ALBUM REVIEW: Rick Estrin and the Nightcats Pack a Punch on ‘The Hits Keep Coming’
Muddy Waters once told a 19-year-old Rick Estrin he had that sound. “You playing like a man, boy!,” Waters said as Estrin sat in with his band in Chicago. “I know that sound when I hear it, that’s my sound!”
Estrin, a San Francisco native, had moved to Chicago
THE READING ROOM: Greg Brown on the Power of Care, the Intimacy of Art, and His New Songbook
If it hadn’t been for Gerde’s Folk City’s Johny Porco one day in 1969, Greg Brown might have headed home from his adventure in New York City, where he had gone to try to make it as a folk singer. In the opening story of his just-released
ALBUM REVIEW: Pokey LaFarge Strives for Higher Ground on ‘Rhumba Country’
Pokey LaFarge displays such easy grace when he sings that it’s tempting to consider him a supplier of light entertainment. Don’t believe it. The stirring, deceptively fraught Rhumba Country presents vivid vignettes of restless hearts gripped by desire and loneliness, and yearning for higher ground. If this smooth
‘Truly Handmade’ Collects Guy Clark Demos From His Storied Workshop
One of the many highlights at The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville is a painstakingly accurate recreation of Guy Clark’s workshop, the basement haven where he would go to work on guitars, solve life’s problems, write songs and sometimes demo them. It was a
ALBUM REVIEW: Shannon and the Clams Carry Grief Unflinchingly Through ‘The Moon Is in the Wrong Place’
The Moon Is in the Wrong Place, the new album from Shannon and the Clams, is a different one than it might have been under other circumstances. Before recording, frontwoman Shannon Shaw's fiance, a good friend to all of the band, died in a car accident. The result
Here Are the Nominees for the 2024 Americana Honors & Awards
In a live event from the National Museum of African American Music in Nashville this afternoon, the Americana Music Association revealed the nominees for its 2024 Honors & Awards.
Two artists — Sierra Ferrell and Tyler Childers — have nominations in each of the most-coveted categories: Artist, Album, and Song of the