"Stevie Coyle is arguably one of the funniest fingerstyle guitarists known to humankind," asserts Kathy Sands-Boehmer. She cites her recent interview with the San Francisco Bay Area-based artist -- who formerly played with the eclectic string band, The Waybacks, and prior to that was a member of the folk-tribute parody group, The Foremen -- as evidence of that. [To read Kathy's not-so-quick but pretty witty interview with Stevie Coyle, click on the headline.]
Performing Songwriter is ceasing publication after 16 years. The magazine’s June 2009 issue, sent to subscribers and newsstands this week, will be its final edition, Lydia Hutchinson, its editor and publisher, has announced. [To read the article in its entirety, click on the headline.]
Roots Music Report compiles weekly radio airplay charts for various roots-related genres. These are based on spin totals reported by music directors and DJs from more than 400 terrestrial and Internet radio stations. The latest Folk chart is posted here with permission. [To view the latest Folk radio airplay chart, click on the headline.]
The Recording Academy announced today that its trustees have voted to rename and expand the Folk Field in the Grammy Awards. Citing the increasing growth of traditional music, the Academy has split the category Best Contemporary Folk/Americana into two categories: Best Contemporary Folk Album and Best Americana Album. In addition, the Folk Field has been renamed American Roots Music. [To read the entire article, click on the headline.]
Connecticut’s Mystic Seaport hosts its 30th Annual Sea Music Festival, June 11-14, and WPKN Radio (WPKN 89.5 FM in Bridgeport, CT and WPKM 88.7 FM in Montauk, NY) will broadcast live from the event that annually draws more than 5,000 people to hear performers from maritime cultures around the world carry on classic musical traditions of the golden age of sail. [To read the entire article, click on the headline.]
AcousticMusicScene.com featured Abi Tapia in a late-night showcase during the 2008 Northeast Regional Folk Alliance (NERFA) Conference, and I was delighted to introduce her during her first Long Island concert appearance in May. A very talented Americana-style singer-songwriter with a beautiful voice, Tapia will perform at the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival in Hillsdale, New York in July as one of the emerging artists voted "Most Wanted to Return" by festival-goers last year. Kathy Sands-Boehmer posed a few questions to her recently.
[To read Kathy's short Q & A interview with Abi Tapia, click on the headline.]
Detailed listings for dozens of concerts, open mics, jam sessions and workshops slated for June in Brooklyn, Queens, Nassau and Suffolk appear in this installment of AcousticMusicScene.com's Long Island AcoustiCalendar. [To view the Long Island AcoustiCalendar, click on the headline. Links to websites containing music calendars covering other parts of the New York metropolitan area, the Northeast and beyond appear in the new Regional Calendars section of AcousticMusicScene.com.)
Roots Music Report compiles weekly radio airplay charts for various roots-related genres. These are based on spin totals reported by music directors and DJs from more than 400 terrestrial and Internet radio stations. The latest Folk chart is posted here with permission. [To view the latest Folk radio airplay chart, click on the headline.]
The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) last week named Mike Seeger as the recipient of its 2009 Bess Lomax Hawes Award. The award is presented annually to an individual who has made a significant contribution to the preservation and awareness of our cultural heritage. [To read the entire article, click on the headline.]
By Michael Kornfeld
Abbie Gardner, a gifted New York area singer-songwriter and dobro player, who also is part of the rootsy female Americana trio Red Molly, is the Lennon Award winner in the folk category of the John Lennon Songwriting Contest. Her winning song, “The Mind of a Soldier,” now competes with the winners in the contest’s 11 other categories for the $20,000 Maxell Song of the Year Award, to be announced in July.
“I wanted to write a war song, but not from the perspective of either side, not something preachy or political, something more personal that people can relate to,” says Gardner of her award-winning song. She recalls listening to a lot of radio news reports about the war in Iraq while driving in her car and being bothered by the way in which “everyday I would usually just hear a number of how many people had died. It was just like a weather report.” “The Mind of a Soldier,” which can be heard on her MySpace page, seeks to address the human element.
[To read the entire article, click on the headline.]
With summer approaching, the festival season will soon be in full swing in the Northeast. There will be plenty of banjos, fiddles and high-lonesome harmonies in New England. Among the bluegrass festivals taking place in the region early in the summer are the Strawberry Park Bluegrass Festival (May 28-31) and both the Blistered Fingers Family Bluegrass Festival and the Jenny Brook Family Bluegrass Festival (June 18-21). [To read the entire article, including artist lineups for the festivals, click on the headline.]
Phil Henry, a contemporary folk singer-songwriter from Vermont, was named the first place winner in the 2009 Susquehanna Music and Arts Festival Songwriter Contest last weekend. [To read the entire article, click on the headline.]
