Huddie Ledbetter, aka “Lead Belly,” wrote some of the most familiar folk and blues songs of our musical heritage. Discovered by father and son folklorists John and Alan Lomax in 1933 while an inmate in Louisiana’s infamous Angola prison farm,  Lead Belly’s music was a critical link in popularizing folk and blues and, eventually, lead to […]
Mayer’s Playlist for November 2015, Part 2
Life’s a Bell, Langhorne Slim (from the Dualtone Records release The Spirit Moves) The pride (at least I think) of Langhorne, PA is back with his best album yet. He still has one foot planted in the Americana realm – a banjo plays subtly yet persistently across many of songs here – yet his sound […]
Charlie Musselwhite – I Ain’t Lyin’ …
Charlie Musselwhite is one of those guys who has been around so long it’s difficult to picture a blues scene without him. Once among the first American white musicians to embrace the blues, Musselwhite now stands among the top living blues musicians of any color, and, along with James Cotton, one of the most accomplished blues harp […]
Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats
The best songs transport you instantly to another time or place.  Sometimes it’s because it was that tune that triggers a memory.  Other times, the music just so perfectly sets the ambience in your mind. That’s what happened to me on the self-titled release from Denver-based Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats.  I just see friends gathered […]
Colin Linden – Rich In Love
Canadian roots rocker Colin Linden is one of those musicians’ musicians who has seemingly played with everyone during his long career, including Bob Dylan, Emmylou Harris, Lucinda Williams, Bruce Cockburn and several members of The Band. His latest album, Rich In Love, demonstrates why he is in demand as a guest musician in his adopted home of Nashville. […]
The Acoustic Blues & Roots of Duke Robillard
Duke Robillard has pretty much reached a point in his career when he knows he doesn’t have to try to impress anyone. He can play what he wants, and if you want to come along for the ride, so much the better. With the Acoustic Blues & Roots of Duke Robillard, which releases Friday, Robillard […]
Guy Davis – Kokomo Kidd
Guy Davis is among the vanguard of musicians, including Keb’ Mo’, Eric Bibb, Otis Taylor, Alvin Youngblood Hart and Corey Harris, who have carried the blues torch lit by the post-war greats like Howlin’ Wolf, Willie Dixon, Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker and B.B. King.  His newest album, Kokomo Kidd, reminds us why Davis is a key voice in […]
John Mayall – Find a Way to Care
John Mayall is often called the “Godfather of British Blues,†but his legacy may include so much more than just pioneering the British blues. By introducing a generation of rock fans to the blues, he arguably had a hand in saving blues as a viable music form at a time in the 1960s when elderly bluesmen […]
Zac Harmon – Right Man Right Now
Good music speaks for itself. Long-time session- and side-man Zac Harmon, who produced and wrote music for artists as varied as Black Uhuru and The O’Jays, has made some good music after launching his young solo blues career. Hailing from Jackson, Mississippi, Harmon spent a number of years playing with soul-blues artists like Z.Z. Hill and […]
Peace, Love and Twang at the Philadelphia Folk Festival
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 […]