Rick Bayles

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 […]

The View From Across La Manche #5 – from our own correspondent

May 31, 2022 Rick Bayles 0

Travel, temperature and twang. As Europe slowly returns to some semblance of ‘normal’ I found myself on the move recently, travelling up to Germany to cover an international conference and interview some of the participants. Knowing […]

I Write The Songs: Gretchen Peters

May 27, 2022 Rick Bayles 0

After a string of songwriters who made their names in the early days of country and what we now consider to be Americana, I wanted to turn our attention to a songwriter who is still very […]

But is it Americana? – Fotheringay

May 9, 2022 Rick Bayles 3

Welcome to a new series of features in which some of our writers will try to justify an Americana tag on a band and/or album that wouldn’t, usually, be associated with this genre. This series has […]

I Write The Songs: Shel Silverstein

April 29, 2022 Rick Bayles 1

Sheldon Allan Silverstein was born in Chicago, Illinois, September 25, 1930, and would grow up to be something of a Renaissance Man. Writer, playwright, cartoonist, poet and songwriter, he was successful in all these fields, though […]