Recent events in Alabama would have Margaret Atwood spinning in her grave if she was dead. Still, good to have resistance from the americana community. RS reports: “John Prine and Margo Price have joined the chorus of voices coming out in opposition of Alabama’s abortion ban, which was signed into law by Governor Kay Ivey on Wednesday. Continue reading “John Prine and Margo Price fight Alabama abortion ban”
Some of us are Steve Forbert fans round these parts – we recently ran one of our AmericanA to Zs on him and awarded his most recent record an 8 out of 10 of which we said: “Throughout the album his folk roots shine clear, as does his songwriting ability honed over his forty years in the music industry.” 40 years. Have a look if you don’t believe us – he looked like Leo Sayer back in 1979. Anyway Forbert is playing just two UK shows this year, in Reading on June 1st and London on June 2nd. Here are those dates (again). Continue reading “Steve Forbert plays 2 UK dates in June”
So this happened last night although they didn’t send us a press release so we’re reporting this via Rolling Stone. We do by the way love the Milk Carton Kids – don’t forget to catch them in the UK in a couple of weeks’ time: “Nominees for the 2019 Americana Honors & Awards were announced Tuesday afternoon, with multiple women being recognized in the top categories. The Milk Carton Kids (and, later, Mavis Staples) read the names of the nominees during a rehearsal for the “Mavis & Friends: Celebrating 80 Years of Mavis Staples” concert set for Wednesday in Nashville. Continue reading “2019 Americana Honor and Awards Nominees are announced”
The Rotterdam Bluegrass Festival is being held this year at the historic Pijnackerplein in Rotterdam-Noord. With 14,000 visitors in 2018, the three-day music festival is the biggest bluegrass festival in Europe and features an international line-up with both traditional and new bluegrass music, and the best thing is that it’s free. You just need to get over to Rotterdam of course. Continue reading “Rotterdam Bluegrass Festival returns next month”
The lovelier than roses singer-songwriter Sam Outlaw released brand new music the day he took to the Grand Ole Opry stage for the first time, in his new hometown of Music City. His EP ‘Hat Acts’ is “inspired by honky tonk scenes, hip-hop skits and of course – real life”, and features three brand new songs ‘Cigarette’, ‘Shake A Heartache’ (described by Rolling Stone as “a 100-proof shot of adrenaline and attitude”) and ‘Humility’. Continue reading “Sam Outlaw announces new EP, UK dates”
Curtis Eller describes himself as a banjo player, songwriter and rock & roll singer, and you can see that trilogy of talents come together at a show near you from the end of this month when he arrives in the UK for dates around the country with his band. A twenty-year show business veteran, Eller and The American Circus have developed an international following based on their highly physical stage performances and a catalogue of curious recordings. Continue reading “Curtis Eller brings his American Circus to the UK”
On the thirtieth anniversary of what was their break out album, ‘Starfish’, the Australian band who surfed the waves of neo-psychedelia and dream like pop anthems return to UK shores to perform the album in its entirety. ‘Starfish’ was their entry into the US charts and for a while the band seemed poised for huge success but, as always, internal disputes and record company shenanigans got in the way. For many it remains their favourite album from The Church and an appearance of the song, ‘Under The Milky Way’, in the movie ‘Donnie Darko’ gave it a new lease of life. Now the band are poised to revive the album at three live shows in London, Manchester and Edinburgh where they will perform it along with other songs from their celebrated back catalogue. Continue reading “The Church announce a trio of shows celebrating 30 years of their album, Starfish”
Leaving you this week dear readers with this – Well, it probably isn’t Dylan himself doing it, he probably has a PR person or two who sends this sort of information out to the huddled masses of Dylanphiles, Bob Cats and general Americana muso’s. Or, maybe it is Dylan, in a quiet moment between concerts on the Never Ending Tour. That isn’t actually important right now.
If you’re looking at the weather forecast for this bank holiday weekend and wishing you were somewhere you could enjoy some great music while not needing to own a jumper in the next few weeks, God with a capital G has smiled down on you. Summer Pie is a small format festival organized by the cultural association PecancPie música i cultura who have planned two nights of folk-rock, americana and power-pop (always a great combination in our eyes). The concerts take place in the emblematic open-air patio of the Museum of Modern Arts of Palma de Mallorca, Es Baluard. Continue reading “Americana comes to Mallorca with Summer Pie!”
Rejoice! Bill Callahan’s late-phase hot streak continues with the announcement of his first record since 2013, ‘Shepherd in a Sheepskin Vest.’ After its predecessor ‘Dream River’, Callahan’s life went through some changes including marriage and children, but described the situation where afterwards it was harder for him to find the place where the songs came, to make him and these new experiences over again into something to sing. Continue reading “New Bill Callahan album due June – UK dates too”
