Pages tagged “folk”

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New, old artists harmonize at Newport's Folk Festival 50

In the 50 years since the founding of the Newport Folk Festival, it's remarkable to realize just how much the term "folk" has expanded. Back in the old days, so much as plugging in a guitar was enough to brand a folk artist as a traitor of biblical proportions....  read more

Sandra McCracken

Sandra McCracken’s Gravity | Love occupies that female-folk position between more obtuse artists like Megan Reilly and the shiny new rootsy pop you find climbing the country charts. Even if you consider 2004’s Best Laid Plans a palatable ride, there are no sonic difficulties hindering her latest album from making a commercial impact. A songwriter’s songwriter, McCracken doesn’t feel the need to personally grace her album covers, nods to her religious faith in subtle lyrical turns, and proves she’s capable of creating Americana to rival recent outings from Tom Petty or The Jayhawks, especially on “Gravity,” “Traincar” and “Portadown Station”—the...  read more

Old Crow Medicine Show

Any band trafficking in old-timey sounds risks crossing the fine line between celebrating its influences and mummifying them. Working from a musical template that stopped evolving, oh, 70 years ago, OCMS manages to stay on the right side of this line on its sophomore disc. Ketch Secor’s originals sound comfortably at home among the traditional folk, blues and country numbers, and by investing his tunes with a puckish modern sensibility, they manage to avoid sounding mannered or fusty. While it’s unlikely that any of the new material will be mined by future generations the way Secor mines the work of...  read more