www.paulburch.com 

In celebration of what would have been Buddy Holly’s 75^th birthday, if he had lived, East Nashville singer-songwriter Paul Burch for once shelved his own compositions in favour of paying homage to Lubbock, Texas’ favourite son, Charles Harding Holley otherwise know as Buddy Holly. It was only after a spelling error he decided to drop the ‘e’ and adopt the name of Holly. Of all the 1950’s rock’n’roll greats it is the music of Holly that tends to travel best from one generation to the next. Among those to either cover or be supportive of his music you can list Waylon Jennings, Paul McCartney, Linda Ronstadt, Nanci Griffith, Don McLean among others but none of them has recorded a full album of his music.  

Backed by members of the WPA Ballclub, Dennis Crouch, Jen Gunderman, Fats Kaplin, Kenny Vaughan, Jim Gray, Marty…

 www.kuschtyrye.net         

Kuschty Rye: Des Horsfall claims it means A Good Gentleman but he's lifted it from Ronnie Lane and I can't find any corroboration on that. Maybe Ronnie invented it, and if he did then that's just fine. This album is Des's tribute to Slim Chance era Ronnie Lane and he's gone overboard on the whole concept; Slim Chance band members Charlie Hart and Steve Simpson have been recruited, the late Professor Stanley Unwin's son, John Unwin, narrates a tale of the album's making in a nod to his father's appearance on Ogden's Nut Gone Flake, there's a cover of Ronnie's own cover of Careless Love, which appeared on Anymore For Anymore, and there's an extraordinarily lush package for the cd, complete with a complementary teabag of Yorkshire Tea, as featured in John Unwin's tale. Perhaps most poignantly of…

http://www.NanciGriffith.com

www.properuk.com 

It has been quite some time since Nanci Griffith has made an album as strong and consistent as Intersection. That is the good news; bad news is how it came about. For Griffith speaks of ‘I’ve had a hard life, and write it down’ on the title-track, and how the album is a self-examination of family fall-outs, personal bust-ups and how on ‘Bad Seed’ rejection by her father has left an indelible emotional scar on her. It seems like he would rather call her than concentrate on the good things she has accomplished an not be so keen to ridicule her.

She sure has exposed herself, and with so much heartache it is little surprise she has pretty much made songwriting her life. A wonderful observer, Nanci’s ability to pull from situations and make…

FTB podcast #151 features the new album by DARRELL SCOTT entitled Long Ride Home. Also new music from JACKSTRAW, AMELIA WHITE and CORNFLOWER BLUE. Here's the iTunes link to subscribe to the FTB podcasts. Here's the direct link to listen now! Here is the RSS feed: http://ftbpodcasts.libsyn.com/rss.

Show #151…

Since there Later With Jools Hootenanny performance Pokey LaFarge & The South City Three appear to have made a major impact on UK music lovers. Their upcoming March dates have seen rapid ticket sales resulting in sold out shows and venue changes due to excessive demand.  The tour will now include TWO London shows at Bush Hall as well as a full supporting array of dates around the UK. 

The band will be releasing a single, "Drinking Whiskey Tonight" on March 12th to coincide with the tour and are available prior to the dates for phoners.  They will be available for sessions throughout the duration of the tour.  

A clip of the band playing "Drinkin' Whiskey Tonight" from Later With Jools can be seen here:-  …

 A year after the release of her wonderful, retrospective album, 'Moon on a Mirrorball' Judie Tzuke is back with an enchanting new album, 'One Tree Less'.  Best known for the huge hit single 'Stay With Me Till Dawn', top 10 albums, including the classic, 'Welcome to the Cruise', Judie's live experiences include a Glastonbury headline slots in the company of Jackson Browne and playing to 400,000 in New York, with Elton John.

The 'One Tree Less' UK Tour Starts on the 9th of March 2012.

MARCH 2012

Fri 9^th               -        Farncombe - St. John's Church

Sun 11^th           -           Sheffield - Memorial Hall

Mon 12^th         …

www.tristanmackay.com

I don’t know if the pop music market is overcrowded with the modern male singer-songwriter type (James Blunt et al) but, if there’s room for one more, then Tristan Mackay’s impressively accomplished debut album should put him in the frame for some serious radio attention. In a classic case of many years’ hard graft paving the way for instant success, Tristan has spent a lot of time busking – mostly in Leeds, where he was a student – and certainly an awful lot more time honing his guitar playing. He built up something of a following in Leeds, but it was his myspace site that caught the attention of producer Martin Levan, who obviously felt that here was someone he could do business with. You can hear on this album that Tristan Mackay was already a complete one-man package before he got to the studio: he has a bunch of…

 www.grainneduffy.com

Test Of Time is Irish singer songwriter Grainne Duffy’s second album and showcases her roots in blues, soul and Celtic music. Going from the soft rock of Everyday and What More Can I Do to the gritty blues rock of the grinding Rockin’ Rollin’ Stone and the churning rocker Please Take Care, there is one constant; her husky vocal. This will bring comparisons to Maggie Bell and Bonnie Raitt and neither is out of place. If you throw in the sultry, soulful Sweet Sweet Baby and the eponymous title track, which has Tom Petty style guitar sounds then you have most of what Grainne is about. However, she can do a ballad too as shown by the emotional closer, In My Arms.

Tour Dates:

13/02/2012 Oxford. Famous Monday Blues Club, The Bullingdon, 162 Cowley Road

15/02/2012 London. Blues Kitchen,…

www.brigittedemeyer.com

 After working out of San Francisco’s Bay Area for her first four studio albums Brigitte DeMeyer has for this one not only recorded in Nashville but also relocated there. Why not! For it is after all where she is able to call on the wealth of talent on this country and blues steeped roots pop-infused collection. That she co-produced with Emmylou Harris’ Spyboy drummer, Brady Blade, who played on her second album and produced the next two to make it another first for the singer-songwriter.

Blade and DeMeyer work superbly well together, so wonderful and varied is the sound garnered. Some could argue and not without substance that she could hardly fail with pickers Chris Donohue (upright and electric bass), Will Kimbrough (electric, acoustic guitar and banjo), Sam Bush (mandolin, fiddle), Mike Henderson (electric, acoustic…

www.raulmalo.com   

When it comes to serving up what the public craves, Raul Malo of the Mavericks knows it better than most. His wonderful, hugely distinctive baritone voice is able at a heartbeat, to stop you in your tracks. His ability to transform a song and shape it to suit himself has long made him a favourite of the connoisseur of song. Aided by his Cuban linage and bilingual singing he not only colours a song but makes an indelible impression as people can’t it seem get enough of his work. 

Aided by the Northern Sinfonia Orchestra and Spanish horns at a show they performed, to a sell-out audience at the Sage Gateshead July last year as part of their annual SummerTyne Americana Festival music a broad spectrum of material is covered. Even broader still will be covered when in the company of American dobro ace Jerry Douglas and Scottish fiddler…