folk music
Laura Marling, Union Chapel, YouTube review - communication breakdownMonday, 08 June 2020
Music, as the sociologist Simon Frith long ago pointed out, is “an experience of placing: in responding to a song we are drawn, haphazardly, into affective emotional alliances with the performer and with the performer’s other fans”. Music makes you... Read more... |
New Music Lockdown 9: Chic, Laura Marling, Billy Bragg, Steel Panther, Wendy James and moreWednesday, 03 June 2020
For better or worse, the lockdown may be easing in the UK but there’s no sign of any gig action, even on the far distant horizon. So it’s back to our screens for all that, and here’s the latest, liveliest selection of concerts, conversations and... Read more... |
Billy Bragg in support of The Leadmill, Facebook Live review - a fundraising success of a lounge actMonday, 18 May 2020
On Saturday there was a stark choice: BBC TV’s not-the-Eurovision special or Billy Bragg live on Facebook in support of The Leadmill’s campaign to raise vital funds for both the iconic Sheffield venue, 40 years old this year, and the Music Venue... Read more... |
Album: Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit - ReunionsMonday, 11 May 2020
Like his friend the late John Prine, Jason Isbell is a master storyteller. His skill, like Prine’s, is to inhabit the characters he sings about so fully, and with such empathy, that it can be difficult to tell where the songwriter ends and the story... Read more... |
Album: Tom Kitching – Seasons of ChangeSaturday, 25 April 2020
Back in April 2018, English fiddler player and member of BBC Radio 2 Folk Award-nominated folk band Pilgrim’s Way embarked on an 18-month busking tour of England. He walked out of his home in Manchester to explore the country, from Berwick to... Read more... |
New Music Lockdown 3: FKA Twigs, Janelle Monáe, The Breeders, Korn and moreWednesday, 22 April 2020
As we unwillingly become used to lockdown, most of us are regularly looking for juicy tidbits to pass the time online, so here's another selection that should be well worth a look. Dive in.Sea Change Goes OnlineSea Change Festival, run from Totnes... Read more... |
The Thread, Sadler's Wells Digital Stage review - Greek folk and contemporary uniteMonday, 20 April 2020
The latest Sadler’s Wells digital offering is 2019’s The Thread, a luminous collaboration between choreographer Russell Maliphant and Oscar-winning composer Vangelis (Chariots of Fire, Blade Runner) for the Athens-based production company Lavris. It... Read more... |
Album: Nels Andrews - Pigeon and The CrowThursday, 09 April 2020
This is the perfect album for these dark and dislocating times, a delicious slice of folk-Americana, 10 beautifully crafted songs (plus a bonus online) that envelop you in the gentle winds and fogs of California’s Monterey peninsula, and the waves... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Recording Is The Trip - The Karen Dalton ArchivesSunday, 29 March 2020
“My favorite in the place was Karen Dalton. She was a tall white blues singer and guitar player, funky, lanky and sultry. Karen had a voice like Billie Holiday’s and played the guitar like Jimmy Reed and went all the way with it. I sang with her a... Read more... |
Album: Waxahatchee - Saint CloudWednesday, 25 March 2020
Waxahatchee’s fifth album wasn’t intended as an escapist fantasy. Written shortly after Katie Crutchfield decided to get sober, Saint Cloud documents a journey towards self-acceptance; one woman’s reckoning with her past and its impact on the people... Read more... |
Reg Meuross and David Massengill, Green Note, Camden review - master craftsmen at workMonday, 16 March 2020
When all around you is chaos and depression, an afternoon spent listening to acoustic music in a small club is as cleansing and restorative as a warm bath. At Camden’s Green Note on Saturday afternoon, two superlative folk music talents shared the... Read more... |
Big Thief, Eventim Apollo review - flashes of brillianceSaturday, 29 February 2020
Big Thief’s show promised that particular brand of raw singing and perfect guitarmanship that only they can provide, something which they presented with a playful, earnest charm. Adrianne Lenker shared the stage with her three bandmates, two other... Read more... |
