Back in 1998, the great folksinger Dan Bern (where has he been lately?) recorded an album called Fifty Eggs. On it, was a song called “Different Worlds” which addressed the precarious topic of racial relations in a rather humble and empathic […]
Ron Hacker has been a fixture of the bay area blues scene for nearly forty years for his tenth album simply titled “Live in San Francisco he and his trio The Hacksaws and caught doing what they do best, laying […]
Yet again The Imperial Rooster burst forth with a floodwater of creativity on their new album “Cluckphony” In true Porch Pontificator style the Roosters with cathartic outbursts, and an orchestrated glorious ruckus, toss witty lines of insight and wisdom around […]
Shooter Jennings is a hard dog to keep on the porch, to borrow a line I once heard Justin Townes Earle quote his daddy as saying about him. Or maybe JTE was saying that about his dad? Either way, it […]
On episode 135 of the Americana Music Show, Ryan Bailey of The Riverbreaks talks Rick Cornell about his time in Chapel Hill, rebelling against country music, and writing songs in the jungle. Plus rock and roll from the Electic Rag […]
Stop reading this if old school country isn’t your thing. There’s room in the world for all kinds of music, and room even in the alt-country/Americana world for lots of music types. But Sturgill Simpson’s High Top Mountain ain’t alt-country. […]
Fade My Shade of Black kicks off Ramble on Privilege Creek, starting like it might hold toward the acoustic side of the ledger, but that doesn’t last very long. Soon, it’s rocking, but rocking in a cross-genre way that marks this […]
On episode 134 of the Americana Music Show, Ben Plaase of The Howlin’ Brothers talks about driving more than playing, playing the upright bass and making New Yorkers dance to bluegrass. Plus indie rock from Javi Garcia and Caitlin Rose, […]
From the scratchy opening intro (intended) and its guitar twang, the band — Waiting For Henry seems to have been worth waiting for. But that guitar twang is not representative of every song. There is a diversity in this work: some songs […]
Mary Gauthier paces across the left side of the porch at the back of the house, separated from the stage by room dividers. She paces, drinks from a water bottle, glances toward the stage. Above her, above us all is […]
