Newton Faulkner is a very gifted guitar player, and his songs are built around his dexterity on the instrument. He's managed to master the sweet spot between rhyhtm guitar and soloing, interspersing his fierce, funky, chunky strumming with intricate fingerpicking. If you tune out the lyrics (which are often too many), Hand Built by Robots is an excellent debut. (Read the full review.)

photo courtesy Columbia Records

When it comes to the Folk Revival of the 1950s and '60s, few bands had more of an influence over the scene than the New Lost City Ramblers. Even Bob Dylan has counted them as an influence. While folk-pop groups like the Kingston Trio were acquiring old folk songs and polishing them up for pop-oriented audiences, the New Lost City Ramblers (NLCR) were presenting the tunes the way they found them: warts and all.

They recorded extensively for Smithsonian Folkways and, once they achieved some popularity, they hit the road with some of their influences to present folks like Maybelle Carter and Tommy Jarrell to a new generation of folkies. Learn more about the New Lost City Ramblers, including a full bio, recommended albums, and MP3s.

image © Smithsonian Folkways

This past Friday, I headed to one of the nicest local venues for acoustic music: Seattle's the Triple Door. A cabaret-style night club, the Triple Door has a very good sound system for acoustic instruments—something that's definitely lacking in most venues about town.

The reason for the outing was former local Laura Veirs, who moved to Portland a couple years ago after breaking out of the local scene. Veirs is still somewhat little-known outside of the Northwest, but her highly literary brand of folk/alt-country is beginning to be appreciated across the country. She's now on a month-long nationwide solo tour. The Seattle show was night number two.

As we settled in for what turned out to be a set made mostly of songs from Saltbreakers, it became more and more intriguing to see how Veirs—who, on the record, created a universe of sound with a large band of many instruments—would fare interpreting the songs with just her voice and acoustic guitar. She is, however, an impressively gifted guitarist; there were few moments when the band was truly missed.

More on Laura Veirs...

Laura Veirs Full Concert Review

Laura Veirs Bio & Profile

Interview With Laura Veirs About Saltbreakers

Laura Veirs Official Web site

photo © Autumn de Wilde

Each year during Merlefest songwriters from around the country submit their songs to the Chris Austin Songwriting Competition, hoping to be acknowledged for achievements in their craft. It's split into four categories, with one inner for each: country, bluegrass, gospel, and general.

According to the press release:

A panel of professional songwriters and others from the Nashville music industry evaluated the 983entries and selected three finalists from each category to perform their songs on the Austin Stage at MerleFest. The panel is chaired by songwriting legend Jim Lauderdale and this year’s judges were Ryan Shupe, Laurelyn Dossett & Tish Hinojosa.

Merlefest was held last weekend, April 24-27, 2008, and the winners were:

Gospel: Phil Ruff (Rutherfordton, NC) - "Mathew, Mark, Luke, and John"

Bluegrass: Brandon Story (Bristol, TN) - "Famous for Doing Something Bad"

General: David Myles (Halifax, Nova Scotia, CA) - "When It Comes My Turn" (purchase/download)

Country: Wendy Newcomer (Nashville, TN) - "Runaround" (purchase/download)

image © Directly Records

Mother's Day is barely more than a week away. Just thought I'd give you a little reminder, so that you can have plenty of time to plan something wonderful for your mom.

Meanwhile, let's also take a look at some of the incredible hard-working moms of American folk music. All of these ladies maintain consistent touring and recording schedules in addition to taking care of their children. This year, Mother's Day falls on May 11, 2008—a great opportunity to celebrate all the talented moms of American folk music.

photo: Frank Micelotta/Getty Images

For ten years, Pete Francis was in the band Dispatch—one of the most succesful independent bands of all time. Now, though, he's stepping out with another solo album, showcasing an excellent collection of Americana and alt-country tunes on Iron Sea and the Calvary. Calling to mind artists like David Gray and Townes Van Zandt, Francis has placed himself in good company with these 10 great songs.

More on Pete Francis...

Full Review of this Pete Francis CD

Interview With Pete Francis

Pete Francis' Official Web site

image © Scrapper Records

The biggest, longest folk festival in the land kicks off less than a month from now, with its revered New Folk contest and its two weeks of nonstop music. Literally. One of my clearest memories of Kerrville Folk Festival was waking up at 3:00 in the morning to an impromptu song swap happening right next to my tent. When I emerged into the streetlamp light, I found what appeared to be 50 people gathered around a washtub bass player. Why bother sleeping when so much goodness is going on?

This year's Kerrville festival kicks off May 22, and runs through June 8. Performers include the Belleville Outfit, Slaid Cleaves, Anthony da Costa, Eliza Gilkyson, The Gourds, Sara Hickman, Kathy Mattea, Bob Schneider's Texas Bluegrass Massacre, South Austin Jug Band, Dale Watson, Kevin Welch, David Wilcox, and a ton of other remarkable artists. If you don't already have your tickets, and you're looking for something to do on Memorial Day Weekend, you should check out Kerrville Folk Festival's full line-up and ticket info at their Web site.

The son of revered folklorist John Lomax, Alan started out recording the songs of prisoners in the south, and later worked at the Library of Congress as a folklorist with his father. He attended Harvard University, Columbia University, and the University of Texas.

Learn more about Alan Lomax: folk singer, ethnomusicologist, folklorist, collector, and hugely influential figure in American folk music history.

image © Rounder Records

Last night, I headed into downtown Seattle to see what Ani DiFranco had up her sleeves this time. Having been to my fair share of Ani DiFranco concerts, I certainly knew what to expect. This is the first time, though, that I've caught her with her incredible new band (who proved to be as incredible as I'd expected). Also, opening the night were poet Judy Grahn and performance artist Animal Prufrock. That was an odd, interesting combination, and it set the stage for what was a truly electrifying performance.

DiFranco seems to channel her gifts, tackling the more rocking selections with a speed and ferocity that can only come from years of familiarity with the tunes. Aware of her semi-recent bout with tendonitis in both her hands, it's hard to not fear her wrists might snap right off in the middle of the intense, pounding guitar solos of "Two Little Girls"...read my full review of Ani DiFranco live in Seattle.

photo: Kim Ruehl/About.com

Woody Guthrie was one of the most prolific songwriters and gifted story-tellers in the history of American folk music. He wrote literally thousands of songs in his 55 years—many of which are only being found and realized now. According to his granddaughter Anna Canoni, a director at the Woody Guthrie Foundation, in an interview with songfacts.com:

He didn't just write about the Dust Bowl. He wrote about flying saucers. He wrote about atoms. He wrote about baseball. He wrote about Ingrid Bergman. He wrote about all these different things. It gives you a better picture of who he was, whereas before we had this idea of who Woody Guthrie was, and to be honest it wasn't very accurate.

Carl Wiser of SongFacts had a very telling, lengthy interview with Canoni about Guthrie's life and work, and particularly about the recent release of The Live Wire: Woody Guthrie in Performance 1949.

Read Wiser's full interview with Canoni and my review of The Live Wire, for more information.

image © Smithsonian Folkways