All posts filed under: Acoustic Music

Few things are better than the sound of acoustic instruments

Kate Wolf albums to be reissued

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California singer-songerwriter Kate Wolf died of leukemia at the age of 44 in 1986, but her songs continue to live on today. Dirty Linen, the folk music website, had a recent post reporting that Wolf’s catalog of folk albums will be reissued this July.  Here’s how Dirty Linen describes Wolf’s work and influence: Her blend of folk, country and pop helped pave the way for artists like Nanci Griffith and Mary-Chapin Carpenter. Wolf never had a hit single, and in fact the All Music Guide points out that “her style is one that tends to grow on listeners over time, as Wolf is not about flash. Her songs, characterized by a strong narrative thread, are about the ebbs and flows of adult life, in terms that are neither overly sentimental not mundane.” As late singer-songwriter Utah Phillips once introduced her, “I’d like you to meet Kate Wolf. She owns herself.” For those of you in California, check out the 2009 Kate Wolf Memorial Festival on June 26-28.  There’s a strong line-up headlined by Emmylou Harris, …

Jazz Brunch

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You gotta love search engines and teenagers. Today is Candice’s birthday.  She loves food and loves listening to jazz.  So I asked Andrew to find us a place for a Sunday jazz brunch. Typing “Jazz Brunch Washington DC” into Google turned up a range of options.  We skimmed them, realized that Chef Geoff’s in Wesley Heights was a five minute drive from the Cathedral, made sure there was something on the menu for everyone, and then Andrew made our online reservations. Just like that we had our birthday plans covered and earlier today were introduced to a new (for us) restaurant in Washington.   The two guitar & bass jazz trio was good.  The food was vary tasty.  And the time to celebrate with Candice couldn’t have been better. All in all, a delightful way to spend a couple of hours on a beautiful spring Sunday. More to come… DJB

Bluegrass Hair and Obscene Solos

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The bluegrass world’s answer to the satirical paper The Onion – the always off-kilter Bluegrass Intelligencer – is at it again with several not-to-be-believed posts from the world of roots music. In the wake of last weekend’s DelFest Bluegrass Festival and bad weather in the mid-Atlantic region, BI’s intrepid staff reports on how rain, hail, and gale-force winds could not dislodge the “bluegrass hair” of the host Del McCoury band. As reported by BI online: On Saturday, an unfortunate combination of gale force wind, torrential rain, powerful lightning, and crushing downfalls of hail rocked DelFest, the popular musical event hosted by the Del McCoury Band. Importantly, the relentless onslaught of life-threatening weather was not sufficient to disturb the hair of anyone in the McCoury family. Another BI post reported on the Supreme Court’s recent ruling that a solo by  guitarist extraordinarie Bryan Sutton was “pornographic and obscene.”   What, you didn’t hear about that one from Nina Totenberg?  Well, the NPR legal affairs reporter can’t be expected to catch everything.  That’s why we depend on the …

Matt Flinner’s Music du Jour Satisfies

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The Matt Flinner Trio’s Music du Jour is another in a string of strong new releases this year from Alison Brown’s Compass Records.    Flinner is one of the country’s top mandolin players, heard in recent years with David Grier and super bassist Todd Phillips as well as with Missy Raines and the New Hip. In 2006, Flinner’s trio (Finner on mandolin, Eric Thorin on bass, and Ross Martin on guitar) began to perform what they termed “Music du Jour” tours.  Each band member agreed to write new music to be performed that evening.  The only rule:  the music be started, completed, and performed all in one day.  I’ll let the website Jazz News pick it up from there: The players continued with their daily musical challenge, giving birth to the concept of the “Music du Jour” tours and later the Music du Jour album (out now on Compass Records). Between Flinner, Ross, and Thorin, over sixty new tunes were composed during three western U.S. tours, and in December 2008 the trio committed the twelve best to …

Majestic Kansas City

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In Kansas City for work, some colleagues and I went in search of some live jazz last evening.  Our host suggested The Majestic Steakhouse – just two blocks from our hotel. The Majestic is located in the historic Fitzpatrick building (the name is still outlined in tile on the entranceway), a building with a colorful past.  Built in 1911 as a saloon and bordello, it became a popular speakeasy during prohibition – and that basement hideaway is now the home of the jazz club. The Bram Wijnands trio (piano, drums, and sax/flute) was good – and made up of a couple of colorful characters.  For many people, Kansas City is a real surprise in the heartland.  I had been in town before with a group of National Trust supporters and knew we were in for a treat.  We heard last night they are “down” to only 70 barbecue joints and they have about an equal number of jazz venues. The Majestic and Kansas City – recommended! More to come… DJB

Searching and Finding More to Come…

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So you went to Google, typed in a search term and found this blog called More to Come…  Here, dear readers, are the most popular terms that have brought visitors to this corner of the blogosphere. Farnsworth House – Virtually every day I have at least one visitor seeking out information about this architectural icon.  Back in 2008, I wrote a post based on my day job where I updated friends and family on the flooding at the world famous Farnsworth House.  Since my employer – the National Trust for Historic Preservation – has owned the Farnsworth House (operated by our partners at Landmarks Illinois) it has had two major floods.  Seems those 100-year floods come more frequently than they use to!  If you want to read more about the flooding at the house – or just learn more about this architectural masterpiece – check out the PreservationNation.org site. Good Places to Raise Children – Six months ago, Business Week magazine named my home town – Murfreesboro, Tennessee – as one of the top places …

Double Play with Liz Carroll and John Doyle: CD review

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John Doyle is — to my ear — about the best rhythm player in roots music today.  Ever since first hearing him as the original guitarist with the Irish super-band Solas, I’ve been taken with the mixture of power and musicianship in his playing. In recent years, Doyle has been playing in a duo with Fiddler Liz Carroll, and they just released a new CD in March on Compass Records.   As promised last week, I’m highlighting several new releases from Compass in the hopes of encouraging others to take a look at this label’s varied offerings from a talented group of artists. Double Play is the second release from the Carroll/Doyle duo.  The CD begins with a medley of two Carroll tunes, The Chandelier and Anne Lacey’s.  Liz Carroll is not content to simply play traditional tunes, but she’s quite a composer of new Irish music.  The interplay between the major key of The Chandelier and the minor tones of Anne Lacey’s makes for a great pairing. Doyle’s singing is strong on tunes such as …

Different Views of Merlefest

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MerleFest is so big, with 14 active stages over four days, that perspectives on the festival can differ widely.  Two regular bluegrass bloggers have posted entertaining and informative stories about their MerleFest experiences in 2009 that I encourage you to check out. When I started More to Come…one of the first posts was about a show of the Lovell Sisters, and one of my first comments came from Dr. Tom Bibey.  Since then I’ve regularly checked out his Stories of the Bluegrass Road blog, and was pleased to see that he was posting from MerleFest.  This was the first year out of my four at MerleFest that I missed Mandomania, so I was glad to read Dr. Bibey’s update on this annual tradition:  the Creekside Stage filled with mandolin players all supported by one guitarist.  Check out Stories of the Bluegrass Road for a good read. The most extensive reporting on MerleFest I’ve come across is from the alliterative Ted Lehmann’s Bluegrass, Books, and Brainstorms blog.  As you’d expect from a retired English teacher, Lehmann’s blog …

Compass Records artists shine at MerleFest

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I know that when I travel to MerleFest, I’d better take along some spending money for CDs.  The MerleFest Mall includes what I’ve heard described as “the world’s best Americana music store” and I wouldn’t disagree. This year’s store was sponsored by Compass Records, which was appropriate since so many of their artists were playing at the festival.  Compass is a label that over the past 10-12 years has grown to be one of the best in Americana and roots music.  Their website tells the background story: “Co-founded in 1994 by musicians Alison Brown and Garry West, Compass is a new breed of roots-music label: eclectic, sophisticated, and artist-friendly. Called “one of the greatest independent labels of the last decade” by Billboard Magazine, Compass Records has provided a thriving haven of creativity for artists and a reliable beacon of quality for music fans. Its 2006 acquisition of the Green Linnet catalog and the 2008 acquisition of the seminal Mulligan Records label has made Compass the place to go for Celtic and roots music.“ Brown is …