The offspring of two famous musicians prove their worth independently on this commendable effort

I came to this music on “Wreckin’ Yard” not knowing anything about Stevie Agnew and his band. And that’s a good thing, because as time went by I learned more and was pleasantly surprised.

I don’t usually read biographies or research other critics reviews of an artists’ music because I don’t want to be influenced by what they might…

With just three months 0f 2013 in the history books, it's shaping up to be a quality year for Americana records. Here are my picks for the Top 10 Records of the Year (So Far).

10. Bobby Bare - Darker Than Light

Bare's first album in seven years is a collection of 16 songs drawn from a list he's kept for the better part of his 50 year career. There are murder ballads, songs of the sea, interpretations of rare classics and readings from the rock and roll songbook. The…

This is one of the top CDs that I have heard this year. Before this couple got married, they both had successful solo careers and still do. This is the first CD that they have done together and I think they sound very well singing together, though I'll take Willis singing by herself anyday. I like Bruce's brother Charlie better than Bruce, just a stylistic, talent thing. Bruce is very talented himself.

FTB podcast #200 features the first-ever collaboration album from husband and wife KELLY WILLIS & BRUCE ROBISON called Cheater's Game.

Here's the direct link to listen now!

Show #200…

Out in Hollywood, all the pretty people were swirling down the red carpet. Decked out to be seen, glittering and sparkling, heels that theaten nosebleeds or spinal injuries, clothing folded like origami armor or barely there to catch the eye.

They tromp that camera-line, professing their undying love for Bruce Springsteen, a working class hero who rose from the practically Asbury boardwalk to sing their truth with bravura and an insistence that let them know that someone saw. For him…

One of the things that already tops my list of "things I miss most about living in Brooklyn" is the reading time during my daily commute. So until moving to Portland this past August, the NYC subway (MTA) is where I have absorbed most of my reading material since I moved there in 2004. Burying my face in a book on the subway was not only a great way to wake up in the morning on my way to work, but it also served as the ideal method of mellowing out on my way home.

Jonah Tolchin mesmerizes audiences with his impeccable musicianship, foot-stomping rhythms, and lyrical original songs. At age fourteen he fell in love with traditional blues and began playing guitar and harmonica.

At fifteen he appeared at Tupelo Music Hall in New Hampshire with blues legend Ronnie Earl. Now he plays everything from roots and Americana music to old time folk & acoustic blues, but likes to settle down in the in-between places. From 2007-2011…

In 1973, Terrence Malick Directed Martin Sheen & Sissy Spacek, (as well as Warren Oates), in the art film "Badlands" more than rumored to be Bruce Springsteen's favorite film. It's based on the mid West murder spree of Charles Starkweather and his girlfriend Carol Ann Fugate in 1958.

In June of 1978, Bruce released: "Darkness On The Edge Of Town" one of, if not, his finest albums. You'll note that the opening song on side one is titled: "Badlands"...I believe this is no…

This is Ed, not Bruce. I just wanted to take a moment before I share Springsteen's words with you to say that I've been thinking a lot about the upcoming election here in the US. Yesterday after the second presidential debate, I was inspired to put down my own thoughts, but I backed off because this is really just a music site, although politics certainly seep into the posts from time to time. On the other hand, No Depression is also a community. And a world community at that,…

This article is republished with permission from OurStage, an MTV/CMT partnership

Lindi Ortega’s sound has taken a long dip into the blues, but she’s still got the soul of a country girl.

Talking by phone from her mother’s Toronto home, she chatted about how her 2011 release Little Red Boots inspired her to more fully explore the roots of country music.

Noting that the first book she read…

I thought it might be fun to compare Dylan's latest album: "Tempest" to Bruce's last album: "Wrecking Ball."

First of all, they were both discovered and signed to Columbia records by the same brilliant man...John Hammond Sr. Dylan in the early sixties and Bruce in the early seventies. Just think, if it weren't for John hammond Sr. the entire makeup of Pop music would have been quite different. And don't think Mr. Hammond didn't have to go to bat for both of these artists because he…

World of Wonders: The Lyrics and Music of Bruce Cockburn, by James Heald, is now available in paperback and for …

You'll probably have heard and read a lot by now about Bruce having the plug pulled on him in London, while he was jamming with Macca. Of course it was stupid and irritating if, like me, you'd been there all day in the mud and the rain and the show, obviously, only had a few minutes to run. But, like a lot of these things, Springsteen and McCartney was more of an "event" than a musical highlight. Of course, it's good fun to see Bruce and the boys having a high old time doing I Saw Her…

I'm back, after a nice week of vacation. It's always nice to take a break because it makes coming back to do a show that much more refreshing and fun. Hopefully you guys will dig the new music I have in store for you this week!

Download this episode HERE

Music in this episode:

- Cover Your Tracks AND Shake My Skin by Ryan Purcell And The Last Round…

When American Roots Publishing released our first CD, Beautiful Dreamer: The Songs of Stephen Foster, we were astonished at the attention it received from the media and music lovers all over the world. Although we cherished it, we never could have predicted that so many people would delight in our little album.

The praise culminated with a…

She was the queen of post-modern cred-country. He was the aw-shucks singer/songwriter with the #1 records on George Strait, the Dixie Chicks, and Tim McGraw with Faith Hill. They were the first couple from Texas’ alt-country scene, and separate but equal propositions with their own careers to tend to.

Last South By Southwest, Bruce Robison & Kelly Willis did the unthinkable: they teamed up for the Americana Music Association’s show at Antone’s. More a merging of solo acts than a…

This Land Is Your Land

Jimmy LaFave + Eliza Gilkyson’s Woody Guthrie Dream

Nora Guthrie’s father would’ve been 100 years old this year, yet somehow the music he left behind remains timeless and timely. It’s a notion she savored at the Prelude Music: Woody Guthrie Tribute – which served to warm-up the audience for Bruce Springsteen’s keynote address at the 2012 SXSW – telling the crowd, "These days are exciting times … My Dad would’ve loved to been here for this. This is a very…

If you came expecting a big thrown down screed about empowerment, activism and the state of the world today, Bruce Springsteen – lean in a dark shirt, sleeves rolled to the elbows and black jeans – disappointed. It was not a talk of rabble-rousing state of the nation that he strode onstage to deliver.

Instead, with the tiniest bit of soul patch quivering, he came to give witness to the power of music: to capture imaginations, channel hormones, inspire quests, ask questions and mostly,…

The Waiting Is The Hardest Part:

Waiting On A Dream: Springsteen Keynote Line

The grackles get up early in Texas. They’re cawing and singing before the sky’s even thought of turning faded black, let alone gray. It doesn’t matter that you’ve been writing til 2-something, they scratch at your unconsciousness ‘til bleary-eyed, you rise.

What else can you do? Though with the first come, first served policy for SXSW’s Keynote address, rise and shower and head out into the……

As I listen to “We Take Care of Our Own”, the first single from Bruce Springsteen’s new album “Wrecking Ball”, the image I have in my head is one of an elderly Cheyenne warrior named White Antelope. White Antelope was killed in the Sand Creek massacre in 1864. At Sand Creek, the United States Army laid waste to an entire village of friendly Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians, including women, children, and aged. Chief Black Kettle raised an American flag as the attack began. HIS American…