WARREN HELLMAN, The Billionaire Who Loved Bluegrass, died in late December, there is a tribute concert set for Feb. 19th in San Francisco, story here...The 2012 Grammy nominations are in with Americana nods going out to LUCINDA WILLIAMS, LEVON HELM, EMMYLOU HARRIS , RY COODER readKim Ruehl's summery... more news
Also new...FRED EAGLESMITH - 6 Volts, MARTIN SEXTON - Fall Like Rain, KATHLEEN EDWARDS - Voyageur, THE LITTLE WILLIES - For the Good Times ...
Coming soon... CHUCK PROPHET, BEN KWELLER, ANNA COOGAN, THE PUNCH BROTHERS, KEVIN GORDON, CAROLINA CHOCOLATE DROPS ...more new releases. There is now a Freight Train Boogie New Releases Blog with more detailed CD comments.
Try the new FTB podcasts... now on iTunes... The Freight Train Boogie "terrestrial" radio show can be heard live Thursday nights, 8 to 10 PM pacific time, on KRCB in Sonoma County, CA, which can also be heard on the internet.
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This One's For Him: A Tribute to Guy Clark, the amazing double CD that includes nearly everyone from the Americana songwriting world get a 5-star review from Kevin Russell.
The Freight Train Boogie is dedicated to Americana Music: which includes the edgier country & folk singers, Hillbilly Twang, some bluegrass, blues and rock. We place a special emphasis on "Alt.Country", Roots Rock and many small label and independent releases. We love Country music, as long as it's "real" Country.
Americana music is influenced by elements of rock, country, blues and folk. Many of the more established artists you've probably already heard of: Emmylou Harris, Lyle Lovett, Steve Earle, Gram Parsons, sometimes Neil Young, Wilco or Lucinda Williams. Many people come to this music after feeling disconnected from rock or country that's heard on commercial radio. Perhaps the best way to illustrate what Americana music is, is to list a hundred or so Essential Freight Train Boogie Artists.
The Reviews section is where we write about new CD releases, and there's a huge archive of past reviews. The FTB News is mostly links to current Roots music articles and information on the web and in other media, including info on upcoming CD releases. The Links section is of course, links to other good, interesting or useful websites, although it's a little out of date. FTB Editor Bill Frater also does a biweekly radio show on KRCB-FM in Sonoma County, California.
FTB podcast #149 features the new album by THE GREAT UNKNOWNS called Homefront. Also new music from JOHN BATDORF, CAROLANN AMES and HUMMING HOUSE. Here's the iTunes link to subscribe to the FTB podcasts. Here's the direct link to listen now! Here is the RSS feed: http://ftbpodcasts.libsyn.com/rss.
"I was baptized in country music" says Darrell. Recorded in Scott's living room over several days last spring, the project is an intimate homage to the music Darrell remembers from his childhood and the father and mother who presided over that country music baptism. The core band features some of the best... Hargus "Pig" Robbin, Kenny Malone, Lloyd Green, Dennis Crouch, Charlie McCoy, Tim O'Brien and others. Darrell's chops on guitar and steel, and warm vocal tones, have earned him elite sideman gigs like Robert Plant's current Band of Joy. Now on Long Ride Home, the country music that shaped his musical character and that has informed his prior work, comes to the surface. It also features his father Wayne, who just died this past November. The record is passionate, bluesy, neighborly and emotional and an early vote for Album of the Year.
Explaining Hello Cruel World‘s genesis, Peters says, “In 2010 the universe threw its best and its worst at me. Some of it was personal, some global. All of it seemed to demand that I redefine my ideas of permanence and reevaluate what I believe in, to literally rethink what is real.” First the Gulf of Mexico oil spill put an eco-disaster at the doorsteps of the cottage in the Florida panhandle where Peters writes much of her music. Then a friend of 30 years committed suicide, followed quickly by the worst flood in the history of her adopted hometown of Nashville. The title of Gretchen Peters’ new Hello Cruel World is a pun on the famed exit line – sweetens this captivating music spun from a year of turmoil. Peters call it her “most close-to-the-bone work, written at a time when I felt absolutely fearless about telling the truth.”
Drawing from their individual diverse and vast performance histories, the Trio, featuring Matt Flinner on mandolin, Ross Martin and Eric Thorin - comes together unified voice—part string band, part chamber group, and part jazz trio—and in the process raises the bar for acoustic instrumental music. "Winter Harvest is really what good music sounds like. A perfect blend of bluegrass tone and instrumentation with the harmonic themes and complexity of jazz." -Fiddle and Creel
Produced by Fred and Scott Merritt at Fred's studio in Vittoria. It's a one mic, analogue, reel to reel recording, that has an awesome, swamp rock, songwriter sound. Vintage sound, vintage recording, vintage Fred. A few songs about Love lost and ones called "Trucker Speed" and "Johnny Cash" hint at a return to Fred's "golden era" despite to minimal recording audio.
Four CD collection containing music from Patty Smith, Mark Knopfler, Pete Townshend, Diana Krall, My Morning Jacket, Carolina Chocolate Drops, Jackson Browne, Lucinda Williams, Joan Baez, Flogging Molly, Kris Kristofferson and many others. The subtitle of the release is "Honoring 50 years of Amnesty International", that combined with the songs of Dylan are saluted by the diverse collection of musicians who contribute new or previously unreleased tracks.
Bill Frater interviews Grant Peeples & Renee Wahl, 2 Americana singer-songwriters who had just met before the interview. Recorded in the lobby of the Sheraton Hotel in Nashville, TN at the Americana Music Conference and Festival on Oct. 15th, 2011
FTB's Bill Frater interviews Will Kimbrough & Tommy Womack, otherwise known as DADDY. Recorded in Nashville during the Americana Music Association Conference & Festival.
FTB podcast #149
DARRELL SCOTT
FRED EAGLESMITH
Various Artists
