Singer/songwriter Vic Chesnutt has died at age 45. Chesnutt, of Athens, GA, has been paralyzed since a car accident at age 18 and, although he never achieved a great deal of sales was a favorite of critics and other musicians. He is perhaps best known as the musician featured in the second Sweet Relief album (after Victoria Williams).
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I just read an announcement on the FOLKDJ-L that singer/songwriter Keith Pitzer has died of cancer. Keith, who most recently recorded with his wife Joan, was dedicated to the Appalachian region and recorded for Falling Mountain Music. He was Executive Director of Friends of the Cheat, an organization dedicated to preserving and restoring the Cheat River watershed. The family is asking those who wish to honor Keith to donate to this organization. I looked for a formal obituary but could not find one. There will be a public celebration ceremony honoring Keith’s life sometime this spring, according to the announcement. No date has been set. Podcast with Keith Pizer interview from West Virginia Writers Podcast. Need a song for that special occasion – maybe a wedding, or birthday, or retirement party, or anniversary, or to honor a special person in your life? Try custom songs by erik. Philadelphia-based singer/songwriter Erik Balkey will interview you about the story or person you’d like immortalized and deliver a fully produced song for you. As I write this, I’m previewing for airplay the second compilation of these songs, and I have to admit that I will play songs from this CD just like I played songs from the last one because they are good songs. It’s a fascinating experiment – so often singer/songwriters mine their own lives and experiences for song topics and hope that it resonates, but here is a singer/songwriter mining other people’s lives with their permission and producing excellent work and getting paid for it. It leads me to wonder how many of the people and moments and memories there are in an “ordinary” life (whatever that is) that are worth treasuring and immortalizing in song. Ask any married couple – they have a love story. Ask anyone with a child – they have a story about their child. Ask anyone about their parents – there’s a story. Over on the FOLKDJ-L (Folk DJ list), we’re talking about who the Folk Artists of The Decade are. One measure is how many months the artists have topped the Folk Radio charts over the last 10 years, which would lead to the following list:
This is a pretty good list. However, it is important to note that folk radio airplay may or may not represent the best way to measure, since folk music DJs tend to like acoustic singer/songwriters far above about anything else. Folk fusion groups like Afro Celt Sound System are not ever likely to grace the top of the folk radio charts. Certainly, if sales were the sole determination, Bruce Springsteen would be the most influential, having put one folk album (We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions) into the Billboard “Top 200 Album Chart” top 10 (#3) and another (Live in Dublin) at #23. I would say that Springsteen’s rtribute to Pete Seeger was clearly the most important thing that happened in folk music this decade, and that any discussion of Folk Artist of the Decade has to start with Springsteen. The quick rise to prominence and tragic early death of Dave Carter would also have to rate as important developments in folk music. His blend of folk music stylings and Eastern spirituality took the folk world by storm, and the quality of the songs he left behind may be unparalleled in this decade. Although she didn’t receive the kind of airplay on folk radio that the other artists received, I think you would also have to consider the importance of Ani DiFranco – not only for her staccato folk/punk fusion, but also for her business acumen. Righteous Babe Records not only showed the world that a folk artist could do well by starting her own label and staying the course, but in the last decade Righteous Babe branched out from being Ani’s personal label to signing and developing other artists. Her albums with Utah Phillips introduced him to a whole new generation of fans. Other artists she has signed include Anaïs Mitchell and Andrew Bird, whose appeal extends outside of the folk community into the indie world. So, there are some artists to consider for Folk Artists of the Decade. Your thoughts? It’s no secret that I love Christmas music. I have a substantial collection of Christmas CDs and every year I go out and get a few more. In fact, I love Christmas music so much that I start a second Internet broadcast every year, Festival Christmas, in order just to play my favorite Christmas music. This year, I’ve decided to spotlight some of my all-time favorite Christmas CDs in order to help you in your music shopping or holiday gift buying, or just to get you in the holiday mood. You can hear tracks from all of these CDs on Festival Christmas. I present the list in alphabetical order by artist first name, with a short review. Adam Rafferty – A Christmas Guitar Celebration One of my favorite discoveries of this year is fingerstyle guitarist Adam Rafferty, and his new Christmas CD is a must for those who like solo acoustic guitar renditions of standards. The Arrogant Worms – Christmas Turkey This album is not for those without a sense of humor, and, honestly, the more warped the better. My favorite tracks are “Santa’s Gonna Kick Your Ass” (“Santa’s coming and he’s gonna kick your ass, because you’ve been a rotten little brat.” and “Christmas Turkey Blues” (sung from the perspective of the turkey. Blackmore’s Night – Winter Carols Ritchie Blackmore (former guitarist for Deep Purple) and Candice Night have been plying their renaissance/rock fusion for many years now, and if you like some traditional music mixed with occasional crunchy guitar, I recommend this CD. Brave Combo – It’s Christmas, Man! Brave Combo is just flat out awesome. Here they do the Santa Polka, wish for Christmas in July, and do polkafied and dancified versions of chestnuts like “O Christmas Tree” ( as a samba) and “The Christmas Song” (ska). Bob Dylan pretty much ripped his accordion-driven “Must Be Santa” straight off of this CD. If this album doesn’t move you to tap your toes, please have somebody check your pulse. Bruce Cockburn – Christmas One of my all-time favorite Christmas albums, highlighted by the haunting “Iesus Ahatonnia (Huron Carol)”, the gospel flavored “Early on One Christmas Morn” and the rollicking cajun hoedown gone awry, “Les Anges Dans Nos Compagnes.” The Crossing – The Court of a King Chicago-based Celtic band provides a wonderful take on the holidays, with my favorite track being the opening “O Come O Come Emmanuel”, which opens with haunting didgeridoo and flute, and a rollicking version of “Righteous Joseph.” Emmylou Harris – Light of the Stable Tasteful renditions of country Christmas classics topped off by the great vocals of Emmylou Harris. Harvey Reid and Joyce Andersen – Christmas Morning Harvey Reid is an amazing multi-instrumentalist (fingerstyle guitar, banjo, autoharp) and Joyce Andersen is a fiddle virtuouso. Together, they have put together a gem of a folky Christmas CD, superbly played and sung. One of the best purely Americana Christmas CDs I’ve ever heard. Check them out at Woodpecker Records, Reid’s label. Continue reading 20 Holiday Albums For Your Consideration From an email I just received from his publicist:
I checked it out. It seems pretty cool, so I’m passing it along. Woodsmeister’s Note – FolkBlog is privileged to have Australian music journalist Sue Barrett as a regular contributor of artist profiles and interviews. The following article is provided courtesy of Sue Barrett and she holds all copyright. By Sue Barrett
A recent issue of Sing Out! magazine featured songwriters Billy Edd Wheeler (cover story), Bruce Robison (two CD reviews) and Delaney Bramlett (whose obituary appeared as part of the “Last Chorus”). It seems that many people compose music/write songs – with allmusic.com now containing works by 280,000 composers and Google yielding 13.2 million results for the term “singer/songwriter”. Writing a song doesn’t, however, necessarily make someone a songwriter. According to Australian Steve Barnes, “Not being a singer imposes an editorial process on my songs – it means that a song has to be good enough that somebody else wants to sing it.” And for American Cris Williamson, “When somebody else does your stuff, then there’s a good chance that you might actually be a songwriter.” Billy Edd Wheeler, Bruce Robison and Delaney Bramlett have pretty good song writing credentials – with ‘Coward of the County’ going to #3 on Billboard for Kenny Rogers; ‘Travelin’ Soldier’ being a #1 country hit for the Dixie Chicks; and ‘Superstar’ reaching #2 on Billboard for the Carpenters. In her autobiography, A Voice, A Life, Australian opera singer Joan Hammond reflected on a career spent interpreting the musical works of other people, among them Beethoven, Mozart, Verdi, Wagner, Puccini and Johann Strauss. Now Faith Petric, Jon Arterton, Judi Connelli and June Tabor share their experiences of being a singer for the songs… Continue reading A Singer For The Songs Seminal folk archivist and performer Bess Lomax Hawes has died at age 88. Bess Lomax Hawes is probably best known to casual folk fans as the cowriter of the classic tune “The MTA Song,” but her involvement in folk music represented so much more. Peter Dreier submitted a fine remembrance to Huffington Post for those who would like to learn more about a woman who lived a remarkable life. Winners of the 2009 Canadian Folk Music Awards can be found here. |
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