You’ll find great music in Nashville’s clubs all this week as they host the annual Tin Pan South Festival, a celebration of songwriters. Venues all over town feature singers and songwriters, typically in the round in groups of four. The performances are short on flash and high in talent. The 2012 festival kicks off tonight. Among the evening’s highlights: 6…
Concert review: Spanky and Our Gang
by Terry Roland –The new Spanky and Our Gang played to a sold-out audience at Coffee Gallery Backstage in Altadena, California this month, not so much a reunion as an acknowledgement of the way Americana music connects us to our past and to each other. With the exception of Elaine ”Spanky” McFarlane, the original players are gone. They included Oz…
Review: Bruce Springsteen’s “Wrecking Ball”
by Terry Roland Bruce Springsteen’s Wrecking Ball is the antithesis of his nearly 30 year-old Born in the U.S.A. As a writer, he has always highlighted the dark edges and ragged truth found in an America that has more kinship with John Steinbeck and Woody Guthrie than Ronald Reagan. While this earlier classic was in many ways just as dark…
Lovett, Scott top chart; Janiva Magness debuts
It’s been a relatively stable week on the Americana Music radio airplay chart, with Lyle Lovett again holding on to the top position with Release Me, followed by Darrell Scott’s Long Ride Home. There’s only one new album on the chart this week, with Janiva Magness’ Stronger For It entering at #36. Tommy Womack’s fine Now What! is back on…