We received the sad news that Fresno, Calif.-based master mandolin player and fiddler Kenny Hall passed away Wednesday evening, September 18th, following complications from a recent heart attack, just a few weeks shy of his 91st birthday. Kenny was a … Continue reading →
We’re focusing this week on Bruce Springsteen’s “American Skin (41 Shots).” If you have any concerns about us calling this song a murder ballad, I encourage you to read here, here, and/or the postcript below. It’s going to take us a … Continue reading →
THE CIVIL WARS The Civil Wars Columbia www.columbiarecords.com It’s almost impossible to listen to this album without taking the hype into consideration: a fairly meteoric independent rise; a major label deal; a dramatic and … Continue reading →
VARIOUS ARTISTS Live at Caffè Lena: Music From America’s Legendary Coffeehouse, 1967-2013 Tompkins Square 2967 www.tompkinssquare.com As one of the seminal folk clubs of the 1960s folk revival, Caffè Lena has few parallels. Founded in 1960 by … Continue reading →
LOAFERS’ GLORY Loafers’ Glory Arhoolie 542 www.arhoolie.com Southern California-based traditional bluegrass ensemble Loafers’ Glory is comprised of veteran talents Herb Pedersen, Bill Bryson and Tom Sauber along with Saubers’ youthful offspring Patrick – a … Continue reading →
TIM O’BRIEN and DARRELL SCOTT Memories and Moments Full Skies www.timobrien.net It’s hard to believe more than a decade has past since O’Brien and Scott’s last collection of new material, 2000’s Grammy-nominated Real Time. … Continue reading →
JOSIENNE CLARKE and BEN WALKER Fire & Fortune Navigator Records 82 www.navigatorrecords.co.uk New releases fall into categories such as old friends, familiar voices, and promising discoveries. But few are as delicious as those that … Continue reading →
JUURI & JUURI Pelimannit Aania 23 www.aania.fi After a decade together, Finnish musicians Eero Grundström (Harmonium, harmonica, voice) and Emilia Lajunen (5-string fiddle, nyckelharpa, voice) have finally made an album. Well, not one album, but … Continue reading →
This is Part 4 of our series Implements of Destruction. Check out Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 when you get a chance! Introduction – “With time to kill…” Ken established our Implements of Destruction series with posts considering three … Continue reading →
The Highwaymen–Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Johnny Cash, Kris Kristofferson This is the second post this week on Steve Earle’s “The Devil’s Right Hand.” See the first post here. Today’s post reviews some of the covers of Earle’s song, and we … Continue reading →
