Now Playing on Festival Radio
Friday, January 21, 2005
Nanci Griffith and More Music than You Can Shake A Memory Stick At
The new Nanci Griffith, Hearts in Mind, is really outstanding. There's a little homespun wisdom, a little folk, a little country, a little folk/rock, some protest and politics, some strings, and some hopefulness. It's everything I like about Nanci Griffith all rolled up into one album. Clock Without Hands did not resonate with me like this album does. I think it is her best collection of originals since Flyer. It comes out in the States on February 8 (it's been out in the UK for a couple months).
Two Time Polka : The Very Best Of - Two Times Polka is a cajun/American roots rock band from Ireland. Really. Not surprisingly, even their cajun tunes have a little bit of a Celtic edge to them, making them an extremely fun listen.
I've added several tunes from the Winona Folk collection. Finally. Sorry it took so long. I'm making up for it with the link, I hope. Anwyay, there are some really excellent tunes on this CD. I was struck by the musings of Kathy Moser on shopping malls and opossum in "Shopping Mall Redemption" and a tale of paternal wisdom by Kevin Briody entitled "Walnuts & Rice."
I'm glad Cynthia Summers sent me a copy of her upcoming CD, Big World/Small House. Ms. Summers has a really fine voice, and writes seemingly simple songs about domestic life that explore larger truths. If she told me when the release date is going to be, I've forgotten it already. I've been playing tracks from her demo disk (if you've been listening regularly, you'll recognize her as the singer who does that great rendition of "Buttermilk Hill" you've heard for awhile on the Online Folk Festival).
New tracks from the Oasis Acoustic Sampler #51, include tunes from Ann Zimmerman, Greg Vickers, Janet Feld, Dave Miller, Emily Higgins and Jeffrey Todd in the rotation right now, and later you'll probably hear tracks from Darin, Cory Stone and Flip Frisch.
Kim and Reggie Harris have combined with Rabbi Jonathan Kligler to produce an extremely interesting CD. Entitled Let My People Go! A Jewish & African American Celebration of Freedom, this project explores the connections between the Jewish people and the African American community in their searches for freedom. The Jewish community was extremely active in the Civil Rights movement of the 5os/60s, and the African American slaves long held the story of Moses leading the Jewish people to freedom as an inspiration and "code" for their own struggle. This disk mixes Jewish traditional/ceremonial music with songs of the Civil Rights movement, and includes several spoken recollections of the movement from prominent activists of the time. On Appleseed Records, this is an intriguing cross-cultural exploration and those with an interest in the Civil Rights movement will want to pick this up.
I've also been busy on emusic.com. I finally broke down and bought a susbscription - 65 songs for $14.99/month. Seemed pretty reasonable to me - the equivalent of 5 or 6 albums at about $3/per. I downloaded some great catalog music from Woody Guthrie, Townes Van Zandt, the newest Steve Forbert (Just Like There's Nothin' To It) and The Innocence Mission's new album of lullabies. Plus, some tracks from Cleveland's own Lynnmarie Rink ("The Dixie Chick of Polka") as well as from Carla Ulbrich's first CD. There is some really choice music there, including the music of The Schramms and the Okra All Stars, Oysterband, Danu, Jeffrey Foucault and many many others.
I also found a big package of bluegrass in the mail from Rounder this week, including live CDs from Rhonda Vincent and the Rage, and the Dry Branch Fire Squad, plus a couple promising compilations and a studio CD from James King, so look for some choice bluegrass very soon, and it will be good to have an excuse to choose Rhonda Vincent as Featured Artist of the Week closer to the CD's release date. I'm still going through this pile.
I finally got to the Elko Cowboy disk, also (well, at least Disk 1). This collection alternates between spoken word performances, some of them very funny, and cowboy music, all of it well done.
I wore black yesterday as a nod to Johnny Cash and and as a small personal protest of the excessive Inauguration festivities celebrating the continued power of our Corporate Criminal in Chief and his Now Legitimated Junta. Nobody asked me about wearing black. I was kind of disappointed.
Two Time Polka : The Very Best Of - Two Times Polka is a cajun/American roots rock band from Ireland. Really. Not surprisingly, even their cajun tunes have a little bit of a Celtic edge to them, making them an extremely fun listen.
I've added several tunes from the Winona Folk collection. Finally. Sorry it took so long. I'm making up for it with the link, I hope. Anwyay, there are some really excellent tunes on this CD. I was struck by the musings of Kathy Moser on shopping malls and opossum in "Shopping Mall Redemption" and a tale of paternal wisdom by Kevin Briody entitled "Walnuts & Rice."
I'm glad Cynthia Summers sent me a copy of her upcoming CD, Big World/Small House. Ms. Summers has a really fine voice, and writes seemingly simple songs about domestic life that explore larger truths. If she told me when the release date is going to be, I've forgotten it already. I've been playing tracks from her demo disk (if you've been listening regularly, you'll recognize her as the singer who does that great rendition of "Buttermilk Hill" you've heard for awhile on the Online Folk Festival).
New tracks from the Oasis Acoustic Sampler #51, include tunes from Ann Zimmerman, Greg Vickers, Janet Feld, Dave Miller, Emily Higgins and Jeffrey Todd in the rotation right now, and later you'll probably hear tracks from Darin, Cory Stone and Flip Frisch.
Kim and Reggie Harris have combined with Rabbi Jonathan Kligler to produce an extremely interesting CD. Entitled Let My People Go! A Jewish & African American Celebration of Freedom, this project explores the connections between the Jewish people and the African American community in their searches for freedom. The Jewish community was extremely active in the Civil Rights movement of the 5os/60s, and the African American slaves long held the story of Moses leading the Jewish people to freedom as an inspiration and "code" for their own struggle. This disk mixes Jewish traditional/ceremonial music with songs of the Civil Rights movement, and includes several spoken recollections of the movement from prominent activists of the time. On Appleseed Records, this is an intriguing cross-cultural exploration and those with an interest in the Civil Rights movement will want to pick this up.
I've also been busy on emusic.com. I finally broke down and bought a susbscription - 65 songs for $14.99/month. Seemed pretty reasonable to me - the equivalent of 5 or 6 albums at about $3/per. I downloaded some great catalog music from Woody Guthrie, Townes Van Zandt, the newest Steve Forbert (Just Like There's Nothin' To It) and The Innocence Mission's new album of lullabies. Plus, some tracks from Cleveland's own Lynnmarie Rink ("The Dixie Chick of Polka") as well as from Carla Ulbrich's first CD. There is some really choice music there, including the music of The Schramms and the Okra All Stars, Oysterband, Danu, Jeffrey Foucault and many many others.
I also found a big package of bluegrass in the mail from Rounder this week, including live CDs from Rhonda Vincent and the Rage, and the Dry Branch Fire Squad, plus a couple promising compilations and a studio CD from James King, so look for some choice bluegrass very soon, and it will be good to have an excuse to choose Rhonda Vincent as Featured Artist of the Week closer to the CD's release date. I'm still going through this pile.
I finally got to the Elko Cowboy disk, also (well, at least Disk 1). This collection alternates between spoken word performances, some of them very funny, and cowboy music, all of it well done.
I wore black yesterday as a nod to Johnny Cash and and as a small personal protest of the excessive Inauguration festivities celebrating the continued power of our Corporate Criminal in Chief and his Now Legitimated Junta. Nobody asked me about wearing black. I was kind of disappointed.
