Tag Archives: Americana music

“So long to my dog Snickers, who ate Christmas tinsel So long to Mr. Whiskers, who jumped out of a window And to the family of gerbils who chewed out of their cage and the little brown rabbit I ran … Continue reading →

Kelly Joe Phelps is a Washington State native who started his musical career as a jazz guitarist and bassist. Sky Like a Broken Clock is his fourth as an acoustic blues player (his third for Ryko), and his first with … Continue reading →

Gary Myrick, a Texan who has been living in Southern California for many years, has been making music for a long time. He was in his first band at the age of 18, and made his first album in 1980. … Continue reading →

Little Pink is yet another band out of the Washington, D.C., alternative country scene, and my favorite so far. Little Pink — basically singer-songwriter Mary Battiata and a somewhat shifting cast of backup musicians — had the most intriguing track … Continue reading →

Darryl Purpose is the best kind of singer-songwriter: one who has lived a lot of life before he started writing songs about it. On A Crooked Line, his fourth CD, he sings his songs of America and Americans, the way … Continue reading →

Honky Tonk Confidential is Washington, D.C.’s answer to the Austin Lounge Lizards. This five-piece combo draws on various forms of country music to make erudite, humorous musical commentary on modern American life, both inside and outside the Beltway. Your Trailer … Continue reading →

Jon Dee Graham has been making music since he was a teenager in Texas in the 1970s, but he’s best known as guitarist for Austin’s proto-country-punk band the True Believers in the mid-80s. Hooray for the Moon, his third recording … Continue reading →

James Jewell read my reviews of Adams Hotel Road and Idiots by his fellow Pennsylvanians Frog Holler, and wrote to ask me if he could send me his CDs. I said yes, and he did, and I’m glad. Jewell, who … Continue reading →

Nanci Griffith is one of the most successful female singer-songwriters to emerge from Texas in the past 20 years. She has had a handful of mainstream country hits and has had her songs covered by country stars, but mostly she … Continue reading →