Remembering Richie Havens, 1941-2013
I wasn’t at Max Yasgur’s Farm in 1969 when Richie Havens impressed throngs of people at the Woodstock festival. I was just a youngster then. But I did get to hear him up close and personal in the late 1970s at my alma mater, Huntington High School, in Huntington, New York. He was performing in the auditorium, along with Harry Chapin, at one of the late singer-songwriter’s many benefit concerts. Richie joined his fellow Brooklyn NY-born folksinger in heaven or wherever kindhearted gentle souls go, on April 22, after suffering a heart attack at home in Jersey City, New Jersey. He was 72.
[To read the full article, click on the headline.]
AcousticMusicScene.com Hosts Showcases at SERFA Conference in May
Nearly 200 people are expected to converge on the Montreat Conference Center in Montreat, North Carolina, just off the Blue Ridge Parkway, near Asheville, May 16-19, 2013, for the sixth annual Southeast Regional Folk Alliance (SERFA) Conference -- an extended weekend of contemporary and traditional folk music, networking, and learning opportunities. AcousticMusicScene.com will host late-night song swaps.
[To read the full article previewing the conference, click on the headline.]
Quick Q & A with Connor Garvey
Portland, Maine-based singer songwriter Connor Garvey describes his music as acoustic funky folk-rock for the good-hearted. His initiation as a modern troubadour came during a 45-day self-booked cross-country train tour via Amtrak in 2008. Since then, he has been drawing audiences and critical acclaim with his inventive, rhythmic guitar work, clear, soulful vocals, and songs that capture people’s attention with humor, daring honesty, and grace – songs that challenge us to hope, grow, laugh, and see beauty in all of life’s metaphors.
[To view Kathy Sands Boehmer's Quick Q & A interview, click on the headline.]
Quick Q & A with Old Man Luedecke
Old Man Luedecke is an award-winning Nova Scotia-based roots singer-songwriter and old-time claw hammer-style banjo player who writes narrative-style folk songs and has a penchant for language. “Language that moves me is language that is unusual,” he notes. “I feel like it’s an important thing I can contribute to songwriting.” His latest album, Tender is the Night, pays homage to F.Scott Fitzgerald’s famous novel, a title lifted from John Keats’ poem, “Ode to a Nightingale.” Kathy Sands-Boehmer posed a few questions to him recently.
[To view Kathy’s Quick Q & A with Old Man Luedecke, click on the headline.]
25th International Folk Alliance Conference Opens in Toronto, Feb. 20
Canada plays host to the 25th International Folk Alliance Conference, Feb. 20-24, 2013. More than 1,750 performing artists, presenters, agents and managers, independent label and recording industry representatives, folk DJs, music journalists, folklorists, educators and others engaged in the music industry are expected to converge on Toronto’s Delta Chelsea Hotel.
{To read the full article previewing the conference, click here.]
Irish, Irish-American Artists Shine During APAP Conference
Although New York City’s demographics are changing, Irish arts and culture have long been a part of its fabric. This was particularly evident January 11-15. That’s when a number of Irish and Irish American folk artists were in the Big Apple to showcase their talents during the 56th annual conference of the Association of Performing Arts Presenters (APAP).
{Click on the headline to read a conference recap that also features information on the annual Folquebec showcase and Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter Rosanne Cash's closing keynote.]
Speaking with Scott Alarik, Author of Revival: A Folk Music Novel
Noted folk music writer Scott Alarik may be best known for having covered folk music for The Boston Globe for more than 20 years and as a regular contributor to public radio. However, he also is the author of Revival: A Folk Music Novel that has drawn accolades from a number of luminaries on the contemporary folk scene. Kathy Sands-Boehmer posed some questions to him recently.
[To read Kathy's Q & A interview with Scott Alarik, click on the headline.]
Quick Q & A with Vance Gilbert
With his engaging personality, wonderful wit, soulful and resonant tenor, and solid songwriting and performance skills, Vance Gilbert has been impressing audiences since emerging on the Northeast folk and singer-songwriter scene during the early 1990s. Kathy Sands-Boehmer posed some questions to him recently.
[To read Kathy's Quick Q & A with Vance Gilbert, click on the headline.]
Nominees Named for 55th Annual Grammy Awards
Nominees in more than 75 categories have been named for the 55th Annual Grammy Awards, to be broadcast live on CBS television stations from the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California on Sunday, Feb. 10, 2013. Mumford & Sons was among the top nominees with nods for Album of the Year, Best Americana Album and Best Rock Performance.
[To view the full article, including a list of nominees in the Roots Music Field, click on the headline.]
Quick Q & A with Garnet Rogers
Canadian singer-songwriter Garnet Rogers has been hailed by the Boston Globe as “a brilliant songwriter,” “a charismatic performer and singer,” and “one of the major talents of our time.” The venerable folk music publication Sing Out! noted that he “may be one of the greatest male interpreters and vocalists performing in the contemporary folk scene.” Kathy Sands-Boehmer posed some questions to him recently.
[To read Kathy's Quick Q & A with Garnet Rogers, click on the headline.]
Richard Meyer, Singer-Songwriter and Fast Folk Editor, 1952-2012
Richard Meyer, a singer-songwriter who also was an integral part of the folk music scene in New York’s Greenwich Village during the 1980s and 1990s as a booker for the Speakeasy and longtime editor of Fast Folk Musical Magazine (1986-1997), died May 14, 2012 at age 59.
[To read the full article, click on the headline.]
Chatting with Tracy Grammer About Dave Carter
Tracy Grammer— who has served as the “keeper of the flame” regarding her late partner Dave Carter’s songs — has released a new collection of archived and rediscovered home and studio recordings of the duo’s tunes. Entitled Little Blue Egg, the album topped the Folk DJ chart last month. In a recent chat with New Jersey-based singer-songwriter Sharon Goldman, Grammer shared her memories of Dave Carter’s creative process as well as his songwriting habits, advice and inspiration. Goldman’s article, written for Songwriting Scene, her blog for songwriters about songwriting, is re-posted here with permission.
[To read the article, click on the headline.]
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