Singer-songwriter Patty Griffin's American Kid tops the the Roots Music Report folk radio chart for a second week, while Steve Earle & the Dukes (& Duchesses)' The Low Highway, also a New West release, retains the #1 spot on the roots country chart. [To view the current folk and roots country radio charts, click on the headline.]
Singer-songwriter Patty Griffin's American Kid moves into the #1 position on the Roots Music Report folk radio chart this week, while Steve Earle & the Dukes (& Duchesses)' The Low Highway, also a New West release, tops the roots country chart. [To view the current folk and roots country radio charts, click on the headline.]
Mary Chapin Carpenter, Steve Earle and the Dukes, Mary Gauthier, Tracy Grammer, John Hiatt, Brother Sun, The Holmes Brothers, Little Feat, Mark Erelli, Lori McKenna, Atwater-Donnelly, Paul Thorn, Lucinda Williams, rockabilly queen Wanda Jackson, The HillBenders, Red Clay Ramblers, Roosevelt Dime and Spuyten Duyvil are among the dozens of artists and acts slated to perform during the 51st annual Philadelphia Folk Festival, August 17-19, at the Old Pool Farm in Upper Salford Township, near Schwenksville, Pennsylvania. The festival is produced and presented by the nonprofit Philadelphia Folksong Society. [To read the full article, click on the headline.]
Nominees for the Americana Music Association’s 2012 Americana Honors & Awards were announced on May 31 during a celebratory event at The Grammy Museum’s Clive Davis Theatre in Los Angeles, California. With nods for Album of the Year, Artist of the Year, Song of the Year and Duo/Group of the Year,Jason Isbell snagged the most nominations, along with his group, the 400 Unit. [To read the full article and see the list of nominees in six categories, as voted by members of the Americana Music Association, click on the headline.]
Austin, Texas-based singer-songwriter Hayes Carll’s Lost Highway release KMAG YOYO is the #1 album of 2011 on the Americana Airplay Chart. The album-based chart prepared for the Americana Music Association represents reported play on broadcast, satellite and Internet radio stations as well as nationally syndicated shows that submit weekly spin counts. [ To view the article in its entirety, including mention of the year-end Top 10 on the Americana Airplay Chart, click on the headline.]
Nominees in more than 75 categories have been named for the 54th Annual Grammy Awards, to be broadcast live from Los Angeles, California on Sunday, Feb. 12, 2012, on CBS television stations. [To see a list of nominees in the American Roots Music Field -- including those for Best Folk Album, Best Americana Album, Best Bluegrass Album, Best Blues Album, and Best Regional Roots Music Album -- click on the headline.]
Ryan Bingham was the big winner during last night’s Ninth Annual Americana Music Association Honors and Awards Show at the historic Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee. The 29-year old singer-songwriter was named Artist of the Year and won Song of the Year honors for “The Weary Heart,” the theme from the film Crazy Heart. [To see the names of all the winners and read the entire article, click on the headline.]
Two events on two successive weekends in June help mark the beginning of the summer outdoor festival season in New York State -- Clearwater’s Great Hudson River Revival and the 30th annual Old Songs Festival. [To read the entire article, click on the headline.]
Many of the winners in the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards, presented by the Recording Academy -- including those in the recently renamed and expanded American Roots Music field -- were announced online prior to televised ceremonies on January 31 from the Staples Center in Los Angeles. [To view the full article and see the list of winners, click here.]
Joan Baez is the focus of an American Masters series documentary that begins airing on PBS television stations across the country on October 14 at 8 p.m. (ET). Entitled “Joan Baez: How Sweet the Sound,” the documentary chronicles the private life and public career of the living folk legend who made her debut appearance at the Newport Folk Festival in 1959 and returned to that stage this past August as part of her worldwide tour celebrating 50 years as a recording artist and performer. [To read the entire article, click on the headline.]
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 song. She recalls listening to a lot of radio news reports about the war in Iraq while driving in her car and being bothered by the way in which “everyday I would usually just hear a number of how many people had died. It was just like a weather report.” “The Mind of a Soldier,” which can be heard on her MySpace page, seeks to address the human element.
[To read the entire article, click on the headline.]
