For five years running, our dear beloved Steve Earle has been gathering a group of world-class friends and performers for a one-night-only concert which raises money for The Keswell School, an educational program for children and young adults with autism. This year on December 13th, Earle’s 6th annual John Henry’s Friends benefit concert is going virtual, meaning that you have the opportunity to watch it from the UK for the first time, and crikey just look at this dream americana lineup – Steve Earle & The Dukes, Emmylou Harris, Graham Nash, Jackson Browne, Lucinda Williams, Jason Isbell & Amanda Shires and Josh Ritter to name but a few artists. Continue reading “Steve Earle and Emmylou Harris to play autism benefit next month”
The final flourish of the Americana Music Association UK (AMAUK) music festival is the Awards night, held in the luxurious surroundings of the Hackney Empire. Unsurprisingly the evening follows a fairly typical award ceremony format, a master of ceremonies, guest presenters to read out the nominees and the actual winner in categories such as “Best Song“, an acceptance speech and then, between awards, a musical spot featuring those nominated somewhere in the evening. This does mean that there’s plenty of music – it’d be a bit odd after all if there wasn’t – but everyone gets just the one song. The full list of award winners can be found 
Didn’t we just have a 3 disc Graham Nash retrospective? Well, no – sorry to be the bearer of bad tidings but the ‘Reflections‘ Box Set was nine years ago. True, this release adds only one new finished track to what’s available on ‘Reflections‘ – ‘Myself at Last‘ from the recent solo album ‘This Path Tonight‘, although completists will no doubt want the new mixes of ‘I used to be a King‘ and ‘Better Days‘. The fifteen studio finished tracks range from the earliest Crosby Stills & Nash days, through Nash solo albums and a couple of essential Crosby/Nash recordings. 
We leave you for the bank holiday weekend dear reader with news that Rhino is releasing a new retrospective of Graham Nash’s work on June 29th in advance of his UK tour dates in July. ‘Over The Years…’ features 30 tracks over a two-CD set and on digital download and streaming services. A 15 track, double-LP version featuring an etching on ‘Side Four’ will be released on August 31st. The anthology has been curated by Nash and longtime associate Joel Bernstein and includes extensive credits and liner notes. “It does my heart good to present my songs this way. I hope that listeners will enjoy hearing the demos of my songs – how my demos of ‘Our House,’ ‘Teach Your Children,’ and others turned into the records that have endured ‘Over The Years,’ how I started writing them, and how they became the now familiar recordings when they were released,” said Nash. 
The “I think we can call him legendary” Graham Nash has announced a series of dates over the summer in the UK, promising “performances of his many well-known songs along with anecdotes and tales from throughout his storied career”. He will be joined on stage by guitarist and vocalist Shane Fontayne, longtime collaborator and producer of his most recent album, ‘This Path Tonight’ and former CSN keyboardist and vocalist Todd Caldwell, and together, the trio will perform songs from his days in the Hollies, his years with Crosby, Stills & Nash (& Young) and from his solo recordings.