News Capsules for the Acoustic Community
The Long Island music community has lost one of its most unique and gifted singer-songwriters. Lois Morton -- who delighted audiences throughout the New York metropolitan area and beyond for years with her abundant charm and humorous songs of social commentary on such subjects as cell phones, clutter, diets, psychotherapy, and road rage -- passed away on Dec. 17 at 87.
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Nominees in 83 categories have been named for the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards to be presented by the Recording Academy on Sunday, January 31, 2021 at 8 p.m. ET/ 5 p.m. PT during a live broadcast on CBS television stations. Bonny Light Horseman (a new folk group featuring Anais Mitchell, Eric D. Johnson and Josh Kaufman), Sarah Jarosz and the late John Prine lead the nominees in the American Roots Music Field with two nods each.
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Six singer-songwriters have been named as winners in the 2020 Grassy Hill Kerrville New Folk Competition for Emerging Songwriters. They were chosen by a panel of judges from among 24 finalists who performed two songs each during the New Folk Concerts that streamed online October 10 and 11 on the Kerrville Folk Festival’s website, Facebook page and YouTube channel as part of a Virtual Celebration held in place of the annual event on the Quiet Valley Ranch in the Texas Hill Country.
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Each summer, folks flock to Pinewoods Camp in Plymouth, Massachusetts for an annual six-day gathering of live music and dance for adults interested in Anglo-American traditional music and dance known as TradMad. Although the current COVID-19 pandemic prompted the Folk Music Society of New York (aka Pinewoods Folk Music Club) to postpone this year’s event, TradMad Virtual Camp 2020 will be presented Aug. 31 - Sept. 3 via FolkMusicNotebook.com.
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The Woody Guthrie Center will honor singer-songwriter and activist Joan Baez with the 2020 Woody Guthrie Prize during this year’s virtual edition of the Philadelphia Folk Festival. Baez, who has performed at the festival numerous times, is slated to accept the award on August 16 in recognition of her groundbreaking career and impact on humanitarian causes over the span of 60 years.
Fourteen independent talent agencies have joined forces to form a new nonprofit advocacy group that aims to promote the welfare and prosperity of its members and their represented artists, as well as for the indirect benefit of those associated with them. Amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic that has prompted the cancelation of countless concerts and music festivals, the nascent National Independent Talent Organization (NITO) “has been working tirelessly to advocate for the survival of the live music community” in the U.S., according to a news release issued on June 11.
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Family and friends of John Prine will share memories of and songs by the internationally acclaimed and revered singer-songwriter during Picture Show: A Tribute Celebrating John Prine on Thursday, June 11. The online celebration of his life and music will stream on Prine’s YouTube channel and Facebook page, as well as Oh Boy Records' Twitch channel, at 7:30 p.m. EDT/6:30 p.m. CDT/4:30 p.m. PDT and can be replayed through Sunday. A songwriter’s songwriter, who toured and plied his craft for nearly 50 years, Prine died April 7 at the age of 73 from complications of the coronavirus (COVID-19).
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A number of artists will celebrate the life and legacy of American music legend Doc Watson on social media during the week of May 25-29, 2020 under the auspices of MerleFest, one of America’s premiere music festivals.
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Although the annual Kerrville Folk Festival won’t be taking place in late May- June on the Quiet Valley Ranch campgrounds in the Texas Hill Country due to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, “virtual concerts” featuring nearly 40 of the artists who were booked to perform during it will be streamed from the festival’s website and its Facebook page on three successive Saturdays in late May-early June. Meanwhile, 24 songwriters have been named as finalists in the 2020 Grassy Hill Kerrville New Folk Contest for Emerging Songwriters that organizers hope will take place Oct. 9 and 10 during the 49th annual Kerrville Folk Festival that has been tentatively rescheduled for Oct. 8-18.
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In the wake of the continuing novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, a number of Facebook groups and pages have been launched that welcome artists and presenters to post their livestreaming concerts and/or information about them.
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Eric Taylor, an internationally touring Houston, Texas-based singer-songwriter, storyteller and guitarist, died March 9 at the age of 70. Taylor released 10 studio and live albums, while his songs have been recorded by such notable artists as Nanci Griffith (to whom he was formerly married) and Lyle Lovett, on whom he was a major influence.
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Bluegrass Now!, a television special featuring a wide array of the musical genre’s leading performing artists, will begin airing on PBS stations across the U.S. on Saturday, February 29. Fittingly, it was filmed during a concert on December 19, 2019 at the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame & Museum’s Woodward Theatre in Owensboro, Kentucky -- near the home of Bill Monroe, the "Father of Bluegrass Music."
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