The Irish Have Been Coming Here for Years

Over at Feast of Music, Peter Matthews reviews various Irish sessions around New York City.

Folk Alliance 2009, According to Ellen

Last weekend I attended my 8th International Folk Alliance Conference, along with fellow Sound of Blackbirds blogger Jess Byers. We had a good time in Memphis (as evidenced by this photo!) and heard lots of incredible music. I'm sure Jess will have lots of her own highlights of this year's conference, but here are mine...

- Market Monkeys Room - As in years past, the room hosted by manager Michelle Conceisson and her Market Monkeys was one of the places to be. They kicked things off with a fun Wednesday night cocktail hour and continued throughout the weekend putting on great showcases featuring established artists like Cliff Eberhardt and young rising artists like Chris O'Brien and Danny Schmidt. Mother Banjo might also have made an appearance there...


- BettySoo - Pictured here, she is a young Korean-American songwriter from Austin, TX who has a great voice that can belt out an Americana gospel tune just as well as she can sing a pretty melodic love ballad. She had a great little band with her that included famed Austin guitarist Will Sexton.

- Natalia Zukerman - Joined by a great electric bass player and Anne Heaton on keyboards and vocals, Natalia did a great official showcase, featuring her most catchy songs to date...many of which are featured on her 2008 release Brand New Frame, which was produced by Willy Porter. Don't know if that trio has a plan to hit the road together, but that would be a show to see.


- Folk Alliance Awards - Broadcast again on XM/Sirius' folk channel The Village, this year's awards were pretty uneventful, but the highlights were Ray Bonneville performing his song "I Am the Big Easy" (which won him a Folk Alliance Award for Song of the Year) and Rosalie Sorrels' moving tribute to Utah Phillips.

- Loudersoft - A music blog I was introduced to after last year's Folk Alliance Conference, when he raved about Meg Hutchinson's showcase. Although I had emailed with blog host E.J. Friedman, I had never met him...we fixed that this year. I'm sure he'll share his own Folk Alliance discoveries on his blog soon.


- Noelie McDonnell - I saw this Galway songwriter (pictured here) in the infamous Canadian "Beaver Suite." Really great songs and a nice live charm--very crushable. He opens a few shows for Greg Brown this weekend in Minnesota, including one Saturday at the Cedar Cultural Center.

- Lucy Wainwright Roche - Although she first attended Folk Alliance in Cleveland years back when she was a fellow student at Oberlin, she made her first official appearance as singer-songwriter this year. She wowed everyone at her official showcase with her poignant songwriting and her charming on-stage presence. Her story about introducing Aussies to the "cool kids" in American marching bands resonated with the crowd of music geeks in a big way.


- Devon Sproule - I enjoyed this Virginia songwriter's old-fashioned sounding Waterbug release Keep Your Silver Shined and played it on my show but had never seen her live. The live performances I caught did not disappoint with tunes like "I Asked God for a New Job." Her surprisingly funky sound was enhanced by her scratchy amplified guitar. She's pictured here playing a particularly strong showcase with pals Carrie Elkin and Raina Rose--another definite highlight.

- Lynn Miles - Although I work with Lynn at Red House, I haven't seen this Canadian in a couple years since she has been mainly staying north of the border. It was great to catch up with her and hear lots of new songs, which will hopefully be on an album in the near future. I particularly liked "Fearless Heart," which you can check out on Music Fog, thanks to Jessie Scott. Jessie recorded all kinds of great performances at Folk Alliance on the Music Fog bus...all worth checking out!


- Molly Venter - I had been hearing about Molly from musician friends Brianna Lane and Justin Roth and had even played a few songs from her CD on my radio show but had not met or seen her play until Saturday of Folk Alliance...especially strange since she is from my original hometown of New Haven, has played my current hometown of Minneapolis and even turns out to be cousins of a guy I met at a friend's wedding this past fall. With all those connections, I'm very relieved to learn she is as good as everyone says. She has a soulful voice and a driving live energy. Can't wait to hear her again.

- Drew Nelson - I hadn't seen this Michigan songwriter since the 2006 FARM (Folk Alliance Region Midwest) Conference, when he joined me on a performance of "Come Life." He just finished a nice new recording called Dusty Road to Beulah Land and played some songs from it on a great late-night showcase. When catching up after his performance, I learned that his beautiful sounding guitar was made by him--his first. Needless to say, it got passed around between the guitar geeks...it even got loaned to my pal Chad Elliott, who played it for his showcase that followed Drew's.


- Jess Byers - Getting to catch up in person with my friend Jess Byers (who I originally met at a Folk Alliance Conference...in Nashville?) was a real treat. You can see her here, taking a break from showcases with Jonathan Byrd and partaking of the MoJo flask. You West Coast folks should definitely check out the stellar line-up she has coming up at her Shining City concert series in Portland. As you can see, Jess rocks it as a promoter and as an agent, now booking such acts as Annabelle Chvostek (who also did a stellar Folk Alliance showcase with her trio!) and Heather Masse. She also probably came to more Mother Banjo showcases than anyone else...thanks, Jess!

And those are just some of the highlights. All in all, Folk Alliance 2009 was great. Although attendance may have suffered due to the economy, the talent did not. I thought the level of musicianship and writing was a cut above what I've heard in past years. With 5 showcases of my own and 6 Red House artists present to support and promote, it was also my most busy Folk Alliance ever, and I'm sorry to say I missed a few folks I had really wanted to see play, including John Elliott, the Ebony Hillbillies, John Boutte and Tim Eriksen (although I at least got to catch up with Tim over a breakfast meeting). I guess there's always next year...

Leonard Cohen Everywhere

There has been a lot about Leonard Cohen in the news recently, as his performance at the newly restored Beacon Theatre last Thursday was his first in 15 years in the United States.

In the New York Times, Nate Chinen wrote of him "bask[ing] in the rapture of the crowd, artfully courting adulation" and of how his "mix of humility and sovereignty felt effortless, entirely true to form."

And then a few days later in the New York Times, Larry Rohter published parts of an interview with him, in which Cohen busted out some George Jones lyrics and described the fact that his manager had run off with all of his money while he was in a Zen Buddhist monastery as the result of "a long, ongoing problem of a disastrous and relentless indifference to my financial situation."

Well, but wait a second here. If he was truly absorbing the teachings of Zen Buddhism, wasn't this "relentless indifference" to his financial situation really something akin to a successful Zen experience of dispatching with the cares of the world and not needlessly desiring after material things which only bring suffering anyway? How exactly should we think from a Buddhist perspective about the $9.5 million that Cohen recouped in legal proceedings?

I guess a boddhisatva could do a lot of good work with $9.5 million...

The latest news is a just-announced concert at the Highline Ballroom featuring Conspiracy of Beards, a 30-member male choir from San Francisco that performs "gritty, original arrangements of the songs of Leonard Cohen."

Yes, really.

April 4th.

You think I could make this stuff up?

Playlists: Womenfolk (February 15 & 22, 2009)

Here are my playlists from the last two weeks...As you'll see, Beth Shaw sat in for me this past Sunday when I was in Memphis attending the 2009 International Folk Alliance Conference...something that you'll be hearing more about soon!

This Sunday I'll be back in the saddle to welcome a few guests--legendary songwriter Claudia Schmidt (who had to postpone her visit from a few weeks ago) and classical Indian musician Nirmala Rajasekar, who will play some tunes with her ensemble and talk about her performance as part of the Womenfolk Live concert series at Gethsemane Church. Hope you can tune in and/or join us for the concert!

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WOMENFOLK (February 15, 2009)
Hosted by Ellen Stanley.
Fresh Air Community Radio, KFAI 90.3 FM Minneapolis/106.7 FM St. Paul
Sunday 11:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
*New Releases
**Womenfolk Theme Song


**Kris Delmhorst / Everything Is Music / Strange Conversation / Signature Sounds


*Joan Baez / Rose of Sharon / Day After Tomorrow / Razor & Tie
June Tabor / O my luve's like a red red rose / Rosa Mundi / Green LInnet
Tracy Grammer / Gypsy Rose / Flower of Avalon / Signature Sounds


Eliza Gilkyson / Fall Into the Night / Lost and Found / Red House
The Weepies / Gotta Have You / Say I Am You / Nettwerk


[Womenfolk Find - Featured Artist of the Month]
*Yeltzi (featuring Sara Softich) / Red Boot Song/ Snow in August / Self


*Chastity Brown / Damn the Weatherman / Sankofa / Self
Kris Delmhorst / Weatherman / Appetite / Big Bean Music


Karan Casey / Ae Fond Kiss / Ships int he Forest / Compass
Lissa Schneckenburger / The Fair Maid by the Sea Shore / Song / Footprint Records
*Shannon & Matt Heaton / Brad's Honeybees / Lover's Well / Eats Records


[Behind Twin Cities Women's Calendar]
*Liz Carroll & John Doyle / Lament for Tommy Makem/Within a Hen's Kick/The Slippery Slope / Double Play / Compass


Alison Krauss & Robert Plant / Through the Morning, Through the Night / Raising Sand / Rounder



*Heather Masse / Moon River / Many Moons / Self
Cheryl Wheeler / Lighting Up the Mighty Mississippi / Sylvia Hotel / Philo


Dar Williams / February / Mortal City / Razor & Tie
*Susan Werner / Hazy Shade of Winter / Classics / Sleeve Dog Records


Indigo Girls / Get Together / Strange Fire / Epic
Dolly Parton with Nickel Creek / Blowin' in the Wind / Those Were the Days / Sugar Hill
Patty Larkin / The Letter / In the Square / Philo


Red Molly / May I Suggest / Love and Other Tragedies / Self
Terri Hendrix / Prayer for My Friends / Americana / Putumayo
*Linda & Robin Williams / Going, Going Gone / Buena Vista / Red House

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WOMENFOLK (February 22, 2009)
Hosted by Beth Shaw.
Fresh Air Community Radio, KFAI 90.3 FM Minneapolis/106.7 FM St. Paul
Sunday 11:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
*New Releases
**Womenfolk Theme Song


**Kris Delmhorst / Everything Is Music / Strange Conversation / Signature Sounds


Catie Curtis / Memphis / Catie Curtis / Guardian
Kelly Willis / That's How I Got to Memphis / Real: The Tom T. Hall Project / Delmore
Lucinda Williams / Memphis Pearl / Sweet Old World / Chameleon

Rani Arbo & Daisy Mayhem / Limo to Memphis / Cocktail Swing / Signature Sounds
* Shemekia Copeland / Never Going Back to Memphis / Never Going Back / Telarc Blues
Rosie Flores / It Came From Memphis / Dance Hall Dreams / Rounder


[Women Folk Find - Featured Artist of the Month]
*Yeltzi (featuring Sara Softich) / Already Gone / Snow in August / Self
* Julia Brown / In Hurt's Arms / Strange Scars / Self
* Alice Russell / Lights Went Out / Pot of Gold / Six Degrees


* Jolie Holland / Palmyra / The Living & The Dead / Anti-
* Carrie Rodriguez / Absence / She Ain't Me / Back Porch
* The Duhks, Tougours Vouloir, Fast Paced World, Sugar Hill


[Behind Twin Cities Women's Calendar]
Nirmala Rajasekar / Karunimpa(Varnam)-Sahana-Adi-Thiruvatriyur Thyagaiyar / Melodic Expressions / Self


* Cosy Sheridan / Agnes of the Sorrows / Eros / Wind River
Eleni Mandell / Salt Truck / Miracle of Five / Zedtone
* Linda Nelson / Through the Window / Letter Home / Self
Kristin Hersh / Pretty Polly / Murder, Misery & Goodnight / 4AD


Diane Jarvi / The Bells / Flying Into Blue / Lupine Records
Karan Casey / Mother Earth's Revenge / Chasing the Sun / Shanachie
Frances Black / Fear is the Enemy / A Woman's Heart 2 / Dara
Cowboy Junkies / Mining for Gold / Trinity Sessions / BMG


Janis Ian / Play Like a Girl / God & the FBI / Windham Hill
* Laura Marling / Failure / Alas I Cannot Swim / EMI/Astralwerks
Suzzy & Maggie Roche / Clothes Line Saga / A Nod to Bob / Red House
Switched at Birth / Let It Rain / First Born / Self


* Asa, No One Knows / Acoustic Live in Tokyo / Mercer Street
* Bird to Prey / Well Seasons They Change / We Are Not Kings Here / Self
* Jenny Reyolds / One Red Light Town / Next to You / Self


* Shir Harmony / Rosh Chodesh Candlelighting / Like A Watered Garden / Self

The EarRegulars at the Ear Inn

Last night, I caught a touch of jazz at the legendary Ear Inn on Spring Street. This bar is a classic cozy little joint in a historic landmark building. Well worth the trip whether there is music or not. (Trivia: The Ear Inn is the setting for Bob Hillman's terrific song "Valentine's Day" about one February 14th that he spent there with Jack Hardy and Suzanne Vega and maybe Tim Robinson, too. And then Jack Johnson showed up, allegedly non-plussed at Jack Hardy's witch's hat.)

Last night -- and I guess every Sunday night -- there was music. Guitarist Matt Munisteri (who I recently mentioned here) leads the band. He also was playing some jazz banjo last night. Munisteri was joined by Joel Forbes on bass, who is apparently a New Haven, Connecticut, native. Dennis Lichtman (who has appeared on the Moonshine Show with the band Astrograss) was playing mandolin and clarinet -- Dennis said it was his first time as an EarRegular. And then Andy Stein, who is part of the A Prairie Home Companion house band, was tearing things up on the jazz fiddle and baritone sax.

It was a great sound. I couldn't hear what Matt was saying between the songs, but when the band was playing, they filled the front room of the bar loudly and clearly.

Playlist: The Moonshine Show - 22 February 2009

Today, we spent some time celebrating Ralph Stanley and Pete Wernick's birthday -- both of them were born on February 25th: a good day for banjo players apparently. We also played some Flatt & Scruggs, since today is the 40th anniversary of their final appearance together. And we played this year's Grammy-award winner in the bluegrass category (Ricky Skaggs' Honoring the Fathers of Bluegrass: Tribute to 1946 and 1947) and also the first-ever winner in the category (Bill Monroe's Southern Flavor).

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The Moonshine Show - 89.9 WKCR-FM, NYC
Sunday 22 February 2009 - 10 a.m. to Noon
Hosts: Matt Winters and Logan Ledger

Ralph Stanley [b. 25 February 1927] and the Clinch Mountain Boys; "I've Just Seen a Rock of Ages"; _Clinch Mountain Gospel_ (Rebel)

Earl Scruggs with Family & Friends; "Earl's Breakdown"; _The Ultimate Collection: Live at the Ryman_ (Rounder)

Pete Wernick [b. 25 February 1946] & Flexigrass; "Leavin' Town"; _What The_ (Niwot)

Michael Cleveland and Flamekeeper; "In My Mind to Ramble"; _Leavin' Town_ (Rounder)

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Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder; "When You're Lonely"; _Honoring the Fathers of Bluegrass: Tribute to 1946 and 1947_ (Skaggs Family)

Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys; "White Rose"; _Southern Flavor_ (MCA LP)

Bill Monroe and His Blue Grass Boys; "Goodbye Old Pal," "My Little Georgia Rose"; _1950-1958_ (Bear Family)

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Flatt & Scruggs; "I Don't Care Anymore," "A Hundred Years from Now"; _1948-1959_ (Bear Family)

The Osborne Brothers & Mac Wiseman; "The Bluebirds Are Singing for Me"; _The Essential Bluegrass Album_ (CMH)

Mac Wiseman; "Love Letters in the Sand"; _The Mac Wiseman Story_ (CMH)

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Blue Sky Boys; "Worried Man Blues"; _1964_ (Rounder LP)

Hazel Dickens, Carol Elizabeth Jones and Ginny Hawker; "Forsaken Lover"; _Heart of a Singer_ (Rounder)

Hazel Dickens; "The Ballad of Ira Hayes"; _By the Sweat of My Brow_ (Rounder LP)

Wilma Lee Cooper; "Sinful to Flirt"; _Wilma Lee Cooper_ (Rounder LP)

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The Dillards; "Old Man at the Mill"; _There is a Time (1963-1970)_ (Vanguard)

Jim & Jesse; "The Golden Rocket"; _Bluegrass and More_ (Bear Family)

Northern Lights; "Living without You"; _Wrong Highway Blues_ (Flying Fish)

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Blue Highway; "Some Day"; _Lonesome Pine_ (Rebel)

Joe Val; "Poor Ellen Smith"; _Diamond Joe_ (Rounder)

The Charles River Valley Boys; "Yellow Submarine"; _Beatle Country_ (Rounder)

Sam Bush; "Spirit is the Journey"; _King of My World_ (Sugar Hill)

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Ralph Stanley with Vince Gill and Patty Loveless; "A Lonesome Night"; _Clinch Mountain Country_ (Rebel)

Stanley Brothers; "The Wandering Boy"; _The Complete Columbia Stanley Brothers_ (Columbia/Legacy)

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The Bluegrass Album Band; "Take Me in the Lifeboat"; _Volume Two_ (Rounder LP)

Blue Harvest; "Raleigh and Spencer"; _Just Around the Bend_ (self-released)

Robin and Linda Williams; "Things I've Learned"; _Radio Songs_ (Red House)

John Starling & Carolina Star; "In My Hour of Darkness"; _Slidin' Home_ (Rebel)

Pete Wernick; "June Apple"; _On a Roll_ (Sugar Hill)

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Dry Branch Fire Squad; "Where We'll Never Die"; _Memories That Bless and Burn_ (Rounder)

Video from the Joe Val Bluegrass Festival

Here is some video from the Joe Val Bluegrass Festival, held two weekends ago in Framingham, Massachusetts. Shot by Steve Ide.


Scenes from the 2009 Joe Val Bluegrass Festival from The Patriot Ledger on Vimeo.

The Latest in Tribute Bands

Can I introduce you to Misstallica, the all-female Metallica tribute?


They'll be playing at Asbury Lanes with Tragedy, the all metal tribute to the Bee Gees, next Saturday.

Lack of Uniqueness

Ack! I'm not the only Matt Winters who is a radio DJ.

WKCR is often confused with KCRW in California, which long has been a bastion of freeform radio. In Ogden, Utah, at Weber State University, there apparently is radio station KWCR. And the current Music Director at KWCR? Matt Winters.



It looks like they mostly kick it college rock style at KWCR. So I might still be able to claim that I'm the only bluegrass DJ named Matt Winters.

From one Matt to another, though, take some time off before you jump into that Ph.D. program, Matt Winters!

I Missed Them, And So Did You, It Seems

Allan and I had plans to go see Dailey & Vincent at Joe's Pub on Tuesday night. Although I've seen them play with Doyle Lawson and Ricky Skaggs respectively on numerous occasions, I have not seen them since they became a duo, although (as I described here) I really, really like their first CD -- a new one called Brothers by Different Mothers is on the way. But after spending all day at an academic conference without eating, I had a headache, and Allan thought that the show was on a different evening. So we ended up not going.

And according to Jon Caramanica's review in the New York Times, apparently not that many other people went either:

Dailey & Vincent, the most celebrated new bluegrass act of the last few years, could be playing any number of towns where they, or their genre, have a significant following. But instead there they were at Joe’s Pub, flat-footed and sober, singing to a crowd of a few dozen, a not-even-half-full room. The lesson: You might not always be in the place where you’re most needed.

That's sad to hear, although, to be fair, it was a 10:00 p.m. show on a schoolnight -- something that doesn't happen in a lot of places outside of New York -- and I also think that it was only recently announced. (Certainly I know that on the Moonshine Show, I had only recently announced it.)

Caramanica says that nonetheless it was a "sharp performance ... with dignity and, ultimately, joy," featuring "nimble, complex arrangements." And I am definitely sad to have missed a show where a band "spent about a third of their set paying tribute to the Statler Brothers."

So I hope that Jamie Dailey and Darrin Vincent will come back to New York soon nonetheless, as I still really would like to see them. (Really.)