Tag Archives: Americana music

Various artists’ Everybody’s Tuned to the Radio: Rural Music Traditions in West Georgia, 1947-1979

With a title that sounds like a master’s dissertation, a disc like this better deliver the goods right up front, and it does. The best part — well, second best, right after the music itself — is the story behind … Continue reading

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Dolorean’s Not Exotic

Dolorean makes a gently dark folk music that draws on Nick Drake and Elliott Smith in its slow tempos and sad, introspective lyrics. At the center of this Portland, Oregon, based combo is singer-songwriter Al James, who reportedly spent the … Continue reading

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Audrey Auld’s Losing Faith

Australian Audrey Auld writes and sings Americana music in a variety of styles, from confessional folk to country rock. She’s also an entrepreneur and founder of her own record label.  “Music with the dirt left on,” is how Auld describes … Continue reading

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Eliza Gilkyson’s Land of Milk and Honey

Eliza Gilkyson is one of the most respected singer-songwriters to come out of Texas in the past 20 years, having taken her place in 2003 in the Austin Music Hall of Fame alongside greats such as Willie Nelson, Townes Van … Continue reading

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Dulcie Taylor’s Mirrors and Windows

Dulcie Taylor has a few surprises up her sleeve. Mirrors and Windows, her second release on Black Iris, starts like a fairly typical singer-songwriter album of contemporary folk music — albeit a very good one. “Blackberry Winter,” the opening track, … Continue reading

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Jolie Holland’s Catalpa

Jolie Holland makes new music that sounds — some of it, anyway — very old. A true daughter of the American South, she was born and raised in Texas, and cut her musical teeth on the gypsy-like circuit of like-minded … Continue reading

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The Lucky Tomblin Band’s The Lucky Tomblin Band

The Lucky Tomblin Band‘s self-titled debut is a swingin’ platter of honky-tonk straight out of Texas. This band has a pedigree guaranteed to get it a blue ribbon in any show; its members have about a zillion years of recording … Continue reading

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Wylie & The Wild West’s Hooves of the Horses

Wylie Gustafson is a real-life, actual cowboy. He has a ranch in eastern Washington State, and he’s a world-class trainer and rider of cutting horses. Not only that, but he’s one of only a handful of artists around today still … Continue reading

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Jacob Young’s Dancing Outlaw and Dancing Outlaw 2, Jesco Goes to Hollywood

Up in Boone County, West Virginia There lives the outlaw Jesco White And the way he loves to dance Makes all the men want to fight … — “Jesco,” Trailer Bride’s High Seas (Bloodshot, 2001) (Editor’s note, Feb. 2021: These … Continue reading

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Various artists’ Mali to Memphis: An African-American Odyssey and Louisiana Gumbo, and Oliver Mtukudzi’s The Oliver Mtukudzi Collection: The Tuku Years

These three discs from world music purveyors Putumayo present a study in how the music of America and Africa have influenced each other. Mali to Memphis Well before the deluge of blues-roots discs that accompanied 2003’s “Year of the Blues,” … Continue reading

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