Folk
Bob Dylan Unveils “Never Ending Tour” Dates for Spring 2022
Bob Dylan’s “Never Ending Tour” is back. Today, the legendary singer-songwriter announced the next leg of his expedition around the world for Spring 2022, in support of his most recent album, 2020’s Rough and Rowdy Ways. Dylan’s “Never Ending Tour” resumes in Phoenix on March 3rd. The 27-date run will take him primarily through the southwest US over the course of five weeks, wrapping up in Oklahoma City on April 14th. If your city has yet to be announced, however, have no fear: Dylan’s website teases the “Never Ending Tour” as continuing all the way through 2024, with more dates to be announced. As for this run, a ticket pre-sale begins on January 27th at 10:00 a.m. local time, with general on-sale on the 28th. Grab your tickets over at Ticketmaster. Advertisement Related Video Prepare for...
Neil Young Unveils Documentary on Making of New Album BARN: Watch
Back in December, Neil Young and Crazy Horse released BARN, an album recorded in a restored 19th century farm shed. Now, they’ve released a documentary on the making of the album. Stream it for free via YouTube below. Recorded in the Summer of 2021, BARN (the album) marked Young’s 14th long player with Crazy Horse, and saw the folk veteran reunite with longtime bandmates Billy Talbot, Ralph Molina, and Nils Lofgren. Directed by Young’s wife Daryl Hannah, BARN (the film) takes an organic approach to documenting the recording process. Single shots depict the band recording entire songs, which is Hannah’s attempt to show the group’s chemistry and prove that no studio tricks polished the album’s finished product. The documentary enjoyed a limited run in theaters last month to coincid...
Czech Folk Singer Dies of COVID-19 After Intentionally Catching the Virus
Play stupid games, win stupid prizes: Hana Horká, a folk singer hailing from the Czech Republic, died over the weekend after intentionally catching COVID-19. Horká, who also performed in the popular Czech band Asonance, “preferred to catch the disease than get vaccinated,” her son told Prague Morning. Her son, Jan Rek, said that both he and his father caught COVID-19 over Christmas. Rather than stay away from them, Horká intentionally exposed herself to the virus, with the hope that she would catch it and then qualify for a “recovery pass.” (In the Czech Republic, either proof of vaccination or a recent infection is required to access theaters, cinemas, bars, and cafes.) Advertisement Related Video Horká, who frequently shared anti-vaccine articles on social media, initially bragged about ...
Janis Ian on Her Complicated Friendship with Nina Simone and Resisting a Male-Dominated Industry
Listen via Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Podcasts | Stitcher | Pocket Casts | Radio Public | RSS Janis Ian sits down to talk with Kyle Meredith about The Light at the End of the Line, which has been announced to be her final studio album. Related Video The legendary folk songwriter tells us why she is choosing to close this chapter of her career, the public perception of artists after the spotlight has moved on, and leaving easter eggs within the new set that speak to some of her past classics. Ian goes on to discuss writing a song about Nina Simone and their complicated friendship, as well as writing “Resist” as an answer to a male-dominated industry and society. Advertisement Listen to Janis Ian discuss her final studio...
Aldous Harding Announces New Album Warm Chris, Shares “Lawn”: Stream
Aldous Harding has a new album on the way. The New Zealand musician’s fourth studio album, Warm Chris, is out March 25th on 4AD, and lead single “Lawn” is available to stream now. Warm Chris follows Harding’s 2019 album Designer, and, like its predecessor, was produced by English musician John Parish. Harding discussed the making of the record in a statement. “It was recorded in my favorite place on earth — Rockfield Studios with John Parish, H. Hawkline, Steve Rockford, and engineer Joe Jones,” she said. “Listening back, it sounds to me like there’s something completely new happening with my voice. The vocals are tiny. I won’t try to speak about sound too much, because it’s here, and I don’t want to ruin or create a surprise. It reminds me personally/musically of ...
Sufjan Stevens Shares His Favorite and Least Favorite “Albums” of 2021
Long after most music publications shared their Best of 2021 lists (cough cough), Sufjan Stevens has arrived fashionably late to the opinion-dumping party. The musician caused a bit of a stir today by sharing not only his favorite, but also his least favorite albums of the year on his Tumblr blog; Sure, most of his favorite albums didn’t come out in 2021, and most of his least favorite albums aren’t even albums at all, but who’s going to stop him? He’s Sufjan Stevens! Some of the notable highlights from Stevens’ favorites list include Alain Goraguer’s soundtrack to La Planète Sauvage, a.k.a. Fantastic Planet, the wildly trippy 1973 animated sci-fi film. He also took a liking to new age icon Beverly Glenn-Copeland’s 1986 masterpiece, Keyboard Fantasies. As far as more re...
Bob Dylan Gives Our Half-Assed Year a Half-Assed Christmas Light Show
As the neighbor of Bob Dylan, author and journalist Merrill Markoe has become a celebrity reporter of sorts. For over a decade, she’s documented and analyzed the folk singer’s Christmas lights outside his Malibu home, and this year’s interpretation — Markoe’s last ever — has finally arrived. From half-assed string lights to basic plaster nativity scenes, Dylan’s decorations have prompted Markoe to ask one simple question: “What does it mean?” But the task has proven gruesome as the years have gone by. “Because people keep bugging me, here are you-know-who’s Xmas lights. For THE VERY LAST TIME,” Markoe wrote on Twitter. “But I can no longer take the strain of trying to translate such an obscure method of communication. See thread for my LAST interpretation EVER.” This year, Dylan resorted t...
Fleet Foxes Share New Live Album A Very Lonely Solstice: Stream
The official troubadours of winter, Fleet Foxes, have shared a new live album today. Appropriately titled A Very Lonely Solstice, Robin Pecknold and company recorded the 13-track project in December 2020 at the St. Ann & the Holy Trinity Church in Brooklyn, New York. Originally broadcast as a livestream, the songs on A Very Lonely Solstice spans Fleet Foxes’ entire career across all four of their studio albums, from their early highlights like 2008’s “Tiger Mountain Peasant Song” to modern favorites like “Can I Believe You.” The album also includes Pecknold’s renditions of Nina Simone’s “In the Morning” and a rearrangement of the traditional American folk ballad “Silver Dagger.” Now with its proper release, Pecknold says A Very Lonely Solstice “[honors] the loneliness of...
Bon Iver Share New Song “Second Nature” with Nicholas Britell: Stream
Bon Iver and composer Nicholas Britell have teamed up for a new song, “Second Nature.” Listen to it below. “Second Nature” appears in the Adam McKay film Don’t Look Up, in theaters December 10th. The film sees Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence play astronomers who discover a comet is headed directly toward Earth, and must convince the president (Meryl Streep) to do something about it. Bon Iver and Britell’s collaboration seems like a match made in heaven for those who love a good, emotional score. Justin Vernon and company’s brand of folk has inspired the likes of superstars like Taylor Swift, and Britell’s scores for Moonlight and If Beale Street Could Talk both won Academy Awards. Advertisement Related Video Bon Iver recently announced a Spring 2022 tour in supp...
Top 50 Albums of 2021
Our 2021 Annual Report continues with our Top 50 Albums list. As the year winds down, stay tuned for more awards, lists, and articles about the best music, film, and TV of 2021. You can find it all in one place here. We’re all friends here, so let’s be honest: Most playlists are boring. Corporation-curated playlists are boring, influencer playlists are boring, and the playlist you made for your high school crush became boring the moment you liked someone new. We use them at times — road tripping, studying, or working out — for a pleasant background vibe. But when it comes to prolonged active listening, only an album can demand your full attention. Advertisement That was especially true in 2021. Many workers returned to the office, even as the COVID-19 pandemic continued to teach us new let...
Aimee Mann on Sad Songs, Mental Health, and Queens of The Summer Hotel
Listen via Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Podcasts | Stitcher | Pocket Casts | Radio Public | RSS Aimee Mann catches up with Kyle Meredith to talk about Queens of The Summer Hotel, an album that was written as the musical accompaniment for a planned stage adaptation of the book Girl, Interrupted. Advertisement Related Video The singer-songwriter discusses the heavy subject matter, her own experiences with depression and mental health, dissociation, spending time in a treatment center, and how it all relates to the characters and lyrics within the songs. Mann also tells us about the freeing nature of writing stage music and directing the music towards the Burt Bacharach period of the late-’60s. Elsewhere, she also talks abo...
Robert Plant and Alison Krauss Perform “Trouble With My Lover” and “Can’t Let Go” on Colbert: Watch
On Friday (November 19th), Robert Plant and Alison Krauss released Raise the Roof, their long-awaited new collaborative album composed largely of covers made famous by blues, country, folk, and soul pioneers. To celebrate the occasion, the Led Zeppelin frontman and the bluegrass singer stopped by The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, playing “Trouble With My Lover” and “Can’t Let Go.” With their band set up remotely in a studio filled with rustic decor, Plant and Krauss’ performance only further testifies to their incredible musical chemistry. On “Trouble With My Lover” — a moody number originally sung by New Orleans blues icon Betty Harris in 1969 — Krauss takes the lead, showing off her powerhouse vocals. “Can’t Let Go,” which was written by Randy Weeks and later covered by Lucin...
