As autumn leaves turn golden hues, music awards season begins each Fall with awards for golden tunes. Each September, the Americana Music Association bestows Honors and Awards on the previous year’s crop and the genre’s legends. The Americana Honors & Awards show is fairly well established these days. The Call for Nominees goes out in […]
Telluride, Bluegrass and the Cross of Gold (Repost #APACO17)
My first time into Telluride I was coming in from the East. The summer was hot and dry; the Colorado backcountry better suited to rattlesnakes than trout water. I had been camping up the Black Canyon of the Gunnison, some rutted jeep trail of a Forest Service road that would have seemed an interstate compared […]
The Fates Have Been Kind — New Music for 2017
The Fates have been gracious again to Americana music this year. 2017 has featured several strong releases from long-time Country music stars (Alison Krauss, Marty Stuart, Willie Nelson), Alt.Country should-be stars (Son Volt, Mavericks, Jason Isbell), and ignored-by-radio Texas Country stars (Aaron Watson, Sunny Sweeney). I’ve been streaming a LOT of music this year, and […]
Songs of the Fall – Confessions
Stetson Adkisson and Cia Cherryholmes—Songs of the Fall—have a new Americana album out, called Confessions. After an initial singer-songwriter release as Stetson & Cia, they recorded a self-titled album in 2012. So this may be a sophomore effort, or it may not. In light of Cia’s multiple Grammy nominations with her Cherryholmes family bluegrass band, […]
Windy City Turn Loose My Baby: Alison Krauss Absolves the Sins of the Nashville Sound
Alison Krauss‘ new release Windy City is a journey forward into the past of Country music. I kick myself that back when Alison was starting out as a youngster in Central Illinois, I was wasting my college days in Urbana-Champaign listening to classic rock and college rock, leaving my country roots temporarily aside. By the […]
In Search of… American Roots Music at the Grammy Awards
William Bell won the Best Americana Album Grammy Award earlier this month [February 2017] for This Is Where I Live, released on a revived Stax label. A lot of people said nice things about the award and what a great artist Mr. Bell is, and I don’t doubt its true. It’s also true that while I […]
JC’s Top Tunes of 2016
I played a lot of music during the January cold, streamed KRFC-FM more in February, March and April. I’m still not quite sure why I spiked my last.fm scrobbles in May before spending more time outside in June. July, August & Sept. were fairly steady. As it cooled off in October, I spent more time […]
Americana Albums for 2016
Americana is a broad and ill-defined genre, which really seemed to fit the world we live in in 2016. It’s more authentic, roots music than Country radio pushed out by Nashville’s Music Row. It’s a Big Tent—a bit more friendly to the folky political expression of the left-wing, but usually also more open to the […]
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Top Americana Tunes for 2016 — From Radio and Print
The top music of the year lists are coming out in time for Xmas holiday gift-giving. I’m more of a traditionalist and save MY lists for 1 January, but you can’t fight the machine all of the time. So think of this as a preview of MY “real” list to come….and if you’re looking for […]
Americana Music Awards Reward Americana Music Fans
If the world were just, the Americana Music Awards would be the Country Music Awards. Somewhere along the way, pop music punked country music and Nashville wandered down the path of easy money and middling music. Blah, blah, blah, you’ve heard it all before. Americana Music Fans were rewarded again this year with a bold […]
