FolkBlog

Top 16 songs as rated by Festival Radio listeners, July 2009.  Why 16?   Because I said so.

Artist – Track – Album

1. Ariane Lydon – Come Clean My Chimney – Still She Moves
2. Emily Smith – Old Mortality – Too Long Away
3. Leonard Cohen – First We Take Manhattan – The Essential Leonard Cohen
4. Johnny Cash – The Wanderer (U2 Starring Johnny Cash) – The Essential Johnny Cash
5. The Band – Ophelia – Greatest Hits
6. Steve Robinson – Road to Ruin – Undercurrent
7. Red Molly – Beaumont Rest Stop – Love and Other Tragedies
8. John Flynn – The Darker the Night ( The Brighter the Stars) – America’s Waiting
9. Silly Sisters – Fine Horsemen – The Folk Collection
10. Sandy Denny – Learning the Game – No More Sad Refrains: The Anthology
11. Phil Ochs – Talking Pay TV - Classic Protest Songs From Smithsonian Folkways
12. Corinne West – Roses to Rust – Second Sight
13. Traveling Wilburys – Not Alone Any More – Vol 1
14. Steppin’ In It – The Freightliner – Simple Tunes For Simple Times
15. Tift Merritt – Stray Paper – Buckingham Solo
16. The Kingston Trio – Hard Travelin’ – I’m Goin’ Home

Top 14 tracks as rated by listeners to Festival Radio.  Why 14?  Because listeners only rated 14 tracks.  As TV’s Craig Ferguson would say: “I know!”  So, if you’re using the Live365 player, please help me out by rating the songs that you dig, OK?  Songs that get the big thumbs up from listeners tend to get left in the playlist.  Please?

Artist – Track – Album

1. Phil Hardy – The Long Drive Home Set – Revisited
2. Lynn Marie and the Boxhounds – Rainy day Waltz – Party Dress
3. Joe Crookston – Mending Walls – Able Baker Charlie and Dog
4. The British Columbians – Going out on you – The British Columbians
5. Sweet Bitters – Secret Scar – Sweet Bitters
6. Ladysmith Black Mambazo – Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door (with Dolly Parton) – Heavenly
7. Uncle Earl – Take These Chains - She Waits For Night
8. Old Blind Dogs – The breton & Galician Set – The Gab o Mey
9. Jackson Browne – My Personal Revenge – World In Motion
10. Randall Williams – War Stories – Praying For Land
11. David Stoddard – Stuff – Get Off My Lawn
12. Shawn Mullins – House Of The Rising Sun – 9th Ward Picking Parlor
13. Eddi Reader – Dragonflies – Love Is The Way
14. Gordie Tentrees – Fishing Fool – Bottleneck To Wire

Top 29 tracks, Festival Radio for May 2009.  Why 29?  Because the listeners rule.

Artist – Track – Album

1. Mary-Chapin Carpenter – Down at the Twist and Shout – Shooting Straight in the Dark
2. Bob Dylan – Tell Ol’ Bill (alternate version, North Country Soundtrack) – Tell Tale Signs
3. Red Molly – Wayfaring Stranger - Love and Other Tragedies
4. David Wilcox – Modern World – Open Hand
5. Over the Rhine – All I Need Is Everything - Good Dog Bad Dog: The Home Recording
6. Steve Goodman – Elvis Imitators - Anthology: No Big Surprise
7. Nerissa & Katryna Nields – The Right Road - Sister Holler
8. Kim Beggs – Up From the River – Wanderer’s Paean
9. Mustard’s Retreat – Bowling Green – A Resolution of Something
10. Leonard Cohen – Suzanne – The Essential Leonard Cohen
11. Laura Gibson – Spirited – Beasts Of Seasons
12. Jason Wilber – Lazy Afternoon – Lazy Afternoon
13. Eilen Jewell – I’m Gonna Dress In Black – Sea Of Tears
14. Diana Jones – Soldier Girl – Better Times Will Come
15. Tim O’Brien – Man Gave Names To All The Animals – Red On Blonde
16. Raul Malo – Moonlight Kiss – Lucky One
17. Meg Braun – Open Wide – Tomboy Princess
18. Crooked Still – Undone In Sorrow – Still Crooked
19. Brian Ashley Jones – Free to Miss You – Courier
20. Stephanie Bettman – The Only Way To Love You – Get Close To Me
21. Kate Rusby – Sir Eglamore – Hourglass
22. Buddy and Julie Miller – Gasoline And Matches – Written in Chalk
23. Hem – Too Late to Turn Back Now – Funnel Cloud
24. Bruce Cockburn – If A Tree Falls – Slice O Life
25. James McMurtry – See the Elephant – Childish Things
26. The Chieftains – Raglan Road (with Joan Osborne) – Tears of Stone
27. Rhonda Vincent and The Rage – Jolene - Ragin’ Live

Top 38 tracks as rated by listeners of Festival Radio, April 2009.  Why 38?  Why not?

Position – Artist – Track – Album

1. Bruce Cockburn – Tibetan Side of Town – Slice O Life
2. Jimmie Dale Gilmore – So I’ll Run - Spinning Around the Sun
3. Emmylou Harris and Mary Black – Green Rolling Hills of West Virginia – Singing Through the Hard Times: A Tribute to Utah Phillips
4. Grada – Maria Letizia’s - Cloudy Day Navigation
5. The Queensberry Rules – Sinking Town – The Black Dog & Other Stories
6. The Tannahill Weavers – The Black Run Set – Live and In Session
7. Sweet Bitters – Secret Scar – Sweet Bitters
8. The Avett Brothers – Hand-Me-Down Time – Emotionalism
9. Dervish – Grainne – Traveling Show
10. Tom Russell Band – Navajo Rug (with Ian Tyson) – Raw Vision
11. Sligo Rags – Riding on the Wexford Line – The Whiskey Never Lies
12. Red Molly – Wayfaring Stranger – Love and Other Tragedies
13. Debra Cowan – Cruel Was My Father – Fond Desire Farewell
14. Simon & Garfunkel – The Times They Are A-Changin’ – Collected Works
15. Tift Merritt – Virginia, No One Can Warn You - Bramble Rose
16. Suzzy & Maggie Roche – God Bless The Artists - Zero Church
17. Old Crow Medicine Show – Down Home Girl – Big Iron World
18. Laura Marling – The Captain and the Hourglass – Alas I Cannot Swim
19. Solas – John Riordan’s Heels/Hoban’s White House/The Lisnagun Jig – For Love and Laughter
20. Rhonda Vincent and The Rage – Frankie Belle – Ragin’ Live
21. Cheryl Wheeler – Spring – Driving Home
22. Boiled In Lead – Menfi – Silver
23. T Bone Burnett – Power of Love – Twenty Twenty
24. Still on the Hill – Seven Pies – Ozark: A Celebration in Song
25. Mike Quick – Get Right With Your Church – Rain
26. Luka Bloom – Don’t be afraid of the light that shines within you – Eleven Songs
27. Kris Delmhorst – Wasted Word – Songs for a Hurricane
28. Craig Bickhardt – The Real Game – Brother to the Wind
29. Corey Crowder – Southern Way – The Gold in the Sand
30. Brian Ashley Jones – Free to Miss You – Courier
31. Salamander Crossing – Sweetest Song – Passion Train
32. Hem – Too Late to Turn Back Now – Funnel Cloud
33. The Clumsy Lovers – Big Ball in Brooklyn – Make Yourself Known
34. Adrienne Young – Room To Grow – Room to Grow
35. Kate Walsh – Talk Of The Town – Tim’s House
36. Shawn Mullins – House Of The Rising Sun – 9th Ward Picking Parlor
37. Steve and Ruth Smith – Mountain Minuet - Dancin’ Cross the Strings
38. Eilen Jewell – I’m Gonna Dress In Black – Sea Of Tears

Top 41 tracks, Festival Radio, March 2009.  Why 41?  For the same reason that our amps go to 11.  Not surprisingly, Celtic music dominates this month’s list, so, because I can, I’ve colored all the Celtic tracks green.

Artist – Track – Album

1. The Mavericks – Melbourne Mambo – Trampoline
2. Tempest – Battle Mountain Breakdown – Balance
3. Patti Witten – Admit It – Sycamore Tryst
4. The Cottars – Byker Hill – Forerunner
5. Melinda Crawford – The Comrie Croft Waltz – The Wandering Suitcase of Stirling
6. Chumbawamba – Add Me – The Boy Bands Have Won
7. RJ Cowdery – Down to the Water - One More Door
8. Gaelic Storm – Rocky Road To Dublin/Kid on the Mountain – Gaelic Storm
9. Clannad – An Gleann – Landmarks
10. Cherish the Ladies – The Limerick Lassies Set - At Home
11. The Bothy Band – Rosie Finn’s Favourite/ Over the Water to Charlie/ The Kid on the Mou – After Hours
12. Al Stewart – Hanno the Navigator – Sparks of Ancient Light
13. Donal Hinely – Shattered Glass – Blue State Boy
14. Alan & John Kelly – The One That Was Lost / The Hag’s Purse/The Black Rogue – Celtic Compass
15. Matt Molloy, Paul Brady and Tommy Peoples – The Rainy Day/The Grand Canal (Reels) – Molloy, Brady, Peoples
16. June Tabor – Bonny May – The Folk Collection
17. Martin Simpson – Little Musgrave – Prodigal Son
18. The Rankin Family – Fare Thee Well Love – North Country
19. The McKrells – Geraldines Thinking Of Galway – Live
20. Rosheen – Taming the Steed – Musique Celtique
21. Knot Fibb’n – Fibbin’ Jigs: Markettown Jig/Beauties of Ireland/Humors of Castlelyons - Knot Loitering
22. Silly Wizard – The Blackbird - Joyful Noise – Celtic Favorites from Green Linnet
23. Emily Smith – Caledonia – Too Long Away
24. Bill Jones – Mist Covered Mountains – Turn to Me
25. Martin Carthy & Dave Swarbuck – Carthy’s Reel – The Folk Collection
26. Molly’s Revenge – Emmet’s Hedgehog – The Western Shore
27. Liz Carroll and John Doyle – A Pound A Week Rise – Double Play
28. Karen Ashbrook & Paul Oorts – Lamentation for the Fallen Heroes of Waterloo – Celtic Cafe
29. Great Big Sea – The Night Pat Murphy Died – Rant and Roar
30. Danny Carthy – Little Balls of Twine - Stand Look Around You
31. The Tannahill Weavers – The Black Run Set - Live and In Session
32. Karan Casey – Maidin Luan Chincise – Ships in the Forest
33. Gibb Todd – Belle of Byron Bay - Goin’ Home
34. Tempest – Top Of The Hill – 15th Anniversary Collection: Disc 3 Stage
35. Runrig – Satellite Flood – Beat the Drum
36. Fairport Convention – Matty Groves – Meet on the Ledge: The Classic Years (1967-1975)
37. Natalie MacMaster – Hey, Johnny Cope! – My Roots are Showing
38. Grace Griffith – Black is the Color - Sands of Time
39. Danu – The Wonder Hornpipe – The Impish Hornpipe – The Road Less Traveled
40. John Whelan – There Were Roses - Celtic Crossroads
    
41. The Electrics – Irish Rover – The Electrics

February 2008 Top 15, Festival Radio.  Only 15 songs made the cut this time, as rated by Festival Radio listeners.  So use those up and down buttons, people!

Artist – Track – Album

1. The Waybacks – Good Enough – Loaded
2. Lawrence Blatt – Just Before Dawn – Fibonacci’s Dream
3. Lynn Miles – Unravel – Unravel
4. Leo Kottke – Morning Is The Long Way Home – One Guitar, No Vocals
5. Karine Polwart – Sorrowlessfield – This Earthly Spell
6. Cowboy Junkies – The Water Is Wide – Rarities, B-Sides and Slow, Sad Waltzes
7. Vanessa Peters and Ice Cream on Mondays – Okay From Now On – Sweetheart Keep Your Chin Up
8. Emmylou Harris – Wrecking Ball – Wrecking Ball
9. Vance Gilbert – Whatever Louise Wants – Up On Rockfield
10. Vanessa Peters and Ice Cream on Mondays – The Grammar of a Sinking Ship - Sweetheart Keep Your Chin Up
11. Blue Highway – Marbletown – Marbletown
12. Bex Marshall – Kitchen Table – Kitchen Table
13. Steve Goodman – You Better Get It While You Can (the Ballad of Carl Martin) – Anthology: No Big Surprise
14. Carrie Newcomer – Love Like An Immigrant – An Angel At My Shoulder
15. Loreena McKennitt – The Mummers’ Dance – Nights From The Alhambra

Top 42 tracks as voted by the listeners of Festival Radio, January 2009.  Why 42?  Because it is the answer to the ultimate question.

Artist – Track – Album

1. The Chieftains – Deserted Soldier (with Mary Chapin Carpenter) – Tears of Stone
2. Shawn Mullins – Cold Black Heart – 9th Ward Picking Parlor
3. Bill Evans and Megan Lynch – Sleeping Lady – Let’s Do Something
4. Over The Rhine – Ohio – Ohio
5. Madeleine Peyroux – Dance Me To The End Of Love – Careless Love
6. Eddie From Ohio – Walkin’ In Jerusalem – Portable EFO Show
7. Corinne West – Lost & Found - Second Sight
8. Richard Berman – The Son Who Stayed Behind – Now and Then
9. One Riot One Ranger – I Didn’t Know – Flat City Nights
10. Jonathan Byrd & Dromedary – The River Girl – The Sea and The Sky
11. Hugh Morrison – Dun Eistein – Under a Texas Skye
12. David Bromberg – Wee Midnight Hour Blues – Live New York City 1982
13. Cry Cry Cry – Cold Missouri Waters – Cry Cry Cry
14. Bruce Hornsby & The Range – Mandolin Rain – The Way It Is
15. Jeff Black – Island – Mining
16. Christine Lavin – Good Thing He Can’t Read My Mind - I Don’t Make This Stuff Up, I Just Make it Rhyme
17. Brooks Williams – Weary of the Moon – Live/Solo
18. Jimmy LaFave – On A Bus To St. Cloud – Texoma
19. Grand Drive – A Little Like You – Grand Drive
20. Beoga – Forscarbaken/ Mickey The Pipes/ Trip To Cullenstown - Mischief
21. Altan – The Sunset – The Best of Altan
22. Vance Gilbert – Whatever Louise Wants – Up On Rockfield
23. Robert Earl Keen – Shades Of Gray – Live From Austin TX
24. Paul Brady – The Lakes of Pontchartrain (New Recording) – Nobody Knows
25. Crooked Still – Tell Her to Come Back Home – Still Crooked
26. Andrew McKnight – Times We’re Living In – Something Worth Standing For
27. All Jigged Out – The All-Knowing Salmon: McArthur Road – Wish Hill
28. Paul Kelly – Beggar On The Street Of Love – A to Z Downloads
29. Nerissa & Katryna Nields – This Train – Sister Holler
30. The Roe Family Singers – Lizabeth Brown – The Earth and All that Is In It
31. Carrie Newcomer – Love Like An Immigrant – An Angel At My Shoulder
32. Judy Collins – I Can’t Cry Hard Enough – Portrait of an American Girl
33. We’re About 9 – For One More – Paperdust :: Stardust
34. Linda Thompson – Day After Tomorrow – Versatile Heart
35. Simon & Garfunkel – I Am A Rock - Live From New York City, 1967
36. Woody Guthrie – Sinking of the Reuben James – The Asch Recordings Vol. 1
37. Cheryl Wheeler – Estate Sale – Circles & Arrows
38. Buddy Mondlock – Comin’ Down In The Rain – Poetic Justice
39. The Rankin Family – The River – Endless Seasons
40. Po’ Girl – Skies of Grey – Home To You
41. Malcolm Holcombe – Sparrows and Sparrows – Not Forgotten
42. Blind Boys of Alabama – Many Rivers to Cross – Higher Ground

Top 39, Festival Radio, December 2008, as rated by listeners.

Artist – Track – Album

1. Leonard Cohen – Take This Waltz – The Essential Leonard Cohen
2. Hugh Morrison – Dun Eistein – Under a Texas Skye
3. Brooks Williams – Weary of the Moon – Live/Solo 
4. Sligo Rags – Suite for a Drunken Sailor – Whiskey Never Lies
5. Jimmy LaFave – On A Bus To St. Cloud – Texoma 
6. Red Molly – Honey on My Grave – Love and Other Tragedies
7. Pete And Maura Kennedy – Wall Of Death – River Of Fallen Stars
8. The Malvinas – On a Limb – Love Hope & Transportation
9. Kip White – Lonesome Tree – Places
10. Bob Dylan – Red River Shore (unreleased, Time Out Of Mind) – Tell Tale Signs
11. Alastair Moock – Fishing Tales – Fortune Street
12. Yusuf – Maybe There’s a World – An Other Cup
13. Grada – River – Cloudy Day Navigation
14. Diana Jones – Pony – My Remembrance of You
15. Caroline Doctorow – Birmingham Sunday – Another Country: The Songs of Mimi and Richard Farina
16. Bruce Hornsby & The Range – Mandolin Rain – The Way It Is
17. Vance Gilbert – Whatever Louise Wants – Up On Rockfield
18. Mary Fahl – In the Great Unknown – The Other Side of Time
19. Wolfstone – This Girl – This Strange Place
20. Still on the Hill – Otis and Ocie – Ozark: A Celebration in Song
21. Joni Mitchell – Raised On Robbery – Hits
22. Jackson Browne – Enough Of The Night – Solo Acoustic Volume 2
23. Enter the Haggis – Another Round – Northampton
24. The Burns Sisters – I Am a Patriot – Wild Bouquet
25. The Strangelings – Matty Groves – Season of the Witch
26. Martin Simpson – Kit’s Tune – When A Knight Won His Spurs – Prodigal Son
27. Reverend Gary Davis – Samson and Delilah – Vanguard: Roots of Folk
28. Michael Johnathon – Bells of Cold November – Homestead
29. The Steep Canyon Rangers – Call The Captain – Lovin’ Pretty Women
30. Patty Griffin – Useless Desires – Impossible Dream
31. Andrew Calhoun & Campground – Uncle Billy – Bound To Go
32. Trampled By Turtles – Trouble – Trouble
33. One Riot One Ranger – I Didn’t Know – Flat City Nights
34. The Avett Brothers – Shame – Emotionalism
35. Paul Simon – Proof – Concert in the Park
36. The Mammals – Solo Le Pido A Dios – Departure
37. U2 – Jesus Christ – Folkways: A Vision Shared – A Tribute to Woody Guthrie & Leadbelly
38. The Rankin Family – The River – Endless Seasons
39. Mavis Staples – Why Am I Treated So Bad – Live: Hope at the Hideout

Top 45 for November 2008, Festival Radio, as determined by listener ratings

Artist - Track – Album

1. John Cowan – With A Memory Like Mine – New Tattoo
2. The Mammals – Solo Le Pido A Dios – Departure
3. Fort Pastor – March Out - Beautiful Imperfection
4. Gypsy Soul – Blackbird – beneath the covers: a rediscovery
5. Still on the Hill – Weaning House – Ozark: A Celebration in Song
6. Samuel James – Love & Mumbly-Peg – Songs Famed for Sorrow and Joy
7. Lynn Miles – Last Night – Slightly Haunted
8. Yusuf – Maybe There’s a World – An Other Cup
9. Steve Robinson – Road to Ruin – Undercurrent
10. Melinda Crawford – Sailor’s Wife/Lady Elisabeth Cole’s Reef/Cowboy Jig – Wandering Suitcase of Stirling
11. John Flynn – Benediction – Dragon
12. Ashley Maher – Dream Rhymes – Pomegranate
13. Laienda – Flicker & Fly – EP
14. The Byrds – Positively 4Th Street (Live) – There Is A Season
15. The Strangelings – Matty Groves – Season of the Witch
16. Shawn Mullins – Cold Black Heart – 9th Ward Picking Parlor
17. Peggy Seeger – The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face – Three Score and Ten
18. Lori McKenna – Paper Wings and Halo (live) – Paper Wings and Halo (rerelease)
19. Jeni & Billy – Ain’t Got Time For Trouble Blues – Jewell Ridge Coal
20. Jackson Browne – The Arms Of Night – Time The Conqueror
21. Enter the Haggis – Another Round – Northampton
22. Terence Martin – The Way It Didn’t Go – Sleeper
23. Grada – The Queen and the Soldier – Cloudy Day Navigation 
24. Cathie Ryan – The Wild Flowers – The Farthest Wave
25. Boiled In Lead – The Rushes Green – Silver
26. All Jigged Out – It Is – Wish Hill
27. Scott and Michelle Dalziel – Topanga Canyon – Thinking Out Loud
28. Ruthie Foster – Walk On – Runaway Soul
29. Robinella and the CC Stringband – Mornin’ Dove – Robinella and the CC Stringband
30. Martin Simpson – The Granemore Hare – Prodigal Son
31. Mark Heard – Some Folks’ World – Victims Of The Age
32. Loreena McKennitt – Santiago – Nights From The Alhambra
33. The Levellers – Death Loves Youth – Letters From The Underground
34. Darrell Scott – Out Among the Stars – Modern Hymns
35. Bert Jansch – The Old Triangle – The Black Swan
36. Steve Forbert – Train Whistle Blues – Any Old Time: Songs of Jimmie Rodgers
37. Pete Seeger – Throw Away That Shad Net – At 89
38. Moxy Fruvous – Pisco Bandito – The “C” Album
39. The Malvinas – On a Limb – Love Hope & Transportation
40. Karen Matheson – I will not wear the willow – downriver
41. Emily Kurn – Light the Lamp – I’m Just Like You
42. Eddie From Ohio – Walk Humbly, Son – This is Me
43. David Bromberg – New Lee Highway Blues - Live in New York 1982
44. Clive Batkin and Joel McDermott – Sweet Lady Gumbo – G-Force Trousers
45. Anuna – Kells - Celtic Origins