Kate MacLeod and Art Podell were honored as the recipients of the 2019 Best of the West Awards during an Oct. 12 luncheon as part of the 16th annual Folk Alliance Region-West (FAR-West) Conference in Woodland Hills, California. [To continue reading this article, click on the headline.]
Singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Tim O’Brien has been making waves in bluegrass, country, folk and roots music circles for some time. His latest release, Chicken & Egg, is currently the #1 album on the Roots Music Report Folk Radio Chart (which is posted in the Acoustic Radio Waves section on AcousticMusicScene.com). And O’Brien is among the nominees for International Bluegrass Music Association‘s Male Vocalist of the Year, one of the awards and honors to be presented by the IBMA on Sept. 30 at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, TN. A two-time past recipient of that honor, O’Brien also has previously been recognized by the IBMA for Album of the Year and Song of the Year and received a Grammy Award for Best Traditional Folk Album (Fiddler’s Green) in 2005. The 56-year-old West Virginia native, a co-founder and lead vocalist for Hot Rize and Red Knuckles and the Trailblazers, has released 13 solo albums and also has collaborated with his sister, Mollie. Notable artists such as Dierks Bentley, Garth Brooks, Dixie Chicks, Kathy Mattea, New Grass Revival and the Seldom Scene also have recorded his songs. Kathy Sands-Boehmer posed a few questions to O’Brien recently. [To read Kathy's Quick Q & A with Tim O'Brien, click on the headline.]
Red Horse - the debut album by the contemporary folk trio of Eliza Gilkyson, John Gorka and Lucy Kaplansky - continues in the top spot on the Roots Music Report Folk Radio Chart. Albums by Tim O'Brien, Frazey Ford, Mollie O'Brien & Rich Moore, and The John Hartford Stringband follow. This week's Folk Top 50 is posted here with permission. [To view the current Roots Music Report Folk Radio Chart, click on the headline.]
