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Recent Posts
- What’s New for the 12th of April: Some new and recent SF; new Americana, Norwegian folk rock and jazz; and thoughts on War For The Oaks
- A Kinrowan Estate story: A Unified Theory of Libraries (A Letter to Anna)
- What’s New for the 29th of March: Beer and spirits, in song and text, some new Scandinavian fiddle music and jazz flute music, and more
- A Kinrowan Estate story: A Ghostly Librarian
- What’s New for the 15th of March: some DeLint stories for early spring; lots of polskas, Serbian folk rock, progressive jazz, and Nordic music from the archives
- A Kinrowan Estate story: Hedge Witches
- What’s New for the 1st of March: Emma Bull’s War for The Oaks, Rosanne Cash’s ‘Runaway Train’, Johnny Cash at San Quentin, plus new Americana and jazz music
- A Kinrorwan Estate story: Cranachanh
- What’s New for the 15th of February: Some Seanan McGuire fantasy, Alison Bechdel’s latest, Pamela Dean’s Tam Lin; Nordic sounds, old time, Americana and Tex-Mex music
- What’s New for the 1st of February: Kage Baker retrospective; new Americana, Buddhist chants and Finnish songs, new and reissued jazz, and more
- A Kinrowan Estate story: Fireplaces in Kinrowan Hall
- What’s New for the 18th of January: World music and fiction by Amal El-Mohtar
- A Kinrowan Estate story: Bridges and Paths plus a Troll
- What’s New for the 4th of January: Favorite books and music of 2025
- A Kinrowan Estate story: Mythologist John Campbell
- What’s New for 21st of December
- A Kinrowan Estate story: Pub Ghoulies
- 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
Tag Archives: blues
Vieux Farka Touré
There were, in the middle of the last century, over 1,000 languages spoken in Africa, grouped into four large families, not counting creoles and pidgins (estimates have actually ranged as high as 3,000 altogether). This does actually have something to … Continue reading
Buckwheat Zydeco’s Lay Your Burden Down
I thought I had given up on zydeco. I first heard it in the late 1980s in the person of Clifton Chenier, the King of Zydeco. Also at about that time, I was fortunate to see in concert some superb … Continue reading
Posted in Music
Tagged blues, Cajun music, music, zydeco music
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Red Clay Ramblers’ It Ain’t Right
The Red Clay Ramblers have been playing what’s now known as “new old-time” music since the early 1970s, and it’s entirely possible that they invented the genre, or at least played a part in its birth. They’ve put out more … Continue reading
Cats Laughing’s Bootleg Issue and Another Way to Travel
The Estate Library may be the only place where you can go to read William Shakespeare’s The Trapping of the Mouse or Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Worm of Midnight” while listening to the music of Gossamer Axe or Snori Snoriscousin and His Brass Idiots. The … Continue reading
Posted in Music
Tagged Adam Stemple, blues, Cats Laughing, Emma Bull, Lojo Russo, Robin Anders, rock and roll, Steven Brust
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Allen Lowe’s American Pop from Minstrel to Mojo: On Record 1893 to 1957
Brendan Foreman penned this review. Reading Allen Lowe’s book American Pop from Minstrel to Mojo: On Record 1893 to 1957, I found myself agreeing with the late Tupac Shakur’s vision of the afterlife. Heaven would simply be a large night club filled … Continue reading
Posted in Music
Tagged American pop music, American popular music, blues, jazz, Ragtime
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Welsh Music: Ar Log’s Goreuon Ar Log, Meic Stevens’s Icarws and Steve Eaves’ Moelyci
The more I am exposed to the various traditions of the world’s art and music, the more I credit Joseph W. Campbell’s observations, from The Flight of the Wild Gander, on the processes of folklore: in spite of the urge to … Continue reading
Posted in Music
Tagged blues, Wales, Welsh music
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Christos Govetas: Pasatempo: Rebetika with Christos Govetas
“Greek blues.” Yes, and no. While several commentators have typified rebetika that way, I don’t think that really gives a clear idea of what this music is like. Rebetika (sometimes known as “rembetika“) is a style of music that came … Continue reading
Posted in Music
Tagged blues, world music
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Taj Mahal’s Taj Mahal: Autobiography of a Bluesman
Born in New York, Henry Saint Clair Fredericks has been known as Taj Mahal for most of his sixty years. The original Taj Mahal is an icon of beauty and remembrance representing love and amazing craftsmanship which stands outside of … Continue reading
Posted in Books
Tagged blues, folk music, rock and roll, Taj Mahal
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Down From The Mountain / Grateful Dawg
When I received a DVD player for my 50th birthday last August, my two sons had visions of using it to watch crystal clear wide-screen versions of Jackie Chan and Jean-Claude van Damme movies. Not when I’m around! Well, once … Continue reading
Posted in Music
Tagged blues, folk music, gospel music
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