Intense Row over Jason Isbell Tribute Song
The creative license of songwriters to implicate individuals - either living or dead - in their work has suddenly been brought into sharp...
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Americana News
- Apr 12
- 4 min
Big Names Back Indie Debut Release
Every so often, the release of an artist’s debut album reveals a feel-good story in the music industry. And this is a one of the best! It...
- Apr 1
- 7 min
Jerry Garcia's Bluegrass Journey
Jerry Garcia’s magnetic influence on bluegrass music – and indeed his early obsession with the genre – has finally been formally...
- Mar 15
- 4 min
Six Decades of Ralph McTell
Few could imagine that in post-war London, there was a teenage boy dreaming of being a musical guitar-in-hand vagabond playing chords and...
- Mar 3
- 4 min
All Aboard Nash’s Southbound Train
How does an artist cram 60 years of singing and song-writing - among some of the greats in the music business - into two and a half...
- Feb 6
- 3 min
Molly Meets Joni at the Grammys
While all the hype at the 2024 Grammy Awards may have surrounded Taylor Swift and/or Barbie songs, there was a wonderful moment - lost on...
- Feb 2
- 5 min
The Pizza Man Surely Delivered
It is now more than thirty years since three of the finest musicians to ever strap an acoustic instrument over their shoulders decided to...
- Dec 14, 2023
- 8 min
Raitt Grammy Surprise Highlight for Americana Music in 2023
Bonnie’s Raitt’s surprise – and deserved - triumph at the 65th Grammy Awards was the clear highlight of Americana Music in 2023. It was...
- Nov 11, 2023
- 5 min
Cat Power Sings Dylan An Inventive Gem
And the award for the most inventive covers album of the year – maybe all-time - goes to … Chan Marshall for her November 10 release Cat...
- Oct 24, 2023
- 5 min
Back to the Future for Emmylou Harris
It may have taken almost 50 years, but Emmylou Harris has finally re-recorded a song she first did with Bob Dylan on Desire - one of his...
- Oct 12, 2023
- 5 min
A Half Century of Magical Acoustic Music
It is a half century since a bunch of good ole boys joined an original Deadhead and his offsider to deliver what many believe is the...
- Oct 8, 2023
- 12 min
Fifty Years After a Bizarre Death
It is 50 years since the death of Gram Parsons, an event so bizarre it would forever overshadow his achievements as not only one of the...
- Sep 24, 2023
- 5 min
Homage to the Legacy of Nanci Griffith
It must have crossed the mind of the great John Prine sometime in his colourful life that he could – and maybe should – have written...
- Sep 22, 2023
- 3 min
Another Accolade for Bonnie Raitt
The Americana Music Association has anointed The Recording Academy’s controversial decision to award Song of the Year to Bonnie Raitt’s...
- Sep 17, 2023
- 3 min
From Bluegrass to Williegrass
If you have heard some foot-tapping from heaven in recent days, it was probably music legends Bill Monroe and Ralph Stanley enjoying...
- Sep 3, 2023
- 4 min
Jimmy Buffett Helped Define Popular Culture
When asked to name a song linked to a billion-dollar industry, “Happy Birthday” might spring to mind first. But how about...
- Aug 17, 2023
- 4 min
Bluegrass Pioneer Alice Gerrard Goes Cap in Hand
One might be excused for thinking that music – if not life – has gone full circle when an artist who was once acclaimed as a pioneer in a...
- Aug 10, 2023
- 5 min
Writing Controversy Rests with Robbie Robertson
Music legend Robbie Robertson, regarded as a pioneer of what is now known as Americana, has died at the age of 80. And he takes with him...
- Jul 17, 2023
- 2 min
Colter Wall’s Little Songs of the Prairie
Colter Wall is what you might call a cowboy’s cowboy. He doesn’t just write and sing songs about riding the prairie. He actually rides...
- Jun 25, 2023
- 3 min
A Parting Gift From The Other Nelson
There was a time when playing piano in a honky-tonk bar would be enough to lose custody of your children, believe it or not? But that is...
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