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.]
Ten singer-songwriters have been named as finalists in the 2009 Telluride Troubadour Competition. They will vie for instruments, cash prizes, recognition and the opportunity to perform on the main stage during the 36th Annual Telluride Bluegrass Festival in Colorado, June 18-21. [To read the entire article, click on the headline.]
Jenee Halstead, who grew up in Washington State and now lives in Massachusetts, is a gifted singer-songwriter with a beautiful voice. Her self-released debut album, The River Grace, whose sound is rooted in the past yet beckons the progression of Americana, has received considerable airplay by folk radio DJs across the country in recent months. Ethan Baird, a Boston area musician like Jenee, recently posed a few questions to her. [To read the Q & A with Jenee Halstead, click on the headline.]
Stephen Bruton, an Austin, Texas-based guitarist, songwriter and actor, has died at age 60, after battling throat cancer for more than two years. Bruton died peacefully in his sleep on May 9, at the Los Angeles, California home of his childhood friend, musician and producer T Bone Burnett, who considered him “the soul of Texas music” and with whom he was working on the soundtrack for Jeff Bridges’ film “Crazy Heart.” [To read the entire article, click on the headline.]
During the summer, the Santa Monica Pier in Southern California is teaming with people who flock there to leisurely stroll and soak up the laid-back beach atmosphere, partake of an array of dining and entertainment choices, bask in the sun and cool ocean breezes, and enjoy often fabulous sunsets. On the weekend of June 6 and 7 there’s even more to lure acoustic music fans to the famous pier. That’s when the inaugural LA Acoustic Music Festival takes place. [To read the entire article, 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.]
Chuck E. Costa, known for his candid and visceral delivery of literate and well-crafted contemporary folk tunes, has been garnering much critical acclaim over the past couple of years. Costa, whose songs were described as “sensitive, introspective… inspired” in The New York Times, won the 2008 Rocky Mountain Folks Fest Songwriting Contest and will again grace the festival’s main stage this August. In 2007, he was finalist in the prestigious Grassy Hill/Kerrville NewFolk competition, as well as a Solarfest (Vermont) songwriting contest winner and Telluride Troubadour third-place winner. A native New Yorker, he returned to the Northeast and has released three independent albums and an EP since graduating from the University of Colorado in 2002. The opening track of his latest, Where The Songs Come From, was featured on a compilation CD released by Hear Music and distributed at Starbucks throughout North America. [Kathy Sands-Boehmer recently posed a few questions to Chuck. To read her interview, click on the headline.]
Calling Greg Klyma ‘unique’ is not quite adequate. He’s more than unique — all in a good way. His songs resonate with truthfulness, joy, and sadness and remind us all about what it’s like to be human. His vivid lyrics inform us about characters he has met on the road and at home. It’s impossible not to identify with many of them from our own lives. [To read Kathy Sands-Boehmer's recent interview with the self-described "Rust Belt Vagabond," 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 radio airplay chart is posted on AcousticMusicScene.com with permission. [To view the latest Folk radio airplay chart, click on the headline.]
Pete Seeger, the inspirational American folk music icon, political activist and humanitarian, whose songs have helped to provide a musical backdrop for many of the historical movements of the past 50-plus years, marks a historic milestone himself on Sunday, May 3. Throughout the country and the world over, many special events are planned in celebration of Pete’s 90th birthday. In addition, a five-CD box set of Seeger songs has just been released, and a number of folk radio programs airing over the weekend are likely to focus on his life and legacy. [To read the entire article, including listings of more than a dozen "For Pete's Sake, Sing" events across the U.S., click on the headline.]
Detailed listings for more than 125 concerts, open mics, jam sessions and workshops slated for May through the second week of June 2009 in Brooklyn, Queens, Nassau and Suffolk counties appear in this installment of AcousticMusicScene.com’s Long Island AcoustiCalendar. [To view the AcoustiCalendar, click on the headline.]
Carol Hausner and Colin McCaffrey of Montpelier, Vermont were named as the winners in the bluegrass category in the 17th annual Chris Austin Songwriting Contest for their song entitled “Love Gone By.” The two performed their winning song, along with the winners in three other categories (country, general and gospel), on the Cabin Stage at MerleFest on April 24 and won an acoustic guitar, a check for $300 and other prizes. [To read the entire article, click on the headline.]
