Amos Perrine

When I first thought about my final column of the year highlighting new releases that should not be missed, I knew it had to be something special. I narrowed it down to a manageable five. Here are very quick takes on some marvelous recent roots records by Rory Block, Robyn

Longtime readers of this column might remember that in 2017 we covered the 20th anniversary of Yep Roc Records, a three-day party held at the Cat’s Cradle in Carrboro, with afternoon sets at a local park in nearby Hillsborough (Yep Roc’s home). The event last weekend to celebrate

The first Farm Aid concert in 1985 was the brainchild of Willie Nelson, Neil Young, and John Mellencamp. It had two purposes: 1) To raise funds to keep farm families on the land; and 2) to increase awareness about the loss of those farms. To date, the nonprofit Farm Aid

As the calendar turns to October, the roots music festival season begins to wind down, so what better way to celebrate what the year 2022 has brought than to head west and visit the largest, most encompassing free festival there is: San Francisco's Hardly Strictly Bluegrass. Conceived and

This week bluegrass takes over the column, just days after the International Bluegrass Music Association’s annual takeover of Raleigh, North Carolina, with its World of Bluegrass festival. The fest demonstrated two things to me: 1) bluegrass just keeps becoming more vibrant every day; and 2) a shining new talent

This week the Through the Lens column explores the vitality of roots music festivals regardless of their locales, as well as two different approaches to their presentation, via two such festivals held earlier this month. BeachLife Ranch bills itself as a music festival “born in the South Bay of Los