UK music magazine Uncut weighs on this year's best albums. Like Rough Trade, they give Josh T Pearson serious placement. They put Tinariwen, who appeared on The Colbert Report last night (!) with Tunde and Kyp from TV on the Radio, at #18. Check out their whole list and video from Colbert, below...

Continue reading "Uncut's Top 50 Albums of 2011, video of Tinariwen & Kyp & Tunde on the Colbert Report"

Josh T Pearson @ BV-SXSW 2011 (more by Amanda Hatfield)

Check out Rough Trade's list of the Top 100 Albums of 2011 (yay Josh T Pearson!), below...

Continue reading "Rough Trade's Top 100 albums of 2011 "

photos by Jim Brueckner

Mavis Staples

Newport Folk Festival took place in Rhode Island this past weekend (7/30-31). Day one featured performances by The Felice Brothers, Delta Spirit, Gogol Bordello, Tegan and Sara, Gillian Welch, Mavis Staples (who was joined by Colin Meloy), The Decemberistsand others. Pictures from that day are in this post. If you missed the fest, you can listen to archives of the sets at NPR.

The Felice Brothers, who are no longer playing Truck America, added Nicole Atkins as an opener to their 9/29 Webster Hall show. Tickets are still on sale. You can also catch Nicole tonight (8/3) at Bowery Ballroom when she opens for Fountains of Wayne.

The PS22 Chorus also played day one. Pictures and videos of their set are HERE. Sallie Ford pics & video HERE. More pics from the rest of day one below...

Continue reading "Newport Folk Fest 2011 - Day 1 in pics (Decemberists, Mavis Staples, Gogol Bordello, Tegan & Sara, Gillian Welch, more)"

Gillian Welch is on a massive tour in support of her recently released LP The Harrow & The Harvest. The tour hits NYC on October 22 at Beacon Theatre. Tickets go on sale today (7/15) at noon for that seated show.

All tour dates are listed below...

Continue reading "Gillian Welch -- 2011 Tour Dates (Beacon Theatre)"

The 10th Anniversary ACL Festival line-up is on the books. Stevie Wonder, Arcade Fire, Kanye West, Coldplay, My Morning Jacket, Fleet Foxes, Alison Krauss and Union Station, Nas & Damian "Jr Gong" Marley and Cee Lo top the bill of the over 130 bands. Bright Eyes, Social Distortion, Empire of the Sun, Santigold, Pretty Lights, TV On The Radio, Skrillex, Big Boi and Randy Newman are also on tap to rock September 16-18.

Continue reading "Austin City Limits 2011 festival lineup is here, tickets on sale"

"An exciting mix of folk music's founding voices and modern favorites highlights the 52nd edition of the Newport Folk Festival® when it returns to Newport's Fort Adams State Park July 30-31, it was announced today by the Newport Festivals Foundation, the recently-formed 501 (c)(3) non-profit organization which produces the event.

Tickets go on sale worldwide on Thursday, March 31, at 10:00 am at www.newportfolkfest.net.

Continue reading "Newport Folk Festival 2011 lineup announced, tickets too"

DOWNLOAD: Loch Lomond - Elephants & Little Girls (MP3)

The Decemberists have announced that their sixth full length album, The King Is Dead, will be released through Capitol Records on January 18. To accompany this announcement, they have also released the first single off the album, "Down by the Water" (which Colin Meloy played solo for KEXP during CMJ) featuring Gillian Welch singing duet vocals with Colin Meloy (Welch also just collaborated with Norah Jones on her new album). The single can be downloaded for free off of The Decemberists' website. The record will also feature guest musician Peter Buck of R.E.M., who The Decemberists have previously collaborated with in Buck's project, The Minus 5.

ABlack Prairie, a project featuring Chris Funk, Nate Query, and Jenny Conlee of the Decemberists, just played Mercury Lounge last week.

"Black Prairie is an impossible band to classify. They're billed in some circles as indie rock, but that's not quite accurate. That may be because it's the type of musical circles the members of the band normally travel in. The most well known members of Black Prairie spend most of their time in the folk rock band the Decemberists.

There are a few similarities to the Decemberists' work here and there, but anyone expecting that brand of folk rock/indie pop, should leave those expectations at the door. Black Prairie abandons any of those pop sensibilities for the most part, instead trading them in for an altogether distinct sound.

It would be a bit too simple to call them an alt-country band as they don't seem to share many of the same principles aside from sounding like a band that might interest people who have a leaning in that genre. The road they seem to travel is that of a bluegrass band."
[Washington Times]

In somewhat related news, friend of the Decemberists and fellow Portland band Loch Lomond have announced a new album as well. "Little Me Will Start A Storm" will be released via Tender Loving Empire on 2/22/11, and can be pre-ordered on CD and vinyl now. Sample a track from the record above.

Both new album tracklists below...

Continue reading "new Decemberists & Loch Lomond albums & MP3s "

Dave Rawlings & Gilian Welch @ Newport Folk Fest 2009 (more by Jim Brueckner)

The Dave Rawlings Machine rolled into the Cat's Cradle last night [November, 30, 2009], giving the packed crowd over two hours of music before calling it a night.

Rawlings, donning a Stetson hat he says belonged to Bill Monroe with a denim shirt and jeans, was joined by his long time musical partner Gillian Welch as well as Ketch Secor, Willie Watson and Morgan Jahnig from Old Crow Medicine Show. The group played the Dave Rawlings Machine's entire debut album A Friend of a Friend which was given a shot in the arm live. [Triangle Music]

Tickets are still available for NYC shows happening tonight (June 2) and tomorrow (June 3) at Bowery Ballroom (no openers either night - shows start at 9:15pm). There are other tour dates too. They are below...

Continue reading "Dave Rawlings Machine = Dave + Gillian Welch + members of Old Crow Medicine Show --- in NYC now & on tour (dates) "

photos by Jim Brueckner

"Half a century ago, Pete Seeger helped found the Newport Folk Festival, a weekend notorious for its dichotomies- Rhode Island high society and scrappy folk singers, old time traditions and new sounds, social rebellion and responsible activism. At this year's 50th anniversary, the festival came full circle for Seeger and other Newport regulars.

In addition to appearing and performing for the umpteenth time, Seeger was honored with an all out stage show courtesy of indie rockers the Decemberists. With frontman Colin Meloy narrating and guitarist Chris Funk playing the part of Seeger, plus Shara Worden (My Brightest Diamond) as Bob Dylan, the crew reenacted an infamous scene from the 1965 festival: the moment when Bob Dylan "went electric." According to Rolling Stone, while Funk was miming a frazzled Seeger attempting to unplug Dylan's raucous reinvention, Meloy quipped, "This was back in the day when the PA system was fueled entirely by burning wood. Pete was back there cutting the wood, and he became so overwhelmed with emotion that his hatchet almost slipped and severed the power cables."

Seeger knew the sketch was all in good fun and soon joined the Decemberists on stage for a sing-a-long. Gillian Welch, Fleet Foxes, and even Seeger's grandson Tao joined in on the jam. The 90-year-old legend even cranked out a solo or two. After all, as festival promoter George Wein said Saturday, "Pete Seeger is the Newport Folk Festival."" [American Songwriter]

Continue reading "Newport Folk Fest 50 - Day 1 pics, video, audio (Pete Seeger, Decemberists, Fleet Foxes, Shara Worden as Dylan & more)"

Old Crow Medicine Show + David Rawlings & Gillian Welch @ Town Hall (muzikspy)

Old Crow Medicine Show, Dave Rawlings Machine (feat. Gillian Welch), The Felice Brothers and Justin Townes Earle will join together for the Big Surprise Tour, a revue-style show that'll travel for two weeks this August.

Shows will be composed of two 90-minute sets broken up by an intermission. In a free form ramshackle flow the bands and artists will share the stage, taking part in each other's songs, resurrecting old standards, and playing newly written collaborative material as they go.

There are also plenty of chances to catch each of the acts this summer before the Big Surprise Tour starts. Old Crow Medicine Show will be at the Clearwater Festival on June 20th and will open two nights for the Dave Matthews Band at the Jones Beach Theater on July 21st and 22nd. The Felice Brothers are currently touring the West Coast -- they'll play the Surf Lodge in Montauk on July 11th. The Dave Rawlings Machine (featuring Gillian Welch) performs at the Newport Folk Fesival on August 2nd, where Welch plays her own set one day prior. Justin Townes Earle appears at Bonnaroo on June 12th.

All tour dates and Big Surprise poster, below...

Continue reading "Big Surprise Tour w/ Old Crow Medicine Show, Justin Townes Earle, David Rawlings, Gillian Welch, Felice Brothers"

Kaki King @ BAM 2/7/09 (more by Natasha Ryan)

Steven Patrick Morrissey is turning 50 on May 22nd. Morrissey himself will be celebrating with a concert in his hometown of Manchester.

Others will be celebrating, that same night, right here in Brooklyn at Glasslands Gallery where Kaki King will play a "special set" at a Morrissey birthday celebration. Beta Beta, the Bodgea Girls and the Stationary Set are also on the bill. Flyer below.

This summer, King will be at Bonnaroo on June 12th and Northern California's music & yoga festival, Wanderlust, on Saturday, July 25th. The lineup for that fest includes Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings, Jenny Lewis, Amanda Palmer, Spoon, Broken Social Scene...and many more big "indie" names. The festival also offers yoga sessions with a full schedule of guest yogis. Both music+yoga tickets and music-only tickets go on sale Tuesday, May 12th.

Kaki King's newest record is her Mexican Teenagers EP, released March 30th by Cooking Vinyl.

Full details of both Morrissey's b-day and Wanderlust Festival, with posters, and Kaki King dates, below...

Continue reading "Morrissey turning 50, Kaki King celebrating @ Glasslands & playing the Wanderlust Festival (full 2009 lineup)"

"What a fitting day to announce the complete list of artists involved with our upcoming album DARK WAS THE NIGHT - the February 17th 4AD release that will benefit the Red Hot Organization. It's World AIDS Day, and in honor of that, we bring you the exciting news."

Continue reading "Dark Was the Night - full 4AD comp artist list, cover art, etc"