One of the best annual music events in Nashville each year has been the “Imagine No Handguns” concert, a celebration of the music of John Lennon and an effort to build awareness about gun violence. The show ran in Nashville from the mid-’90s through 2005, and is now back after a six-year break with the updated “Imagine No Gun Violence”…
Tag: “Americana music”
Jim Lauderdale interview: Robert Hunter, Americana
Jim Lauderdale joined Suzy Bogguss, Will Kimbrough and Eric Brace in an in-the-round show at the Bluebird Cafe in Nashville last night. It was as engaging and entertaining an evening as that line-up suggests. Lauderdale has been Americana music’s best friend, hosting the annual awards show at the Ryman auditorium, while also releasing some of the genre’s best music. His…
Concert review: Glen Campbell at the Ryman in Nashville
It was a sad and exhilarating evening at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville tonight. It’s wasn’t sad because Glen Campbell is suffering from Alzheimer’s or that his performance was part of his “Goodbye Tour.” He’s 75 and ailments strike us all. It was sad because this is the last tour of one of America’s great pop singers, interpreters and guitarists,…
Review: John Prine’s ‘The Singing Mailman Delivers’
Musical prequels rarely work. Older material – released after an artist has become a big name –almost always disappoints. After all, there’s usually a reason why the hits came later. Some albums – like the Beatles’ Hamburg tapes and Decca Sessions – have historical value. Most just stink. That’s why John Prine’s The Singing Mailman Delivers is such a pleasant…
New to Americana chart: Deep Dark Woods, Carolyn Wonderland
Ryan Adams’ Ashes & Fire holds on to first place on the Americana Music Chart for a second week, with Robert Earl Keen remaining in second with Ready for Confetti. New to the chart this week: Deep Dark Woods’ The Place I Left Behind (Sugar Hill) at #36 and Carolyn Wonderland’s Peace Meal (Bismeaux Productions) breaking in at #37. The…
Review: Ry Cooder’s “Pull Up Some Dust and Sit Down”
by Terry Roland – Ry Cooder’s latest release, Pull Up Some Dust and Sit Down, hearkens back to the salad days of his breakthrough album, 1972’s Into The Purple Valley, an ironically nostalgic ode to Central California during the Great Depression. While that album was a wink and a grin about America’s past, an attempt to escape the political insanity…
Celebrating the music of Muscle Shoals
The 2011 Americana Music Festival began last night with an event that illustrates the genre’s greatest strengths: outstanding performances and a respect for what has come before. The 90-minute concert celebrating the Muscle Shoals sound was equal parts energy and nostalgia, with legendary figures like Dan Penn, Spooner Oldham, Jimmy Johnson and David Briggs sharing the stage with some of…
Americana Music Festival opening night: Spanning the decades
There’s plenty of time-tripping to be done tonight as the Americana Music Festival opens in Nashville. It’s a measure of the genre’s wide embrace that performers who first hit their stride in every decade since the ’60s – and songs that were written years before that – are in the mix of showcase performances. At the Rutledge at 9 p.m.,…
Ryan Adams’ “Ashes & Fire” is top chart debut
The top three slots in this week’s Americana Music Association Chart carry overfrom last week, with the Jayhawks’ “Mocking Bird Time” at number one, followed by Robert Earl Keen’s “Ready for Confetti” and John Hiatt’s “Dirty Jeans and Mudslide Hymns.” The top entry on the Americana chart is Ryan Adams’ just-released “Ashes & Fire,” breaking in at number 16, with…
Preview: Americana Music Festival 2011 in Nashville
The 2011 Americana Music Festival lights up Nashville this week, bringing a remarkably diverse and talented range of artists to the city’s venues. And of course, it also prompts the question: “What is Americana music?” Peter Cooper of the Tennessean took a stab at it in 2003: American music is “country music that is too rooted and true for contemporary…
Americana Music Festival schedule: Friday, Oct. 14
Sun209: The Americana Music Journal will provide extensive coverage of the Americana Music Festival in Nashville all week. Here’s a quick look at the showcase schedule for Friday, Oct. 14: The Basement 8 pm Meg Hutchinson 9 pm Tommy Womack and the Rush To Judgment 10 pm Ian McLagan, formerly of the Faces 11 pm Henry Wagons Midnight: New Country…
Americana Music Festival schedule: Saturday, Oct. 15
Sun209: The Americana Music Journal will have extensive coverage of the Americana Music Festival in Nashville this week, but here’s a quick look at shows scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 15: Free programs: The 1861 Project, a new album revisiting the Civil War in song, will be showcased at the The Southern Festival of Books at Legislative Plaza at 2:30 p.m.…
Will Hoge, Wilco surge on Americana Music Chart
The top five spots in this week’s Americana Music Association Chart remain unchanged, with the Jayhawks, Robert Earl Keen, John Hiatt, Gillian Welch and Guy Clark ranked one through five. Will Hoge’s “Number Seven” jumps from #26 to #13. Fresh off two triumphant nights at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Wilco enters the chart at #21 with “The Whole Love.”…
Jayhawks top Americana chart
The Jayhawks, with founding member Mark Olson on hand for the first time since 1995, have the top album on the Americana Music Assocation chart this week. “Mocking Bird Time” (Rounder) replaces Robert Earl Keen’s “Ready for Confetti” after a one-week run at the top. New to the top ten is Ry Cooder’s “Pull Up Some Dust and Sit Down”…
Del McCoury featured in new in-studio video series
Three years ago, Steve Fishell, a one-time member of Emmylou Harris’ Hot Band and later a producer of a number of cool country and Americana acts, launched the Music Producers Institute in Nashville. It was a studio with a twist. Fishell’s business model gave artists an economical way to record a new album, while inviting recording students and fans to…
This day in Americana music: Gram Parsons died in 1973
Sept. 19: On this date in 1973, Gram Parsons died of a drug overdose at age 26. His recordings spanned just seven years, but his melding of rock and country was hugely influential, and established a foundation for what we now call Americana music. From his role in the Byrds and “Sweetheart of the Rodeo” to the founding of the…
Review: Slaid Cleaves’ “Sorrow and Smoke”
I first saw Slaid Cleaves on stage at the Barns of Wolf Trap outside Washington, D.C. He was the opening act, but he quickly won over a tough audience with his compelling story-songs and confident presence. “Sorrow And Smoke: Live at the Horseshoe Lounge, a new two CD set (#26 on the Americana music chart), captures a similar performance at…
Sept. 8: Jimmie Rodgers’ birthday
Sept. 8 in Americana music: Jimmie Rodgers, known as the “father of country music,” was born on this date in 1897. He’s also arguably the father of roots and Americana music and his work has had a profound impact on generations of artists. He was one of the first three inductees into the Country Music Hall of Fame, and later was inducted…
Guy Clark’s 70th birthday: A concert and album
Some of the biggest names in roots, folk and Americana music will be on hand to celebrate Guy Clark’s musical legacy on Nov. 2 in Austin. “Wish I Was In Austin: A 70th Birthday Tribute to Guy Clark,” which benefits the Center for Texas Music History, will feature performances by Shawn Colvin, Rodney Crowell, Joe Ely, Rosie Flores, Radney Foster,…
Ollabelle and Guy Clark move into Americana music top ten
Ollabelle and Guy Clark are new to this week’s Americana Music Association chart, with their new albums ranked seventh and eighth respectively. The marketing and merchandising around the Guy Clark live CD “Songs and Stories” has been fascinating. It was available as an MP3 for one day on Amazon for $3.99, but you can also buy the CD, an autographed…