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Peter Blackstock

FOUNDERS KEEPERS: Fresh Favorites Reaching Beyond Borders

FOUNDERS KEEPERS: Fresh Favorites Reaching Beyond Borders

This month’s roundup has me thinking about geography and its influence on music. The Mammals are quintessential representatives of the Northeast’s deep folk roots, with a sound that acknowledges those roots while pushing them forward. Rosie Flores and David Jimenez are both native Texans of Mexican descent, but

ALBUM REVIEW: Traveling through 'Here and Nowhere' with the Autumn Defense

ALBUM REVIEW: Traveling through 'Here and Nowhere' with the Autumn Defense

When this side-project first surfaced around the time of Wilco’s game-changing Yankee Hotel Foxtrot a quarter-century ago, I recall some folks looking at me sideways when I told them that I liked the Autumn Defense’s new album more. It probably sounded like a contrarian pose,

FOUNDERS KEEPERS: Fresh Sounds From Old Favorites Pete Droge, Dar Williams, Robbie Fulks and More

FOUNDERS KEEPERS: Fresh Sounds From Old Favorites Pete Droge, Dar Williams, Robbie Fulks and More

We’re all over the map this time around, from the Pacific Northwest to upstate New York, to the heart of Texas to the city of angels and beyond. And, like several of the songwriters included here, I find myself contemplating the passage of time as I write about this

FOUNDERS KEEPERS: A tale of three cities: Fresh sounds from Nashville, Austin and the NC Triangle

FOUNDERS KEEPERS: A tale of three cities: Fresh sounds from Nashville, Austin and the NC Triangle

It wasn’t intentional, but once I settled on these six records for this month’s Founders’ Keepers, I realized they consist of two artists from Austin, two from Nashville, and two from the North Carolina Triangle. Those from Music City are, perhaps surprisingly, the least-known, and they provide

ALBUM REVIEW: The Swell Season Reconciles an Emotional Past with a Grounded Future on ‘Forward’

ALBUM REVIEW: The Swell Season Reconciles an Emotional Past with a Grounded Future on ‘Forward’

When we last heard new music from the Swell Season, their 2009 album Strict Joy was a victory-lap of sorts. Ireland’s Glen Hansard and the Czech Republic’s Marketa Irglova had ridden their little-engine-that-could, the indie movie Once, all the way to the 2008 Academy

FOUNDERS KEEPERS: Amble basks in Reverie, and old faves deliver the goods

FOUNDERS KEEPERS: Amble basks in Reverie, and old faves deliver the goods

Most of the time I focus these columns on recent releases by artists I’ve written about for years, sometimes decades. There’s plenty of that this month as well, but out front we have the auspicious debut album from a brand new Irish trio called Amble. Beyond that are

Joe Ely Digs Into His Archives For Songs of 'Love And Freedom'

Joe Ely Digs Into His Archives For Songs of 'Love And Freedom'

Joe Ely has been a prime mover in Americana music since the days before it was called Americana. From the early-’70s origins of the Flatlanders with his childhood Lubbock pals Jimmie Dale Gilmore and Butch Hancock, through a run of MCA albums that earned him an opening slot on