Today’s Cool Album of the Day is Eva Cassidy’s, Songbird. I’m not sure how many of you have heard of this young lady. I’m asking you to please read her story and listen to her music. Eva Cassidy has, quite possibly, the best voice I’ve ever heard on a woman pop singer. A few years back I was unaware of her. Then on a slow news night, ABC’s Nightline, did a feature on this young lady named Eva Cassidy. She was a singer songwriter from Washington D.C. She had released a couple of albums on a tiny local label that never really did much. (Note: I’ve posted the NightLine episode below. It’s really a great watch) In 1996 she passed...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (904 in the Series) is Songs: Ohia, The Magnolia Electric Co. We’ve lost some good ones over the last few months, most recently Phil Everly of course, and Phil , along with the likes of Lou Reed and George Jones, shall be sadly missed indeed. For the moment however i’d like to shine some light on someone you may not have heard of, Jason Molina, a wonderfully talented singer and songwriter whose death in 2013, at the age of only 39, was a real tragedy not least because he surely had so much more to contribute. ∞   ∞   ∞   ∞   ∞   ∞ Jason  was a prolific artist and between 1997 and 2002, working under the banner Songs: Ohia,...

  Today’s Cool album of the Day (#901 in the Series) is Rosanne Cash,The River & The Thread.   Many people will to want to know – is this a country album, a folk album, an Americana / Alt-country album? Well – yes to all three but primarily I think it’s a Southern album. Each of the songs are finely crafted short stories in the great Southern tradition. They each work all by themselves telling a story that’s either from the Cash family history or a work of fiction. They also work together to paint a portrait of the South that is equal to the best Southern fiction writing. There are songs of family, a feeling of community or the...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#897 in the Series) is Tom Russell, Heart on a Sleeve  Going back to Lukenbach with Waylon, Willie, and the boys, Texas has been ground zero for singer songwriters. With a couple of them you only need to mention their first names to experience the magic. With others, two first names may be necessary. Just ask Jerry Jeff, Billy Joe, or Jimmie Dale, and with Bob Wills you only need to hear a few notes to understand that he is still The King, but the true beauty of the Texas music scene is the regional diversity and eclectic musical differences you can experience depending on what part of the Lone Star State you...

Today’s Cool Albums of the Day (#s 891 and 892 in the Series) are The Bottle Rockets – The Bottle Rockets, The Brooklyn Side When it comes to game changing bands that first began surfing the banzai pipeline of the Americana tidal wave that began in the early 1990’s and gained momentum in the new millennium, The Bottle Rockets, along with The Blasters, Uncle Tupelo, Whiskeytown, and The Old 97’s, were among the first explorers to plant the Roots-Rock flag on American soil, and now, courtesy of Bloodshot records, we are treated to a re-mastered, deluxe edition treatment of the band’s first two albums, The Bottle Rockets, and The Brooklyn Side. Formed in 1992, from the not so musical...

  UPDATE: See below to see who the winners were at tonight’s Americana Music Association Awards. ————————– 2013 A(Nashville, TN) May 14, 2013 – The Americana Music Association announced nominees today for the 2013 Honors & Awards in Los Angeles at the Grammy Museum®.  The ceremony featured performances by now nominated artists Buddy Miller and Jim Lauderdale, T Bone Burnett with Lisa Marie Presley, Elizabeth Cook and The Milk Carton Kids.  The program was broadcast live on AXS TV, who will present a special encore presentation of the event later this evening at 9PM ET/6PM PT.  Shovels & Rope, with four nominations, followed by Emmylou Harris and Miller, with three each, lead the nominee slate while many other notable artists were...

  Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#878 in the Series) is Robbie Fulks, Gone Away Backwards (Bloodshot) Gone Away Backward, the latest release from Americana, Roots Rock artist Robbie Fulks not only marks a triumphant return to Bloodshot records, the label that gave him his first significant exposure, but also represents a sort of back to the future homecoming, with the same sort of down home songwriting and storytelling that made him a critics darling going back to the mid 1980’s. Trying to capture the essence of Robbie Fulks is a bit like trying to catch a butterfly in mid-air with one hand.  It takes a lot of dexterity and a bit patience, but as you slowly open your...

The 2013 Americana Music Festival and Conference has announced it’s final line-up. We have it for you below. Everything below is clickable for more information. The fest officially begins on Wednesday September 18th and will run for five days and end on Sunday the 22nd. If you wish to purchase wrist bands you can do so HERE! There are many highlights this year including Richard Thompson, Rosanne Case, Bill Bragg, John Fullbright, David Bromberg and many many more… ———————————————————————————————————————————————   Wednesday, September 18  Cannery Ballroom 10:00pm • The Infamous Stringdusters 11:00pm • Black Prairie 11:59pm • Pokey LaFarge Hard Rock Café, Reverb Room 5:00pm • CMT Edge Happy Hour Mercy Lounge 10:00pm • The Lone Bellow 11:00pm • JD McPherson 11:59pm • The Band of Heathens ONE...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#876 in the Series) is Little Green Cars, Absolute Zero (Glassnote Records) Travelling the back roads of the “Mumfordization” highway, on a road already well navigated by Mumford and Sons, The Avett Brothers, The Lumineers, and Dawes, Dublin’s own Little Green Cars with their sparkling debut album, Absolute Zero, are gassed up, ready to form their own trail, and are headed for that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. The blueprint for this band of feisty twenty-something’s consists of fronting duo (think Buckingham-Nicks) Stevie Appleby and Faye O’Rourke, Dylan Lynch (Drums), Donagh Seaver O’Leary (Bass), and Adam O’Regan (Guitar, Piano), brilliant musicians all, where all five pieces seem to meld...

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Foolin’ Around” by Vince Gill & Paul Franklin Paying homage to those who have come before you is nothing new in Country music. Merle Haggard paid tribute to Jimmie Rodgers on his classic 1969 album Same Train Different Time, and also recorded tribute albums to Bob Wills and Elvis Presley.  Buck Owens also did it on albums that saluted the influence that Tommy Collins and Harlan Howard had on him. It’s a tradition that has continued throughout the years with one notable entry being Dwight Yoakam’s 2008 Buck Owens tribute album Dwight Sings Buck. Dwight and Buck were also very good friends who toured together in 1988 (I was lucky enough...