Cactus Cafe at UT in Austin Faces Closure
The nationally renowned Cactus Café on the campus of the University of Texas in Austin may be closing later this year. Citing a desire “to minimize the impact of budgetary reductions on students and to protect student core services,” the Texas Union board of directors on Friday announced plans to “phase-out” the intimate live music venue that has attracted a wide array of local, regional, national and international touring acoustic artists since it opened in February 1979. The board's plans are slated to take effect in August.
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Congress Honors the Legacy of Lester Flatt
Bluegrass pioneer Lester Flatt, who died in 1979, is best known for having been a lead singer and guitarist with Bill Monroe back in the 1940s and for the two decades he spent with banjoist and fellow Bluegrass Boys alum Earl Scruggs as Flatt and Scruggs – a partnership that produced such bluegrass classics as “Foggy Mountain Breakdown.” The U.S. House of Representatives, on Jan. 26, agreed to a sense resolution recognizing Flatt’s invaluable contribution to American art and the indelible legacy he left on bluegrass music.
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Vic Chesnutt, Singer-Songwriter, 1964-2009
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.
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Grammy Award Nominees Named in American Roots Music Field
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.
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Bess Lomax Hawes, 1921-2009
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.
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Early Registration Deadline Nears for 2010 Folk Alliance Conference
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.
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Joan Baez is Subject of Primetime TV Special
Joan Baez is the focus of an American Masters series documentary that begins airing on PBS television stations across the country on October 14 at 8 p.m. (ET). Entitled “Joan Baez: How Sweet the Sound,” the documentary chronicles the private life and public career of the living folk legend who made her debut appearance at the Newport Folk Festival in 1959 and returned to that stage this past August as part of her worldwide tour celebrating 50 years as a recording artist and performer.
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2009 Mountain Stage NewSong Contest Winners Named
Liz Longley, Grace Pettis, BettySoo, David Via and Reed Waddle were named as winners of the 2009 Mountain Stage NewSong Contest, presented by Folk Alliance International. The contest’s international finals took place on Saturday, October 10, at the Cultural Center in Charleston, West Virginia -- home to the internationally broadcast “Mountain Stage” radio and TV show that has showcased more than 2000 artists since its inception in 1983.
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Billboard Magazine Honors Rounder Founder
Marian Leighton Levy, a co-founder of Rounder Records, is among the 30 women who made the “Power Players” list in Billboard’s Women in Music 2009. Leighton Levy ranks #11 in the list of top female executives in the music industry that appears in the trade publication’s October 10 issue. The names were culled from nominations submitted by readers and selected by a team of Billboard editors.
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Buddy Miller Wins a Slew of Americana Music Awards
Buddy Miller was the big winner during last night’s Eighth Annual Americana Music Association Honors & Awards Show at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. The acclaimed singer-songwriter, guitarist, producer and much sought-after collaborator and sideman, was named Artist of the Year and also won Album of the Year (for Written In Chalk, with wife Julie Miller), Duo/Group of the Year (again with Julie), and Song of the Year (“Chalk,” written by Julie and performed by Buddy and Patty Griffin.)
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Mary Travers of Peter, Paul and Mary, 1936-2009
Mary Travers, who rose to international stardom with the folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary, died tonight at 72 in Danbury, Connecticut.
Loving tributes and remembrances from Peter and Paul appear at www.marytravers.com.
Upcoming Americana Music Festival and Conference in Nashville Features Keynote Interview with Rosanne Cash
Rosanne Cash will be the 2009 keynote interview subject during the Americana Music Association’s Festival and Conference on Thursday morning, September 17, at the Nashville Convention Center in Nashville, Tennessee. Author and journalist Michael Streissguth, whose latest book, Always Been There: Rosanne Cash, The List and the Spirit of Southern Music, chronicles the making of her forthcoming album, will pose questions to the Grammy Award-winning artist, who has had more than 20 top 40 country singles over the course of her 30-year career to date.
Photo by Deborah Feingold.
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