The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) last week named Mike Seeger as the recipient of its 2009 Bess Lomax Hawes Award. The award is presented annually to an individual who has made a significant contribution to the preservation and awareness of our cultural heritage. [To read the entire article, click on the headline.]
By Michael Kornfeld
Abbie Gardner, a gifted New York area singer-songwriter and dobro player, who also is part of the rootsy female Americana trio Red Molly, is the Lennon Award winner in the folk category of the John Lennon Songwriting Contest. Her winning song, “The Mind of a Soldier,” now competes with the winners in the contest’s 11 other categories for the $20,000 Maxell Song of the Year Award, to be announced in July.
“I wanted to write a war song, but not from the perspective of either side, not something preachy or political, something more personal that people can relate to,” says Gardner of her award-winning song. She recalls listening to a lot of radio news reports about the war in Iraq while driving in her car and being bothered by the way in which “everyday I would usually just hear a number of how many people had died. It was just like a weather report.” “The Mind of a Soldier,” which can be heard on her MySpace page, seeks to address the human element.
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Phil Henry, a contemporary folk singer-songwriter from Vermont, was named the first place winner in the 2009 Susquehanna Music and Arts Festival Songwriter Contest last weekend. [To read the entire article, click on the headline.]
Ten singer-songwriters have been named as finalists in the 2009 Telluride Troubadour Competition. They will vie for instruments, cash prizes, recognition and the opportunity to perform on the main stage during the 36th Annual Telluride Bluegrass Festival in Colorado, June 18-21. [To read the entire article, click on the headline.]
Carol Hausner and Colin McCaffrey of Montpelier, Vermont were named as the winners in the bluegrass category in the 17th annual Chris Austin Songwriting Contest for their song entitled “Love Gone By.” The two performed their winning song, along with the winners in three other categories (country, general and gospel), on the Cabin Stage at MerleFest on April 24 and won an acoustic guitar, a check for $300 and other prizes. [To read the entire article, click on the headline.]
Thirty-two songwriters have been named as finalists in the 2009 Grassy Hill Kerrville New Folk Competition for Emerging Songwriters. Chosen from among 800 submissions from around the world, the finalists will perform the two songs they submitted during the New Folk Concerts slated for Saturday and Sunday afternoons, May 23 and 24, as part of the Kerrville Folk Festival. [To read the entire article, click on the headline.]
Twelve finalists have been named in the 17th annual Chris Austin Songwriting Contest, hosted by MerleFest 2009, the popular “traditional-plus” Americana music festival that takes place April 23-26 on the campus of Wilkes Community College in Wilkesboro, North Carolina. [To read the article, click on the headline.]
The April 3 deadline is approaching for the 2009 Wildflower Performing Songwriter Contest that is associated with the annual Wildflower! Arts and Music Festival, May 15-17, in Richardson, Texas, just a few minutes north of Dallas... The Dallas Songwriters Association has announced the winners of its 2008 Song Contest. The grand prize winner and recipient of a Gibson guitar and other prizes is Mark Glasmire of Arlington, Texas, for “Missing You.” Glassmire also captured first place in the Americana/Folk/Bluegrass category. [To read the entire article, click on the headline.]
Joe Crookston, an Ithaca, New York-based singer-songwriter and guitarist, received the prestigious Album of the Year Award during the 21st annual International Folk Alliance Conference, Feb. 18, in Memphis, Tennessee. His 2008 recording, Able Baker Charlie & Dog, ended the year as the #1 most-aired recording by folk/acoustic radio DJs in the United States. [To read the entire article, click on the headline.]
Lara Herscovitch, a talented contemporary singer-songwriter whose music features a nice blend of folk, pop and world styles, has been named as Connecticut’s State Troubadour for 2009 and 2010. Appointed by the Connecticut Commission on Culture & Tourism, based on a recommendation by a panel of music professionals that included Pierce Campbell, the previous State Troubadour, Herscovitch serves as an ambassador of music and song to encourage cultural literacy and promote the State of Connecticut. In addition to her regular touring schedule, she will perform at a number of state events in an emissary role over the next two years. [To read the entire article, click on the headline.]
Robert Plant and Alison Krauss were the top winners in the 51st Annual Grammy Awards on Feb. 8. The duo’s Rounder release, Raising Sand, produced by T Bone Burnett, was named Album of the Year and Best Contemporary Folk/Americana album. Plant and Krauss also captured awards for Record of the Year (“Please Read the Letter”), Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals (“Rich Woman”) and Best Country Collaboration with Vocals (“Killing The Blues”). [To read the entire article, which includes a list of other notable winners, click on the headline.]
A number of individuals who have made substantial contributions to furthering bluegrass music in New England will be presented with 2009 BBU Heritage Awards during the Joe Val Bluegrass Festival presented by the Boston Bluegrass Union over Presidents Day Weekend, February 13-15, at the Sheraton Framingham in Framingham, Massachusetts. [To read the entire article, including information about the award recipients and the the festival, click on the headline.]
