Last weekend, we attended a well-established festival near Palatka, Florida, where we’ve been coming since 2006. It’s promoted by Norman Adams, who books and operates nine prominent and mostly traditional bluegrass festivals up and down the East Coast. He’s careful […]
Welcome to Musicology 101 – tonight’s lesson – “the history of protest, subversion, and cultural resistance from musicians of color throughout the history of the United States” – as presented by Professors Rhiannon Giddens, Leyla McCalla, and Bhi Bhiman. When these three […]
This week, I’ve simply found the best photographs uploaded to this site and collected them into an entertaining slideshow. Explanations follow: I caught Patty Griffin, Sara Watkins, and Anais Mitchell on their third stop on a six-week tour that is […]
On January 23, 2015 my 18 year old daughter and I took a five hour drive from Kearney, NE to Lawrence, KS to see the band Jack’s Mannequin play a reunion concert at The Granada. I was nervous because the […]
Watching Amy Helm perform is like witnessing an exorcism. But in her case, happy little demons come tumbling out to play, cavorting around her ankles, keeping her bobbing and weaving with the throbbing pulse of her music. She’s in a […]
Billy Gibbons surprised music buffs and ZZ Top fans in November when he released his first solo album, Perfectamundo, steeped in Cuban rhythms. The departure from ZZ Top’s powerful blues rock, though, made perfect sense to Gibbons. “Like the old […]
This was the last night on tour in Australia for Gillian Welch and Dave Rawlings, the culmination of 4,500 road miles and 14 shows. The caravan began in Perth as An Evening with Gillian Welch, rolling across the Nullabor Desert to Adelaide, on […]
Freakwater was making “No Depression music” back before there even was an ND. And now they’re back after nearly a decade, with a stunner of a new album that’s been reminding critics why we loved them in the first place. Following that theme […]
Since I’ve been doing these interviews, I’ve been amazed by the intelligence and strong opinions of the radio personalities. This week’s — with Mike Trynosky of WCNI in Connecticut — is no exception. Bill Frater: Where and when did you start […]
Scholarships are still available for this year’s Frets and Refrains, Richard Thompson’s songwriting and guitar camp, held at Blue Moon Resort in Big Indian, NY (about 40 minutes from Woodstock). Dates this year are July 11 – 15, 2016. They […]
