A Southerly Cultural Travel Journal Indianapolis — A wall of dark, broad-shouldered clouds hovered above the massive J. W. Marriott Hotel, surely one of the largest facades this side of the United Nations building, with mirror windows that reflect myriad aspects […]
Crowdfunding campaign sites like Kickstarter and PledgeMusic have changed the landscape of the music business, allowing independent artists to bypass the traditional label system and secure funding for a new album or tour directly from the fans. As the album […]
Truly one of the great pure talents among blues singers on the circuit today, Curtis Salgado is, if nothing else, a survivor. His early days as singer in the Robert Cray Band and Roomful of Blues shows how talented this man is and portended […]
Fifteen years or so ago I had tickets to see Kelly Willis. I’d fallen in love with her What I Deserve album and was really looking forward to seeing her, only for the gig to be cancelled. As it turned […]
Last weekend (July 22-24), the Newport Folk Festival featured a couple of leading Americana bands from the Chicago based Bloodshot Records label. Freakwater and The Banditos might be a generation apart, however, both played impressive sets at the historic festival […]
The da-da–-da-da-da of “Pump It Up” opened for Elvis Costello at the SSE Arena in Belfast. Mr Costello came on stage after the seemingly sudden appearance of his three Imposters on bass, drums and piano. It was straight into the […]
The Sumter Amphitheater in Papillion, Nebraska is a jewel of a venue. There are two hundred built-in seats and a large grassy hillside where you can lay down a blanket or bring a lawn chair. We had been to a […]
Another one!! This time it’s Shakey Graves at Norfolk, Virginia’s NorVa Concert Venue. Again, young performers of alt this or alt that seem to have made up their minds that no-one’s going to leave one of their concerts without a […]
Americana is one of those areas of music of which people tend to say, “You know it when you hear it.” But this week, our new releases spotlight falls on a handful of artists who, taken together, really capture the […]
For the second time in this column, I’m taking you to Sydney, Australia, to learn about Eddie White — a veteran DJ who is the first person I’ve interviewed who’s to bring up “Ameripolitan” music, which is a little less “whatever […]
