Category Archives: Music

Jack Ingram, Miranda Lambert and Jon Randall’s The Marfa Tapes

My wife and I were supposed to spend a week just outside of Marfa, Texas, from which we would explore Big Bend National Park in March of 2020. Well, you know what happened to those plans as the world shut … Continue reading

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The Deep Dark Woods’ Changing Faces

Ryan Boldt, who performs deep, dark, tradition-based indie folk music under the name The Deep Dark Woods, grew up surrounded by the prairie landscapes of Canada’s Saskatchewan province. Since his most recent album, 2017’s Juno nominated Yarrow, he’s relocated to … Continue reading

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Jason Branscum’s Beyond The Walls Of The World

Perhaps it was because I’d been editing some old GMR reviews of fantasy books by the likes of Kage Baker, Neil Gaiman, and Charles deLint, but I got a spooky sense of living oak trees dancing under a moonless sky … Continue reading

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Various artists’ Folk Music of China, Vol. 12 – Folk Songs of the Bai, Nu & Derung Peoples

A couple of sweethearts meet in the mountains where both are herding their sheep, in one of the most charming songs in this delightful collection. The two unaccompanied singers call to each other in a type of piercing yodel employing … Continue reading

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The Pink Stones’ Introducing… The Pink Stones

This debut record from Athens, Georgia’s The Pink Stones is a lot of fun. Especially if you love music from the cosmic country movement of the late ’60s and early ’70s. Pink Stones frontman Hunter Pinkston grew up siding with … Continue reading

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Focusyear Band 21’s Bosque

If nothing else, the Focusyear Band 21’s Bosque represents assurance that the future of jazz is in good hands. But it’s a lot more than that; it’s an hour of good music, for one thing. It’s 10 original compositions created … Continue reading

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Will Beeley’s 1970 Sessions

Will Beeley has spent the past three decades and change as a long-haul trucker, but before that he was a Texas troubadour. Born in California, raised in San Antonio, he was a singer-songwriter who soaked up the works of singer … Continue reading

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Eli West’s Tapered Point of Stone

The late great John Hartford’s legacy continues to resonate down the generations of American roots music. Washington State’s Eli West points to Hartford’s example of making collaborative music in his own fine new album Tapered Point of Stone. The music … Continue reading

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Frode Haltli’s Avant Folk II

I’ve been enamored of the music of Norwegian accordionist Frode Haltli since he appeared as one third of the Snowflake Trio at Celtic Colours International Festival in 2013. In that group he, Irish flautist and singer Nuala Kennedy, and Norwegian … Continue reading

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Chester Folk Festival, May 2006

Although it is called the Chester Folk Festival, this event is held 10 miles outside of Chester in the quite picturesque village of Kelsall. As festivals go, Chester Festival may not be biggest, but it must surely take the prize … Continue reading

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