Mac Wiseman- Songs From My Mother’s Hand review

My review of Mac Wiseman’s recent album, Songs From My Mother’s Hand, is linked through to the Lonesome Road Review right about HERE. Pretty special. As I grow older, the more I appreciate Wiseman’s understated approach to song interpretation; I still don’t enjoy the album he did with John Prine several years ago, but that’s…

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Roots Song of the Week: 2014 Polaris Music Prize Edition

[June 20- Since posting this piece on Thursday, the Long List has been announced.  While I have never seen more than three of my initial ballot choices make the Top 40 list, I don’t know if I’ve previously gone 0 for 5; likely, I have. I don’t get offended by this, but I do scratch my head.…

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Roots Song of the Week: Stephen Fearing & Andy White- Emigrant Song

Galaxie is one of the great music services offered in Canada. It is a streaming ‘radio’ service offered with some cable providers, and it is something I don’t take advantage of often enough. There is a large range of channels on offer, with my favourite naturally being Folk Roots. I’m not in the habit of promoting…

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Cahalen Morrison & Eli West- I’ll Swing My Hammer With Both My Hands review

This album has been out for more than three months, but I just got around to absorbing it during the past two weeks. Like their previous release, this one is pretty spectacular. It isn’t bluegrass certainly, but it should appeal to folks who enjoy bluegrass, old-time, folk, and acoustic Americana. As always, I appreciate you…

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James King- Three Chords and the Truth

My review of James King’s wonderful bluegrass album- like he could make any other kind!- Three Chords and the Truth– has been posted to the Fervor Coulee Bluegrass blog over at Country Standard Time. It is a good ‘un, and I hope I’ve made a persuasive argument for it to receive more than passing consideration…

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Three Jim Lauderdale reviews

Flipping through the CDs on the shelves the other morning, I wasn’t surprised to find seventeen Jim Lauderdale albums. Labeling the North Carolina-born, South Carolina-raised singer, songwriter, musician, and producer as prolific is to understate the prevalence of his musical progeny. Since 1991, and including three recently released albums, Lauderdale has created no fewer than…

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Kim Beggs- Beauty and Breaking review

Kim Beggs Beauty and Breaking http://www.kimbeggs.com/blog/whatsup.html Like Mary Chapin Carpenter’s Come On Come On and even more fittingly Lucinda Williams’ self-titled third album, there isn’t a single wrong turn taken on this marvelous album. Each song on Beauty and Breaking sparkles with sincerity: each character sketched, each moment captured, reveals textures of existence. The more…

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Roots Song of the Week: Kim Beggs- Not Only, Only From the Whiskey

The first time I heard the song “The Bug” (written by Mark Knopfler) must have been the first time I listened to Mary Chapin Carpenter’s best selling album, Come On,Come On. There are twelve songs on that album, and scanning the album this evening I can ‘hear’ each of the songs in my head. I played that…

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Roots Song of the Week- Falls of Richmond by Ken & Brad Kolodner

I hold no expert opinion about the hammered dulcimer and its role in old-time music. I am more familiar with the clawhammer-style of banjo playing, but I have listened to much, much more bluegrass “Scruggs” playing than I have the frailing method associated with old-time music. I do enjoy and appreciate old-time music- early Doc Watson recordings…

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Kat Danser- Baptized By the Mud review

Kat Danser Baptized by the Mud Self-Released; Distributed by Outside Music It would be nigh impossible to follow the Alberta roots music scene without having heard Kat Danser, a modern practitioner of the bluesiest of the southern tradition. She is a formidable presence on non-commercial radio throughout the area; Baptized By the Mud is Danser’s…

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