the UK home for americana music
At AUK we are on a quest to find the ‘Top 10 Americana Albums Ever’. Over the coming weeks and months each AUK writer will in turn, present their own personal selections. When each writer has had their say, a shortlist of the most frequently chosen albums will be drawn up and voted on, in order to generate the definitive AUK writers top ten. Continue reading “AUK’s top 10 Americana albums ever: Martin Johnson”
There was a time when the free CDs glued to the front of magazines were something other than a revenue stream for the publishers, and every so often a reminder of the glory days pops up. Back in September 1998 Uncut Magazine came with a CD called ‘Sounds of The New West‘. It was designed to accompany an article introducing New Country/Alt. Country/Americana to those scared of the word Country. What you got was a cracking compilation that should have sent you off to investigate the rest of the genre, whatever you wanted to call it. Now fully 19 years and change later we have volume five. The series of CDs makes for a good study in how tastes in Americana have shifted over the last couple of decades. Continue reading “Classic Americana Compilations – Sounds to remember”
There must be some residual ownership of the Flying Burritos name that prevents this band from dropping the “Tribute to” part of their billing – on the face of it this line-up has about as much right to be called by that illustrious name as any of the many line-ups that have been put together and taken out without a single original member. Gregg Harris, who heads up the band on guitar and fiddle and the majority of lead vocals, at least played in a version that included Sneaky Pete Kleinow, as well as sometime New Rider, sometime Byrd, Skip Battin. So there’s a real touchstone to the band. This tribute is fleshed out with a frequent collaborator of David Crosby, talented lead guitarist and pedal steel player Jeff Pevar (he’s also the P in CPR – Crosby-Pevar-Raymond) along with drummer Richard Newman and bass player Tony Morley who have connections into European touring line ups with Jefferson Starship and Live Dead ’69. Continue reading “Tribute to The Flying Burrito Brothers, The Stables, Wavendon, 18th January 2020”
Here we are again folks with another eagerly anticipated contribution to our semi-regular “What Is This…?” feature. This time around Martin Johnson reveals his (what we can only surmise are) hippy roots in the North East of England and the shocking fact that he is not, in fact, an ex-England rugby captain: Continue reading ““What Is This Americana Thing Anyway…?” – Martin Johnson”
Fifty years after their seminal debut album ‘The Gilded Palace of Sin’ was released in Spring 1969 The Flying Burrito Brothers shine out as Americana pioneers, their reputation based more on artistic reputation and credibility among their peers and successors, than commercial success. It was famously said of Velvet Underground’s output that ‘The Velvet Underground didn’t sell many records, but everyone who bought one went out and started a band’ ( variously attributed to Lou Reed or Eno), similarly the influence of The Flying Burrito Brothers on bands that followed cannot be overstated. Continue reading “AmericanA to Z – The Flying Burrito Brothers”
This week in our occasional series in which we ask the Americana UK staff writers and contributors to give us a handle on the what, whys and wherefores that got them into the genre, Tim Martin goes up before the beak to explain himself to the gathered hoard. Apparently he’s not a punk or a heavy metal drummer (at least not anymore if ever he was). Read on to find out exactly where he does stand… Continue reading “What Is This Americana Thing Anyway…?”