There’s a theme to this month’s roundup, which will become apparent as it progresses – as usual, it’s unplanned, it just fell out that way. And, as is usual with these track roundups, there’s a fair variety of music on offer which aims to stretch the definition of folk as far as Stretch Armstrong’s arms would go without breaking.
We start with a new combo that is certainly going to put the orange figure of childhood ridicule at risk, as some might say that this folk group is solidly americana. Additionally, its lineup features a list of names that ensure that we have to refer to GECKØS as a Supergroup – it’s a trio of M. Ward, Howe Gelb and Mark McCausland. ‘Dance of the Gecko‘ is the first single from the eponymous album, which will be released on September 26th. Through the years, all three artists have collaborated individually and appeared on each other’s records on several occasions. But it wasn’t until they were all recently in Tucson for a mutual friend’s wedding that the stars aligned and Geckøs were born. Tasked with coming up with a piece of music for the first dance, McKowski settled on a waltz, and hitherto unplanned, Ward and Gelb joined, and thus a new band was formed.
A more unarguably folk sound is produced by DUG, the new duo of Californian multi-instrumentalist Johnny Pickett and Scottish-American songwriter Lorkin O’Reilly. They’ve released a single, ‘Livelong Day‘, in advance of an album entitled “Have At It!“, which will be released Friday, August 8th, on Claddagh Records (the home to the likes of Niamh Bury, Lemoncello, ØXN). DUG have said of the song: “Recorded onto tape and tracked live, ‘Livelong Day’ showcases a different side of DUG. Unlike other offerings, ‘Livelong Day’ is heavy, moody and even earthy. Lyrically, the song depicts a drunken dance in a faerie ring [Editorial Note: if you haven’t tried this, you should], the protagonist comes to his senses mid-way through being swung around the mulberry bush and tries convincing himself he’s gonna get out ok. This is a sort of play on the Irish folktale “The Legend of Knockgrafton”.
Continuing along our path of “is this folk?”, we bring you Amanda DeBoer Bartlett, who we admit could also be described as americana…or maybe folk-influenced singer-songwriter…see how all our genres in this corner of the music Venn Diagram are perpetually at risk of blurring into each other? Anyway, the sprightly ‘Quick Trips‘ is taken from her album “Braided Together“, and covers knotty problems with a bittersweet, road-worn reflection on gas station coffee, sleeping in strange cities, and raising babies in motion.
Brent Fuqua lives in Minneapolis, where he plays bluegrass-influenced music, but he hails from Kansas, which causes something of a cultural clash. It seems that Minnesotans are a little less direct in their speech whilst the good people of Kansas like to come straight to the point. In terms of today’s song, that’s a good thing as Brent Fuqua explained: “The idea for this song came from a friend of mine who would ask me for advice from time to time on different things. We often talked about the more direct way I spoke, being from Kansas City and not from Minnesota. One particular occasion, she asked me for advice on something and said, ‘Please don’t give me the Kansas City Stomp on this one.’ I decided that using that was a good way to pay homage to my old hometown.”
‘Kansas City Stomp‘ comes from Fuqua’s as yet untitled fourth studio album, scheduled to come out in October 2025.
We close out the new music part of this all-American edition for the Folk tracks Roundup with another musical legend. Darol Anger has a new album out, called “Diary of a Fiddler #2: The Empty Nest“. It features collaborations with many of those the fiddle player and educator has influenced or mentored. And the education side is certainly not to be sniffed at, Anger is Professor Emeritus at Berklee College Of Music, operates his innovative online fiddle school at Artistworks.com, and has taught at The Swannanoa Gathering, Rockygrass and Wintergrass Academies, Augusta Heritage, the Mark O’Connor, Alasdair Fraser, Julie Leiberman and Mike Block String Camps, Amherst College and Interlochen summer programs, and more.
“If it happens by chance to be the last thing I release, I believe I can consider my work on this Earth complete,” Anger says of the album.
And finally, the classic folk track and ok this is not such an old recording, but it sure is an old song. Given an extra fillip by the gilding filigree of knowing that JP Harris is a ‘House Carpenter‘. Think on the implications of that, friends, think on.
