No one would blame the members of the dBs if they had continued on their separate ways, drumming for Steve Earle, playing with Hootie & the Blowfish, R.E.M., and the Continental Drifters, and otherwise contributing to music in A-list circles.



Lucky for fans of the crunchy Smithereens-meet-REM sound of the dBs, the members have come together to create the cool kicky music that brought them acclaim as a band in the 1980s.



Make no mistake -- this is no weary…

 Dallas Moore Band Live Review:

 As soon as I heard it was confirmed, I knew I would be there and would write a review. April 2012, The Dallas Moore Band, in Bowling Green, Ky at the Spillway. It was a Thursday, Work was a conflict of schedule but I would Manage. Not to mention my poor girlfriend who had to deal with my drunk a** and drive me home (which ended up being 2am).  I interviewed Dallas and hung out with the band. They all proved to be  a group of home…

This morning, just moments before I took the dog out for a long walk in the California sun so I could listen from start to finish the new Beach Boys' album That's Why God Made The Radio, my sixteen year old German exchange student came into my office to tell me she got a free ticket to their show tomorrow night down in Orange County, just minutes from the beaches they have been singing about for fifty years. She asked permission to go and I told her it would be the…

**KIN: Songs by Mary Karr and Rodney Crowell will be released on Tuesday, June 5th, but you can stream the entire album here through the 4th**

CLICK HERE to LISTEN

by Kim Ruehl, for FolkAlley.com

A memoir can be a shaky thing. The author has to balance two very delicate plates: her memory and the truth. The latter is held prisoner to the former;…

Anaïs Mitchell’s latest album YOUNG MAN IN AMERICA has been receiving great press on both sides of the Atlantic and I’m sure that it will be a shoo-in for many ‘best of year’ lists come December. Meanwhile, she’s touring it, with her ‘Young Man Band’ here in the UK and I was fortunate enough to catch them in Brighton on the second night of the tour.

Opening with Ships, the band, Noah Hahn on fretless bass, Ben Davis on percussion and Rachel Ries on keyboards, provided such…

Bristol TN/VA, known as "The Birthplace of Country Music," will play host to the all-day "Gentlemen of the Road" festival event, an all-day "stopover" created by Mumford & Sons.

Dawes and Justin Townes Earle are among the scheduled performers in this outdoor event in downtown Bristol. 

Tickets are on sale now, first-come, first-served, for $69; $1 of every ticket sold will benefit The Birthplace of Country…

Entertainment was fully underway yesterday with the first band, War Chief, kicking off at noon in the Backwoods Stage. With so many outstanding acts, it was not always easy for fans to choose where to be and what sounds to immerse themselves in, but it's hard to go wrong. The weather was overcast and cool for the morning, offering fans a chance to explore without the heat glaring down on them. Most of the 4-day attendees have arrived overnight and begun to form neighborhoods in the main…

When I was 18, I started performing with my friend Sean. We were just two kids playing songs we wrote, backed by Sean's acoustic guitar. People called us a folk music act and I had no idea what that meant. So, I started buying up any folksinger music I could get my hands on, to school myself. 

A year or so later when I purchased my first guitar (an Alvarez, for $100), the guy at the guitar shop told me I should check out Shawn Colvin. My songwriting reminded him of hers, and…

Photography by Richard Uznanski

She was Talladega’s boogity boogity girl, the pretty blond who sang the 2008 “NASCAR Love” theme song with Darrell Waltrip at her side and racing fans at her feet.  Four years later, Toby Lightman is still cruising in the fast lane.

Working from her home studio in New York, Toby is a smooth fit for the evolving new music industry.  Both artist and businesswoman, she has pursued an independent course, releasing new music…

Yesterday the Americana Music Association went to L.A. and had Walk Hard star John C. Reilly read this year's nominations.  My friend Kim Ruehl has a piece on all the nominations here.  As you can see, it's a great group of artists nominated in all categories.  Congratulations to all - the awards ceremony in September should be fantastic.  I'll be there with…

(cross posted from String Theory Media blog.)

I saw Doc Watson for the last time in late July of 2011 at the Ryman Auditorium, a place I’d seen him perform magnificently on at least two prior occasions. The venue was ideal, but Doc was not in perfect shape. At the time he was 88 years old, and he showed signs of decline. He lost his place in several tunes and struggled with lyrics that he’d been singing for decades. But he got rolling nicely on his acoustic version…

On episode 90 of the Taproot Music Show, Moot Davis talks about why he had to go to New Zealand to start work on his new album, Man About Town; why he's a suit and tie kind of country singer; and the importance of being in control of your own destiny.

Listen now. 

Get More!

The …

Jason Isbell has just received four Americana Music Association Award nominations but he needs at least one more --  an award for cool.

Like everyone else, Isbell has had his ups and downs. The problem, of course, is that famous folks have their spats publicized. In the years that I've known Isbell, starting way back in 2006 during his time with the Drive-By Truckers, he's never been anything but gracious and forthcoming. When his manager caught him on the road to offer  a…

Hailing from the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Charlottesville, VA, the Honey Dewdrops are Laura Wortman and Kagey Parrish. Together, writing and singing in the veins of folk and old country music, Laura and Kagey have been touring the country over the past 4 years and have appeared on A Prairie Home Companion, gained Folk Radio notoriety with a #1 album and have shared the stage with musical greats such as Carolina Chocolate Drops, Mary Gauthier, and Matt Flinner…

FTB podcast #166 features the new album MATT HARLAN & THE SENTIMENTALS called Bow and Be Simple. Also new music from PAUL THORN, THE TWO MAN GENTLEMEN BAND and THE WANDERING. Here's the…

Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit scored big today, earning four nominations from the Americana Music Association for their album Here We Rest. 

Indeed, during a ceremony streamed live from the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles today, actor John C. Reilly (Anchorman, Chicago) announced the nominees for the 2012 AMA Awards.

The announcement was preceded by performances from some of the finest Americana artists - Buddy  Miller, Robert Ellis, Jim…

I'm finally here! Entertainment at Wakarusa 2012 officially starts today, and things are busy up here on Mulberry Mountain in Ozark, Arkansas. It feels great to be back at the pristine campgrounds as the festival patrons pour in from all corners of the country. My drive here from Kansas was smooth, and mostly uneventful. The weather has been a bit stormy at night but not unruly, and the festival grounds are buzzing with excitement.  I think all of us share the anticipation of the next few…

Dougie MacLean, the great Scottish singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, tweeted this morning on news of Doc Watson's death that he had once spent a month with the Watson family in the 1970s. Intrigued, I contacted him via his web site and was sent this this comment. Small…

SUNSET COWBOYS: KINKY FRIEDMAN & BOB DYLAN—A BURRITO FIESTA ON SUNSET STRIP

By Bill Conrad

Who rents an apartment nine floors above the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood, California, throws a house-warming fiesta that attracts stars of music and screen, then vacates the premises the next day?  Answer: the self-described “first full-blooded Jew to take the stage at the Grand Ole Opry,” and the same man who ran for governor of Texas in 2006—Kinky Friedman.

It was a lovely…

“So here I am on my stool tonight

Yeah, I’m practicing for the afterlife,

Cause when I’m nothing but a pile of bones

I’m gonna come back as a country song.”

“I meet a lot of teenagers,” Alan Jackson says. “It’s surprising how many like real classic country music… They go out and find it, even if they can’t hear it on the radio. They know.”

He pauses for a moment, half- laughs. He’s been here before.

“It’s funny,” Jackson…