Winners Named in 2025 Kerrville New Folk Competition
Six singer-songwriters have been named as winners in the 2025 Grassy Hill Kerrville New Folk Competition for Emerging Songwriters. They were chosen by a panel of judges from among 24 finalists who performed two songs each during the New Folk Concerts on May 24 and 25 as part of the Kerrville Folk Festival, an 18-day event at the Quiet Valley Ranch in the Texas Hill Country near Austin and San Antonio.
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FAI Folk Radio Charts – April 2025
Tim Grimm had the top album (Bones of Trees), was the most-played artist, and had five of the top 10 songs on folk radio during April 2025. “Ain’t That the Way“ by Rees Shad was the month’s top song. So say charts compiled by Folk Alliance International based on radio playlists submitted to FOLKDJ-L, an electronic discussion group for DJs and others interested in folk-based music on the radio.
[Click on the headline to continue reading this article and to view the top albums, songs and artists charts that are posted monthly with permission.]
Remembering Jill Sobule, 1959-2025
Jill Sobule, 66, was groundbreaking and much revered and loved singer-songwriter and human rights activist best-known for her 1995 breakthrough hit single “I Kissed a Girl” (the first openly LGBTQ-themed song to crack the Billboard Top 20) and “Supermodel” from that year’s popular “Clueless” film soundtrack. Both songs appear on the first of her 12 albums. In the week since her tragic death in a Minnesota house fire on May 1, 2025 sent shockwaves through the folk and singer-songwriter communities, many of her fellow artists have expressed their grief and shared personal reflections on Facebook. A sampling follows.
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Singer-Songwriter Roger Whittaker, 1936-2023
Roger Whittaker, a Nairobi, Kenya-born and raised British singer-songwriter and musician, died September 13, 2023 at the age of 87. A resident of southern France, where he and his wife Natalie had retired to in 2012, Whittaker was an internationally acclaimed artist whose career spanned six decades. His music was a mix of folk and easy listening-style pop songs, both original compositions and choice covers.
[Click on the headline to continue reading this article and listen to a couple of Roger Whittaker's hit songs.]
Singer-Songwriter Jim Post, 1939-2022
Jim Post, a singer-songwriter who was a fixture on the folk music scene in Chicago for more than 50 years, died on September 14, 2022 following a long illness.
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2022 Kerrville New Folk Finalists Announced
Twenty-four songwriters have been named as finalists in the 2022 Grassy Hill Kerrville New Folk Competition for Emerging Songwriters. Chosen from among more than 500 submissions from around the world, the finalists will perform the two songs they submitted at the New Folk Concerts slated for Saturday and Sunday afternoons, May 28 and 29, as part of the 50th annual Kerrville Folk Festival.
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Semifinalists Named in 2022 Songwriter Serenade Competition
Fifteen songwriters have been invited to showcase their original songs and compete for prize money at the St. John’s Outdoor Pavilion in Schulenburg, Texas on Saturday, May 7, 2022, after being named as semifinalists in the 2022 Songwriter Serenade competition.
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Kerrville Folk Festival Virtual Celebration Set; 24 New Folk Finalists Named
Although the annual 18-day-long Kerrville Folk Festival won’t be taking place in late May-June 2021 on the Quiet Valley Ranch in the Texas Hill Country due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a KFF Virtual Celebration is set to stream live from there on Saturday, May 29. Meanwhile, 24 songwriters have been named as finalists in the 2021 Grassy Hill Kerrville New Folk Competition for Emerging Songwriters and will showcase their talents online during Finalist Concerts beginning at 7 p.m. CT, May 22 and 23.
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Lois Morton, A Witty Singer-Songwriter, 1933-2020
The Long Island music community has lost one of its most unique and gifted singer-songwriters. Lois Morton -- who delighted audiences throughout the New York metropolitan area and beyond for years with her abundant charm and humorous songs of social commentary on such subjects as cell phones, clutter, diets, psychotherapy, and road rage -- passed away on Dec. 17 at 87.
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Online Tribute to John Prine Premieres June 11
Family and friends of John Prine will share memories of and songs by the internationally acclaimed and revered singer-songwriter during Picture Show: A Tribute Celebrating John Prine on Thursday, June 11. The online celebration of his life and music will stream on Prine’s YouTube channel and Facebook page, as well as Oh Boy Records' Twitch channel, at 7:30 p.m. EDT/6:30 p.m. CDT/4:30 p.m. PDT and can be replayed through Sunday. A songwriter’s songwriter, who toured and plied his craft for nearly 50 years, Prine died April 7 at the age of 73 from complications of the coronavirus (COVID-19).
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FAI Folk Radio Airplay Charts – April 2020
John Prine, an internationally acclaimed and revered singer-songwriter who died April 7 at the age of 73 from complications of the coronavirus (COVID-19), was the top artist and had both the top two albums (The Tree of Forgiveness and John Prine), as well as seven of the month’s top 10 songs, on folk radio during April 2020. So say charts compiled by Folk Alliance International based on radio playlists submitted to FOLKDJ-L, an electronic discussion group for DJs and others interested in folk-based music on the radio.
[The monthly top albums, songs and artists charts are posted on AcousticMusicScene.com, with permission. To view them, click on headline.]
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