Folk Archives -

Music Americana Americana Archive by category "Folk"

A New Idea leads to Stevie Ray and Bill Morrissey

You know what they say- out of site out of mind. Over the last week or so I do believe they may be right.

Recently, I decided to take the CDs I like out of storage and put them on shelves in my room. Yes I know I can play them all on my iPod or I can stream them on Spotify, but there is something about seeing and holding an album or CD that feels good and right.

I have a five disc CD player and over the last month I have been randomly picking five CDs putting them in the changer and listening to them. And I’ve enjoyed a lot of music I haven’t heard for a while. read more

Tinsley Ellis Kicks off an Eclectic Music Day

Morning MusIc from Tinsley Ellis

The other day I was listening to Bluesville on Sirius-XM hoping to find some new blues music. Rather than finding new music I rediscovered an old favorite. Shemekia Copeland was the DJ and she played a track from Tinsley Ellis’s new album Ice Cream in Hell set to be released next month. From his website…

World-renowned Atlanta-based blues-rock guitar virtuoso, soulful singer and prolific songwriter Tinsley Ellis will release his highly-anticipated new Alligator Records album, Ice Cream In Hell, on Friday, January 31, 2020. read more

Late Summer and Fall 2017 Playlist – Americana and Blues

A Six Pack Playlist of Americana/Folk and Blues and More

I may never be able to catch up writing about the various albums I have been listening to over the last three to four months. So I have decided to make a few playlists that will group the tracks roughly by genre. Here;’s what’s on the first one….

Americana – Folk

Lew Jetton & 61 South – Palestine Blues

I started listening to this album, when we spent a week at the Jersey Shore back in August. It was the soundtrack for a couple of the runs during the week. I really like the album. It has lots of interesting and well-written songs presents well, with the vocals matching the music. read more

Life’s Soundtracks – King King and Dave Gunning

King King’s Blues and Dave Gunning’s Folk Provide the Soundtracks for my Commute to Paulsboro

It seems that lately a good portion of the music I listened to is heard on my commutes to Paulsboro to babysit Oliver. Now as best as I can remember Wednesday soundtracks were a blues album Reaching for the Light from the Scottish blues band King King and the afternoon on the afternoon trip a folk album from Canadian folksinger Dave Gunning. The album was Lift his 11th album.

I first listen to King King in 2014 when they released the album Standing in the Shadows. It was a great album and at the 2014 British Blues Awards the band won five awards including the awards for ‘Best Album’ and ‘Best Band” read more

My Summer Folk/Americana Playlist – Check it Out!

So on the left sidebar there is a playlist of some of my favorite songs from a variety of albums, most of which were released in July August and September of 2014. There are a couple that I’ve added from earlier months basically albums that I didn’t get around to writing about but still really enjoyed! So here’s the list of the albums that the songs were taken from to make the playlist!

1. Milltowns – Mark Erelli – September 2014 read more

Otis Gibbs presents some great – Souvenirs of a Misspent Youth!!

Otis Gibbs’ latest release Souvenirs of a Misspent Youth has been in my rotation for about a week now and the Indiana native, East Nashville resident has crafted another fine album. For my money, Gibbs is one of the best songwriters out there today and this collection of songs may be his best effort yet! Gibbs’ songwriting talents rank right up there with the best, comparisons have been made to Woody Guthrie, TomT.Hall, Kris Kristofferson and Townes Van Zandt. His story-songs tell tales of everyday life. read more

An Evening of Humor with Gabriel Iglesias (with an I not an E) and some music from Joe Crookston! (videos)

So tonight I did something that I rarely do and that is turn on the television and watch something other than sports. Well, I have to say that the reason that the TV was on in the first place was that the Phillies were playing this afternoon and after they lost and moved to like nine games under .500, I needed a laugh so I put on The Daily Show and watched Jon Stewart tear into Oliver North. After the show was over, I kept the TV on and started doing something, oh yeah, I was looking for funny stuff and I watched Monty Python's Upper Class Twit of the Year skit, which always cracks me up!! When the Python skit ended, in its usual blaze of glory, I turned my attention to the Comedy Central Special that was on TV, some very funny fat dude, or should I say "Fluffy Dude" was the headliner Gabriel Iglesias

New Music from an Old Favorite – David Wilcox – blaze!

Over the last few weeks, I’ve made reference to listening to David Wilcox’s new album blaze, today I listened to it again and I think it’s time i write something about the album! For me David Wilcox has the whole package, he is an intelligent and thought songwriter, a great singer and a terrific guitar player. What more could one ask for? I’ve been listening to David since the late 80s when I heard him on the radio singing and discussing the titled track of his first album “The Nightshift Watchman” Which is a song about those people, who sit in underground bunkers watching the skies for a missile attack knowing full well that if they do their job, their job and the world as we know it may be over!! You can read the lyrics here. Many of David’s eighteen releases can be found in my music library and I feel that blaze is one of his best albums. read more

A Night for Musical Poetry from Phi Ochs “The Highway Man” and “Changes”!!

So tonight I’m in the mood for a little poetry and that means Phil Ochs’ version of “The Highwayman”!! Here’s a short post from about a year ago!

Here are two Phil Ochs’ songs. The first is “The Highwayman” based on the poem by Alfred Noyes, from the program “Come, Read to Me a Poem” which appeared on April 12, 1967. This sad and beautiful poem has always been a favorite, Phil did a great job putting the music to the poem and creating a captivating and sad song! read more

Morning Music – “One Day” – Batdorf and Rodney – don’t we wish!

So for today’s morning music I was going to use the Jefferson Airplane’s cover of Fred Neil’s “The Other Side of this Life” but after my half sun salutations and a nice quiet yoga set on the 21 Day Yoga Challenge I thought it didn’t feel quite right! If you want, you can watch it here
Here’s a post I did a while back about the role of Batdorf and Rodney in my musical journey…..

So sometime in 1971 or 72, I was walking through the Graham Area lobby at the University of Florida and two guys were playing guitars and singing. I sat down and listened and was blown away by the songs. When they finished, I asked if the songs were theirs and they said, no they were covering Batdorf and Rodney. Within a matter of days, you know I was at the local record store looking for their album!! What I found was Off the Shelf and that album has been “off the shelf” and on my record player, in my CD player and now on my mp3 player for the last forty years. read more

Category: Folk