FolkBlog

I often get offered music for review, and most of the time, giving airplay is sufficient.  However, every once in a while I get something special.  At the request of Festivalink.net, I downloaded the live set from the Levon Helm Band from Merle Fest, and it’s barely left my CD player at work since.  Helm is backed by a crack horn section and killer full band and they rip through a 79-minute set of classics from The Band, Dylan, Bruce Springsteen as well as some classic blues and Americana and from his recent album Dirt Farmer.  If you like what Springsteen did with the full band treatment of folk classics, you will really dig this. 

The nice thing about Festivalink.net is that the downloads are not bootlegs - they’re made with the full cooperation of the band, and the sound quality is generally outstanding.  In addition to mp3 album downloads, they also offer FLAC files as well as physical CDs for those of you who prefer the lossless format.  They have been recording at major festivals (Merle Fest, Philly Folk and others) for the last several years and they have a growing catalog (though be careful - some of the shows are quite short, and it does not seem that the price is adjusted any based on the length of the set).