Tag Archives: folk music

Fiddlers 4’s Fiddlers 4

The string quartet has been a popular instrumental ensemble for some 300 years now, and it’s easy to see why. It lends itself to many different kinds of music, and presents enough potential variety in arrangements to keep things interesting. … Continue reading

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Joan Baez, The Oregon Amphitheater, Albany, Oregon – August 17, 2002

Joan Baez’s voice has been her blessing and her curse, in a career that has now entered its fifth decade. Her crystalline, near-operatic soprano was startling in its purity and power through most of her career, but it also sometimes … Continue reading

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Toshi Reagon’s Toshi

Toshi Reagon‘s second record for Razor & Tie (she’s been recording since 1990 on a variety of labels) is a mix of blues, roots, folk and rock. Reagon, whose parents were both members of the 1960s’ protest supergroup The Freedom … Continue reading

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Roam’s Count the Stars

Judith Gennett wrote this review. Roam is an acoustic folk band from Yorkshire. They’ve released a later album called Songs of J.R.R. Tolkien, having on occasion performed dressed as elves and dwarves. Only one Tolkien song appears on Count the … Continue reading

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David Hajdu’s Positively 4th Street: The Lives and Times of Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Mimi Baez Fariña and Richard Fariña

Joan Baez and Bob Dylan were key figures in 20th century American popular music. Joan’s sister Mimi and Mimi’s husband Richard Fariña were lesser lights, but important figures in the folk and folk-rock scenes. David Hajdu’s book of “the lives … Continue reading

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Doc Watson’s Doc Watson at Gerdes Folk City

It’s hard to come up with enough superlatives for Doc Watson, one of the holy trinity of innovative and influential country guitar players, along with Merle Travis and Chet Atkins. But Watson is more than a guitar picker. He’s a … Continue reading

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Joan Baez’s Joan Baez, Joan Baez Vol. II and Noël

Joan Baez occupies a revered place in the rebirth of folk music in America in the second half of the 20th century. Now after many years when her early, most influential recordings were available only on various compilations, Vanguard has … Continue reading

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Beyond the Pale’s Routes

Beyond the Pale, formed in 1998 in Toronto, is a young quintet making lively klezmer-based music. The fact that they’ve played more than 200 gigs in their three years together has paid off in a top-notch debut recording. Routes is … Continue reading

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Maria Kalaniemi & Sven Ahlbäck’s Ilmajousi / Luftstråk

Two musical innovators, Finnish accordionist Maria Kalaniemi and Swedish fiddler Sven Ahlbäck, have pooled their considerable talents to produce a recording of subtle delights. The 36-year-old Kalaniemi, who has top billing here, has rapidly risen to the top ranks of … Continue reading

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Tim Eriksen’s Tim Eriksen

Spine, by Cordelia’s Dad, was one of my favorite discs of 2000, and it remains among my frequently played CDs. Tim Eriksen, the frontman of Cordelia’s Dad, presents a heartfelt solo debut with roots deep in American traditional music. The … Continue reading

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