
Like so many of our Covered in Folk feature subjects, I discovered country-folk singer-songwriter John Prine via coverage - through both his own "original" version of Roly Salley composition Killing the Blues , which Shawn Colvin attributed to Prine himself on her mid-nineties cover album Cover Girl , and Bonnie Raitt's ubiquitous version of Angel From Montgomery , a sentimental bluesfolk number familiar to anyone who has ever flipped the radio dial to a Contemporary station in the last few decades. It wasn't until much later, during a week in attendance at [...]
MUSIC NEWS - Nashville singer-songwriter, guitarist, producer, Buddy Miller suffered a heart attack in Baltimore, MD, on Friday, February 20. He was on tour with Emmylou Harris, Patty Griffin and Shawn Colvin as part ot the " 3 Girls And Their Buddy " tour. Mr Miller, 56, was taken to Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, and he underwent a successful triple-bypass heart surgery. Miller will be recovering in Baltimore for several weeks and unable to make the final February 20 thru 22 tour dates. His songs have been recorded by the Dixie Chicks, Lee Ann Womack, Brooks [...]

The Mercury Prize is a really odd contest. While at times it seems to pick legitimately interesting artists, there are other occasions where it seems to choose absolutely inexplicable winners. Like back in '94, when the completely forgettable M People won over both Blur AND Pulp! Or in '97, when Roni Size (who isn't bad actually, but I've never been a big d'n'b fan) somehow managed to beat not only Radiohead's OK Computer , but Beth Orton's Trailer Park , The Prodigy's Fat Of The Land and The Chemical Brothers' Dig Your Own Hole . [...]

Robert Plant & Alison Krauss - Raising Sand ( Rounder ) Soul enriching stuff, the type of album that you'd stay alive to hear again.