It’s been a long time since I considered an album a folk masterpiece, but I must give that distinction to John McCutcheon’s new Trolling for Dreams. The album — the 38th in McCutcheon’s prolific career — overflows with great songs, […]
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Community is the heart of folk music. The songs about land and kinship that grandparents and aunts and uncles teach their children around the family table, the sea shanties that sailors sang to while away long voyages, the protest songs […]
In 1844 a blackface minstrel named John Hodges, who performed under the name “Cool White,” wrote and published a song titled “Lubly Fan.” Over the years it became quite popular throughout the country, and touring minstrels would often switch up […]
A week ago Saturday we woke up in New Hampshire with the temperature at six degrees, did our last bit of packing, loaded the cat into her carrier in the back seat, and headed south. Years ago, we would have […]
Welcome to the ND Roundup! This is where we’ll be sharing weekly news from around the roots music world. Are you prepared to talk politics at the dinner table this Thanksgiving? Me neither! Let’s look at the headlines instead. Nikki […]
Last Tuesday, America and the world as a whole took a major turn in direction. Everywhere I go, the shock waves are still reverberating. I have spent many hours with friends who have been in tears feeling a devastating fear […]
“Somebody’s gotta do it,” says Jay Sweet, producer of the Newport Folk Festival, when I ask what inspired him to take up the charge of keeping the long-running festival alive and relevant. “I felt like it was the granddaddy of […]
Music takes us places we never expected — or even wanted — to go. It can take us to the heights of ecstasy or the depths of despair. It appeals to us and sometimes repels us, too. Our earliest memories, even pre-memories, […]
Washington Square in Greenwich Village, New York, has an arch modeled after the Arc de Triumph in Paris, France, by the great American architect Sanford White. The arch was ereceted to honor the centennial of George Washington’s inauguration as the first president […]
I can’t recall a single time that a celebrity endorsement, whether for a politician or commercial product, influenced my decision to vote or buy. I come to my opinions and choices based on my own experiences, research, and conversations with […]
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