FTB podcast #215 features 2 fine new independent albums from THE WARREN HOOD BAND and RED TAIL RING. Also new music from KATHY GREENHOLDT, QUIET HOLLERS and WAITING FOR HENRY.

Here's the direct link to listen…

By Ken Paulson

Like Kris Kristofferson’s recent Feeling Mortal, Guy Clark’s  My Favorite Picture of You reflects the years.

On the new album,  due July 23 on Dualtone,  Clark’s voice is softer and weathered. But if time has  taken a physical toll, it’s made the music matter more. This…

I hate large stadium arenas but I adore Bruce Springsteen. I’m with the purists who argue that shows in such venues are much less satisfying than in smaller, intimate venues but, but, but….Springsteen is one of those artists who make a large venue seem small. For him it’s all about the music and the energy of the performance – no laser beams, no pyrotechnics, no circus – just a blacked out stage with three huge video screens and an E Street Band, most of whom have been playing with him since…

Ever since his 1986 debut (and, in some ways, even before that), Steve Earle has been one of the most prolific and distinctive singer-songwriters on the Amerciana/alt/country/rock scene. His 15 studio albums have encompassed political protest music, bluegrass, rock and roll, Townes Van Zandt covers, and just flat-out, darn-good genre-defying music. His work was covered by no less than 20 articles in…

One of the pleasures of being of a certain age is that you can literally rack up decades of seeing great musicians and attending gigs of all shapes and sizes. A recent BBC documentary about The Eagles jarred my memory about one such event in (gulp) 1976. 

I was a Brit newbie in America and was taken to a political fund raiser for then (and now) California Governor Jerry Brown. It was at the Capital Centre outside Washington DC , which is now called something odiously…

The Human Experience, an artist I’ve come to know much about recently, will be releasing a new album on Monday, featuring sisters Leah and Chloe Smith of Rising Appalachia. The album is called Soul Visions, and, upon listening, truly resonates as the vision of three creative souls collaborating to produce something highly elevated.

David Block, the mind behind The Human Experience, is a classically trained, multi-instrumentalist who has…

I've always remembered a great line from a wonderful little film called The Commitments, which tells the story of a ragtag assortment of Dubliners who form a soul band. A character named Jimmy Rabbitte says, "The Irish are the blacks of Europe." To me, that says a lot. Like African Americans, the Irish have lived The Blues for centuries. And it shows…in their soul-fire poetry, prose, and music. So, you're probably thinking "Van Morrison." But today I want you to think…

Really, all is need to tellyou is that for the second encore Billy Bragg played the whole of his debut album LIFE’S A RIOT WITH SPY VS SPY for you to understand what an amazing show this was!

In thirty years, Bragg has travelled the path from angry young man, to political activist to national treasure and his live performances are among the best you’ll ever experience.

Yes, he’s still political,that campaigning mind-set is written in his DNA but he juxtaposes hard-hittingviews…

Australian Blake Noble moved half way round the globe to Seattle just ten months ago and the self professed “Underdog,” found many a kindred spirit to help him release his second solo album. The eight track ,mainly instrumental album draws upon Noble’s unique percussive guitar style that picks up where long lost legend Michael Hedges left off; but don’t be fooled this is not “New Age,” music rather a funk rock, jazz, world music fusion for this century.

The opening track…

Well it's only June, but I'm going to call it and say that the award for Weirdest/Most Gonzo Roots Music Recording of 2013 will be a tie between the madcap sea chantey compilation Son of Rogue's Gallery and the unprecedented collaboration The Uncluded, which joins the anti-folk of Kimya Dawson with motormouth hip-hop MC Aesop Rock. Here are a few thoughts on each of these strange releases and why they're so oddly compelling.

Son of…