Amanda Shires’s story, told during her opening set, involves a boyfriend who lived in Alabama. He convinces her that it might be a good idea to come and live with him. She loads the Jetta and heads south from Nashville. His directions lead to a […]
Last time Jason Isbell was in Asheville, he played at the Pisgah Brewery, where music performances take place against a sweeping backdrop of Smoky mountains and beautiful vistas. For a guy who made his entree after sitting in with the […]
Although its neighbors to the north in Tennessee get more ongoing acclaim, the upper reaches of Alabama have a deep, rich musical history tucked within their borders. The Muscle Shoals scene alone shaped the sound of artists ranging from Aretha […]
The Americana Music Association today announced nominations for the 2017 Americana Music Awards from the Ford Theater at the Country Music Hall of Fame. With their wry humor — “most of these nominees won’t be winners” — the Milk Carton […]
Jason Isbell took no prisoners tonight in Portsmouth. The Oreo cake must have done him good that he talked so happily about. He said a number of times about how cool a space it was at the Portsmouth Pavilion, how […]
As the years go by my sense of anticipation ahead of seeing one of the giants among our genre only intensifies. After such loss last year, a feeling of mortality has seeped in to an alarming extent. Having had his […]
By the time she appeared with Billy Joe Shaver at the Open Highway Festival in St. Louis, it seemed like a lifetime ago when Amanda Shires impulsively jumped onstage to play fiddle at one of Shaver’s shows. Shaver hired the […]
We’ve heard from the ND readers, the ND staff, and yours truly on what we feel are the outstanding albums of the year. Now, we hear from from the ND photographers on what they found exciting or rewarding or just plain liked […]
The tavern floor is littered with the detritus of year-end lists, torn up in disgust or frustration or mild disagreement. What’s next? What comes to take the place of the short-lived glory of the books that sit on shelves unopened […]
At the end of AmericanaFest Margo Price tweeted and Instagramed, “It was one helluva week.” I will go further: it was one hell of a year. Americana got its own Billboard chart, Americana for the first time outsold country, a firmly established […]
