Now Playing on Festival Radio
Sunday, July 25, 2004
Catching Up
It's been a little while since I posted, so here's the news from the Online Folk Festival:
Maura O'Connell is the featured artist this week (through August 1). She doesn't write songs, she justpicks great songs by great songwriters and sings the heck out of them.
New Adds
Kate Campbell has three CDs coming out on August 10 on Compadre Records: The Portable Kate Campbell, Sing Me Out, and Songs From the Levee (re-issue). For the first two CDs, Kate went into the studio with produce Will Kimbrough and a crack band and re-recorded her songs from Moonpie Dreams, Visions of Plenty and Rosaryville. The results are outstanding.
Bill Mallonee: Dear Life
This album shows a more mellow side of Bill Mallonee, as the arrangments are stripped down, with some steel guitar to give it a more alt-country feel. Although the style has changed a little, the same self-reflective lyrical depth that we've come to expect from Mallonee's best work is there in spades.
Harvey Reid and Joyce Anderson: Kindling the Fire
This is a truly outstanding CD from two of the most talented folk musicians working today, combining stellar guitar work from Reid and fiddling and vocals from Anderson on a well-conceived mix of originals, traditional tunes, and covers. Anytime someone covers T-Bone Burnett's "Primitives", I'm going to be on board with what they're doing.
Jeffrey Foucault: Stripping Cane
This album blends acoustic blues, old-timey folk, sparse production and primo guitar work and creates a sound that is at once ancient and contemprary. This is really a special CD full of first-rate songcraft and playing.
Maura O'Connell is the featured artist this week (through August 1). She doesn't write songs, she justpicks great songs by great songwriters and sings the heck out of them.
New Adds
Kate Campbell has three CDs coming out on August 10 on Compadre Records: The Portable Kate Campbell, Sing Me Out, and Songs From the Levee (re-issue). For the first two CDs, Kate went into the studio with produce Will Kimbrough and a crack band and re-recorded her songs from Moonpie Dreams, Visions of Plenty and Rosaryville. The results are outstanding.
Bill Mallonee: Dear Life
This album shows a more mellow side of Bill Mallonee, as the arrangments are stripped down, with some steel guitar to give it a more alt-country feel. Although the style has changed a little, the same self-reflective lyrical depth that we've come to expect from Mallonee's best work is there in spades.
Harvey Reid and Joyce Anderson: Kindling the Fire
This is a truly outstanding CD from two of the most talented folk musicians working today, combining stellar guitar work from Reid and fiddling and vocals from Anderson on a well-conceived mix of originals, traditional tunes, and covers. Anytime someone covers T-Bone Burnett's "Primitives", I'm going to be on board with what they're doing.
Jeffrey Foucault: Stripping Cane
This album blends acoustic blues, old-timey folk, sparse production and primo guitar work and creates a sound that is at once ancient and contemprary. This is really a special CD full of first-rate songcraft and playing.
Sunday, July 11, 2004
Railroad Earth again
Railroad Earth will be the Featured Artist this week on the Online Folk Festival.
Saturday, July 10, 2004
Blooms, Butterflies and The Good Life
Franklin Park Conservatory is one of the coolest places in Central Ohio. For their annual Blooms and Butterflies exhibit, which runs from March through Labor Day, they convert one of the conservatory rooms into a butterfly environment, importing butterflies from South America and letting them loose. It's just so darn relaxing and mind clearing, almost Zenlike, to watch butterflies flit around from flower to flower. It's nearly impossible to think bad thoughts while watching butterflies.
There are a lot of people in our public discourse who could benefit from butterfly immersion therapy. War, no! Butterflies, yes! Anyway, moving on to the music...
Railroad Earth is scary good. And they keep getting better. Their just-released The Good Life is one of the best albums I've heard all year. They keep expanding the parameters of what they can do with their instrumentation, moving effortlessly from bluegrass breakdowns and the bluegrass flavored jam band material that is so prevalent on their first two albums to country flavored pop that would not have been out of place on an early Eagles album. The songwriting keeps getting better, too. The highlight for me is "Goat," a rock-tinged number touching on scapegoating.
Washington, DC, area singer/songwriter Leah Morgan has a really nice debut CD, Zero Dollars Spent. She has an outstanding voice, and a pleasant folk/rock sound.
Johnny Miles is another singer/songwriter worth watching. He aims for a more sparse, acoustic sound and when it works it works really well. Awakening contains several really well-written songs, though some of the tracks are just a little long and rambling. Miles is based out of New Jersey
I forgot to mention Alan Kelly when I added his music last week. I received a couple albums from him of really well-crafted and well=produced singer/songwriter material. He's been around for a while, and has a maturity in his songwriting that the younger singer/songwriters above lack right now (but appear likely to display a few CDs down the road). His just-released CD is "Quiet Lives of Consequence" and it's Good Stuff. Alan Kelly is based in Colorado.
Minnesota songwriter Steve West has put out a no-frills 29-minute CD of folk/rock, Love and Other Natural Disasters. The song "Lonely Man" is particularly catchy, and you'll catch it on the OFF if you listen long enough over the next couple weeks.
Canadian singer/songwriter Barry McLoughlin seems to me that he's trying just a little too hard to be the next Gordon Lightfoot on his CD, Pieces. When he relaxes, as on tracks like "The Most Wonderful Girl in the World", a song about a daughter growing up 500 miles away, he scores. Many of the other tracks are run-of-the-mill lite-rock.
Also added several songs from the new Oasis Acoustic Sampler #46. Standout tracks include songs added this week by Murphy Henry, Late Bloomers, Lindsay Smith, Brad Yoder and Gary Lynn Burt, though I added tracks from several additional artists to the rotation that may be added over the next few weeks.
There are a lot of people in our public discourse who could benefit from butterfly immersion therapy. War, no! Butterflies, yes! Anyway, moving on to the music...
Railroad Earth is scary good. And they keep getting better. Their just-released The Good Life is one of the best albums I've heard all year. They keep expanding the parameters of what they can do with their instrumentation, moving effortlessly from bluegrass breakdowns and the bluegrass flavored jam band material that is so prevalent on their first two albums to country flavored pop that would not have been out of place on an early Eagles album. The songwriting keeps getting better, too. The highlight for me is "Goat," a rock-tinged number touching on scapegoating.
Washington, DC, area singer/songwriter Leah Morgan has a really nice debut CD, Zero Dollars Spent. She has an outstanding voice, and a pleasant folk/rock sound.
Johnny Miles is another singer/songwriter worth watching. He aims for a more sparse, acoustic sound and when it works it works really well. Awakening contains several really well-written songs, though some of the tracks are just a little long and rambling. Miles is based out of New Jersey
I forgot to mention Alan Kelly when I added his music last week. I received a couple albums from him of really well-crafted and well=produced singer/songwriter material. He's been around for a while, and has a maturity in his songwriting that the younger singer/songwriters above lack right now (but appear likely to display a few CDs down the road). His just-released CD is "Quiet Lives of Consequence" and it's Good Stuff. Alan Kelly is based in Colorado.
Minnesota songwriter Steve West has put out a no-frills 29-minute CD of folk/rock, Love and Other Natural Disasters. The song "Lonely Man" is particularly catchy, and you'll catch it on the OFF if you listen long enough over the next couple weeks.
Canadian singer/songwriter Barry McLoughlin seems to me that he's trying just a little too hard to be the next Gordon Lightfoot on his CD, Pieces. When he relaxes, as on tracks like "The Most Wonderful Girl in the World", a song about a daughter growing up 500 miles away, he scores. Many of the other tracks are run-of-the-mill lite-rock.
Also added several songs from the new Oasis Acoustic Sampler #46. Standout tracks include songs added this week by Murphy Henry, Late Bloomers, Lindsay Smith, Brad Yoder and Gary Lynn Burt, though I added tracks from several additional artists to the rotation that may be added over the next few weeks.
Wednesday, July 07, 2004
Tempest Tossed
This week's featured artist (7/5 to 7/11) is progressive folk/rock band Tempest. They are a little more rock and roll than the bands I usually feature. Based out of northern California, they have band members from around the world and feature progressive rock treatments of Celtic and Scandinavian music. Although I've never seen them live, I've heard them in studio on WCBE numerous times, and they are a killer live band. They are scheduled to play at the Dublin (Ohio) Irish Festival and I will be there. Richard Thompson's coming too, as a re Wolfstone and the Saw Doctors.
Other new adds
Okay, I've bought into the hype on Ollabelle. They are the real deal. Gospel music with influences from most major modern music forms. One of the singers is Amy Helm (daughter of Levon Helm of The Band), and the disk is produced by T-Bone Burnett. Who am I to say no?
Maura O'Connell has a new CD out, Don't I Know on Sugar Hill, and as is her practice, she covers more great songs by great songwriters like Patty Griffin and just sings the heck out of them.
Scottish band Rise, from the Isle of Bute, has a new CD as well. Posing as Human broadens the scope of the band's style, as it seems to incorporate a little more polished production, and goes in a little more of a pop/rock direction than their debut CD. There are also some hints of jazz here. The stylistic variety serves the band well. Highlights include covers of Nanci Griffith and Dick Gaughan.
Les Femmes d'Enfer is an all-female band based in the Pacific Northwest playing traditional cajun music. The band's name is a play on the classic cajun song "Les Flamme d'Enfer" ("The Flames of Hell). This is well-played cajun dance music, and I'm sure you'll be hearing this group a lot on the OFF.
Other new adds
Okay, I've bought into the hype on Ollabelle. They are the real deal. Gospel music with influences from most major modern music forms. One of the singers is Amy Helm (daughter of Levon Helm of The Band), and the disk is produced by T-Bone Burnett. Who am I to say no?
Maura O'Connell has a new CD out, Don't I Know on Sugar Hill, and as is her practice, she covers more great songs by great songwriters like Patty Griffin and just sings the heck out of them.
Scottish band Rise, from the Isle of Bute, has a new CD as well. Posing as Human broadens the scope of the band's style, as it seems to incorporate a little more polished production, and goes in a little more of a pop/rock direction than their debut CD. There are also some hints of jazz here. The stylistic variety serves the band well. Highlights include covers of Nanci Griffith and Dick Gaughan.
Les Femmes d'Enfer is an all-female band based in the Pacific Northwest playing traditional cajun music. The band's name is a play on the classic cajun song "Les Flamme d'Enfer" ("The Flames of Hell). This is well-played cajun dance music, and I'm sure you'll be hearing this group a lot on the OFF.
