With their latest record for Worried Songs, The Rambles & Rags of Shiloh, Joseph Allred continues to prove themselves to be one of today’s most emotive and virtuosic guitarists. The album is inspired by the small rural community of Shiloh, Tennessee, which is located in an area where Allred’s family lived for over 200 years.Continue reading “Joseph Allred – The Rambles & Rags of Shiloh”
Tag Archives: folk music
The Record Crates United Mixtape: The Smithsonian Folksways Special
Our 69th episode of The Record Crates United Mixtape is a special one. Today, I’m highlighting some of my favorite tracks from the vast Smithsonian Folkways discography. From folk and blues standards and classics by the likes of Elizabeth Cotton and Michael Hurley to abstract soundscapes by artists like The Entourage Music & Theater Ensemble,Continue reading “The Record Crates United Mixtape: The Smithsonian Folksways Special”
Joseph Allred – Branches & Leaves
Joseph Allred’s stirring new record, Branches & Leaves, is a masterpiece amalgamation of folk traditions and stylings. Available on vinyl through Feeding Tube Records and digitally from Allred’s Bandcamp page, Branches & Leaves features everything from spiritual choral singing to banjo fantasias and chamber string music. Allred breathes new life into these traditions of old,Continue reading “Joseph Allred – Branches & Leaves”
Allysen Callery – Ghost Folk
If a cool autumn breeze could sing, it would likely sound like Allysen Callery’s elegantly wistful Ghost Folk LP. Hailing from Bristol, RI, Callery plays elemental folk music that feels alive with the landscape of rustic New England. The spirits of ancient seaside farmsteads, crumbling colonial graveyards and deserted craggy shores inhabit each song. InContinue reading “Allysen Callery – Ghost Folk”
Maybel – Gathering
Airy folk instrumentation, gentle harmonies and wistful atmospheres await you on Maybel’s Gathering. Released on Idée Fixe records in late May, the Montreal group’s debut full-length intermingles rustic traditional folk sounds and stylings with some hints of ambient music. In the background of many of these songs, you often hear layers of spacey lap steelContinue reading “Maybel – Gathering”
Powers/Rolin Duo – The Nightland
Much like the billboard on its cover, the music of the Powers/Rolin Duo’s The Nightland is a gleaming light in the oppressive darkness that seems to be filling our world right now, providing us a little hope and illuminating a path out of the gloom. Comprised of two side-long pieces, this album finds Jen PowersContinue reading “Powers/Rolin Duo – The Nightland”
Eli Winter – Unbecoming
It’s no secret that Eli Winter is one of the brightest new lights in the world of guitar music today. His sophomore release, Unbecoming, is just the latest strong case for this argument. Winter’s spellbinding debut, The Time To Come, dropped only last year (and ended up being one of my favorite records of theContinue reading “Eli Winter – Unbecoming”
Help Lindsay Clark Release Her Next Album.
Folk-inspired singer-songwriter and RCU fave, Lindsay Clark, recently fired up a Kickstarter campaign to help fund the recording and release of her next album, Carpe Noctem. Clark’s Crystalline LP from 2018 was a gorgeously melancholic and personal record that was nothing short of moving. When I reviewed it at the time, I had said that it soundedContinue reading “Help Lindsay Clark Release Her Next Album.”
The Record Crates United Mixtape #28: An Interview with Ramona Stout
Be sure to tune in to tonight’s episode of The Record Crates United Mixtape, as we have the privilege of hosting the great Ramona Stout. Stout is a record producer, writer, podcaster, and scholar of ethnomusicology. She is perhaps best known for her highly acclaimed compilation of rare mid-western gospel music, No Other Love (pictured above),Continue reading “The Record Crates United Mixtape #28: An Interview with Ramona Stout”
Library of Babel – Sing to Me of…
In 2018, Library of Babel took to the forested Appalachian mountains and came away with the abstract acoustic meditations of Sing to Me of… The Asheville, North Carolina-based trio improvised the entirety of this woody chamber record on guitar, cello and bass, while drawing from their isolated yet gorgeous surroundings of the Pisgah National Forest. ThisContinue reading “Library of Babel – Sing to Me of…”
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