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.]
Jenee Halstead, who grew up in Washington State and now lives in Massachusetts, is a gifted singer-songwriter with a beautiful voice. Her self-released debut album, The River Grace, whose sound is rooted in the past yet beckons the progression of Americana, has received considerable airplay by folk radio DJs across the country in recent months. Ethan Baird, a Boston area musician like Jenee, recently posed a few questions to her. [To read the Q & A with Jenee Halstead, click on the headline.]
Chuck E. Costa, known for his candid and visceral delivery of literate and well-crafted contemporary folk tunes, has been garnering much critical acclaim over the past couple of years. Costa, whose songs were described as “sensitive, introspective… inspired” in The New York Times, won the 2008 Rocky Mountain Folks Fest Songwriting Contest and will again grace the festival’s main stage this August. In 2007, he was finalist in the prestigious Grassy Hill/Kerrville NewFolk competition, as well as a Solarfest (Vermont) songwriting contest winner and Telluride Troubadour third-place winner. A native New Yorker, he returned to the Northeast and has released three independent albums and an EP since graduating from the University of Colorado in 2002. The opening track of his latest, Where The Songs Come From, was featured on a compilation CD released by Hear Music and distributed at Starbucks throughout North America. [Kathy Sands-Boehmer recently posed a few questions to Chuck. To read her interview, click on the headline.]
Calling Greg Klyma ‘unique’ is not quite adequate. He’s more than unique — all in a good way. His songs resonate with truthfulness, joy, and sadness and remind us all about what it’s like to be human. His vivid lyrics inform us about characters he has met on the road and at home. It’s impossible not to identify with many of them from our own lives. [To read Kathy Sands-Boehmer's recent interview with the self-described "Rust Belt Vagabond," click on the headline.]
Tom Rush has been captivating audiences with his rich, melodic voice and gently laid-back, rustic brand of folk music since he first burst on the coffeehouse scene in Cambridge, Massachusetts while a student at Harvard in the early 1960s. One of the most acclaimed singer-songwriters of our time, he has both written songs that have been covered by others and introduced the world to other notable artists through his gifted reinterpretations of their work. Kathy Sands-Boehmer posed a few questions to him recently. [To read Kathy's quick Q & A with Tom Rush, click on the headline.]
It’s been said that AJ Roach’s music illustrates the blurry line between traditional folk and indie folk. His musical heritage harkens back to the old-time roots of pure and simple Appalachian music, yet there’s a certain edginess that is very evident throughout all of his music, asserts Kathy Sands-Boehmer. She considers that " a great combination." Kathy recently posed a few questions to the Baltimore, Maryland-based singer-songwriter. storyteller and relentlessly touring artist, whose second album, Revelation, reached #1 on the Euro-Americana chart in late 2006, prior to its U.S. release by Waterbug in 2007. AcousticMusicScene.com was pleased to include him in our Midnight Hoot during the Northeast Regional Folk Alliance (NERFA) Conference that year. [To read Kathy's Q & A interview with AJ Roach, click on the headline.]
His songs -- most notably "The Garden Song" -- have been covered by many artists over the years -- including Pete Seeger, Arlo Guthrie, Emmylou Harris, Alison Kraus, Kathy Mattea, and John Denver (with The Muppets). David Mallett also is a gifted singer in his own right, as those who have heard him will readily attest. Kathy Sands-Boehmer recently posed a few questions to the singer-songwriter from Maine, many of whose songs are informed by his own rural small town roots. [To read Kathy's Q & A with David Mallett, click on the headline.]
Some folks may be quick to label Terri Hendrix' music as acoustic Americana. And although the San Marcos, Texas-based singer-songwriter calls The Spiritual Kind, her ninth independent release, a folk record, Hendrix -- no relation to 'that Hendrix,' although her dad's name is Jim -- professes to like all styles of music, and her own musical stylings cannot be easily pigeonholed.
Kathy Sands-Boehmer recently posed questions to this gifted artist.
[To read Kathy's Q & A with Terri Hendrix, click on the headline.]
Guitarist-singer Matt Heaton and Irish flute player-singer Shannon Heaton have been playing music together since 1992, although the two did not begin to focus their creative energies on their duo until 2003. Since then, they have released four albums. Their latest is a collection of traditional love songs and tunes entitled Lovers Well. Kathy Sands-Boehmer recently posed questions to Matt and Shannon. [To read the article, click on the headline.]
In the first installment of what will be a recurring series of question and answer-style interviews with emerging talents on the acoustic music scene, Kathy Sands-Boehmer speaks with Raina Rose. A 2007 Kerrville New Folk winner, the young Austin, Texas-based singer-songwriter is a native of Portland, Oregon. Raina Rose is currently touring the East Coast with Rebecca Loebe, another talented young singer-songwriter. [To read the Q & A with Raina Rose, click on the headline.]
AcousticMusicScene.com has upgraded its Web presence to be compatible with a wider array of browsers and to enable us to present a richer multimedia experience in the future. To further enhance the value of AcousticMusicScene.com, we continue to add new content and resources. This week we introduce two new recurring features. Folk radio charts compiled by Roots Music Report will be posted weekly in the Acoustic Radio Waves section, while Kathy Sands-Boehmer's Q & A interviews with emerging artists of note will appear in the Features section. In addition to our extensive Links section, we are creating a new Regional Calendars section with links to websites where you can find out about concerts, jam sessions and open mics in various regions and U.S. metropolitan areas. Would you like to receive email notices and short article excerpts when new items are posted on AcousticMusicScene.com? If so, you can register online by scrolling down to the bottom of the sidebar to the right of this letter. Michael Kornfeld
Hi Folks! We appreciate your patience as we upgrade our site to be compatible with a wider array of browsers and so to improve our ability to present a richer multimedia experience. Although some articles grace the home page that you are now viewing, more appear in the various departments listed on the scroll bar to the right, along with a photo gallery and an extensive links section. We hope you will visit the site often, since we plan to add lots of new content in coming weeks.
