|
ARCHIVES:
Most
Recent Page
Oct
2006-Jan 2007
July-Sept 2006
Jan-March
2006
Sept-Dec 2005
July-Aug 2005
RSS Feeds: Click
buttons below for RSS feeds:
 
Not
familiar with RSS?
RSS is an increasingly popular internet technology which allows
you to have content from your favorite web sites automatically
uploaded to a special reader for you to review at your
convenience. You no longer have to surf the web for content from
your favorite sites. RSS provides the content directly to you when
it is updated.
Click
here for more information about creating an RSS feed for this and
other web sites.
|
|
April - June 2006 Page
1, 2,
3, 4, 5,
6, 7
Page Index:
Thoughts
on Americana Honors & Awards Nominees
Americana
Honors & Awards Nominees Announced
Americana
and 'A Prairie Home Companion'
Gram
Parsons Rediscovered
Merlefest
2006
Americana
Artists Contribute to Tribute and Charity Albums
The
Duhks Win Juno Award
|
COMMENTARY Thoughts
on Americana Honors & Awards Nominees
As noted in the article below,
the Americana Music Association recently announced its nominees
for the 5th annual American Honors and Awards to be
held in September. Here are some of our random thoughts about the
nominees:
Rodney Crowell’s The Outsider was one of the best
releases in Americana last year and certainly deserved the
nomination for album of the year. "Don’t Get Me Started"
from The Outsider is a politically-charged rocker and a
worthy nominee for song of the year.
While we love Neil Young, his 2005 release Prairie Wind
was somewhat disappointing. Young's nomination for Artist of the
Year was surprising in a year when there were so many great
Americana artists from which to choose.
The collaboration of Chip Taylor and Carrie Rodriguez produced a
fun and compelling release in 2005 entitled Red Dog Tracks.
We were happy to see them receive a nomination for Duo/Group of
the Year. (By the way, did you know that Chip Taylor is the
brother of Jon Voight. That makes him the uncle of Angelina Jolie.
Chip also wrote classic garage rocker "Wild Thing.")
A few months back we wrote about the emergence of The
Greencards as one of the breakthrough bands of 2005. We were
obviously happy to see their nomination for Duo/Group of the Year.
We were surprised to see the nomination of "Not Ready
To Make Nice" by the Dixie Chicks as Song of the Year.
While we love the Dixie Chicks last album - Home, and we
thought the political fallout from Natalie Maines Bush-bashing
comments was ridiculously exaggerated and overblown, we are not
even sure that the Dixie Chicks belong on a list of Americana
nominees. Even if you do consider the Dixie Chicks an Americana
band, their latest release just hit shelves and would be a more
worthy nominee for next year’s awards. The real problem is that
"Not Ready To Make Nice" is simply not a worthy
nominee as the best Americana song released this part year.
A few months back, we wrote an article criticizing the Grammys for
nominating Neil Young’s Prairie Wind in the
"Rock" category and Rodney Crowell’s The Outsider
in the "Contemporary Folk" category. We suggested that
the two releases should have been placed in the same musical
category. It is worth noting that both releases are now nominated
as Americana "Album of the Year."
While we enjoyed James McMurty’s Childish Things, we
thought that the release was over-nominated for this year’s
Americana awards. McMurtry was the only artist nominated in three
separate categories. "We Can’t Make It Here" is
a good song, but again we would have probably looked elsewhere for
Song of the Year.
This year’s list of nominees is obviously dominated by
established artists who achieved their commercial peak many years
ago (see Rosanne Cash, Delbert McClinton, Rodney Crowell, Neil
Young, Marty Stuart). Where are all the younger Americana artists
who produce compelling music which distinguishes this musical
genre from country or rock music? Where was Ryan Adams’ Cold
Roses? What about BR549 or Jack Ingram? How about Neko Case’s
Fox Confessor Brings The Flood or Shawn Mullins’ 9th
Ward Pickin’ Parlor? Reviewing this year’s list of
nominees, we are concerned that the Americana Honors & Awards
may be evolving into the "Former Country Music Star"
Honors & Awards.
(June
28, 2006)
|
|
|
AMERICANA
NEWS Americana
Honors & Awards Nominees Announced
On June 15, the Americana Music
Association announced the nominees for the 5th annual
Americana Honors & Awards show to be held on September 22 at
the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. Steve Earle and Allison Moorer
announced the nominees in the following categories:
Artist of the Year: Roseanne
Cash; James McMurty; Marty Stuart; and Neil Young.
Album of the Year:
Childish Things, James McMurtry; Cost of Living,
Delbert McClinton; Souls’ Chapel, Marty Stuart and his
Fabulous Superlatives; The Outsider, Rodney Crowell.
Duo/Group of the Year:
Caitlin Cary & Thad Cockrell; The Drive-By Truckers;
Kieran Kane, Kevin Welch & Fats Kaplin; and Chip Taylor &
Carrie Rodriguez.
Instrumentalist of the
Year: Jerry Douglas; Tim O’Brien; Bryan Sutton; and Kenny
Vaughan.
New/Emerging Artist of
the Year: The Greencards; James Hunter; Robinella; and Uncle
Earl.
Song of the Year: "Black
Cadillac," Rosanne Cash; "Don’t Get Me Started,"
Rodney Crowell; "Not Ready To Make Nice," Dixie
Chicks; and "We Can’t Make It Here," James
McMurtry.
(June
28, 2006)
|
|
|
COMMENTARY Americana
and 'A Prairie Home Companion'
 As
many of you may be aware, Picturehouse recently released A
Prairie Home Companion - a fictional account of the last
broadcast of the long-running NPR radio program. Americana music
has always been an integral part of the weekly radio show hosted
by Garrison Keillor. For years, A Prairie Home Companion has
featured a wide array of folk, bluegrass and "cowboy"
performers in an "old-timey" radio setting. The radio
program continues to be a throwback to a time largely forgotten in
today's fast-paced sensationalized entertainment culture. The
current motion picture features a soundtrack of Americana music
performed by many of the movie's stars. Many of the reviews of the
motion picture and its accompanying soundtrack provide interesting
insight in to the current popular view of Americana music. We were
particularly struck by Richard von Busack's movie review featured
at Metroactive.com.
In his review, von Busack laments the somewhat depressing mood of
the storyline, yet praises the music represented in the movie: "Why
this premature obituary for the kind of broadcast A Prairie
Home Companion represents? Does even Keillor believe that old-timey,
folk and blues music is on its way out? That's strange, because
Americana music seems more vigorous than ever. The Internet allows
non-Top-40 musicians a better chance than ever at making a living,
and roots performers and audiences alike are energized with
populist fury. Have you heard what Bruce Springsteen just did with
"Oh, Mary, Don't You Weep"? Does that sound like a
tradition that's dead on its feet?" I
think that about sums it up.
(June
10, 2006)
|
|
|
AMERICANA
NEWS Gram
Parsons Rediscovered
The enduring legacy of Gram
Parsons will soon be illustrated by the release of several
recordings which shed new light on Parson's brief - but
influential - contribution to the development of Americana. As the
founder of a musical style he termed "Cosmic American
Music," Parsons is universally regarded as one of the
forefathers of country-rock and alt-country.  On
June 20, Rhino Records will release Gram Parsons: The Complete
Reprise Sessions. The 3-CD set features re-mastered versions
of Parsons' two solo albums - G.P. and Grievous Angel.
The re-mastered versions include several bonus tracks and
interview clips which provide additional insight into the
recordings. A third disk features alternate versions of many of
the classic songs from the two solo albums.
 Also
on June 20, Fontana International will re-release the 1976
posthumous collection of Parsons material entitled Sleepless
Nights. The original recording was assembled by A&M
Records in an effort to release what remained of an uncompleted
Flying Burritos Brothers album. The seven Burritos tracks
were combined with several solo outtakes (some of which feature
Emmylou Harris on background vocals) to produce the collection of
material credited to both Gram Parsons and The Flying Burrito
Brothers. This long out-of-print collection of outtakes and
demos will once again be available to Parsons' fans.
 In
addition to the above CDs, June 20 is also the DVD release date
for the Gram Parsons documentary Fallen Angel. The
documentary actually aired on British television a couple of years
ago, but it will now be available to U.S. consumers for the first
time on DVD. The documentary is a retrospective of Parsons'
life and musical career and features interviews with
contemporaries such as Emmylou Harris, Keith Richards and Chris
HIllman. The documentary was co-written by Sid Griffin who
founded the Long Ryders and the Coal Porters, and who wrote a
biography of Gram Parsons in 1985.
It
was also recently announced that 15 unreleased songs featuring
Gram Parsons with the Grateful Dead will be released in early
2007. The recordings will mark the debut release from Ameoba
Records - a new label founded by Dave Prinz who started the Amoeba
music store chain. Most of the songs were recorded as part
of a 1969 concert featuring Parsons and the Dead. Prinz also
indicated that other unreleased Parsons material may find its way
to CD in the near future. As
if the above releases were not enough to quench the thirst of
Parsons' fans, Columbia/Legacy is planning to release a Byrds box
set on August 29 which will also include several songs featuring
Gram Parsons. The 4-CD box set includes 99 studio and live tracks
from the influential 60s folk-rock band. The set will also feature
a DVD which includes several of the band's performances on U.S.
and U.K. television. It is unclear at this time if Parsons is
featured in any of the video performances. For
more on the life and career of Gram Parsons, check out the
following page in the Musical Styles section of Americana
Homeplace: The
1960s: From Folk to Cosmic American Music.
(May
31, 2006: Updated June 9, 2006)
|
|
|
WEBSITE
NEWS New
RSS Feed Address
For those of you who subscribe
to our RSS feed, please take note that the RSS feed address has
changed. The new RSS feed will update more frequently and
will include new articles from throughout this site - including
News & Notes, Americana Today, and the Musical Styles
section.
New URL:
http://www.americanahomeplace.com/feed.xml Click
here for more information about creating an RSS feed for this and
other web sites.
(May
20, 2006)
|
|
|
MERLEFEST
2006
Merlefest:
The Americana Music Celebration (April 27-30)
On April 30, the 19th annual Merlefest
music festival came to a close in Wilkesboro, North Carolina. The
four-day Americana music festival honors the memory of the late
Merle Watson (son of Doc Watson) and features many of the biggest
names in Americana. Having evolved from its origin as a strictly
bluegrass festival, the current Merlefest encompasses artists from
a variety of Americana styles. Bluegrass, folk, blues, gospel, and
Celtic music emanate from thirteen separate stages around the
venue. Given
the size and scope of Merlefest 2006, it is difficult to
encapsulate the entire event in a few paragraphs. But since
that's what we're here for, here are a few of the highlights which
we observed at this year's festival: The
Duhks - Watson Stage - Saturday, April 29:
As reported below,
the Duhks came to Merlefest shortly after picking up a Juno award
for the best Roots & Traditional
Album of the Year (Group category). The band's Saturday morning
set opened the day on the festival's main stage - the Watson
stage. A solid performance from the band (especially
considering the 10:15 a.m. start) was well received by the
audience. In addition to songs from their previous two
albums, the group also provided a brief glimpse of material from
their upcoming CD which will be released in
August. Darrell
Scott - Hillside Stage - Saturday, April 29:
In
January, Darrell Scott stopped by the ArtsCenter in Carrboro,
North Carolina to play the venue where he recorded part of the his
latest live CD Live in NC. (Actually, the ArtsCenter is
adjacent to the Cat's Cradle where part of the CD was recorded,
but I digress.) The January performance was essentially an
acoustic performance which consisted of a mix of previously
released songs with a couple of songs from his upcoming CD - The
Invisible Man. Darrell
Scott's Merlefest performance on Saturday marked quite a
contrast in both style and material from the earlier Carrboro
concert. The 45-minute set featured
lots of electric guitar and a full backing band. (We should
note that fiddler Casey Driesson is set to release his first solo
CD entitled 3D which features Scott, Jerry Douglas,
Tim O'Brien and others.) The Merlefest set also focused heavily on
material from Scott's upcoming CD which will be released in June.
Darrell's fans will not be disappointed with the release.
"I'm Nobody" from the new CD was one of the
highlights of the set. Another highlight was a brooding and
brilliant cover of Peter Rowan's "Midnight Moonlight."
Unfortunately, this song does not appear on the new CD. Gillian
Welch - Creekside Stage - Saturday, April 29:
 The
Creekside Stage at Merlefest was absolutely packed for the
45-minute set from Gillian Welch on Saturday afternoon. The crowd
filled the venue and poured into the edges of the surrounding
forest to catch a glimpse of one of the most respected
country-folk singer-songwriters today. As always, Welch was joined by
her extremely talented musical partner, David Rawlings. The
musical duo did not disappoint the gathered throng of fans. The
enthusiastic crowd pelted the performers with requests and even
garnered an encore from the duo (which is somewhat rare for the
precisely-timed festival). Guy
Clark, Verlon Thompson, Shawn Camp - Walker Center - Saturday, April 29:
The Walker Center hosted a capacity
crowd for a performance by legendary Texas songwriter Guy Clark.
Clark was joined on stage by Verlon Thompson on guitar and Shawn
Camp on fiddle. Despite some forgotten lyrics by Clark, the
appreciative audience appeared to enjoy every moment of the
performance. Clark closed the show with "L.A.
Freeway," but the auditorium demanded an encore from the
Americana legend, who was happy to oblige the request. The
Cottars - Americana Stage - Sunday, April 30:
 The
Cottars provided a Celtic flavor to Merlefest on Sunday morning.
The Cape Breton group which features two brother-sister pairs
performed on the Americana stage to a very receptive
audience. The Cottars are a cross between Nickel Creek and
The Chieftains. Despite their relative youth, the Cottars are
superb musicians. Their talents were on prominent display during
the Sunday morning performance. Fiddler Roseanne MacKenzie
provided a beautiful solo instrumental, as did bandmate Fiona
MacGillivray on Irish whistle. The group's appreciation for
traditional Celtic songs was illustrated on songs like "Byker
Hill" and "Pat Works on the Railway"
from their latest CD Forerunner. However, the Cottars also
have a pop sensibility which should serve them well as their fan
base grows. Pete
Seeger - Little Pickers Stage - Sunday, April 30:
 Folk
music legend Pete Seeger entertained an audience with stories and
children's songs on the Little Pickers Stage at Merlefest on
Sunday morning. Joined on stage by his grandson, the 87 year
old Seeger showed few signs of his advanced age - even stepping
down from the stage into the audience to play and tell
stories. The folk icon is also the subject of Bruce
Springsteen's latest CD - We Shall Overcome: The Seeger
Sessions. Emmylou
Harris - Watson Stage - Sunday, April 30:
On Sunday afternoon,
Emmylou Harris took the main stage at Merlefest to perform an hour
long set of bluegrass songs with several friends and long-time
musical companions. The acoustic set list drew heavily from
Harris's bluegrass recordings over the years including "Wayfaring
Stranger," "Green Pastures" and "Darkest
Hour Is Just Before Dawn." Harris also added
bluegrass versions of "Blue Kentucky Girl,"
"Memories of You," and the Townes Van Zandt
classic "Poncho and Lefty" (which Harris recorded
in 1977 before Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard's hit version).
Gillian Welch and David Rawlings joined Harris to perform "Your
Long Journey" which was written by Rosalee Watson - the
mother of Merlefest's namesake. As
expected, Merlefest proved why it is regarded as one of the
premier Americana music festivals in the country. All
Americana music fans should make arrangements to attend this
festival if they have the chance. Trust us, you won't be
disappointed. (Apr.
30, 2006)
|
|
|
AMERICANA
NEWS Americana
Artists Contribute to Tribute and Charity Albums
In case you haven't noticed,
the Spring of 2006 has proven to be a very fertile period for new
Americana releases. In addition to the numerous releases
from individual Americana artists and bands, several new tribute
and charity albums feature contributions from a variety of
American artists. Songs
for Sixty-Five Roses:
 North
Carolina has long been a hub of alt-country. Artists such as Ryan
Adams, Tift Merritt, Caitlin Cary, and The Avent Brothers got
their start in the small clubs around the Triangle, the Triad and
other parts of the state. Now many of these artists have joined
together to release an album of songs originally performed by
North Carolina artists and covered by a new generation of North
Carolina artists. The proceeds from the album will benefit the
Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Some of the more interesting covers
are listed below: Battleground
Park (originally recorded by Goner) - Caitlin Cary
Oh My Sweet Carolina (originally recorded by Ryan Adams) -
Portastatic
It's The Shame (originally recorded by Stillhouse) - Tift Merritt
Driveway to Driveway (originally recorded by Superchunk) - Two
Dollar Pistols
Shower The People (originally recorded by James Taylor) - Will
McFarlane
Bent Out Of Shape (originally recorded by Squirrel Nut Zippers) -
Greg Humphreys
Everybody Wants To Be My Baby (originally recorded by The Moaners)
- Southern Culture On The Skids Sail
Away: The Songs of Randy Newman:
 As
many of you are probably aware by now, we are big fans of Randy
Newman. You can imagine how excited we were when we found out that
an awesome collection of Americana artists are contributing their
talents to a Randy Newman tribute album to be released on May 9.
Artists such as Del McCoury, Steve Earle, Allison Moorer and Tim
O'Brien offer their own versions of Newman's songs. Most of
the songs date from Newman's first few albums released in the
early to mid-1970s. Check out the impressive track list below: Sail
Away - Tim O'Brien
Louisiana 1927 - Sonny Landreth
Birmingham - The Del McCoury Band
Rider in the Rain - Reckless Kelly & Joe Ely
Marie - Allison Moorer
Rednecks - Steve Earle
Burn On - Bela Fleck
Mr. President (Have Pity On The Working Man) - Sam Bush
Memo To My Son - Guster
Political Science - The Duhks
You Can Leave Your Hat On - Marc Broussard
Texas Girl At The Funeral Of Her Father - Kim Richey The
Pilgrim: A Celebration of Kris Kristofferson:
 In honor of Kris
Kristofferson's 70th birthday (Wow!), American Roots Publishing
will release a tribute album containing covers of Kristofferson's
songs performed by a variety of country and Americana
artists. The album will be released on June 27. Here are
some of the notable tracks which caught our attention: The
Pilgrim (Chapter 33) - Emmylou Harris & Friends
Living Legend - Willie Nelson
The Silver Tongued Devil and I - Shooter Jennings
Come Sundown - Rodney Crowell
Maybe You Heard - Todd Snider
The Captive - Jessi Colter
Sandinista - Patty Griffin & Charanga Cakewalk
Help Me Make It Through The Night - Bruce Robison & Kelly
Willis
(Apr. 9, 2006)
|
|
|
AMERICANA
NEWS The
Duhks Win Juno Award
 The
Duhks recently picked up a Juno Award for their CD The Duhks
at the Canadian music awards ceremony held in Halifax, Nova
Scotia. The CD won the award in the Roots & Traditional
Album of the Year - Group category. The band's debut CD, Your
Daughters and Your Sons, was nominated for a Juno Award in
2003. The band also recently picked up two awards from the
first annual Folk Alliance awards held in Austin, Texas. The
awards were granted in the Best Emerging Artist and Best Band
categories. As discussed below,
the band is currently headed back into the studio to record their
third CD with Tim O'Brien and Gary Paczosa as Co-Producers. (Apr.
9, 2006)
|
|
|
