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...Abbie Gardner is Folk Winner in John Lennon Songwriting Contest
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...Bluegrass Festivals Set for Early Summer in New England
With summer approaching, the festival season will soon be in full swing in the Northeast. There will be plenty of banjos, fiddles and high-lonesome harmonies in New England. Among the bluegrass festivals taking place in the region early in the summer are the Strawberry Park Bluegrass Festival (May 28-31) and both the Blistered Fingers Family Bluegrass Festival and the Jenny Brook Family Bluegrass Festival (June 18-21).
[To read the entire article, including artist lineups for the festivals, click on the headline.]
Phil Henry Wins 2009 SMAF Songwriter Contest
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.]
Roots Music Report Folk Radio Chart, 05-15-09
Roots Music Report compiles weekly radio airplay charts for various roots-related genres. These are based on spin totals reported by music directors and DJs from more than 400 terrestrial and Internet radio stations. The latest Folk chart is posted here with permission.
[To view the latest Folk radio airplay chart, click on the headline.]
Quick Q & A with Jenee Halstead
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.]
Stephen Bruton, ‘the Soul of Texas Music,’ 1948-2009
Stephen Bruton, an Austin, Texas-based guitarist, songwriter and actor, has died at age 60, after battling throat cancer for more than two years. Bruton died peacefully in his sleep on May 9, at the Los Angeles, California home of his childhood friend, musician and producer T Bone Burnett, who considered him “the soul of Texas music” and with whom he was working on the soundtrack for Jeff Bridges’ film “Crazy Heart.”
[To read the entire article, click on the headline.]
LA Acoustic Music Festival Set for June 6-7, 2009
During the summer, the Santa Monica Pier in Southern California is teaming with people who flock there to leisurely stroll and soak up the laid-back beach atmosphere, partake of an array of dining and entertainment choices, bask in the sun and cool ocean breezes, and enjoy often fabulous sunsets. On the weekend of June 6 and 7 there’s even more to lure acoustic music fans to the famous pier. That’s when the inaugural LA Acoustic Music Festival takes place.
[To read the entire article, click on the headline.]
Roots Music Report Folk Radio Chart, 05-08-09
Roots Music Report compiles weekly radio airplay charts for various roots-related genres. These are based on spin totals reported by music directors and DJs from more than 400 terrestrial and Internet radio stations. The latest Folk chart is posted here with permission.
[To view the latest Folk radio airplay chart, click on the headline.]
Getting to Know … Chuck E. Costa
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...
A Quick Q & A with Greg Klyma
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.]
Roots Music Report Folk Radio Chart, 05-01-09
Roots Music Report compiles weekly radio airplay charts for various roots-related genres. These are based on spin totals reported by music directors and DJs from more than 400 terrestrial and Internet radio stations. The latest Folk radio airplay chart is posted on AcousticMusicScene.com with permission.
[To view the latest Folk radio airplay chart, click on the headline.]
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