Folk Alliance Lifetime Achievement Awards will be presented to Bob Dylan, Elizabeth Cotten, and The National Council for Traditional Arts

Folk Alliance Lifetime Achievement Awards will be presented to Bob Dylan, Elizabeth Cotten, and The National Council for Traditional Arts (NCTA) on the opening night of the 2010 International Folk Alliance Conference, February 17, 2010 in Memphis.

Early Bird Registration and Official Showcase Entry Deadline Nears for 22nd Annual International Folk Alliance Conference

(Memphis, Tenn.) Folk Alliance International is proud to announce that the recipients of the 2010 Elaine Weissman Lifetime Achievement Awards will be Bob Dylan, the late Elizabeth Cotten, and the National Council for Traditional Arts (NCTA). The annual awards will be presented on Wednesday, February 17 as part of the opening day of the 2010 International Folk Alliance Conference in Memphis, TN. Past recipients have included Pete Seeger, Mavis Staples, Earl Scruggs, Rounder Records, The Carter Family, Alan Lomax, The Newport Folk Festival, Woody Guthrie and many others including last year’s recipients Phil Ochs, Guy & Candie Carawan, and The Old Town School of Folk Music.

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Free Melody-Writing Software, Songwriting Course from SongDoor

The SongDoor 2009 International Songwriting Competition, in partnership with SongU.com, 16 Ton Studios, Hard Twist Music-BMI, MasterWriter, Spring Hill Studio Productions, Broadjam and Tanager Audioworks, will be giving every person who enters free melody-writing software and a free online songwriting course from SongU.Com. Entries are accepted online or by mail through November 15, 2009.

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Steep Canyon Rangers Plan Busy October with Steve Martin

Award-winning bluegrass band Steep Canyon Rangers are preparing to embark on a fall tour with Grammy^® and Emmy^® winning actor, comedian and musician Steve Martin, which will include performances on Late Show with David Letterman on October 5 and The View on October 6.

Martin, who is touring in support of his album The Crow: New Songs for the Five-String Banjo, met the Rangers through his wife, who is a friend of lead singer Woody Platt’s brother.  Martin and the Rangers played a few concerts together before performing on A Prairie Home Companion earlier this year.  During the program, Martin commented on the Rangers to host Garrison Keillor, saying, “They don’t need me.  I need them.”

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IBMA Fan Fest, October 2-4, Celebrates Bluegrass Music

NASHVILLE, TENN.–Bluegrass music’s premier indoor festival is just around the corner!  Bluegrass fans will want to reserve their tickets as soon as possible for IBMA‘s Bluegrass Fan Fest, scheduled for October 2-4, 2009, at the Nashville Convention Center. The star-studded grand finale of World of Bluegrass Week (Sept. 28 – Oct. 4) will present the talents of more than 60 phenomenal acts on three stages: the Main Stage, the Masters Workshop Stage and the Grand Master Fiddler Championship.

Fan Fest tickets are available for purchase at the festival gate. Three-day, single-day and student rated tickets will be available when ticket sales open on Friday, October 2, at 8 a.m. at the ticket sales center located inside the 601 Commerce Street entrance of the Nashville Convention Center.  Three-day tickets are $95, single-day tickets are $55 per day, and student tickets are $35 with ID.  Children under 16 are admitted free with paid adult admission.

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Madeleine Peyroux to Release First DVD “Somethin’ Grand” on November 24

photo by James Minchin

“Bare Bones is Peyroux’s most revealing, personal statement to date”– Associated Press

“Madeleine Peyroux’s sound is seductive and entrancing…her 11 originals sparkle on her fourth album, Bare Bones.” – The Washington Post

Burlington, MA – Rounder Records is pleased to announce the release of Madeleine Peyroux’s first DVD Somethin’ Grand on November 24. The DVD running time is 142 minutes, and it includes a full-length concert, 5 bonus acoustic performances and an hour long documentary on Peyroux’s life and career.

The live concert portion was filmed in January, 2009 in an intimate LA club setting, and features 17 of her greatest hits. It captures the distinctive jazz chanteuse and her amazing band performing a mixture of her uniquely-styled covers alongside the very personal songs she has written for her most recent, critically acclaimed album, Bare Bones (Rounder).

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Legendary Cuban Singer and Latin Grammy Nominee Omara Portuondo Receives Visa to Promote Concerts in USA

Cultural Breakthrough Achieved
Six Year Restriction On Musical Performances Lifted
San Francisco Jazz Festival October 20 and UCLA October 23

Omara Portuondo, the world renowned vocalist who began her career in the music scene of her native Cuba in the 1940s, has been granted a travel visa to perform in the United States for two very special dates in October. A member of the celebrated Buena Vista Social Club, Omara is one of the first Cuban artists in six years to obtain a visa to perform in the U.S.

Omara, whom the Los Angeles Times called “the queen of Caribbean vocalists,” will perform at the Palace of Fine Arts Theatre in San Francisco on October 20, as part of the 2009 San Francisco Jazz Festival. Later that same week, she will perform on the campus of UCLA on Friday, October 23.

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Bloomington’s “Team Väsen” Succeeds in Naming Street after Swedish String Trio

photo by Maria Camillo

On their 20th anniversary as a band, Väsen has a lot to celebrate: a new album, a long career of doing what they love, and now, they even have a street named after them.

It started as a joke for some music lovers in Bloomington, Indiana — “We love Väsen so much, we should name a street after them.” But the members of “Team Väsen” — as their fan club came to be called — started to take the idea more and more seriously; eventually, they petitioned the mayor’s office, and the result?

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Debashish Bhattacharya USA & Canada Tour

Debashish Bhattacharya will be touring the USA & Canada during September and October.

TOUR DATES
26 September Capilano College, Vancouver , British Columbia, Canada
27 September Alix Goolden Hall, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
29 – 30 September Jazz Alley, Seattle WA
1 October Yoshi’s, San Francisco, CA
3 October Jain Temple Auditorium, Milpitas, CA
4 October Schulman Auditorium, Carlsbad, CA
9 – 11 October Richmond Folk Festival, Richmond, VA
12 – 16 October Workshop, Hartford, CT
16 October Charter Oak, Hartford, CT
17 October Calvary Church, Philadelphia, PA
18 October University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA
19 – 20 October Pittsburgh workshops, Pittsburgh, PA
21 October Rhodes College, Memphis, TN
23 October Indian Society Auditorium, Lawton

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Luther Dickinson/Sons of Mudboy “Onward and Upward” out Nov. 10 from Memphis International

LUTHER DICKINSON/SONS OF MUDBOY

ONWARD AND UPWARD

Surely there is light beyond the darkness as there is dawn after the night.
I will not be gone as long as the music lingers.
I have gladly given my life to Memphis music and it has given me back a hundredfold.

from “The Last Words of James Luther Dickinson”

Just three days after the death of his father, Memphis (and Muscle Shoals and Miami) music legend Jim Dickinson, Luther Dickinson opened the doors to the family’s Zebra Ranch studio in Independence, Mississippi and recorded Onward and Upward, an album of gospel songs and hymns over the course of a few hours.  Luther, one third of the North Mississippi All-Stars and now a member of The Black Crowes, was joined by an ad hoc group dubbed “The Sons of Mudboy” (an homage to his late father’s influential rock band Mudboy and the Neutrons) who were all close to Dickinson the elder and wished to address his loss in a musical way.  The Sons of Mudboy include two veterans of the original Mudboy: Sid Selvidge (guitar, vocals) and Jimmy Crosthwait (washboard, vocals).  Also on the session were Jimbo Mathus (guitar, mandolin, banjo, vocals) formerly of the Squirrel Nut Zippers and of the South Memphis String Band, Steve Selvidge (guitar, dobro, vocals) and Paul Taylor (washtub bass) as well as vocalist Shannon McNally.

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The Woodstock Invitational Luthiers Showcase

October 23, 24 & 25, 2009, Bearsville Theater, Woodstock, NY

THE WOODSTOCK INVITATIONAL LUTHIERS SHOWCASE Announces Exhibitor Roster, Performers, Concert and Clinic Schedule, October 23, 24 & 25, 2009

(September 15, 2009, Woodstock, NY)  The Woodstock Invitational Luthiers Showcase is an alternative guitar show, featuring fine, handmade acoustic guitars and stringed musical instruments exhibited by their makers. Show and sale with continuous live acoustic music performances and Luthier Demonstrations, 11:00 AM to 6:00 PM, Saturday and Sunday, October 24 and 25, 2009, at The Bearsville Theater, 291 Tinker Street (Route 212), Woodstock, New York 12498. General admission $10 per day. Also included is a Special Exhibit of significant historic, vintage and contemporary acoustic guitars and stringed instruments loaned by major collectors.

In addition, there will be two concerts and a number of instructional clinics and workshops, by separate admission.

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