Folk

Country Album Review: Tennessee Ernie Ford’s “Classic Trio Albums” — The Voice Alone

December 20, 2021
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What makes these two albums stand apart? They are content to showcase the elemental power of Tennessee Ernie Ford’s voice.

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Concert Review: Billy Strings — “A Big Ball in Boston”

November 18, 2021
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Once again, Billy Strings pulled an exhilarating assemblage of musical influences under a big tent.

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Book Review: To Compromise With the Mystery Tramp — A Vocal Dissection of Bob Dylan

November 2, 2021
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The book’s main contention is clearly correct: Dylan’s lyrics aren’t everything, and his vocal delivery is eminently important. But, according to Larry Starr, every period is a golden one, and the most minor effort deserves major respect.

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For the Love of the Cover: Nanci Griffith and Keeping Folk Songs Alive, at Passim

September 30, 2021
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The talent at Club Passim’s Nanci Griffith night represented at least two generations: it was a nice, low-key salute to the singer/songwriter, who played the venue often in the mid-’80s.

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Country Album Review: Billy Strings’s “Renewal” — Bluegrass’s Brightest New Star

September 24, 2021
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This is an amazing follow-up to Billy Strings’s Grammy-winning Home album.

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Concert Review: Newport Folk Festival 2021 — A Very Nontraditional Year

July 30, 2021
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Folk On both exceeded and tempered expectations.

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Arts Reconsideration: The 1971 Project — Celebrating a Great Year in Music (July Entry)

July 16, 2021
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Arts Fuse writers continue their countdown of great music celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, and this month’s list includes Little Feat, Jonathan Edwards, Hot Tuna, The Red Detachment of Women, and Jimmy Witherspoon & Eric Burdon.

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Book Interview: Bill Nowlin on the Little Label That Could — Fifty Years at Rounder Records

May 17, 2021
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For local music enthusiasts of all stripes, the hometown label was a point of pride; for musicians and fans the world over, Rounder was the go-to source for music you couldn’t readily find elsewhere.

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Music Review: The Harry Smith B-Sides: Precursor to The Harry Smith C(ensored)-Sides?

October 31, 2020
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The Atlanta-based label Dust-to-Digital would like to show us the flip side of The Anthology of American Folk Music, but they don’t like what they hear.

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Concert Review: Farm Aid 2020 — The Promise of the Real

September 29, 2020
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When Willie dove into “On the Road Again” to close the set, singing of “making music with my friends,” one could envision the same hopes for Farm Aid to resume its annual trek to an amphitheater somewhere in America and stoke the communal cause.

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