Chris Griffy

When you see as many crowdfunding campaigns in a month as I do, you notice trends in the backer perks. In addition to the obvious album pre-orders, you will almost always find merch like t-shirts, hats, and koozies on offer. Handwritten lyric sheets also tend to be a popular offer.

Most months, Crowdfunding Radar has a theme; some subgenre of roots music I want to highlight or a type of campaign or backer perk that makes for a good crowdfunder. This month's batch of three couldn't be more different. From a re-issue by a folk and

Typically, I'm unfamiliar with the artists I cover in this column until I run across a campaign that looks interesting and spend some time on YouTube. Considering many crowdfunders are regionally-known acts who are releasing their first or second album, this isn't surprising. But there are

I recently got the opportunity to see Rhiannon Giddens' Old Time Revue at Nashville's Ryman Auditorium. A running joke through the night was the number of ways they could slip plugs for their merch into the banter. But, later in the night, Giddens got a bit more

So much of American roots music is steeped in Celtic tradition. As British and Irish settlers came to America in the 18th and 19th centuries, they brought their favorite folk songs with them. As these songs passed down through generations, they became the Appalachian songs so loved today. “The Wexford

As with last month's column, I open this month not with a campaign for a new album (though those will come) but with crowdfunding campaigns of a more personal nature. The first is a GoFundMe campaign for country blues musician Justin Golden. Golden was diagnosed with Stage Four