Time for another in our series looking at the routes our writers have taken into Americana and just what it is that makes it our favourite genre. This week we are warmed by Clint West’s pathological dislike of country music and how the poacher turned a gamekeeper. Continue reading ““What is this Americana thing anyway…?” – Clint West”
A week today it’ll be Christmas and you’ll open up that gift box of three different Lynx deodorants as you surreptitiously check to see what condition it’s in, in case you can regift it to someone else on Boxing Day. You could save yourself that deflated feeling by looking through our writers’ list of the albums which have meant the most to them over the last 12 months, and then just ask for them. You might be sweaty but at least you’ll have Nick Cave nestled under your arm. Without further ado, here’s part one of our top albums of 2019. Continue reading “Americana UK writers choose their albums of 2019 – part one”
The live music platform for concert recordings, nugs.net, will live stream The 5th Annual John Henry’s Friends Benefit tomorrow, which will be presented by Steve Earle and City Winery. The event takes place at The Town Hall in New York City, NY on Tuesday, December 17th, 2019 at 8pm ET in the US. Steve Earle & The Dukes will be headlining the event, accompanied by Jason Isbell and Amanda Shires, Josh Ritter, and The Mastersons. Which basically means staying up half the night if you’re in the UK but how big a Steve Earle fan are you? Continue reading “Stream the John Henry’s Friends webcast benefit including Earle and Isbell tomorrow”
The epically long-running live music series ‘Austin City Limits’ recently featured a tribute to the songs of the late Guy Clark, who of course died in 2016. The show was hosted by Steve Earle and featured his band the Dukes, with the hour-long episode including other Texan musicians such as Rodney Crowell and Joe Ely. The show starts off with a cover of Clark’s ‘Dublin Blues‘ which you can watch below – it won’t surprise you to hear that it’s absolutely cracking. No news yet as to whether PBS America will show the whole thing in the UK (there’s a great cover of Ricky Scaggs’ ‘Heartbroke’ by Earle with Crowell) but this will whet your appetite for now.
During 2019 Emmylou Harris, Jackson Browne and Steve Earle embarked on “The Lantern Tour” which raised money for the Women’s Refugee Commission in the US. They’ve now announced some new dates for the rest of 2019 and 2020 which will feature Harris, Browne and Earle again along with Patty Griffin, The Mastersons, Thao Nguyen, and David Pulkingham. Continue reading “Emmylou Harris, Steve Earle and Jackson Browne to tour another refugee benefit concert”
We leave you this holiday weekend dear readers with some great footage of Steve Earle who while in town to perform at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival at the end of last month, joined Preservation Hall Jazz Band for a late-night gig at the group’s own venue in the French Quarter for one of their annual Midnight Preserves shows. They collaborate on a version of the blues standard ‘T’Aint Nobody’s Business’ and boy what a collaboration. Have a good one.
One piece of received wisdom regarding SXSW, the sprawling music showcase held annually in Austin, is that it has become over-corporate and is no longer worth attending for an Americana fan. This I would refute strongly. It’s true that it was heading that way a few years ago, but the organisers have pulled back and taken the festival back to its roots as a showcase for new and established bands. The “big names” and overcrowding have stopped and the experience is just brilliant. I think that many AUK subscribers would be tempted to head to SXSW. I’m saying, if you can, then you should. Maybe a few details about how it all works will help you decide. Continue reading “SXSW 2019, Austin, Texas, 8th-16th March 2019”
RS Country have published a nice little interview with Steve Earle where he talks about the new Guy Clark tribute album he’s recorded with the Dukes due out the end of this week – we’ll have an AUK review any day now. He tells them: “It’s my fucking Guy Clark record, so I’ll do the ones that I was more personally connected to.” So there you go. Continue reading “Steve Earle talks to RS about new Guy Clark tribute album”
There’s no disputing the talent, energy and togetherness that this unique band bring to the table. You can argue over the genre – they call it ‘Acid Celtgrass’. What that means is open to interpretation, pigeonholing was never an AUK preference. What matters is that Luke Coffey and his gang of Irish reprobates sting the listener with razor- edged hoedowns not heard from the Emerald Isle since The Pogues last raised hell . Continue reading “Mules & Men “Thinking Sideways” (Independent, 2019)”
For the last few weeks, we’ve been covering the forthcoming Guy Clark covers album which Steve Earle and his Dukes will be releasing at the end of this month, and today we come to Clark’s 1988 album ‘Old Friends’, for which he enlisted a veritable feast of musician friends including Rosanne Cash, Vince Gill, Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell. The latter two appear on Earle’s new version of the album’s title track, which RS describes as “a solemn prayer, with Harris harmonizing with Earle on the opening verse… Crowell, Jerry Jeff Walker, Terry Allen and Jo Harvey Allen also join in here, offering various spoken-word lines that underscore the timeless camaraderie of the songwriters.” ‘Guy’ is out March 29th.
