As with many of our more folk-oriented Covered In Folk subjects, I discovered the work of Dougie MacLean through two primary sources: through my father, who handed me one of his albums over a decade ago, and through label-watching, after discovering the same poignant song twice over, in separate female voices, and realizing that neither of them had written it. The song in question is Caledonia , the Latin name for Scotland, and as its matronymic title implies, though it treats its subject as an anthropomorphised object of desire, its lyrics truly [...]
They ran the last trucks through Paradise Lake Road last night, their claws clutching desperately at the piles of brush and branches which have covered the curbsides and yards since the month began. The high school seniors who worked so tirelessly to bring hope and helping hands to shellshocked neighborhoods the morning after their graduation did not happen begin to move on, visiting colleges, taking off for the summer. The church with the fallen clocktower posts daily on our facebook page, its requests sounding evermore desperate as it struggles to find enough volunteers to keep the momentum going. [...]
I speak of two Mays on this warm, sunny Spring afternoon: of the request, and of the calendar. Yet the two terms are related, in their way. For Spring is a metaphor of rebirth, and "mother may I" is a sort of rebirth, too: of the moment, of the allowance to move forward, of the soul. Appropriate, I think. This past year, I've given myself permission to act again, treading the boards for the first time since a failure to learn my lines in time caused my high school director to [...]
This Saturday, January 9th, is gearing up to be the most frustrating night in recent local folk music history, thanks to a huge convergence of talent in the Boston area. I've got third row tickets to see Greg Brown at Sanders Theater - a great place to see a folkfan's favorite wry basso and sensitive songwriter, who once told me a hilarious anecdote about being asked to sign a woman's breast, "and I had to hold it down with my other hand, it was so jiggly" - so I'm not really disappointed [...]
I've spent the whole weekend writing a sermon about the Unitarian Universalist hymnbook for this weekend's lay service at our church. Now I've got hymnal on the brain, and the thought of switching over to folk music makes my head hurt. Which would be a problem, if it were not for the fact that the modern Unitarian Universalist hymnal is about as folk-oriented as a hymnbook gets. It wasn't always that way. The UU hymnal has gone through several incarnations since the first one was published in 1937. [...]
I discovered John Martyn slowly, through coverage, and unless you're an older folkie you may have too. Though he was better known across the pond, and his star shone its brightest in the sixties and seventies, his song May You Never , in particular, become especially familiar in the folk/blues world after Clapton covered it on his seminal 1977 release Slowhand; since then, Martyn had lived life as a songwriter's songwriter, still touring to smaller and older audiences as his songs traveled on without him in the hands of a diverse set of artists , from [...]
I happened on this song and singer while I was searching the net. I hadn't ever heard him before and knew nothing about him. Some of you are probably wondering how I missed him. To you I say: share! Give me suggestions about the ones I'm missing. For those of us to whom he is new, this is what I found about this ablum and song. "On Nectar, Brooks Williams continues to push the boundaries of his contemporary folk, incorporating elements of rock and electric blues into much of the album. He also refrains from any virtuoso performances, [...]
Thanks, America. I really needed some hope , and I know I wasn't alone. Some relevant reposts: Ben Sollee: A Change is Gonna Come (orig. Sam Cooke) (web release via multiple blogs, 2008; more Ben here ) James Taylor: A Change Is Gonna Come (ibid.) (performed on The West Wing, 2004; subsequent internet release; more JT here ) Jim Henry and Brooks [...]
Thanks, America. I really needed some hope , and I know I wasn't alone. Some relevant reposts: Ben Sollee: A Change is Gonna Come (orig. Sam Cooke) (web release via multiple blogs, 2008; more Ben here ) James Taylor: A Change Is Gonna Come (ibid.) (performed on The West Wing, 2004; subsequent web release; more JT here ) Eva Cassidy: People Get [...]
Kat Eggleston If for some reason your Saturday plans call for taking in an acoustic indoors performance in Dallas rather than enduring 14 hours of metal, August heat and Frisco , you might need to read this. The Brooks Williams and Kat Eggleston show has changed its venue—and price. The show was originally scheduled to go down at Bend Studio , but has been moved to Uncle Calvin's Coffeehouse , according to Uncle Calvin's booking agent Michael Terry. "Evidently the Fire [...]
Most people think of modern folk music as inherently coupled with the singer-songwriter movement. And it is true that, once upon a time, those who would grow up to become the folk troubadors of their own tomorrows learned their songs the traditional way, at the knees of their elders, that they, too, might pass old songs on to a new generation, and tell their own stories in familiar forms. But the primary instruments of folk music turn out to be more versatile than the folk tradition would suggest. And though many modern [...]
It is my honor to share a birthday with a seminal hip hop balladeer, a grunge god, the hands-down master of New Orleans R&B songwriting, and the best soundtrack and pop-americana producer in the business. Since it was too hard to pick just one, instead of focusing on a single artist or genre today, I'm featuring some of my absolutely favorite covers of the work of LL Cool J, Dave Grohl, Allen Toussaint, and T-Bone Burnett, all of whom were born on January 14. If I didn't have an outlet for celebrating these [...]
I listen to Brooks Williams as if he were two accomplished artists: the instrumentalist and the more traditional singer-songwriter. This makes me an unusual listener –- because while his instrumental wizardry is rightly celebrated, for a surprisingly significant portion of his career, Williams has been hailed by most as a folk guitarist who happens to sing once in a while. Even his own website reinforces this perception of Williams as a guitarist first, defining him as a singer-songwriter but front-loading his bio with quotes about his virtuosity as a guitarist, mentions [...]
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