With their new album Ghosts of West Virginia (New West Records) Americana music stalwarts Steve Earle & The Dukes tell the story, in song, of the deadliest coal mine explosion in American history – the Upper Big Branch explosion in West Virginia that claimed 29 lives in 2010. Born out of the music Earle […]
Bluegrass isn’t for everyone. No genre of music is. Still, if you spend any amount of time listening to bluegrass, you start to realize the beauty of it. The fact that bluegrass bands can do so much with only stringed instruments is pretty impressive. Furthermore, when you do spend any significant time listening to bluegrass, […]
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Doc Watson & Gaither Carlton – Smithsonian Folkways Recordings October 1962 This collection may be suited for purists & archival completists than the average music lover. Though I’ve been wrong before. Recorded at 2 NYC concerts (Oct. ’62) – at the NYU School of Education & West Village’s Blind Lemon’s folk club, folklorist Ralph Rinzler […]
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On her latest album Bad Luck (Sylvia Rose Novak), singer/songwriter Sylvia Rose Novak eschews the acoustic country-folk sound of her three previous records and instead employs turned up Crazy Horse style electric guitars and occasional crying pedal steel guitars to establish her melodies and to come up with a thoroughly loud rock and roll […]
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Americana Highways invites you to vote for your favorite THREE releases of April 2020. The vote stays open until June 27th at 11:59pm EDT; results will be posted June 28th. Write in, if we overlooked one! The top three winners get placed on our monthly playlist, and just for being on the list you also […]
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By Jeff Burger If you’re surprised to see a blues album from Dion, you haven’t been paying attention. Yes, he is primarily known for his wonderful early-rock-era records with and without the Belmonts, but even in those days he delivered a smattering of blues tracks. And since then, Dion has periodically dipped into a blues […]
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Vickikristinabarcelona – Pawn Shop Radio – Reworks the Songs of Tom Waits Vicki Kristina Barcelona (spelled as one long word) is a play on words from a similar Woody Allen film. The 3 ladies responsible for this are multi-instrumentalists: NY’s Rachelle Garniez, London’s Amanda Homi & Brooklyn’s Terry Radigan. What have they done? Well… They […]
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The results from the readers’ vote for favorite April 2020 releases are in! Congratulations top ten! The top three will be featured in our next playlist update by Laura Sikes. (Find the playlist any time, on our website’s homepage.) 1. Indigo Girls “Look Long” 2. the Claudettes “High Times in the Dark” 3. Marshall […]
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Jake Blount – Spider Tales I’m often impressed by how proficient a young musician is when he applies his skill to a genre beyond his years. Jake Blount resurrects an Appalachian style on some originals & draws on its roots for an LP of traditional American, bluegrass, country, folk & African-American sources. Free Dirt Records’ […]
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On her new album All This Time (self-released), singer/songwriter Heather Anne Lomax (formerly known as the artist Michael-Ann) delivers an intense fusion of early rock and roll, blues, and Memphis-style soul that should instantly captivate any fan of those three genres. On this record, with a booming and powerful voice that echoes […]
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