The annual Boston Celtic Music Fest (BCMFest), now in its seventh year, returns to its roots January 8 and 9 with a “back-to-basics” focus on dyed-in-the-wool core traditions of Celtic music and those who help keep the Boston area’s rich heritage of Irish, Scottish, Cape Breton and other Celtic music and dance traditions alive. [To read the entire article, click on the headline.]
Tim Hart, who founded the seminal British folk-rock group Steeleye Span with Maddy Prior forty years ago, died on December 24. He was 61 and had been diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer a year ago. [To read the entire article, click on the headline.]
Vic Chesnutt, a prolific songwriter and independent recording artist who was a favorite of critics and fellow musicians, died on Christmas Day, Dec. 25, in an Athens, Georgia hospital. He was 45 and had been in a coma following an apparent overdose of muscle relaxants earlier in the week. [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 current folk radio airplay chart, click on the headline.]
Dailey & Vincent and Rhonda Vincent & The Rage both scored eight nominations in the Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass Music in America (SPBGMA) 36th Annual Bluegrass Music Awards. Winners will be announced during an awards show on February 7, 2010 at the Sheraton Music City Hotel in Nashville, Tennessee. The awards show is a centerpiece of the organization’s annual national convention. [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.]
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.]
