why he can’t watch “The Office” and how the old Spanish proverb “wish your son luck and throw him into the sea” relates to the music industry.
Terri Hendrix – Love You Strong
Teen angst has been a cornerstone of rock ‘n’ roll since Chuck Berry in the 50’s.  Occasionally someone would give a thought to what came next in life–I’m An Adult Now is one of my faves–but generally music’s aesthetic is “I hope I die before I get old…”  Somewhere along the way something funny happened, though, […]
Monday Morning Video – Townes Van Zandt “If I Needed You”
It’s been awhile since we’ve posted some Townes Van Zandt. Seems about time to do it again, right?
Corin Raymond – Hobo Jungle Fever Dreams
“Words can be like X-rays if you use them properly — they’ll go through anything. You read and you’re pierced.† So said Aldous Huxley in A Brave New World, one of the most vividly descriptive books I’ve read. Words can also elevate a good song into a great one; a song that embeds itself into […]
Luther Dickinson – Blues & Ballads (A Folksinger’s Songbook Volumes I & II)
When I caught Luther Dickinson’s show last month in Philadelphia, it was in the smaller of the two halls at World Cafe Live. There were maybe 100 or so patrons there, and the tickets were reasonably priced under $20. He and his “Cooperators” couldn’t have walked away with more than $2,000 from the evening. After […]
Monday Morning Video – Billy Bragg
Billy Bragg is one of those exceptional songwriters who can move you to tears with a heartbreaking ballad one minute and fire you up with some blistering social and political commentary the next minute. Proof in point, here are “Must I Paint You a Picture” and “Waiting for the Great Leap Forward” from his 1988 […]
Folk Alliance 2016 – The Video Companion
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 […]
Shawn’s 2016 Folk Alliance Favorites
For what I’m certain won’t be the last time, I headed to Kansas City for the Folk Alliance International conference (and musical extravaganza). Â With nearly half of the 2500 attendees being musicians, you could barely round a corner in any public area and not find impromptu jams. As you might expect, there were a number […]
Folk Alliance Conference 2016 – The Scene and the Sounds
Twangville returned to Kansas City two weeks ago for the annual Folk Alliance Conference. As we wrote last year, Folk Alliance is a different than your typical music conference or festival. For starters, the attendees are overwhelming musicians (save party crashers like us). This translates into an all music, all the time philosophy. This comes […]