Folk Alliance International Announces Showcase Artists

Folk Alliance International has announced the following showcase artists for the 2010 Conference held in Memphis February 17-21^st, 2010.

These artists are:

Read Full Post »

More Added to The Who Benefit Concert Line-Up

Concert producer Michael Dorf today announced that soul diva Bettye LaVette and roots-rocker Jason Isbell have been added to the line-up of heavy-hitters who will pay tribute to The Who at a benefit concert at Carnegie Hall on March 2, 2010.

Other artists already scheduled to honor The Who and their unique repertoire of rock classics include Bobby McFerrin, Bob Mould (of Husker Du), Gaslight Anthem, Matt Nathanson, Sondre Lerche, The Postelles, Warren Haynes & Govt. Mule, Living Colour, Robyn Hitchcock, The Smithereens and Mose Allison (author of The Who hit “Young Man Blues”). More artists will be added to the line-up in the coming weeks.

Dorf’s previous tributes at Carnegie, honoring the music of Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Elton John and R.E.M. have all played to sold-out audiences. The concert will raise critically needed funds for six music education non-profits.

LaVette, the critically acclaimed soul/R&B veteran, stole the show at President Obama’s Inaugural concert with her emotional rendition of Sam Cooke‘s “A Change Is Gonna Come.” Southern roots-rocker Isbell, who recorded with LaVette two years ago on the critically acclaimed album “The Scene of the Crime,” launched a solo career in 2007 after six years as a singer/guitarist with the Drive-By Truckers.

For tickets, plus more information on the concert and the organizations it will benefit, go to: www.carnegiewho.com.

Submitted by Shore Fire Media

Read Full Post »

Ali Farka Touré and Toumani Diabaté to Release New CD

World Circuit and Nonesuch Records are set to release Ali and Toumani, the second and last album pairing the late Malian guitar virtuoso Ali Farka Touré and kora master Toumani Diabaté, on February 23. Recorded over three afternoons at London’s Livingston Studios in 2005, with contributions from the late Orlando “Cachaíto” López on bass, Ali and Toumani is the successor to the duo’s Grammy-winning In the Heart of the Moon. The new album was produced by Nick Gold and beautifully recorded by Jerry Boys, the same production team behind the earlier recording. It is the last album recorded by both Ali Farka Touré and Cachaíto López.

Video clip for the song “Kala Djula”
Short film on the making of the album
Album info
Artists’ bios

Submitted by Sacks & Co.

Read Full Post »

Eaglesmith makes Holidays Happier for Beleagured Steelworkers

Acclaimed and award-winning singer-songwriter Fred Eaglesmith
is known and lauded for his telling and empathetic portraits in song of
working class and dispossessed people. And he acts on his principles by
adding a special benefit show to his annual Fred Eaglesmith Winter Weekend
festival in Port Dover, Ontario for laid-off and locked-out steelworkers
from nearby U.S. Steel plants in Hamilton and Nanticoke. The December 20
show will raise funds for the workers and offer free tickets to members of
the United Steelworkers union that represents them.

U.S. Steel laid off some 800 workers and later locked out another 150 from
March through August this year at the Nanticoke plant and temporarily shut
down the Nanticoke and Hamilton plants in violation of union contracts and
the agreement the company made with the Canadian government when it
purchased the facilities in 2007. It also slashed employee pension plans and
health care benefits for retired workers and froze wages and cost of living
increases for active workers. Both the Steelworkers union and the Canadian
government are suing U.S. Steel as a result of its actions, and the union is
supporting a bid by Lakeside Steel to purchase the plants and fulfill the
operating and union agreements.

Read Full Post »

New York Guitar Festival Announces 10th Anniversary of Concerts

No instrument has spoken in more voices to more people than the guitar, and over the past decade no festival has sought out the modulations in those voices and the range of the guitar’s cultural expressions than the New York Guitar Festival.
Following its success since 1999 (with rave reviews in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Jazz Times as well as sister festivals in Urbana, Illinois and Adelaide Australia), the New York Guitar Festival announces its tenth season of concert performances, January 8 though February 4, 2010.

The festival boasts over 30 exceptional guitarists of jazz, classical, rock, traditional, and avant garde styles. Participating venues include Merkin Concert Hall, The 92nd Street Y, The World Financial Center’s Winter Garden, Le Poisson Rouge and Barbes. Concerts range from an all-day Guitar Marathon interpreting the music of J.S. Bach and his contemporaries, (featuring, among other internationally-famous musicians, the Brazilian Guitar Quartet, Paul O’Dette, Ana Vidovic, Eliot Fisk, Paul Galbraith and Nigel North) to the Hindustani slide guitar music of Debashish Bhattacharya.

Read Full Post »

Oxford American focuses Southern Music Issue on Arkansas

The Oxford American magazine’s 11^th annual Southern Music edition — weighing in at 192 pages and accompanied by two CDs with 52 songs — hit bookstores and newsstands nationwide on Dec. 1.

“This is another blockbuster Oxford American Southern Music issue,” said Warwick Sabin, publisher of The Oxford American.  “Its 192 pages are packed with the best music writing in the country, and the CDs are another rich collection of songs that are interesting, soulful and fun.”

Also, beginning this year, the award-winning and critically acclaimed Southern Music issue will annually focus on the musical heritage of a particular Southern state, in addition to covering the breadth and depth of music from the entire region.  The first state to be the object of attention will be Arkansas.

“We are very pleased to inaugurate this new concept by focusing on Arkansas,” Sabin said.  “Besides being our home state, we also feel that Arkansas has never received the attention it deserves for its rich musical history and experience.  The Oxford American — with its outstanding reputation and credibility among music experts and music lovers worldwide — is in a unique position to place Arkansas among the vanguard of musical heritage sites.”

Read Full Post »

The Blues Foundation Announces 2010 Blues Music Award Nominees

The Blues Foundation will present the Blues Music Awards at the Cook Convention Center in Memphis, TN on May 6, 2010.  Performers, industry representatives and fans from around the globe will have the chance to celebrate the best in Blues recording and performance from 2009.

Among those heading the list of honorees for the 31st Blues Music Awards Joe Louis Walker who garnered five nominations, including Album of the Year, Contemporary Blues Album of the Year, and Song of the Year for “I’m Tide” from his recent release Between a Rock and the Blues. Rick Estrin, Tommy Castro, Louisiana Red and Duke Robillard, each received four nominations. (Full nominees list below)

Read Full Post »

Music Voyager to Begin Broadcasting in 2010

Indie music label Cumbancha and production company Tantra World Wide announced today that their new music and adventure series Music Voyager will begin broadcasting in February 2010 on PBS through American Public Television, on Nat Geo Music & Adventure and other international television and broadband outlets. The series follows host Jacob Edgar as he explores the globe in search of unexpected adventures and surprising discoveries that unveil the magic and mystery of music from near and far. With local musicians as his guide, Edgar tastes exotic and occasionally ghastly food, visits off-the-beaten path attractions and parties the night away at amazing concerts in hidden venues that only the locals know. Along the way, viewers are rewarded with a VIP pass to nightclubs, festivals, recording studios and rehearsal rooms, experiencing an ear-opening journey along the world’s musical heartbeat.

Read Full Post »

Berklee Unveils New American Roots Program

When Mark O’Connor performs at Berklee College of Music on Dec. 10 with a group of faculty and students, he’ll be celebrating more than the end of his week-long residency.  He’ll introduce Berklee’s new American Roots Music Program, directed by Matt Glaser.
Reflecting violinist Glaser’s own eclectic tastes and journeys, the American Roots Music Program explores America’s musical and cultural heritage, and creates a focus on the styles from which all contemporary music originates. Students will delve into blues, gospel, folk, country, bluegrass, Cajun, Western swing, polka, Tex-Mex, and other sounds.

Glaser will design the curriculum, promote nontraditional improvisation, develop faculty programs, and host visiting artists, concerts and symposiums. Top contemporary performers, writers, and producers who are carrying on the American roots traditions constitute the board of advisors to the Roots Music Program: Ricky Skaggs, Bela Fleck, Leo Kottke, Charlie Haden, Edgar Meyer, David Grisman, Andy Statman, Don Rigsby, Lloyd Maines, Liz Carroll, John Blake, Geoff Muldaur, Bruce Molsky, Ted Gioia, Jay Ungar and Molly Mason, Darol Anger, Ray Benson, Doug Wamble, John Lawless, Fletcher Bright,  Sara and Sean Watkins ,and Michael Doucet.

Read Full Post »