Tag: The Avett Brothers

Nov. 19: Americana Music Festival on Austin City Limits

 in Americana Music Festival

The national television debut of the Americana Music Festival is scheduled for Nov. 19 on Austin City Limits, which has released this show setlist, beginning with Emmylou Harris, Alison Krauss, Buddy Miller, Jerry Douglas and Don Was singing “I’ll Fly Away.”

  • The Avett Brothers – The Once and Future Carpenter
  • Lucinda Williams – Blessed
  • Amos Lee – Cup of Sorrow
  • Elizabeth Cook- El Camino
  • Justin Townes Earle – Harlem River Blues
  • Jessica Lea Mayfield – For Today
  • Buddy Miller – Gasoline and Matches
  • The Civil Wars – Barton Hollow
  • Candi Staton – Heart on a String
  • Jim Lauderdale – Life by Numbers
  • Robert Plant – Monkey
  • Gregg Allman – Melissa

It captures the best moments of the evening, although we wish Hayes Carll had made the cut. Nashville area viewers were able to watch the full version live and in a couple of early morning repeats.

As we’ve noted, national television exposure is critical to the future growth of Americana music and there’s arguable no better showcase than Austin City Limits. Check your local PBS station for show times.

 

TV holds key to growth of Americana music

 in Americana Music Festival, Reviews

The Avett Brothers at the Americana Awards show

By Ken Paulson

Television is a very big deal to the Americana music community.
For years, the Americana Music Association has worked to establish the genre with the general public, and TV is the key.
Any medium that can make Snooki a household name should do wonders for Buddy Miller.
That’s why news that WNPT, Nashville’s public television station, would broadcast the 2011 Americana Music Festival Honors and Awards show , and that Austin City Limits would do a show of highlights, was so welcome. A broader audience would finally see what Americana music was all about.
Yet the early results were discouraging. That initial live broadcast from the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville showed large expanses of empty seats early on, due to a late-arriving crowd. Unbelievably, the opening graphic noted that the evening was dedicated to the memory of “Jim” Hartford rather than John Hartford. And then early in the show, transmission difficulties meant audio and video drop-outs during performances by Justin Townes Earle and Elizabeth Cook. Ouch.
Things were better for a rebroadcast two days later, although the length of the show was apparently longer than the original estimate. If you have a TiVo, you didn’t see a dazzling finale.
But the good news is that the music overall was stunning, the performances passionate and even the presentations were well-paced. Austin City Limits should find it relatively easy to mine the two-plus hour show for an hour’s worth of great music, drawing on performances by Robert Plant, the Avett Brothers, Jim Lauderdale, Lucinda Williams, Emmylou Harris, Miller, Cook, Earle and more.
That kind of quality exposure will build awareness of Americana, but will also amplify the sales pitch to prospective music festival sponsors.
My guess is that Austin City Limits, scheduled for Nov. 19, will edit out acceptance speeches, which may be just as well. The message relayed by Mumford and Sons thanked “the Nashville community,” which is exactly what the Americana Music Association doesn’t need. Americana needs to be seen as a vibrant worldwide genre, which just happens to have an office in Nashville. National television exposure is critical to making that happen.

 

A tribute to John Prine

 in Americana Music, Reviews

After years of tribute albums that tend to be purely celebratory, it’s nice to come across one that’s revelatory.

Cover John Prine? That’s a tall order. He’s a distinctive performer with an unconventional style and phrasing, and a voice that seems built for his songs. Yet there’s a freshness to Broken Hearts and Dirty Windows, thanks to respectful, but not too respectful performances by younger Americana/folk artists.

The goofy upbeat material works best, with Those Darlins’ charming “Let’s Talk Dirty in Hawaiian” and  Drive-By Truckers’ rockabilly take on “Daddy’s Little Pumpkin” among the highlights. Particualrly intriguing is “Six O’Clock News” by Lambchop, the rendition most likely to alienate long-time Prine fans. It’s a dark and essentially spoken-word, but compelling.

Tied for clearly having the best time on the album: Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band doing “Wedding Day in Funeralville” and the Avett Brothers on “Spanish Pipedream.”

Fans of My Morning Jacket, Justin Vernon of  Bon Iver and Josh Ritter may well discover Prine through these artists’ cover versions. He’s truly a timeless artist and this CD reminds us of just how wry, engaging and consistent a songwriter he has been for almost four decades.