-
Meta
Editorial Staff
Cat Eldridge
Gary WhitehouseSearch
-
Recent Posts
- What’s New for 7 of December: books by Alan Garner, and holiday music new and old, Celtic, Americana, jazz and more
- A Kinrowan Estate story: Several Annies, Part Two
- What’s New for 23 November
- A Kinrowan Estate story: Several Annies
- What’s New for the 9th of November: rhymers and ravens, folk songs and folk tales, jazz guitar and dark forests and constellations put to music, Hungarian tunes and knights and rakes and tinkers and fools, and more
- A Kinrowan Estate story: Kedgeree
- Whats New for the 26th of October: some Patricia McKillip books and an interview, ’70s jazz reissues, Nordic Americana and American Americana, and some Samhain seasonal albums
- A Kinrowan Estate story: Charles and Alice Pay a Visit (A Letter to Owyn)
- What’s New for the 12th of October
- A Kinrowan Estate story: A Pudding Contest
- What’s New for the 28th of September: Appalachia in books, music and more
- A Kinrown Estate story: Autumn is Upon Us
- What’s New for the 14th of September: Books, film and music with a piratical theme; plus Corsican polyphony, Balkan sevdah, Americana music, Hardanger fiddle with reindeer, Latin jazz and piano trios
- A Kinrowan Estate story: Irish Coffee
- New SF from James S. A. Corey; Terry Gillian’s Excalibur; Rolling Stones do Aaron Copland’s ‘A Fanfare for The Common Man’; An offbeat history of coffee; an interview with Russian folk singer Zhenya Wind; and a grab bag of folk music
- A Kinrowan Estate story: Waltzing Matilda
- What’s New for the 17th of August: Lots of Cropredy reports and reviews, and some new jazz and Americana;
- A Kinrowan Estate story: A Hidden Dragon
- What’s New for the 3rd of August: A mix of Heinlein reviews; new jazz out of Vermont and a grab bag of archival reviews; Italian American food writing, and more
- A Kinrowan Estate story: A Recursive Loops
- What’s New for the 20th of July: Lots of Elizabeth Bear including The Folded Sky; tomatoes; a Hobbit film; new jazz and archival reviews; Charles Vess ballads and sagas; and an offbeat Ellen Kushner adaptation
- A Kinrowan Estate story: Commedia dell’Arte. Possibly.
- What’s New for the 6th of July:
- A Kinrowan Estate story: Mama Kin
- What’s New for the 22nd of June: books about baseball, air travel most unusual, some music about baseball (and some not)
- A Kinrowan Estate story: Handfasting (A Letter to Katrina)
- What’s New for the 8th of June: kibbles and bits — lots of fairy tales, steamy anime, a Cairo comic, new jazz, an archival grab bag, and a Kitchen tale
- A Kinrowan Estate story: Our Cats
- What’s New for the 25th of May: new and notable SFF books; Murderbot on TV, and some Star Wars prequel movies; new jazz music and some tasty archival selections; food & steelworker strikes; and a novel Tarot deck
- What’s New for the 11th of May: Special Jack Zipes edition on fairy tales; an obsure Tam Lin film treatment; songs that tell stories; new jazz, Danish fiddle tunes, Norwegian women’s vocal music; Russian and Eastern European food and cooking, and more
Tag Archives: Americana music
John Sebastian’s John B. Sebastian, Tarzana Kid, and Welcome Back
John Sebastian’s combo The Lovin’ Spoonful was a folk-pop crossover in the mid-1960s, but by 1968 he was ready to strike out on his own. He had been around the New York folk scene since the early years of the … Continue reading
Posted in Music
Tagged Americana music, folk-rock, rock and roll
Comments Off on John Sebastian’s John B. Sebastian, Tarzana Kid, and Welcome Back
The Chieftains featuring Ry Cooder’s San Patricio
The Chieftains! One of the best bands in the world! They can play anything! They’ve recorded with The Rolling Stones, Marianne Faithfull, James Galway, Sting, Sinead O’Connor, Linda Ronstadt, Diana Krall, Elvis Costello, Los Lobos, Chet Atkins. They made a … Continue reading
Posted in Music
Tagged Americana music, Irish music, Ry Cooder, The Chieftains
Comments Off on The Chieftains featuring Ry Cooder’s San Patricio
Geir Sundstøl’s Sakte Film
Geir Sundstøl’s recordings have always had a cinematic quality about them. His 2025 offering Sakte Film (Slow Motion Film) pushes that envelope even further, as explicitly stated in the title. The Norwegian musician and composer here stretches his already multicolored … Continue reading
Posted in Music
Tagged Americana music, Nordic music, world music
Comments Off on Geir Sundstøl’s Sakte Film
Various artists’ The Rose & The Briar
This recording is a collection of American ballads, and a strange and wondrous thing it is. The CD accompanies a hefty book of essays, articles, letters and even a classic comic strip about the American ballad, edited by Sean Wilentz … Continue reading
Posted in Music
Tagged Americana music, ballads, folk music
Comments Off on Various artists’ The Rose & The Briar
Eric Brace & Karl Straub’s Hangtown Dancehall
Nashville’s Eric Brace has teamed up with fellow singer-songwriter Karl Straub to write a “folk opera” set during the California Gold Rush, based on the story behind “Sweet Betsy From Pike,” one of the most durable folk songs to come … Continue reading
Posted in Music
Tagged Americana music
Comments Off on Eric Brace & Karl Straub’s Hangtown Dancehall
Laurie Lewis’s One Evening In May
I’d forgotten how much I enjoyed a summer evening concert under the stars by Laurie Lewis and her fine band a few years ago. This live disc recorded in May 2013 at the famous Freight and Salvage venue in her … Continue reading
Posted in Music
Tagged Americana music, Bluegrass music
Comments Off on Laurie Lewis’s One Evening In May
Alasdair Fraser and Natalie Haas’s Abundance
Scottish fiddler Alasdair Fraser and American cellist Natalie Haas have released their fourth album Abundance on Fraser’s Culburnie label. It is an impressive addition to their catalog and an entertaining tour through some of the many possible settings for Celtic … Continue reading
Posted in Music
Tagged Americana music, Celtic music
Comments Off on Alasdair Fraser and Natalie Haas’s Abundance
Andrew Bird’s Things Are Really Great Here, Sort Of …
I discovered Andrew Bird and the Handsome Family at about the same time, in about 1998. Both were based in Chicago, but their music couldn’t have been much farther apart. Fiddler Bird and his Bowl of Fire were playing an … Continue reading
Posted in Music
Tagged Americana music
Comments Off on Andrew Bird’s Things Are Really Great Here, Sort Of …
The Psycho Sisters’ Up On The Chair, Beatrice
Susan Cowsill and Vicki Peterson go back a long way as friends and artistic collaborators. Cowsill has been singing on record since the 1960s when she was the tyke in the family band The Cowsills. She and Peterson, guitarist in … Continue reading
Posted in Music
Tagged Americana music
Comments Off on The Psycho Sisters’ Up On The Chair, Beatrice
Various artists’ Look Again To The Wind: Johnny Cash’s Bitter Tears Revisited
Just the other night I was pondering the question, “which musical act has been most influential on you?” It was asked by a member of an online music community I belong to. I had to say The Beatles, because they … Continue reading
Posted in Music
Tagged Americana music
Comments Off on Various artists’ Look Again To The Wind: Johnny Cash’s Bitter Tears Revisited