Merle Haggard, the outlaw-country icon who rose from a life of poverty and imprisonment to become one of America’s most influential artists, died April 6 on his birthday. He was 79. During the past 15 years, Haggard had recorded some of his most compelling—and angriest—work. “In order to go where…
By Greg Cahill In honor of the fifth anniversary of singer, songwriter, and guitarist Jack Hardy‘s death, Smithsonian Folkways has released A Tribute to Jack Hardy, featuring 26 previously unreleased recordings of Hardy’s songs covered by an all-star lineup, all of whom cited him as a key influence and a…
ADVERTISEMENT
“Guitar is the only thing I was ever really great at,” Johnny Winter says in a new feature-length documentary about the Texas bluesman’s life and music, Down & Dirty, available now on home video. Director Greg Olliver, also responsible for a documentary about Motörhead’s Lemmy, spent two years with Winter, just before…
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 its inception in 1987 until 1994, when he sold his share…
The California-based Brothers Comatose infuse their brand of Americana with lots of twang, a dash of wit and splash of surrealism. The “Black Light Moon” video is the first single from the band’s new album City Painted Gold on the Swamp Jam label. Look for the Brothers Comatose on the…
ADVERTISEMENT
By Whitney Phaneuf Nashville producer Dave Cobb has brought together his favorite country artists — including Jason Isbell, Chris Stapleton, and Brandy Clark — for the new compilation album Southern Family, which is streaming via NPR. Listen here. “Somebody said, ‘You should make a concept record,’ and I kind of giggled about it for…
Tom Heddleston, the British actor best known for playing Loki in the action movies Thor and The Avengers, is about to hit the big screen as country legend Hank Williams. After several delays, I Saw the Light, filmed in 2014 in Louisiana, is set to open March 25. Heddleston, who…
New Yorker Adam Rafferty is well known as a jazz and funky fingerstyle guitarist; perhaps you’ve heard his acclaimed solo guitar album of Michael Jackson songs, I Remember Michael. Very cool. Well, this performance is sultry and hot. Eighty years ago this week, a traveling production of George Gershwin’s opera…
ADVERTISEMENT
Lights, the Canadian electro-pop artist, has just released Midnight Machines, a six-song acoustic recording. Watch “Meteorites,” the first single from the album. “Midnight Machines is more than just an acoustic record, it’s a complete reinvention of some of the songs from Little Machines,” says Lights (aka Valerie Anne Poxleitner). “I…
“I’m drawn to archtops because each maker puts his fingerprint on each individual instrument,” Dan Krugman says. He’s speaking from the Brooklyn workshop of DDK Guitars, the company he launched in 2011. “Design elements seem less agreed upon. Everyone has their own style of F-hole or bridge configuration.” He likens…
By Greg Cahill Find the cost of freedom . . . . When Canadian siblings Matthew and Jill Barber started working on The Family Album, their first album together and a project that’s been a lifetime in the making, they turned to several originals that Matt and Jill demo’d on…
ADVERTISEMENT
The Metropolitan Museum of Art has acquired two guitars hand built by Ken Parker—who joins Paul Reed Smith as one of the few custom-guitar makers in the prestigious New York City museum’s Musical Instruments collection.
At 75, Joan Baez still doesn’t mince words. “People say to me how do you maintain your optimism? Guess what? I never had much,” she tells the New York Observer. “The miracle is to go off and do something anyway. To whatever extent you can lead a decent life and…
The critics have gone crazy for singer-songwriter Hayes Carll, especially following the release of his recent ten-track full-length debut Lovers & Leavers (Thirty Tigers). The album was produced by Joe Henry, which is appropriate: Henry also produced Ramblin’ Jack Elliot’s 2009 album A Stranger Here, and Carll evokes more than…
This lucky contestant won a Martin Custom Shop 00-28K Koa Acoustic Guitar from The Music Zoo! We think they look like a perfect pair. If you’re feeling lucky, head over to our Win page to see which giveaways are currently open for entries. Check out the specs of Kaylen’s prize below. This stunning piece…
ADVERTISEMENT
By Jeffrey Pepper Rodgers On a courtyard stage at the FreshGrass festival in western Massachusetts, Quiles and Cloud gather around a single microphone. Maria Quiles (pronounced key-less) sways in her batik skirt, singing lead and playing fingerstyle rhythm on a cutaway Martin, while Rory Cloud, goateed with a long ponytail…
Why in the world was Quentin Tarantino--the "Madman of Movie Mayhem"--given access to a one-of-a-kind, century-and-a-half-old Martin guitar?
By Greg Cahill Two founding members of the Jefferson Airplane—Paul Kantner and Signe Anderson—died hours apart of separate illnesses on January 28, 2016, just weeks after the audiophile record label Mobile Fidelity reissued a remastered edition of the band’s landmark 1967 album Surrealistic Pillow (RCA). In this interview, Kantner reflects…
ADVERTISEMENT
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 — Stilley’s guitars, ukes, and other stringed instruments are anything but…
The Santa Cruz Guitar Co. turns 40 in 2016, and to celebrate, owner Richard Hoover trotted out a limited-edition Commemorative 40th Anniversary Model.
Three of Fahey's earliest signings—Toulouse Engelhardt, Peter Lang, and Rick Ruskin—hit the road for the Takoma Records Guitar Masters Tour
ADVERTISEMENT
Band mates, husband-and-wife, and parents to three kids, the Weepies have experienced a lot together—and cancer was no different. When Deb Talan was diagnosed with breast cancer at the end of 2013, she and Steve Tannen had been working on their first full-length release in five years as folk duo the Weepies. By mid-2014, Talan beat cancer and…
Posted by Marc Greilsamer In August of 2012, Mark Stutman, owner of Folkway Music in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, was contacted about an old guitar that was found under a bed somewhere in Iowa. Intrigued by the description he was given on the phone, he asked for a few photographs. Though the…
This year’s Player’s Choice Awards offer up some familiar names—and more than a few surprises.
ADVERTISEMENT
Yesterday, Fender Musical Instruments Corporation (FMIC) announced that KMC Music, its wholly owned subsidiary, has sold the Ovation guitar brand to Drum Workshop, Inc. Considering Fender’s recent history of brand divestment, the move isn’t entirely unexpected. However, the fact that Ovation was acquired by DW—a major manufacturer of percussion instruments and…
ADVERTISEMENT
