Martha Carson: 1921 to 2004
Her career began in prewar country and gospel, yet Martha Carson reached her peak with a style diametrically opposite to the primitive sounds of her early work -- so much so that that Carson, who retired decades before she died December 16, journeyed far from her roots in rural Neon, Kentucky.
Vic Chesnutt - The life you save may be your own
Fate has been good to me
You may not understand how I can be thankful to be where I am
To be where I am.
-- Vic Chesnutt, "Ignorant People"
Vic Chesnutt wheels himself into the room, gliding over the wooden floorboards with a sudden whoosh.
"Hey,"
Shooter Jennings - Nevermind the O, here's the W
The cover of Shooter Jennings' debut album, Put The 'O' Back In Country (more on that title shortly), depicts a vinyl LP in a yellowed inner sleeve. To the left of the spindle hole is a stylized letter W, the longtime logo of his dad/mentor, the
Nanci Griffith - If there's no hope at the end of it, there's no point in writing it
Nanci Griffith was sure she wouldn't be around to see the domestic release of her new album, Hearts In Mind -- around meaning on U.S. soil. A singer and songwriter who has long worn her lefty politics on her sleeve and skirt, too, she had sworn if George
Josh Rouse - Leaving middle America behind
On my way to interview Josh Rouse, with his songs murmuring in my iPod, I wondered how best to ask the question that was really bothering me: Does this still matter?
Not "this" as in Josh Rouse, per se, or Nashville, his well-crafted new album, but "
Art Stamper: 1933 to 2005
When fiddler Art Stamper passed away on January 23 after a four-year battle with throat cancer, American string band music lost someone special -- not just a great player, and not just one who embodied the link between old-time music and bluegrass while understanding the difference between the two,