This week the Through the Lens column plays catch-up with two March festivals sharing this space, the Luck Reunion in Texas and the Treefort Music Fest in Boise, Idaho. Their respective locales could not be more different. The Reunion […]
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The ballots have been counted for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and the Class of 2023 is set. Most notable among the names for roots music fans is Willie Nelson, who just celebrated his 90th birthday. The […]
Just as Doc Watson drew upon a variety of sources for his music, MerleFest bills itself as a “traditional plus” festival. This certainly was evident at this year’s edition that celebrated Doc’s 100th birthday as well as the festival’s […]
Musicians’ memoirs fall into one of two categories. One type descends into an inferno of drug-fueled episodes of sex with a new partner every night, with very little attention to the music that consumed the artist’s life and work — […]
This year’s MerleFest, kicking off this Thursday, is an extra special one. This year’s edition, the 35th, celebrates the 100th anniversary of the birth of Doc Watson, the founding father of the “traditional plus” festival that was started in […]
The state of Tennessee this week added a new song to its list of official anthems. Steve Earle’s “Copperhead Road,” about a Vietnam veteran returning home to scratch out a living growing pot, joined the ranks of “Tennessee Waltz” […]
A quote, attributed to everyone from George Bernard Shaw to Oscar Wilde, goes “youth is wasted on the young.” I think that’s a bit unfair to my friends in Gen Z and whatever we’re calling the next generation now […]
Byron Bay Bluesfest is Australia’s premier roots music festival, regularly named by both artists and the music industry as one of the world’s best. This was the first Bluesfest with a full roster of international artists since 2019, as […]
I just spent a beautiful 24 hours in Shetland, an experience I don’t take for granted. I love getting to go to tucked-away places while on tour, and for a fiddle player, Shetland is one of those legendary places. I’m […]
Sometimes, the album a band has in mind and the album a label wants to put out aren’t exactly the same thing. Compromises are made, and the label usually wins in the end, being that it holds the purse […]
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