Al Petteway and Amy White, a.k.a. Al & Amy, have been charming fans for years with their uniquely crafted Celtic-Appalachian influenced music that even marries in the occasional hints of Blues, New Age, and even Jazz. Before they relocated to the mountains of Western North Carolina, Al and Amy lived in the Washington D.C. area where they were honored with ...
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French Folk With and a Kiss
Molly’s Kiss is evidence that the influence of American roots music is far reaching. As they define themselves, Molly’s Kiss is “a folk band, lost in the middle of France.” Formed in 2013, the band consists of guitar, accordion, and two vocals. Nicolas Rozier; Vocals /Guitar, Madeline Besson; Vocals, and Alexandre Tobie; Accordion, all team up to play what they ...
Read More »Tuned In To Real Life
“Jim and Lynna Woolsey have that magical quality of being tuned in to real life, attention to the small stuff, and open heartedness that makes for great songs, and great friends,” said Louisa Branscomb, Founder, Director of Woodsong Farm Songwriter Retreat. The Southern Indiana pair had been performing together for nearly three decades before they finally decided it was time ...
Read More »Outlaw Country’s Coming Back
Virginia Beach, VA’s Russell Lynch has his music steeped in traditional country music culture, and peppered with notes of Americana and a bit of a rockabilly edge to it This is just like his fans like it, apparently. He has had three top 10 independent country songs in the U.S., including a #1 hit with “Stuck in Between.” His music ...
Read More »Some Red Dirt Music
Wichita, Kansas is home to the up and coming Americana, roots rock band, Mountain Deer Revival. MDR plays what they call Red Dirt Music, which seems to have its roots Oklahoma. It’s a Southern Rock foundation that can be traced back to the early American South, flavored with a good dose of Texas Country. This band consists of twins, Jake ...
Read More »Bluegrass In Kokomo
Larry Norfleet and his band, Branded Bluegrass, received nine nominations at the SPBGMA awards ceremony this past February in Nashville, TN, making them one of the top nominees. Their brand of traditional bluegrass is turning heads, and gaining fans all across the bluegrass community. The Kokomo, Indiana based band leader tells of his humble beginnings learning on a guitar with ...
Read More »Singing Success and the Visual Arts
At 11 years old, Benson, North Carolina native Rebekah Todd’s father gave her a black acoustic Washburn guitar and taught her to play it. She’s been filling her life with music ever since. Upon graduating from East Carolina University in 2012, Rebekah has been dedicating her time to writing, touring, and performing her style of melodic soul and alternative folk ...
Read More »This Is Americana
Back in 2004, while attending Merlefest, I had the idea for creating Americana Rhythm Music Magazine. One of the artists performing that weekend was a guy named Jim Lauderdale. He was (and is) an integral part of that fabulous event; and I remember thinking that if there was any one guy that exemplified the definition of an Americana artist, it ...
Read More »Sunny Side Of The Mountain
The longer I cruise the edges of this genre of Americana string music that folks now call bluegrass, the more I hear folks make reference to Jimmy Martin. I freely admit he is a personality of which I know less about than I should. Even though I remember the golden radio days when there was plenty of Appalachian string music ...
Read More »Americana Music On Tour
Last fall, our publisher spent several days at the Americana Music Association convention in Nashville, TN. While there, he made some great new friends in this growing Americana music business. One of the folks he met was a tour director—yes that’s what we said. Now, I expect that many of us have enjoyed taking bus tours. In fact, just this ...
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