I'd been eagerly anticipating the August 10th Mountain Stage show for months, ever since I saw Vienna Teng and Carrie Rodriguez listed among the performers. My excitement grew even more when Crooked Still and The Rescues were added to the lineup. Though I enjoy discovering new artists at Mountain Stage, it seems my favorite concerts are those that feature artists I'm already familiar with - such as last year's Eleni, Sylvie, & Anaïs girlie fest, May's Paddy Casey & Bell X1 Irish boy extravaganza, and the more recent [...]
Hackensaw Boys in the Galaxy Barn I've started a Pickathon 2008 photo page. Feel free to download any of the pictures but please credit me and Pampelmoose. There are instructions on the page. Enjoy! More coming soon along with more video.
Pickathon 2008 - A Video Sampler from Dave Allen on Vimeo. A five minute sampler of sets from Langhorne Slim, Johnny Connolly, Crooked Still, Hackensaw Boys and Sean Hayes at Pickathon 2008.
Crooked Still's third album consists of mostly traditional tunes, with a few originals that follow the sound. Still Crooked takes the band's signature ethereal bluegrass vibe - as heard on their 2006 release Shaken By A Low Sound (which I thoroughly enjoyed, but seemed to have neglected reviewing) - and enriches it with a darker folk style, all still very much centered on singer Aoife O'Donovan's lovely voice. over yonder in the graveyard where the wild wildflowers grow oh there they laid my own [...]
A little while back I mentioned getting passes for the Green River Festival . At the time, the main reason I made plans to attend a show a few months in the future was the chance to see legendary soul musician Mavis Staples . After buying the tickets though, I checked out the complete line-up and recognized a few bands that I was interested in also seeing ( Lucinda Williams, Eilen Jewel, and Forro in the Dark ), and a few others that I was prompted to look into ( Gokh-Bi System [...]
Dan, in one of his comments, mentioned my regular readers will think I've donned dungarees and are wandering my property with a wisp of field growth sticking out of the side of my mouth. He was talking about my venturing farther a field, into bluegrass at times. He is right, but I have come to realize that folk music has the widest boundaries. Crooked Still is considered alternative bluegrass whatever the heck that means. This is from their second album, Shaken By a Low Sound. MP3 File
Did you know that Tom Petty was in a band before Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers made Gainesville famous? I mean, I assumed he had been in a number of bands while starting out, but I didn't think any were of much consequence. I guess perhaps had it not been for Tom inviting the original members of Mudcrutch up to his place for some reminiscing and recording he wouldn't have been...but he did, and it was. Now, I'm not gonna try and paint myself as some Petty maniac. I like 6 or 7 songs off each album but [...]
Beck Modern Guilt MP3: Chemtrails Tricky Knowle West Boy MP3: Past Mistake Black Kids Partie Traumatic MP3: Hurricane Jane Album of the week is Beck's Modern Guilt. Both progression and regression from Mr Hansen, as he builds on the success of Guero and The Information, yet strips away many of the superfluous gimmicks that littered his mid-90s albums. Full review later on in the [...]
Beck Modern Guilt MP3: Chemtrails Tricky Knowle West Boy MP3: Past Mistake Black Kids Partie Traumatic MP3: Hurricane Jane Album of the week is Beck's Modern Guilt . Both progression and regression from Mr Hansen, as he builds on the success of Guero and The Information , yet strips away many of the superfluous gimmicks that littered [...]
Dave Alvin: East Virginia Blues [ purchase ] Johnny Cash: East Virginia Blues [" purchase "] Crooked Still: Old Virginia [ purchase ] Three vastly different versions of this old public domain tune paint three very different approaches to folk music; taken together, the set provides a nice exploration of diversity in folksong, I think. Plus, Grateful [...]
Boston-based "alternative folk/bluegrass" band Crooked Still emerged at the edge of the newgrass movement just after the turn of the century, and much of their subsequent success is due to the talents of the group members and founders: banjo wizard Dr. Gregory Liszt, double bass man Corey DiMarino, and breathy, emotive singer Aoife O'Donovan. But if their star rose quickly, it was thanks in no small part to a then-novel approach to traditional song, one which placed master cellist and all-around oddball Rushad Eggleston's innovative, improvisational style and high-energy stringplay at the center of what [...]
This is a song to listen to while you're walking along the side of the road. The early afternoon sun is warm and softly yellow, and the long grasss brushes the fingertips of your outstretched hand. You're not looking for a ride, not really, but you probably wouldn't say no if one came along. When I First Came To This Country : Crooked Still
I've been writing so much about this new string band renaissance I think I'm just about out of words to describe the music on Still Crooked the new record from Crooked Still out on Signature Sounds out June 24. On the song "Pharoah" the band mines a slightly gothic, darker sound to accompany the ghostly vocals (and subject matter) of lead singer Aoife O'Donovan. Pre-order this record now here through Amazon. Pharoah Bonus Darling Corey
Hope no one minds an early "Sunday" post this week; my brother and his wife are on their way in from Brooklyn for the long weekend, and I don't get to see them as often as I'd like. I'll have a short post up for Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Monday, if I can; in the meantime, enjoy today's feature on "American Primitive" folkartist Gillian Welch and her partner David Rawlings, the tenth post in our popular Covered in Folk series, where we pay tribute to the songwriting talents of a single artist. [...]
Whether stripped-down so as not to overwhelm the authenticity of the song and singer, or jazzed up to resonate with modern musical sensibilities, it is the passage of familiar song, motif, and situation between audience and performer which makes the "folk" in folk music. Songs about trains are ultimately songs about longing; songs about the road resonate with those who wander and those who long for a change, though in different ways. Such songs play broadly to universal themes, the better to leave room for such connection. In collapsing the participant/observer gap, the songs have [...]
boston bluegrass experimentalists crooked still have this thing against drummers. they make too much noise; their gear takes up too much room in the van; they often end performances far more sweaty than they begin them; official concert videographers pay them undue attention; occasionally they have one arm: it's simply too much. down with institutionalized percussive hegemony! say they. and in its place, roaming loose and free over schemata of traditional music, let beats, legitimate beats (folk & string division), arise from this here double-bass, cello, banjo & fiddle deluxe combo platter, and in so doing [...]
Mandolin? No. Guitar? Sparingly on two tracks. Cello? You bet your arse.
Considering that the year is 2006 and not 1959, I feel like I've been inundated with honky- tonk country of late. One of the people partially to blame is Jim Lauderdale . Jim's pulling a Guns and Roses type thing by releasing two albums simultaneously. Also I finally caught up with the band South Austin Jug Band and also received Mike Stinson's Boronda Records disc Last Fool At The Bar as well as being given permission to write about (and link to an mp3) from Signature Sound's band Crooked [...]
News & Notes: While I know posts have been infrequent lately, it's not for a lack of trying. Despite irregularities, there has actually been a lot going on. Firstly, Womenfolk turned two on June 7, 2006. That's ancient in blog-years. So thank you to everyone who has supported the site with your comments and suggestions. Believe it or not, it helps keep Womenfolk alive. Last year during our first anniversary online, I featured a 'best of' batch of songs previously featured on Womenfolk during that year. This year, I'm taking things one step [...]
Muruch
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PopMatters
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Womenfolk
Madonna producer unloads of CD disaster
Diplo Blow Your Head 12 MOOMBAHTON 2k12 MIX
Madonna producer unloads on CD disaster
