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Recent Posts
- A Kinrowan Estate story: puppeteers, and their puppets
- What’s New for the 16th of August: Deborah Grabien’s music criticism essays; new Americana and jazz, and some music for the Dog Days of Summer
- A Kinrowan Estate story: Midsomer Strangeness
- A Kinrowan Estate story: Contradances
- What’s New for the 26th of July: Witches in fiction, both books and film; an Americana reissue and some music on a smoky theme
- A Kinrowan Estate story: chicken pot pieces
- What’s New for the 19th of July: Charles de Lint’s Ottawa novels with a quote from Drink Down the Moon, Gary’s review of Nordic fiddle music, It’s Michele Walther and Irina Behrendt playing Aaron Copland’s ‘Hoe Down’ from his Rodeo album
- A Kinrowan Estate story: Midsomer Odd Things
- A Kinrowan Estate story: A Library and Its Librarian
- What’s New for the Fifth of July: Remembering Jane Yolen; some new Americana and jazz music; Fishing Blues
- A Kinrowan Estate Story: Recursive Loops
- What’s New for June 21: Jennifer Stevenson’s ‘Solstice’
- A Kinrowan Estate story: Turkish Coffee
- What’s New for the 7th of June: Foxes in literature, live Balkan music, comforting jazz, Americana jazz, and wonderfully weird fusion jazz; and John Fogerty live
- A Kinrowan Estate story: Bloodied Kings
- What’s New for the 24th of May: Gary’s Review of Elizabeth Bear’s White Space novels, iain’s review of the Lonely Signal Burns novellas by her, she reading her own story, ‘The Chains That You Refuse’, and I see Gary has some tasty music reviews fir us as well
- A Kinrowan Estate story: Our Greensward
- What’s New for the 10th of May: books reviewed by Jennifer Stevenson, music by Teddy Thompson, Americana music from all over, and some live music from John Fogerty
- A Kinrowan Estate story: A Walk
- What’s New for the 26th of April: the nature of Stories; some new and newish SF, plus new world, jazz, folk and Americana music
- A Kinrowan Estate story: A Spring Day
- What’s New for the 12th of April: Some new and recent SF; new Americana, Norwegian folk rock and jazz; and thoughts on War For The Oaks
- A Kinrowan Estate story: A Unified Theory of Libraries (A Letter to Anna)
- What’s New for the 29th of March: Beer and spirits, in song and text, some new Scandinavian fiddle music and jazz flute music, and more
- A Kinrowan Estate story: A Ghostly Librarian
- What’s New for the 15th of March: some DeLint stories for early spring; lots of polskas, Serbian folk rock, progressive jazz, and Nordic music from the archives
- A Kinrowan Estate story: Hedge Witches
- What’s New for the 1st of March: Emma Bull’s War for The Oaks, Rosanne Cash’s ‘Runaway Train’, Johnny Cash at San Quentin, plus new Americana and jazz music
- A Kinrorwan Estate story: Cranachanh
- What’s New for the 15th of February: Some Seanan McGuire fantasy, Alison Bechdel’s latest, Pamela Dean’s Tam Lin; Nordic sounds, old time, Americana and Tex-Mex music
Category Archives: Music
Wolfgang Plagge’s Julevariasjoner
Julevariasjoner translates as “Christmas Variations,” and that is just what this disc by Norwegian pianist Wolfgange Plagge is: a set of variations on Christmas carols, some Norwegian, but many that will be recognized anywhere that Christmas is celebrated. Plagge is … Continue reading
Steeleye Span’s Dodgy Bastards
I’m just on my third listen to Steeleye Span’s Dodgy Bastards. This latest offering from a band I’ve loved since their earliest albums is a mixed bag. Fortunately, the contents are largely on the side of excellence. There is very … Continue reading
Posted in Music
Tagged Chold Ballads, English folk music, Maddy Prior, Steeleye Span
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Oysterband’s Little Rock to Leipzig
Amazon UK has a description for this album worth reading: ‘A playful live album, 1991’s From Little Rock to Leipzig finds John Jones, Ian Telfer, and crew in a boisterous mood, attacking songs of their own and others with raucous abandon and … Continue reading
Posted in Music
Tagged British folk music, English folk music
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Lunasa’s Redwood
Let’s wander down to the Green Man mailroom. Spike’s feeling a little queasy. As you might be aware, Spike’s helping me clean up the Green Man music library on this very, very rainy afternoon as it’s rather quiet this afternoon in the Pub. And … Continue reading
Oysterband’s The Shouting End of Life
With The Shouting End of Life, the Oysterband has put its collective foot down firmly on the rock side of the folk-rock equation. This isn’t a bad thing, though purists may wonder where the trad covers like “Rambling Irishman” have gone. TSEOL is … Continue reading
Posted in Music
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Tummel’s Payback Time
Think about the band playing on while the Titanic goes down. Think of some of Joel Gray’s bitchier numbers in Cabaret. Think of Josephine Baker at her most outrageous taking Paris by storm. Think of a bunch of crazy Swedes … Continue reading
Grannar’s Sofiagatan: Folk Music from Southern Sweden; Väsen’s Väsen Street; Kari Tauring’s Völva Songs
“Traditional” is one of those words that gets bandied about a lot these days, particularly when talking about families and music. I’ll leave families to a more political outlet and talk about music here. Now, “traditional” in music can mean … Continue reading
Posted in Music
Tagged Nordic music, traditional music
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Amira Medunjanin’s Damar
I haven’t listened to a lot of sevdah, but I am familiar with Mostar Sevdah Reunion, probably the best-known sevdah group outside of Bosnia & Herzegovina. Amira Medunjanin sang on their 2003 album A Secret Gate before going on to … Continue reading
Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt’s The Complete Trio Collection
Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt probably did a lot to establish “Americana” as a category of music with their two Trio albums in 1987 and 1999. Some of the ways they did that, I’m not sure are necessarily … Continue reading
Posted in Music
Tagged Americana music
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What’s New for the 4th of December: Ursula Le Guin fiction, Ragnarok and beyond, Jack’s favorite reading place, Nordic traditions, chocolate and other matters
English autumn mornings are often like mornings nowhere else in the world. The air is cold. The floorboards are cold. It is perhaps this coldness which sharpens the tang of the hot cup of tea. Outside, steps on the gravel … Continue reading →