Read more about the article Top Albums and Songs of April 2012 (FOLKDJ-L)

Top Albums and Songs of April 2012 (FOLKDJ-L)

AcousticMusicScene.com is pleased to publish the monthly Top Albums and Songs 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. In April 2012, 1000 Pound Machine, a new release by Nashville-based singer-songwriter Kate Campbell topped the albums chart, while the classic instrumental tune "Foggy Mountain Breakdown" by Earl Scruggs, the pioneering banjo player and bluegrass legend who died on March 28 at age 88, was reportedly the most-played song on folk radio during the month. [To view the charts, click on the headline.}

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Read more about the article Remembering Pete Fornatale: A Pioneering New York Radio DJ

Remembering Pete Fornatale: A Pioneering New York Radio DJ

The folk, folk-rock and singer-songwriter communities lost one of their most ardent champions and promoters last week with the passing of Pete Fornatale, a pioneering New York radio DJ, who introduced me and many others to some wonderful artists whose music has become the soundtrack of our lives. [To read the full article -- including reflections from artists who knew Pete and excerpts from an interview I did with him in 1989 -- click on the headline.]

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Southeast Regional Folk Alliance Conference Set for May 17-20

Nearly 200 people are expected to converge on the Montreat Conference Center in Montreat, North Carolina, just off the Blue Ridge Parkway, near Asheville, May 17-20, for the fifth annual Southeast Regional Folk Alliance (SERFA) Conference -- an extended weekend of contemporary and traditional folk music, networking, education and workshops. [To read the full article, click on the headline.]

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Showcase Artists, Workshops Set for NERFA Events This Spring

The Northeast Regional Folk Alliance (NERFA) hosts two one-day mini-conferences this spring: One is slated for Saturday, May 5, at the Bethesda-Chevy Chase Regional Services Center in Bethesda, Maryland, while the other is set for Saturday, June 2, at the University of Massachusetts-Boston campus. Showcase artists have recently been selected and workshops and panel discussions have been lined-up for the events that are designed especially to give artists, presenters, DJs, agents and others engaged in the folk music scene a small taste of what takes place during the organization’s annual conference each fall. [To read the entire article, click on the headline.]

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Roots Music Report Folk and Roots Country Radio Charts, 04-27-12

Albums by Carolina Chocolate Drops and Darrell Scott continue to top the Roots Music Report folk and roots country radio charts, respectively, this week. [To view the current Roots Music Report Folk and Roots Country Top 50 albums charts, click on the headline.]

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Roots Music Report Folk and Roots Country Radio Charts, 04-20-12

The Carolina Chocolate Drops' album Leaving Eden, the follow-up to its 2010 Grammy Award-winning Genuine Negro Jig, retains the #1 spot on the Roots Music Report folk radio chart for the third week in a row, while. Darrell Scott's Long Ride Home continues to top the roots country chart. [To view the current Folk and Roots Country Top 50 albums charts, click on the headline.]

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2012 Grassy Hill Kerrville New Folk Finalists Named

Thirty-two songwriters have been named as finalists in the 2012 Grassy Hill Kerrville New Folk Competition for Emerging Songwriters. Chosen from among 800 submissions from around the world, the finalists will perform the two songs they submitted during the New Folk Concerts slated for Saturday and Sunday afternoons, May 26 and 27, as part of the Kerrville Folk Festival. [To read the full article, click on the headline.]

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Roots Music Report Folk and Roots Country Radio Charts, 04-13-12

The Carolina Chocolate Drops' album Leaving Eden, the follow-up to its 2010 Grammy Award-winning Genuine Negro Jig, retains the #1 spot on the Roots Music Report folk radio chart for a second week, while. Darrell Scott's Long Ride Home continues to top the roots country chart. [To view the current Folk and Roots Country Top 50 albums charts, click on the headline.]

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Finalists Named in 2012 Wildflower! Performing Songwriter Contest

Ten finalists have been named in the 2012 Wildflower! Performing Songwriter Contest. Each will perform two songs on the Singer Songwriter Stage during the 20th annual Wildflower! arts and music festival in Richardson, Texas, just a few minutes north of Dallas. Billed as North Texas’ largest music festival, it takes place, May 18-20. [To read the article, click on the headline.]

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Roots Music Report Folk and Roots Country Radio Charts, 04-06-12

North Carolina-based African-American string band Carolina Chocolate Drops' album Leaving Eden, the follow-up to its 2010 Grammy Award-winning Genuine Negro Jig, has climbed into the #1 spot on the Roots Music Report folk radio chart. Darrell Scott's Long Ride Home continues to top the roots country chart. [To view the current Folk and Roots Country Top 50 albums charts, click on the headline.]

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‘Banjo’ Barney McKenna, Last Founding Member of The Dubliners, 1939-2012

Bernard Noel “Banjo” Barney McKenna, the last original member of the Irish folk band The Dubliners and widely considered the most influential banjo player in Irish music, died at his kitchen table on April 5 while having a up of tea with a musician friend, He was 72 and had just completed a UK tour with The Dubliners in March to help mark the group’s 50th anniversary. McKenna also performed at a Dublin funeral the night before he died. [To read the article in its entirety, click on the headline.]

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FARMette One-Day Mini-Conference Shaping Up in Ohio, April 28

Eight official showcase artists have been selected and final plans are being made for FARMette, a condensed one-day version of the Folk Alliance Region Midwest’s annual four-day conference. Slated for Saturday, April 28, 2012, from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m., at the historic opera house in downtown Fayette, Ohio, located on US 20,about 30 minutes west of Toledo, the event will feature an array of workshops, more than 20 ten-minute performance lane slots for artists, and two meals with open mics during them, in addition to eight 20-minute official showcases in the evening. [To read the full article, click on the headline.]

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