Todd Snider photos by David Nowels Last week’s news that Todd Snider had died hit me hard. Much harder than I would have guessed. From what I’ve read online—and I’ve read a lot online—that seems to be true for many people. Snider was a real one of one, a singular talent whose songwriting, stories, and […]
The Avett Brothers and Mike Patton AVT/PTTN In nearly four decades of genre-defying work, Mike Patton has built a career on unlikely partnerships. The Faith No More frontman has collaborated with avant-garde jazz saxophonist John Zorn, classical violinist Eyvind Kang, turntablists The X-Ecutioners, and art-world luminaries like Laurie Anderson and Björk. He’s worked alongside members […]
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Todd Snider High Lonesome and Then Some Reno is where Johnny Cash shot a man just to watch him die. It’s where the Grateful Dead lit out from, and where R.E.M. staked their claims to being stars. It’s more funky than flashy, more quirky than conventional. It is very much a Todd Snider kind of […]
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Notes From The 2025 Annapolis Songwriters Festival: A Haimish Haven for True Listening Annapolis isn’t the sort of town where you usually see folks with guitar cases on the sidewalk. For most of the year, pink polo shirts far outnumber black T-shirts, and you’ll spot twenty pairs of topsiders for every pair of boots. But […]
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Josh Ritter – I Believe in You, My Honeydew On his eleventh album, I Believe in You, My Honeydew, Josh Ritter isn’t reinventing himself—he doesn’t need to. What he’s doing here is harder: reminding us why belief itself still matters, and why he remains one of the most essential voices in American songwriting. Where his […]
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Emma Swift – The Resurrection Game Emma Swift’s The Resurrection Game follows in the tradition of her heroes, singer-songwriters like Sandy Denny and Marianne Faithfull, artists who transformed personal struggle into compelling music. As Swift’s first album of original material, it represents an important and promising step in her artistic development. Swift herself describes this […]
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Rodney Crowell Airline Highway Before there was Alternative Country, before Outlaw Country, before Americana, there was Rodney Crowell. The veteran songwriter released his debut album, the now-ironically titled Ain’t Living Long Like This, in 1978 — a decade before Steve Earle’s Copperhead Road, two decades before Lucinda Williams’s Car Wheels on a Gravel Road, and a good thirteen […]
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Abe Partridge and Jack Barksdale Deliver Timeless Musical Truths at Ram’s Head in Annapolis photos by Allison O’Brien/AOB Photos From Woody Guthrie to John Prine, the Americana tradition has thrived on songs that make you think and songs that make you feel. The very best manage to do both. That’s why I chase nights like […]
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James McMurtry – The Black Dog and the Wandering Boy James McMurtry has never been one to pull punches, and on The Black Dog and the Wandering Boy, he makes it plain: aging isn’t for the faint of heart. While 2021’s The Horses and the Hounds struck a bittersweet tone about growing older, his latest […]
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Photos of John Moreland and Ramsey Thornton by Alison O’Brien, AOB Photo John Moreland Sad Songs and Quiet Salvation Ram’s Head Tavern / Annapolis, MD May 7, 2025 “We’ll open up old wounds in celebration / If we don’t bleed, it don’t feel like a song,” John Moreland sang midway through his stunning set at […]
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