Home Roots Music Safari Archive by category "Americana" (Page 10)

Category: Americana

Life’s Soundtrack – A Positive Run and some Americana Music from Markus Rill!

So last night after work I ran. After the run I finished my post about Steve Strongman,  I showered, went to the store, and then ate dinner.  All the while  I was thinking that I would write about the run in a few minutes. So as the minutes passed, my energy slowly slipped away and before long I was closer to sleep than coherent thoughts and writing!! Which is why I’m sitting here on Friday afternoon writing about it! I maintained a pretty fast pace (for me)  throughout the run and my pace time continues to go down. There was one time during the run that I checked my pace and it was 9:06, so I sped up a little and sure enough the pace went under 9 minutes!! Unfortunately, I could only keep up that pace for a minute or less!! My pace, however, through the first three miles was just and shade over 10 minutes per mile!! And overall I ended the four-mile run in a time of 40:19 for an average pace of 10:05. I was a tired but happy camper!!! My Rocket ShipNow I couldn’t think of or find a Prog Rock album to use as the soundtrack for the run, so I selected an Americana album that I’ve been listening to over the last few days, My Rocket Ship from Markus Rill I really like this album. It’s full of great songs, husky, gravelly vocals from Rill and some fine music from his backing band The Troublemakers. Here’s some press from Markus’ website: “If voices were highways, Markus Rill’s would be gravel … like Steve Earle, Tom Waits and Lucinda Williams, Rill excels at songwriting” – PureMusic/USA “Europe’s premier Americana artist” – Rootstime/Belgium Yes, you read that last quote correctly, because… Markus.. Read More

Night Owl Music: The Trip from The Folk Sinner to Sonny Landreth’s “Z Rider”

Sonny Landreth

Ok so Sonny Landreth is one of those musicians whose music is included in my library, but gets lost in the midst of the 18,000 plus tracks  on my iPod! But yesterday, when I paid a visit to YouTube and watched the video that closes this post. I was blown away by Landreth’s slide playing!! Words like you “doofus” and “idiot” came to the forefront of my mind, as I castigated myself for not listening to more of Sonny;s music!! You maybe asking yourself, now., how did he get around to listening to Sonny Landreth yesterday?? Wasn’t he listening to Lee Harvey Osmond’s The Folk Sinner???? Well, even if you didn’t pose that question to yourself, I’m going to tell you the answer anyway!! Read More

“Into the Night” with “Shades of Gray” from Robert Earl Keen!!

REK Well as I sat here thinking about what to listen to or what to write about, I decided to take a little spin on the iPod. I switched it to genres, then folk and then stood there spinning the wheel right and left as I counted to 30, because that;s today’s date, you see! When I looked at the wheel, it had spun right to Robert Earl Keen, Jr. So then I moved on up to the songs and spun the  wheel another 9 times for the month of September that comes to an end tonight. Boy, doesn’t it seem like we were just celebrating Labor Day and the start of school and now we’ve moved on to Halloween, and the Christmas lights are out at Target!!! The other night I was told to remind all the shoppers that if you want outdoor lights you better get them early because Target only get two shipments, so they go quickly and don’t forget to get a Target Red Card (either credit or debit) you’ll get an additional 5% off every purchase, everyday and Target will also donate money to the school of your choice!! I think our store has donated over $17.000 to one school in our area this year!! You’ll also get things like free shipping from Target.com!! If you come into our store in Mt Laurel and sign up tell them the “old man in the market” told you about it!! Read More

Lunchtime Music – John Gorka – “People My Age” Oh My!

John GorkaOk so on Wednesday, my wife moved closer to that magical life milepost the big 60! I won’t say how close she is because if I did she’d say “Well, I’ll still never be older than you!” And she’s right because as you may know, I passed that mile post a couple of years ago! Anyway over the last couple of weeks I keep flashing back to the folksingers that I have loved over the years. This morning I remembered the said passing of Steve Goodman and on this date but in 1973, Jim Croce died in that tragic plane crash. Read More

2013 Americana Music Association Awards

Americana Music AssociationSo the Americana Music Association had there awards show last night in Nashville. From USA Today:

NASHVILLE — Teamwork was the name of the game at Wednesday’s Americana Music Honors & Awards. Duos picked up most of the night’s big awards, and collaborations made the ceremony, held at the historic Ryman Auditorium, special. Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell were honored as duo of the year, and their Old Yellow Moon was chosen as album of the year. “This album was conceived almost 40 years ago, when Rodney and I first met and started collaborating,” Harris said. Crowell played in Harris’ Hot Band in the ’70s before signing his own record deal. Read More Read More

Greg Trooper – Incident on Willow Street – Lunch Time Music

Greg Trooper - Incident on Willow Street cover
 Greg Trooper passed away on January 15,2017 two days after his 61st birthday. And like those who passed away before him I still miss him. Incident on Willow Street released in 2013 was his last studio album. You can read more here

Originally posted Sept 17,2013

Incident on Willow Street – Greg Trooper

So if you’ve read this blog over the last few days you know one of the albums that I’ve been listening to lately is Greg Trooper’s new release Incident on Willow Street.  Personally, I think that the album is one of this finest works. Read More

The Avett Brothers Come to Philly – and a “Shady Grove” Debate!

The Avett BrothersSo last night my wife and daughter went to see one of their favorite bands The Avett Brothers at the Mann Music Center in Philly. Like always, they said they were awesome and I’m sure they were, but like Mumford and Sons there is just some about the band that doesn’t thrill me. I know that my opinion is not held by many. To try to sway me, my wife said that there was a least one song that I would have liked. For the first song of a three song encore, the band performed a song from Doc Watson, “Shady Grove”. My first response was that everybody does “Shady Grove”. Her response was “So” and she’s right that the fact that lots of people have recorded the song really doesn’t change my opinion of the Avett’s cover! Read More