With the 2004 edition of the Americana Music Awards and Honors behind us, the list of next year’s nominees is already on my mind. There were many albums released just past this year’s cutoff for nominations which are strong candidates for awards. Also, some exceptionally strong performances during this year’s show leads [...]

The third annual Americana Music Association Awards and Honors were presented last night at the Nashville Convention Center, directly across the street from the legendary Ryman Auditorium. In more than one way, the honors were close to the famous stage of the Grand Ole Opry.
Many critics, myself included, believe that mainstream country has become [...]

Excited to win Todd Snider’s guitar? Well why not make it a pair and win Adrienne Young’s Banjo? As a bonus you’ll get an iPod as well!
OK, here’s the deal: to win you must submit your own home remedy. That’s right, dig up granny’s grease recipe or write down [...]

Tomorrow night I will be at the Americana Music Conference showcase at the Station Inn in Nashville. On the bill are Todd Snider with Will Kimbrough, Grey DeLisle, and Adrienne Young. Tift Merritt is over at the Mercy Lounge but I’m most likely not going to make that show. On Friday I’ll [...]

Woody Creek, Colorado is a secret little place that few really know about and even fewer visit. It is a place where cowboys still exist and mud on your boots is just a sign that an honest day was still reality. Known best for local flavor and a place that wasn’t Aspen, it [...]

So the first week of my world tour is over and I’m exausted but happy to be back in the United States. Everyone was very nice to me abroad, but there’s no place like home.
While getting on an airplane many many hours ago a man stopped me and told me he loved [...]

Updates will be thin this weekend once again but I cannot blame a hurricane thankfully. Instead I’m on the road with stops in Germany for a few days, a few days at home and then off to the Americana Music Associations Honors and Awards in Nashville.
I’m packing new music however. I’ll [...]

While hurricane season continues for those of us in warmer climates, autumn is just around the corner for most of the nation. The weather turns markedly more crisp and the joy of changing foilage isn’t far off and a reasonable consideration is the coming winter that shall follow.
For me there is no snow but [...]

Jay Farrar once implored us to look for a truer sound on the AM dial, to look for a time and place when DJs picked the platters and the only thing that mattered was the music. Lost between that place and today is a generation of Americans and genres of music that serve few [...]

Music is largely about having a good time, whether the mood is upbeat and fun or a melancholy reminder of the past. So naming your first effort for a new label Good Times can be a bit misleading unless you happen to be Texas maverick Charlie Robison. In Charlie’s case, there is never [...]