(ParentsCanada) In 1996, Monique and Scott Collins were among the first couples in North America to choose the gender of their child. It’s called family balancing and they took advantage of medical […]
(Kruger Brothers online) Skip Vetter was a very dear friend of the Kruger Brothers, one who offered his talents to a number of their projects, including the cover art for the second […]
(KDHX) Jerry Garcia once said that the Grateful Dead are like licorice — some people don’t like licorice, but those who like it like it a lot. I think that’s a category […]
(KDHX) Lots of people might look at this list might say, “Who are all these people?” In roots/Americana music, and at my house, they’re stars. These albums are examples why.
Published in the Kruger Brothers Newsletter, December 2012. It’s one of the great stories in the history of fretted instrument building in the US: In 1970 Sam Radding began a small manufacturing […]
(KDHX) Tender Is the Night is the fifth solo collection from Old Man (Chris) Luedecke, and it feels like some of the musical ideas he’s been working with are really beginning to […]
(KDHX) In 2000 Tim O’Brien and Darrell Scott released “Real Time,” a gorgeous album of duets by two complete masters of instrumentation, arrangement, and performance. Beautiful. Then they toured it, and pretty […]
(KDHX) There are no easy labels for Darrell Scott. In his career he’s been a first-call session musician in Nashville, a songwriter, performer, collaborator and producer — and he recently toured with […]
Published in What’s Up: Canada’s Family Magazine, Holiday 2012 Christmas isn’t just decorations and presents. Some other signs of the season are, unfortunately, injury and illness. Especially at the holidays, you can […]
(HVBA) Partnering with an orchestra seems to be the thing to do these days. Bela Fleck did it last year with his concerto, as did the Kruger Brothers, as did Ricky Skaggs […]
(HVBA) While “The Hills of Alabam” is a new release, the material all dates from the early 1980s or thereabouts—it’s a compilation of material from two Front Porch String Band albums (the […]
(KDHX) I think it’s probably safe to say that this album won’t appear on many year-end best of 2012 lists this year, likely because it’s really a kind of teaching tool: a […]
(KDHX) The things we desire in the fall—the movies we want to watch, the soups we want to cook, the music we want to hear—are expressions, I think, of what we want […]
(KDHX) Sometimes with new albums, as is the case with David Gunning’s “No More Pennies,” it’s as much about the packaging as it is the music. First the music: David Gunning is […]
(Penguin Eggs) Make even the slightest adjustment to a violin design—add a string, use a different scroll shape—and you can turn heads, which is true of the work of Phil Elsworthy, an […]
Herbert, Richard Louis Passed away peacefully at McNally House in Grimsby, on Wednesday, September 26, after a long illness. He was in his 72nd year. A longtime resident of Fort Erie, Richard […]
(KDHX) I’m not certain that this is Herring’s best album to date, and then again I’m not sure that it isn’t. But what I am sure of is that it continues, beautifully, […]
(KDHX) As I listen to this new collection, which is just as good as anything he’s done in his career if not better, I can’t help wondering why Smither isn’t better known. […]
Liner notes from the Kruger Brothers’ 2012 release, Best of the Kruger Brothers “ … and you know you won’t turn back, as you move along the track … ” –“Choices” In […]
Unless you’ve been under a rock, you’re aware that Bob Dylan released a new album today, and with it the canonization continues. With the reflex of a congregant, Jody Rosen, who reviewed […]
(KDHX) So much of the traditional, roots, and country songbook, is about death, family, and God, with likely an over-representation of the latter. Ralph Stanley, both with his brother Carter and later […]
Liner essay for the Kruger Brothers’ CD release Appalachian Concerto The Appalachian Concerto is a very different kind of recording for the Kruger Brothers, and is without any true precedents within […]
(KDHX) You never know, but Steve Spurgin’s Folk Remedies might be the best album of 2012. We could probably argue at length, if we wanted to, about what makes good music good. […]
(KDHX) Bela Fleck is great. Now if only he could swing. “Across the Imaginary Divide” is another foray for Bela Fleck into jazz, coupling with a pianist much as he has done […]
(KDHX) “Rotten Taters” is, unbelievably, the first solo release from a mandolinist that, despite playing Carnegie Hall and the White House, simply should be more widely known than he is. There are […]
(KDHX) If you’re looking for a hidden gem, “Home from the Mills”–by bluegrass veterans Jimmy Gaudreau and Moondi Klein–is it. Both artists, while lesser known, have been in the A-league of bluegrass […]
Reviewed for KDHX Radio, St. Louis “Who’s Feeling Young Now?” will prove to be one of the most respected, lauded, challenging and influential works of the year. But that doesn’t mean you’ll […]
For KDHX Radio, St. Louis In “Beat the Devil and Carry a Rail,” his latest solo release, Noam Pikelny has created a moving, playful collection that features so much top-flight playing it […]
For KDHX Radio, St. Louis Music isn’t a sport though the idea of a top 10 list can make it seem competitive. It isn’t like that, of course, but there are some […]
Derided in countless jokes, often by the very people that play it, the banjo just might be poised to show us why it really is the greatest instrument ever. Or, at the […]
If Sarah Jarosz is unfamiliar to you, the support she has on her second album, released just shy of her 20th birthday, will ring lots of bells: Bela Fleck, Edgar Myers, Dan […]
Published in Penguin Eggs, Autumn, 2010. Si Kahn first learned of the power of song—perhaps like so many in the 60s—from his work in activism. In his recent book Creative Community Organizing: […]
