Americana Archive
05 Dec 2013
New Albums from Asheville Locals Pierce Edens, Drunken Prayer
Today is my birthday. My 50th, in fact. So I’m kinda taking the day off. But still have something to share: recently I penned a news item/feature for Asheville’s altweekly […]
22 Oct 2013
Album Review: Woody Guthrie — American Radical Patriot
Most Americans know the name Woody Guthrie. What they know of him beyond that – and/or their opinion on what he means to popular culture and music – varies widely. […]
12 Jul 2013
Album Review: Bill Frisell — Big Sur
Avant-jazz. Atonal no-wave. Country. Noise rock. Americana. Those are just a few of the musical idioms within which guitarist Bill Frisell has worked in his thirty-plus years as a recording […]
05 Jul 2013
Pygmies, Green Bullets, and Shitty Amps: Getting Loopy with Randall Bramblett
Randall Bramblett began his professional musical career in the 1970s. Working solo and then as a member of Sea Level, Bramblett crafted songs that synthesized a long list of American […]
21 Feb 2013
Album Review: Phil Lee – The Fall & Further Decline of the Mighty King of Love
I nearly passed this one by. The cover turned me off, and as I’ve mentioned before, with so many CDs for potential review, an off-putting cover image can sometimes be […]
06 Feb 2013
Album Review: The Coal Porters – Find the One
I have a friend who possesses a much wider range of musical interest than my own. Unlike me, she rarely concerns herself with such trifling issues as what genre best […]
31 Jan 2013
Album Review: Wanda Jackson – The Best of the Classic Capitol Singles
If you want a potted history – albeit one from a provocative perspective, and with its own axe to grind – of Wanda Jackson‘s career, I recommend you put your […]
16 Jan 2013
Capsule Reviews: January 2013, Part Two
Here’s another installment in my occasional series of capsule reviews, this time covering new releases by indie/self-released artists. My self-imposed limit for this particular exercise is 150 words on each […]
03 Jan 2013
Happy Birthday, Van Dyke Parks!
Owing to the distractions of the holiday season, today’s scheduled blog entry isn’t quite ready. So while I finish it, I invite you to celebrate the 70th birthday of acclaimed […]
31 Oct 2012
45rpm Roundup
The 45rpm vinyl format isn’t dead. In fact, I see more of those little seven-inchers in my mailbox these days than I did even a couple of years ago. Here […]