Amoeba Music likes to present the world with great new, young singer-songwriters, and they did an okay job this spring when they compiled a trio of women singer-songwriters to hit the road together. Headlining the traveling bill is Kate Walsh.

Pulling mostly from her most recent release, Tim's House, Walsh kicked off the set with "Fireworks"—a sad tune about being alone on a national holiday. Indeed, much of Walsh's work is focused on sad songs, or songs that at least feel sad. Read my full review of Kate Walsh Live in Seattle.

photo courtesy Shore Fire Media

John Lomax was one of the most notable American folklorists and musicologists. Born in Mississippi and raised on a Texas farm, Lomax co-founded the Texas Folklore Society, focusing it partly on discovering the folk music of the Mexican-American and African-American populations of Texas. Later, he also archived thousands of recordings for the Archive of American Folk Song at the U.S. Library of Congress, along with his son Alan.

The Lomaxes' journeys across the American south, their field recordings and the discovery of artists like Leadbelly are just a few of the accomplishments that made John Lomax's life so notable. Learn more about this man, to whom we can now in part credit the preservation of songs like "Goodnight Irene" and "Home on the Range."

image © MacMillan, 1941

The Stairwell Sisters' third album, Get Off Your Money, kicks off the way all good old timey albums should: with a fast-moving, dance-inducing fiddle tune. From there, the record goes into a collection of classic old school, old timey traditional tunes and a handful of well-composed originals.

Out of the 17 tunes on this album, more than half of them are pulled from the pool of traditional folk songs that so many old timey bands cull from time to time. Some ("Hangman's Tree," "Stay All Night") are a little more inspired than others ("Boat's Up the River"), but the Sisters give them all excellent arrangements and performances...read my full review

image © Yodel-Ay-Hee

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.