Virginia-native tunes abound at the Six Pack Songwriters Series, a quarterly collaboration of local artists founded by Jason Burke. This fourth installment features a wide range of original music from veteran singer-songwriters John Kelly and Gene Mills, as well as guitarist Bill Staton. Drink in Kathryn Caine’s dark side Americana or Alice Clair’s alternative acoustic […]
Virginia-native tunes abound at the Six Pack Songwriters Series, a quarterly collaboration of local artists founded by Jason Burke. This fourth installment features a wide range of original music from veteran singer-songwriters John Kelly and Gene Mills, as well as guitarist Bill Staton. Drink in Kathryn Caine’s dark side Americana or Alice Clair’s alternative acoustic […]
The banjo-folk music bastion has a remarkable lineage. Derived from African lutes called n’goni that were brought by slaves to the New World, the development of the banjo provides a fascinating insight into the birth of American music. Master n’goni player Cheick Hamala Diabate, together with celebrated bluegrass banjoist Sammy Shelor, multi-instrumentalist Danny Knicely, and […]
Sometime in late elementary school, you learn about the didgeridoo (occasionally spelled didjeridu). It’s a funky instrument played by half naked Aboriginal people in the Australian bush. It’s more than a thousand years old. It doesn’t actually sound all that great. Then, while attending a Phish show, you come across another didge. It’s pressed to […]
Powerful chords and dramatic tension punctuate the classical music program from the internationally renowned Venice Baroque Orchestra. Traversing the globe since 1997, the ensemble is recognized as one of the premier purveyors of period instrument performances (say it five times fast). A wide variety of strings and woodwinds carry works by Geminiani, Veracini, and Vivaldi […]
There is a unity expressed in musician Cian Nugent’s work beyond the ruminations of one man’s guitar. But hearing snatches of his recordings, it’d be easy to attribute various tracks to as many different performers. “I don’t mean to become stylistically incoherent,” he said by phone from his native Dublin. “I just got to keep […]
Chinese pianist Lang Lang is one of the hottest performers in the world right now. Equally known for his energetic performances and his prodigious talent, the Shenyang native has wowed audiences since he became inspired to try piano after watching a Tom & Jerry cartoon entitled, “The Cat Concerto.” Thirty years on, Lang Lang has […]
The cover art on singer-songwriter Joe Pug’s latest album, The Great Despiser, shows a nearly naked man barely hanging on to the end of a rising balloon. Who knows what it means? Pug says his lyrics are somewhat autobiographical, but they have enough metaphor and allegory thrown in to create some space between the man […]
After appearing on a pair of reverb-soaked and long sold-out cassettes, Angel Olsen made a proper full-length debut in 2012 with Half Way Home. Simple, confident, clear, and cohesive, it’s an instant classic. The album is an arresting record in the tradition of cult ’70s folk artists like Linda Perhacs—though Olsen’s aesthetic is far closer […]
The centennial celebration of Woody Guthrie’s birth is more than the remembrance of a great man’s life. It is a testament that his music endures, that the art has outlasted the artist. A wide range of musicians have paid homage to Woody Guthrie over the years, indicating the breadth of his legacy and the extent […]
Robbie Fulks broke through in the sweeping alt-country movement of the ’90s, but the stage was set earlier for Fulks, who learned traditional playing in a musical family that moved around the Appalachian South (and even called Charlottesville home for a short time). His penchant for glibness and dexterity explains the inclusion of Michael Jackson, […]