Tickets are currently on sale for the Ann Arbor Folk Festival that takes place January 29-30 at Hill Auditorium in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Now in its 33rd year, the two-night event featuring traditional and contemporary artists is a fundraiser for The Ark, Ann Arbor’s nonprofit home for folk, roots and ethnic music. [To read the entire article, click on the headline.]
In just a few short years, Boise, Idaho-born and Boston-based singer-songwriter Eilen Jewell has been developing quite a reputation on the folk and roots music scene. She is not wedded to any one musical style, and her own music reflects that. Although Jewell continues to pay homage to the folk tradition, she and her band explore some new musical territory on her latest Signature Sounds release, Sea of Tears. Kathy Sands-Boehmer posed a few questions to her recently. [To read Kathy’s Quick Q & A with Eilen Jewell, 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.]
Melissa Greener is the first place winner in the Folk category in the 14th Annual USA Songwriting Competition. The nationally touring folk-rock singer-songwriter, who has called Austin home and currently resides in New York City, won for her song “Bullets to Bite.” [To read the entire article, click on the headline.]
The 2009 Boston Music Awards were presented during ceremonies at the Liberty Hotel on December 2. Among the honorees in 26 categories are The Low Anthem, a Providence, Rhode Island-based Americana group (Album of the Year), and Ellis Paul, a Boston-based singer-songwriter (Outstanding Folk Act of the Year). [To read the entire article, click on the headline.]
The Recording Academy announced nominees for the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards – including those in the recently renamed and expanded American Roots Music field. Winners will be named during ceremonies set for January 31, 2010, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, which will be broadcast live on the CBS television network. [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 folk radio airplay chart, click on the headline.]
Bess Lomax Hawes, 88, a folklorist and documentary filmmaker, former member of the Almanac Singers, and National Medal of Arts recipient, died at her home in Oregon on Nov. 27. Lomax Hawes, the youngest child of renowned University of Texas folklorist John Lomax, frequently joined her father and older brother, Alan, as they ventured down south collecting seminal field recordings of traditional songs for the Library of Congress during the 1930s. [To read the entire article, click on the headline.]
The board of directors of the Northeast Regional Folk Alliance (NERFA) elected a new slate of officers while meeting during the organization’s recent annual conference at the Hudson Valley Resort in Kerhonkson, New York. Cheryl Prashker, a percussionist with the Celtic group RUNA, who also has performed with such artists as Pat Wictor, Jonathan Edwards, Full Frontal Folk and CC Railroad, was elected president. AcousticMusicScene.com's Michael Kornfeld, a communications & public relations strategist, is the organization’s new vice president. Ramona LaBarre, who is affiliated with Godfrey Daniels and the Celtic Cultural Alliance in Bethlehem, PA, is the new treasurer. [To read the entire article, click on the headline.]
Detailed listings for nearly 100 concerts, open mics, jam sessions and other musical happenings slated for December in Brooklyn, Nassau and Suffolk appear in this installment of AcousticMusicScene.com’s Long Island AcoustiCalendar. Editor's Note: Links to websites and online calendars covering other parts of the New York metropolitan area, the Northeast and beyond appear in the Regional Calendars section of AcousticMusicScene.com. [To view the Long Island AcoustiCalendar, click on the headline.]
Close to 2,000 performers, presenters, promoters and others engaged in the folk and acoustic music community are expected to converge on the Marriott in Memphis, Tennessee, February 17-21, 2010, for the 22nd International Folk Alliance Conference. To take advantage of the discounted early registration rate, individuals and groups must register by December 1. [To read the entire article, click on the headline.]
Reed Waddle, a Cambridge, Massachusetts-based singer-songwriter and guitarist, is the grand prize winner in the fourth annual songwriting contest sponsored by The New York Songwriters Circle. A panel of 10 music industry judges selected him as the recipient of $25,000 in cash and prizes following live performances by 12 finalists, Nov. 18-19, at The Bitter End in New York City. [To read the entire article, click on the headline.]
