Bluegrass has been mostly a boy’s club since it’d development in the 1940s. In the past decade and a half the rules have changed and we find more and more women leading or playing a featured role bands. It didn’t … Continue reading →
On this blog, we often play detective. In fact, that’s pretty much all we do, and this post is no different, but I’m going to start by turning the tables. What, if anything, do you make of these fragments?: A … Continue reading →
WFDU-FM’s TRADITIONS Playlist for March 8, 2015 I have presented many guests on the show over the years, and with live radio (or even pre-recorded radio), you never know how the conversation and performance will go. However, whenever Tom Chapin … Continue reading →
Each Spring brings the beginning of the Baseball Season. After the severe winter we’ve had in the Northeast, Spring Training is particularly welcome this year. Including songs by John McCutcheon, Craig Bickhardt, Chuck McCabe and of course Steve Goodman, it’s … Continue reading →
“Fatal Flower Garden,” recorded in 1929 by Nelstone’s Hawaiians, is only the second of eighty-four songs on Harry Smith’s epochal Anthology of American Folk Music – a collection justly celebrated in some macabre corners (mine, for instance) for its songs … Continue reading →
On March 1st, 2015, we packed the First Unitarian Church of Philadelphia to the gills in celebration of “the dean of folk radio” Gene Shay’s 80th birthday (and his recent retirement from radio). Thanks to the amazing line-up of performers: … Continue reading →
This week we conclude our two part feature focusing on Topical Songs. We’ll hear songs about Human Rights, The Environment, The Never Ending War and Politics with a Comical View. Songs written or performed by The Freedom Singers, Pete Seeger, … Continue reading →
VARIOUS ARTISTS Through The Streets of the City: New Orleans Brass Bands Smithsonian/Folkways 40212 www.folkways.si.edu As well known as the brass band is as a musical symbol of New Orleans, there’s no question that … Continue reading →
VARIOUS ARTISTS(Field recordings by Deben Battacharya) Murshidi and Sufi Songs ARC Music 2555 www.arcmusic.co.uk This collection of vivacious and colorful field recordings from Bengal and Bangladesh were recorded by Deben Bhattacharya in 2001. The music … Continue reading →
JAYME STONE and friends Jayme Stone’s Lomax Project Borealis 235 www.borealisrecords.com There is a recording of John Hartford in the studio giving direction to the musicians he’s gathered there. Whatever the song they were … Continue reading →
