Tag Archives: folk music

Allison de Groot & Tatiana Hargreaves’ Hurricane Clarice

The coronavirus pandemic of the early ’20s has played a huge role in all kinds of arts and entertainment, which I’m sure scholars will be studying for decades to come. One thing I’ve noticed is that every musician or musical … Continue reading

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Shane Parish’s Liverpool

What do you think of when you hear the term “sea shanties?” A bunch of guys singing rhythmic songs unaccompanied or with one concertina or fiddle? Or maybe even Rogue’s Gallery, the late great Hal Willner’s superb four disc collection … Continue reading

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An omnibus review of music guides, Rough and otherwise, to folk, world, and opera

Neal Walters and Brian Mansfield’s musicHound Folk Adam McGovern, editor’s musicHound World Simon Broughton’s The Rough Guide to World Music, Volume One Simon Broughton’s The Rough Guide to World Music, Volume Two John Guinn and Les Stone’s The St. James … Continue reading

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Jimmy Hutchinson’s Corachree and Gary Greene’s The Grand Imagineer

At one of my local folk clubs the other week, the compere said if he were asked to epitomise ‘traditional folk music’ he would have to choose one of the many singers like Jimmy Hutchinson. I think maybe he was … Continue reading

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Garth Cartwright’s Princes Amongst Men

Gypsies and music go together. Not just in popular imagination, but in fact. From the Gypsy jazz of Django Reinhardt to the wailing trumpets of the brass orkestar, from Andalusia’s Flamenco guitarists to the profound and joyful singing of Esma … Continue reading

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Vigüela’s A la manera artesana

The Spanish folk quintet Vigüela call their new album A la manera artesana or “In the artisan way.” In the album’s liner notes by the great folk music champion Simon Broughton, he explains it this way: “The title of their … Continue reading

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Doran’s Doran

Doran is the sound of four young musicians engaged in the serious business of playing with sound. These four, who hail variously from the Pacific Northwest, New York City, and rural Virginia, have made one of the most spine-tingling and … Continue reading

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Laurel Premo’s Golden Loam

Solo guitar albums can be daunting to listen to and even moreso to review. Especially if you’re not a guitar player yourself and don’t have the knowledge to pick out what’s unique about the guitarist’s style, or the vocabulary to … Continue reading

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Gordon Lightfoot’s Don Quixote

Gordon Lightfoot and I go back quite a ways. Though he cut his first album in 1966 and quickly became the top folk singer in Canada, his first hit in the U.S. was the single “If You Could Read My … Continue reading

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The Deep Dark Woods’ Changing Faces

Ryan Boldt, who performs deep, dark, tradition-based indie folk music under the name The Deep Dark Woods, grew up surrounded by the prairie landscapes of Canada’s Saskatchewan province. Since his most recent album, 2017’s Juno nominated Yarrow, he’s relocated to … Continue reading

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