Carrie & Lowell by Sufjan StevensI first fell in love with Sufjan Stevens’ music in 2004; I was fifteen and a friend put “Romulus” on a mix cd. In the song, a young boy, growing up in Romulus, Michigan, tells … Continue reading →
[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/181325056″ params=”color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false” width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /] Martin Kirwan is a young Irish gardener, family man and guitarist who’s been delighting his Soundcloud fanbase for the past two years with his exuberance and deft picking influenced by the likes of … Continue reading →
This week we take a look at Americans taking their shot at Celtic tunes, featuring talented artists such as Tim O’Brien, Liz Carroll, Solas, The Gaslight Tinkers and more! LISTEN: https://singout.org/audio/sorm/sorm1611_podcast.mp3 To subscribe via iTunes, click . | To listen … Continue reading →
We return today with the second part of our interview with Anna Shternshis and Psoy Korolenko about their rediscovery and redevelopment of songs written by Jewish Holocaust survivors in 1940s Ukraine. Read Part One here. With this post, we’ll feature two … Continue reading →
Well it’s that time of year again. With the start of Spring Training, just saying it makes me smile, we are once again assured that Winter is on the run and even better yet our favorite baseball team still has … Continue reading →
Introduction We have rarely strayed far from English language sources at Murder Ballad Monday. Whether the songs we explore pull from the British Isles or from African-American or Maritime traditions, for example, our idiom has typically been English, and our … Continue reading →
[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/146088004″ params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”450″ iframe=”true” /] In the days of Youtube and Spotify, it can be hard to remember that not that long ago the only means of learning a song was via oral tradition or sheet music. It … Continue reading →
Update: Sadly, Ralph Stanley passed away on June 23 2016 at age 89. I believe it’s important to give tribute while the subject is still with us. Ralph Stanley turned 89 on February 25th and although he’s lost a step … Continue reading →
Introduction – “The Cruel Ship’s Captain” Today’s ballad is notable both for its brevity and for the depravity it depicts. The brevity is mostly a product of the Anglophone seamen and laborers who worked the song over time to a fine edge like a … Continue reading →
[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/231734634″ params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”450″ iframe=”true” /] Midwestern fiddler John Daniel Lane takes a panoramic high-definition view of American fiddle music and clearly enjoys experimenting with different styles. There’s a distinct and acknowledged John Hartford influence to his playing and … Continue reading →
