Sid Selvidge,1943-2013
Sid Selvidge, a Memphis-based singer, guitarist and cultural treasure, and an ardent champion of blues and roots music, who helped launch and served as executive producer of the internationally syndicated Beale Street Caravan radio program, died May 2 at Methodist University Hospital. He was 69 and had been battling cancer.
[To read the full article, including reflections from singer-songwriter Amy Speace, who toured with Selvidge in 2010, click on the headline.]
Remembering Richie Havens, 1941-2013
I wasn’t at Max Yasgur’s Farm in 1969 when Richie Havens impressed throngs of people at the Woodstock festival. I was just a youngster then. But I did get to hear him up close and personal in the late 1970s at my alma mater, Huntington High School, in Huntington, New York. He was performing in the auditorium, along with Harry Chapin, at one of the late singer-songwriter’s many benefit concerts. Richie joined his fellow Brooklyn NY-born folksinger in heaven or wherever kindhearted gentle souls go, on April 22, after suffering a heart attack at home in Jersey City, New Jersey. He was 72.
[To read the full article, click on the headline.]
Grassy Hill Kerrville New Folk Finalists Named
Thirty-two songwriters have been named as finalists in the 2013 Grassy Hill Kerrville New Folk Competition for Emerging Songwriters. Chosen from among more than 700 submissions from throughout the U.S. and Canada, the finalists will perform the two songs they submitted during the New Folk Concerts slated for Saturday and Sunday afternoons, May 25 and 26, as part of the Kerrville Folk Festival.
[To read the full article, click on the headline.]
Winners Named in 55th Grammy Awards
Mumford & Sons received the coveted award for Album of the Year for its sophomore release, Babel, during the 55th Annual Grammy Awards on Feb. 10, 2013. The live televised broadcast from the Staples Center in Los Angeles featured performances by the rootsy British indie folk-rock band and acoustic folk-rockers The Lumineers, among others. Most of the winners in more than 75 categories were announced during ceremonies held earlier in the day.
[To read an article that includes a listing of winners in the American Roots Music Field and select other categories, click on the headline.]
Top Folk Albums of 2012 (FOLKDJ-L)
Little Blue Egg by Dave Carter and Tracy Grammer was reportedly the most-played album on folk radio during 2012, according to charts compiled by Richard Gillmann from radio playlists submitted to FOLKDJ-L, an electronic discussion group for DJs and others interested in all folk-based music on the radio. Little Blue Egg also features the year's most-played song, "Way Over Yonder in the Minor Key."
[To view the Top Folk Albums of 2012 chart, click on the headline.]
Frank Christian, Singer-Songwriter and Guitarist, 1952-2012
Frank Christian, a gifted New York City-based guitarist and singer-songwriter, best known for his song “Three Flights Up” that appeared on Nanci Griffith’s Grammy Award-winning Other Voices, Other Rooms album, died December 24. He was 60.
[To read the full article and see a video clip, ciick on the headline.]
Nominees Named for 55th Annual Grammy Awards
Nominees in more than 75 categories have been named for the 55th Annual Grammy Awards, to be broadcast live on CBS television stations from the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California on Sunday, Feb. 10, 2013. Mumford & Sons was among the top nominees with nods for Album of the Year, Best Americana Album and Best Rock Performance.
[To view the full article, including a list of nominees in the Roots Music Field, click on the headline.]
Chris Thile Awarded MacArthur Foundation Genius Grant
Chris Thile, 31, a multi-instrumentalist and composer best known for his role as virtuosic mandolinist and singer for the Grammy Award-winning progressive acoustic trio Nickel Creek and currently with the Punch Brothers, has been awarded a “Genius” grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. As a MacArthur Foundation Fellow, he will receive an unrestricted award of $500,000 over the next five years.
[To read the full article, click on the headline.]
International Bluegrass Music Awards Presented for 2012
The Gibson Brothers, winners of last year’s Vocal Group of the Year and Album of the Year awards, were named Entertainer of the Year during this year’s 23rd Annual International Bluegrass Music Awards show on Thursday night, Sept. 27, at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee. This ended a three year winning streak by Steve Martin & The Steep Canyon Rangers that had been preceded by another three-year streak by the popular duo Dailey & Vincent..
[To read the full article and learn of all the other winners and honorees, click on the headline].
Americanafest Draws Record Attendance
This year’s Americana Music Festival and Conference (Americanafest), which took place Sept. 12-16 in Nashville, TN, was the most successful one in its 13-year history – drawing record attendance and registrations, according tot the Americana Music Association.
The five-day celebration of American Roots-inspired music, featuring plenty of learning and networking opportunities, as well as a wide array of music showcases by up-and-coming and veteran artists, drew more than15,000 fans, 300 performing artists and more than 1,100 music industry professionals, according to the association.
[To read the full article and learn who the recipients of this year's Americana Honors and Awards are, click on the headline.]
Banjo Symposium at UNC-Chapel Hill, Aug. 25
“The Banjo: Southern Roots, American Branches” will be explored during s series of free lectures and panel discussions presented by The Southern Folklife Collection at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Library on Saturday, Aug. 25, 2012. The symposium, extending from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., will be followed in the evening with a 7:30 p.m. concert showcasing the banjo at the campus’ Memorial Hall featuring Tony Trischka, Riley Baugus with Kirk Sutphin, and Don Flemons of the Carolina Chocolate Drops.
[To read the full article, click on the headline.]
National Folk Festival on Hiatus in 2012
The National Council for the Traditional Arts, a Maryland-based nonprofit organization dedicated to the presentation and documentation of folk and traditional arts in the United States, which launched and has hosted annual multi-ethnic folk festivals since the 1930s, announced that the National Folk Festival will take a hiatus in 2012.
[To read the full article, click on the headline.]
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