    Ernest Ranglin and Avila Bless Up Avila Street www.avilastreetrecords.com  A vividly enchanting, genre-bending 16-song project (eleven new Ranglin tunes among them) from the newly energized ska and reggae master guitarist â whose signature, muted upstroke … Continue reading →
Last week, I posted about Bob Dylanâs âHurricane,â his song about Rubin âHurricaneâ Carter, who was twice convicted for a triple homicide and spent almost twenty years in prison before being exonerated in 1985. Carter became a controversial cause cĂŠlèbre in … Continue reading →
This week we complete our feature on 1964 ⌠the other anniversaries. Weâll hear some traditional music and some classic songwriters who made their recording debut between late 1963 and early 1965. It wasnât just the Beatles and the Rolling … Continue reading →
Letâs imagine the existence of a country where thereâs no music. No, make that where there is music, but only a small percentage of the population can afford to listen to music, due to a patchwork of archaic laws, political … Continue reading →
Bob Dylan visiting Rubin âHurricaneâ Carter in prison before launching the âNight of the Hurricaneâ benefit concert, part of the Rolling Thunder Revue Tour (1975) [Note: Just as this post was being finalized, news broke of Rubin Carterâs death. You … Continue reading →
Ween (photo by Danny Clinch) This is the fourth and final post in our initial, two-week foray into Murder Ballad Comedy. Todayâs post refers back to the earlier three, which you can read here: âThe Irish Balladâ (Ken) âLizzie Bordenâ … Continue reading →
I was âthumbingâ through the electronic files from my original Folk Music Notebook (all of my original blog entries have been imported to this new blog at Sing Out! Magazineâs website) when I came across a story that stirred up … Continue reading →
This week we begin a two-part special on the other anniversaries from 1964. There has been so much notice the past couple of years of the 50th Anniversary of the Rolling Stones and the Beatles that I thought it would … Continue reading →
We received word earlier today that Rod Kennedy, music lover, impresario and founder of the Kerrville Folk Festivals, passed away this morning in Kerrville, Texas, at 84. As anyone who ever visited his Quiet Valley Ranch, amidst the dust and … Continue reading →
When musicologists first began collecting folk songs, they found themselves studying the communities and the kinship the songs had with the common people in the localities they were examining. In the early 20th century the study of folk songs took … Continue reading →
