Happy Fourth of July, PaisleyWorld. With everyone from the GOOG to NPR focusing on Woody Guthrie as our greatest national treasure, don’t think that we’re going to drop the ball. Actually, instead of posting about anything in particular, we’re taking most the day off. Enjoy your holiday. [itunes id=”2603434″].
Category: Folk
Mal Blum: Every Time You Go Somewhere
My brain is young, my heart can’t think. Mal Blum is 23 years old. Blum sings with a smile, laughing between lines and bantering with the audience during live sets. It reminds me considerably of another NY singer/songwriter at the beginning of her career: Buffalo native Ani DiFranco. Though, I doubt that Blum wants to hear that […]
Chris Sand
The headshot shows a stubbled chin with unkept but appropriately short hair, the quiet comfortable eyes and a pinched smile say, “I’m being well paid for the work and I enjoy it.” The plain blue T atop a plain white-T says, “there are more important things than a collard shirt.” and the white background says, […]
Brighton Music Hall: Kishi Bashi & The Barr Brothers
Tuesday, May 15, 2012: It was a homecoming for The Barr Brothers and the room showed it, locals and friends loitered near the stage and at the green-room door. Kishi Bashi on the other hand is relatively new to town yet still had a throng of young girls (and at least one talkative man) swooning […]
Justin Townes Earle
You guessed it, they’re related. Justin Townes Earle, son of famed Steve Earle by his third wife of a 2008 count showing seven, sings songs on par with the twang we appreciate in the elder. A little raking however, uncovers a great deal of muck with this character. Almost too much. As the stories and […]
George Harrison: Early Takes, Volume 1
Of all the Beatles, George Harrison is easily the most sympathetic. Unlike Paul & John, George was quiet and introspective, his music was visceral and sincere. Harrison’s only son, Dhani, confessed last year in an interview with Rolling Stone that for a long time growing up he had no idea that his father was one […]
Laura Gibson
A strange collection of women are behind this single visage of an artist. Laura Gibson play strange and homey sounds of folk on her records one at a time in her ’62 Shasta trailer, gone recording studio, presumably so she can escape her fans demanding mail or and chase her muse. Her Shasta apparently triples as a […]
Billy Briggs: Country Classics
KZSC now regularly wakes me up in the morning. Last Sunday it was lessons in meditation. “One. *pause* Lighten. *pause* The. *pause* Heart. *pause* Two. *pause*…” During the week I get an hour of music until the 8 AM news roll at which point I’m sufficently depressed by the world that I get up and attempt […]
Joe Baker And His Barefoot Brakemen: Shook, Broke, Hung
Folk stories for the Shook, Broke, and Hung. The kind of music that may help you better understand the sudden end to your bachelor days and help you move on. A good album, but kind of flat in my Grado Labs SR80s and ultimately left me wanting more sound, more stories, more energy or dispair. *Sigh. [itunes […]
Keur Moussa: Sacred Chat & African Rhythms From Senegal
Argument: Religion is the foundation of all music. Assessment: Who cares?! Some religious rock is like living in musical hell, while other religious pop is like sweet nectar to the nymphs upon mount Reallyhighus. Then again, sometimes religious music exists because there’s nothing else to talk about and it is good Lady-PR for the musicians, […]
De Dannan All Stars: The Star Spangled Molly
As a Sino-Pop junkie, I can’t differentiate much between jigs, waltzes and what ever else you could call flute, fiddle and squeeze box music from the British Isles. I can say however, that when it’s good, it’s dancing’ good and nearly impossible not to jiggle at the tempo of the tune if you’re not already […]
Tucson Folk
This week I spent on the road enjoying the vistas and freedom of a desert road trip. Since the Old Pueblo is a lonesome wildcat of the South West, it’s culture rarely escapes past the surrounding desert winds and this visit seemed to be a great opportunity to explore some of the border-folk I’d missed […]