AG caught up with Woody Platt, guitarist and frontman of the Grammy-winning North Carolina bluegrass band the Steep Canyon Rangers on the band’s tour bus at Merlefest 2016. Watch Platt play and talk with me about his beloved Collings guitar and…
Among the many highlights of the annual Merlefest music event held in the North Carolina mountains, April 28-May 1, is the Chris Austin Songwriting Competition, which has seen a who’s who of great contemporary songwriters take top prizes over the years, including Gillian…
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Fingerstyle guitarist Andy McKee launched his career on Youtube, and he continues to make great videos. The guitarist is releasing this video of “Ouray” in advance of his new live album, Live Book, which arrived in Europe in February and comes out worldwide…
By Mark Kemp As you read this post, please think about the question posed in the headline. For many who admired and came to love Kurt Cobain and his band Nirvana, April 5, 1994, was a horribly dark day. [See…
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Continuing ‘Robbie Fulks Week’ at Acoustic Guitar, here’s another video performance from the master guitarist and songwriter captured live on the Acoustic Guitar Stage at the Brooklyn Country Cantina this past Saturday, March 19, during SXSW. Here, Fulks and fiddler Shad Cobb perform “Long I…
It’s Robbie Fulks Week here at Acoustic Guitar. That means every day for the rest of this week, we’ll be featuring a video performance from the master guitarist and songwriter captured live on the Acoustic Guitar Stage at the Brooklyn…
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“What kind of acoustic are you playing today,” I asked the exquisite singer, songwriter, and guitarist Margaret Glaspy as she prepared to go onto the Acoustic Guitar stage at the Brooklyn Country Cantina Saturday during the South by Southwest Music Conference. She furrowed her…
You may know Tawny Newsome for her comedy work with Second City, or you may know Newsome for her music work with the Mekons’ Jon Langford. This afternoon, at around 2 p.m. Central Time, ace songwriter and guitar wizard Robbie Fulks…
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By Mark Kemp The Austin American-Stateman and Folk Alliance International have reported that Louis Meyers, a founder of the South by Southwest Music and Media Conference and former director of Folk Alliance, died early Friday from a heart attack. Meyers booked acts at SXSW from…
If you’re in Austin, Texas, next week for the South by Southwest Music Conference, you won’t want to miss Robbie Fulks, Margaret Glaspy, Daddy Long Legs, Kacy & Clayton, Luke Winslow-King, the Wild Reeds, and others perform on the Acoustic…
Three songs into the 13-track Montage of Heck, a compilation of raw, lo-fi home demos and other recordings Kurt Cobain made, is a happy little acoustic instrumental titled, appropriately, “Happy Guitar.” Its Gypsy-jazz chording and fingerpicking reveal a perhaps unexpected…
By Mark Kemp At the 28th Annual Folk Alliance International on February 17-20, Acoustic Guitar captured the legendary folksinger Judy Collins‘ keynote address on video. Caveat: The picture quality isn’t great–and Collins isn’t playing her signature Martin 12-string–but these excerpts are well worth watching for…
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By Mark Kemp KANSAS CITY, Mo. — During a brief set of songs with funny titles like “Pictures on My Phone” and “I Almost Stole Some Weed from Todd Snider,” the Los Angeles troubadour John Craigie somehow managed to name-check not only…
By Mark Kemp KANSAS CITY, Mo. — If the awards ceremony on the first day of the 28th Annual Folk Alliance International Conference was any indication of things to come, it’s going to be a hell of a week. For…
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By Mark Kemp “What in the world are you listening to in there?” My mom was confused. It was the early 1970s and she was hearing acoustic guitars, banjos, and fiddles blaring from the wooden stereo console in our living…
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by Mark Kemp Forty-five years ago, the Allman Brothers Band went acoustic. Sure, Idlewild South was only the group’s second album, but from Duane Allman’s joyous strumming that kick-starts “Revival” to his ominous acoustic riff that drives the mournful “Midnight…
By Mark Kemp Ed Stilley was in his 50s when God told the Arkansas artist to make guitars. And like the visionary paintings and wood carvings of the late Georgia folk artist Howard Finster — whose works adorned album covers by R.E.M. and Talking Heads…
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