the UK home for americana music
One of the hottest, but still most satisfying, days spent by Americana UK last summer was at the inaugural Over the Hill festival in Witney, Oxfordshire, so it’s gratifying to see the festival mark II return for the August Bank Holiday this year. And the first three acts announced for the festival are likely to be of particular interest to readers of AUK. Continue reading “Three acts announced for Over the Hill festival this August Bank Holiday”
Gritty Mississippi Delta songbird Bronwynne Brent is returning to the UK next month to perform material from past releases as well as a brand new album ‘Undercover’ over the course of an extensive three-week long tour. Brent has twice carried off the Best Female Performer title in our annual Reader’s Poll here at AUK and various BBC radio presenters continue to champion her where the singer, who has been compared to Billie Holiday, Peggy Lee and Amy Winehouse, previously recorded a studio session with Whispering Bob Harris who described her as “really special” (in the nice sense of that word). Continue reading “Bronwynne Brent heads to UK for dates next month”
Red Rooster Festival in Euston Hall, Suffolk has announced its second wave of acts, including a UK festival exclusive from Asleep At The Wheel who celebrate their 50th Anniversary. The festival is also set to include special performances by Chuck Prophet & The Mission Express, Jim Lauderdale – who is a 2-time Grammy winning Americana icon – Reverend John Wilkins, CC Adcock & The Lafayette Marquis, Tommy McLain, Jontavious Willis, Izo Fitzroy w/ Soul Sanctuary Gospel Choir, and The Vagaband Youth Orchestra. Continue reading “Red Rooster Festival announces second wave of acts”
Nicole Atkins returns with a new album ‘Italian Ice‘ to be released on the 17th of April via Single Lock Records. The title references her Asbury Park days, where the titular treat was available on the boardwalks, it’s also her alter-ego when shooting craps. Nicole Atkins describes the new album as “an acid trip through my record collection“, and as such it encompasses a range of sounds. Continue reading “Nicole Atkins records with “weirdest, craziest band ever””
Genre-crossing, Madrid-based Irish-English-American quartet, Track Dogs, have announced tour dates starting this Friday through to February 29th, in support of their acclaimed new album, ‘Fire On The Rails’.
Continue reading “Track Dogs kick off tour in support of new album ‘Fire on the Rails’”
There are lots of other things he loves to do as well – rolling cigarettes for example, or falling off logs. Now, he knows that sounds crazy – and who are we to disagree – but there’s a reason behind all these confessions of strange behaviour. They are all things that he believes are as easy “as falling in love with you“, as James Taylor recounts on his new recording of the song ‘As Easy as Rolling Off a Log‘. Continue reading “James Taylor announces that he loves to cuddle”
Four time Grammy Award winner Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit have announced their triumphant return with a new album ‘Reunions’ due out May 15th on Thirty Tigers and a European tour at the end of this year. The first track from the new record comes in the shape of melody-packed, anthemic new single ‘Be Afraid’ which you can listen to below. Continue reading “Jason Isbell and 400 Unit announce new album “Reunions” and UK dates”
Black Deer Festival’s line up for 2020 is already looking good, having as they do Wilco, The Waterboys, The Dead South, Courtney Marie Andrews and The Felice Brothers all playing over the course of the weekend, and they’ve just announced some additions including Shooter Jennings, Imelda May, Wildwood Kin, Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real, Jade Bird and Saving Grace (featuring Robert Plant and Suzi Dian). Oh and the Goat Ropers who were sensationally on form at the AMAUK showcases last month. Continue reading “Black Deer add Robert Plant’s band to their line up”
With the tickets for this year’s Cambridge Folk Festival having gone on sale on the 10th of December last year it’s too late to say “this seems to come around earlier every year”. And anyway, who wouldn’t want to know who the first major artists confirmed for this prestigious and long-running festival are? Continue reading “Cambridge Folk Festival announce first artists”
We leave you oh dear reader this weekend with news that just in time for the US primary season, Waco Brothers are releasing a collection of their songs about resistance and protest on February 28th, entitled ‘RESIST!’ The Chicago-based/UK-born country punks have been politically outspoken throughout their career and the new release brings together their most inspiring and rabble-rousing tracks – many of them from out-of-print albums, all of them never before released on vinyl before in the U.S. Continue reading “Wacos release new protest album “Resist!””