New Collection Shows the Many Sides of John Hartford
This has been a good year for John Hartford fans. In the summer of 2018, Hartford’s daughter, Katie Harford Hogue, assisted by fiddler Matt Combs and musicologist and musician Greg Reish, compiled and narrated John Hartford’s Mammoth Collection of Fiddle Tunes (StuffWorks Press Inc.), an astonishing anthology of
Austin Meade Puts Grunge Vibe to Fresh Use
The ripples of grunge are a funny thing. While as a standalone genre, it's pretty much extinct, some remnants have survived, weaving their way into other musical forms. And so the pleasant surprise of singer-songwriter Austin Meade's Waves is not just the clever lyrics, but also
The Cactus Blossoms Take a Turn onto ‘Easy Way’
The first time I met Jack Torrey of The Cactus Blossoms, we were standing in line to use the latrines at a music festival in Madison, Wisconsin. I had first heard The Cactus Blossoms about a year earlier, in 2014, when I attended a live taping of A Prairie Home
THROUGH THE LENS: Why Vinyl? A Roots Music Lover’s Guide to Analog
Readers of this column have heard me say more than a few times that we are in the midst of a roots revival, and we are in the midst of an analog revival as well.
In my town alone, we’ve gone from one record store to three, with the
ROOTS & BRANCHES: Rachael Yamagata Soaks in People and Places Along Her Way
Her eyes are alive, her hair a radiant curtain, her smile a Klieg light. Her voice alternates between smoke and fire. She’s a fine guitar player, but her forte is the piano. Sitting on the bench at a baby grand, Rachael Yamagata grins, flexes her shoulders, and lays her
Emily Scott Robinson Winds Down a Road of Folk Truths on ‘Traveling Mercies’
Emily Scott Robinson’s Traveling Mercies defines the notion of a pure folk album, as she conveys the simple beauty of life across 12 reflective songs.
While the first half of the album finds Robinson making intrinsic observations — whether describing herself as a “White Hot Country Mess” who pays her