Category Archives: Music

In My Father’s Time’s Traditional Irish Storytelling

Mattie Lennon penned this essay. It was 1959. The National Council for The Blind of Ireland gave my visually impaired mother a wireless. It was our first radio. At the time my contemporaries were clued in to the highlights of Radio … Continue reading

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Jean Ritchie and Paul Clayton’s The Traditional Years: American Folk Tales and Songs 

Peter Massey penned this review. It is a re-mastered album from about 1956. Jean Ritchie and Paul Clayton will need no introduction to folk music fans in America, because Jean Ritchie has been at the forefront of the American revivalist … Continue reading

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Guy Clark (with Verlon Thompson) at  The River Run Centre

Wednesday night two of America’s great singer-songwriters were on stage, giving their all to an audience that was ready to accept all they had. The River Run Centre is nestled in the downtown section of Guelph, a cozy university town in southwestern … Continue reading

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Comfort and the Unexpected: In Conversation with Maddy Prior

Question: What’s the perfect way to start off a misty moisty St. Valentine’s Day morning in San Francisco? Spending an hour on the phone with Maddy Prior, that’s what. Hands down, seriously. Forget the roses, the wine, the Hallmark cards. … Continue reading

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Ashley Hutchings’ Burning Bright 

The title comes from the William Blake poem, “Tyger, Tyger” and the reason is…that Tyger is Ashley Hutchings‘ nickname. Having said that…let me next alert all and sundry that Free Reed is the greatest box-set compilation maker in the world, nay, universe! … Continue reading

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June Tabor & Oysterband’s Ragged Kingdom

Tabor has reunited with the Oysterband for a second album, Ragged Kingdom and the two suit each other better now than when the first album, Freedom and Rain, made in 1991. Considering that the first album was magnificent, many of … Continue reading

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Buckwheat Zydeco’s Lay Your Burden Down

I thought I had given up on zydeco. I first heard it in the late 1980s in the person of Clifton Chenier, the King of Zydeco. Also at about that time, I was fortunate to see in concert some superb … Continue reading

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The Nordic Fiddlers Bloc’s Deliverance

Deliverance, the second release by The Nordic Fiddlers Bloc, brims with life, energy, a lot of joy and a little bit of sorrow, all poured out in the delightful strains of fiddle music from three different but related traditions. The … Continue reading

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3hattrio’s Solitaire

Hard on the heels of 2015’s eyebrow-raising Dark Desert Night comes 3hattrio’s third full-length release Solitaire. It’s named for Desert Solitaire, the classic 1968 book about dryland ecosystems by Edward Abbey. This stringband trio from the red-rock desert of southern … Continue reading

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William Tyler’s Modern Country

Guitarist William Tyler’s Modern Country was one of my favorite drive-time listens of the summer of 2016. I was so busy enjoying it, I didn’t get around to writing about it until now! First, about the title. It’s amazing how … Continue reading

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