Rick Bayles

I Write The Songs: Jimmy Webb

June 24, 2022 Rick Bayles 2

How could we have a series about songwriters and not include the outstanding Jimmy Webb! Of course, Webb’s songwriting isn’t focused on Americana, per se. He has written for a host of artists that have nothing […]

AUK’s Top 10 Americana Albums of the 21st Century: Rick Bayles

June 23, 2022 Rick Bayles 0

Looking back over some of the other articles in this series it’s a little reassuring to see that many of my fellow AUK scribes have struggled a bit with this one. As several have noted, choosing […]

Book Review – Michael Goldberg “Wicked Game: The True Story of Guitarist James Calvin Wilsey”

June 22, 2022 Rick Bayles 1

Way back, in the October of 2020, I set out to write an article, for our ‘Unsung Heroes of Americana’ series, on the guitarist James Calvin Wilsey. I sincerely wish this book had been around then; […]

AUK’s Chain Gang: Mary Gauthier “I Drink”

June 20, 2022 Rick Bayles 0

Following Paul Gibson’s excellent choice last week, of Lincoln Le Fevre’s ‘Hope & Crown’, it seems only right that the next link in this chain is a song about drinking. So, I took a slow look […]

Classic Clips – The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and Friends ‘Will The Circle Be Unbroken’, from “The Making of Will The Circle Be Unbroken Vol. 2”

June 17, 2022 Rick Bayles 1

I am a long-time fan of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s ‘Will The Circle Be Unbroken’ project. For me, it’s the ground zero of americana music – the point at which country rock and traditional country […]