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Bruce Springsteen's "Any Other Way" and Other Conversations
People argue over which version of William Bell’s “Any Other Way” Springsteen is covering on his new record (as Greil Marcus put it “a fan’s record”). I have half a dozen reasons for suspecting it...
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Much Depends Upon Bushwick Bill, Merle Haggard, More Poems about Money,...
I used to write book reviews in my blog, and I may still occasionally do so. However, lately, it seems if I really want to help a book out, it needs to go on the Amazon page.Don't get it twisted, when...
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"All Genres Are Part of the Vision," DJ NONAME at Tulsa's Mercury Lounge
dj noname debut, "Who Else But Me?"At the end of December, we went to the Mercury Lounge in Tulsa to check out a hip hop set by DJ NONAME (from here out dj noname) featuring several special guests. So...
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Folk Alliance Day 1,, "Imagination Is a Discipline," the 2023 Folk Music...
Sara Curruchich“They say women hold up half the sky,” NPR's Ann Powers began at last night’s Folk Alliance International awards. She added, “They’re holding up more than half the sky tonight,” the...
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Folk Alliance Day 2, One Step Makes Many: Valerie June, Cary Morin Duo,...
Joy Clark and Tiffany MorrisEchoing Janis Ian’ sentiment from the day before, New Orleans singer-songwriter Joy Clark said, “I don’t know about you, but I always feel that I’m behind.” She used the...
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Folk Alliance Day 3, Rakish, Charm of Finches, and Aoife Scott
Andy Meaney and Aoife ScottMy usual Folk Alliance running partner Mike Warren couldn’t be here this year, and he is sorely missed. He has what seems an encyclopedic memory for music he’s encountered...
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Folk Alliance, Day 4: Yearning Hearts Carried Home: Janice Jo Lee, The Pairs,...
Janice Jo LeeOn the last night of Folk Alliance, Janice Jo Lee opened her set with a spoken word piece that asked, “What Is Folk.” The piece opened the doors to all manner of ways people share and...
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In the Heart of the Crowd: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, KC and Tulsa
It’s been a tough six months or so for many Bruce Springsteen fans. First came the Ticketmaster dynamic pricing debacle that no one ever adequately addressed (and left empty seats to be filled with...
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One in the Sacred Now, Ana Egge and Iris DeMent at Knuckleheads Garage
Iris DeMent and Ana EggeI’ve been sitting with it for a week. One morning I wake up, and “The Sacred Now” jangles in my head telling me that’s the heart of the show. The next morning, “Heart Is a...
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Welcome to the Family, Sara Swenson and Kelly Hunt at Knuckleheads
Flynn, Swenson, Hunt (photo by Shelli Baldwin)On Kelly Hunt’s 2019 debut album, Even the Sparrow, she has this remarkable song (well, one of twelve, this one called “Men of Blue & Grey”) about a...
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"Kick Out the Jams" and the Debt I Owe
“You can say what you want about any of those folks, if it weren’t for them, I wouldn’t be here.”After the 2021 Land of Hope and Dreams conference celebrating Dave Marsh’s work and ideas, someone...
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A Fully Formed Picture: Kelly Hunt's "Ozark Symphony" for 90.9 The Bridge
A Fully Formed Picture: Kelly Hunt's "Ozark Symphony"https://youtu.be/4ZVaX-ij_xQ?si=0bloSIHWAivKGg34
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Endings Never Tell You Where to Start: Emily King's Truly "Special Occasion"
It's good to hear Emily King's "Special Occasion" (ATO Records) has received a Grammy nomination. The optimism in my cynicism suggests that means the record sold a few copies. But like so much of my...
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Since You Really Matter, Lilli Lewis's "All Is Forgiven"
Perhaps rather than start with why and how I identify with this album more intensely than any multi-song progression I've heard in recent memory, I should talk about Lilli Lewis's voice. Whether...
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Cause of Joy and Light: Emma Langford at the Irish Center of Kansas City
From the auditorium stage of The Irish Center of Kansas City last Thursday, Emma Langford and crew served up a dizzying array of characters in story and song—a dear uncle who demanded a song days...
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Moments of Silence and Risk: The Alchemy of Folk Alliance 2024 Day 1
Shabankareh Honoring Lopez-GalvanThe evening before the 36th Annual Folk Alliance International Conference, Kansas City’s KKFI DJ Tommy Andrade hosted a special tribute episode of A Taste of Tejano...
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Love Comes Down: Finding Unity at Folk Alliance 2024, Day 2
Mireya Ramos & the Poor Choices“I break your soul!” Mireya Ramos shouted and smiled as she delivered the translation of the Cuco Sanchez cover she sang with her current Kansas City-based band, The...
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I’d Love to Tell Somebody About This Dream: Folk Alliance Day 3
Nimki and the NiniisMy favorite little piece of technology—a wristwatch that monitors my vital signs and tells me how I slept last night—has either betrayed me or unlocked a secret of the universe. It...
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What Really Matters: Folk Alliance 2024, Day 4
Crys Matthews Sings Lead BellyI first attended Folk Alliance International in Albuquerque, New Mexico in 1998. Back then, I worked with the monthly newsletter, Rock & Rap Confidential, and we...
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Kansas City Fights for Home: From Rural Grit to RecordBar to City Hall and...
The Living Breathing Folk Song Last Monday "If I had to start my business over, I wouldn't do it. There's a big difference between building a business and making a home”—Peregrine Honig, owner of...
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So You Can Live In A Better World: The New One from Sarah Langan
The title of Sarah Langan’s A Better World appropriately comes from one of the many difficult conversations that take place between protagonist Linda Farmer and her husband, son, and daughter. She’s a...
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“Away from Babylon: The Irresistible Revolution of Lizzie No’s ‘Halfsie’s'"
About halfway through Lizzie No’s opening track (the title cut), a wall of sound begins to echo a haunting three-note refrain. Soon the sound erupts into explosions blossoming out of previous...
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She Left This World a Better Place
Read at my mother's memorial service, January 20, 2024. As the perceived “sickly” child of a mother who was herself sheltered by an overly-protective mother, I had a close but difficult relationship...
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Across All the Divides: Beth Watts Nelson and Kelly Hunt at Magoon's Famous...
After Beth Watts Nelson and Kelly Hunt finished an expansive dust devil performance of Hunt’s song “Clouds,” Nelson said, “That song is so fun. I wish it could go on 15 minutes.” It could have last...
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"Only, We Together," Real Love: a Tribute to the Music of Mary J. Blige at...
Singers Zee Underscore, LeShea Wright, Just AngelOver the expectant bass riff of Mary J. Blige’s “What’s the 411,” Stephonne Singleton, the visionary organizer behind “Real Love: A Tribute to the...
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