Alasdair Fotheringham

Classic Clips: Sarah Jarosz plays James McMurtry’s ‘Childish Things’, April 2021

April 28, 2023 Alasdair Fotheringham 2

The most abbreviated form of this accompanying text for Sarah Jarosz’ take on James McMurtry’s ‘Childish Things’ would be “this is an outstanding version of an outstanding song, so stop reading and start listening now”. But […]

Essentials: The Top 10 Rodney Crowell Songs

March 9, 2023 Alasdair Fotheringham 4

At first glance, a statement on an artist’s own website that, “as many say, your favourite song was probably written by Rodney Crowell” sounds a little exaggerated. But as a quiet giant of the americana scene […]

AUK’s Chain Gang: Paul Kelly “Meet Me in the Middle of the Air”

February 20, 2023 Alasdair Fotheringham 1

Listening to Mark Whitfield’s choice of Laura Cantrell’s spellbinding ‘When The Roses Bloom Again’ for last week’s Chaingang, it’s hard not to think about the huge number of songs in Americana, like that one, which dig […]

Classic Americana Albums: Sarah Jarosz “Undercurrent”

December 7, 2022 Alasdair Fotheringham 0

There are plenty of reasons to describe ‘Undercurrent’ as a ‘Classic Americana Album’, but we might as well start with the official ones. In 2016, the album won two Grammys, one for ‘Best Folk Album’ and […]

Small Venue Heroes: The Josephines

October 18, 2022 Alasdair Fotheringham 2

To date, the biggest band to come out of the city of Bowling Green, Kentucky is almost certainly eclectic art rockers Cage The Elephant. But it’s also home to The Josephines, who describe themselves as a […]

Stamping on the passion: Why AI written PR is a bad thing for music

September 21, 2026 1

If a music writer opens ten press releases this month, they’ll spot something odd. They all sound like the same person wrote them. Not because the artists share a publicist, or because there’s a house style […]

Carla Gover and Friends “Williams Branch is Hard to Find”

September 21, 2026 0

A cycle of Appalachian folk songs from writer and activist Si Kahn, subtitled Songs for Strong Kentucky Women The subtitle for this album is “Si Kahn’s Songs for Strong Kentucky Women”. Si Kahn is one of […]

Ad for American Beauty album 5th December 1970

For the Sake of the Song: Grateful Dead “High Time”