By Katherine Cole I have a confession to make: my new favorite holiday is April 20th, AKA Record Store Day! Unfortunately, I’ve got to wait 51 weeks until the next celebration. I know what you’re saying–who needs to go into a bricks and mortar store when you can download a song on your phone or […]
Remembering Richie Havens
Posted April 23rd, 2013 at 8:31 pm (UTC+0)
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By Katherine Cole In all honesty, that’s a stupid title for this blog post. How could we ever forget a guy who looks and sounds like this??? It was that opening performance at Woodstock in 1969 that catapulted Richie Havens into the history books, but did you know that it almost didn’t happen that way? […]
Play Ball 2013!
Posted April 5th, 2013 at 5:20 pm (UTC+0)
BY KATHERINE COLE This is a very happy week for baseball fans the world over—the 2013 major league season officially started on Sunday March 31st, when the Houston Astros beat their in-state rival Texas Rangers 8-2. OK, calm down. This isn’t turning into a sports blog. But there’s a longtime love affair between music and […]
Happy news from Austin…
Posted April 3rd, 2013 at 4:12 pm (UTC+0)
By Katherine Cole In my South By Southwest wrap up, and on Roots and Branches this week, I teased that I had one more South by Southwest story to share. One with a very happy ending. It involves Carrie Elkin and Danny Schmidt –both touring folk musicians who call Austin home. The brilliant news is […]
Theodore Roosevelt, Frank Lloyd Wright …Bob Dylan?
Posted March 19th, 2013 at 7:38 pm (UTC+0)
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By Doug Levine It’s another first for singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, who will become the first rock and roll artist inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Previously, Dylan was the first rock star to earn a nomination from the National Book Critics Circle for his memoir “Chronicles: Volume One,” and, in 2008, he […]
The other side of love …
Posted February 18th, 2013 at 9:53 pm (UTC+0)
By Katherine Cole OK, enough with the hearts and flowers. If you were anywhere near a newspaper, television or radio last week, you were probably made aware of the St. Valentine’s Day holiday — the most sickly sweet day of the year. And while many radio shows turned your stomach with songs of undying love […]
Who’s the Best New Artist?
Posted February 5th, 2013 at 10:15 pm (UTC+0)
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By Ray McDonald I’ve been following the Grammy awards for four decades and never tire of one category in particular: Best New Artist. It’s sheer entertainment finding out who the Recording Academy sees fit to nominate. Past winners have included such howlers as the Starland Vocal Band and A Taste Of Honey. And let’s not […]
John Fullbright
Posted January 11th, 2013 at 8:17 pm (UTC+0)
By Katherine Cole Today, legendary folk singer Woody Guthrie is probably the most famous export from Okemah, Oklahoma. But don’t be surprised if one day soon 24-year-old Grammy nominee John Fullbright’s name is also synonymous with that city. It’s rare that an artist receives a Grammy nomination for their first release—but what about an artist […]
Remembering Mike Auldridge
Posted January 2nd, 2013 at 11:04 pm (UTC+0)
By Katherine Cole In my last post, I talked about what a great year 2012 had been for roots music. But it was a tough one, too. Levon Helm, Earl Scruggs, Doc Watson were among the household names that passed away. The list of sidemen (and women) lost included NRBQ‘s legendary drummer Tom Ardolino last […]
2012 Roots Roundup…
Posted December 28th, 2012 at 4:17 pm (UTC+0)
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By Katherine Cole This was a great year for fans of American roots music—so many fabulous releases from bands and solo artists new and old. Alabama Shakes is one of those new bands. 18 months ago, they were having a hard time selling out 500 seat clubs. Now, they’ve got three Grammy nominations and […]
