Americana Archive
04 Jun 2009
The Leigh Glass Band – Even Southern Gothics Get the Blues
Asheville-based blues troubadour Leigh Glass put the first lineup of her band together in 2003, but her own musical history goes back much farther. “I took piano lessons when I was little…but it didn’t stick,” she laughs. With deep roots in Western North Carolina — her family is from Bethel (Cold Mountain) in Haywood County
29 Mar 2009
Album Review: Los Lobos – Wolf Tracks: The Best of Los Lobos
Reviewing best-ofs is a dodgy proposition; if the artist in question is good, then by definition the disc is good…generally. It’s simple enough to point out a shoddy compilation, taking issue with any number of issues (song selection, poor remastering, lack of bonus/rarities, clumsy sequencing, lousy packaging, etc.). With all that in mind, then, how
17 Mar 2009
Album Review: Hayseed Dixie – A Hot Piece of Grass
Hayseed Dixie is bluegrass music’s answer to Dread Zeppelin. But then, who asked the question? Hayseed Dixie’s high-concept approach recasts hard rock songs in a bluegrass context (for a secret message, say “Hayseed Dixie” out loud, over and over, until you get it). These guys most certainly have a sense of humor — how else
28 Jan 2008
Eliza Lynn: Music as an Emotional Safe Haven
“I don’t remember not singing,” says folk/blues/jazz/Americana musician Eliza Lynn. “I remember being on the way to preschool, riding down Chicago’s Lakeshore Drive, making up songs.” “It’s just sort of a way of being for me. I’ll be driving, waiting at a stoplight, writing songs about sittin’ on empty.” In fact, she explains, “I write
11 Jan 2008
Tom Dudley Does it Right
If a musician attends the famed Berklee College, then goes on to work as an electronic technician at Moog Music, and then chooses bluegrass music as a career, he must be a musical carpetbagger. Right? Wrong. “My mother was from southern Ohio, near Kentucky…almost Appalachia. My parents sang Carter Family songs around the piano,” guitarist