Folk
Jimi Hendrix’s Personal Recording of 1968 Joni Mitchell Concert Included in New Box Set
Joni Mitchell has been an icon for so long that it’s hard to imagine that she, like most of us, was once a regular, fledgling 20-something, who just happened to possess an insane amount of talent. A massive new box set, Joni Mitchell Archives Vol. 2: The Reprise Years (1968-1971), due out October 29th captures the prolific songwriter during that defining era. Included in the box set is an unearthed recording captured by Jimi Hendrix, who saw Mitchell in action during her two-week residency at Le Hibou Coffee House in Ottawa, Ontario, before his death. As a preview of the collection, Hendrix’s recording of Mitchell performing “The Downtreader” is now available to stream below. Hendrix’s tape recorder from his night at Mitchell’s concert was stolen just a few days after the show. T...
Newport Folk Fest Marks the Glorious Return of Festivals in US
Most major music festivals coming back in 2021 chose to give perspective attendees a fair amount of time to decide to get vaccinated while still keeping the events “summer.” Hence September is jammed with nearly sold-out fests, from Bonnaroo to BottleRock. But many are looking towards August’s Lollapalooza as the first real test of what a post-pandemic festival looks like, which isn’t entirely accurate. Over the weekend (July 23rd-25th), Newport Folk Festival returned for part one of its slimmed-down Folk On 2021 double-event — and there really is no better way to bring music festivals back. Typically on the smaller side of capacity limits anyway, Newport cut back to just 5,000 daily attendees to help mitigate COVID risks. They also broke up the schedule over two back-to-back three-day chu...
Taylor Swift Shares Original Version of “the lakes” For folklore’s First Anniversary: Stream
Somehow, an entire year has passed since Taylor Swift surprise-dropped her eighth studio album, folklore. To celebrate the anniversary, the singer-songwriter has gifted Swifties with an original version of “the lakes,” the album’s bonus track. “It’s been 1 year since we escaped the real world together and imagined ourselves someplace simpler,” Swift wrote on social media. “With tall trees & salt air. Where you can wear lace nightgowns that make you look like a Victorian ghost & no one will side eye you cause no one is around.” “To say thank you for all you have done to make this album what it was, I wanted to give you the original version of The Lakes. Happy 1 year anniversary to Rebekah, Betty, Inez, James, Augustine and the stories we all created around them. Happy Anniversary, f...
Bob Dylan’s Latest Bootleg Series Boxset Covers Singer’s Early 1980s Period
Columbia Records announced today that the sixteenth volume of its ongoing Bob Dylan Bootleg Series will be released September 17th in conjunction with Legacy Recordings. The five-disc box set, titled Bob Dylan – Springtime In New York: The Bootleg Series Vol. 16 (1980-1985), will cover the iconic singer-songwriter’s early ’80s period, which spans the release of 1981’s Shot of Love, 1983’s Infidels, and 1985’s Empire Burlesque. According to the tracklist, the 57-song collection will include everything from outtakes and alternate versions of studio recordings to rehearsal footage and live recordings of “Enough is Enough” and “License to Kill” captured at Ireland’s Slane Castle and a 1984 appearance on Late Night with David Letterman, respectively. Elsewhere, the box set features a mix of Dyl...
Yahaya Bello: Nigeria deserves the best captain no matter where he comes from
The Governor of Kogi State, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, has said that rather engage on the unconstitutional issue of rotational presidency, what Nigerians should focus on is look for that Nigerian, no matter where he comes, who can be the captain to pilot the country to the promised land. The governor who stated this at the First Annual Governor Yahaya Bello (GYB) Seminar for Nigeria’s Political and Crime Correspondents/Editors at the Transcorp Hilton, Abuja, said that even after 16 years of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and another six years of All Progressives Congress (APC), in the country, the problems of the nation has not been solved by the rotational presidency that has taken place over the years. Bello insisted that the political party must not limit the choice of Nigerians to any region...
Justin Vernon, Aaron Dessner, and Taylor Swift Team Up on New Big Red Machine Song “Renegade”: Stream
Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon and The National’s Aaron Dessner have a new album up their sleeve under their collaborative moniker Big Red Machine. Over the past few days, they’ve been releasing songs from the record one by one, and they return tonight to drop the biggest one yet: “Renegade” featuring the one and only Taylor Swift. Stream it below. “Renegade” is the third track we’ve heard from How Long Do You Think It’s Gonna Last?, following the album’s lead single “Latter Days” with Anaïs Mitchell and the stripped-down number “The Ghost of Cincinnati”. Apparently they recorded this song in Los Angeles the same week that Dessner and Swift took home the Album of the Year Grammy for folklore. It’s a folk-pop earworm and it boasts future classic Swift lines like, “Is it insensitive for me to say ...
Justin Vernon and Aaron Dessner’s Big Red Machine Share New Single “The Ghost of Cincinnati”: Stream
Big Red Machine, the two-person supergroup comprised of Justin Vernon (Bon Iver) and Aaron Dessner (The National), are back with another new track. Their latest single is called “The Ghost of Cincinnati”, and it’s available to stream below with a snazzy lyric video. Just yesterday, Big Red Machine announced they have a stacked new album on the way. It’s called How Long Do You Think It’s Gonna Last? and it boasts collaborations with everyone from Taylor Swift (!) to Fleet Foxes and beyond. This is technically the second song we’ve heard from that record in under 24 hours, following the lead single “Latter Days” which features moving vocal parts by Anaïs Mitchell. By comparison, “The Ghost of Cincinnati” is a more stripped-down and driving number. It’s mixed in a way that pushes Dessner’s vo...
Steve Gunn Announces New Album Other You, Shares “Other You” and “Reflection”: Stream
Steve Gunn has announced a new album. It’s called Other You and it’s due out August 27th via Matador. To break the news, he’s releasing the two-song single “Other You” / “Reflection” today and has unveiled a string of US tour dates as well. Gunn has released a lot of records over the years, but technically speaking Other You is his sixth studio album and the follow-up to 2019’s The Unseen in Between. It was created with veteran producer Rob Schnapf (Beck, Elliott Smith) and Gunn’s longtime friend and collaborator Justin Tripp. It also features contributions from Julianna Barwick, Mary Lattimore, Jeff Parker, Bridget St. John, Bill MacKay, Ben Bertrand, and others. In a statement, Gunn explained that the idea for the title came about during a vocal recording session with Schnapf. “Rob was v...
Feist to Debut New Music During Summer 2021 Live Residency MULTITUDES
Leslie Feist has announced MULTITUDES, an upcoming live residency that will feature intimate performances of all-new songs. The limited capacity, in-the-round production was developed by the Canadian singer-songwriter with designer Rob Sinclair, who has worked with David Byrne, Peter Gabriel, and Tame Impala. It will feature custom 18-point D&B Soundscape immersive audio and is described in a press release as an “intimate, radically communal, and topsy-turvy concert that muddies the roles between audience and performer.” Musicians Todd Dahlhoff and Amir Yaghmai will accompany Feist during the shows. Created during and in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, MULTITUDES aims to bring people back together. Audiences are encouraged to participate in the performances. Related Video MULTITUDES...
Bob Dylan’s 15 Best Albums of All Time
<span class="localtime" data-ltformat="F j, Y | g:ia" data-lttime="2021-05-24T15:00:55+00:00“>May 24, 2021 | 11:00am ET Apart from, say, Frank Zappa — and that’s a rabbit hole many of us aren’t prepared to go down — there probably isn’t a more sprawling body of work in popular music than Bob Dylan‘s discography. We can proclaim with even more confidence — in fact, utter certainty — that no artist has left a more exalted or scrutinized collection of albums and songs behind. The albums ranked in the following pages are a rare breed in that many mark their times but also mark all times. So many songs that a generation of listeners once claimed as their own have now found their way into the ears of children and grandchildren and will continue doing so for a...
Bruce Springsteen Teases New Album, Performs Acoustic Set at Woody Guthrie Prize Event: Watch
<span class="localtime" data-ltformat="F j, Y | g:ia" data-lttime="2021-05-14T15:41:23+00:00“>May 14, 2021 | 11:41am ET Bruce Springsteen was this year’s recipient of the Woody Guthrie Prize, an award bestowed upon an artist who represents the “spirit and work” of the folk icon. During the virtual acceptance ceremony on Thursday night, the Boss not only played a four-song acoustic set honoring Guthrie, he teased a new album “coming out soon.” The casual mention came during a Q&A with Guthrie’s daughter, Nora, and Grammy Museum Executive Director Robert Santelli. “California was an enormous influence on some of my most topical writing through my ‘90s, 2000s and even now,” Springsteen said. “We have a record coming out soon that’s set largely in the W...
Bob Dylan Museum Opens in Tulsa, Oklahoma
<span class="localtime" data-ltformat="F j, Y | g:ia" data-lttime="2021-05-12T20:22:52+00:00“>May 12, 2021 | 4:22pm ET For nearly 60 years, Bob Dylan has been churning out albums that have changed the course of folk history — and music at large — in the process. Now, he’s finally getting an in-depth retrospective to honor his work. On May 10th, Tulsa, Oklahoma officially opened The Bob Dylan Center, a permanent three-story museum honoring the Pulitzer Prize-winning artist. According to the The Bob Dylan Center’s website, the museum boasts “more than 100,000 exclusive cultural treasures found in The Bob Dylan Archive.” These include handwritten lyrics for some of his most treasured songs, previously unreleased recordings, never-before-seen film performan...
