Renowned Texas singer-songwriter Nanci Griffith has died in Nashville at the age of 68, Rounder Records has confirmed. No cause of death was announced. Griffith, who released 18 studio albums (two of her final three came out on Rounder) over […]
This week’s column was going to be the final one of the year that focuses on new and upcoming roots music releases. But as there are more coming out than one column can hold, I’ll do another one in a couple of […]
Throw a rock from anywhere you’re standing in Texas, and you’re bound to hit a songwriter. Like churches, there’s a singer-songwriter on every corner in every town of the Lone Star republic. Simply to list the names of recent artists […]
Australian singer-songwriter Bill Jackson didn’t set out to have a career in music, at least not at first. But it kept calling to him. And once he got the right guitar and the right people in his life, he answered […]
We’re back to radio this week, after a brief diversion into the wider world of the music business. I first met Jamie Hoover at the Strawberry Music Festival sometime in the 1990s. The fact that her show is syndicated on so […]
Out of the tradition of singer-songwriters Cris Williamson, Hazel Dickens, Emmylou Harris, Nanci Griffith, Joni Mitchell (“Fiddle and the Drum”) and even the now legendary late singer Eva Cassidy — is the angelic vocalist Annie Lou. With her lullaby-like melody […]
Tom Russell is so prolific that it’s hard to keep up: I have about two dozen of his albums, and I’m still missing a few. This pair of 2014 releases almost slipped by me. Tonight We Ride, subtitled “The Tom […]
Though this is just an extended play CD with five tracks what caught my ear was the summer-sensation feel of early 1960’s female vocals and arrangements. I don’t know what’s in the water lately but many young female vocalists are […]
Dig into the résumé of folk singer-songwriter Bill Staines and there’s one item that sticks out. It’s not the fact that he’s now in his 50th year as a professional musician. It’s not that his catalog of songs has been […]
Ah, but you who philosophize disgrace and criticize all fears, bury the rag deep in your face, for now is the time for your tears. — Bob Dylan, “The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll.” Some people think it’s foolish and even immoral […]
