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I'm back from vacation, and I want to pose a question: should I keep the Featured Artist of the Week?

I've looked at the numbers, and it seems that more people actually listen when I put the music up there in shuffle play and let it go than when I program a featured artist. There are exceptions (if I feature Bob Dylan, I have a great week), but for the most part, it seems that people tune in if they like the featured artist and tune out for featured artists they've not heard of or don't like.

The Featured Artist is a lot of work, and dropping it would make my life easier. I could come up with a replacement feature - maybe a regularly-produced voice-tracked program that highlights new releases (maybe a two-hour show that runs once or twice a week for a month).

What do you think? Is this a feature that you would like me to keep? I'm willing to keep the feature if I hear enough feedback. Do you tune out when the featured artist is someone you don't like? Have you discovered a new favorite artist through the feature? Would a new music show be a suitable replacement? Use the blog comment features to let me know what you think, or drop me an email at greg@onlinefolkfestival.com , but put Featured Artist somewhere in your subject heading (I get a lot of spam at that address).

The Featured Artist of the Week is on hiatus for the immediate future. Let the debate begin.

I will be traveling this week to visit my parents in Florida who do not have broadband. Therefore, I will not be able to update the station until sometime after next Tuesday (October 25). Therefore, there will be no featured artist this week - just great folk and related music left in shuffle play.

It's been way too long since I've blogged new adds, so here goes

Bruce Cockburn: Speechless
I've wondered for years why Cockburn has not done an instrumental CD, having long been amazed by his guitar prowess. Now he's done it, and it contains nearly all of my favorite instrumentals. ("Deer Dancing in a Broken Mirror" is inexplicably missing, an omission noted by many on the Humans List.) The new tracks blend in well with the old and it's a pretty cohesive collection.

Kate Rusby: The Girl Who Couldn't Fly
Every Kate Rusby album seems better than the last one. This one is no exception. Her songwriting keeps getting both more mature and timeless, her voice keeps sounding better, and the arrangements more organic. If you like traditional folk, you'll like this.

Bob Dylan: Live at the Gaslight 1962 and No Direction Home Soundtrack (Bootleg Series #7)
The more successful of these disks is the Live at the Gaslight disk. It is an intriguing look at early Dylan mixing covers and originals. It's worth the trip to Starbucks. The alternate takes on No Direction Home are occasionally interesting in documenting the evolution of a song, and the liner notes from Al Kooper are great. If you like early Dylan, you'll want both.

Dar Williams: My Better Self
I've often said that Dar Williams writes better songs when she's not trying to overwhelm us with rapid-fire words, and if you agree with this theory, you'll like this CD. It's a nice mix of personal and political, and the political does not radiate the personal hostility that so much of today's folk protest does.

David Gray: Life in Slow Motion
The title is indicative of the CD - this is a mellower David Gray, much more like pre-White Ladder days. No sampling and drum loops here - just mid-tempo folk/pop. Considering that this is what Gray has always done best, this is not a surprise. A rousing up-tempo rocker would help change the pace on this CD, as the songs blend into each other by the end.

James McMurtry: Childish Things
The highlight of this CD is "We Can't Make it Here," the most cutting and well-written rant about the current sociopolitical climate I've heard in a good many days. The rest of the CD contains more of the well-drawn character pieces we've come to expect from McMurtry.

Kelly Mulhollan: Never Ending Conversation
Kelly Mulhollan of Still on the Hill has put together an intriguing concept album - writing music for some classic poetry from William Blake, Langston Hughes, and W.H. Auden and others. For the most part, it works, though the sameness of the arrangements does get in the way towards the end. The Mulhollan original does not hang well with the work of the other poets.

Tom Russell Band: Raw Vision
Really fine collection of the best of Russell's work with the band from his early recordings for Philo/Rounder Records. If you aren't familiar with his early records, this is a good sampler.

Afro Celt Sound System: Anatomic
Baka Beyond: Rhythm Tree
Blue Rodeo: Are You Ready?
Cary Cooper: Yellow
Claudia Beck: Nightingale
David Wilcox and Nance Pettit: Out Beyond Ideas
Eric Balkey: Santuary Road
Jamison Priest: We Called Ourselves Poets
Karl Koerber: Returning to You
Kev Rowe: Brown Book
Lauren Sheehan: Two Wings
Liz Carroll and John Doyle: In Play
Nathan Rogers: True Stories
Mustard's Retreat: MR7
Old Crow Medicine Show: OCMS
The Proclaimers: Restless Soul
Rachel Ries: For You Only
Reg Meuross: Short Stories
Richard Berman: Holding Hands
Shooglenifty: Radical Mestizo
Thea Gilmore: Songs From the Gutter
Will Taylor and Strings Attached: Collaborations

Canadian master singer/songwriter/guitarist will be this week's featured artist to celebreate the recent release of his instrumental collection, Speechless. This CD collects many of Cockburn's best instrumentals over the last 30+ years, along with several new instrumentals. The Online Folk Festival will focus this week on instrumental tracks spanning Bruce's career, plus some of my favorite tunes with vocals.

From the Eddie From Ohio e-mail newsletter

UPDATE ON JULIE'S BOUT WITH BREAST CANCER

On September 15, Julie had very successful surgery, with the very encouraging news that the tumor had not spread to her lymph nodes. The past couple of weeks have been spent recovering from the surgery and awaiting the Oncologist's assessment of her pathology report.

At this juncture, we can only forecast so far, as Julie has her therapy. What we have determined is that we will be cancelling the following shows:

10.21.05 Starr Hill Music Hall, Charlottesville VA

11.11.05 Eccles Auditorium, Logan UT

11.13.05 Diamond Circle Theater, Durango CO

There is one show, however, which Julie is determined to do: Saturday, October 22 at the Gordon Center in Owings Mills, MD at 8PM, which should take place right before her therapy, and at the tail end of her surgery recovery. It's close to home, in more ways than one, as it is a Cancer Benefit show with Proceeds benefiting The Oncology Unit at The Children's Hospital at Sinai.This should be a very special show, and we really want to pack the place, so come on out.The Gordon Center is a wonderful venue to boot. More info is available at http://www.feinglassfoundation.org/events.html

I have set up a link to use to add the FolkBlog to your My Yahoo page. Just click the button in the left hand column and let Yahoo do the rest. It's so simple, everyone should do it. Isn't technology grand?

I was inspired by what little I saw of the No Direction Home documentary (I did tape it, though, and hope to watch it this week some time) to choose Bob Dylan as the Featured Artist of the Week for October 2-8. To be more specific, it will be just early Dylan - Highway 61 Revisited and before - the period covered by the documentary. In addition to the studio albums, I'll be adding tracks from the No Direction Home soundtrack (Bootleg Series #7), the just-released Live at the Gaslight disk, and the Carnegie Hall 1964 concert (Bootleg Series #6).

Some artists to expect as Featured Artist of the Week in the near future (and this is always subject to change) include Bruce Cockburn, who has just released a new instrumental CD, David Wilcox, and Christine Lavin.