Last year a friend of mine moved back to his native Ohio, near Akron to be more precise. Yesterday, I received an email from said friend who has discovered The Beach Ballroom–an Americana mainstay.
This prompted me to check in on Akron’s funky Americana duo, The Black Keys.
For those of you not in the know, [...]

Over the weekend I caught a recorded performance from a few years back of Jimmy Buffett doing “The Ballad of Spider John.” Of course it struck me that it’s one of my favorite Buffett tunes and is rarely heard live. Even more rare is the cult icon who wrote the song: Willis Alan [...]

Time is quickly running out to vote in No Depression’s 2007 Readers Poll. This is your chance to name your favorite 10 albums of 2007 in one of the most influential music rags out there today. But hurry because the poll closes on Monday, November 19, 2007.
I sent mine along…have you sent yours?

Recently I’ve heard quite a bit of talk around the emergence of Candian artists in the Americana genre. From a Twangville discussion about a scene they call “North by Northwest” to Corb Lund’s industry buzz, it’s hot to be Candian. My buddy JB from “Good Morning Americana” even dedicated his entire radio show [...]

Pay attention Louisville, Kentucky!
The boys from Edgehill Ave. emailed me to let me know they’re opening for Tommy Womack in Louisville on November 10, 2007.
Due to their kind words and shameless self-promotion they’ve been selected as November’s Local Band Shoutout! They’re a rocky Americana act that screams “Heartland!” They’ve appeared on [...]

OK…so I got this email from this guy offering me a cut of the money to promote a new DVD called Altered by Elvis. As tempting as it was to take this guy’s money, integrity matters more.
Now, with that out of the way, the flick looks like it’s worth watching. The trailer features [...]

Fellow Hoosier, Winamp alum, and Yahoo! Music exec has a terrific take on the current state of distribution as it pertains to music entitled “Convenience Wins, Hubris Loses.” To sum it up, although the article is well worth a complete read, he states simply that the industry has never been capable of realizing [...]

Folks the picking is slim right now. I haven’t gotten anything to write home about in a long time but I got the feeling something is gonna happen soon.
In the mean, I’ve been revisiting some classics–Dylan, Young, etc. In recent years however, Rodney Crowell has made some discs that are worthy of great [...]

It’s been a random week or so. I got on a plane for a family emergency and coming back I felt like I was just worn out from the non-stop travel. As I sat in Charlotte looking across the sea of weary travelers, one guy kept catching my eye–he looked so familiar. [...]

Now life is good…Dan Zanes is coming to my town.
Who is Dan Zanes? If you’ve got kids you’ll quickly learn that Dan makes some of the only palatable music entire families can enjoy. In fact, you’re going to find yourself tapping toes and singing the tunes long after the wee ones go to [...]