Tag Archives: Americana music

Eric Brace and Peter Cooper are a couple of the people who make music from the other side of Nashville. The part of Nashville that’s populated by the likes of Kris Kristofferson and Emmylou Harris and Todd Snider, folks like … Continue reading →

I waited a long time for this album. Not as long as Charlie Louvin did, though. The liner notes tell us that he’s been “singing about murder and disaster all his life.” And that’s 81 years. With his brother Ira, … Continue reading →

Boy, talk about your instant classics. For the past 30 years or more, Ray Benson’s ensemble Asleep at the Wheel has been the standard-bearer of western swing music; and of course for even longer than that, Willie Nelson has exemplified … Continue reading →

Colin Linden. Tom Wilson. Stephen Fearing. Together these three solo artists become Blackie & the Rodeo Kings. Separately or together, they make some of the most exciting music coming out of the Great White North these days. Linden is recovering … Continue reading →

Charlie Louvin released a self-titled comeback album in 2007. It was his first one in 10 years. Alongside Charlie were guests Elvis Costello, George Jones, Jeff Tweedy, Tom T. Hall, Tift Merritt, Marty Stuart and others. He was in his … Continue reading →

Ry Cooder has already had two different “best of” collections, Why Don’t You Try Me and River Rescue (and the movie music set Music By …) and the hungry Cooder collector has been dying for a collection that presented rare … Continue reading →

Now, here is an excellent example of a record label doing all the right things. The artist in question is Jolie Holland, and the label is the So-Cal indie, Anti-. Holland is an idiosyncratic artist with a strong musical vision … Continue reading →

Mike Wilson contributed this review. The five-piece Old Crow Medicine Show take an old-time American roots sound and give it a contemporary makeover, in much the same way that Gram Parsons did with country music some 40 years ago. Built … Continue reading →

Just before I popped Raising Sand in and uploaded it to my music library, I mentioned in my blog that I was going to review it. Two people responded immediately, and they couldn’t be more different: age, political leanings, upbringings, … Continue reading →