Tag Archives: folk music

Jake Xerxes Fussell’s Out of Sight

Jake Xerxes Fussell’s previous recording What in the Natural World was one of my favorites of 2017, and on Out of Sight he has upped his game considerably. A native of the South and longtime student of its folk art … Continue reading

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Allison de Groot & Tatiana Hargreaves’ Allison de Groot & Tatiana Hargreaves

Allison de Groot and Tatiana Hargreaves are two up-and-coming young musicians on the old-time music scene in the U.S. and Canada, and they’ve teamed up for an utterly charming debut as a duo on clawhammer banjo and fiddle, respectively. De … Continue reading

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Various artists’ The Social Power of Music

One of my earliest memories, musical or otherwise, is of sitting on my bedroom floor listening to records on my own little portable record player. Among my favorites was a set of albums that collected well-known songs of various styles … Continue reading

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John Prine’s The Tree of Forgiveness

John Prine is the folk singer America deserves. And needs. Since his debut self-titled album in 1971 he has been ministering to our malaise with his unique blend of humor, pathos, comedy, tragedy and tragicomedy that perfectly reflects and refracts … Continue reading

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Aallotar’s Ameriikan Laulu

To me, the sound of a fiddle and accordion together is exemplary of folk dance music. So many European-based cultures have dance music traditions that feature these two instruments, from the Roma, Italians and French, to the English, Irish and … Continue reading

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Dana Sipos’ Trick of the Light

If like me you appreciate deeply rooted folk music that’s recorded with the sort of post-modern studio wizardry that enhances that music’s moods and meanings, then you owe it to yourself to check out Dana Sipos’ Trick of the Light. … Continue reading

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Beatrice Deer’s My All To You

Beatrice Deer is a singer-songwriter from Nunavik, the icy region of Quebec north of the 55th parallel and home to Quebec’s Inuit people. My All to You is her fifth record since she left her tiny hometown of Quaqtaq for … Continue reading

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Oslo Kammerkor’s Kyst, Kust, Coast; Voces Nordicae’s Nordic Voices

The Olso Kammerkor, based in the Uranienborg Church in Oslo, is an internationally known chorus with an extraordinarily wide repertoire, ranging from Gregorian chant to jazz and folk music. The group has been most widely recognized for its translations of … Continue reading

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Anna & Elizabeth’s The Invisible Comes To Us

Anna & Elizabeth quickly became one of my favorite roots music acts with their self-titled sophomore release in 2015. They gave some hint about the direction they were taking their love of traditional ballads with a vinyl single they released … Continue reading

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Odetta At The Gate of Horn

Albert Grossman, who among other things managed Bob Gibson and a number of other prominent folk artists, opened The Gate of Horn in Chicago in 1956. It became quite arguably the performance venue for the burgeoning folk music scene in … Continue reading

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