Eight songwriters have been named as finalists in the 2018 NewSong Music Performance and Songwriting Competition and will showcase their talents on Saturday evening, December 15, at Isis Music Hall in Asheville, North Carolina. [To continue reading this article, click on the headline.]
Appleseed’s 21st Anniversary: Roots and Branches by Various Artists was the top album on folk radio during October 2018, while singer-songwriter John Flynn had the month’s #1 song (“She Persisted”). So say charts compiled from radio playlists submitted to FOLKDJ-L, an electronic discussion group for DJs and others interested in all folk-based music on the radio. [The monthly top albums and songs charts are posted on AcousticMusicScene.com, with permission. To view them, click on the headline.]
More than 700 performing artists, presenters, promoters, agents and managers, folk DJs, and others actively engaged in contemporary and traditional folk music are expected to converge on the Crowne Plaza in Stamford, Connecticut, Nov. 8-11, 2018 for the 24th Annual Northeast Regional Folk Alliance (NERFA) Conference. AcousticMusicScene.com will again have a major presence as it hosts afternoon and late-night song swaps in addition to its popular Midnight Hoot at the close of the conference’s first day. [To continue reading this illustrated article -- including listings of juried showcase artists and the AcousticMusicScene.com showcase lineup -- click on the headline.]
Entertainer of the Year, the top honor in the 29th Annual International Bluegrass Music Awards – presented Sept. 27 at Raleigh, North Carolina’s Duke Energy Center for the Arts – went to the Tar Heel State’s own Balsam Range. The five-member acoustic ensemble previously won this award in 2014. Balsam Range’s Buddy Melton was voted 2018 IBMA Male Vocalist of the Year, while Tim Surrett was named Bass Player of the Year. [To continue reading this article – including a listing of all the 2018 award-winners – click on the headline.]
Franco-American folk-rock duo The Whispering Tree had the top album (Invisible Forces) and five of the month’s most-played songs on folk radio during September 2018, while eclectic Celtic folk and roots-rock duo House of Hamill had the month’s #1 song. So say charts compiled from radio playlists submitted to FOLKDJ-L, an electronic discussion group for DJs and others interested in all folk-based music on the radio. [The monthly top albums and songs charts are posted on AcousticMusicScene.com, with permission. To view them, click on the headline.]
The LYNNeS and Buffy Sainte-Marie top the list of nominees for the 2018 Canadian Folk Music Awards with five nods each. The duo of Lynn Miles & Lynne Hanson and the much-celebrated folksinger-songwriter are among the many artists and groups from throughout Canada vying for awards in 19 categories to be presented at The Gateway in Calgary, Alberta, Nov. 30 – Dec. 1. [To continue reading this article and see the complete list of nominees, click on the headline.]
Boston-based singer-songwriter Susan Cattaneo was named the winner of the 2018 Grassy Hill Songwriting Competition following a final round featuring five artists/acts during the 13th annual Connecticut Folk Festival and Green Expo at New Haven’s Edgerton Park on Sept. 8. [To continue reading this article, click on he headline.]
Zoe Speaks, a folk-Americana group from Kentucky, had the top album (Wings) and five of the month’s most-played songs on folk radio during August 2018, while singer-songwriter Eliza Gilkyson (whose new album, Secularia, was #1 in July) had the #2 album and the #1 song for a second consecutive month {her rendition of “Down By the Riverside” with her friend, the late Jimmy LaFave). So say charts compiled from radio playlists submitted to FOLKDJ-L, an electronic discussion group for DJs and others interested in all folk-based music on the radio. [The monthly top albums and songs charts are posted here with permission. To view them, click on the headline.]
Dozens of emerging artists from New England and beyond will showcase their talents over the Labor Day Weekend during the annual Campfire. Festival at Club Passim, the legendary Harvard Square listening room in Cambridge, MA. Now marking its 20th year, the event also will be live streamed via Concert Window beginning Friday, Aug. 31, at 6 p.m. and extending through Monday, Sept. 3, at 10:30p.m. [To continue reading this article, click on the headline.]
Martin Sexton, an acclaimed singer-songwriter, headlines CT Folk’s 13th annual Connecticut Folk Festival and Green Expo. The daylong event is set for Saturday, Sept. 8, in New Haven’s Edgerton Park. [To continue reading this festival preview, click on the headline.]
More than 40 artists/acts have been selected for juried formal and semi-formal showcases during the 24th annual Northeast Regional Folk Alliance (NERFA) Conference, slated for Nov. 8-11, 2018 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Stamford, CT. [To continue reading this article that includes an overview of the conference and the names of all the formal and semi-formal showcase artists and alternates, click on the headline.]
Fourteen artists/acts have been selected (from among more than 130 applicants) to perform official showcases during the 2018 Folk Alliance Region Midwest (FARM) Conference slated for October 25-28 at the Crowne Plaza Airport Hotel & Conference Center in Grand Rapids, Michigan. [To continue reading this article -- including a listing of official showcase artists and alternates and more conference information -- click on the headline.]
