Throngs of people are expected to converge on Historic Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, Sept. 24-26, for the 23rd annual Celtic Classic. Presented by the nonprofit Celtic Cultural Alliance, the free event is a celebration of the Irish, Scottish and Welsh cultures and heritage. [To view the article, click on the headline.]
Singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Tim O’Brien has been making waves in bluegrass, country, folk and roots music circles for some time. His latest release, Chicken & Egg, is currently the #1 album on the Roots Music Report Folk Radio Chart (which is posted in the Acoustic Radio Waves section on AcousticMusicScene.com). And O’Brien is among the nominees for International Bluegrass Music Association‘s Male Vocalist of the Year, one of the awards and honors to be presented by the IBMA on Sept. 30 at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, TN. A two-time past recipient of that honor, O’Brien also has previously been recognized by the IBMA for Album of the Year and Song of the Year and received a Grammy Award for Best Traditional Folk Album (Fiddler’s Green) in 2005. The 56-year-old West Virginia native, a co-founder and lead vocalist for Hot Rize and Red Knuckles and the Trailblazers, has released 13 solo albums and also has collaborated with his sister, Mollie. Notable artists such as Dierks Bentley, Garth Brooks, Dixie Chicks, Kathy Mattea, New Grass Revival and the Seldom Scene also have recorded his songs. Kathy Sands-Boehmer posed a few questions to O’Brien recently. [To read Kathy's Quick Q & A with Tim O'Brien, click on the headline.]
Tim O'Brien's Chicken & Egg tops the Roots Music Report's Folk Radio Chart this week, followed by albums by Red Horse, Frazey Ford, The John Hartford Stringband and Mumford & Sons. New or returning this week on the Folk Top 50 are albums by The YaYas, LJ Booth, Suzie Vinnick, Joe Crookston, Cheryl Wheeler, Anne & Pete Sibley, Dala, Caroline Herring, The Once, Natalie Merchant, 3 Penny Acre, Hey Mavis, John McVey, Phil Selway, Julian Moon, Sam Buckingham, Ruth Moody, Jennie DeVoe and Ellis Paul. [To view the current Roots Music Report Folk Radio Chart, click on the headline.]
Irwin Silber, a longtime editor of Sing Out!, who co-founded the folk music magazine with Pete Seeger, musicologist Alan Lomax, and others in 1950, died on Sept. 8 in Oakland, California. He was 84 and had suffered with Alzheimer’s disease. [To read the entire article, click on the headline.]
Red Horse - the debut album by the contemporary folk trio of Eliza Gilkyson, John Gorka and Lucy Kaplansky - continues in the top spot on the Roots Music Report Folk Radio Chart. New this week on the Folk Top 50 are albums by Storyhill, Trisha Gagnon, Peter Bradley Adams, Matt The Electrician, Neptune's Car, Kevin Burke & Cal Scott, Heidi Talbot, Johnsmith, WPA, Luka Bloom, Patrick Bloom, Steve Mednick, Truckstop Honeymoon, and some guy named Woody Guthrie. [To view the current Roots Music Report Folk Radio Chart, click on the headline.]
Ryan Bingham was the big winner during last night’s Ninth Annual Americana Music Association Honors and Awards Show at the historic Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee. The 29-year old singer-songwriter was named Artist of the Year and won Song of the Year honors for “The Weary Heart,” the theme from the film Crazy Heart. [To see the names of all the winners and read the entire article, click on the headline.]
Grammy Award-winning folk/country singer Kathy Mattea will be the Saturday night headliner during the Connecticut Folk Festival and Green Expo that’s set for Sept. 10-12 in New Haven’s Edgerton Park. [To view the entire article, click on the headline.]
In another sign of the tough economic times in which we are living and, specifically, the decline in print media, Paste Magazine has suspended publication. [To read the article, click on the headline.]
Red Horse - the debut album by the contemporary folk trio of Eliza Gilkyson, John Gorka and Lucy Kaplansky - continues in the top spot on the Roots Music Report Folk Radio Chart. Albums by Tim O'Brien, Frazey Ford, Mollie O'Brien & Rich Moore, and The John Hartford Stringband follow. This week's Folk Top 50 is posted here with permission. [To view the current Roots Music Report Folk Radio Chart, click on the headline.]
Red Horse - the debut album by the contemporary folk trio of Eliza Gilkyson, John Gorka and Lucy Kaplansky - returns to the top spot on the Roots Music Report Folk Radio Chart. Albums by Tim O'Brien, Frazey Ford, The John Hartford Stringband and Crooked Still follow. This week's Folk Top 50 is posted here with permission. [To view the current Roots Music Report Folk Radio Chart, click on the headline.]
Wine and music aficionados will gather in the Texas Hill Country over Labor Day Weekend for the 2010 Kerrville Wine & Music Festival. The annual event, pairing Texas wine tastings with performances by two-dozen singer-songwriters, takes place Sept. 3-5 at the Quiet Valley Ranch, nine miles south of Kerrville on TX Hwy 16. On Aug. 31, from 8-9 p.m. central time, www.radiofreetexas.org will broadcast a performance by Uncle Lucius live from the Tin Roof Steakhouse in Boerne, TX to promote the Wine & Music Festival. [To read the entire article, click on the headline.]
"A star has fallen; a really bright one." A memorial service is set for Sunday, Aug. 29, in Santa Barbara, California for Kenny Edwards, a driving force behind the American folk-rock movement of the 1960s and 1970s. He died on Aug. 18 at age 64. A guitarist’s guitarist, Edwards was a co-founder of the Stone Poneys and Bryndle and also collaborated with many other musical luminaries. Singer-songwriter, guitarist and AcousticMusicScene.com co-creator Glen Roethel remembers him fondly. [To read Glen's tribute to Kenny Edwards, click on the headline.]
