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Folk and Folk-Rock

1,320 articles

Leon Bibb, Len Chandler, The Clancy Brothers, Don Crawford, Billy Faier, Weston Gavin, Carolyn Hester, Ram John Holder, Cisco Houston, Tommy Makem, Tom Paslé, Dick Rosmini, Molly Scott, Brother John Sellers, The Trade Winds, Dave Van Ronk, Beverly Wright: Folk Music Makes Mark on City's Night Life

Overview by Robert Shelton, The New York Times, 17 November 1960

Art Form Flowers in the Coffeehouses and Plush Clubs Airs of Many Lands Presented by an Army of Talent ...

The Kingston Trio: Carnegie Hall, New York NY

Live Review by Robert Shelton, The New York Times, 24 November 1960

College Spirit of Kingston Trio Marks Carnegie Hall Programs ...

Bob Dylan, The Greenbriar Boys: The Greenbriar Boys, Bob Dylan: Gerde's Folk City, New York NY

Live Review by Robert Shelton, The New York Times, 29 September 1961

Bob Dylan: A Distinctive Folk-Song Stylist 20-Year-Old Singer Is Bright New Face at Gerde's Club ...

Bob Dylan (1961)

Interview by Billy James, Rock's Backpages audio, October 1961

In short clips from his very first interview, with Columbia publicist James, the young Bob Dylan mentions his love of Charlie Chaplin, then reflects on living in a big city for the first time, being a folk singer, and playing piano like Little Richard.

File format: mp3; file size: 2.8mb, interview length: 4' 36" sound quality: *

Bob Dylan: The First Interview

Press Release by Billy James, Columbia Records, October 1961

DYLAN: Well, let me say that I was born in Duluth, Minnesota – give that a little plug. That's where I was born and, uh, ...

Nina & Frederik: Gaumont, Watford

Live Review by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 6 April 1962

New programme from Nina and Frederik ...

Burl Ives Goes 'Soft'

Interview by Peter Jones, Record Mirror, 12 May 1962

TOP TWENTY status, in which he jostles for space with the Elvis Presleys and Cliff Richards, has softened 52-year-old show business all-rounder Burl Ives in ...

The Springfields Think U.S. 'Stunning'

Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 28 September 1962

SAID TOM Springfield (of the Springfields): "You've no idea how stunned we were when 'Silver Threads And Golden Needles' got into the U.S. Hot 100. ...

Duke Ellington, Odetta: Ian Dove Gives a Big NME Welcome to Ellington and Odetta

Profile by Ian Dove, New Musical Express, 11 January 1963

COME SLUMP or boom, war or peace, fad or fashion, Duke Ellington has gone on leading a big band. For 37 years, to be precise! ...

Odetta: When Odetta opens her eyes...

Interview by Maureen Cleave, The Evening Standard, 12 January 1963

IT IS TO SAY "THANK YOU" FOR ALL THAT APPLAUSE ...

The Limeliters: Alan Smith invites you to meet The Limeliters

Profile by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 25 January 1963

INTO THE Limelight this week come... the Limeliters. This lively American folk trio arrive today (Friday) for their first-ever visit to Britain. ...

The Rooftop Singers: *New to the Charts* — Rooftop Singers Start Moving Here

Profile by Ian Dove, New Musical Express, 1 February 1963

'WALK RIGHT IN', by the Rooftop " Singers — the disc that starts off like a folky guitar instrumental and then turns into a vocal ...

The Springfields: Colder In Nashville Than Even Here Says Tom Springfield

Interview by Peter Jones, Record Mirror, 2 February 1963

MIKE PICKWORTH is the "new boy" of the Springfield's. He's the 21-year-old who took over when Tim Feild left to set up in the antique ...

The Limeliters: They're in the Limelight

Profile by Peter Jones, Record Mirror, 2 February 1963

PETER JONES welcomes the LIMELITERS to Britain ...

The Limeliters: They're in the Limelight

Profile by Peter Jones, Record Mirror, 2 February 1963

PETER JONES welcomes the LIMELITERS to Britain ...

Erik Darling, The Rooftop Singers: 'Walk Right In': The Man

Interview by Ian Dove, New Musical Express, 15 February 1963

ERIK DARLING, musical director and organiser of the Rooftop Singers — "We're a folk music group," he insists — has a hit on his hands ...

The Bachelors: 'Don't Call Us Paddy' Begged The Bachelors

Interview by Norman Jopling, Record Mirror, 16 February 1963

"WHENEVER we talk to anyone they call us 'Paddy'," complained the three Bachelors. "We've got names you know." ...

Dusty Springfield, The Springfields: The Springfields: The White Negress

Report and Interview by Norman Jopling, Record Mirror, 6 April 1963

"THAT'S WHAT THEY CALL ME" – DUSTY SPRINGFIELD ...

Kenny Ball, The Kingston Trio: Kenny Ball talks about the Kingston Trio

Profile and Interview by Ian Dove, New Musical Express, 12 April 1963

JAZZMAN KENNY Ball is happy about appearing with America's top folk group, the Kingston Trio... a group he saw on his recent American tour. ...

The Springfields: Hit Trio Get The Holiday Fever!

Interview by June Harris, Disc, 13 April 1963

Another disc crashes the charts, but The Springfields still want that break! ...

Hoyt Axton, Joan Baez, Michael Brown, The Chad Mitchell Trio, Judy Collins, Bob Dylan, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, Lynn Gold, Woody Guthrie, Leadbelly, Ewan MacColl, Judy Mayhan, The New Christy Minstrels, Tom Paxton, Peter, Paul & Mary, Jean Redpath, The Rooftop Singers, Pete Seeger, The Weavers, Josh White: Folk albums of 1962: Fad To Staple — Disks Reflect 'Arrival' of Folk Music As Part of Country's Popular Arts

Review by Robert Shelton, The New York Times, 28 April 1963

A LONGER perspective may revise the view, but it appears from a distance of a few months that 1962 was the year when the folk-music ...

Pete Seeger, The Weavers: The Weavers: Carnegie Hall, New York NY

Live Review by Robert Shelton, The New York Times, 3 May 1963

7 WEAVERS OFFER 'REUNION' CONCERT Alumni and Future Member Join Folk-Music Quartet ...

The Springfields: All Change Springs Go For R and B

Interview by June Harris, Disc, 6 July 1963

TOM SPRINGFIELD gave a gusty yawn over the 'phone, remarked, "I'm not with it this afternoon, mate" and asked for two minutes silence to put ...

Sandy Bull, Stu Ramsay, Roger Sprung: Albums from Sandy Bull and more

Review by Robert Shelton, The New York Times, 18 August 1963

A STRUMMER WITH MORE THAN THREE CHORDS ...

Josh White

Interview by Peter Jones, Record Mirror, 24 August 1963

A ROOM in a plush London hotel. The centre of the attraction is an American Negro, 48 years old, his face leathery and worn. Dark ...

Jim Kweskin & the Jug Band: Bitter End, New York NY

Live Review by Robert Shelton, The New York Times, 21 September 1963

Kweskin Quintet at Bitter End Puts Polish in the Ragtime Jug ...

Peter, Paul & Mary: Peter, Paul and Mary and the Sweet Smell of Cerebral Involvement

Profile and Interview by Maureen Cleave, The Evening Standard, 28 September 1963

YOU DON'T often find a beard in the hit parade — or a waistcoat for that matter. We have Acker Bilk sporting both in ours, ...

Bob Dylan: Carnegie Hall, New York NY

Live Review by Robert Shelton, The New York Times, 28 October 1963

Folk Songs Draw Carnegie Cheers Bob Dylan Appears as an 'Angry Young' Recitalist ...

Dock Boggs, Mississippi John Hurt: Alumni Hall, New York University, New York NY

Live Review by Robert Shelton, The New York Times, 14 December 1963

2 OLD-TIMERS SHARE FOLK-SONG PROGRAM ...

Peter, Paul & Mary: Peter Paul & Mary To Top Palladium

Report by Peter Jones, Record Mirror, 28 March 1964

THINGS change... especially in the music business. For example, America's top folk group Peter, Paul and Mary visited here in September last year, when folksy ...

Bob Dylan: If Bob can't sing it, it must be a poem or a novel or something...

Interview by Maureen Cleave, The Evening Standard, 16 May 1964

SOME SAY that Bob Dylan is a genius; others say he is a very moderate folk singer but not bad at the guitar. I say ...

Bob Dylan: If You Want To Do It — Then Do It

Interview by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 23 May 1964

It's the rules that cause the trouble ...

The Seekers: Seekers Are Goon Fans

Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 5 February 1965

"HELLO Folks!" That Spike Milligan salutation would seem highly appropriate to open an article about Australian folk singers, The Seekers, who attribute a great deal ...

Donovan, Bob Dylan: Dylan v. Donovan

Interview by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 20 March 1965

DOUBLE EXPOSURE ON THE FOLK SCENE ...

Bob Dylan: Fastest sell-out yet

Report and Interview by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 27 March 1965

When Bob Dylan first came to Britain some three years ago, his visit passed virtually unnoticed outside the folk music field. Now, on the strength ...

Donovan, Bob Dylan: Screams for Dylan

Report and Interview by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 1 May 1965

BOB DYLAN got the full star treatment at London Airport on Monday night. A mainly young crowd of about 150 created chaos as the 24-year-old ...

Bob Dylan: Inside Bob Dylan

Report and Interview by Richard Green, Peter Jones, Record Mirror, 8 May 1965

DYLAN NOW is big business! He ambles and shambles (apparently) through a business that needs his sort of way-out personality. He parries questions, mumbles inconsequently, ...

Bob Dylan, Donovan: Bob Dylan: Bringing It All Back Home

Review by Richard Green, Record Mirror, 15 May 1965

DONOVAN REVIEWS NEW DYLAN ALBUM! RM Exclusive by Richard Green ...

Vashti Bunyan, Spencer Davis Group, Jackie Trent: Vashti agrees: her last name must go (it's Bunyan)

Profile and Interview by Maureen Cleave, The Evening Standard, 15 May 1965

VASHTI BUNYAN is the latest in a stream of refined, nicely brought-up, middle-class girls whose well-bred accents have adorned the hit parade since Marianne Faithfull ...

Donovan: In The Shadow of Dylan

Interview by Dawn James, Rave, June 1965

Mention the name Donovan and someone, somewhere will whisper — 'Dylan'. For wherever he goes, whatever he sings or writes about, Don is haunted by ...

The Byrds: Skyrocket to Success: Byrds Utilize Work, Talent

Profile by uncredited writer, KRLA Beat, 2 June 1965

THE BYRDS are currently one of the hottest groups in the country and some may say they're also one of the luckiest. ...

Joan Baez, Carolyn Hester: Two Queens of Folk

Profile and Interview by uncredited writer, Record Mirror, 5 June 1965

FIRST OF all, you SHOULD pronounce it "By-ezz"... Joan Baez. Though it's been twisted around a little as this folk-singing name is bandied about more ...

Solomon Burke, Bob Dylan: Solomon Burke: Can Dylan Be Beaten?

Report by Norman Jopling, Record Mirror, 12 June 1965

The answer is probably no — but all the stops are being pulled out for Solomon Burke's version of the Dylan number 'Maggie's Farm'. ...

Bob Dylan, Dana Gillespie: Bob Dylan's Not A Singer At All — Says His Friend Dana

Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 9 July 1965

"HE'S NOT really a singer at all. He just writes poems and sings them because he thinks a narrative would bore people. Donovan's voice is ...

Joan Baez — Big Surprise

Report by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 9 July 1965

HOW MANY people thought that Joan Baez would be seen back in the NME Chart again, once 'We Shall Overcome' had faded into the distance? Not many, ...

Donovan: Hollywood Not So Hot — say Donovan and Baez!

Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 16 July 1965

"I WASN'T exactly knocked out with it, man," said Donovan, having "done" Hollywood and in the process of "doing" a large plateful of ravioli in ...

The Byrds: Strictly for The Byrds!

Report by Derek Taylor, Melody Maker, 17 July 1965

THE BYRDS happened. Suddenly, with little enough warning for any of us. For me, it started a couple of days after I arrived in Hollywood ...

Joan Baez, Dana Gillespie, Paul Simon: Two Views on Baez, by Paul Simon and Dana Gillespie

Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 30 July 1965

A SMALL, dark, intense man from Greenwich Village (home of his folkship, Bob Dylan) came to my office last week and talked about Joan Baez. ...

Bob Dylan: Beneath the Festival's Razzle-Dazzle

Report by Robert Shelton, The New York Times, 1 August 1965

THE RAZZLE-dazzle of last weekend's Newport Folk Festival should not eclipse the quiet, unflamboyant work of enrichening American folk culture that the festival makes possible. ...

Bob Dylan: Dylan Pop Idol

Profile by uncredited writer, KRLA Beat, 7 August 1965

Folk King Now Hottest Thing In Rock Field ...

The Animals, The Beatles, The Byrds, Bob Dylan, The Supremes: The Beatles Will Make the Scene Here Again, but the Scene Has Changed

Overview by Robert Shelton, The New York Times, 11 August 1965

JOHN, PAUL, George and Ringo are bringing it all back home. That means the Beatles are returning to the United States. They will arrive Friday ...

Joan Baez, Donovan: It's School-Marm Joan Baez Now!

Profile by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 13 August 1965

JOAN BAEZ has turned school-marm. In a Californian town she has started an unusual "School For Non-Violence", where children turn up to sit in silence. ...

Chad & Jeremy: Chad Eyes Future Career During Split With Jeremy

Interview by Louise Criscione, KRLA Beat, 21 August 1965

BECAUSE THE recording duo of Chad & Jeremy are currently performing separate functions, many unfounded rumors have been traveling the record circuit. ...

Bob Dylan: Pop Singers and Song Writers Racing Down Bob Dylan's Road

Profile and Interview by Robert Shelton, The New York Times, 27 August 1965

Musician's "Sound" Inspires a Variety of Entertainers in "Folk Rock" Idiom ...

Bert Jansch: Jansch — 'Don't Ask What My Message Is'

Interview by uncredited writer, Melody Maker, 28 August 1965

BERT JANSCH is one of the newer crop of folk singers who have spurned the more traditional forms for something approaching a pop-folk style. ...

Bob Dylan: Forest Hills Stadium, Forest Hills Stadium NY

Live Review by Robert Shelton, The New York Times, 30 August 1965

DYLAN CONQUERS UNRULY AUDIENCE Folk Singer Offers Works in'New Mood' at Forest Hills ...

Barry McGuire: Love, Not Destruction, is Barry McGuire's Message

Interview by Eden, KRLA Beat, 4 September 1965

(Editor's Note: A burly ex-construction worker has caused an overnight sensation, with his recording of 'Eve of Destruction'. Barry McGuire has also caused a raging ...

Ken Dodd, Donovan, Bob Dylan, Hedgehoppers Anonymous, The Hollies, Barry McGuire, Peter, Paul & Mary, Dusty Springfield: Protest Songs: How sick will they get? asks Alan Smith

Report and Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 24 September 1965

SING A SONG of protest — and you, too, could find yourself there in the charts. Suddenly a whole flood of these let's-put-the-world-right numbers has ...

Barry McGuire... Protests About Protests

Interview by Ann Moses, New Musical Express, 1 October 1965

"I LEFT to be myself. I felt there were better things to be said. If I can't have fun then I'm not real, and if ...

We Five Thank Bob Dylan For Bringing Folk Feel To Pop

Interview by Louise Criscione, KRLA Beat, 2 October 1965

THEY ACTUALLY live on a houseboat which is anchored somewhere off Northern California. They're classified as a folk group, their hit record, 'You Were On ...

Joan Baez: What money, love, and the wear and tear of life have done to Joan Baez, folk singer

Profile and Interview by Maureen Cleave, The Evening Standard, 4 October 1965

MAUREEN CLEAVE interviewing the darling of smart young Americans ...

The Lovin' Spoonful, Sergio Mendes: Sergio Mendes' Brasil '65: El Matador; The Lovin' Spoonful: hungry I, San Francisco CA

Live Review by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 19 October 1965

Some Bright New Music ...

Barry McGuire Talks About Protest And His War On Evil

Interview by David Griffiths, Record Mirror, 30 October 1965

WE WERE talking about protest and folk music. I suggested to Barry McGuire that so many of them are fundamentally silly because they either protest ...

P. F. Sloan: A Portrait: P.F. Sloan — A Many-Colored Personality Revealed Here

Interview by Eden, KRLA Beat, 6 November 1965

AT SOME time during your childhood, you may have had the experience of peering through a kaleidoscope with its multitude of shapes and designs. Part ...

Elizabeth Cotten: Domestic, 71, Sings Folk Songs Of Own Composition in Village

Profile by Robert Shelton, The New York Times, 6 November 1965

Elizabeth Cotten, Who Wrote 'Freight Train' Performs With Guitar and Banjo ...

The Modern Folk Quartet: MFQ Members Are Zany Philosphers

Profile and Interview by Carol Deck, KRLA Beat, 6 November 1965

From Folk to Rock ...

Bert Jansch: One of the Roving Kind

Interview by Nancy Lewis, Fabulous, 13 November 1965

THE SCOTS Hoose is a pub in Cambridge Circus. But if you go upstairs any Tuesday evening, you might as well be a million miles ...

Joan Baez, Bob Dylan: Joan Baez: A Love Story Goes Wrong

Interview by Dawn James, Rave, December 1965

It happens to all of us... we build up our relationship with one boy into something wonderful and then one dreadful day it all comes ...

Bob Dylan, Donovan, Joan Baez, The Seekers, The Silkie: The Year That Folk Moved In

Report by Keith Altham, New Musical Express Annual, December 1965

BOB DYLAN – the undisputed King of Folk. He causes as much controversy personally as do his records. ...

Carolyn Hester: Problems of the Pop/Folknik

Interview by Karl Dallas, Melody Maker, 4 December 1965

WHEN A FOLK singer hits the big time, he or she often has to look at records in a different way from the strictly album-type ...

The Byrds: Those Byrds Flew In For a Gig — You Dig?

Interview by Loraine Alterman, Detroit Free Press, 10 December 1965

THE BYRDS was here. Between an appearance in Saginaw Monday and one in Cleveland Wednesday, the California-based singers dashed into Detroit to tape numbers for ...

Joan Baez: A Lady in Show Business — Joan Baez

Interview by Maureen Cleave, Detroit Free Press, 12 December 1965

THERE WERE many things about Joan Baez, the folk singer, to give the impression that she was — if not slightly holier than most people ...

Judy Collins: Carnegie Hall, New York NY

Live Review by Robert Shelton, The New York Times, 27 December 1965

Judy Collins Gives Folk-Song Concert ...

Fred Neil: Where's It All Going?

Interview by uncredited writer, Hit Parader, January 1966

LISTEN TO the music of Fred Neil, particularly 'Travelin' Shoes', 'Country Boy' and 'Gone Again' from his Bleecker & MacDougal Street album and you'll dig ...

Phil Ochs and Protest Songs

Interview by Jane Heil, Hit Parader, January 1966

AS EVERYONE already knows, folk songs have come off the back porch and out of the pads, and are now very big business. Everybody listens ...

Bob Dylan: Poet or pop? — a new role for a folk-hero

Profile by Lillian Roxon, Sydney Morning Herald, the, 9 January 1966

BOB DYLAN, folk-singer, folk-composer and folk-millionaire, has upset a lot of people in his time — TV networks, civil liberties committees, parents, teachers, recording technicians ...

The Changing Times: A Chat With The Changing Times

Interview by Carol Deck, KRLA Beat, 15 January 1966

"I WAS BORN," he stated very positively as he sprawled across the end of the bed staring curiously at the ceiling like he'd never noticed ...

Tom Paxton, The Watersons: Cecil Sharp House, London

Live Review by Karl Dallas, Melody Maker, 15 January 1966

THERE WAS one solitary "boo" — when he sang an anti-LBJ song about Vietnam — but apart from that Tom Paxton was greeted with tumultuous ...

The Animals, Paul Butterfield Blues Band, The Byrds, Glen Campbell, Judy Collins, Bob Dylan, Richard and Mimi Fariña, The Lovin' Spoonful, Barry McGuire, P. F. Sloan, Sonny & Cher, The Spokesmen, The Surfaris, The Yardbirds: On Records: The Folk-Rock Rage

Review by Robert Shelton, The New York Times, 30 January 1966

FOLK-ROCK, which mixes the simplicity of folk music with the frenetic rhythmic heat of the electrically amplified sound of rock 'n' roll, caused one of ...

Simon & Garfunkel: Both the Hair and Names Are Real

Interview by Loraine Alterman, Detroit Free Press, 4 February 1966

WHEN I FIRST heard the names Simon and Garfunkel, I laughed. Those names sounded too funny to be real. But they are. ...

The Lovin' Spoonful: Spoonful of Lovin' Words

Interview by Eden, KRLA Beat, 15 February 1966

IT ISN'T everyday that one meets John Sebastian of the Lovin' Spoonful and has the opportunity to sit and talk with him. The BEAT had that opportunity ...

Bob Dylan: Robert Shelton of the New York Times talks to Max Jones about his friend Bob Dylan

Interview by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 19 February 1966

BOB DYLAN remains a fascinating subject of conversation for four good reasons. Because he has talent and originality; because, in spite of brushes with the ...

Paul Butterfield Blues Band, The Byrds, Bob Dylan, The Lovin' Spoonful, Simon & Garfunkel: A Symposium: Is Folk Rock Really 'White Rock'?

Letter by Robert Shelton, The New York Times, 20 February 1966

TO THE EDITOR: ...

Woody Guthrie, Lightnin' Hopkins, Cisco Houston, Leadbelly, Pete Seeger, Dave Van Ronk: Albums from Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie, Leadbelly and more

Review by Robert Shelton, The New York Times, 27 February 1966

An Old Folk Line On a New Label ...

Bert Jansch, Ewan MacColl, John Renbourn, The Stewarts of Blair, The Watersons: Britain's Folk Scene: 'Skiffle Craze' to Clubs in Pubs

Review by Robert Shelton, The New York Times, 6 March 1966

LONDON — AN American visitor to Great Britain's folk-music community can only experience a sense of exhilaration at the liveliness, diversity and number of activities ...

The Byrds: Three Fans Interview Two Byrds

Interview by uncredited writer, KRLA Beat, 12 March 1966

Every now and then The BEAT staff gets a little lazy and lets fans do our writing for us. The following interview with Gene Clark and Jim McGuinn ...

Donovan, The Modern Folk Quartet: Donovan, the Modern Folk Quintet: The Trip, Los Angeles CA

Live Review by Pete Johnson, Los Angeles Times, 26 March 1966

Donovan Ranges From Satire to Folk ...

Folk, Rock & Other Four-Letter Words

Comment by Paul Williams, Crawdaddy!, 28 March 1966

THERE HAS BEEN a great increase recently in the number of popular artists whose songs are influenced by or taken from American folk music–both traditional ...

Simon & Garfunkel: New to the Charts: Enter the intellectual S & G!

Interview by Tracy Thomas, New Musical Express, 8 April 1966

"LIFE IS like a game. Everyone keeps trying to find out how to win. If you stopped trying to discover this, life would be nothing." ...

Odetta: Hunter College, New York NY

Live Review by Robert Shelton, The New York Times, 23 April 1966

ODETTA, THE folk singer, was in excellent voice last night for her recital at Hunter College. The singer-guitarist drew an audience of about 800 persons. ...

The Lovin' Spoonful: Knocking Down a Myth

Report and Interview by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 30 April 1966

QUESTION Will Folk Rock be the next big influence on the pop world? ...

Paul Simon, Simon & Garfunkel: Paul Simon: 'I Thought I Was a Has-Been at 19'

Interview by David Griffiths, Record Mirror, 30 April 1966

PAUL SIMON is the composer of 21 songs, most of which have been put to work for him very profitably. ...

Paul Simon, Simon & Garfunkel: Paul Simon: Pop think-in

Interview by uncredited writer, Melody Maker, 30 April 1966

The biggest thing Dylan has got going for him is his mystique ...

The Lovin' Spoonful: Lovin' Spoonful: Simply Wild

Profile and Interview by Loraine Alterman, Detroit Free Press, 13 May 1966

WHAT ARE John Sebastian, Zal Yanovsky, Joe Butler and Steve Boone? A barbershop quartet? Not with their long hair. They're The Lovin' Spoonful, who are ...

The Band, Bob Dylan: Bob Dylan & the Hawks: Adelphi Cinema, Dublin

Live Review by uncredited writer, Disc and Music Echo, 14 May 1966

THE LEAN and wiry Bob Dylan, hair longer and more unruly than ever, left behind 2,500 frustrated fans after the opening date of his 13-concert ...

Bob Dylan: Will The Real Bob Dylan Please Stand Up?

Report and Interview by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 14 May 1966

Max Jones meets the mystical mister Dylan ...

Bob Dylan: You Name Something, and I'll Protest About It Said Bob Dylan

Report by Richard Green, Record Mirror, 14 May 1966

BOB DYLAN stuck his head through the window, placed his foot on the window ledge and — from outside — asked: "Is anyone in here?" ...

Bob Dylan: Blonde on Blonde (Columbia)

Review by Richard Goldstein, The Village Voice, June 1966

LOOKING LIKE a man who's been waiting in line for two hours to find a vacant john, Bob Dylan peers in full color from the ...

Dave Van Ronk: Big Daddy of the Blues Singers... Dave Van Ronk

Interview by Jane Heil, Hit Parader, July 1966

NOT SO LONG ago — ten years or so — that gutsy, sorrowful, driving Negro folk-blues sound was the sole property of the Negro blues ...

The Mamas and The Papas, Simon & Garfunkel: Melodyland Theatre, Anaheim, CA

Live Review by Mike Tuck, KRLA Beat, 2 July 1966

Cass Goes to England 'To Get' Beatles' John ...

Clifton Chenier, Bob Dylan, Bert Kaempfert: Bob Dylan: Blonde on Blonde (Columbia C2L 41 028 841)

Review by Pete Johnson, Los Angeles Times, 3 July 1966

Playboy Hops on Dylan Bandwagon ...

Bert Jansch: Jansch digs back into tradition

Interview by Karl Dallas, Melody Maker, 16 July 1966

THE BALLAD the young man sang was long but the audience hung on every word. In his own individual way he managed to project some ...

Sandy Bull: Les Cousins, London

Live Review by Karl Dallas, Melody Maker, 16 July 1966

IT'S STRANGE that while British guitar experimentalists abound, America doesn't have much in this line to offer — apart, that is, from Sandy Bull, who ...

Simon & Garfunkel: Marquee, London

Live Review by Alan Walsh, Melody Maker, 16 July 1966

SIMON AND Garfunkel's only London appearance at the Marquee on Sunday was, from an artist-audience point of view, a major success. ...

Herb Alpert, The Beach Boys, The Lovin' Spoonful, The Mamas and The Papas: Secrets of Spoonful Hit Sound: 'Music is on its way UP!'

Profile by Derek Taylor, Disc and Music Echo, 23 July 1966

DEREK TAYLOR reporting: Hollywood, Tuesday ...

Judy Collins, The Lovin' Spoonful: "All Folk Music Now" at Newport

Report and Interview by Karl Dallas, Melody Maker, 30 July 1966

THIS YEAR'S Newport Folk Festival was more like a blues show or a pop show, with traditional folk music supported by a very small hard ...

The Clancy Brothers, Shirley Collins, The Lovin' Spoonful, Phil Ochs, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Pete Seeger: Newport Festival: Teenage Takeover In Millionaires' Playground

Report by Lillian Roxon, Sydney Morning Herald, the, 31 July 1966

Once again rebellious young rock 'n' rollers have turned exclusive Newport into a riot city of jazz and festival From LILLIAN ROXON, who visited Newport, U.S., ...

The Mamas and The Papas, Simon & Garfunkel: The Mamas and the Papas, Simon and Garfunkel: Forest Hills Music Festival, Queens NY

Live Review by Robert Shelton, The New York Times, 8 August 1966

2 POP GROUPS HEARD BY 14,000 IN QUEENS ...

Martin Carthy, The Dubliners, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, Julie Felix, Phil Ochs, Tom Paxton, Dave Swarbrick: Beaulieu Folk Festival, Beaulieu, Hampshire

Live Review by Karl Dallas, Melody Maker, 13 August 1966

Beaulieu — a real triumph thanks to the downpour ...

James Brown, Bob Dylan, Jackie Edwards, Bert Kaempfert, Arthur Lyman, Wayne Newton, Otis Redding, The Righteous Brothers, Marty Robbins, Ruby & the Romantics, Norma Tanega, Junior Walker & the All Stars, Andy Williams: Bob Dylan, James Brown, Otis Redding et al: Album Reviews

Review by uncredited writer, Melody Maker, 13 August 1966

Dylan rocks through 4 great sides ...

Davey Graham: Midnight Man (Decca LK 4780)

Review by Karl Dallas, Melody Maker, 13 August 1966

DON'T JUDGE Davey Graham's latest LP, Midnight Man (Decca LK 4780) on the basis of one hearing alone or, like me, you'll decide it's not up to ...

Phil Ochs: Phil Ochs In Concert (Elektra EKL 310)

Review by Karl Dallas, Melody Maker, 20 August 1966

Vicious, brilliant dynamite from Phil ...

The Association: Electric Switch Paid Off

Profile and Interview by Mike Gormley, The Ottawa Journal, 20 August 1966

SAN FRANCISCO — Six folk-singers got together in February, 1965, worked and waited for a year, changed to electric instruments and then — 'Along Comes ...

Simon & Garfunkel: A Law Firm They're Not

Interview by Robert Shelton, The New York Times, 28 August 1966

ALMOST BEFORE the public knew whether Simon and Garfunkel was a comedy act, a law firm, or a partnership in the garment industry, the two ...

Davey Graham: Les Cousins, London

Live Review by Karl Dallas, Melody Maker, 10 September 1966

THE big question is: why isn't Davy Graham booked into Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club? He has as much to say as his fellow guitarist and ...

Bert Jansch: Jack Orion (Transatlantic TRA 143)

Review by Karl Dallas, Melody Maker, 17 September 1966

BERT JANSCH has always been an interesting performer, and he has been the nearest thing Britain has had to offer to compare with the crop ...

Phil Ochs: America's Fieriest Songwriter

Interview by Karl Dallas, Melody Maker, 17 September 1966

LAST TIME American singer/songwriter Phil Ochs was here he stormed around from gig to gig, ending up in a four-letter-worded altercation with a St Pancras ...

Janis Ian: Censors and the "New Reality"

Comment by Robert Shelton, The New York Times, 25 September 1966

A FOLK-ROCK disk issued earlier this month which spotlights a shining new singing and song-writing talent, also throws some rays of light into the shadowy ...

Carolyn Hester: Not Ashamed To Do Some Folk Rock

Interview by Karl Dallas, Melody Maker, 15 October 1966

INTO BRITAIN last weekend flew Carolyn Hester, the American folk singer with the fantastic range, for a tight schedule of ten TV dates and two ...

The Watersons: The Watersons (Topic 12T142)

Review by Karl Dallas, Melody Maker, 15 October 1966

THE WATERSONS' latest record was originally planned as a "live" recording at their Hull club — why, I can't think. The idea that folk music ...

Bert Jansch: St. Pancras Town Hall, London

Live Review by Karl Dallas, Melody Maker, 22 October 1966

TAKE ONE of our most introspective folk singers and put him alone on a stage for nearly three hours. It sounds like madness, but when ...

Ian and Sylvia: Philharmonic Hall, New York NY

Live Review by Robert Shelton, The New York Times, 29 October 1966

IAN AND SYLVIA SING TASTEFUL PROGRAM ...

Mark Spoelstra: Jeanetta Cochrane Theatre, London

Live Review by Karl Dallas, Melody Maker, 29 October 1966

THERE IS a soft centre at the heart of much of contemporary American songwriting in the folk or near-folk idiom which makes it difficult ever ...

Simon & Garfunkel: The Sound of J.D. Salinger Clapping

Profile and Interview by Richard Goldstein, The Village Voice, 3 November 1966

WE KNOW about the sound of two hands clapping. We're pretty sure these days what one hand clapping sounds like. But what is the sound ...

Simon & Garfunkel: Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme (Columbia)

Review by Gene Sculatti, Mojo Navigator, 8 November 1966

SIMON AND Garfunkel's third album is quite different from their second (their first, all-folk album was produced before their first hit and is nowhere as ...

Joni Mitchell, Tom Rush: Tom Rush Tells Why He's Now Electrified!

Interview by Loraine Alterman, Detroit Free Press, 11 November 1966

ONCE UPON a time folk singers looked at electric guitars and top 40 radio in horror. Then several years back the big hero of the ...

Judy Collins: Collins: A Singer, Period

Interview by Karl Dallas, Melody Maker, 12 November 1966

"I AM FINALLY beginning to see what my direction is. I'm a singer and songs like these are what I want to sing." Lovely Judy ...

Ewan MacColl: Manchester Angel (Topic 12T147)

Review by Karl Dallas, Melody Maker, 12 November 1966

IT IS UNFORTUNATE that while Ewan MacColl has continued to develop as a singer, many of the available recordings were made long before he had ...

Tom Paxton: Paxton: Singing First

Interview by Karl Dallas, Melody Maker, 12 November 1966

AS HANK Locklin's recording of 'The Last Thing On My Mind' climbs into the charts, the man who wrote it, folksinger-writer Tom Paxton, is back ...

Pete Seeger: Folk Music Live At The Village Gate (Verve VLP 5016)

Review by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 12 November 1966

PETE SEEGER is a man who could sing practically anywhere and give a good account of him self. On Folk Music Live At The Village ...

Judy Collins, The Incredible String Band, Tom Paxton: Tom Paxton, Judy Collins, The Incredible String Band: Royal Albert Hall, London

Live Review by Karl Dallas, Melody Maker, 12 November 1966

A TRIUMPH — there is no other word for the reception Judy Collins and Tom Paxton received at the Royal Albert Hall on Friday. The ...

Pete Seeger: Royal Festival Hall, London

Live Review by Karl Dallas, Melody Maker, 19 November 1966

HE DID it again! Every time Pete Seeger puts on a solo concert in Britain I wonder if he can pull it off, the unique ...

Simon & Garfunkel: Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme (Columbia CS-9363, CL 2563)

Review by Pete Johnson, Los Angeles Times, 20 November 1966

S and G Sing of Sly Sociology ...

The Lovin' Spoonful: A Taste Of The Spoonful

Report by Henry Diltz, Hullabaloo, December 1966

IT'S A BEAUTIFUL day to be flying somewhere. Just above a floating sea of white clouds the silver wing sticks out into vast baby blue ...

Jean Ritchie: Jeanette Cochrane Theatre, London

Live Review by Karl Dallas, Melody Maker, 3 December 1966

JEAN — PERFECT AT LETTING THE SONG TELL THE STORY ...

Arlo Guthrie: One Of America's Most Interesting Young Folk Singers For Some Time

Interview by Karl Dallas, Melody Maker, 10 December 1966

PEOPLE WHO go along to hear Woody Guthrie's son, Arlo, during his three week tour of Britain expecting to hear a carbon copy of the ...

Arlo Guthrie: Cochrane Theatre, London

Live Review by Karl Dallas, Melody Maker, 17 December 1966

HIS hair is a lot longer — just about as bushy as dad's used to be in his heyday — and he's an inch or ...

The Sandpipers Are Following Herb Alpert's Good Example

Profile and Interview by Carol Deck, KRLA Beat, 31 December 1966

1966 WAS A big year for three young men who are a rarity in the entertainment world, particularly the pop portion of that world. ...

Bobby Fuller Four, The , The Mamas and The Papas, Ravi Shankar, Simon & Garfunkel, Barbra Streisand: New albums from the Mamas and the Papas, Simon & Garfunkel et al

Review by Peter Jones, Norman Jopling, Record Mirror, 7 January 1967

Mamas and Papas next single on their new LP ...

Donovan: All Things Bright and Beautiful

Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 14 January 1967

At new Wimbledon home DONOVAN talks about shape of things to come ...

Joan Baez: A Study In Protest

Report and Interview by Rochelle Reed, KRLA Beat, 14 January 1967

WHEN THE curtains draw back and the spotlight silhouettes her against an empty stage, it's difficult to believe that slight, dark-haired Joan Baez is standing ...

Donovan: Royal Albert Hall, London

Live Review by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 21 January 1967

THAT THERE is still room for audacious youth in 1967 is a good sign. Donovan is an audacious youth, and in the vast monument to ...

Buffalo Springfield, The Byrds, Donovan, The Rolling Stones, The Supremes: Pop Eye: Singles

Review by Richard Goldstein, The Village Voice, 26 January 1967

YOU KNOW something's fishy when you see that elastic grin on Brian Jones's face for the record jacket The title above tells all: 'Let's Spend ...

The Lovin' Spoonful: Hums Of The Lovin' Spoonful (Kama Sutra)

Review by uncredited writer, Melody Maker, 28 January 1967

Country blues from the Lovin' Spoonful ...

The Watersons: 'Entertainment' Isn't Enough For The Watersons

Interview by Karl Dallas, Melody Maker, 4 February 1967

BIGGEST bombshell to hit the folk scene since Dave Swarbrick left Ian Campbell was my news in last week's MM, that the Watersons are to ...

The Sandpipers: Grads Graduate to Big Time

Profile and Interview by Pete Johnson, Los Angeles Times, 5 February 1967

SUCH DIVERSE elements as a book on zoology, the Mitchell Boys Choir and a Spanish song all conjoined one day to produce one of the ...

Hoyt Axton, Kaleidoscope: the Troubadour, Los Angeles CA

Live Review by Pete Johnson, Los Angeles Times, 24 February 1967

Hoyt Axton Sounds of Sad, Glad ...

Lester Flatt, Hearts & Flowers, Earl Scruggs: Flatt & Scruggs, Hearts & Flowers: Troubadour, Los Angeles CA

Live Review by Tracy Thomas, New Musical Express, 26 February 1967

Down in the dumps ...

Donovan, Mickie Most: Most on Donovan

Interview by Kevin Swift, Beat Instrumental, March 1967

IT'S A FACT. Not many artistes give a thought to the guys who produce their records. Listeners seem to be as bad. Do you think ...

The Lovin' Spoonful: Washing The Bad Medicine On Down

Profile by Louise Criscione, KRLA Beat, 11 March 1967

FOR CENTURIES, mothers everywhere have given their children a spoon full of sugar and water to help the bad-tasting medicine go down. ...

Roy Harper: Sophisticated Beggar (Strike JHL 105)

Review by Karl Dallas, Melody Maker, 18 March 1967

THE TROUBLE with real innovators is that they make life very difficult for anyone who tries to emulate them. Bert Jansch and John Renbourn have ...

Simon & Garfunkel: Royal Albert Hall, London

Live Review by Nick Jones, Melody Maker, 25 March 1967

TWO people, one guitar, gave a concert of overwhelming beauty, compassion, and entertainment at London's vast Royal Albert Hall, last Saturday, where enormous crowds flocked ...

Simon & Garfunkel: Simon and Garfunkel: Royal Albert Hall, London

Live Review by Hugh Nolan, Disc and Music Echo, 25 March 1967

AFTER WATCHING Paul Simon, Art Garfunkel and one guitar hold a packed London Albert Hall audience — probably six to seven thousand people — in ...

The Association: Yester Explains: Association is Subtle Insanity

Interview by Rochelle Reed, KRLA Beat, 25 March 1967

"SUBTLE INSANITY," explains Jim Yester, is when the Association sings "Ba-nan-a Won-der-ful" in place of "bop-do-waah" at one point on their album track, 'Another Time, ...

Judy Collins, Eddie Floyd, Bert Kaempfert, James Last, The Magic Lanterns, The Mindbenders, Elvis Presley, Otis Redding, The Smothers Brothers: Albums from Elvis Presley, Judy Collins, Eddie Floyd et al

Review by Peter Jones, Norman Jopling, Record Mirror, 15 April 1967

Remarkable sincerity on El's How Great Thou Art album. ...

Donovan: Saville Theatre, London

Live Review by Norman Jopling, Record Mirror, 29 April 1967

DONOVAN AT THE SAVILLE — A PSYCHEDELIC TROUDADOR ...

Donovan: Saville Theatre, London

Live Review by Nick Jones, Melody Maker, 29 April 1967

EXPERIENCE BUT NO SATISFACTION FOR DONOVAN ...

Spanky & Our Gang: Spanky and Our Gang Building Clubhouse at Top of Pops Tree

Profile by Robert Shelton, The New York Times, 6 May 1967

FROM THE overcrowded forest of pop vocal groups, a gifted new quartet seems clearly about to rise into a Sequoialike prominence. ...

Alan Lomax: Cowboy Songs and other Frontier Ballads by John A. Lomax; American Ballads and Folk Songs by John A. and Alan Lomax (both Macmillan)

Book Review by Karl Dallas, Melody Maker, 20 May 1967

IT ALL started with the Lomaxes — at least it often seems that way. Though there have been other American folksong collectors, before and since, ...

Roy Harper: Is Roy the man to succeed Dylan?

Interview by Karl Dallas, Melody Maker, 17 June 1967

MAKE A note of this name: Roy Harper. The international folk scene is going to hear a lot of this talented 25-year-old singer-songwriter with drooping ...

The Incredible String Band: Now It's Folk Flower Power

Profile and Interview by Karl Dallas, Melody Maker, 24 June 1967

THE TWO young Scots who call themselves the Incredible String Band, Mike Heron and Robin Williamson, are going to set both the folk and pop ...

Janis Ian: 'Society's Child', And Why the Ban Is Being Lifted

Report by Loraine Alterman, Detroit Free Press, 14 July 1967

"Walk me down to school, baby Everybody's acting deaf and blind Until they turn and say 'Why don't you stick to your own ...

Simon & Garfunkel: Snap, Crackle, Pop World of Simon and Garfunkel

Profile and Interview by Pete Johnson, Los Angeles Times, 24 July 1967

"I WAS NOT prepared for success. My image of myself was not that of a teen star, a Monkees type of scene. I felt very ...

Simon & Garfunkel: Snap, Crackle, Pop World of Simon and Garfunkel

Interview by Pete Johnson, Los Angeles Times, 24 July 1967

"I WAS NOT prepared for success. My image of myself was not that of a teen star, a Monkees type of scene. I felt very ...

Donovan: "I Remember Donovan... And It Makes Me Feel Good!"

Interview by Keith Altham, Flip, August 1967

DONOVAN HAS achieved something that at one time I would have thought impossible — he has emerged from 'The Scream Age' into 'The Ear Age' ...

Paul Simon, Simon & Garfunkel: Inside The Mind of Paul Simon (part 1)

Interview by Jim Delehant, Hit Parader, August 1967

A LOT OF readers have been asking for an interview with Simon and Garfunkel. After much difficulty in tracing them down (it was impossible to ...

Paul Simon, Simon & Garfunkel: Inside The Mind of Paul Simon (part 2)

Interview by Jim Delehant, Hit Parader, September 1967

Last month, Paul Simon commented on current singers, songs and his own songwriting. He gets into it again this time along with a dash of ...

The 5th Dimension, Leonard Cohen, The Devil's Anvil: New Stars On The Horizon: The Devil's Anvil, The 5th Dimension, Leonard Cohen

Profile by uncredited writer, Hit Parader, September 1967

THE DEVIL'S ANVIL ...

Scott McKenzie: Question Time With Scott McKenzie

Interview by Maureen O'Grady, Rave, September 1967

We all know now what Scott McKenzie looks like and sounds like. Here in this exclusive interview with Maureen O'Grady he tells you what he ...

The Incredible String Band: The 5000 Spirits or the Layers of the Onion (Elektra EUK 257)

Review by Karl Dallas, Melody Maker, 2 September 1967

STRING BAND — NO LONGER FOLK SINGERS ...

The Incredible String Band: Incredible String Band: Incredible Incredibles

Profile and Interview by Nick Jones, Melody Maker, 30 September 1967

AS THE beautiful, unrelenting success of their second album so justly affirms the Incredible String Band are something incredible. ...

Tom Paxton: A Portrait of Paxton

Interview by Karl Dallas, Melody Maker, 7 October 1967

THERE ARE just seven clear free days in the crowded schedule of Tom Paxton, who arrived in Britain this week for a three-week stay which ...

Judy White, Josh White: Josh & Judy White: Josh and his Singing Family

Interview by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 21 October 1967

SOMETIMES IT seems as though Josh White brings a different member of his family every time he visits us, and every one is a singer. ...

Shirley & Dolly Collins, The Incredible String Band: The Incredible String Band, Shirley & Dolly Collins: Queen Elizabeth Hall, London

Live Review by Nick Jones, Melody Maker, 21 October 1967

THEIR TRUTHS may shriek, whisper, caress or stab at the thread from which we hang, and scorch our fallen bodies in hot sun, dry them ...

Donovan, Bob Dylan: Bob Dylan: Dont Look Back (Dir. D.A. Pennebaker, 96 mins)

Film/DVD/TV Review by Richard Goldstein, The New York Times, 22 October 1967

Dylan: 'We Trust What He Tells Us' ...

Tim Hardin: Tim Hardin 2 (Verve/Forecast)

Review by Paul Nelson, Hullabaloo, November 1967

TIM HARDIN is one of the giants of contemporary pop music and his new record, Tim Hardin 2, is the kind of haunting and haunted ...

Every Mother's Son: Mind Expanding

Interview by Tony Leigh, KRLA Beat, 4 November 1967

NO ONE should want to stay the same; change is one of the most important parts of life. Being able to grow with new experiences ...

Arlo Guthrie: Arlo Takes a Giant Step

Profile and Interview by Richard Goldstein, The New York Times, 5 November 1967

  WOODY GUTHRIE'S son Arlo is a folk-singer, too. ...

Martin Carthy, Dave Swarbrick: Dave Swarbrick and Martin Carthy: No Restrictions On Tour For Dave And Martin

Interview by Karl Dallas, Melody Maker, 11 November 1967

FOLK FIDDLE virtuoso Dave Swarbrick will accompany guitarist-singer Martin Carthy when he returns to Britain in the New Year. But at the end of a ...

Leonard Cohen, Judy Collins: Judy Collins Discovers Success as Folk Singer

Interview by Pete Johnson, Los Angeles Times, 24 November 1967

FIVE ALBUMS, one each year, established Judy Collins as a very good folk singer, though not as important as Joan Baez. She was one of ...

Al Stewart: Bedsitter Images (CBS 63087)

Review by Karl Dallas, Melody Maker, 25 November 1967

AL LEAVES THE RANKS OF FOLK FOR IMAGES ...

Martin Carthy, Dave Swarbrick: Martin Carthy & Dave Swarbrick: Byker Hill (Fontana TL 5434)

Review by Karl Dallas, Melody Maker, 25 November 1967

MARTIN CARTHY and Dave Swarbrick's third album together, Byker Hill really marks a peak in the development of their partnership which is underlined by Dave's ...

The Dubliners: More of the Hard Stuff (Major Minor MMLP5)

Review by Karl Dallas, Melody Maker, 25 November 1967

QUESTION: HAS chart success spoiled the Dubliners? Answer: judging by their new album, More of the Hard Stuff (MMLP5) for Phil Solomons' Major Minor label, ...

Jim Kweskin & the Jug Band: The Jim Kweskin Jug Band: Town Hall, New York NY

Live Review by Robert Shelton, The New York Times, 25 November 1967

Town Hall hostto Kweskin Band — Music of a Generation Ago is Attractively Presented ...

Leonard Cohen: Beautiful Creep

Profile and Interview by Richard Goldstein, The Village Voice, 28 December 1967

And the child on whose shoulders I stand whose longing I purged with public, kingly discipline today I bring him back ...

Fred Neil: Sessions (Capitol)

Sleeve notes by Pete Johnson, Capitol Records, 1968

EIGHT TRANSCRIPTS of Fred Neil's life rise from a grey-crinkled formica counter, plastic on plastic, half-inch dun highways which had whispered through the antiseptic jaws ...

Judy Collins, Julie Felix, Phil Ochs, Tom Paxton, Al Stewart: No strings attached...

Comment by Karl Dallas, Melody Maker, 6 January 1968

DEAR JUDY, Julie, Phil, Tom and Al: Girls! Fellows! What's got into you? It's getting so a folksinger isn't a folksinger any more. ...

Phil Ochs: The Extraordinary Mind Of Phil Ochs

Interview by Jacoba Atlas, KRLA Beat, 13 January 1968

PHIL OCHS has packed concert houses from New York's famed Carnegie Hall to the Santa Monica Civic auditorium, has sung at Civil Rights Marches in ...

Tom Rush: Rush Reaches For The Pop Audience

Interview by Karl Dallas, Melody Maker, 13 January 1968

TOM RUSH walked into my office shortly after he had arrived to record a BBC-2 colour TV show with Julie Felix and John Renbourn last ...

Bob Dylan: John Wesley Harding (Columbia)

Review by Lillian Roxon, Sydney Morning Herald, the, 14 January 1968

Bob Dylan makes a comeback ...

Judy Collins, The Electric Prunes: Albums from Judy Collins and the Electric Prunes

Review by uncredited writer, KRLA Beat, 10 February 1968

WILDFLOWERS (Elektra) Judy Collins. 'Michael From Mountains', 'Sisters of Mercy', 'Sky Felt', plus seven more. ...

Judy Collins: Troubadour, Los Angeles CA

Live Review by Stephen M H Braitman, Van Nuys Valley News, 13 February 1968

Folk-Singer Judy Collins Dazzles in Nitery Stint ...

Leonard Cohen: Songwriter Who Got Into Folk By Accident

Interview by Karl Dallas, Melody Maker, 17 February 1968

WHEN THE new album by the uncrowned queen of the non-folk, Judy Collins, is issued this month a lot of people will start talking again ...

Leonard Cohen: Songs of Leonard Cohen (Columbia)

Review by uncredited writer, KRLA Beat, 24 February 1968

THIS IS THE first album for a very talented Canadian poet. Prior to this album, Cohen's reputation rested mainly on his film scoring for Nobody ...

The Incredible String Band: The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter (Elektra)

Review by uncredited writer, International Times, 8 March 1968

A VERY CELLULAR INCREDIBLE STRING BAND ...

Arlo Guthrie Telling His Story

Interview by Jacoba Atlas, KRLA Beat, 9 March 1968

HE'S SLIGHT OF build with long hair that hangs almost to his shoulders in curls. At 20, he is an incredible mixture of youth and ...

The Incredible String Band: Once Again, Is It Folk?

Profile and Interview by Karl Dallas, Melody Maker, 16 March 1968

WHEN poet Pete Brown, lyric-writer for the Cream, heard the new Incredible String Band LP, The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter, he said: "That's what the Rolling ...

Carolyn Hester: Les Cousins, London

Live Review by Karl Dallas, Melody Maker, 23 March 1968

SUCCESS USUALLY means that singers quit the folk club circuit and restrict appearances to concerts. Which is a pity, since often the club scene which ...

Richie Havens: The Troubador, Los Angeles CA

Live Review by Tony Leigh, KRLA Beat, 23 March 1968

LOS ANGELES — For a long time Richie Havens only belonged to New York, now he will belong to everyone. Havens opened on the West ...

Janis Ian, Judy Collins, Tim Buckley, Tim Hardin: The Folk Poets: Hardin, Buckley, Ian & Collins

Profile by Jacoba Atlas, KRLA Beat, 23 March 1968

MUSIC HAS become a very personal thing. With the advance of the writer-singer, songs have become an expression of internal feelings mirrored for everyone. These ...

Eric Andersen, Blood Sweat & Tears, Hamilton Camp: New Albums from Blood, Sweat and Tears, Eric Andersen, and Hamilton Camp

Review by Pete Johnson, Los Angeles Times, 31 March 1968

New Album Issued by Rock Octet ...

Roy Harper: Speakeasy, London

Live Review by Karl Dallas, Melody Maker, 13 April 1968

LONDON'S Speakeasy must be the most difficult gig for any folk-type artist, and when Roy Harper sang there on Sunday, sandwiched between an old Mae ...

Richie Havens' Big Step

Profile by Mike Jahn, Pop Scene Service, 25 April 1968

A PERFORMER can be fairly sure he is successful when record companies start releasing records he would rather forget. ...

Pentangle: The Many Talents Of The Pentangle

Profile and Interview by Karl Dallas, Melody Maker, 18 May 1968

ANSWER THE following questions to win five points: Which group is playing at the Cambridge Jazz Festival one weekend in July, and at the Cambridge ...

Shirley Collins: Shirley is a bit of a Good Fairy

Interview by Karl Dallas, Melody Maker, 25 May 1968

THE YOUNG man fitted together what looked like a short walking stick with holes and showed it to folksinger Shirley Collins. "That's what we call ...

The Spinners (UK): Spinners: Queen Elizabeth Hall, London

Live Review by Alan Walsh, Melody Maker, 25 May 1968

THE SECRET of the success of the Spinners is hard to define, but a lot must lie in their ability to create a sort of ...

The First Edition: Top Tunes: The First Edition

Interview by Michael Oberman, Evening Star, The (Washington DC), 1 June 1968

QUESTION: WHAT do you get when you take three guys and one girl from the New Christy Minstrels and team them up with a drummer ...

Joni Mitchell: the Troubadour, Los Angeles CA

Live Review by Pete Johnson, Los Angeles Times, 7 June 1968

Canadian Singer in U.S. Debut ...

Joni Mitchell: Troubadour, Los Angeles CA

Live Review by Stephen M H Braitman, Van Nuys Valley News, 7 June 1968

Joni Mitchell Sings Own Songs In Debut At Troubadour Nitery ...

Joni Mitchell, Jerry Jeff Walker: Jerry Jeff Walker, Joni Mitchell: Singer-Songwriters Are Making a Comeback

Profile by Robert Shelton, The New York Times, 5 July 1968

Developing Trend Indicated at the Bitter End by Jerry Walker and Joni Mitchell ...

Pentangle: Royal Festival Hall, London

Live Review by uncredited writer, New Musical Express, 6 July 1968

Pentangle's big debut ...

The Incredible String Band: Royal Albert Hall, London

Live Review by Karl Dallas, Melody Maker, 6 July 1968

Time to get off the Incredible String Band's mystery tour ...

Tim Hardin Talking Of Life's Raw Deal...

Interview by Penny Valentine, Disc and Music Echo, 20 July 1968

THAT TIM HARDIN actually arrived in London last week to embark on his first concert tour is a history-making event in itself. ...

Phil Ochs: The War Isn't Over for Phil Ochs Yet

Interview by Karl Dallas, Melody Maker, 27 July 1968

WHEN PHIL OCHS arrived in England on his recent visit the immigration people almost didn't let him in. "They asked me did I want to ...

Judy Collins: Stand by for the "electric" Judy Collins

Report by Karl Dallas, Melody Maker, 17 August 1968

WHEN JUDY Collins makes a brief visit to Britain at the beginning of November, some of her fans are going to get a bit of ...

Tim Buckley: The Growing Mystique of Tim Buckley

Comment by Ellen Sander, Hit Parader, September 1968

HE DOESN'T talk very much and journalists are almost unanimous in their frustration of trying to get a word out of him. His presence is ...

Joni Mitchell: Joni, The Seagull From Saskatoon

Interview by Karl Dallas, Melody Maker, 28 September 1968

TALKING TO Joni Mitchell about her songs is rather like talking to someone you just met about the most intimate secrets of her life. Like ...

The Band, Country Joe & The Fish, Cream, Donovan, The Doors, The Incredible String Band, Randy Newman, Phil Ochs: Albums from the Band, Cream, Country Joe & the Fish, Donovan, Randy Newman, the Incredible String Band, Phil Ochs, and the Doors

Review by Paul Nelson, Hullabaloo, October 1968

HERE WE are, talking to ourselves again, still waiting for the new releases by the Rolling Stones, the Jimi Hendrix Experience, the Doors, the Byrds, ...

Tim Hardin

Profile and Interview by Jacoba Atlas, Hullabaloo, October 1968

He says that if he doesn't die, he'll be rich and famous. Probably, all things being equal. In most instances, the legend looms larger than ...

Al Stewart, Joni Mitchell: Joni Mitchell, Al Stewart, The Johnstons: Royal Festival Hall, London

Live Review by Karl Dallas, Melody Maker, 5 October 1968

OPENERS AT Roy Guest's "Festival of Contemporary Song" at the Royal Festival Hall on Saturday, the Johnstons, finished their set with Joni Mitchell's 'Both Sides ...

Brian Auger, The Bee Gees, Arthur Brown, Julie Driscoll, Jimi Hendrix, The Moody Blues, Pentangle: Albums from Jimi Hendrix, the Bee Gees et al

Review by Pete Johnson, Los Angeles Times, 27 October 1968

Sun Hasn't Set on British Sound ...

Donovan: A Poet He Is, But The Messiah? Not Donovan

Report by Loraine Alterman, GO, 8 November 1968

GLASGOW'S GENTLEST son, Donovan, breezed into the Plaza Nine Room at New York's famous Plaza Hotel for a press conference. Wearing lavender trousers, a blue ...

The Grass Roots: James Monroe High School, Van Nuys CA

Live Review by Mark Leviton, Van Nuys Valley News, 8 November 1968

Concerts by Grass Roots Draw Applause, Arrows ...

The Incredible String Band: Royal Albert Hall, London

Live Review by uncredited writer, Record Mirror, 9 November 1968

THREE PEOPLE came from nowhere with patterns of melodies collected while travelling many countries. Their styles were born in other cultures, thus rendering their musical ...

Bob Dylan: Don't Look Back (Dir. D.A. Pennebaker)

Film/DVD/TV Review by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 16 November 1968

TELLING THE TRUTH ABOUT DYLAN ...

Bob Dylan: Dont Look Back (Dir. Don Pennebaker)

Film/DVD/TV Review by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 16 November 1968

Evil genius? Volatile? Merciless? Hydra headed Monster? Film shows other side of Bob Dylan ...

Fred Neil: Bleeker And McDougal (Elektra EKS 7293)

Review by uncredited writer, Melody Maker, 16 November 1968

FRED NEIL is a name that won't be too familiar to British folk enthusiasts but his album Bleeker And McDougal (Elektra EKS 7293) should help. ...

The Incredible String Band: Incredible String Band: Wee Tam And The Big Huge (Elektra)

Review by uncredited writer, Melody Maker, 16 November 1968

THE INCREDIBLES' third album, The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter was rather subdued and introspective with Mike Heron leaning towards Robin Williamson's elegiac style. ...

Joan Baez: Baptism (Vanguard SVRL19000)

Review by Karl Dallas, Melody Maker, 16 November 1968

Lovers of Baez folksong will be disappointed ...

John Fahey: The Transfiguration Of Blind Joe Death (Transatlantic TRA 173)

Review by uncredited writer, Melody Maker, 16 November 1968

WHAT IS A guitarist's guitarist? Listen to John Fahey on The Transfiguration Of Blind Joe Death to find out. Originally recorded back in the early ...

Pentangle: Sweet Child (Transatlantic TRA 178)

Review by uncredited writer, Melody Maker, 16 November 1968

A BRILLIANT second album from the Pentangle and, being a two-record package, gives full rein to the group's tremendous ability, fine musicianship and remarkable flexibility. ...

Roy Harper: St Pancras Town Hall, London

Live Review by Karl Dallas, Melody Maker, 23 November 1968

A first solo flight to remember ...

Simon & Garfunkel: Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M. (CBS 63370)

Review by uncredited writer, Record Mirror, 23 November 1968

AFTER 3 YEARS OF WAITING WEDNESDAY MORNING, 3 A.M. ...

Blue Cheer, John Fahey, Marvin Gaye, Tammi Terrell: New LPs from Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell, Blue Cheer and John Fahey

Review by uncredited writer, Disc and Music Echo, 30 November 1968

Marvin and Tammi: big warm glow! ...

Joni Mitchell: Top Tunes: Joni Mitchell

Interview by Michael Oberman, Evening Star, The (Washington DC), 7 December 1968

HER SONGS have been recorded by 19 many artists, but it's been only recently that Joni Mitchell has made a mark as a singer herself. ...

Woody Guthrie, Cisco Houston, Leadbelly, Sonny Terry: Leadbelly: Leadbelly Sings Folk Songs (Xtra 1064)

Review by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 21 December 1968

"LEADBELLY is a hard name" says Woody Guthrie, "and the hard name of a harder man." The late Woody is quoted (from the book, American ...

Donovan: 'I Put Myself Into My Music'

Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express Summer Special, Summer 1968

Donovan is the gentle giant in the pop world. He is largely responsible for shattering the conventional image of the folk singer satirized so beautifully ...

Tim Hardin: A conversation with Tim Hardin

Interview by Paul Nelson, Hullabaloo, January 1969

"You've got to come down to the Au Go Go and listen to me sing now. It's different!" A legend comes into his own — ...

Ian and Sylvia: Café Au Go Go, New York NY

Live Review by Mike Jahn, The New York Times, 12 January 1969

Ian and Sylvia, Folk Duo, Arrive With a New Country Sound Here ...

Melanie, Tyrannosaurus Rex: Tyrannosaurus Rex/Melanie: Queen Elizabeth Hall, London

Live Review by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 18 January 1969

A HANDFUL of musical fairydust was thrown into the air at London's Queen Elizabeth Hall on Monday, which baffled some and choked others. ...

Tim Hardin: Candid Conversation With... Tim Hardin

Interview by Paul Nelson, Hullabaloo, February 1969

PART TWO of the Tim Hardin interview. ...

Simon & Garfunkel: The Wizards

Profile by Lon Goddard, Record Mirror, 8 February 1969

SOME YEARS ago, in the days of pop's infancy, the fickle finger of fate (thank you Dick Martin and Dan Rowan) struck a golden combination. ...

Joni Mitchell: Zellerbach Hall, University of California, Berkeley CA

Live Review by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 17 February 1969

Joni Mitchell Does It Right ...

Tim Hardin: "My way of singing is natural enough."

Interview by Paul Nelson, Circus, March 1969

PART THREE of the Tim Hardin interview. ...

Danny Kalb, Karen Dalton, Tim Buckley: Tim Buckley: Philharmonic Hall, New York NY; Danny Kalb: Café Au Go Go, New York NY

Live Review by Mike Jahn, The New York Times, 17 March 1969

Poet-Singer Draws Throng With Band at Philharmonic ...

Johnny Cash, Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan, Georgie Fame, Simon & Garfunkel: Johnny Cash & Bob Dylan: Mind blowing duo

Interview by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 29 March 1969

NME's Richard Green talks to their producer, Bob Johnston ...

Leonard Cohen: Bad Boy Leonard Cohen Now Turned Good

Interview by Ritchie Yorke, Detroit Free Press, 4 April 1969

  THEY USED to describe Leonard Cohen as disrespectful. They also accused him of being controversial, outrageous, bitter and even an egomaniac. They, of course, being ...

Judy Collins: Who Knows Where The Time Goes? (Elektra EKS74033)

Review by Miles, International Times, 11 April 1969

THOUGH GLITTERING ecstatic static runs through Hendrix Fudge USA Touch, there's nothing but boring old feedback, too loud for subtlety, in MC5 & Blue Cheer ...

Leonard Cohen: Songs From A Room (CBS 9767 import)

Review by Mark Williams, International Times, 11 April 1969

LEONARD COHEN is not the world's greatest singer, his voice has a raspy edge to it and one often gets the impression that he's singing ...

The Incredible String Band: The Incredible World of The Incredible Shrinking Band

Overview by Richard Cromelin, UCLA Daily Bruin, 17 April 1969

JUST AS THE Beatle-led British rock explosion of 1963-64 spawned an awakening and a renaissance of rock music in America, so the American folk revival ...

Melanie's Looking For A Bag Of Her Very Own

Profile by Karl Dallas, Melody Maker, 19 April 1969

YOU CAN'T BE neutral about Melanie. She's one of those people who comes along and creates new dividing lines in the scene, setting people at ...

Tim Hardin on Songwriting

Interview by Paul Nelson, Circus, May 1969

ON THE eve of his first Columbia album, Suite for Susan Moore and Damion — We Are One, One, All in One, Tim Hardin talked ...

The Incredible String Band: The Big Huge (Elektra 74037); Wee Tam (Elektra 74036)

Review by Dan Nooger, Rolling Stone, 3 May 1969

AFTER THE crystal excellence of The 5000 Spirits, the Incredible String Band lost direction on their next album, dabbling in diffuse, overlush ballads. Now, the ...

Joni Mitchell

Profile and Interview by Ben Fong-Torres, Rolling Stone, 17 May 1969

FOLK MUSIC, which pushed rock and roll into the arena of the serious with protest lyrics and blendings of Dylan and the Byrds back in ...

The Swan Song of Folk Music

Essay by Happy Traum, Rolling Stone, 17 May 1969

"FOLK MUSIC is dead." We've been hearing that for some time now. The clubs and coffee houses that sprang up all over the country in ...

Fairport Convention's Martin Lamble: Previous Occupation — Child

Report by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 24 May 1969

THEY WERE playing 'Meet On The Ledge' at London clubs last week. It is a tune people most associate with Fairport Convention. ...

Simon & Garfunkel: What friendship means to Simon and Garfunkel

Interview by Royston Eldridge, Melody Maker, 7 June 1969

THE INFLUENCE of today's rock musicians is a very real one, and Paul Simon is a songwriter who reflects the times and society we live ...

Gordon Lightfoot: "Bob Dylan Gets Uptight If He's Bent Around" — Says Gordon Lightfoot

Interview by Lon Goddard, Record Mirror, 14 June 1969

CAN YOU imagine someone becoming a well known poet and singer, yet never cutting a record? ...

Roy Harper: Waiting for the Bullets to Fly

Profile and Interview by Mark Williams, Rolling Stone, 14 June 1969

"I'M NEVER going to be a music industry hype. If they ever tried to make me into that I'd go round to what are considered ...

Judy Collins' Fans Greet Her Return at Hollywood Spot

Live Review by Stephen M H Braitman, Van Nuys Valley News, 25 June 1969

JUDY COLLINS returned Thursday to Doug Weston's Troubadour singing, or rather, celebrating the virtues of love and goodness for her ecstatic followers. ...

Country Joe & The Fish: Barry Melton — Lead Guitarist, Country Joe & The Fish

Interview by Jim Delehant, Hit Parader, July 1969

As told to Jim Delehant ...

Nick Drake: Five Leaves Left (Island)

Review by Mark Williams, International Times, 18 July 1969

I DON'T think I've been so impressed by an unknown singer/songwriter since I got the Duncan Browne album on Immediate, eighteen months ago, (why don't ...

Buffy Sainte-Marie: Schaefer Music Festival, Central Park, New York NY

Live Review by Mike Jahn, The New York Times, 19 July 1969

Miss Sainte-Marie Is Heard In Park: Individual Stylist Performs Some Protest Songs ...

Pentangle: Troubadour, Los Angeles CA

Live Review by John Mendelssohn, Los Angeles Times, 26 July 1969

THE PENTANGLE, a five-sided English folk-based group comprising two of the folk genre's most enthusiastically acclaimed guitarists, John Renbourn and Bert Jansch, plus singer Jacqui ...

Fairport Convention, The Incredible String Band: Joe Boyd: Freaky Galahad

Profile by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 29 July 1969

"WELL, YOU'D put your arm round its neck, y'know, like this" (demonstrating) "and hold it on the seat next to you, like another person." ...

Fairport Convention: Unhalfbricking — Is This Word Pornographic?

Profile and Interview by Lon Goddard, Record Mirror, 2 August 1969

Lon Goddard from the Underworld ...

The Incredible String Band: Incredible String Band: York University, York

Live Review by Michael Gray, Rolling Stone, 9 August 1969

YORK IS A WALLED medieval city that belongs to Rowntrees Chocolate. You step off the train on some evenings and the scent of After Eight ...

The Third Ear Band: Glen

Interview by Mark Williams, International Times, 29 August 1969

THE THIRD Ear Band, in its various forms, has been with us for over a year and will hopefully exist for many moons to come. ...

Bob Dylan: "My Friend Bob", as told by Marc Ellington

Interview by Lon Goddard, Record Mirror, 30 August 1969

"I REMEMBER him as a very nervous person," he said, looking into space and recalling the times he'd shared with the young Bob Dylan. ...

Karen Dalton: Bi•og'ra•phy: Karen Dalton

Press Release by uncredited writer, Capitol Records, September 1969

ALL KAREN DALTON has to do to create her own legend is sing. When she does, in a voice that belongs to no specific time ...

Joni Mitchell: Clouds (Reprise RSLP 6293)

Review by Wesley Laine, Record Mirror, 6 September 1969

Beautiful new Joni Mitchell LP – but it's an acquired taste ...

Tea & Symphony: Rock In The Sticks: Tea & Symphony

Interview by Mark Williams, International Times, 12 September 1969

THE MOST INTERESTING group in this article, from an historical point of view, is Tea & Symphony. They have had almost as many changes in ...

David Bromberg, Paul Geremia, Doc Watson: Doc Watson, Paul Geremia, David Bromberg: Gaslight Café, New York NY

Live Review by Danny Goldberg, Billboard, 27 September 1969

'Watsonia' Dazzles in 'Village' ...

Nick Drake, Fairport Convention, Gypsy, John and Beverley Martyn: Added attractions to Fairport's concert... plus Gypsy

Review and Interview by Lon Goddard, Record Mirror, 4 October 1969

LAST Wednesday's Fairport Convention concert at the Royal Festival Hall contained additions to the great prospect of Sandy and the bunch live on stage. Fairport's ...

Joni Mitchell, Bridget St John: Bridget St. John: Ask Me No Questions (Dandelion 63750); Joni Mitchell: Clouds (Reprise RSLP 6341)

Review by Mark Williams, International Times, 10 October 1969

TWO BEAUTIFUL records both with an element of surprise; Joni's isn't as immediately impressive as was her first and Bridget's manages to emanate an aura ...

Fairport Convention: Fairfield Hall, Croydon

Live Review by Karl Dallas, Melody Maker, 18 October 1969

THERE'S only one question in my mind after having heard the Fairport Convention's superlatively excellent performance at the Fairfield Hall last Friday: why the hell ...

Richie Havens: Philharmonic Hall, New York NY

Live Review by Mike Jahn, The New York Times, 1 November 1969

RICHIE HAVENS, who has become one of the most important figures in folk music, performed at Philharmonic Hall last night. ...

John Fahey, Jesse Fuller, Peter Grant: Giannini School, San Francisco CA

Live Review by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 8 November 1969

Strange and Memorable Triple-Bill Folk Concert ...

Ramblin' Jack Elliott: The Gaslight, New York NY

Live Review by Mike Jahn, The New York Times, 15 November 1969

Jack Elliott Sings Dylan and Guthrie In Return to City ...

Jerry Yester, Judy Henske: Judy Henske & Jerry Yester: Farewell Aldebaran (Straight)

Review by Mark Williams, International Times, 21 November 1969

JUDY HENSKE'S magnificent, almost butch voice makes this album memorable. Jerry Yester's vocals, arrangements and production (shared with ex-Lovln' Spoonful man Zal Yanovsky,) don't. ...

The Incredible String Band: Fillmore West, San Francisco CA

Live Review by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 11 December 1969

A Wonder of the Pop Music World ...

Arlo Guthrie: Carnegie Hall, New York NY

Live Review by Mike Jahn, The New York Times, 27 December 1969

Love Tales Sung By Arlo Guthrie – Talking-Blues Style Marks Concert at Carnegie Hall ...

Fairport Convention: Liege and Lief (Island Stereo ILPS 9115).

Review by Lon Goddard, Record Mirror, 27 December 1969

RELEASED AFTER Sandy and Tiger left the group, this LP would appear to be the last by the Fairports in their most famous line-up, with ...

Fairport Convention: Partings and Laments

Interview by Lon Goddard, Record Mirror, 3 January 1970

THE FAIRPORTS' newest LP Leige And Leif is by far the best thing they've done in the eyes of the Crawling. In the eyes of ...

Joni Mitchell: My Personal Life is a Shambles

Interview by Caroline Boucher, Disc and Music Echo, 10 January 1970

GENTLE, SHY Joni Mitchell flew into London last week with her friends Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young to do her last concert for a long, ...

Joni Mitchell: The Crawling Eye: Protest peace... and Joni Mitchell

Interview by Lon Goddard, Record Mirror, 10 January 1970

JONI MITCHELL is ever such a nice person. ...

Magna Carta, Pentangle: Pentangle, Magna Carta: Lyceum, London

Live Review by Jerry Gilbert, Melody Maker, 24 January 1970

SUNDAY'S LYCEUM played host to two reputable acoustic groups, Pentangle and Magna Carta. Which is great if you join the hard core of enthusiasts at ...

Peter, Paul & Mary, Richie Havens, The Voices of East Harlem: Richie Havens, Peter, Paul & Mary, the Voices of East Harlem et al – Vietnam Moratorium Benefit, Madison Square Garden, New York NY

Live Review by Mike Jahn, The New York Times, 29 January 1970

Garden Thronged for Songfest In Aid of Vietnam Moratorium ...

Richie Havens: Royal Albert Hall, London

Live Review by Richard Williams, Melody Maker, 31 January 1970

CHARISMA: a rare kind of animal magnetism, frequently wrongly attributed to popular artists who don't possess it. ...

Roger Whittaker: Roger And The Ten Minute Hit

Interview by Jerry Gilbert, Melody Maker, 31 January 1970

IT IS always rewarding for a British artist to strike a first chart success on home territory, particularly after winning so much acclaim in Europe ...

Fairport Convention: Hampstead Country Club, London

Live Review by Jerry Gilbert, Melody Maker, 7 February 1970

DAVE SWARBRICK recovered from a neck operation three days earlier to fiddle the audience literally off their feet, when Fairport Convention celebrated a triumphant return ...

Simon & Garfunkel: Simon and Garfunkel: Bridge Over Troubled Water (CBS Stereo 63699)

Review by Lon Goddard, Record Mirror, 7 February 1970

A long wait for S and G album — but well worth it! ...

Simon & Garfunkel: Simon And Garfunkel: Bridge Over Troubled Waters (CBS)

Review by Richard Williams, Melody Maker, 7 February 1970

IT'S BEEN 18 months since the release of Simon and Garfunkel's last album, and for much of its length Bridge Over Troubled Waters makes the ...

Arlo Guthrie: Trying to escape from Alice's Restaurant

Interview by Karl Dallas, Melody Maker, 21 February 1970

ARLO GUTHRIE is a young man trying to escape from Alice's Restaurant. He says he likes the movie, and he enjoyed seeing it again at ...

Sandy Bull, Victoria: Matrix, San Francisco CA

Live Review by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 26 February 1970

Talented Sandy Bull Back In His Old Musical Niche ...

John and Beverley Martyn, John Martyn: Is John Martyn Still A Folk Singer Or Not?

Report and Interview by Jerry Gilbert, Melody Maker, 28 February 1970

THIS IS A TOTALLY irrelevant question, and one which I'm glad I didn't bother to ask. For in this age of musical categories, John draws ...

John and Beverley Martyn: Stormbringer (Island ILPS 9113)

Review by Jerry Gilbert, Melody Maker, 7 March 1970

Are you ready for the stormbringer ...

The Liverpool Scene, Andy Roberts: Back to poetry for Liverpool Scene

Interview by Jerry Gilbert, Melody Maker, 14 March 1970

ONE OF the worst group hang ups is the premonition of having to play on stage according to audience expectations rather than choice. The alternative ...

Fairport Convention, the Humblebums: Lyceum Ballroom, London

Live Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 21 March 1970

ANY DOUBTS about the future of the new-look Fairport Convention since Sandy Denny's departure were immediately shattered after their opening number at the Lyceum on ...

Sandy Denny, Fotheringay: Fotheringay: Sandy and the New Band

Interview by Karl Dallas, Melody Maker, 21 March 1970

FOTHERINGAY, the new band which has been formed by Sandy Denny of Fairport Convention and Trevor Lucas of Eclection, with Garry Conway (Eclection) and Pat ...

John and Beverley Martyn: John & Beverley Martyn: Stormbringer! (Island)

Review by Miles, International Times, 27 March 1970

J & B LAY IT DOWN AND STOMP ON IT ...

Great Speckled Bird: Village Gate, New York NY

Live Review by Mike Jahn, The New York Times, 28 March 1970

COUNTRY-FOLK BAND MAKES LOCAL DEBUT ...

Fotheringay, Sandy Denny: Concerts, Not Clubs, For Sandy Denny's Fotheringay

Interview by uncredited writer, Beat Instrumental, April 1970

TAKE ONE PART Fairport Convention, two parts Eclection, and two parts Poet and One Man Band, put them in a bag, stir well and allow ...

Nick Drake, Fotheringay, The Humblebums: Fotheringay, Humblebums, Nick Drake: Royal Festival Hall, London

Live Review by Karl Dallas, The Times, 1 April 1970

Group of promise ...

Sandy Denny, Fotheringay: Fotheringay: "This piece has nothing to with how to feed and handle the common house cat" — NO KIDDING?

Interview by Lon Goddard, Record Mirror, 4 April 1970

S.W.6 IS NOT exactly the celebrated home of the hip, but this piece is not designed to specify popular vicinities of London. Nor is it's ...

John Denver: The Bitter End, New York NYC

Live Review by Mike Jahn, The New York Times, 12 April 1970

John Denver Spins Folk Spell In Bow At The Bitter End ...

Fairport Convention, Fotheringay, Matthews' Southern Comfort, Steeleye Span: Fairport Convention et al: Electric folk

Overview by Karl Dallas, The Times, 18 April 1970

IT IS EASY to forget that pop, nowadays, has become an organic process. The music industry is still mostly in the hands of people whose ...

Pentangle: Carnegie Hall, New York NY

Live Review by Nancy Lewis, New Musical Express, 25 April 1970

ENCHANTING PENTANGLE ...

Pentangle: Crossing The Border: The Pentangle Interview

Interview by Rick McGrath, The Georgia Straight, May 1970

PENTANGLE? SURE. I knew Bert Jansch from my folkie days, and I knew he had an influence on Donovan... Given their dedication to "pure" celtic ...

Julie Felix: One Small Miss Felix

Profile and Interview by Tom McWilliams, Playdate, May 1970

A STRANGER NAMED Julie Felix confesses, "I hide behind my guitar". With no guitar to hide behind she meets the press. Hides behind the questions? ...

Simon & Garfunkel: Simon and Garfunkel's Amazing Reaction to London Concert

Comment by Miranda Ward, New Musical Express, 2 May 1970

AUDIENCE HYSTERIA DISMAYED THEM ...

Fairport Convention: Troubadour, Los Angeles CA

Live Review by John Mendelssohn, Los Angeles Times, 7 May 1970

English Folk Material by Fairport Convention ...

Leonard Cohen: Royal Albert Hall, London

Live Review by Karl Dallas, The Times, 11 May 1970

THE GREATEST achievement of modern pop has probably been its renewal of respect for the word in popular music: compared with the moon-and-June inanities of ...

Paul Simon, Simon & Garfunkel: Paul Simon

Interview by Loraine Alterman, Rolling Stone, 28 May 1970

PAUL SIMON arrived wearing a blue loden coat with the hood pulled up. Beneath it he had on black trousers and a black shirt. He ...

Pentangle, James Taylor: James Taylor, Pentangle: Community Theater, Berkeley CA

Live Review by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 30 May 1970

Pentangle holds up its half of show ...

Dave Van Ronk, Townes Van Zandt: Townes Van Zandt: Bitter End, New York NY; Dave Van Ronk: Gaslight Café, New York NY

Live Review by Mike Jahn, The New York Times, 30 May 1970

Two Folk Singers Show Varied Styles At Village Clubs ...

The Incredible String Band

Interview by uncredited writer, Beat Instrumental, June 1970

SINCE THEIR first album in 1966, almost immediately acclaimed as the work of an important new talent, the Incredible String Band have released albums at ...

Fairport Convention: Unhalfbricking/Liege and Lief

Review by John Mendelssohn, Rolling Stone, 11 June 1970

UNHALFBRICKING AND Liege and Lief are the two last albums by the Fairport Convention with Sandy Denny. ...

Mariposa Folk Festival To Be One of the Best

Report by Mike Gormley, Detroit Free Press, 23 June 1970

TORONTO IS going to have a music festival. It will be properly run, have good talent and a place to operate. It's the same one ...

Sandy Denny, Fotheringay: Fotheringay, The Sea and Sandy Denny

Interview by Karl Dallas, Melody Maker, 27 June 1970

A FEW months ago Fotheringay was a pretty name for a group of musicians who happened to play together. Today it is the name of ...

Cat Stevens: A Bottle A Day Kept Cat Away

Interview by Val Mabbs, Record Mirror, 4 July 1970

THERE WAS a time, a time, almost four years ago now, when the young Cat Stevens would rush into a theatre, down a vodka, and ...

Fairport Convention: Full House (Island)

Review by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 11 July 1970

AYE, GATHER round me bully boys – once there was a time when Fairport albums were as hard to obtain as a Grope O'Shanter at ...

Matthews' Southern Comfort: Second Spring (UNI)

Review by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 11 July 1970

IAN MATTHEWS' band, slightly changed, steam into their second album, as refreshing and attractive as their first. ...

Roy Harper: On-Off Genius?

Interview by Karl Dallas, Melody Maker, 18 July 1970

ROY HARPER is a sort of Gerald Scarfe of music. Like the cartoonist, what he does isn't always pretty, it isn't always enjoyable, but by ...

Fairport Convention, The Incredible String Band: Incredible String Band, Fairport Convention: Palladium, London

Live Review by Andrew Means, Melody Maker, 1 August 1970

Incredible night of string bands ...

Arlo Guthrie, Linda Ronstadt: Civic Auditorium, San Francisco CA

Live Review by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 17 August 1970

Singers Survive Frightful Sound ...

Joni Mitchell: Glimpses of Joni

Report and Interview by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 19 September 1970

SCENE IN A television studio: a girl in a long pink shift, which catches at her ankles when she walks, picks hesitantly at a few ...

Gordon Lightfoot: Scotch & Pretzels: The Gordon Lightfoot Interview

Interview by Rick McGrath, Mike Quigley, The Georgia Straight, October 1970

  ANOTHER TWO-TIMER with Mike and I. We really did this one as a favour for the record company exec, who used to give us lots ...

Elton John, Fotheringay: Royal Albert Hall, London

Live Review by Jerry Gilbert, Penny Valentine, Sounds, 10 October 1970

PUTTING ELTON John second billing to Fotheringay at the Royal Albert Hall on Friday night was a taste of mistaken booking if ever there was ...

Fairport Convention, Roger Ruskin Spear, Allan Taylor: Royal Albert Hall, London

Live Review by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 17 October 1970

FAIRPORTS ALMOST LOSE IT TO ALLAN ...

Rab Noakes: Making it down South

Interview by Andrew Means, Melody Maker, 17 October 1970

AT A TIME when complex guitar work is attracting a tide of admirers it's invigorating to hear the contemporary material of Rab Noakes, a young ...

Bob Dylan: New Morning (CBS)

Review by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 24 October 1970

DYLAN'S NEW LP NOT UP TO EXPECTATIONS — but it's still good! ...

Neil Young: After the Gold Rush (Reprise 6383)

Review by Vernon Gibbs, Columbia Daily Spectator, 6 November 1970

Neil Young's Best Album ...

Michael Chapman: Window (Harvest SHVL 786)

Review by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 19 December 1970

ON ONE hearing, there's little on this album which can be related to either the Rainmaker or Fully Qualified Survivor albums. It is generally less ...

Steve Tilston's An Acoustic Confusion

Interview by Richard Howell, ZigZag, 1971

THERE IS SOMETHING very satisfying about listening to live music in small smoke-filled rooms. It creates an intimacy between artist and audience that cannot exist ...

Judy Collins: Judy — the leading lady

Profile and Interview by Al Aronowitz, Melody Maker, 9 January 1971

JUDY COLLINS is a leading lady. Like Myrna Loy used to be, and Loretta Young, and Barbara Stanwyck, and Rosalind Russell. The kind of actress ...

Mr. Fox, Steeleye Span: Mr. Fox and Steeleye Span: Electric Folk – The Second Generation

Comment by Karl Dallas, Melody Maker, 9 January 1971

NOW WE'VE had a chance to hear Mr. Fox and Steeleye Span properly, it is clear that we are already into the second generation of ...

McGuinness Flint — We're Not Out To Prove Anything

Interview by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 16 January 1971

THE FURTHEST thing from the minds of members of McGuinness Flint when they first started recording was to release a single, they felt that their ...

The Incredible String Band: Incredible String Band

Profile and Interview by Steve Turner, Beat Instrumental, March 1971

"The Beatles are British I suppose," said Bob Dylan in the first of his two post-accident interviews, "but you can’t say they’ve carried on with ...

The Incredible String Band: U (Elektra)

Review by Anne Moore, Phonograph Record, March 1971

U IS A creative concept by the Incredible String Band and Stone Monkey (a musical dance troupe) — in reality it is a new double ...

Bob Neuwirth: Gaslight, New York NY

Live Review by Lillian Roxon, Sydney Morning Herald, the, 7 March 1971

ANOTHER STAR IS BORN ...

Nick Drake: Bryter Later

Review by Andrew Means, Melody Maker, 13 March 1971

THIS IS A particularly difficult album to come to any firm conclusion on. For one thing the reaction it produced depends very much on the ...

Nick Drake: Bryter Layter

Review by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 13 March 1971

I GET THE FEELING that only a Joe Boyd-Paul Harris alliance could have produced such a superb album as this. And once again a great ...

Nick Drake: Something else for Nick? An interview with Nick Drake

Interview by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 13 March 1971

NICK DRAKE IS A SHY, INTROVERTED folk singer who is not usually known to speak unless it is absolutely necessary. But Nick is not the ...

Manitas de Plata: Little Hands of Silver...

Interview by Chris Charlesworth, Melody Maker, 20 March 1971

MANITAS DE PLATA picked up a guitar autographed by Charlie Chaplin and played some flamenco music in his hotel bedroom. It looked a bit like ...

Melanie: Given Up All Hope Of Making It Here

Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 27 March 1971

Within minutes I felt I was talking to an old friend ...

Peter, Paul & Mary, Mary Travers: Mary (of Peter, Paul and Mary) is doing a McCartney

Interview by Lillian Roxon, Sydney Morning Herald, the, 3 April 1971

LILLIAN ROXON INTERVIEWS A SINGER WHO HELPED TO MOULD POPULAR MUSIC ...

Alex Taylor, James Taylor: James and Alex Taylor: And He Played Real Good For Free

Report by Al Aronowitz, Melody Maker, 10 April 1971

CHILMARK, MASSACHUSETTS.The Island Children's School gave its first annual benefit concert here last January 12 and if you've read The Vineyard Gazette then you know ...

Anne Briggs: Feasting Off The Open Roads...

Interview by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 17 April 1971

ANNE BRIGGS' way of life can be compressed into a romantic conjunction of cast iron clichés; but the odds on her future survival would probably ...

Bob Dylan: They Won't Invite Bob

Report by Lillian Roxon, Sydney Morning Herald, the, 18 April 1971

BOB DYLAN is having a birthday party the day he turns 30 — May 23 — and everyone's invited except him. ...

Phil Ochs: Hunter College, New York NY

Live Review by Mike Jahn, The New York Times, 19 April 1971

Real Phil Ochs Back, But There's a Penalty ...

Loudon Wainwright III: A Tale of Loudon Wainwright III

Interview by Lenny Kaye, Rolling Stone, 29 April 1971

NEW YORK – The word was out, carried by the wind and a few strategic newspaper clippings, and everybody, everybody was making it on down ...

The Byrds: Colston Hall, Bristol

Live Review by Roy Hollingworth, Melody Maker, 8 May 1971

A PINCH of snuff, the eucalyptus stabs the eye. McGuinn fastens the tin and slips it into his suit pocket. The rest of the guy's ...

Loudon Wainwright III: He's shy, he's unfit for army service and his name is L Wainwright III

Interview by Rosalind Russell, Disc and Music Echo, 15 May 1971

LOUDON WAINWRIGHT is the archetype all-American boy. He looks like Trampas from The Virginian complete with fair fair and freckles. He even played baseball when ...

Lindisfarne, Gillian McPherson , Unicorn: Lindisfarne, Unicorn, Gillian McPherson: Royal Festival Hall, London

Live Review by Andrew Means, Melody Maker, 15 May 1971

THE HARSH, throbbing music of Lindisfarne generates a degree of immediacy that's uncommon. They are professional and yet there is an inherent roughness that never ...

Phil Ochs: God Help The Troubadour

Profile and Interview by Tom Nolan, Rolling Stone, 27 May 1971

Who was that foolThrew the basket in the pool? ...

Ohio Knox, Seals and Crofts: Seals and Crofts, Ohio Knox: The Troubadour, Los Angeles CA

Live Review by Colman Andrews, Phonograph Record, June 1971

JIM SEALS and Dash Crofts exercise a rare and nearly faultless contextual hegemony over the musical province they have staked out for themselves. I don't ...

Stackridge: An Every Day Story Of Country Folk

Profile and Interview by Steve Turner, Beat Instrumental, June 1971

NEW BANDS emerging today seem to roughly divide into two categories. ...

Cat Stevens: Guildford Civic Hall

Live Review by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 5 June 1971

FOR THE SECOND time in a week the Guildford Civic Hall audience remained deceptively cool until just before the end of the concert. ...

The Holy Modal Rounders: Folk City, New York NY

Live Review by Mike Jahn, The New York Times, 26 June 1971

Holy Modal Rounders Playing Fractured Country Music Here ...

John Denver: The Bitter End, New York NY

Live Review by Mike Jahn, The New York Times, 3 July 1971

John Denver Shows Sensitivity and Style In Bitter End Songs ...

Loudon Wainwright III: The Gaslight, New York NY

Live Review by Mike Jahn, The New York Times, 11 July 1971

Loudon Wainwright At Gaslight Evokes Dylan Comparisons ...

Karen Dalton: In My Own Time (Just Sunshine/Paramount)

Review by Danny Goldberg, Rolling Stone, 22 July 1971

KAREN DALTON is a folk legend whose name is spoken with reverence on MacDougal St., in Woodstock, in Texas, or anyplace else where she has ...

Loudon Wainwright III is Some Kind of Genius

Profile and Interview by Mike Jahn, New York Times Special Features Syndication, 14 August 1971

LOUDON WAINWRIGHT III's first appearance in New York was an official big deal. The record company held a press party and invited the chic. ...

Sandy Denny: The North Sea Grassman and the Ravens (Island)

Review by Karl Dallas, Melody Maker, 21 August 1971

WE ALWAYS knew Sandy Denny had the capacity to make a brilliant record, and we were right. ...

Shirley Collins: No Roses

Review by Karl Dallas, Melody Maker, 21 August 1971

The First Lady Goes Electric ...

Donny Hathaway, Ian Matthews: Troubadour, Los Angeles CA

Live Review by Richard Cromelin, Los Angeles Times, 26 August 1971

THE TROUBADOUR this week is the scene of one of those unfortunate billings, a pairing whose promise as one of the club's most attractive one-two ...

Hot Tuna: First Pull Up, Then Pull Down (RCA)

Review by Jonh Ingham, Phonograph Record, September 1971

I FIRST HEARD Hot Tuna at a free concert in late 1969. It consisted of Jack and Jorma on guitars, Joey Covington on drums (Spencer ...

Loudon Wainwright III: Album II (Atlantic)

Review by Colman Andrews, Phonograph Record, September 1971

LOUDON WAINWRIGHT II was (still is, for that matter) one of the best, most readable of the bleeding-heart-liberal slick-paper journalists; his son, Loudon Wainwright III, ...

Al Stewart: Queen Elizabeth Hall, London

Live Review by Andrew Means, Melody Maker, 18 September 1971

IT'S IMPOSSIBLE to consider Al Stewart without including his lovelife. In those familiar with his songs he has invested his own deeply-felt emotions and something ...

Sandy Denny: Queen Elizabeth Hall, London

Live Review by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 18 September 1971

PERHAPS I was expecting too much from Sandy Denny, or maybe I wanted too much, but I'm afraid her concert at the Queen Elizabeth Hall ...

Tir Na Nog

Interview by Keith Altham, Record Mirror, 18 September 1971

HAVE YOU HEARD the one about the Englishman, the Irish Protestant and the Irish Catholic in a pub at lunch time? And – the first ...

The Monkees, Michael Nesmith: Michael Nesmith

Interview by Gene Guerrero, The Great Speckled Bird, 20 September 1971

MIKE NESMITH was a member of the Monkees, now he's doing his own thing, come see him at the press party at the Bistro. That's ...

Richard and Mimi Fariña, Tom Jans: Jet-Set Folkies: Not Us, Say Tom Jans and Mimi Fariña

Profile and Interview by uncredited writer, Beat Instrumental, October 1971

ON MAY 1, 1966, Richard Fariña, novelist, poet and folk singer was returning from a party celebrating the publication of his novel Been Down So ...

Loudon Wainwright III: Album II (Atlantic SO 8291)

Review by Mark Leviton, Coast, October 1971

LOUDON WAINWRIGHT'S first album last year was concerned with communication on a middle-Dylanish leveland it presented Loudon's character quite clearly: with sensitivity to his surroundings ...

Cat Stevens: Coliseum, London

Live Review by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 2 October 1971

LOOKING UNUSUALLY relaxed, perhaps with more confidence than he has previously had, Cat Stevens took the stage at the Coliseum on Sunday, with the house ...

Sandy Denny: The North Star Grassman And The Ravens (ILPS 9165 £2.15)

Review by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 9 October 1971

SANDY'S VOICE CARRIES IT ...

Sandy Denny: The North Star Grassman & the Ravens (Island)

Review by Mick Farren, International Times, 21 October 1971

THERE SEEMS to be a line that lady singers have to cross before they begin to exhibit real soul. The transition also seems, to many, ...

Pentangle: The Five Sides of Pentangle

Interview by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 23 October 1971

PENTANGLE'S RISE in popularity has been unobtrusive but definite. They play a unique and compelling blend of styles spanning the world of jazz, blues, country, ...

Judy Collins: "Music Reminds Us That We're Human Beings"

Interview by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 30 October 1971

LIKE A CHILD Judy Collins posed for photographers at a special reception held for her this week to welcome her back to Britain for the ...

Pentangle: Royal Albert Hall, London

Live Review by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 30 October 1971

FOR A NUMBER of reasons Pentangle's Albert Hall concert last week was disappointing and when they brought their final number 'Pentangling' to a limp conclusion ...

Ralph McTell: You Well-Meaning Brought Me Here (Famous)

Review by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 30 October 1971

RALPH'S FANS have had a long wait for the release of his fourth album – but the wait has been well worthwhile for this is ...

Nick Drake: Nick Drake (Island)

Review by Colman Andrews, Phonograph Record, November 1971

NICK DRAKE — who is, despite his name, a singer/songwriter and not a prototypical 1942- vintage private detective radio hero — has made a first ...

Buffy Sainte-Marie, Loudon Wainwright III: Guildhall, Cambridge

Live Review by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 6 November 1971

WHEN ALL the dust had finally settled, Buffy Sainte-Marie conducted her Sunday evensong within the precincts of Cambridge's Guildhall with grace and poise. ...

The Strawbs: From The Witchwood (A&M)

Review by Jonh Ingham, Rolling Stone, 25 November 1971

THE STRAWBS started out as a bluegrass duo, went through incarnations with Sandy Denny in her pre-Fairport days and a cellist from Sadler's Wells Opera ...

Pentangle: Reflection

Review by Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record, December 1971

THE APPEARANCE on the display wall of my favorite local record merchant of Pentangle's fifth album, Reflections, triggered a lightning search of my wallet, pockets, ...

John Martyn: Say John Martyn… Louder

Profile and Interview by Rosalind Russell, Disc and Music Echo, 1 December 1971

JOHN MARTYN's family are very proud of him. And to show that they are, they travel great distances to see him when he does big ...

Melanie: Gather Me (Buddah 2322 002 £2.35)

Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 4 December 1971

IT WOULD appear that everyone I Know is in love with Melanie. And once you've seen her you realise that she is the enigmatic image ...

Sandy Denny Breaks Her Silence

Interview by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 15 January 1972

After playing a Greta Garbo role for three months, the leading lady of British folk comes out of her shell to talk to Tony Stewart ...

The Strawbs' Dave Cousins

Interview by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 22 January 1972

Can you talk, first of all, about the early days of the Strawbs, how you came together and so on. ...

Alan Lomax: Making a Science of Man's Music

Profile and Interview by Geoffrey Cannon, Los Angeles Times, 23 January 1972

Alan Lomax, the man who went into the fields of the southern states in the 1930s and brought the glory of the blues to the attention ...

Leonard Cohen: The Cohen songs you'll never hear

Interview by Roy Hollingworth, Melody Maker, 4 March 1972

A remarkable interview with LEONARD COHEN... by Roy Hollingworth ...

Fairport Convention, King Crimson: King Crimson, Fairport Convention: Civic Auditorium, Santa Monica CA

Live Review by John Mendelssohn, Los Angeles Times, 21 March 1972

KING CRIMSON, which performed locally for the first time in two years Sunday afternoon at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, is the very embodiment of ...

Nick Drake: Pink Moon

Review by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 25 March 1972

ISLAND APPEARED to have forgotten about Nick Drake until he ambled into the offices one day and presented them with this album. No one knew ...

Fairport Convention: Babbacombe Lee

Review by Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record, April 1972

FOR THEIR SEVENTH album, Fairport Convention has presented us with a "concept" or "unified theme" LP (avoiding the oppro-briously-connotated term "rock opera"). ...

The Incredible String Band: Incredible String Band: Liquid Acrobat as Regards the Air (Elektra)

Review by Mark Leviton, Coast, April 1972

SINCE THE Incredible String Band's last album, U, there have been some major changes. Joe Boyd of Witchseason Productions has quit the album-producing biz, leaving ...

The Incredible String Band: Liquid Acrobat As Regards The Air (Elektra)

Review by Steven X Rea, Phonograph Record, April 1972

THIS IS THE Incredible String Band's ninth album (tenth, if you include the soundtrack to their film BE GLAD...), and their first in over a ...

Sandy Denny: Sandy and Band, Coping Cheerfully

Interview by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 5 April 1972

FROM THE outside the Denny residence in Fulham looks a place of tranquility. Inside, though, a different story prevails. As Watson the huge Airedale lumbers ...

Fairport Convention: Babbacombe Lee

Review by Richard Cromelin, Rolling Stone, 13 April 1972

"JOHN LEE, the jury has found you guilty of willful murder, and the sentence of the court upon you is that you be taken from ...

T. Rex, Tyrannosaurus Rex: Took Talks! about T.REX

Interview by James Johnson, New Musical Express, 15 April 1972

SINCE HE LEFT T. Rex, Steve Took says he's spoken to Marc Bolan just twice. The last time was about three months ago at Boston ...

Fairport Convention: With no original members remaining Fairport back to square one, says Dave Pegg

Interview by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 22 April 1972

DAVE PEGG looked puzzled. Adjusting the rim of his giant hat, he mused the question over. He wasn't too sure whether Fairport should continue to ...

Hot Tuna: Burgers (Grunt Records)

Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 22 April 1972

DESPITE THE fact that Hot Tuna are a direct off-shoot from the Jefferson Airplane hanger, they have managed with discretion to avoid any obvious hype, ...

Nick Drake: Pink Moon

Review by uncredited writer, Melody Maker, 1 May 1972

JOHN MARTYN told me about Nick Drake in ecstatic terms and so it seemed the natural thing to do, bag the album when it came ...

Ry Cooder: The stars' star steps out

Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 27 May 1972

RY COODER is a familiar name to groups like the Rolling Stones and Crosby, Stills and Nash who regularly utilised — I sometimes wonder whether ...

Stackridge: The Stackridge Story

Review and Interview by Andrew Tyler, Disc, 3 June 1972

NOW JIM Walters has passed his bricklaying exams he's rejoined his old band Stackridge. If things don't work out, you see, he'll have something to ...

Fairport Convention, Richard Thompson: Richard Thompson: The Session Great That Nobody Knows

Interview by Tony Norman, New Musical Express, 22 June 1972

THE TERM "GUITAR hero" is used with increasing regularity. Pete Townshend's splintering aggressive antics have won him the tag; Alvin "up and down the fretboard ...

Smith, Perkins & Smith, The Sutherland Brothers: The Marquee, London

Live Review by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 8 July 1972

ONE HELL OF a band called Smith, Perkins and Smith, played the Marquee last week. Now, they're not your ordinary run of the mill band. ...

Sandy Denny, Marian Segal: Sandy Denny and Marian Segal

Profile and Interview by Colman Andrews, Phonograph Record, September 1972

AN ARTICLE on Sandy Denny and Marian Segal, huh? O.K. Now who's Marian Segal? ...

Lindisfarne: Suffering from a Surfeit of Kindness

Report and Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 2 September 1972

IF IT WERE ever possible to kill a group with kindness then Lindisfarne might be the first victims of their own success. Their new album ...

Steeleye Span: Below The Salt (Chrysalis)

Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 30 September 1972

THERE'S A very select coterie of bands who give off an aura of total peace. Listening to their performance gives you a sense of security ...

Lindisfarne: You Can't Carry On Being a Geordie Band Forever

Profile and Interview by Dave Laing, Let It Rock, October 1972

FINCHLEY CENTRAL, you'll recall, was a hit record for the New Vaudeville Band (I think it was the follow-up to the equally appalling 'Winchester Cathedral').It's ...

John Denver: Carnegie Hall, New York NY

Live Review by Lillian Roxon, New York Daily News, 2 October 1972

Denver a Sweetie Pie ...

Genesis, Lindisfarne: Lindisfarne, Genesis: Dublin Stadium, Dublin

Live Review by Chris Charlesworth, Melody Maker, 7 October 1972

TO BE CASUAL is to be Lindisfarne, but even the most relaxed of bands have a hard time putting over a set of new numbers ...

Bob Dylan, John Prine: Troubadours: Who Was That Harp With Johnny Prine?

Report and Interview by Ed McCormack, Rolling Stone, 12 October 1972

NEW YORK — Last night John Prine squinted out into the audience at the Bitter End and drawled, "Whar's that harmonica player?" ...

Sandy Denny: Lady Mitchell College, Cambridge

Live Review by Rosalind Russell, Disc, 14 October 1972

THERE APPEARS to be an army of green men all over Cambridgeshire. I thought it odd, at first, that every pub in the county should ...

Melanie: Royal Albert Hall, London

Live Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 28 October 1972

CLEARLY, A Melanie concert is no place to be for a boozed up, doped out degenerate to sit chain-smoking and picking his nose. The vast ...

Lindisfarne: The Boogie Merchants

Profile by Rosalind Russell, Disc, 4 November 1972

ROSALIND RUSSELL traces the history of the band, through their schooldays, previous groups in which they played, and their emergence first as Newcastle's top outfit ...

Roy Harper: Stormcock in Heat, That's Roy Harper

Report and Interview by Jonh Ingham, Rolling Stone, 7 December 1972

ROY HARPER WAS holidaying in Norway when word of the movie reached his management. It was his first holiday in three years, and all they ...

Tim Hardin (1972)

Interview by James Johnson, Rock's Backpages audio, Spring 1972

The vibrato in his body, the band in his head and the drugs in his veins: the legendary singer-songwriter in revealing, if somewhat dazed conversation.

File format: mp3; file size: 29mb, interview length: 31' 37" sound quality: ****

Sandy Denny: Sandy Brings Out The Tears

Live Review by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 1973

"SANDY DENNY really draws ‘em out", exclaimed Al Stewart, surveying the sea of well-known faces who had assemble at the Howff to see Britain’s number ...

Loudon Wainwright III: Album III (CBS)

Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 13 January 1973

YOU'LL PROBABLY never meet anyone less like a star than Loudon Wainwright III. G.I.-short hair with the stubble of his next beard, scruffy clothes that ...

Pentangle: The End

Report and Interview by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 13 January 1973

1973’s NEW BROOM struck its first death blow last week when the on-off rumors of Pentangle’s long-pending split seemed finally to be confirmed. ...

The Incredible String Band, Lindisfarne, Pentangle, Plainsong, Richard Thompson, Steeleye Span: British Folk Rock: Robin Hood Rides A Chopper

Review by Bud Scoppa, Rolling Stone, 18 January 1973

Plainsong: In Search of Amelia Earhart (Elektra)Richard Thompson: Henry, the Human Fly (Warner Bros.)Steeleye Span: Below the Salt (Chrysalis)Incredible String Band: Earthspan (Reprise)Pentangle: Solomon's Seal ...

Dave Van Ronk: Lament for the Village

Interview by Mike Jahn, Baltimore Sun, 21 January 1973

"THIS WAS our last resort," Dave Van Ronk says, referring to Greenwich Village. "It was the only place we could live in, and it's been ...

The Strawbs: Strawbs: Glitter where a frown used to be

Interview by Steve Turner, Beat Instrumental, February 1973

BLUE WEAVER'S doctor will be giving him some vitamin tablets at the end of January. He'll have earned each and every one of them. For ...

String Driven Thing: String Driven Thing (Buddah)

Review by Metal Mike Saunders, Phonograph Record, February 1973

THIS HAS GOT TO be one of the strangest albums I've heard all year. String Driven Thing (some name, huh?) are a Fairport Convention-ish British ...

Fairport Convention: Town Hall, Watford

Live Review by Rosalind Russell, Disc, 10 February 1973

Fairport Below Par ...

Judy Collins: True Stories And Other Dreams (Elektra).

Review by Robin Katz, New Musical Express, 17 February 1973

Springtime with Collins ...

Bert Jansch: Moonshine (Reprise)

Review by Andrew Means, Melody Maker, 24 February 1973

BERT JANSCH'S music has matured into predictable shapes. The combination of traditional and self-composed songs which makes up the major proportion of his repertoire, the ...

John Martyn: Solid Air (Island)

Review by Andrew Means, Melody Maker, 3 March 1973

HOW DO you begin to describe a guitarist as sensitive and accomplished as John Martyn? Every new album expands one's appreciation of his ability. ...

Steeleye Span Versus The Time Warp

Report and Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 10 March 1973

SOUND TECHNIQUES studios in Chelsea is not exactly the most luxurious of settings for musical activity. Boards, speakers and tape reels are scattered fairly haphazardly ...

The Incredible String Band #1: Eight Years On

Interview by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 10 March 1973

THE INCREDIBLE String Band, in various forms, have been playing for eight years and have recorded 13 albums, including two doubles and solo sets by ...

Judy Collins: True Stories And Other Dreams (Elektra)

Review by Mark Shipper, Phonograph Record, April 1973

LIKE AIR pollution or a sore that won't heal, Judy Collins will not go away. She is godlike only in that she's been around forever. ...

Sandy Denny: Sandy

Review by Ken Barnes, Music World, April 1973

THE SINGER/SONGWRITER boom is still rolling merrily along, but some of the most brilliant artists in the genre have failed to break through thus far. ...

The Incredible String Band Ascending To The Stars

Profile by Steven X Rea, Music World, April 1973

God made a song when the world was new, waters' laughter sings it true, O, wizard of changes, teachme the lesson of flowing — Robin Williamson ...

Buffy Sainte-Marie: The Best Of… (Vanguard)

Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 7 April 1973

BUFFY SAINTE-Marie is one of the special ones. She's one of the few performers guaranteed to move me to tears, and side two of She ...

Lindisfarne: On Reflection: Alan Hull of Lindisfarne

Interview by Andrew Tyler, Disc, 14 April 1973

FOR SEVERAL weeks there had been rumbling and muttering noises suggesting that all was not well with Lindisfarne. It was Alan Hull in a careless, ...

Steeleye Span: Parcel of Rogues (Chrysalis)

Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 14 April 1973

IT WOULD be considerably more than a pity if Steeleye Span, that most English of bands, have to become superstars in the States before really ...

Steeleye Span A Wooing Wend

Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 21 April 1973

BACKSTAGE at Bristol, and everything is panic and turmoil. Steeleye Span's support act hasn't arrived half-an-hour before show-time. Jo Lustig, Steeleye manager, is standing with ...

Townes Van Zandt: The Late Great Townes Van Zandt (Poppy)

Review by Jeff Walker, Phonograph Record, May 1973

TOWNES VAN ZANDT is so much more than just another singer/songwriter. He's a storyteller; a mood-maker. ...

Steeleye Span: Parcel Of Rogues (Chrysalis CHR 1046)

Review by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 5 May 1973

THERE ARE a number of reasons why this album is almost impossible to review, and all pertain to the element of isolation in which Steeleye ...

Steeleye Span: So Who ARE These Limeys Playing Folk Music?

Report and Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 26 May 1973

IT TAKES approximately 11 hours to fly from London to Los Angeles. You get off the 'plane, and the heat fills your lungs like a ...

Eric Weissberg: Dueling Banjos

Profile and Interview by Noe Gold, Crawdaddy!, June 1973

TWO SETS of calloused digits have been seen onscreen recently in movie houses large and small, strutting over the frets of a Yamaha guitar and ...

Gordon Lightfoot's Mid-Day Madness

Interview by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 2 June 1973

IT'S MIDDAY in Toronto on Thursday of last week and Gordon Lightfoot is sitting back and reckoning that everything's getting just a touch silly. Which, ...

Loudon Wainwright III: Queen Elizabeth Hall, London

Live Review by James Johnson, New Musical Express, 2 June 1973

PERHAPS THE most refreshing thing about Loudon Wainwright's concert at London's Queen Elizabeth Hall last Monday was that there was a songwriter who was more ...

Fairport Convention: The Banana Convention

Interview by Rob Partridge, Melody Maker, 30 June 1973

THE WAY DAVE PEGG sees it, what America needs is Fairport Convention's High Banana Content Programme. ...

Fairport Convention: Fairport And The Mysterious Lady

Interview by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 7 July 1973

"FOTHERINGPORT CONFUSION", states Trevor Lucas with a wry smile. That's his pet description of the present Fairport Convention. After all, the band comprises part of ...

John Martyn: The Stormbringer Comes Into The Sun

Interview by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 21 July 1973

"Love me with your head and heart.Love me from the place it starts;Love me from your head and heart.Love me like a child." ...

Horslips: Well You See, There Was These Five Irishmen...

Interview by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 28 July 1973

TONY STEWART reports the long, involved story of Horslips    ...

Judee Sill: Heart Food (Asylum)

Review by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 28 July 1973

JUDEE WRITES and sings beautiful songs, and they are well represented on this second album, which features among its many tracks, 'The Kiss', where her ...

Leonard Cohen: Live Songs (Columbia)

Review by Jaan Uhelszki, Creem, August 1973

LEONARD COHEN is no sissy! Now, I know you always thought poets were gushing queers and over-grown altar boys, but not our guy, Lennie. He's ...

Gryphon: The 13th Century Slade

Profile and Interview by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 4 August 1973

"EARLY ENGLISH music? Gah – give us Slade and T. Rex!" Thus one can imagine the reactions of lads and maidens today as they dance, ...

Judy Collins: Judy In Disguise

Interview by Loraine Alterman, Melody Maker, 1 September 1973

Judy Collins film director? The singer – songwriter has taken a year out of her life to make a movie with a strong Womens' Lib ...

Aj Webber: Straight From The Heart

Interview by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 1 September 1973

AJ WEBBER is neither to be confused with dustbin Dylanologist A.J. Webberman nor with British bumpkin Adge Cutler, although like the Adge she comes from ...

Sandy Denny in the Talk-In

Interview by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 8 September 1973

SANDY DENNY and Trevor Lucas were at their Fulham flat watching the test match when I arrived to tape the talk-in. England’s terrible plight was ...

Sandy Denny: Howff, London

Live Review by Karl Dallas, Melody Maker, 8 September 1973

SANDY, FROM HERE on you can do no wrong as far as I am concerned. On Monday at London's Howff you did what I've always ...

John Martyn: Inside Out (Island)

Review by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 29 September 1973

YOU COULD SAY that the post-decadence rock scene is structured rather like the society of ants: a hangover of old drones twittering away behind last ...

Judy Collins: In Through The Other Door

Interview by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 29 September 1973

TRANSATLANTIC phone calls can be a precarious undertaking at the best of times. But on this grey Wednesday afternoon, as successive international operators tried vainly ...

Fairport Convention: Nine (Island)

Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 6 October 1973

I'VE BEEN trying for some time not to like a Fairport Convention album. After the endless catalogue of disaster and misfortune, it seemed vaguely unnatural ...

John Denver: Farewell Andromeda (RCA)

Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 6 October 1973

Y'KNOW IT'S somehow comforting to know we've got a guy like John Denver to kick around. ...

Back Door, Foghat, The Strawbs: Foghat, the Strawbs, Back Door: Academy of Music, New York NY

Live Review by Dan Nooger, The Village Voice, 18 October 1973

BACK DOOR is Ron Aspery on saxes, flute, and keyboard, Colin Hodgkinson on bass and mouth, and Tony Hicks on drums. All experienced London session ...

Judy Collins: Easy Times Come Hard

Interview by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 20 October 1973

JUDY COLLINS TALKS TO BOB WOFFINDEN ON MUSIC, FILMS, PEACE AND THE POSSIBILITY OF FURTHER POLITICAL INVOLVEMENT ...

Peter Yarrow, Professor Longhair: Peter Yarrow: Max's Kansas City/Professor Longhair: Kenny's Castaways, both New York NY

Live Review by Ian Dove, The New York Times, 21 October 1973

Solo YarrowPETER YARROW would appear to have shed all semblance of times past when he fronted an all-electric group at Max's Kansas City on Park ...

Don McLean: Playin' Favourites

Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 27 October 1973

AN ALBUM of other people's songs from someone who's written a few celebrated ones of his own? Yes, this is Don McLean laying bare his ...

Loudon Wainwright III: Album III (CBS)

Review by Felix Dennis, Oz, November 1973

WAITING! ...

Steeleye Span: Pleased To See The Span: Steeleye Stateside

Report and Interview by Steven Rosen, Los Angeles Free Press, November 1973

THE EXPLOSIVE SUCCESS of Steeleye Span during the past year is in direct relationship to the in-herent malleability of its music. Fresh out of the ...

John Fahey: After The Ball (Reprise K 44246)

Review by Mick Gold, Let It Rock, December 1973

JOHN FAHEY goes glitter! Well, the package is a neat parody of a fifties style music-to-smooch-to album cover, complete with purple spotlight and lacquered blonde. ...

John Martyn: Fire and Water: The Elemental, Avant-Garde John Martyn

Comment by Dave Laing, Let It Rock, 1 December 1973

1967: "SO THERE I WAS on this barge on the river wearing nothing but denims and a smile…" so runs the sleeve note on London ...

Don McLean: Playin' Favorites

Review by Paul Gambaccini, Rolling Stone, 20 December 1973

DON McLEAN could well be the pop Orson Welles of the Seventies, a talented man who happened to make his initial impact with one of ...

Phil Ochs: Home Thoughts Of Phil Ochs

Interview by Chris Charlesworth, Melody Maker, 19 January 1974

ALTHOUGH I'M typing this in Greenwich Village, New York City, this story really begins 3,000 miles away in Los Angeles. ...

Loudon Wainwright III: Attempted Mustache (CBS)

Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 23 February 1974

LOUDON WAINWRIGHT'S a mean son of a bitch. Maybe his bark is worse than his bite, but his bark is still pretty nasty. ...

Steeleye Span: Now We Are Six (Chrysalis)

Review by Colin Irwin, Melody Maker, 9 March 1974

Span: Six of the best ...

Sandy Denny, The Strawbs: Strawbs featuring Sandy Denny: All Our Own Work (Hallmark)

Review by Colin Irwin, Melody Maker, 9 March 1974

GET THE duster out, mother. Clear those cobwebs away, here's one from the archives. The Strawbs and Sandy Denny together recorded in 1968. The first ...

Richard and Linda Thompson: British Hokey Pokey

Profile and Interview by Dave Laing, Let It Rock, May 1974

ALTHOUGH the mid sixties was a golden era for British rock, very few of the best artists from that time have survived as significant parts ...

Richard and Linda Thompson: I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight (Island ILPS 9266)

Review by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 4 May 1974

Richard and Linda put on the shine ...

Nick Drake: In Search Of Nick Drake

Report and Interview by Connor McKnight, ZigZag, June 1974

SIX MONTHS AGO I walked wearily into the office of ZigZag’s production consultant. Weary because it was 1.30 in the morning, and because the then ...

Loudon Wainwright III: Loudon Alone

Interview by Karl Dallas, Melody Maker, 1 June 1974

THE PR MAN in the coffee lounge of the Hotel Russell was anxious about the Loudon Wainwright's appearance. "Is he cleanshaven or bearded." he wanted ...

Richard Thompson, Richard and Linda Thompson: Richard and Linda Thompson: Life without Fairport

Interview by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 15 June 1974

RICHARD THOMPSON wrote 'Meet On The Ledge', in case you'd forgotten. On that basis alone the man would be due a certain portion of immortality. ...

Gryphon: Medieval Knight Jousts At Rock Press Knaves

Interview by Fred Dellar, New Musical Express, 10 August 1974

RAY HARRYHAUSEN, as anyone who's seen The Golden Voyage of Sinbad will attest, knows all about strange creatures. So if he says that a Gryphon ...

Loudon Wainwright III: Loudon Wainwright: I Like To Be Laughed At

Interview by Chris Charlesworth, Melody Maker, 14 September 1974

...which is as good a reason as any for Loudon Wainwright to play a role in the weekly comedy TV series, Mash. He spoke to ...

John Denver: Madison Square Garden, New York NY

Live Review by Wayne Robins, The Village Voice, 26 September 1974

John Denver? How about John Terre Haute? ...

Judy Collins: Teacher's Pet

Interview by Loraine Alterman, Rolling Stone, 26 September 1974

NEW YORK — Judy Collins, blue eyes bright with enthusiasm, is sitting in her sunswept Upper West Side apartment, talking about the film she has ...

The Strawbs: Strawbs: Stumbling Cousins

Interview by Andrew Bailey, Rolling Stone, 26 September 1974

LONDON — THERE'LL always be a Dave Cousins, sure, but will he always have a Strawbs? The group's leader has a knack for not saying ...

Fairport Convention: A Society For The Preservation Of Fairport Convention Will No Longer Be Necessary

Report and Interview by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 28 September 1974

Sickness and diseases may bring you down, and FAIRPORT CONVENTION have had more than their share, but they always come back for more. BOB WOFFINDEN ...

Steeleye Span: Hark The Village Wait

Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 5 October 1974

IN THE BEGINNING there was Ashley Hutchings, he of steadfast purpose, leaving Fairport to form a group dedicated to the preservation of English folk-song in ...

Steeleye Span

Report and Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 12 October 1974

"ON OUR first American tour," says Ricardo Kemprini, famed Italian bass player, "the agents put us on the bill with everybody and his dog, right? ...

Keith Christmas: Brighter Day

Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 26 October 1974

DON'T WORRY. This is not as that first peek at the multi-stellar sleeve credits may have suggested, the Greg Lake contribution to the Arts for ...

Steeleye Span: How a Goon Came To Play Ukelele

Report and Interview by Colin Irwin, Melody Maker, 26 October 1974

IT WAS like the coming of a new Messiah. Everyone sat around nervously awaiting the arrival of HIM, the man who was gonna make this ...

Hot Tuna, Journey: Civic Auditorium, Santa Monica

Live Review by Richard Cromelin, Los Angeles Times, 28 October 1974

Folk-Blues Program Offered by Hot Tuna ...

Horslips: Rainbow Theatre, London

Live Review by Philip Norman, The Times, 12 November 1974

IT IS PLEASANT to report the existence of a band deserving more, rather than less, recognition. Horslips are an Irish quintet whose fondness for the ...

Steeleye Span: Rainbow Theatre, London

Live Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 7 December 1974

IT WAS not one of Steeleye's better gigs – perhaps the Rainbow doesn't suit them. ...

Don McLean: Homeless Brother

Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 14 December 1974

UNEASY PREAMBLE: I don't really know what to make of this album. Bits of it seem to me very good, other bits leave me unconvinced, ...

Alan Stivell, Fairport Convention, Steeleye Span: Steeleye Span, Fairport Convention, Alan Stivell: The New Face Of Ethnic Music

Overview by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 28 December 1974

Are Steeleye Span last year's thing? Is Alan Stivell just a Celtic showman? And where is Richard Thompson now that Bob Woffinden needs him most ...

Phil Ochs

Book Excerpt by Bruce Pollock, 'In Their Own Words' (Collier Books), 1975

FOR A LONG PERIOD of time in Greenwich Village, Phil Ochs served as a sort of town crier. Each month at the Sunday Songwriters Workshop ...

Dave Cartwright: And Now, Half An Hour Of Masochism

Interview by Fred Dellar, New Musical Express, 18 January 1975

BY THE TIME this article gets into print, Dave Cartwright will have bitten his fingers down to the knuckle or gone prematurely grey. He worries, ...

Donovan: 7-Tease

Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 18 January 1975

NOW THE FACTS are these: 7-Tease is a concept album; 7-Tease is a massive made-in-Nashville production; 7-Tease is also The Album Of The Stage Show. ...

Bob Pegg: The Strains Of The Life Of A Non-Superstar

Interview by Fred Dellar, New Musical Express, 1 February 1975

IN 1972 Bob and Carol Pegg parted company and their band, Mr. Fox, one of the most individual folk-rock outfits, terminated its existence. ...

Steeleye Span: Commoner's Crown

Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 1 February 1975

STEELEYE SPAN ALWAYS deliver on time. Commoner's Crown is the fourth offering from the Mk. III line-up in a little over three years, and they've ...

Nick Drake: Requiem For A Solitary Man

Obituary by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 8 February 1975

ON OCTOBER 25th, 1974, at approximately six in the morning Nick Drake, a 26-yearold singer/songwriter, died from an overdose of Typtasol, an antidepressant, in the ...

Ewan MacColl: MacColl — a true Critic

Interview by Karl Dallas, Melody Maker, 22 February 1975

AS LONG as I can remember, there hasn't been a time when Ewan MacColl hasn't had a major project in the offing, which has influenced ...

Martin Carthy: Shearwater (Mooncrest)

Review by Colin Irwin, Melody Maker, 22 February 1975

MORE RE-RELEASING of supposed folk classics from Mooncrest, although this one doesn't have quite the same aura as the others that have emerged from the ...

Richard and Linda Thompson: Richard & Linda Thompson: Hokey Pokey (Island ILPS 9305); I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight (Island ILPS 9266)

Review by Sam Sutherland, Phonograph Record, March 1975

SINCE DEPARTING Fairport Convention, Richard Thompson has risked increasing obscurity to pursue a personal style in direct variance with his most obvious commercial skills. Sinewy, ...

Ewan MacColl, Peggy Seeger: Ewan MacColl: Acoustic is best!

Interview by Karl Dallas, Melody Maker, 1 March 1975

Karl Dallas concludes his interview with Ewan MacColl ...

Richard and Linda Thompson: Do You Wanna Be A Star?

Interview by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 8 March 1975

IT WAS ONE of those large Edwardian houses in London's Hampstead, just off the main road. Like most of the others, it had been converted ...

Paul Kossoff, John Martyn: John Martyn: Imperial College, London

Live Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 15 March 1975

YES, THAT'S right, "Koss" turned up for the final couple of numbers. ...

Jackson C. Frank: Frankly Speaking

Retrospective by Karl Dallas, Melody Maker, 22 March 1975

MM's series on the underrated musicians of yesterday. This week: JACKSON C. FRANK ...

The Chieftains: How to record 4 albums in 18 years, and still sell out the Albert Hall

Interview by Fred Dellar, New Musical Express, 22 March 1975

"HE'S LIKE ONE of the little folk – a lovely, lively leprachaun, with an enormous musical talent and sense of humour to match." ...

Tom Paxton

Interview by Fred Dellar, New Musical Express, 5 April 1975

"WHAT DO YOU think of the new album then?" ...

Tom Paxton: Something In My Life (Mam)

Review by Colin Irwin, Melody Maker, 12 April 1975

THIS IS PROBABLY the most undistinguished album Paxton has ever made. Maybe it's no coincidence, but his first album on the same label as Gilbert ...

Loudon Wainwright III - Unrequited

Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 19 April 1975

THE WORST THING that ever happened to Loudon Wainwright III was being branded The New Dylan, kiss of death to any self-respecting artist who hopes ...

Emmylou Harris: Pieces of the Sky

Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 3 May 1975

THIS IS AN album that has been quite eagerly anticipated, mainly because of the reputation Emmylou Harris built for herself with her participation as co-vocalist ...

Richard and Linda Thompson: Queen Elizabeth Hall, London

Live Review by Colin Irwin, Melody Maker, 3 May 1975

IT WAS a night steeped in nostalgia. One of those occasions when the event was more important and ultimately more memorable than the music. Lots ...

Judy Collins: Getting Judy's Number

Interview by Robin Katz, Sounds, 31 May 1975

Talk In... By Robin Katz... Talk In... By Robin Katz... Talk In... By Robin Katz... PART 1... ...

Judy Collins: The Liberation of Judy Collins

Interview by Robin Katz, Sounds, 7 June 1975

JUDY COLLINS is a liberated lady who feels that the feminist movement's mistake has, in many cases, been to isolate itself. She sees her job ...

John Fahey: Hunter College, New York NY

Live Review by Paul Nelson, The Village Voice, 9 June 1975

John Fahey Is a Tough Guy ...

Loudon Wainwright III - at Victoria Palace, London

Live Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 14 June 1975

YOU MIGHT HAVE noticed that Loudon Wainwright III has been in Great Britain recently, completing the second lap of his tour; you might have noticed ...

Roy Harper: Poetry In Motion With The One Eyed Giant

Report and Interview by Jonh Ingham, Sounds, 14 June 1975

ROY HARPER reckons Roger Waters listens to Valentine at least three times a week. He also reckons he's influenced Led Zeppelin and Jethro Tull. If ...

Joan Baez - Diamonds and Rust

Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 28 June 1975

THIS ALBUM REPRESENTS Joan Baez's volte-face; after the years of diatribe and tireless dissemination of political views by every available channel, her records included, she's ...

Pete Seeger: Together In Concert

Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 28 June 1975

PETE SEEGER HAS just about every credential it's possible for a folk singer to have without actually being dead. ...

John Martyn: Natural Martyn

Interview by Ed Jones, Melody Maker, 12 July 1975

March 2020 Note: At the time, I took his final comments as being just a rough Glaswegian joke. Unfortunately, it seems it was no more ...

Moonrider: Moonrider

Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 19 July 1975

MENTION THE name Keith West to anyone and odds on they'll say "Teenage Opera" and not much else. ...

The Chieftains: Montreux Music Festival, Switzerland

Live Review by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 19 July 1975

THE CHIEFTAINS MADE much of contemporary rock music sound a shallow fraud, when they took the stage of the Montreux Music Festival in Switzerland last ...

Tim Buckley: The Candle Died, Now You Are Gone, For The Flame Was Too Bright

Obituary by Andy Childs, ZigZag, August 1975

LESS THAN a month after I started work at ZigZag, I had the privilege of meeting Tim Buckley. I interviewed him at some length and ...

Leo Kottke

Report and Interview by Fred Dellar, New Musical Express, 30 August 1975

LEO KOTTKE'S come a long way from St. Louis – now he's got more stories to tell than British Rail has stale rolls... ...

Richard and Linda Thompson: Richard & Linda Thompson: Hokey Pokey

Review by Jerry Gilbert, ZigZag, September 1975

THE SINGULAR most remarkable aspect of this album is its manifestation of Richard Thompson's capacity to absorb. And if that sounds a long winded way ...

Jethro Tull: Minstrel In The Gallery

Review by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 13 September 1975

A NEW Jethro Tull album is not the most exciting release in the world these days: not the type of record to force its way ...

Fungus: Vlaardingen, Holland

Live Review by Fred Dellar, New Musical Express, 27 September 1975

ONSTAGE ARE FUNGUS, five beards in search, of folk-rock fame... and they're singing in Dutch. ...

Steeleye Span: All Around My Hat (Chrysalis)

Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 4 October 1975

Now Steeleye got a brand new bag ...

Bert Jansch: 'Bert Jansch? Not Still Going, Is He?'

Interview by Fred Dellar, New Musical Express, 18 October 1975

Certainly he is, still alive and well and producing records; rumours of his retirement have been exaggerated. ...

Brewer and Shipley: Welcome to Riddle Bridge

Review by Chas de Whalley, New Musical Express, 1 November 1975

MIKE BREWER AND Tom Shipley are just plain lads at heart, from Oklahoma and Ohio. ...

Steeleye Span: Steeleye Sold Out?

Interview by Harry Doherty, Melody Maker, 8 November 1975

WHEREFORE art thou, Span? The cry persists: "They've sold out." The denials continue. But Steeleye Span's drift towards "commercialism," especially on the new album, All ...

Spud

Interview by Fred Dellar, New Musical Express, 15 November 1975

FRESHERS' WEEK IS a great time to visit Dublin's Trinity College. ...

Geoff Muldaur, Maria Muldaur: Maria Muldaur, Geoff Muldaur: The Great American Music Hall, San Francisco CA

Live Review by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 18 November 1975

Can't get enough of 'em ...

Emmylou Harris: New Victoria, London

Live Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 22 November 1975

THE OTHER ROLLING thunder revue stole into town last week. ...

Joan Baez: Slack Time For The Revolution

Interview by Penny Valentine, Let It Rock, December 1975

JOAN BAEZ PUTS it bluntly: "If I'd done another political album at this point, I'd have been bankrupt. I had no money left. So I ...

Steeleye Span: The Folk Who Plugged In

Retrospective and Interview by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 6 December 1975

NOW WE are six was a title conveniently borrowed from A. A. Milne to acknowledge that in 1973 Steeleye Span had finally decided to add ...

The Band: Northern Lights — Southern Cross

Review by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 6 December 1975

I'M UP AGAINST a deadline on this one, having to hurry – which is bad enough without having to respond fairly to a group operating ...

Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, Roberta Flack, Roger McGuinn, Joni Mitchell, Mick Ronson: Bob Dylan's Rolling Thunder Revue, Joni Mitchell: Madison Square Garden, New York NY

Live Review by Chris Charlesworth, Melody Maker, 20 December 1975

Dylan's damp squib ...

Cat Stevens: Bingley Hall, Stafford

Live Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 20 December 1975

THE HEROIC singer-songwriter begins solo: a white-shirted, dark-trousered speck of religious experience at the end of the cattle barn. The Laura Ashley winsome-ness of 'Moon ...

Paul Simon: Palladium, London

Live Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 20 December 1975

LAST TIME PAUL Simon toured in Summer '73, he used a South American group, Urubamba, and an American gospel quartet, the Jessy Dixon Singers (Jessy ...

Steeleye Span: Making Sense Of Original Sin...

Report and Interview by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 20 December 1975

IN BRITAIN we voted to stay in. In Eire and Denmark they voted to go in. In Norway the public answered the call to European ...

Fungus: Dutch Folk Go Dutch

Profile by Fred Dellar, New Musical Express, 27 December 1975

THERE WAS A time when the Dutch folk scene just mirror-imaged that of Britain. For every traddie rendering 'Lord Randall' or 'Twa Corbies' at Loughborough ...

Bert Jansch: An Everyday Story of Funky Folk

Interview by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 17 January 1976

NOW THAT Bert has returned from the Continent, where he has been touring these months and more, he will have to find somewhere else to ...

Decameron: Greenwich Borough Hall, London

Live Review by Miles, New Musical Express, 24 January 1976

THE GREENWICH BOROUGH Hall is on Peyton Place, and inside Decameron, have a problem. ...

Ian A. Anderson: The Curse of the Lone Grinner

Profile and Interview by Fred Dellar, New Musical Express, 24 January 1976

IF YOU bought a copy of a 1969 Island sampler called You Can All Join In, you'll probably remember the cover shot, which depicted most ...

Great Speckled Bird: The Great Speckled Bird Flies Alone

Profile and Interview by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 24 January 1976

THE GREAT Speckled Bird, Canada's most underrated and misjudged supergroup, lives. The original band with Amos Garrett, Buddy Cage and so on have long gone ...

Joan Baez: From Every Stage

Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 7 February 1976

LAST AUTUMN, IN a move that marked a complete departure from previous practice, Joan Baez went out on the road in the States with a ...

Kate & Anna McGarrigle: Kate and Anna McGarrigle: Kate and Anna McGarrigle (Warner Bros.)

Review by Susin Shapiro, The Village Voice, 16 February 1976

Kate and Anna Carry Through ...

John Martyn, Danny Thompson: Danny Thompson: Man of Many Parts

Interview by Karl Dallas, Melody Maker, 21 February 1976

THE NEWS that Danny Thompson is getting back into jazz will please the many who have missed the big, fat tone of his bass during ...

Kate & Anna McGarrigle: Sisters In Song

Interview by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 10 April 1976

UNTIL DEMAND forced them to issue that classic Maria Muldaur album two years ago Warner Bros. had always shown a marked reluctance to promote its ...

The Bothy Band: Guinness Brigade in Nescafé experiment

Interview by Fred Dellar, New Musical Express, 10 April 1976

FOR SOME considerable time now, a new "underground" music situation has been developing. Not one concerned with any aspect of rock, but rather one that's ...

Kate & Anna McGarrigle: Women in Love

Profile and Interview by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 17 April 1976

Like Dylan, the Band and Randy Newman, the songs of Kate and Anna McGarrigle recall America in its pioneer days. With a fine debut album ...

Magna Carta: Funky Folk Deliver Body Blow To Public Transport

Profile and Interview by Fred Dellar, New Musical Express, 24 April 1976

IT WAS late, pretty late. And it was in an era where public transport seems loathe to operate when darkness falls. ...

Aztec Two Step: Second Step

Review by John Tobler, New Musical Express, 1 May 1976

A MEANINGFUL title. Three years ago, the duo of Rex Fowler and Neal Shulman made a very good album for Elektra, which received critical acclaim ...

Phil Ochs Dead

Obituary by Dave Laing, Street Life, 1 May 1976

PHIL OCHS, who committed suicide in Los Angeles on April 9, was among the most sardonic and militant of the Greenwich Village folksingers of the ...

The Silly Sisters: Playing Silly Sisters

Interview by Idris Walters, Street Life, 1 May 1976

There are seven in the song, but two on the road: Maddy Prior and June Tabor ...

Jimmy Buffett, Steve Goodman: Steve Goodman: Jessie's Jig And Other Favourites; Jimmy Buffett: Havana Daydreamin'

Review by John Tobler, New Musical Express, 8 May 1976

JIMMY BUFFETT and Steve Goodman seem to have a lot more in common than the fact that their names have the same number of letters. ...

Leonard Cohen: Cohen Down the Road

Interview by Karl Dallas, Melody Maker, 22 May 1976

GOD'S IN his heaven, all's right with the world. The words, surprisingly enough, came from Leonard Cohen, and he was making the first of several ...

John Cale, Judy Collins, Fairport Convention, The Incredible String Band, John and Beverley Martyn, Pink Floyd: John Wood: Pioneer of the 'English Sound'

Interview by Karl Dallas, Melody Maker, 26 June 1976

THOUGH SOUND recording celebrates its centenary next year, it is only in the past ten to 16 years that studio techniques have reached the present ...

Kate & Anna McGarrigle: Kate and Anna McGarrigle: Victoria Palace, London

Live Review by Richard Williams, The Times, 26 July 1976

BY THE manner in which they presented their London debut last night, one imagines that Kate and Anna McGarrigle spent much of their childhood around ...

Kate & Anna McGarrigle: Kate And Anna McGarrigle: Kiss Me Till My Mouth Gets Numb

Interview by Miles, New Musical Express, 31 July 1976

The harrowing tale of two sisters who narrowly missed getting typecast as nuns when their real thing is foolin’ around in bathrooms... Seriously though, we ...

Kate & Anna McGarrigle: Kate and Anna McGarrigle: Write on sisters

Interview by Dave Laing, Sounds, 31 July 1976

DAVE LAING meets Kate and Anna McGarrigle, who write and sing songs of rare beauty ...

Fairport Convention, Ian Matthews, Matthews' Southern Comfort: Goin' Back With Ian Matthews, part 1

Retrospective and Interview by John Tobler, ZigZag, September 1976

IT CAME AS no great surprise to me that Ian Matthews should come quite so high in the recent poll concerning who you'd like to ...

Ian Matthews, Plainsong: Ian Matthews: Goin' Back With Ian Matthews, part 2

Retrospective and Interview by John Tobler, ZigZag, October 1976

LAST MONTH WE left Ian moaning and groaning about the Best Of Ian Matthews' Southern Comfort album, which MCA chose to thrust upon an unsuspecting ...

Roy Harper: Short Hairs: Roy Harper

Review and Interview by Wesley Strick, Blast, October 1976

ROY HARPER is a difficult artist. Roy Harper is a British-born singer, musician and poet. He's not a Rock Star and he doesn't want to ...

June Tabor: Sensuous Librarian Reveals All

Interview by Fred Dellar, New Musical Express, 2 October 1976

SUDDENLY MY HEART STARTED TO POUND. ...

Gordon Giltrap: Visionary (Electric)

Review by Colin Irwin, Melody Maker, 13 November 1976

CYNICS STOP here. Rarely has an album invited scepticism so shamelessly as this, where an acoustic guitarist takes on strings, synthesizer, complex arrangements and the ...

Steeleye Span: The Universalisation Of Steeleye Span

Report and Interview by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 13 November 1976

SALLY JEAN IS DARK, demure and very attractive. Though well-dressed, well-spoken and well-meaning, she is alas also well dull. For over two hours now she ...

Al Stewart: Coasting With Al

Interview by Harvey Kubernik, Melody Maker, 27 November 1976

AL STEWART, who plays London's New Victoria Theatre on December 2, is now enjoying greater success in America. ...

Joan Baez: Gulf Winds

Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 27 November 1976

THESE ARE heady days for Joan Baez. ...

Martin Simpson, Steeleye Span: Steeleye Span, Martin Simpson: Hammersmith Odeon, London

Live Review by Hugh Fielder, Sounds, 4 December 1976

Are Steeleye still happy? ...

Steeleye Span: Family of Span

Interview by Colin Irwin, Melody Maker, 4 December 1976

"HAVE WE ever come close to splitting? My God, HAVE we! It's very incestuous, our band, y'see. We're all interdependent and to work out your ...

Ralph McTell: The Anti-Star…

Interview by Harry Doherty, Melody Maker, 11 December 1976

SILVER DISCS paper the walls of Ralph McTell's new eight-roomed Putney castle. There's going to be a studio upstairs, he says, directly above where the ...

Sandy Denny (1977)

Interview by Karl Dallas, Rock's Backpages audio, 1977

The Queen of English Folk-Rock talks about going back on the road (the repertoire, the musicians and the nerves), about her recent split from Island Records, and about her new baby Georgia.

File format: mp3 File size: 9.5mb Interview length: 10' 23"; Sound quality: ****

Sandy Denny (1977) [transcript]

Audio transcript of interview by Karl Dallas, Rock's Backpages transcripts, 1977

This is a transcription of Karl's audio interview with Sandy. Listen to the audio of this interview. ...

Kate & Anna McGarrigle: Kate and Anna McGarrigle: Victoria Palace, London

Live Review by Hugh Fielder, Sounds, 26 February 1977

Incomparigle McGarrigles ...

John Martyn: Blood, Sweat And Cheers

Report and Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 5 March 1977

JOHN MARTYN rivets attention performing. You'd be wrong in assuming that just because he's one-man-with-a-guitar he doesn't make every crevice of the stage swing. ...

Kate & Anna McGarrigle: Kate and Anna McGarrigle: Kate and Anna Face the Music

Interview by Colin Irwin, Melody Maker, 5 March 1977

IT WAS once my considerable misfortune to own a part-time job, forced on me by financial hardship, that required knocking on people's doors inviting them ...

Roy Harper: There'll Always Be An England

Interview by Andy Childs, ZigZag, May 1977

As the pound plummets, the economy slumps and the government totters, there is yet hope for the fair isle of Albion… as we get a ...

Sandy Denny: Rendezvous

Review by Karl Dallas, Melody Maker, May 1977

THIS IS THE ALBUM we have been waiting for since Sandy left Fairport Convention for the second time at the end of 1975. Over six ...

Kate & Anna McGarrigle: Kate and Anna McGarrigle: Dancer with Bruised Knees (Warner Bros. BS 3014)

Review by Ariel Swartley, Rolling Stone, 5 May 1977

North-woods soul sisters ...

Tom Jans: Dark Blonde

Review by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 4 June 1977

SOMETIMES I feel so good I can feel my body growing... YEAHHH!!! Y'know CBS were really surprised (in fact speechless) when I enquired about this ...

Sandy Denny Pregnant

Report and Interview by Colin Irwin, Melody Maker, 16 July 1977

SANDY DENNY looked radiant. Yes, one is always supposed to say that about ladies when they're pregnant, but in this case it was true. She ...

Gordon Giltrap: A (Slightly) Perilous Journey with Gordon Giltrap

Report and Interview by Hugh Fielder, Sounds, 29 October 1977

DIFFERENT FOLKS have different strokes for getting themselves in the right mood to watch a rock concert. Some get pissed, some get high, some dress ...

Sandy Denny: Sandy Fights Back

Report and Interview by Colin Irwin, Melody Maker, 12 November 1977

"IF I HAVE TO SING 'Matty Groves' one more time, I'll throw myself out of a window... I'll be doing a lot of stuff from ...

Townes Van Zandt

Interview by Richard Wootton, Omaha Rainbow, December 1977

TOWNES VAN ZANDT is no longer such a well kept secret, known only to a handful of dedicated fans. Thanks to his new manager and ...

Sandy Denny: Sound Circus, Royalty Theatre, London

Live Review by Hugh Fielder, Sounds, 10 December 1977

IT'S TAKEN Sandy Denny quite a while to take the plunge as a live solo performer but hopefully the reaction she received from the Sound ...

John Fahey: Troubadour, Los Angeles CA

Live Review by Richard Cromelin, Los Angeles Times, 23 December 1977

Beyond Virtuosity With John Fahey ...

Don McLean: Prime Time

Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 7 January 1978

COULD IT be that protest singers are about to make a comeback? It makes sense – after the glitter and the head-banging punk came out ...

Joan Baez: Joanie returns as Bobby: Joan Baez at the Hammersmith Odeon, London

Live Review by Miles, New Musical Express, 7 January 1978

JOANIE BROUGHT the audience right up on stage with her at the Odeon – two rows of them, mostly her guests, sitting rather self-consciously behind ...

Jerry Jeff Walker: Jerry Jeff Rides Again... Again

Profile and Interview by John Morthland, Country Music, March 1978

THEY SAY AROUND Austin that Jerry Jeff Walker can do no wrong, but whoo boy, does he ever give it his best shot. ...

Richard Thompson: The Guitar Hero as Mystic Recluse

Interview by Colin Irwin, Melody Maker, 7 October 1978

Richard Thompson is one of the world's finest guitarists, but a few years ago he "got cheesed off" and packed it all in. Now he's ...

John Martyn: London School of Economics, London

Live Review by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 18 November 1978

YOU DON'T need me at all – you know what happened, what will happen. ...

Fairport Convention, Richard Thompson, Richard and Linda Thompson: Richard Thompson: A New Light

Interview by Steve Burgess, Dark Star, December 1978

I HAVE THIS adrenaline-fueled, hyper-hallucinatory recall of the first time I saw Richard Thompson away from club stages and makeshift podiums in Hyde Park. He ...

Van Morrison, Them: Van Morrison (1979) [transcript]

Audio transcript of interview by John Tobler, Rock's Backpages transcripts, 1979

This is a transcription of John's interview with Van. Listen to the audio of this interview. ...

Richard and Linda Thompson, Richard Thompson: Richard and Linda Thompson's Flight From Convention

Interview by Mick Brown, Rolling Stone, 5 April 1979

"IF I DON'T seem a part of the recording industry, it's probably because I don't feel a part of it," says Richard Thompson, the guitarist/songwriter/singer ...

The Roches: The Roches (Warner Bros.)

Review by Ariel Swartley, Rolling Stone, 31 May 1979

The Roches: pretty and high and bright as the sky ...

The Roches: The Roches (Warner Bros Import BSK 3298)****½

Review by David Hepworth, Sounds, 9 June 1979

Dogs and married men ...

Horslips: Sham-Rock 1979

Interview by Jim Green, Trouser Press, July 1979

HORSLIPS AND the new wave? An unlikely topic on the face of it, but Horslips, recently touring here in support of their latest album, The ...

The Roches: The Whisky, Los Angeles

Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 7 July 1979

THE ROCHES. Pronounced as in bugs. Maggie and Terre and Suzzy, three sisters somewhere in their 20s. ...

John Fahey: The Venue, London

Live Review by Mick Brown, The Guardian, 16 July 1979

WATCHING the American guitarist, John Fahey, one is reminded of the occasion when Ravi Shankar performed at the famous concert for Bangladesh. Taking to the ...

John Fahey: The Passage Of Time In Open G And Other Stories

Interview by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 1 September 1979

A FEW WEEKS ago, in the middle of a full week for me and a nice Saturday for Shepherds Bush, I met John Fahey, who ...

Richard And Linda Thompson: Sunnyvista (Chrysalis)

Review by Penny Valentine, Melody Maker, 22 September 1979

THIS THOMPSONS package tour is a fine irony. Its visuals signal a break from the couple's traditional melancholy, replacing it with a sarcastic, partially threatening, ...

Happy Traum: A Homespun Tale

Interview by Ken Hunt, Dark Star, April 1980

HAPPY TRAUM was briefly in England in November '79 and, by luck, an interview was arranged. ...

John Stewart: Wheels of Thunder

Interview by Mark Leviton, BAM, 18 April 1980

If you can laugh in the face of the fireIf you can dance in the light of the flamesAnd if you don't look down when ...

McCabe's Fights the Folk Yoke

Report and Interview by Don Snowden, Los Angeles Times, 31 August 1980

YOU WOULD expect a venue that's been presenting live popular music longer than any local club this side of the Lighthouse to be a familiar ...

Tymon Dogg: Fiddling Around

Profile and Interview by Colin Irwin, Melody Maker, September 1980

Tymon Dogg has nothing against success, but he wants it on his own terms, he tells COLIN IRWIN ...

John Martyn: Martyn's Identity Papers

Interview by Karl Dallas, Melody Maker, 6 December 1980

ACCORDING to the official biog, John Martyn was born in New Malden, Surrey, but was brought up for the first 15 years of his life ...

The Kingston Trio

Book Excerpt by Bruce Pollock, from the book 'When Rock Was Young', 1981

IN THE PARKING LOT of the high school, the ageing greasers stood by their late model gas guzzlers, trading sips of blackberry brandy washed down ...

Bert Jansch: The Venue, London

Live Review by Mick Brown, The Guardian, 22 January 1981

WITH THE audience for folk music in a state of steady and seemingly irreversible decline, appearances by Bert Jansch seem to have become ever fewer ...

The Roches: Nurds (Warner Bros.)

Review by Jim Farber, Creem, February 1981

THE ROCHES' Nurd sorority is holding a party on their new album to which you are cordially uninvited. As the polar opposite of The Ramones' ...

Dave Van Ronk: Van Ronk Remembers

Interview by Karl Dallas, Melody Maker, 21 March 1981

Karl Dallas discusses asthma, cigarettes and the nature of music with blues veteran Dave Van Ronk ...

Happy Traum: An Interview With Happy Traum

Interview by Ken Hunt, Folk Scene, May 1981

LIKE MANY of his contemporaries, Happy Traum came out of the folk revival on the East Coast in the '60s and although his activities have ...

John Martyn: Making Tracks to the Top

Profile and Interview by Mick Brown, The Guardian, 23 May 1981

John Martyn, in concert in London tonight, has been a cult figure for far too long. Now he plans to change all that, as Mick ...

John Martyn: Dominion, London

Live Review by Richard Williams, The Times, 26 May 1981

WITH A NEW four-piece band and a new record contract behind him, John Martyn is clearly hoping to translate his loyal cult following into something ...

Ramblin' Jack Elliott: Elliott is Still Rambling

Profile and Interview by Steven X Rea, Los Angeles Herald Examiner, 31 July 1981

30 years of storytelling and Elliott is still ramblin' ...

John Martyn

Interview by Peter Murphy (British), International Musician & Recording World, September 1981

JOHN MARTYN gets filed under M for Miscellaneous when it comes to the mainstream categories of popular music. His eclectic style has taken in traditional ...

John Martyn: Glorious Fool (WEA k99178)

Review by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 3 October 1981

JOHN MARTYN'S twelfth album, his first with Warners and his first with a band. The glorious fool continues to go his own way with little ...

Richard Thompson: Strict Tempo (Elixir LP I)

Review by Chas de Whalley, Record Mirror, 17 October 1981

ALBUMS LIKE this are comparatively rare these days. Strict Tempo simply presents good music for its own sake, showcasing the style and skill of a ...

Pete Seeger: Johnny Appleseed

Retrospective by Dave Laing, The History of Rock, 1982

Pete Seeger spread the word throughout America ...

Richard Thompson: McCabe's, Santa Monica, CA

Live Review by Mark Leviton, BAM, 15 January 1982

"IT'S TIME TO ring some changes" was, in the words of the opening song of the set, the basic theme of Richard Thompson's first group ...

McCabe's Hippie Spirit Celebrates Anniversary

Report and Interview by Todd Everett, Los Angeles Herald Examiner, 30 January 1982

TOMORROW, MCCABE'S guitar shop in Santa Monica is marking its 13th anniversary, even though its actual opening took place in October, 1969 (which means, if ...

Richard and Linda Thompson: Dominion, London

Live Review by Mick Brown, The Guardian, 7 May 1982

LOOSELY SPEAKING, Richard Thompson is the sole practising legatee of the British folk-rock tradition which he was instrumental in establishing 14 years ago as a ...

Richard and Linda Thompson: Let There Be Lights

Profile and Interview by Richard Cromelin, Los Angeles Times, 5 June 1982

RICHARD AND Linda Thompson opened their show at the Roxy Thursday night with 'A Man in Need', and followed it with 'Walking on a Wire', ...

The Weavers: The Warp and Woof of the Weavers' Decade

Profile and Interview by Richard Cromelin, Los Angeles Times, 24 June 1982

THE QUARTET came out of nowhere early in the decade and turned popular music around, taking over the Top 10 with a fresh sound that ...

Richard and Linda Thompson: Richard & Linda Thompson: Shoot Out The Lights (Hannibal)

Review by Jim Farber, Creem, August 1982

TO RICHARD and Linda Thompson there's a movement to life — and you could call it "falling." The Thompsons' first U.S. album in four years ...

Béla Fleck: Natural Bridge (Rounder 0146)

Review by Ken Hunt, Folk International, September 1982

'Punchdrunk'/'Flexibility' / 'Dawg's Due' / 'Daybreak' / 'Bitter Gap' / 'October Winds' / 'Crossfire' / 'Apple-butter' / 'Old Hickory Waltz' / 'Rocky Road' / 'The ...

Richard and Linda Thompson: No Bright Ones Tonight: Richard Thompson Shoots Out The Lights

Interview by Michael Goldberg, Creem, September 1982

THERE IS A story circulating about Richard Thompson. The way I heard it, the Eagles approached him, prior to hiring Joe Walsh: they wanted Thompson ...

Paul Brady: Making Tracks For A Rock Station

Interview by Ken Hunt, Folk Scene, November 1982

(ED. NOTE: The interview upon which some of the following article was based is an edited version of one conducted for, but as yet unpublished ...

The Roches: Dominion Theatre, London

Live Review by Mick Brown, The Guardian, 9 November 1982

FIRST THE McGarrigles and now, a fortnight later, the Roches. How many more sets of slightly kooky sisters does the American folk circuit have for ...

John Martyn: Solid Heir

Interview by Hugh Fielder, Sounds, 13 November 1982

"SO SOUNDS think I'm an old hippie, do they?" muses John Martyn as we stand in the hotel lobby waiting for the limo (the manager's ...

Tymon Dogg: Tymon Time Again

Interview by Colin Irwin, Melody Maker, 8 January 1983

Colin Irwin visits the strange world of TYMON DOGG, former Paul McCartney protégé, Clash sidekick, and enemy of Safeway People ...

David Crosby, Crosby Stills and Nash, Crosby Stills Nash & Young, Joni Mitchell, Graham Nash: Joni Mitchell (1983)

Interview by Dave Zimmer, Rock's Backpages audio, February 1983

Joni talks about the Canyon scene: the people, her house, what it was like; she talks about playing the coffee house circuit in New York, and meeting David Crosby; leaving New York for Los Angeles; Crosby producing her first album; meeting the foppishly dressed Graham Nash; and Crosby, Stills & Nash getting together; she then talks about not getting to Woodstock, and subsequently writing the song.

File format: mp3; file size: 26.8mb; Interview length: 27' 54"; sound quality: **

The Roches: Three Sides to Every Situation

Interview by Geoffrey Himes, Musician, March 1983

AT TIMES, the three Roche sisters seem blissfully oblivious to how the rest of the world operates. Take their clothes. Backstage at Washington's Wax Museum, ...

Kate & Anna McGarrigle: Kate and Anna McGarrigle: Love Over and Over (Polydor) ***½

Review by Fred Schruers, Rolling Stone, 17 March 1983

WHILE THEIR most compelling virtue is their lovely vocal interplay, Kate and Anna McGarrigle have always been careful to use classy session players. As a ...

Steve Goodman: After A Bout Of Leukemia, Steve Goodman Hits The Road

Interview by David Gans, Record, July 1983

LOS ANGELES — Red Pajamas Records is a one-act label with a one-title catalogue. But Steve Goodman, proprietor and Red Pajamas recording artist, doesn't mind ...

Arlo Guthrie, Pete Seeger: Seeger and Guthrie: A Tradition Continues

Interview by Geoffrey Himes, Baltimore Sun, 22 July 1983

WHEN ARLO Guthrie and Pete Seeger performed together at Wolf Trap three summers ago, they managed to convince the sell-out crowd that they weren't really ...

The Pogues: Mahone Ranger's Handbook

Interview by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 13 August 1983

GAVIN MARTIN meets the punks who turned to Irish folk music and became the Pogues with the brogue ...

The Pogues: Pogue Mahone: Bull And Gate, Kentish Town, London

Live Review by David Quantick, New Musical Express, 24 September 1983

AT THE delightful Bull And Gate public house in Kentish Town, Pogue Mahone played their usual blisteringly wonderful set. Containing some of the most evil-looking ...

Joan Baez: The Folk Heroine Mellows With Age

Interview by Mary Harron, The Guardian, 22 June 1984

IN 1959 JOAN BAEZ walked out on stage at the Newport Folk Festival and touched off a wave of adulation that was to reach almost ...

The Boothill Foot Tappers, The Pogues: Pogues, Boothill Foot Tappers: Mean Fiddler, Harlesden

Live Review by Colin Irwin, Melody Maker, 4 August 1984

IT WAS not a night to be sober. ...

The Pogues: For A Few Ciders More

Interview by David Quantick, Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 11 August 1984

A TABLE littered with the debris of an early evening's drinking, three Pogues attempt to justify their existence. ...

The Men They Couldn’t Hang: The Men They Couldn't Hang: George Robey, London

Live Review by David Quantick, New Musical Express, 25 August 1984

'JUST LIKE Eddie', 'Whiskey In The Jar', 'A Boy Named Sue', 'Rawhide', 'The Green Fields Of France'... is it, dear reader, one of your witty ...

Richard Thompson: Rockin' Guitar In The Celt Tradition

Interview by Gene Santoro, Downbeat, February 1985

IT'S NOT that he's unknown, exactly. Time magazine featured him and then-wife Linda in its August 30, 1982 issue, saying that his music "has the ...

The Men They Couldn’t Hang: The Men They Couldn't Hang: Noose On The Loose

Interview by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 2 March 1985

A FEW YEARS BACK, if someone had told me that an English pop group would record Eric Bogie's 'The Green Fields Of France', that it ...

Richard Thompson, Richard and Linda Thompson: Richard Thompson: A Rock Veteran's New Beginning

Profile and Interview by Richard Cromelin, Los Angeles Times, 17 March 1985

RICHARD AND Linda Thompson, whose 10-year marriage and musical partnership ended in 1982, were a decidedly low-profile couple by rock standards. In fact, they were ...

Richard Thompson, Richard and Linda Thompson: "The Most Exciting Thing Is Playing Live" — Richard Thompson Downplays Studio Work

Interview by Jeff Tamarkin, Billboard, 30 March 1985

NEW YORK — Considering that Richard Thompson's albums invariably end up near the top of year-end critics' polls, one would think that the veteran British ...

Linda Thompson, Richard Thompson: "The Most Exciting Thing Is Playing Live": Richard Thompson Downplays Studio Work

Interview by Jeff Tamarkin, Billboard, 30 March 1985

NEW YORK — Considering that Richard Thompson's albums invariably end up near the top of year-end critics' polls, one would think that the veteran British ...

Richard and Linda Thompson: Linda and Richard Find There’s Life After Divorce

Interview by Charles Bermant, The Globe and Mail, 6 April 1985

LINDA THOMPSON’S memories of touring the United States with her soon-to-be ex-husband Richard are filtered through an alcoholic haze and a skewed sense of delight. ...

Elvis Costello, Lash Lariat & the Long Riders, The Pogues: The Pogues, Elvis Costello, The Swamps, Lash Lariat & the Long Riders: The Clarendon, London

Live Review by Chris Heath, Smash Hits, 11 April 1985

They're of Irish descent! They play hectic punk-folk music! They leave no table unturned! ...

Richard Thompson: Across A Crowded Room (Polydor)

Review by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 4 May 1985

DICK GETS DULL ...

Dave Alvin, Henry Rollins, Dave Van Ronk, X: Various Artists: Radio Tokyo Tapes, Vol. 3 (PVC); Dave Van Ronk: Going Back To Brooklyn (Reckless)

Review by J.D. Considine, Musician, July 1985

NOW THAT Bob Dylan is establishing himself as a born-again rocker, why shouldn't the new wave stage a folk revival? But listening to Radio Tokyo ...

Alan Hull: Hull's Teeth: An Interview with Alan Hull

Interview by Len Brown, New Musical Express, 14 December 1985

HARD TIMES on Tyneside. So what's new, pussycats? There's snow storms, there's no jobs (30% unemployment), and worst of all, the by-election bigwigs – Brittan, ...

Townes Van Zandt (1986)

Interview by Holger Petersen, Rock's Backpages audio, 4 January 1986

The Texas troubadour talks about his rootless youth; getting his songs covered by stars; the dangers of the road; bluesmen in general and Lightnin' Hopkins in particular; songwriting, "sky" songs and 'Pancho and Lefty'; and sharing a house with Guy Clark and Rodney Crowell!

File format: mp3; file size: 36.7mb, interview length: 40' 06" sound quality: *****

Shane MacGowan, The Pogues: The Pogues (1986)

Interview by Mat Snow, Rock's Backpages audio, February 1986

Pogues Shane McGowan and Jem Finer talk about traditional Irish music, the band, songwriting, touring, and Shane's fantastic laugh.

File format: mp3; file size: 60mb, interview length: 1h 05' 34" sound quality: **

Shane MacGowan, The Pogues: The Pogues (1986) [excerpt]

Interview by Mat Snow, Rock's Backpages audio, February 1986

Excerpt from Mat Snow's interview with The Pogues, recorded 1986. Pogues Shane McGowan and Jem Finer talk about traditional Irish music, the band, songwriting, touring, and Shane's fantastic laugh.

File format: mp3; file size: 14mb, interview length: 14' 41" sound quality: **

Joan Baez, The Band, Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin, Peter, Paul & Mary: Albert Grossman: 1926-1986

Obituary by Michael Goldberg, Rolling Stone, 13 March 1986

Managed Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin and others ...

The Pogues: Hammersmith Palais, London

Live Review by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 29 March 1986

NO SLEEP AT HAMMERSMITH! ...

The Pogues: The World, New York NY

Live Review by Jeff Tamarkin, Billboard, 29 March 1986

ST. PATRICK'S DAY came to New York a few weeks early with the debut American appearance of the Pogues. But traditional Irish music never sounded ...

Violent Femmes (1986)

Interview by Martin Aston, Rock's Backpages audio, April 1986

Brian Ritchie talks about the acoustic approach of the trio's first two albums, and about getting more electric with The Blind Leading the Naked; about the instruments they use and the multitude of approaches they take in the studio. Ritchie and Gordon Gano talk about the sound of the new album, about being produced by Talking Head Jerry Harrison; about their previous album Hallowed Ground and their label Slash. Finally, Gano talks about what's important to him, his songwriting... and the existence or otherwise of God.

File format: mp3; file size: 44.7mb, interview length: 46' 35" sound quality: ***

The Pogues: It's Really Pogue, Man

Profile and Interview by Richard Grabel, Creem, September 1986

TALKING TO Shane MacGowan, singer and lyricist with a spirited bunch of North London Irish lunatics called the Pogues – trying to decipher the words ...

Mary Coughlan: Angel With Dirty Phrases

Interview by Colin Irwin, Melody Maker, 27 September 1986

Seductive on vinyl, scathing in the flesh, MARY COUGHLAN tames the wild rover in Prof. Colin Irwin. ...

Nanci Griffith: McCabe's Guitar Shop, Santa Monica CA

Live Review by Richard Cromelin, Los Angeles Times, 7 October 1986

GRIFFITH SINGS AND STRUMS COUNTRY ...

Christy Moore: Ireland In An Acid Bath

Interview by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 15 November 1986

The magic of old Ireland meets burning political insight in the music of CHRISTY MOORE, former Planxty/Moving Heart mainstay turned extraordinary solo man. GAVIN MARTIN ...

Peter Case: Do You Want A Man Of Steel?

Interview by J. Kordosh, Creem, December 1986

BACKSTAGE, AFTER a show, Peter Case is talking baseball. The game is one of Case's passions: he tells of his recent visit to Cooperstown and ...

The Pogues: The National, Kilburn

Live Review by Colin Irwin, Melody Maker, 13 December 1986

"WE WANT CAIT, we want Cait," chanted the barmy army at the front rather ungraciously before it all began, and I have to say I ...

Sandy Denny: Who Knows Where The Time Goes (Island)

Review by Nick Coleman, New Musical Express, Summer 1986

WHEN SHE DIED I was still preoccupied with the politics of holey jeans and why the Ramones were the perfect emblem of the beast Modern ...

Christy Moore: Hammersmith Odeon

Live Review by Len Brown, New Musical Express, January 1987

WHILE OUR pubs become youth clubs (16-30s), where communication is broken by mindless muzak, and while our elders are alienated from our "social" lives, the ...

Pete Seeger on Moe Asch and Folkways Records (1987)

Interview by Tony Scherman, Rock's Backpages audio, January 1987

The folk revival's elder statesman pays tribute to Folkways founder Moe Asch: talks about the label's evolution, its principles and modus operandi, and its value as a preserver of marginal musical forms. Plus he speaks about Asch's relationship with Woody Guthrie and the EP This Land is Your Land; about Asch's business practices and the issues of royalties and copyrights. Finally, Seeger sums up Asch the man...

File format: mp3; file size: 55.5mb, interview length: 57' 46" sound quality: ***

Sam Charters on Folkways Records' Moe Asch (1987)

Interview by Tony Scherman, Rock's Backpages audio, January 1987

Charters talks about his friend, colleague and mentor Moe Asch: about starting to release his field recordings through Folkways; the importance of the label; the Harry Smith anthology; Sam Goody's support for the label; the label's bankruptcy and tax problems; Asch's brilliance, but being a difficult man to work with; the magnificent catalogue, and the scene surrounding the label.

File format: mp3; file size: 56.8mb, interview length: 59' 08" sound quality: **

The Oyster Band: Out Of Their Shells

Profile and Interview by Mark Cooper, The Guardian, 16 January 1987

Mark Cooper on The Oyster Band's place in the "roots" dance revival ...

Joseph Spence: The King Of Sling

Discography by Gene Santoro, Guitar World, April 1987

THE VERY bedrock of an entire school of folk and rock guitar is the idiosyncratic work of Bahamanian guitar great Joseph Spence.  ...

Gene Clark, Carla Olson: Gene Clark and Carla Olson: At My Place, Santa Monica CA

Live Review by Gerrie Lim, L.A. Weekly, 2 April 1987

"IT'S JUST a little folk music," Gene Clark deadpans to the packed house in Santa Monica, and he couldn't have been more self-deprecating. This was ...

Christy Moore: Unfinished Revolution (WEA)

Review by Len Brown, New Musical Express, May 1987

SURELY CHRISTY Moore, the demi-god of Irish folk, can't have produced another masterpiece in the mould of Ride On and Ordinary Man? ...

The Oyster Band: Wide Blue Yonder (Cooking Vinyl)

Review by Len Brown, New Musical Express, 28 September 1987

ONCE UPON a time, admitting to a fondness for English folk was akin to confessing a savage case of crabs. Then came The Oyster Band, ...

The Proclaimers: Right-on in Auchtermuchty

Profile and Interview by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 13 November 1987

Adam Sweeting finds two reasons for feeling cheerful about alternatives to pop blandness — Scotland's The Proclaimers ...

The Pogues, Joe Strummer: The Pogues: "The first thing people think... is that we're a load of moronic drunk cartoon characters playing folk music"

Report and Interview by Stuart Bailie, Record Mirror, 19 December 1987

But no one thinks the Pogues are really like that, surely? To celebrate the hit status of 'A Fairytale In New York', Stuart Bailie legs ...

The Humblebums, Gerry Rafferty: Gerry Rafferty: A Humble One

Interview by Colin Irwin, Folk Roots, 1988

GERRY RAFFERTY is one of the more elusive and enigmatic figures on this increasingly strange roundabout. A Scotsman bred on traditional music, he was never ...

The Pogues: If I Should Fall From Grace With God (Pogue Mahone)*****

Review by Neil Perry, Sounds, 16 January 1988

THE UNDERDOG BITES BACK! ...

The Pogues: If I Should Fall From Grace With God (Pogue Mahone NYR 1)

Review by David Sinclair, The Times, 23 January 1988

Rip-snorting triumph ...

The Pogues: Gleeful — The Pogues: If I Should Fall From Grace With God (POGUEMAHONE NYR 1 LP/Cass/CD)

Review by David Sinclair, Q, February 1988

The Pogues: no sleep 'til closing time. ...

Eugene Chadbourne: The Lovably Low-Tech Eugene Chadbourne

Interview by Mark Dery, Guitar Player, February 1988

"There's no type of music I don't like; it's important to be able to make fun of all types." ...

Nanci Griffith: The Acoustic Room, The Mean Fiddler, Harlesden

Live Review by Ken Hunt, Folk Roots, April 1988

THE WORD 'CHANTEUSE' seems to be undergoing one of its periodic journalistic revivals. It's a slightly unusual word, it's French and it was always far ...

Fairground Attraction: The Human Touch

Interview by Caroline Sullivan, Melody Maker, 7 May 1988

WITH THEIR DEBUT SINGLE, 'PERFECT', STORMING INTO THE CHARTS, FAIRGROUND ATTRACTION AREN'T QUITE THE OVERNIGHT SENSATIONS THEY MIGHT APPEAR. CAROLINE SULLIVAN CHARTS THEIR PROGRESS ...

The Men They Couldn’t Hang: The Men They Couldn't Hang: Hip Ahoy!

Interview by Len Brown, New Musical Express, 7 May 1988

Shiver yer timbers and splice yer mainbrace! THE MEN THEY COULDN'T HANG have just spirited up their first long player Waiting For Bonaparte. LEN BROWN ...

The Dinner Ladies, The Oyster Band: The Oyster Band and The Dinner Ladies: A Total Oyster Time?

Interview by Len Brown, New Musical Express, 30 July 1988

Is the New Wave of British Folk going anywhere, or is it just the old stuff tanked up and recut? ...

Michelle Shocked: Shock Tactics

Interview by Ralph Traitor, Sounds, 1 October 1988

With her synthesis of folk and hardcore, Michelle Shocked has successfully created a new vehicle for political pop. Ralph Traitor tunes into the voice of ...

Cindy Lee Berryhill, Kirk Kelly, Lach, Michelle Shocked, Roger Manning: New Folk: Folk You

Report and Interview by Mark Kemp, Option, November 1988

IT'S ANOTHER sweaty, late June New York City Friday evening, and Michelle Shocked is walking eastward across Chinatown's busy Canal Street. ...

Michelle Shocked: Short, Sharp, Talented

Profile and Interview by Holly Gleason, Rolling Stone, 3 November 1988

Is country-folk singer Michelle Shocked ready for stardom? ...

Richard Thompson (1988)

Interview by Mat Snow, Rock's Backpages audio, December 1988

Richard Thompson talks to Mat Snow about growing up in North London, learning guitar and forming Fairport Convention. Along the way he meets Sandy Denny and Joe Boyd...

File format: mp3 File size: 85.7mb, interview length: 1h 29' 15", sound quality: ***

Sandy Bull: Jukebox School of Music (ROM Records)

Review by Byron Coley, Spin, December 1988

IN THE decade and a half since his last release, the rumor circulated that Sandy Bull had died. After a string of generally brilliant albums ...

The Proclaimers: Hammersmith Odeon, London

Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 5 December 1988

The doublevision: Adam Sweeting savours the Proclaimers at Hammersmith Odeon ...

Martin Carthy: A Passage to England

Profile and Interview by Mark Cooper, The Guardian, 29 December 1988

Martin Carthy believes in the power of performance, not purity. Mark Cooper meets the folkie who refuses to play safe. ...

Don McLean (1989)

Interview by John Tobler, Rock's Backpages audio, 1989

The singer/songwriter talks of his environmental concerns; being too commercial for the folk world; working in Nashville; choosing the musician's life; his association with the Weavers' Lee Hayes; his early albums including American Pie; playing with the Persuasions and Jordanaires; keeping his copyrights, and the importance of ideas.

File format: mp3; total file size: 38.4mb, total interview length: 40' 01" sound quality: *****

Gerry Rafferty: Right Down the Line

Sleeve notes by Jerry Gilbert, EMI USA Records, 1989

THE SHADOW OF melancholy now seemed to rise like a weight from Gerry Rafferty's shoulders. 'Baker Street' was an instant smash and he went on ...

The Lilac Time, Love and Money: Love and Money, the Lilac Time: Town & Country Club, London

Live Review by Len Brown, New Musical Express, 11 February 1989

I'M ASHAMED of myself, as usual. For having missed the tea-time set by Andy Pawlak — the post-Sprout troubadour who feeds ice cream to rattlesnakes ...

Ian Tyson: Cowboy troubadour: Ian Tyson is riding high again

Profile and Interview by Nicholas Jennings, Maclean's, 13 February 1989

THE AUDITORIUM was a sea of cowboy hats in a variety of styles – High Sierra, Ridgetop and Cattleman. The ranchers, cowhands and wives were ...

Fairport Convention: Trebles all round!

Profile and Interview by Mat Snow, Q, March 1989

The revived Fairport Convention are celebrating their thriving cottage industry, Woodworm Records, with a 40-date tour. But it wasn’t always beer and skittles... ...

Phranc: Folk Singer Enjoys Being Phranc at Last

Interview by Richard Cromelin, Los Angeles Times, 22 July 1989

'I ENJOY Being a Girl' is the title song of Phranc's new album, and when she sings the 1958 Rodgers & Hammerstein show tune it ...

Phranc: I Enjoy Being a Girl (Island)

Review by Deborah Frost, Rolling Stone, 5 October 1989

'FOLKSINGER', THE opening cut on I Enjoy Being a Girl, instantly encapsulates everything that is right — as well as everything that is wrong — ...

Richard Thompson: Royal Festival Hall, London

Live Review by Len Brown, New Musical Express, 14 October 1989

"IT'S TAKEN me a long time to clamber my way back to the top of showbiz," announces Richard wryly, "see under Wyman, Bill." Although he ...

Danny Thompson: Romance From A Bit Of A Raver

Profile and Interview by Mark Cooper, Sunday Correspondent, 22 October 1989

Breaking the rules comes easily to double-bass player Danny Thompson, says Mark Cooper ...

The Waterboys: Wiltern Theatre, Los Angeles CA

Live Review by Bill Holdship, L.A. Weekly, 23 November 1989

IN A WORD, beautiful. ...

Brendan Croker & the 5 O'Clock Shadows: Brendan Croker & The 5 O'Clock Shadows

Review by Ken Hunt, Folk Roots, December 1989

IN DIFFERENT HANDS, in different circumstances, the opening track on Brendan Croker & The 5 O'Clock Shadows might reasonably be seen as trading brazenly on ...

Joan Baez: Speaking Of Her Dreams

Interview by Mark Leviton, Village View, 15 December 1989

NO DOUBT the desk clerk at the Registry Hotel in Universal City who gave Joan Baez her suite number was unaware that 1961 was a ...

Shirley Collins: The Power Of The True Love Knot (Hannibal)

Review by Byron Coley, Forced Exposure, 1990

…PAP-TUPPIN' REISSUE of a truly snazzy UK-folk nugget from '67. ...

Richard Thompson Rings Some Changes

Interview by Mark Rowland, Musician, January 1990

The acoustic eclectic appreciates purists, but wouldn't want to be one ...

Dick Gaughan: Handful Of Earth

Review by Mark Cooper, Q, March 1990

FIRST RELEASED BACK in 1981, Handful Of Earth survived the '80s so well that it was voted Album Of The Decade in Folk Roots magazine's ...

Victoria Williams: Swing The Statue! (Rough Trade)

Review by Jon Wilde, Melody Maker, 2 June 1990

THREE YEARS ago, Victoria Williams emerged with a debut set of 13 songs which invited us to revise and re-define our notion of folk music. ...

Roy Harper: Peace, Love and a Punchup with Ginger Baker: The Saga of Roy Harper

Interview by Len Brown, New Musical Express, 23 June 1990

After 25 years on life's acoustic stage, ROY HARPER is undoubtedly King Of The Hippies. In a moment of good karma, NME let the man ...

Marta Sebestyen, Muzsikas: Marta Sebestyen and Muzsikas: No Sleep 'til Ballachulish!

Report and Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Q, August 1990

Their flight cases crammed with goatskin bagpipes and three-stringed contras, Hungarian minstrels Marta Sebestyen and Muzsikas are midway through a whistle-stop international tour. And as ...

Fairport Convention: Conventional behaviour

Report and Interview by Martin Aston, The Independent, 17 August 1990

Martin Aston spoke to the members of Fairport Convention ahead of their anual reunion show at this week's Copredy Folk Festival ...

The Dubliners: The Dubliners

Review by Penny Reel, Select, September 1990

IT IS an irony that The Dubliners should have come to prominence with ‘Seven Drunken Nights’ in 1967, the same year that Dermot O’Brien’s IRA ...

Bob Dylan: Under The Red Sky

Review by Charles Shaar Murray, Q, October 1990

ONE EASY WAY of telling who the record industry considers to be this year's hot producer is to check the credits of the latest Dylan ...

Shane MacGowan, The Pogues: Shane MacGowan: Dark Side of the Hooligan

Profile and Interview by Sean O'Hagan, Vox, November 1990

Shane MacGowan has not been a happy man since the 'natural living' days of punk. Now he's disillusioned with the Pogues and a recent medical ...

Metallica: Elektra: a Label Celebrates its Heritage

Report and Interview by Rob Tannenbaum, Rolling Stone, 1 November 1990

Forty years of Elektra music, from Josh White and Tom Paxton to Metallica and the Cure ...

Kate & Anna McGarrigle: The McGarrigle Sisters: File Under…?

Profile and Interview by Mal Peachey, Daily Telegraph, 10 November 1990

Mal Peachey meets the multi-cultural and indefinable McGarrigle sisters. ...

Donovan, Happy Mondays: Happy Mondays, Donovan: Wembley Arena, London

Live Review by John Harris, Sounds, 24 November 1990

FUNNY GAME, this pop business. You can either master its niceties, turn yourself into a big bucks circus and revel in the fact that you'll ...

Davey Graham: A Terrascopic Interview

Interview by Phil McMullen, Ptolemaic Terrascope, 1991

THERE ARE VERY few people who can genuinely be accredited with changing the face of a certain field of music. Most of that rare breed ...

Fairport Convention's Simon Nicol (1991)

Interview by John Tobler, Rock's Backpages audio, 1991

The veteran Fairports guitarist talks about the group's evolution, from first meeting Ashley Hutchings at school to its present day line-up: Richard Thompson and Judy Dyble joining; being signed by Joe Boyd to Witchseason Productions; their first recordings; the introduction of Sandy Denny, and the move towards more traditional folk; the crash that killed drummer Martin Lamble; new members Dave Mattacks and Dave Swarbrick; albums such as Unhalfbricking and Liege and Lief; Sandy and Ashley leaving, and then Nicol's own comings and goings to and from the band, setting up the Cropredy festival, and the band's continuing existence.

File format: mp3; file size: 50.2mb, interview length: 52' 16" sound quality: *****

Fairport Convention's Simon Nicol (1991) [transcript]

Audio transcript of interview by John Tobler, Rock's Backpages transcripts, 1991

This is a transcript of John's audio interview with Simon. Listen to the audio of this interview. ...

Woody Guthrie: Glory Days

Retrospective by Len Brown, Record Hunter, January 1991

Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan may never have strummed a note had it not been for the influence of the folk pioneer, Woody Guthrie. So ...

The Levellers: Venue, New Cross, London

Live Review by Cathi Unsworth, Sounds, 5 January 1991

A crust above the rest ...

Gloria Estefan, Roger McGuinn: Gloria Estefan: Into the Light (Epic 4677821); Roger McGuinn: Back From Rio (Arista 261 348)

Review by David Sinclair, The Times, 8 February 1991

Breezy blend with a Cuban flavour ...

Pentangle: Where Are They Now? Pentangle

Interview by Martin Aston, Q, May 1991

EVEN BEFORE Fairport Convention had set their wheels in motion, Pentangle were attempting to contemporise and explore British folk music. ...

Christy Moore: Smoke And Strong Whiskey (Newberry/All formats)

Review by Fred Dellar, New Musical Express, 4 May 1991

"WELCOME TO the cabaret", chortles Moore, as he ladles out a poteen made from pure booze, vitriol and the tears of centuries. "Your wife says, ...

Richard Thompson: The Unsung Thompson

Interview by Mark Cooper, Daily Telegraph, 11 May 1991

Mark Cooper meets the folk hero who is now sharply observing home from abroad. ...

Shirley Collins (1991)

Interview by John Tobler, Rock's Backpages audio, 17 May 1991

Brit-folk doyenne Shirley Collins revisists her 1971 No Roses album track by track and discusses how the songs were chosen – and the move away from folk tradition. Collins also talks about 10,000 Maniacs' cover of 'Just as the Tide was a-Flowing'; working with Maddy Prior and Fairport Convention; the Albion Country Band... and about the state of folk today.

File format: mp3; file size: 55.1mb, interview length: 57' 22" sound quality: *****

Shirley Collins (1991) [transcript]

Audio transcript of interview by John Tobler, Rock's Backpages transcripts, 17 May 1991

This is a transcript of John's audio interview with Shirley. Listen to the audio of this interview. ...

Phranc: Phranc Talk

Interview by Amy Linden, Hits, 20 May 1991

Time for a cup of joe and a doughnut with Phranc ...

Joni Mitchell

Interview by Steve Matteo, CD Review, July 1991

BACK IN 1975, Rolling Stone mercilessly slammed Joni Mitchell's The Hissing of Summer Lawns, charging the singer/songwriter with adapting styles of music – jazz and ...

Richard Thompson: Rumor and Sigh (Capitol) ***½

Review by Ira Robbins, Rolling Stone, 11 July 1991

AN EXCEPTIONAL guitarist whose memorable songs have been widely covered, Richard Thompson is — more than twenty years into the personal odyssey that outlines his ...

Phranc: Frankly Phranc

Interview by Mark Dery, Guitar Player, October 1991

PIERCED LABIA. Khaki-clad lesbian soldiers, posing topless in the Saudi Arabian sun. Advertisements for adult toys that resemble Star Trek props — the sort of ...

Enya: Shepherd Moons (WEA 9031-75572)

Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 14 November 1991

WHAT'S THAT Celtic mist shrouding the top of the album charts? Enya, in at No 1? What's going on? It seems there's a widespread need ...

Joe Strummer, The Pogues: The Pogues: Determined

Report and Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Q, December 1991

THE WILTERN THEATRE, LOS ANGELES, October 10, 1991 ...

Judy Henske: Only a Henske: The Judy Henske Story

Interview by Paul Zollo, SongTalk, Spring 1991

SHE GIVES A raucous interview. Known for being wildly entertaining and energetic on stage, Judy Henske brings as much punch to a conversation as to ...

Bob Dylan, Eric Von Schmidt: Eric Von Schmidt on Bob Dylan (1992)

Interview by Larry Jaffee, Rock's Backpages audio, 1992

The venerable folkie looks back to the Yale folk scene, and first meeting Dylan; discusses who actually wrote 'Baby Let Me Follow You Down' — the Rev. Gary Davis? Blind Boy Fuller? Von Schmidt? — and Dylan's magpie tendencies; he also recounts meeting Dylan in London in 1963 with Richard Fariña, and drinking gin and smoking pot.

File format: mp3; file size: 37.8mb, interview length: 39' 47" sound quality: ** (phoner)

Jerry Jeff Walker (1992)

Interview by John Tobler, Rock's Backpages audio, 1992

The 'Mr Bojangles' man talks about his current place in music; his favourite albums; his adoptive hometown of Austin, Texas; meeting the real Mr. Bojangles; his problem with studio musicians; his musical background, and becoming a songwriter; his friend Guy Clark; on "manager" Michael Brovsky; inventing his name; his long-lasting marriage; Hondo Crouch, and Luckenbach, Texas; the Lost Gonzo Band; restarting his career after trouble with the IRS, and playing golf!

File format: mp3; file size: 64.3mb, interview length: 1h 06' 56" sound quality: ****

The Pogues, Joe Strummer: The Pogues and Joe Strummer: Town & Country Club, London

Live Review by David Quantick, New Musical Express, 4 January 1992

THE EVENING starts, bizarrely enough. In a pub which is not only playing the whole of The Best of The Pogues but whose bar is ...

Crosby Stills and Nash: CSN: CSN Box-Set

Review by Mat Snow, Q, February 1992

DAVID CROSBY, STEPHEN STILLS AND Graham Nash: respectively refugees from The Byrds (fired by Roger McGuinn), Buffalo Springfield (broke up) and Manchester's very own Hollies ...

Eddi Reader: Mirmama

Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Q, March 1992

FAIRGROUND ATTRACTION SPLIT after one platinum album, The First Of A Million Kisses; 'Perfect', the sound of summer '88, was soundaliked and killed by an ...

Luka Bloom Doesn't Want To Be Just Another Boring Folkie

Interview by Michael Azerrad, Rolling Stone, 19 March 1992

A STRICT VEGETARIAN, Luka Bloom is right at home at a fanatic health-food restaurant in Manhattan's East Village, where he's outlining the fundamental problem with ...

The Levellers: An Honest Crust

Report and Interview by Stephen Dalton, Vox, June 1992

The Levellers have a reputation for being anarcho-veggie activists, thanks to folksy songs about travellers and police oppression. Yet their Crass-for-the-'90s image is not strictly ...

John Prine (1992)

Interview by John Tobler, Rock's Backpages audio, July 1992

The singer-songwriter talks about writing a song with Phil Spector; on Bruce Springsteen and Bonnie Raitt; on songwriting; favourite songwriters; writing with Shel Silverstein; setting up his own label Oh Boy; recording in Memphis and Nashville; his friendship with Steve Goodman... and being covered by John Denver.

File format: mp3; file size: 61.3mb, interview length: 1h 03' 52" sound quality: ****

Jerry Donahue: Taking Tele 'Round The Bend

Interview by Alan di Perna, Musician, September 1992

THE BRASS NUTS OF A COUNTRY FIREBALL ...

Joan Baez (1992)

Interview by Andy Gill, Rock's Backpages audio, November 1992

The Queen of Folk on her stage repertoire; on the definition of folk; on the end of the Vietnam War; on her political activism – and letting it go; on her new album Play Me Backwards... and not paying taxes for weapons!

File format: mp3; total file size: 41.3mb, interview length: 42' 58" sound quality: ***

Roy Harper

Profile and Interview by Tom Hibbert, Q, December 1992

FROM SOMEWHERE within the packed and sweaty audience at Whelan's, small and quaint and antique club in a Dublin back street, a projectile comes, wings ...

Joan Baez: Play Me Backwards (Virgin)

Review by David Sinclair, Q, February 1993

WHAT EXACTLY is the most dignified role for the faded activist folk singer who wakes one morning to find herself five years older than the ...

John Martyn: Couldn't Love You More (Permanent CD9)

Review by Ian Penman, The Wire, April 1993

JOHN MARTYN has roamed his own byways, apparently lost in a mythic search whose obstacles were all his own devising — only he knew the ...

Richie Havens (1993)

Interview by Paul Zollo, Rock's Backpages audio, 4 June 1993

Mr. Havens talks about the return of '60s "message music"; at length about his appearance at Woodstock; Greenwich Village and Albert Grossman; his guitar style, and being an interpreter of Dylan, the Beatles... and Judy Henske.

File format: mp3; file size: 29.6mb, interview length: 32' 21" sound quality: ****

Richie Havens (1993) [transcript]

Audio transcript of interview by Paul Zollo, Rock's Backpages transcripts, 4 June 1993

This is a transcript of Paul's audio interview with Richie. Listen to the audio of this interview. ...

Joni Mitchell at Troubadours of Folk Festival: Drake Stadium, UCLA

Live Review by Mark Rowland, Musician, August 1993

FOR HER FIRST public performance in several years, Joni Mitchell found a way to affirm her spiritual ties to the folk music community whence she ...

John Martyn: Johnny Too Bad: John Martyn

Book Excerpt by Mark Cooper, 'Love is the Drug' (Penguin), 1994

HE'S A JAZZ MAN, he's a folkie and he's been a drinker. Singer songwriter John Martyn has been most things, apart from commercially acceptable. Now ...

Shane MacGowan: Up For It Again and Still Never Normal

Interview by Max Bell, The Evening Standard, 4 June 1994

SHANE MacGowan assumes the position at the bar of his favourite north London watering hole, Filthy MacNasty's in Amwell Street, shouting his personal drinks order ...

Indigo Girls: Hammersmith Apollo, London

Live Review by Paul Sexton, The Times, 7 June 1994

Warmed by the campfire ...

Nick Drake: Way To Blue (Island)

Review by Stuart Maconie, Q, July 1994

IN FEBRUARY 1972, upon the release of Pink Moon, Nick Drake's third and final album proper, the press information issued by Island Records ran, in ...

Ian and Sylvia: Northern Journey

Retrospective by Colin Escott, Goldmine, 8 July 1994

IF YOU came through the '60s intact, you remember at least one Ian and Sylvia song, 'Four Strong Winds', even if you don't remember it ...

Beck, Jeff Buckley, David Gray, Ben Harper, Palace Music, Liz Phair: Beck et al: Don't fake the folk

Overview by Cliff Jones, The Face, August 1994

A WASTED voice wails to a scratchy guitar, drifting in some desolate, unforgiven shopping mall limbo: "I was working at McDonald's, doing the late night ...

Fairport Convention

Interview by Johnny Black, MOJO, August 1994

I'M MARTIN," SAYS THE ONE WITH THE CURLY HAIR. "D'you know Ken Dodd's dad's dog died?" ...

Gorky's Zygotic Mynci: Powerhaus, London

Live Review by Ngaire Ruth, Melody Maker, 13 August 1994

PECULIAR. GORKY'S are from Wales, and they sing in a mixture of Welsh and occasionally English. Apparently, the Welsh language often skips out vowels and ...

Joni Mitchell: Lady of the Canyon

Report and Interview by Nicholas Jennings, Maclean's, 31 October 1994

FOR JONI MITCHELL, fame has been a fickle lover. In the 1970s, it lavished her with sold-out tours and numerous magazine covers. She was the ...

Nick Drake: Hanging On A Star: In Memory of Nick Drake

Retrospective by Gerrie Lim, BigO, November 1994

HIS MUSIC IS as evocative and haunting as ever, though much of his life remains mysterious. Nick Drake died 20 years ago this month, on ...

John Fahey: The Persecutions And Resurrections Of Blind Joe Death

Profile and Interview by Byron Coley, Spin, November 1994

More than 30 years of mind-blowing guitar playing and composing have earned John Fahey a hip handful of devoted fans and a squalid room in ...

Shane MacGowan, The Pogues: Shane MacGowan: Lush life

Interview by Chris Heath, The Face, November 1994

When Shane MacGowan left the Pogues, it was not so much in a cloud of acrimony than a murky fog of drink and drugs. Against ...

Leadbelly, Nirvana: A Simple Song That Lives Beyond Time: Leadbelly via Kurt Cobain

Essay by Eric Weisbard, The New York Times, 13 November 1994

IMMEDIATELY after the suicide of Kurt Cobain, lead singer of the rock band Nirvana, last April, MTV broadcasted almost continuously an hourlong Unplugged special that ...

Nick Drake: Joe Boyd on Nick Drake (1994)

Interview by Gerrie Lim, Rock's Backpages audio, Fall 1994

The legendary producer looks back at the brilliant, doomed singer-songwriter: Drake's enduring qualities; first hearing him; has strong hands and guitar playing; the onset of his troubles, and the clues in his songs.

File format: mp3; file size: 29.3mb, interview length: 32' 02" sound quality: *** (phoner)

David Gray

Interview by Colin Harper, Folk Roots, March 1995

"THE REASON," says David Gray, at the end of our interview, "that journalism doesn't work most of the time is 'cos the artist isn't there ...

Fairport Convention: Shepherds Bush Empire, London

Live Review by Mark Cooper, MOJO, April 1995

TWO FAIRPORTS STILL STICK IN my mind from the late '60s, early '70s. The first was London's answer to Jefferson Airplane, furiously eclectic and frequently ...

Mary Hopkin: 'She's A Joan Baez Type, But We'll Soon Alter That'

Interview by Bill DeYoung, Goldmine, 14 April 1995

MARY HOPKIN is surprised and flattered to learn that she is something of a mythical figure in America. In the States, general knowledge of Hopkin ...

Fairport Convention's Dave Pegg (1995)

Interview by Johnny Black, Rock's Backpages audio, June 1995

Dave Pegg talks about Liege & Lief, Unhalfbricking, the departure of Richard Thompson and the death of Sandy Denny.

File format: mp3; file size: 35.4mb; Interview length: 38' 43"; sound quality: *****

Sandy Denny: The Attic Tracks 1972-1984

Review by Cliff Jones, MOJO, September 1995

AT THE RISK of winning an all-comers hyperbole award, I shall begin and end by stating that Sandy Denny was the greatest female singer/songwriter Britain ...

Peter, Paul & Mary (1996)

Interview by Paul Zollo, Rock's Backpages audio, 1996

The folksome trio talk about the "ownership" of the folk cannon; their unique vocal blend; Bob Dylan and 'Blowin' In The Wind'; the Folk Family, and their songwriting.

File format: mp3; file size: 56.5mb, interview length: 1h 01' 41" sound quality: ***

The Incredible String Band, Mike Heron, Robin Williamson: Robin Williamson and Mike Heron: London, Bloomsbury Theatre

Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, 1996

Set List: Everything’s Fine Right Now/ Lonely Exile/ Tom & Alexei/ Scotland Yet/ Red Hair/ October Song-Maya/ Favourite Sins/ Killing The Dragon/ Fathers/ Love Letter ...

Bob Neuwirth: Look Up (Watermelon)

Review by Tony Scherman, Entertainment Weekly, April 1996

AT FIRST you notice Neuwirth's puny vocals – he makes guest Peter Case's scrawny voice sound positively rich. ...

Norma Waterson: Past Caring About a Career

Profile and Interview by Mark Cooper, Daily Telegraph, 7 September 1996

Folk music matriarch Norma Waterson shot into the limelight with her solo album. But, she tells Mark Cooper, she could give up performing tomorrow. ...

Beth Orton: Royal Festival Hall, London

Live Review by Paul Moody, New Musical Express, 28 September 1996

OH ALRIGHT, Beth ain't quite this big on her own terms yet (tonight's mini-set is as special guest to grim old folkie John Martyn) but ...

Christy Moore's Great Escape

Retrospective and Interview by Mark Cooper, MOJO, October 1996

IN THE GOOD old bad old days,Christy Moore was the Brendan Behan, the Shane MacGowan, of his generation. A wild troubadour lashing out at himself ...

Joni Mitchell: Hits and Misses

Review by Susan Whitall, Houston Press, 26 December 1996

IN A POP WORLD where female musicians are designed, micromanaged and as carefully positioned in the marketplace as a new brand of air freshener, how ...

Buffy Sainte-Marie (1996)

Interview by Andy Gill, Rock's Backpages audio, Spring 1996

Ms. Sainte-Marie talks about making art in the digital domain: creating music and pictures on computers, the importance of technology to artists, having her own website; working online with indigenous American communities; her early musical experiences; revisiting older material on new album Up Where We Belong; on 'Soldier Blue', the song and the film; and being part of Sesame Street.

File format: mp3; file size: 49.5mb, interview length: 51' 31" sound quality: ****

Fairport Convention: Dave Pegg: An Interview

Profile and Interview by Alan Clayson, Record Collector, 1997

Alan Clayson reels in the years of the multi-faceted mainstay of Fairport Convention. ...

Richard Thompson: Watcher Of The Dark: Richard Thompson, Guitar God From Planet Eureka

Book Excerpt by Gerrie Lim, 'Inside the Outsider' (BigO Books) , 1997

IT'S NIGH HIGH impossible to summarize Richard Thompson's vast repertoire and immense talent, not to mention demented humor, but one particular sentence from Thompson himself ...

Iris DeMent: Frontwoman: Iris DeMent

Interview by Mark Rowland, Musician, January 1997

YOUR LAST record, My Life, was centered around the death of your father and felt very introspective. On The Way I Should, you address themes ...

Fairport Convention: Now Be Thankful...

Overview by Jim Irvin, MOJO, February 1997

…for 30 years of Fairport Convention. Jim Irvin gets a guided tour through their scrapbook of joy, tears, beers, jigs, reels and panties. ...

Terry Callier, Beth Orton: Beth Orton: The next Dusty springs from the trailer park to centre stage

Interview by Max Bell, The Evening Standard, 19 March 1997

Beth Orton is an unlikely creature: a beautiful, long-limbed folk singer who's got the grapevine buzzing. Her pop comes from the American trailer park and... ...

Beth Orton: Union Chapel, London

Live Review by Paul Sexton, The Times, 15 April 1997

Finger in the ear to the ground ...

Ani DiFranco: Living in Clip (Righteous Babe)

Review by Richard Cromelin, Los Angeles Times, 20 April 1997

YOU DON'T need stacks of amps to be larger than life, not when you have a persona as outsized as Ani DiFranco's. That's more than ...

Jewel's Paradise

Report and Interview by Steven Daly, Details, July 1997

She's the wonder from the tundra, a guitar-strumming siren who spent the past two years on the road, driving herself to the top. Steven Daly ...

Danny Thompson, Richard Thompson: Industry: A Tale of Two Thompsons

Review by Geoffrey Himes, The Washington Post, 4 July 1997

DANNY THOMPSON grew up in the world described in the movie Brassed Off--the northern British villages where men scrub off the soot of the ...

Phil Ochs: Van Dyke Parks on Phil Ochs (1997)

Interview by Steve Roeser, Rock's Backpages audio, September 1997

VDP on his relationship with Phil Ochs, Ochs' relationship with Bob Dylan, producing Greatest Hits, and his dislike of the Byrds

File format: mp3; in 2 parts, total file sizes: 38.2mb, total interview length: 41' 41" sound quality: * (phoner)

Fairport Convention 30th Anniversary: Cropredy Festival, Oxfordshire

Review by Colin Harper, MOJO, October 1997

IF SOMEBODY back in the "summer of love" had told Ashley Hutchings, Richard Thompson and Judy Dyble – members of North London's premier Jefferson Airplane ...

The Crickets, Nanci Griffith: Nanci Griffith, the Crickets: Wiltern Theatre, Los Angeles CA

Live Review by Marc Weingarten, Los Angeles Times, 10 November 1997

Nanci Griffith's Long Look Back ...

John Denver 1943-1997

Obituary by Mark Kemp, Rolling Stone, 27 November 1997

Country-pop star dies in plane crash ...

Beth Orton: A Kinky Disco Kid

Interview by Sheryl Garratt, The Guardian, 28 November 1997

Singer Beth Orton shrugged off the tragedies of her youth and was inspired by acid house to mix folk with breakbeats. Sheryl Garratt hears how ...

Beth Orton: Shepherds Bush Empire, London

Live Review by David Sinclair, The Times, 17 December 1997

Unplugged and unvarnished ...

Bert Jansch Conundrum: Thirteen Down (Fantasy/Kicking Mule)

Sleeve notes by Bill Wasserzieher, Fantasy/Kicking Mule Records, 1998

MUSIC COMMENTATOR Colin Harper once wrote that Bert Jansch, on a scale of one to 10 in terms of popular notoriety, probably would come in ...

Mark Hollis, Talk Talk: Mark Hollis Interview

Interview by Jim Irvin, unpublished, 1998

MARK HOLLIS' self titled debut album was, at one point, going to be a Talk Talk album entitled Mountains Of The Moon, but somewhere between ...

Roger McGuinn: Born To Rock And Roll

Review by Tom Cox, Uncut, January 1998

The former Byrd's mid-Seventies solo years ...

The Pogues, Shane MacGowan: Shane MacGowan: It's A Long Way From Tipperary

Retrospective by Ian Fortnam, Vox, January 1998

AS PUNK PASSION dissipated and died, choking on its own irrelevance, a generation of serial venters were suddenly deprived of its primal, therapeutic effect. The ...

Richard Thompson: Waterfront Hall, Belfast

Live Review by Colin Harper, The Independent, 21 January 1998

BELFAST'S WATERFRONT Hall embodies all the characteristics of a provincial Barbican – a kind of clinical, beige Gormenghast of a place where corridors lead to ...

Terry Callier: Look At Me Now: The Return Of Terry Callier

Profile and Interview by James Maycock, The Independent, February 1998

DEFINING THE "soul" part of soul music is a tricky issue – it's one of the bigger questions. The music's intangible qualities are often the ...

Anne Briggs, Bert Jansch: Anne Briggs: In Search of the Wild Rover

Retrospective and Interview by Colin Harper, MOJO, March 1998

Richard Thompson wrote a song about her. Jimmy Page unplugged on her account. Singers from June Tabor to Kate Rusby revere her as the queen ...

The Chieftains: Paddy Moloney: The Abundant Life of The Chieftains

Interview by Chris Smith, Performing Songwriter, March 1998

IF YOU'VE EVER visited Graceland in Memphis, Tennessee, one of the most memorable legs of the tour (not quite as touching as the meditation garden ...

Pete Seeger: Flower father

Interview by Tom Cox, The Guardian, 3 April 1998

A new tribute CD confirms folk singer Pete Seeger as the patron saint of hippy radicals — and he still hasn't lost hope. ...

Peter, Paul & Mary: What Makes A Song Endure

Interview by Chris Smith, Performing Songwriter, May 1998

IT'S APRIL, 2048, the year of the cockroach. The lines curve out the door of Radio City Music Hall, around the block, and down Sixth ...

Leo Kottke: An Interview

Interview by Colin Harper, The Irish News, 29 May 1998

Author's Note: I often had a chance to preview touring artists, soon to be playing in Northern Ireland, in the Irish News, a Belfast-based daily ...

Sandy Denny, Fairport Convention, Fotheringay: Angel Of Avalon: Sandy Denny

Retrospective by Jim Irvin, MOJO, June 1998

Revered by everyone from Frank Zappa to The Spice Girls. Led Zeppelin's one and only guest star. One of Britain's greatest singers. Yet her true ...

John Martyn (1998)

Interview by Chris Smith, Rock's Backpages audio, June 1998

We start with Smith's second attempt at interviewing Martyn: the Scottish bard on his covers album The Church of the One Bell; on starting out as a musician; on his influences such as Davey Graham and the impressionist composers; on writing 'Solid Air' for (and about) Nick Drake. Following that, we present Smith's first attempt at the interview, in which a soused Martyn slurs about impressionism, drink and religion, and tells incomprehensible jokes.

File format: mp3; file size: 38.2mb, interview length: 39' 49" sound quality: ** (phoner)

John Martyn: Felling Gravity's Pull

Interview by Rob Young, The Wire, June 1998

After rising to prominence with the late 60s electric folk renaissance, John Martyn uprooted songform and subjected it to a serious sonic makeover on a ...

Billy Bragg, Wilco: Billy Bragg & Wilco: Mermaid Avenue (Elektra)

Review by Richard Cromelin, Los Angeles Times, 21 June 1998

IF HE WERE around today, it figures that Woody Guthrie would make music that sounds like Dylan and Springsteen, Costello and the Clash. In this ...

Roy Harper: The Dream Society

Review by Colin Harper, MOJO, July 1998

THE SOPHISTICATED BEGGAR, the Valentine, the Loony On The Bus... Roy Harper has worn these and other Lifemasks for more than 30 years now and ...

Billy Bragg, Woody Guthrie, Wilco: Songs For Woody: Billy Bragg & Wilco's Mermaid Avenue

Review by RJ Smith, The Village Voice, 7 July 1998

WOODY GUTHRIE bequeathed us his jumble. Willing in life to play straight man for many right causes, in death he left a tangle of words ...

John Fahey: Blood on the Frets

Interview by Edwin Pouncey, The Wire, August 1998

The original American Primitive, John Fahey's raw mixes of blues, folk and musique concrete embody the spirit of American alternative music. But during the 60s ...

Martin Hayes and Dennis Cahill: Martin Hayes & Dennis Cahill: Cornmill Heritage Centre, Coalisland

Live Review by Colin Harper, The Irish Times, 4 August 1998

OVER THE PAST three years Hayes and Cahill have taken their remarkable, breathtakingly subtle artistry to some sizeable venues. Indeed, next year the plan is ...

The Corrs: "Sorry, We're Boring!"

Interview by David Sinclair, Q, September 1998

Au contraire, Mrs, Mrs, Mrs and oh, Mr Corr. You are extraordinary in ways it would be rude to fully explain, while a Number One ...

Don McLean: Waterfront Hall, Belfast

Live Review by Colin Harper, The Irish Times, 30 October 1998

"PEOPLE ASK ME what 'American Pie' means" says Don, midway through his enviably well-attended show. "It means I don't have to work any more if ...

Roy Harper

Interview by Colin Harper, The Independent, 30 October 1998

CIRCA 1984, and during one of those latterday sojourns in the course of the once Old and Grey Whistle Test's sleepy history when it found ...

How to Buy Greenwich Village Folk

Guide by Fred Dellar, MOJO, November 1998

TOM PAXTON recalls that he, along with Dylan, Dave Van Ronk, David Blue, Eric Andersen, Pat Sky and Phil Ochs, once called the Village home. ...

Wizz Jones, John Renbourn: John Renbourn & Wizz Jones: Famous Grouse House, Edinburgh

Live Review by Colin Harper, MOJO, November 1998

FOR SEASONED Renbourn watchers, there was little in the great man's own set tonight that surprised, but much that delighted. Booker T's 'Sweet Potato' has ...

Dar Williams

Interview by Terry Staunton, Uncut, December 1998

"IT'S THE teachers who are to blame, if you ask me. Probably more so than parents, because they're kinda paid to shape young minds — ...

Geoff Muldaur: The Secret Handshake

Review by Tony Scherman, The New York Times, 13 December 1998

"THE WHITE MAN cannot vocal the blues,'' said the blues singer Muddy Waters with grave finality, and his maxim has only rarely been disproved. ...

The Band, Bob Dylan: Bob Dylan: The Bootleg Series Vol. 4: Live 1966 (The "Royal Albert Hall" Concert) (Columbia/Legacy)

Review by Mac Randall, Musician, January 1999

THIRTY-TWO years ago, Bob Dylan got into a little disagreement with his audience during a tour of England. A lot of his English fans at ...

Roy Harper: Vicar Street, Dublin

Live Review by Colin Harper, MOJO, January 1999

ROY ASSURES ME that it only happens in Liverpool, Belfast and Dublin. "It" being the verge-of-chaos spectator sport and crowd participation version of what would ...

Woody Guthrie: Nora Guthrie on her father Woody (1999)

Interview by Chris Smith, Rock's Backpages audio, 15 January 1999

Nora Guthrie talks about setting up the Woody Guthrie archive: discovering, preserving and cataloging old paperwork; the involvement of archivist Jorge Arevalo; setting up the travelling exhibit with the Smithsonian; taking it to Woody's home state of Oklahoma; the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame tribute concert, tribute albums by other artists, and putting Woody into a present day context with the help of artists like Billy Bragg.

File format: mp3; file size: 52mb, interview length: 54' 11" sound quality: ***

Bob Dylan: Judas!

Retrospective by Andy Gill, The Independent, 23 January 1999

1966. The night popular music changed for ever. Bob Dylan swapped his acoustic guitar for a Stratocaster and one fan lost his cool. This is ...

Badly Drawn Boy: Drawn power

Interview by Max Bell, The Evening Standard, 31 March 1999

The new Beck, huh? MAX BELL meets Badly Drawn Boy, whose Idiosyncratic, low-fi sound provokes the strangest comparisons... ...

Beth Orton: Mild Thing: Beth Orton: Central Reservation (Heavenly) **

Review by David Quantick, Q, April 1999

The Janis Joplin of the Heavenly Social Club finally delivers sequel to Trailer Park. ...

The Byrds, Roger McGuinn: Roger McGuinn Interview

Interview by Stephen K. Peeples, unpublished, 2 April 1999

AUTHOR'S NOTE, Oct. 11, 2014: The following is an expanded version of my Roger McGuinn interview, a shorter version of which was first published at ...

Jackson C. Frank

Obituary by Colin Irwin, MOJO, May 1999

JACKSON WAS ONCE DESCRIBED AS "the most famous folk singer no-one ever heard of and that was about right. He met Elvis, was Sandy Denny's ...

Karen Dalton: Who Loves You The Best Now?

Retrospective by Max Bell, Sunday Telegraph, 8 May 1999

Karen Dalton was a chronic recluse who died in obscurity. But now she's being hailed as one of the most original folk singers of the ...

Capercaillie: West Belfast Festival

Live Review by Colin Harper, The Irish Times, 3 June 1999

THIS WAS THE Scots/Irish band's first time in Belfast in eight years, since when they've progressed from being a traditional music group to, well, something ...

The Beta Band: Ramble On

Interview by Tom Doyle, Q, July 1999

Lace up some gaiters and uncork a flask of weak lemon drink, as uncompromising art bods the Beta Band take us to a rugged dell ...

Newport Notes: How the Jazz and Folk Festivals made history

Retrospective and Interview by Ted Drozdowski, The Boston Phoenix, 9 August 1999

"WELL, THIS IS real bullshit!" yelled Eddie Condon.  ...

Ben & Jason, Witness: Witness/Ben & Jason: The Social, London

Live Review by Keith Cameron, The Guardian, 20 August 1999

SO CONVIVIAL IS the Heavenly record label's latest location for West End hi-living that any act willing to take on its Wednesday night acoustic challenge ...

The Holy Modal Rounders: Grin 'n' Spin: Millennial Yarns from the Holy Modal Rounders

Profile and Interview by Michael Simmons, L.A. Weekly, 2 September 1999

DURING THE early stages of a hallucinogenic drug trip, the voyager experiences giddiness and a vision of existence as a zany, absurdist cartoon. Eccentricity in ...

Nick Cave, Hal Willner: Hal Willner's Harry Smith Project at Nick Cave's Meltdown

Live Review by John L. Walters, Frieze, 9 September 1999

HAL WILLNER has been described as an "auteur" producer, but he doesn't have a trademark sound, like Trevor Horn or Quincy Jones, and he's not ...

Beth Orton: Academy, Manchester ****

Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 19 October 1999

Real angry woman ...

Merz: Merz (Epic)

Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 29 October 1999

Don't wait until next year for Oasis or Radiohead — the debut album from Merz is here now, and it will leave you bewitched, says ...

Tom Rush: Nightstick: 'No Regrets'

Report by Kirk Silsbee, New Times Los Angeles, 18 November 1999

CAN'T REMEMBER exactly when the seminal folkie Tom Rush was last heard around here, but Saturday's show at McCabe's is definitely a case of long ...

Mellow Candle: Swaddling Songs (DERAM SDL7)

Retrospective and Interview by Colin Harper, unpublished, 2000

NOTE: This is a slightly longer edit of the piece as published in MOJO, sometime in the early 2000s. Since that time (in the early ...

Nick Drake: Exiled From Heaven

Retrospective by Ian MacDonald, MOJO, January 2000

DURING THE ACADEMIC year of 1968-9, Cambridge University felt an alien influence from beyond its ancient facade of curtain walls and quiet quadrangles. Sober flag-stones ...

Fred Neil: I Don't Hear a Word They're Saying...

Retrospective and Interview by Ben Edmonds, MOJO, February 2000

He gave Dylan his start, wrote a song you know by heart, and was rated by many performers as the very best there ever was. ...

Eddi Reader

Interview by Debbie Kruger, Performing Songwriter, March 2000

EDDI READER ready to do it alone. After a decade of drawing heavily on collaborations with other writers, she realizes it's okay – in fact ...

Bert Jansch (2000)

Interview by Colin Harper, Rock's Backpages audio, 8 June 2000

The folk guitar wizard talks about being the subject of biography and documentary; the revival of interest in '60s folk; his most recent recordings and his upcoming planes.

File format: mp3; file size: 21.6mb, interview length: 23' 36" sound quality: ** (phoner)

Bert Jansch: The Dazzling Bert Jansch

Report and Interview by Colin Harper, The Independent, 23 June 2000

"MY INTEREST IN ALBUMS usually wanes around this point," says Bert Jansch, 57 this year and, for all the outward appearance of a man who ...

Bert Jansch, Davey Graham: Bert Jansch and Davey Graham

Retrospective and Interview by Colin Harper, MOJO, July 2000

NOTE: This piece was adapted and expanded, with additional material, from Dazzling Stranger: Bert Jansch And The British Folk & Blues Revival (Bloomsbury). It is ...

Andy Irvine: Andy Irvine: Stray Leaf Folk Club, Mullaghbane

Live Review by Colin Harper, unpublished, 4 July 2000

MOST ROLES and occupations in life are applied for, coveted, stolen or won; with others, the job is so novel it happens by stealth.  After ...

The Corrs: We are family

Profile and Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 22 July 2000

The Corrs have been keeping it in the family for 10 slow-burning years, and are now emerging as the ultimate cute-and-catchy pop band. Sibling pop ...

Harry Smith's Anthology of American Folk Music, Volume 4

Review by Dave DiMartino, MOJO, August 2000

Billed as Smith’s ‘secret’ volume, the line-up was intended as the fourth in this celebrated series but never made it to the starting gate. ...

Nick Drake

Retrospective by Ian MacDonald, Uncut, August 2000

"I was born to sail away into a land of forever/not to be tied to an old stone grave/in your land of never" — Nick ...

Nick Drake: Five Leaves Left****; Bryter Layter****; Pink Moon*****

Review by Ian MacDonald, Uncut, August 2000

Lost poet's main works re-released ...

Eliza Carthy, Kate Rusby, Kathryn Williams: Sandals Out, Piercing In: The New Folk Sirens

Overview by Lucy O'Brien, The Guardian, 24 August 2000

LIVERPUDLIAN ARTIST Kathryn Williams is among the nominees for this year’s Mercury music prize – and hotly tipped to win. Last year Kate Rusby was ...

Bert Jansch: Bert and my Book

Comment by Colin Harper, The Irish Times, 1 September 2000

CURRENTLY HOT on the heels of Miles Davis, Jimi Hendrix and Johnny Cash as an individualist icon of 20th Century music – name-dropped as an ...

The Best of Broadside 1962–1988

Review by Ira Robbins, salon.com, 19 September 2000

BROADSIDE PUBLISHED SONGS by writers who wanted to change the world – including a young Bob Dylan. A five-CD set marches through the great folk ...

Andy Irvine

Interview by Colin Harper, Folk Roots, October 2000

HAVING BEEN through the music business mill several times over the past thirty-five years, with spells in such legendary and pioneering Irish music ensembles as ...

Horslips: Short Takes: Horslips

Retrospective and Interview by Colin Harper, Record Collector, November 2000

They've come a long way from Tipperary, and now the original Celt rockers have finally regained control of their back catalogue. Lyricist Eamon Carr talks ...

Roy Harper: Errigle Inn, Belfast

Live Review by Colin Harper, The Independent, 6 November 2000

RELEASING HIS THIRTY-SIXTH ALBUM, and still best-known to the world at large as a bloke who once sang on a Pink Floyd record ('Have A ...

Eliza Carthy: Manchester University

Live Review by Dave Simpson, Guardian Unlimited, 11 November 2000

Eliza Carthy goes pop ...

Vashti Bunyan: Just Another Diamond Day

Review by Richie Unterberger, AllMusic.com, Fall 2000

ABOUT FIVE YEARS after briefly surfacing as part of Andrew Loog Oldham's stable, Vashti — now billing herself with her full name, Vashti Bunyan — ...

Barry McGuire

Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001

b. 15 October 1937, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA ...

Bobby Darin

Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, Faber Companion to 20th Century Popular Music, 2001

b. Walden Robert Cassotto, 14 May 1936, New York, USA, d. 20 December 1973, Los Angeles, California ...

Carolyn Hester

Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001

b. 1936, Waco, Texas, USA ...

Christy Moore

Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001

b. 1946, Newbridge, County Kildare, Ireland ...

Dave Van Ronk

Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001

b. 30 June 1936, Brooklyn, New York, USA ...

Ewan MacColl

Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001

b. William Miller, 25 January 1915, Auchterarder, Scotland, d. 22 October 1989, London, England ...

Gerry Rafferty, Stealers Wheel: Gerry Rafferty

Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, Faber Companion to 20th Century Popular Music, 2001

b. 16 April 1947, Paisley, Scotland ...

Hoyt Axton

Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001

b. 25 March 1932, Comanche, Oklahoma, USA, d. 26 October 1999, Oklahoma ...

Ian and Sylvia

Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001

Ian Tyson, b. September 1933, British Columbia, Canada; Sylvia Fricker, b. September 1940, Chatham, Ontario ...

Josh White

Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001

September b. 11 February 1915, Greenville, South Carolina, USA, d. 5 1969, Manhasset, New York ...

Martin Carthy

Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001

b. 21 May 1940, Hatfield, Hertfordshire, England ...

Woody Guthrie, Burl Ives, Leadbelly: Moe Asch

Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, 'Faber Companion to 20th Century Popular Music', 2001

b. Moses Asch, 1905, Warsaw, Poland, d. 19 October 1986, New York, USA ...

Pete Seeger

Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001

b. 3 May 1919, New York, USA ...

Ralph McTell

Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001

b. Ralph May, 3 December 1944, Farnborough, Kent, England ...

Ramblin' Jack Elliott

Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th Century Popular Music, 2001

b. Elliot Charles Adnopoz, 1 August 1931, Brooklyn, New York, USA ...

Richard and Mimi Farina

Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001

Richard Farina, b. 1937, New York, USA, d. 30 April 1966, Carmel, California; Mimi Farina, b. Mimi Baez, 30 April 1945 ...

The Albion Band

Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, Faber Companion to 20th Century Popular Music, 2001

Shirley Collins, b. 5 July 1935, Hastings, Sussex, England; Ashley Hutchings, b. 26 January 1945, Southgate, Middlesex; Dave Mattacks, b. 13 March 1948, London; Simon ...

The Kingston Trio

Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001

Dave Guard, b. 19 November 1934, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA, d. 22 March 1991 (replaced by John Stewart, b. 5 September 1939, San Diego, California); Nick ...

The New Lost City Ramblers

Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001

Mike Seeger, b. 1933, New York, USA; John Cohen, b. 1932, New York; Tom Paley, b. 19 March 1928, New York (replaced by Tracy Schwarz, ...

The Seekers

Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001

Judith Durham, b. 3 July 1943; Athol Guy, b. 5 January 1940, Victoria, Australia; Keith Potger, b. 2 March 1941, Colombo, Sri Lanka; Bruce Woodley, ...

The Youngbloods

Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, Faber Companion to 20th Century Popular Music, 2001

Jesse Colin Young, b. Perry Miller, 11 November 1944, New York, USA; Jerry Corbitt, b. Tifton, Goergia; Joe Bauer, b. 26 September 1941, Memphis, Tennessee; ...

Theodore Bikel

Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001

b. 2 May 1924, Vienna, Austria ...

Shirley Collins: The Power Of The True Love Knot (Fledg'ling)

Review by Mike Barnes, The Wire, January 2001

THE POWER OF THE TRUE LOVE KNOT is a marvellous collection and a landmark release in English folk. ...

Turin Brakes: Rock Musicians

Profile by Max Bell, The Evening Standard, 4 January 2001

EVER SINCE Olly Knights and Gale Paridjanian struck up a playground friendship in their Clapham primary school they seemed destined to work together. ...

Gary Lucas: Invisible Jukebox: Gary Lucas

Interview by Mike Barnes, The Wire, February 2001

Every month we play a musician a series of records which they're asked to identify and comment on — with no prior knowledge of what ...

Orgy, Spooks, Teddy Thompson: Teddy Thompson: Teddy Thompson; Spooks: S.I.O.S.O.S. Vol 1; Orgy: Vapour Transmission

Review by Lisa Verrico, The Times, 2 February 2001

Teddy Thompson has inherited his dad's folk flair, says Lisa Verrico ...

Eliza Carthy: Angel of Rebellion

Interview by Charles Bermant, Rolling Stone Online, 7 February 2001

ELIZA CARTHY IS in the midst of playing a fluid passage when her feet stop moving. She rolls her eyes, exhales and scowls before attacking ...

John Martyn: NTL Studio, Waterfront Hall, Belfast

Live Review by Colin Harper, The Irish Times, 28 February 2001

JOHN MARTYN MADE some very beautiful and distinctive acoustic-based records in the '70s, most notably Solid Air –reputedly a "chillout" fave for today's clubby types. ...

Judy Henske: An Interview

Interview by Richie Unterberger, unpublished, 27 March 2001

ONE OF THE most eclectic early-1960s folk singers, Judy Henske started to use band backup and even drums on some of the recordings in 1963 on ...

John Fahey: The Great San Bernadino Birthday Party And Other Excursions

Review by Ian MacDonald, Uncut, April 2001

Solitary fingerstyle pioneer evokes the dark side of the Sixties ...

Current 93: Invisible Jukebox: Current 93

Interview by Mike Barnes, The Wire, May 2001

Every month we play a musician a series of records which they're asked to identify and comment on — with no prior knowledge of what ...

Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Richard and Mimi Fariña: David Hajdu: Positively 4th Street – The Lives and Times of Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Mimi Baez Fariña and Richard Fariña (Farrar, Straus & Giroux)

Book Review by Peter Stone Brown, Gadfly, 28 May 2001

A SIMPLE TWIST of Fate might have been a more appropriate title for this book, which is essentially a biography of Richard Fariña in disguise. ...

Beverley Martyn, John and Beverley Martyn: Been Gone So Long: Beverley Martyn

Retrospective and Interview by Bob Stanley, MOJO, June 2001

After 30 years away from it all, Beverley Martyn is making music again. She speaks to Bob Stanley about her music, friends, enemies and looking ...

Bob Dylan: In My Time Of Dyin'…

Essay by Ian MacDonald, Uncut, June 2001

ON ITS RELEASE IN 1962, BOB DYLAN'S FIRST ALBUM BLEW MINDS ALL OVER THE WORLD. IAN MACDONALD RECALLS ITS IMPACT ON HIS OWN TEENAGE YEARS ...

Patrick Sky: Songs That Made America Famous (Adelphi/GENES Records, Inc.)

Review by Gary Pig Gold, In Music We Trust, June 2001

IN 1965, YET another Greenwich Village folkie signed to Vanguard Records and released an album full of pleasing if inconsequential singalongs, more or less in ...

Fred Neil

Obituary by Colin Irwin, The Guardian, 11 July 2001

HE WROTE ONE of the most famous songs of the late 20th century, but Fred Neil, who has died aged 64 of cancer, remains one ...

Fred Neil: Rocking My Life Away: Fred Neil

Obituary by Anthony DeCurtis, Rolling Stone, 20 July 2001

"HE WAS A hero to me," David Crosby said of singer-songwriter Fred Neil. But when Neil died of cancer on July 7th at the age ...

Ashley Hutchings

Report and Interview by Colin Harper, Record Collector, August 2001

WITH EXPANDED REISSUES of classic albums by himself and his various bands – including Fairport Convention's Leige & Leif and his own Compleat Dancing Master ...

Shirley Collins: False True Lovers (Fledg’ling)

Review by Ken Hunt, The Wire, August 2001

FALSE TRUE LOVERS captures a vital contributor to the English folksong revival at a key stage in her development. ...

Simon & Garfunkel Reissues

Review by Ian MacDonald, Uncut, August 2001

Wednesday Morning, 3am*/The Sounds Of Silence****/Parsley, Sage, Rosemary & Thyme***/Bookends*****/Bridge Over Troubled Water*** (All Columbia) Sixties folk-rock digitally done up and decorated with extra tracks ...

Roy Harper: The Spirit Lives: Roy Harper

Retrospective and Interview by David Stubbs, Uncut, August 2001

"I DON'T THINK I'm very good at interviews, because I have too many thoughts going off at the same time to be able to explain ...

Fred Neil, 1936-2001

Obituary by Richie Unterberger, No Depression, September 2001

FRED NEIL, one of the most influential singer-songwriters of the early folk-rock era, died in his sleep on July 7 at the age of 65. ...

Phil Ochs: One-Way Ticket Home

Retrospective by Phil Mershon, Perfect Sound Forever, September 2001

AROUND 1980, my friend Julia invited me over to listen to a compilation album by a singer named Phil Ochs. I was a college senior, ...

Fred Neil: The Other Side Of This Life: Fred Neil, 1936-2001

Obituary by Joel Selvin, MOJO, September 2001

"FREDDIE TAUGHT me a lot," says David Crosby, speaking exclusively to me on the death of Fred Neil. "He was an amazing folk singer, probably ...

Odetta: Lookin’ For A Home

Review by Andria Lisle, Living Blues, November 2001

IN 1949, THE year that Leadbelly died, Odetta made her first appearance on stage – in a Los Angeles production of Finian’s Rainbow. ...

David Blue, The Dillards, Fred Neil, Judy Collins, Judy Henske, Phil Ochs, Tim Buckley, Tom Paxton, Tom Rush: Elektra Label: Various Reissues

Review by Ian MacDonald, Uncut, December 2001

Twenty-album reissue programme commemorates a great Sixties label ...

The Incredible String Band: Robin Williamson

Interview by Richie Unterberger, Perfect Sound Forever, Fall 2001

IN THE 1960s, Scotland's Incredible String Band put together elements of folk and world music into something that was called folk-rock, in part, because it ...

Chris Smither: Don't It Drag On

Sleeve notes by Bill Wasserzieher, Tomato Records, 2002

WHETHER A digital stream encoded on a silver disc or deep grooves on vintage black vinyl, an album is a record of a time in ...

David Blue: David Blue

Sleeve notes by Richie Unterberger, Collector's Choice Records, 2002

WHEN DAVID BLUE came out in August 1966, folk-rock singer-songwriters with folk roots were scurrying to ride Bob Dylan's coattails into the rock mainstream. For ...

Harry Belafonte: Island in the Sun

Sleeve notes by Colin Escott, Bear Family, 2002

WHEN "WORLD MUSIC" became a phrase on everyone's lips a few years ago, it sometimes seemed as though an interest in other countries' musics was ...

Judy Henske: Judy Henske

Sleeve notes by Richie Unterberger, Collector's Choice Music, 2002

ELEKTRA RECORDS was thought of as a folk label in the early 1960s, and Judy Henske's early albums might have been filed under the folk ...

Julie Felix

Retrospective and Interview by Colin Harper, Record Collector, 2002

"HOW CAN WE explain the phenomenon of Julie Felix?" mused Karl Dallas, Melody Maker's titan of folk, in a December 1965 concert review. "Clearly anyone ...

Various Artists: The Folk Years – Blowin' in the Wind

Sleeve notes by Barney Hoskyns, Time-Life Music, 2002

THERE WAS A TIME when the notion of the "folk singer-songwriter" was all but a contradiction in terms. "Folk" music was the ür-sound of the ...

Various Artists: The Folk Years – Yesterday's Gone

Sleeve notes by Barney Hoskyns, Time-Life Music, 2002

THE 18 TRACKS on this album whisk us back to the hopeful, happy days of America's Hootenanny boom. From the Caribbean lilt of Harry Belafonte's ...

Taraf de Haïdouks: Johnny and the outlaws take Hackney by storm

Report by Tim Cooper, The Evening Standard, 29 January 2002

IT IS not every day you find a Hollywood superstar slumming it in the East End. But last night Johnny Depp came to deepest Hackney ...

Dave Van Ronk: The Life (and Death) of Dave Van Ronk

Retrospective by Peter Stone Brown, Gadfly, 11 February 2002

THE HEADLINE February 10 announcing Dave Van Ronk's death in Reuters said, "Folk Pioneer", but I always thought of him as more than that. First ...

Menlo Park: Borderline, London

Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 19 February 2002

THE FREAKISH Menlo Park suggests the sort of many-headed monstrosity you would be left with in the aftermath of a nuclear Armageddon. ...

Josh Rouse: Dingwalls, London

Live Review by John Aizlewood, The Guardian, 28 February 2002

NASHVILLE-BASED JOSH ROUSE is not one to bare his soul. "People often ask me what this or that song means," he mutters, before stepping into ...

Bob Dylan, Joan Baez: David Hajdu: Positively Fourth Street (Bloomsbury)

Review by Tim Clifford, Rock's Backpages, April 2002

NOW OUT in paperback, this engrossing account of the intertwined lives of Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Mimi Baez Fariña and Richard Fariña from the late ...

Terry Callier: An Interview

Interview by Angus Batey, The Times, April 2002

IT'S JUST another rainy night in April, and the Green Mill, a bar on Chicago's north side, is hosting its regular Monday resident. Opening with ...

Dave Van Ronk: Folk's Missing Link

Retrospective by Gene Santoro, The Nation, 4 April 2002

I WAS IN HIGH school in the 1960s when I first saw Dave Van Ronk at the Gaslight, one of those little cellar clubs that ...

Shirley Collins: Spirit Of Eden: Shirley Collins

Retrospective and Interview by Mike Barnes, The Wire, May 2002

"The main body of [folk music] is just based on myth and the Bible and plague and famine and all kinds of things like that ...

Hank Dogs: The Ivy House, Nunhead

Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, July 2002

TEN YEARS THEY'VE done this, and few are any the wiser. Even when Nick Drake's legendary producer Joe Boyd declared Hank Dogs the first British ...

Beth Orton: Electric Ballroom, London

Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 11 July 2002

WITH A NEW album, Daybreaker, due at the end of the month, this one-off show was an opportunity for Beth Orton to shake down the ...

Linda Thompson: Miserable Old Sod Linda Thompson Returns as Exquisitely Sad as Ever

Interview by Mac Randall, New York Observer, 29 July 2002

THERE ARE SOME PEOPLE who say that Linda Thompson is the greatest female rock singer alive. I'm not one of them-partly because I think her ...

Sinead O'Connor (2002)

Interview by Chris Smith, Rock's Backpages audio, 30 August 2002

Sinead talks about "de-Enya-ing" her first album; her new album of traditional Irish songs Sean-Nós Nua; her love of American music; the cultural benefits of ethnic immigration into Ireland; the current state of Irish music; the difference between performing her own songs and covering others'; collaborating with Massive Attack and, possibly, Buju Banton!

File format: mp3; file size: 13.4mb, interview length: 14' sound quality: ** (phoner)

Alan Lomax: A Life Less Ordinary

Obituary by Chris Smith, Performing Songwriter, September 2002

SUMMING UP ALAN LOMAX'S contributions to folk music in a single magazine article is like trying to list everyone you've ever met on a single ...

Aqualung: Who the hell are ... Aqualung

Profile by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 20 September 2002

Aqualung... dreaming of badass rap and bruising beats ...

Tim Rose, 1940-2002

Obituary by Alan Clayson, The Guardian, 12 November 2002

Singer best known for his 1967 version of the anti-nuclear song 'Morning Dew' ...

Beth Gibbons & Rustin Man: Out of Season

Review by Rob Young, The Wire, December 2002

Lighting out for a rural retreat, Portishead singer Beth Gibbons and ex-Talk Talk bassist Paul Webb fashion a pastoral strain of folk rock.  ...

Jake Thackray, 1939-2002

Obituary by Alan Clayson, The Guardian, 28 December 2002

Original lyricist and founding father of the English chanson. ...

Joni Mitchell: Back Catalog: Joni Mitchell

Guide by Barney Hoskyns, Blender, Fall 2002

IF ANY WOMAN has kept up with the big boys (Dylan, Young and co.) in the obstacle race that is folk-based singer-songwriter rock, that woman ...

Steve Ashley Passes The Test Of Time

Retrospective and Interview by Dave Thompson, Goldmine, 2003

AMID THE MYRIAD names thrown up by the English Folk-Rock boom of the early 1970s, the era most succinctly summarised by the legendary Electric Muse ...

Richard Thompson: Shepherd's Bush Empire, London

Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 17 March 2003

WHITE, MIDDLE-AGED English men dominate a crowd who have packed this venue to bursting for a man barely known outside their tribe. ...

Fairport Convention: Fairport Convention, What We Did On Our Holidays, Unhalfbricking

Review by Jim Irvin, The Word, April 2003

Three reissued albums find Fairport Convention on the edge of greatness ...

Vashti Bunyan: The Folk Myth

Interview by Bob Stanley, The Times, 15 April 2003

Cult singer Vashti Bunyan vanished 30 years ago — now she's back ...

Bob Dylan, Shane MacGowan: Music at Sundance: Dylan, Atlantic and Shane MacGowan

Overview by Steven R Rosen, Harp, May 2003

Bob Dylan’s long awaited Masked and Anonymous debuts at Sundance ...

Adam Masterson: Younger and wiser

Interview by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 27 May 2003

THE GLUT OF ARTISTS working in the alt-country and folk-rock areas might be a logical reaction against the treacly deluge of pubescent pop, but there ...

Davey Graham: Davy Graham: The Guitar Player

Retrospective and Interview by Colin Harper, Record Collector, July 2003

LESS COMMERCIALLY successful than the Fairports, the Carthys and the Watersons of the British folk scene, Davy Graham remains something of a cult figure for ...

Dick Gaughan: An interview

Interview by Mark Hudson, Daily Telegraph, 11 September 2003

What makes a protest singer really angry? Well, being labelled a protest singer, for one thing. Folk star Dick Gaughan talks to Mark Hudson ...

Joan Baez: Dark Chords

Review by j. poet, Paste, 1 October 2003

JOAN BAEZ hasn't written a song in 10 years, but she maintains an unerring instinct for choosing good material. ...

The Byrds, David Crosby: David Crosby: A Long Strange Trip

Interview by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, November 2003

Over the past 40 years David Crosby has done it all, from crafting transcendental, psychedelic harmonies for the Byrds and CSNY to living a life ...

Nelly Furtado: Looking back to go forward

Interview by Lisa Verrico, The Times, 6 December 2003

Pressured by the expectations for her new album, Nelly Furtado dug into her Latin roots for inspiration, she tells Lisa Verrico. ...

Gordon Lightfoot on Songwriting

Retrospective and Interview by Nicholas Jennings, SOCAN Words and Music, Winter 2003

ON AN UNSEASONABLY warm Thanksgiving, Gordon Lightfoot is in an uncharacteristically reflective mood, sipping coffee and looking back on a career that has produced every ...

Bob Gibson and Bob Camp: Bob Gibson & Bob Camp: At the Gate of Horn

Sleeve notes by Richie Unterberger, Collectors' Choice Music, 2004

GIBSON AND CAMP's At the Gate of Horn was one of the most influential folk albums of the early 1960s, striking a chord with many ...

David Gray: An Introduction

Book Excerpt by Colin Harper, Irish Folk, Trad & Blues (Collins Press), 2004

Author's Note: There was at least one prepared but discarded chapter in my joint book with Trevor Hodgett, Irish Folk, Trad & Blues: A Secret ...

Wizz Jones

Retrospective and Interview by Colin Harper, Record Collector, 2004

"HARD TIMES IN NEWQUAY, If You've Got Long Hair" was the endearingly absurd refrain performed by that Zelig of British acoustic music, Raymond "Wizz" Jones, ...

Woody Guthrie

Book Excerpt by Gene Santoro, 'Highway 61 Revisited...', 2004

ON APRIL 16, 1944, a slight, wiry-haired man with a guitar and harmonica wandered into Moe Asch's little recording studio on West 46 Street off ...

King Creosote: Choose Fife: The Fence Collective

Report and Interview by James Medd, Esquire, January 2004

THE SIGNS have been there for a while,in current artists from Bonnie "Prince" Billy to Portishead's Beth Gibbons and Kings of Convenience. And it was ...

Joni Mitchell: Queen Joni Approximately

Retrospective by Barney Hoskyns, Rock's Backpages, January 2004

Raised in Canada, Joni Mitchell found her way to California in 1968. Barney Hoskyns on the crowning of a canyon princess. ...

Kate Rusby: Reflections on Kate Rusby at the Derby Assembly Rooms

Essay by Craig W. Thomas, unpublished, March 2004

ALEX FERGUSON was interviewed immediately after his team snatched an improbable victory from the back of the throat of defeat in the 1999 Champions League ...

Various Artists: A Mighty Wind

Review by Ken Hunt, Record Collector, March 2004

THE QUANTITY OF hot air expended in the wake of A Mighty Wind, Christopher Guest's spoof of the US folk scare and its fall-out, has ...

Nick Drake: Stranger To The World

Retrospective and Interview by Pete Paphides, Observer Music Monthly, 25 April 2004

Nick Drake's rare talent was almost ignored in his brief lifetime. Since his suicide 30 years ago, his legend has grown and now the discovery ...

Jem Finer, The Pogues: Cross Platform: Jem Finer

Interview by David Toop, The Wire, May 2004

Sound in other media. This month: David Toop talks to Jem Finer about his transition from banjo plucking with The Pogues to computer-decomposed improvisations and ...

The Corrs (2004)

Interview by Gavin Martin, Rock's Backpages audio, May 2004

Corrs Sharon and Jim on family, songwriting, the death of their mother, religion, and Mick Hucknall's wine!

File format: mp3; total file size: 29.5mb, total interview length: 32' 11" sound quality: ***

John Martyn: The Lowry, Salford

Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 8 May 2004

IF JOHN MARTYN hadn't become a folk/blues/rock legend, he could have knocked out a career as a mimic. At one point, he perfectly impersonates Alf ...

Nick Drake: Brighter Very Much Later: Nick Drake

Retrospective by Robert Sandall, Daily Telegraph, 20 May 2004

POSTHUMOUS ACCLAIM is not uncommon in rock - "death sells" and all that - but the clamour surrounding the English singer-songwriter Nick Drake gets more ...

Damien Dempsey

Interview by Colin Irwin, MOJO, June 2004

The sensitive ex-pugilist from Dublin's Northside has arrived. ...

Nick Drake: Bryter Later (Island, 1970)

Review by Barney Hoskyns, The Observer, June 2004

THE CULT OF Nick Drake, posh Lost Boy of post-folk singer-songwriting, shows little sign of abating. That’s because his mellow, Colin Blunstone-ish burr of a ...

Nick Drake: Made To Love Magic

Review by Pete Paphides, MOJO, June 2004

The most anticipated Drake release since his death includes a gorgeous five-minute version of 'Three Hours', and the hitherto undiscovered 'Tow The Line'. ...

Devendra Banhart: ICA, London

Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 2 June 2004

AS HIS FIRST NAME SUGGESTS, Devendra Banhart's parents were "alternative" types. He has certainly done them proud, growing up into a folk-hippy with a beard ...

The Incredible String Band: The Incredible String Band/The 5000 Spirits or the Layers of the Onion

Review by Barney Hoskyns, Uncut, September 2004

THE FIRST ISB albums in a two-fer-one release. The ISB (1966) is a more-or-less conventional Scots-trad folk effort by the original trio of Robin Williamson, ...

Judy Collins: Judy Collins 3/In Concert

Review by Barney Hoskyns, Uncut, September 2004

ARGUABLY THE best female folk voice of the age, Judy Collins brought a fresh commercial edge to the early ‘60s East Coast folk revival. Her ...

Crosby and Nash: Crosby & Nash: O Lucky Men!

Interview by Andy Gill, The Word, October 2004

David Crosby is rock's most improbable survivor; Graham Nash one bolshie hippie from Manchester. Together they make music so pure it disappears into the ether. ...

Peter Stampfel & The Bottlecaps: The Jig Is Up

Review by John Morthland, No Depression, 31 October 2004

TWO NEW CDS document the ongoing education of Peter Stampfel, crown prince of the old-timey anarcho-psychofolkadelic American songster tradition at its most contemporary and extreme. ...

Bob Dylan: Chronicles: Volume One

Book Review by Toby Creswell, Sydney Morning Herald, the, 13 November 2004

THERE'S NO WAY that Bob Dylan, after all this time, is going to spill the beans on his life. The high priest of protest makes ...

Donovan (2005)

Interview by Joel Selvin, Selvin On The City, KSAN 107.7, 2005

Mr Leitch looks back at his 40 years in music, from scoring hash in Goodge Street to recording with Rick Rubin, via Alice Cooper, Linda Lawrence and more.

File format: mp3 File size: 35.1mb Interview length: 38' 19"; Sound quality: ****

Odetta: Gonna Let It Shine – A Concert for the Holidays

Press Release by Bill Wasserzieher, M.C. Records, 2005

"If only one could be sure that every 50 years a voice and a soul like Odetta's would come along, the centuries would pass so ...

Bright Eyes, Conor Oberst: Bright Eyes: Inside Conor Oberst (Literally!)

Interview by Jaan Uhelszki, Harp, January 2005

JOHN LENNON sang, "I may be a dreamer, but I’m not the only one," in 1970’s 'Imagine'. ...

Donovan

Retrospective and Interview by Richie Unterberger, MOJO, January 2005

MID JULY 2004. In the dark-wooded, rich red subterranea of San Francisco's Cafe du Nord a song is building off little more than a two-chord ...

Bob Dylan: Revolution In His Head

Retrospective by Ben Edmonds, MOJO, February 2005

40 years ago this month, Bob Dylan walked into Columbia's Studio A and walked out having invented rock music as we know it. Corralling eyewitness ...

Laura Veirs: The Triumphs And Travails Of Orphan Mae

Review and Interview by Nick Hasted, Uncut, March 2005

First UK release of Veirs' second album, in wake of hugely acclaimed Carbon Glacier. ...

Sandy Denny: Like an Old-Fashioned Waltz

Review by Barney Hoskyns, Rock's Backpages, March 2005

BEGUN IN LA and finished in London, Like an Old-Fashioned Waltz may be Denny's finest hour. Kicking off with 'Solo', one of her trademark piano ...

Sandy Denny: Rendezvous

Review by Barney Hoskyns, Rock's Backpages, March 2005

FOLLOWING the Fairport Convention reunion that produced 1975's Rising For The Moon, Rendezvous was Denny's last LP before her death from a brain haemorrhage in ...

Sandy Denny: Sandy

Review by Barney Hoskyns, Rock's Backpages, March 2005

DENNY'S SECOND solo set, produced by boyfriend and Fotheringay graduate Trevor Lucas, was a decided improvement on her great but scattered debut. Evenly balanced between ...

Sandy Denny: The North Star Grassman and the Ravens

Review by Barney Hoskyns, Rock's Backpages, March 2005

TO BILLY CONNOLLY she was "one of the angriest women I ever met", while Island press officer David Sandison recalled her as a "belligerent and ...

Dorris Henderson: US Folk Singer Who Settled In London

Obituary by Colin Irwin, The Independent, 9 March 2005

DORRIS HENDERSON cut an unforgettable figure on the emergent British folk-music scene of the mid-1960s. ...

José González: Veneer

Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 22 April 2005

THOUGH RAISED in Sweden, José González's Latin American roots shine through on this debut album, which has hoisted him to unlikely stardom in Scandinavia, as ...

Born Heller: 12 Bar Club, London

Live Review by Frances Morgan, Plan B, May 2005

FEBRUARY WAS so cold it was almost fun. Snow whipped round the corners of buildings, full in your face. Under the railway arches, I found ...

Fairport Convention: Chronicles

Review by Terry Staunton, Record Collector, May 2005

FAIRPORT'S ANNUAL reunion festival at Cropredy in Oxfordshire celebrated its 25th anniversary last year, long since established as one of the primo dates on the ...

Kathryn Williams: Over Fly Over

Review by Robert Sandall, Daily Telegraph, 7 May 2005

KATHRYN WILLIAMS is one of those artists for whom a Mercury nomination – for her 2000 debut Little Black Numbers – brought a level of ...

Dorris Henderson, 1935-2005

Obituary by Ken Hunt, The Guardian, 12 May 2005

THE BRITISH FOLK scene has been characterised as insular, but African-American Dorris Henderson, who has died aged 70, disproved that. When she arrived in London ...

Circulus: If You Go Down to the Woods Today

Profile and Interview by Tom Cox, Observer Music Monthly, 19 June 2005

If you go down to the woods today... then you're sure to meet Britain's finest neo-medieval psychedelic folk-rock band. Or you are if you're author ...

Rilo Kiley: Koko, London

Live Review by Tim Cooper, The Independent, 8 July 2005

FORMED IN Los Angeles around the former child actors Jenny Lewis and Blake Sennett in 1998, Rilo Kiley are hard to pigeonhole. Their first two, ...

Judy Henske: One Hot Mama

Profile and Interview by j. poet, San Francisco Chronicle, 10 July 2005

LEGEND HAS it that when Marty Balin went looking for a singer to fill out the lineup of the Jefferson Airplane, he told people he ...

Circulus, The Incredible String Band: Nowt so queer as acid folk

Report and Interview by Pete Paphides, The Times, 15 July 2005

In a parallel world alongside mainstream rock lies a folk revival. Pete Paphides enters the zone ...

King Creosote, Tunng: Luminare, London

Live Review by Pete Paphides, The Times, 3 August 2005

TUNNG'S percussionist has a range of shells, chimes and beaded items of Middle Eastern persuasion available to him. But for their second song, 'Kinky Vans', he ...

Richard Thompson: Lyric, Hammersmith, London

Live Review by Robert Sandall, Daily Telegraph, 29 August 2005

ALTHOUGH ONLY one of them was named on the ticket, there were two beard-y Thompsons on stage at the Lyric Hammersmith. ...

John Martyn (2005)

Interview by Andy Gill, Rock's Backpages audio, October 2005

Martyn looks back to his youth in the UK folk scene; his hero Davey Graham; Roy Harper; his "health problems"; his folk-jazz fusion, and playing with Harold McNair; living in Woodstock; Bless the Weather, using an Echoplex, and 'Glistening Glyndebourne'; slurring his vocals; his bass player Danny Thompson, and still touring and recording in 2005...

File format: mp3; file size: 30mb, interview length: 31' 12" sound quality: ** (phoner)

John Martyn: I've Had a Wonderful Time

Report and Interview by Graeme Thomson, The Herald, November 2005

IT IS FAR from unusual to discover whole fathoms of deep blue sea between the artist and their art. Nothing, however, quite prepares you for ...

Sandy Denny: Taken Too Early

Retrospective by Mark Hudson, Daily Telegraph, 24 November 2005

Mark Hudson reveals the tragic tale of the British Joni Mitchell; Sandy Denny ...

James Yorkston: Luminaire, London

Live Review by Tim Cooper, The Independent, 28 December 2005

"HERE'S THE NEXT number," announces James Yorkston, studying a piece of paper: "Three hundred and fifty-eight." Few singers would draw the raffle mid-set, but it's ...

Jake Thackray: Jake In A Box/Live Performance

Review by Daryl Easlea, bbc.co.uk, 2006

AFTER HIS LATE '60s and early '70s heyday, when he could be found on national telly and Royal Variety Shows with his hilarious vignettes of ...

Judy Henske, Jerry Yester: Judy Henske & Jerry Yester: Farewell Aldebaran (Radioactive)

Review and Interview by Rob Hughes, Uncut, January 2006

AMONG THE ODDITIES released on Frank Zappa's Straight label at the end of the '60s, none was more exotic than the one conceived by a ...

Al Stewart: A Reticent Recording Artist

Profile and Interview by Larry Jaffee, Record Collector, February 2006

AL STEWART’S four-decade career recently was capsulated by a 5-CD boxed set Just Yesterday from EMI. His first four UK albums on CBS never were ...

Beth Orton: Comfort of Strangers (EMI)

Review by Barney Hoskyns, Rock's Backpages, February 2006

HAS EMPTY become the new full? Every month we read of another singer-songstress who's stripped down her sound, kept things "spare and minimal". Now it's ...

Cat Power: The Greatest (Matador)

Review by Will Hermes, Spin, February 2006

Memphis Belle: Down South, Chan Marshall gets the blues ...

Richard Thompson: RT

Review by Toby Manning, The Word, February 2006

A celebration of the life and music of Richard Thompson: folk rock legend so culty they boxed him twice: this time for fans only. ...

Nick Drake: Trevor Dann: Darker Than The Deepest Sea – The Search for Nick Drake (Portrait)

Book Review by Robert Sandall, The Sunday Times, 5 February 2006

THIS BOOK IS surprisingly topical, and not just because of the deepening spell cast by Nick Drake, the English singer-songwriter, 31 years after his death. ...

Isobel Campbell: Bush Hall, London

Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 24 February 2006

AS AN ex-member of the potentates of twee, Belle and Sebastian, singer/cellist Isobel Campbell can't be expected to stride across the stage like a rock ...

Nick Drake: The Enigma's Variations: Darker Than The Deepest Sea: The Search For Nick by Trevor Dann ***

Book Review by Colin Irwin, MOJO, March 2006

A bold attempt to unravel the tragic secrets of an enduring, but still elusive, cult hero, says Colin Irwin ...

Gogol Bordello: Careful with that act, Eugene

Interview by Pete Paphides, The Times, 10 March 2006

The name of Eugene Hütz's band is only part of his Ukrainian whimsy, Pete Paphides discovers ...

Bruce Springsteen's take on classic folk

Interview by Will Hermes, The New York Times, 18 April 2006

ASBURY PARK, New Jersey — On a bright, brisk April afternoon in one of America's most famous faded seaside resorts, a band is playing in ...

Loudon Wainwright III: Loudon Wainwright III

Review by John Morthland, No Depression, 30 April 2006

WHEN HIS FIRST two virtually interchangeable albums were released in 1970 and '71, Loudon Wainwright III was touted as one of the many Next Dylans ...

Nick Drake, Fairport Convention, Jimi Hendrix: Joe Boyd: White Bicycles – Making Music in the 1960s (Serpent's Tail)

Book Review by Robert Sandall, The Sunday Times, 14 May 2006

THIS PROTEIN-PACKED memoir entwines a number of stories that reach well beyond the subtitle's modest brief. At one level it's a boy's own adventure. Joe ...

Tunng: Comments of the Inner Chorus

Review by Tom Cox, The Guardian, 21 May 2006

Their sinister, retro-modern folk is Tom Cox's idea of bucolic bliss. Even if it scares the bejesus out of him. ...

Tunng: Comments of the Inner Chorus

Review by Tom Cox, The Guardian, 21 May 2006

Their sinister, retro-modern folk is Tom Cox's idea of bucolic bliss. Even if it scares the bejesus out of him ...

Pete Seeger, Bruce Springsteen: Bruce Springsteen: We Shall Overcome – The Seeger Sessions

Review by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, June 2006

What Bruce did next: a hoedown gospel blues klezmer-zydeco celebration of Pete Seeger. Obviously, says Phil Sutcliffe. ...

John Fahey: Two Tributes to Guitarist John Fahey

Review by Bill Wasserzieher, Blues Revue, June 2006

WITH HOLLYWOOD having a thing about artists who walk the thin line between genius and insanity, the life of guitarist John Fahey seems ripe for ...

Fairport Convention: Fairport Still On Course At 40

Interview by j. poet, San Francisco Chronicle, 25 June 2006

FAIRPORT CONVENTION kicked the British folk revival into high gear in 1969 when they released Liege and Lief, their first album with Sandy Denny as ...

John Martyn: There's mystery in the air as John Martyn revives a classic

Report and Interview by Robert Sandall, Daily Telegraph, 7 September 2006

FOR AN ALBUM that had no noticeable commercial impact here when it first appeared in February 1973, John Martyn's Solid Air has enjoyed a remarkable ...

John Martyn: The Barbican, London

Live Review by Nick Coleman, Independent on Sunday, 17 September 2006

"Burble burble burble... President Bush... flffle mffle wffle... 'kin 'ell... urgle wurgle gurgle... I'm trouble too! Heheheheheh..." ...

P. F. Sloan: PF Sloan: Rising from 'Destruction'

Profile and Interview by j. poet, San Francisco Chronicle, 24 September 2006

"PF SLOAN was born sometime between midnight and dawn on an inspired evening in 1964," PF Sloan says, from his small Los Angeles apartment. That ...

Bert Jansch: The Black Swan

Review by Graeme Thomson, The Word, October 2006

THE PROBLEM with so many virtuoso musicians is that their technical skill impedes the act of communication: it becomes the focus of all the attention, ...

The Byrds: There Is A Season

Review by Jon Savage, MOJO, October 2006

They were there at the beginning. Now a 4-CD box set spans 1964-1990 in yet another career overview, Gene-Clark-heavy this time, with five unreleased tracks ...

Karen Dalton: In My Own Time

Review by Jim Irvin, MOJO, November 2006

Jim Irvin welcomes the long-awaited CD reissue of the mysterious folk singer's only "proper" album, from 1971. ...

Steve Forbert: Roots artist Forbert saw commercial flashes early on

Profile and Interview by Bob Mehr, The Commercial Appeal, 19 January 2007

EVEN AT THE lowest point of his travails within the music industry, when he was stuck in legal limbo with labels and his star was ...

Bert Jansch: Invisible Jukebox

Interview by Mike Barnes, The Wire, February 2007

Complete draft of the feature originally published in The Wire 276, Feb 2007 ...

Fern Knight: Music For Witches And Alchemists

Review by Mike Barnes, The Wire, February 2007

ON FIRST LISTENING, Music For Witches And Alchemists sounds like a richly melodic, if somewhat lightweight, set occupying a point in the musical spectrum somewhere ...

Pentangle: The Time Has Come

Review and Interview by Rob Young, Uncut, February 2007

4CD Connoisseur Collection Of Rare Mercurial Magic From British Folk/Blues/Jazz Supergroup. ...

Ray LaMontagne: The Outsider

Interview by Bud Scoppa, Uncut, February 2007

He had the sleeper hit of 2006 with debut LP Trouble. But what will Ray LaMontagne's fanatical audience make of its follow-up, the confessional, haunting ...

Pete Seeger, Bruce Springsteen: Bruce Blew My Cover: Pete Seeger

Report and Interview by Edward Helmore, The Guardian, 1 February 2007

ON THE FIRST Friday of the month, in fine weather and sometimes foul, you will find Pete Seeger, the folk-singing legend and pioneering environmentalist, in ...

Joe Boyd: The Music Man

Report and Interview by Andria Lisle, Memphis Flyer, 15 February 2007

Legendary producer Joe Boyd hits Memphis. ...

Pentangle: Britain's Grateful Dead

Profile and Interview by Nick Coleman, The Guardian, 16 March 2007

Folk pioneers Pentangle recently played together for the first time in 30 years. This is the perfect time for them to reform for good, says ...

Arlo Guthrie: 'Alice' is Back on the Menu

Report and Interview by Charles Bermant, What's Up, 23 March 2007

'ALICE'S RESTAURANT' is back on the menu. First released in 1967 as the title track of Arlo Guthrie's debut album, the 18-minute talking blues narrative ...

Ruthie Foster: The Phenomenal Ruthie Foster

Review by Geoffrey Himes, The Washington Post, 30 March 2007

WHEN RUTHIE FOSTER performed at the South by Southwest Music Conference two weeks ago, the short, dreadlocked singer demanded attention with the sheer power of ...

Eric Von Schmidt, 1931–2007

Obituary by Andy Gill, The Word, April 2007

IT WAS IN "the green pastures of Harvard University", according to the genial introduction on his debut album, that Bob Dylan cribbed the chord-structure of ...

CocoRosie: Dinner with pop's strangest sisters

Interview by Chris Campion, Daily Telegraph, 7 April 2007

Off-the-wall indie band CocoRosie spend the evening with Chris Campion. ...

Trees

Retrospective by Mick Houghton, Uncut, May 2007

How a sample reunited west London's wyrd electric-folk troubadours... ...

The Watersons: "Feeling part of a dynasty in musical terms is a great feeling"

Profile and Interview by Nick Coleman, The Guardian, 12 May 2007

Author's note: The Guardian chopped this in half. It's better at full length – but then I would say that. This is the full-length one. ...

Fairport Convention: "There was a manic feeling in the air"

Retrospective and Interview by John Harris, The Guardian, 3 August 2007

In 1969, reeling from the shock of a tragic car crash, Fairport Convention recorded an album that would change British folk for ever. John Harris ...

Devendra Banhart: Stranger than Folk: Devendra Banhart

Profile and Interview by Chris Campion, Observer Music Monthly, 12 August 2007

IN A HOUSE on a hill, in a canyon near L.A., Devendra Banhart scatters popcorn on the earth like seed. "This is for the hairs," ...

Bob Lind

Retrospective by Mick Houghton, Uncut, September 2007

The 'Elusive Butterfly' collector, immortalised by Jarvis Cocker. ...

Fairport Convention: Come all ye rolling minstrels

Retrospective and Interview by Rob Young, Uncut, September 2007

They were a bunch of uptight Londoners who wanted to be the Byrds. But after a tragic road crash, Fairport Convention holed up in the ...

Judy Dyble, Fairport Convention: Judy Dyble

Retrospective and Interview by Richie Unterberger, Record Collector, September 2007

IMAGINE BEING the original woman singer in the most esteemed British folk-rock group of all – only to be replaced, after just one album, by ...

Linda Thompson, Richard and Linda Thompson: Linda Thompson

Interview by Nick Coleman, Independent on Sunday, 2 September 2007

Linda and Richard Thompson's marriage was fiery – so much so that Nick Hornby began a script about the legendary folk rockers. Here, on the ...

Beirut: The Flying Club Cup

Review by Nick Southall, Stylus, 19 September 2007

SOME PEOPLE MAY MOURN the passing of Zach Condon's cottage-industry approach and makeshift binary orkestra, the occasionally cacophonous delivery and earnestly clamoring, lo-fi arrangements that ...

Passenger: Barfly, London NW1

Live Review by Lisa Verrico, The Times, 26 September 2007

NOTHING IS quite as it seems with the Brighton band Passenger. ...

Devendra Banhart: Folk Hero

Interview by Dorian Lynskey, Q, October 2007

Devendra Banheart was born in Texas, raised in Caracas, then fetched up in Paris and San Francisco and currently lives in a world of his ...

Ben Taylor: Sons and lovers: Ben Taylor

Profile and Interview by David Burke, R2/Rock'n'Reel, October 2007

David Burke talks to Ben Taylor about his dislike of folk music and his plans to shake it up a bit. And then there's the ...

John Fahey: The Legend Of John Fahey & Blind Joe Death

Retrospective by Kris Needs, Record Collector, October 2007

John Fahey was the maverick genius of the acoustic guitar, but that's only part of it. As another classic reissue appears, Kris Needs tries to ...

Joanna Newsom/Roy Harper/The Moore Brothers: Royal Albert Hall, London

Live Review by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 1 October 2007

"CAN I GET the house lights on for a second?" Joanna Newsom rocks her harp on her heels, peers through her cameraphone at the raucous ...

Beirut: The Flying Club Cup

Review by Stephen Dalton, Uncut, November 2007

Globetrotting Folk-Pop Prodigy Gets Gloriously Lost In Translation. Again... ...

Felice Brothers: Roots-Revivalist Wind Propels Earthy Band

Interview by Andria Lisle, The Commercial Appeal, 2 November 2007

A FEW years ago, New York native James Felice was living in his car. Now, in a band called the Felice Brothers — which includes James' real-life ...

Six Organs Of Admittance: Shelter From The Ash

Review by Rob Young, Uncut, December 2007

OVERUSED PHRASES such as "freak folk" or "acid folk" tend to play up the potential gonzo overtones of America's current underground scene. ...

James Taylor: "I used to check my bumpers for blood"

Report and Interview by Paul Sexton, The Guardian, 20 December 2007

He sang sweet simple tunes with deeply felt narratives, but James Taylor's demons almost tore him apart. The thrice-married ex-drug addict tells Paul Sexton how ...

Julie Fowlis: Gael Force: Julie Fowlis

Profile and Interview by David Burke, R2/Rock'n'Reel, January 2008

JULIE FOWLIS spends a lot of time singing to people who, on the whole, haven't got a clue what she's singing about. But it makes ...

The Clancy Brothers: Liam Clancy: The Last Man Standing

Retrospective and Interview by David Burke, R2/Rock'n'Reel, January 2008

JOHNNY CASH TOOK Trent Reznor's 'Hurt', a lacerating hymn about heroin addiction, and recast it as a profound meditation on his own mortality. But equally ...

Susan Christie, Wendy Flower, Heather Jones, Selda: Lie back and think of ukuleles: Lost Ladies of Folk

Retrospective and Interview by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 2 January 2008

SOMETHING PECULIAR happened at the dawn of the 21st century: eccentric folk music of the late 1960s became covetable again. ...

John Stewart, 1939–2008

Obituary by Richard Cromelin, Los Angeles Times, 21 January 2008

Folk patriarch recorded California Bloodlines ...

John Stewart: Daydream Believer: John Stewart, 1939-2008

Obituary by Michael Simmons, Huffington Post, 21 February 2008

JOHN STEWART – singer, songwriter, guitarist, artist, husband, father, grandfather, Californian, American – was scheduled to perform at McCabe's in Santa Monica on Saturday, February ...

The Levellers: Radical heroes: The Levellers are celebrating 20 years together

Retrospective and Interview by Gavin Martin, Daily Mirror, 29 February 2008

INSPIRED BY PUNK and folk, and named after a radical 17th-Century collective, the Levellers became synonymous with a huge underground anti-authority movement, supporting green issues ...

DeVotchKa: A Mad and Faithful Telling

Review by Charlie Gillett, The Guardian, 16 March 2008

Passion, desperation and a nifty accordion. Charlie Gillett reckons he's found something very special indeed ...

John Stewart, 1939-2008

Obituary by Michael Simmons, MOJO, April 2008

American singer and songwriter John Stewart died on January 19. His friend Michael Simmons says goodbye. ...

Shirley Collins

Retrospective and Interview by Rob Young, Uncut, April 2008

A fearless explorer, a radical traditionalist, and one of England's greatest folk singers — but why hasn't she performed for 30 years? ...

Mumford & Sons: New Band Of The week: Mumford & Sons

Profile by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 14 April 2008

THESE LONDON-BASED lovers of folky Americana sound like Coldplay reincarnated as hillbillies. Apparently this is a good thing. ...

Up From the Ashes: Ed Pearl's Art and Activism

Profile and Interview by Kirk Silsbee, Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles, 18 April 2008

IT'S ELEVEN A.M. and Ed Pearl is the first customer at Masa, his restaurant of choice in Echo Park. The owner, Tom, greets him warmly, ...

Karen Dalton: In Her Own Time and Ours: The Cult of Karen Dalton

Retrospective by Barney Hoskyns, Rock's Backpages, May 2008

THERE ARE VOICES and then there are voices. Sometimes the ones that move us most are those most on the edge: the ones racked with ...

Pentangle: Album By Album

Guide by Rob Young, Uncut, May 2008

OF ALL THE British folk groups of the late '60s, Pentangle were the most commercially successful. Where Fairport Convention and Steeleye Span chose a more ...

Eric Andersen

Retrospective and Interview by Johnny Black, R2/Rock'n'Reel, June 2008

ONE THING Eric Anderson likes to make very clear is that he is not a folk singer. ...

Julie Fowlis

Interview by Colin Irwin, MOJO, June 2008

Hot Songs From The Outer Hebrides ...

John Martyn: A Golden Age: John Martyn

Interview by Rob Fitzpatrick, The Word, July 2008

NOTE: This is the original "director's cut" version of the piece that ran in the The Word. ...

Seth Lakeman on James Blunt, Raving and Marriage

Interview by Gavin Martin, Daily Mirror, 3 July 2008

Seth Lakeman talks about his foot-stomping fourth solo album ...

Seth Lakeman: To The Sea!

Profile and Interview by Colin Irwin, Daily Telegraph, 3 July 2008

The Penlee lifeboat disaster inspired Seth Lakeman's raw new CD. Colin Irwin went to a Cornish beach to see him play it. ...

Penguin Cafe Orchestra: Catalogue Reissues

Review by David Stubbs, The Quietus, 22 July 2008

PENGUIN CAFE ORCHESTRA, a large, shifting coalition of classical and acoustic musicians led by the late Simon Jeffes, are often regarded with either confusion or ...

Artie Traum, 1943-2008

Obituary by Ken Hunt, The Guardian, 25 July 2008

Musician and producer whose tastes covered folk, jazz and rock ...

John Martyn

Interview by Johnny Black, R2/Rock'n'Reel, August 2008

All my life I've thought of you as Scottish but you were actually born in England weren't you? ...

John Martyn: Ain't No Saint: 40 Years Of John Martyn

Sleeve notes by Daryl Easlea, Island Records, September 2008

"Love finds a way, just let it stay From day to day, just let it flow, just let it grow It will get you together ...

Shirley & Dolly Collins: Down In Albion — Shirley and Dolly Collins: The Harvest Years (Harvest)

Review by Graeme Thomson, The Word, September 2008

The collected classics of Shirley and Dolly Collins constitute a phantasmagoria of English folk. Warning: contains crumhorns. ...

John Martyn: Still Wide-Eyed and Increasingly Legless

Retrospective and Interview by Johnny Black, R2/Rock'n'Reel, September 2008

INTERVIEWS ARE like minefields. Amidst the chummy showbiz chat, there's almost invariably at least one potential hair-trigger moment when someone like me has to ask ...

Rodriguez: Cold Fact

Review by Jon Savage, MOJO, September 2008

Strange but true: Return of a 1970 proto-rap legend ...

Shirley & Dolly Collins: The Harvest Years

Review and Interview by Rob Young, Uncut, September 2008

Remastered recordings dust off the crowning glories of English folk's Indian summer. ...

Bob Dylan: Suze Rotolo: A Freewheelin' Time – A Memoir Of Greenwich Village In The Sixties

Book Review by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, September 2008

Who's that girl? One reason Dylan loved the Freewheelin' cover girl was she "could keep secrets". Now she's written a book — and still kept ...

The Incredible String Band: A Goat of Many Colours: The Incredible String Band

Retrospective and Interview by Pete Paphides, Rock's Backpages, October 2008

Forty years ago this month, The Incredible String Band released their benchmark double album Wee Tam & The Big Huge, just one of many milestones ...

John Martyn: Ain't No Saint

Review and Interview by Rob Young, Uncut, October 2008

Outtakes and unreleased live recordings shine new light on the angels and demons at war in a 40-year career. ...

Joan Armatrading, Jackson Browne, Tim Buckley, Harry Chapin, Leonard Cohen, John Denver, Neil Diamond, Bob Dylan, Billy Joel, Rickie Lee Jones, Carole King, Kris Kristofferson, Gordon Lightfoot, Don McLean, Joni Mitchell, Randy Newman, Laura Nyro, John Prine, Carly Simon, Paul Simon, Cat Stevens, James Taylor, Tom Waits, Neil Young, Warren Zevon: School of Rock Study Guide: Singer-Songwriters

Guide by Barney Hoskyns, iTunes, October 2008

"WHERE DO YOU have left to go but in?" It was a question posed by Joni Mitchell, the brilliant Canadian blonde who specialized in intensely ...

Erik Darling, 1933-2008

Obituary by Ken Hunt, The Guardian, 7 November 2008

ERIK DARLING, who has died of lymphoma aged 74, led a rich and varied life in folk music and straddled many of the genre's definitions. ...

Fleet Foxes: Why Is Our Radical Folk Heritage Ignored?

Comment by Luke Turner, The Guardian, 14 November 2008

Modern British music is so in thrall to Americana that our own treasure trove of radical traditional folk is in danger of being forgotten ...

Mike Hart: Mike Hart Bleeds

Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 24 November 2008

IN THE LATE '60s, Mike Hart was a member of the Liverpool Scene, the poetry and music collective that had guitarist Andy Roberts and poet ...

Jesca Hoop's musical magic

Interview by Sophie Heawood, The Times, 29 November 2008

JESCA HOOP is gleefully pulling a wad of vintage lace out of her shopping bag. Layer after layer appears — is a grandmother somewhere being ...

Odetta: Grit, Guts and Glory

Profile by Jude Rogers, The Observer, 4 December 2008

She inspired Dylan, was pals with Ella, and was due to play at Obama's inauguration: Jude Rogers on Odetta Holmes. ...

John Martyn: May we never forget the genius of John Martyn

Obituary by Pete Paphides, The Times, 30 January 2009

FOR MANY MUSIC fans, one lingering image of John Martyn, the British singer-songwriter who has died at the age of 60, remains preserved in the ...

The Incredible String Band: Tricks of the Senses

Review by Rob Young, Uncut, February 2009

Two CDs of lost sounds from the Scottish folk starsailors. ...

Mary Black: There's something about Mary Black

Profile and Interview by David Burke, R2/Rock'n'Reel, March 2009

MARY BLACK wouldn't class herself as a dreamer, even though she's realised a few dreams others of us have maybe harboured. Playing London's Royal Albert ...

Pete Seeger: The Voice Of America

Comment by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, April 2009

WHEN PETE SEEGER, the man Bruce Springsteen calls "the father of American folk music", walks on stage at Madison Square Garden on May 3 for ...

Ramblin' Jack Elliott

Interview by Graeme Thomson, The Word, April 2009

Woody Guthrie and Bob Dylan rewrote their pasts. The same goes for Ramblin' Jack Elliott. ...

The Decemberists: The Hazards Of Love

Review by Bud Scoppa, Uncut, April 2009

Whip-smart concept album twists the esoteric into arresting new shapes, makes a compelling case for the album as enduring art form. ...

Bonnie "Prince" Billy: Will Oldham: Album by Album

Retrospective and Interview by Andrew Mueller, Uncut, April 2009

Will Oldham has developed a forbidding reputation since first attracting attention as part of the Palace Brothers in the early '90s. Whether glowering from album ...

John Mellencamp, Pete Seeger, Bruce Springsteen: Pete Seeger's Birthday Concert: Madison Square Garden, NYC

Live Review by Alan Light, MSN.com, May 2009

IN THE NEW biography The Protest Singer, folk music paragon Pete Seeger tells writer Alec Wilkinson that the single word he believes in above all ...

John Prine (2009)

Interview by Paul Zollo, Rock's Backpages audio, 28 May 2009

The former mailman talks about how he started as a songwriter; on being a performer; on songs such as 'Angel from Montgomery'; the detailed ins-and-outs of songwriting; and looks back at his friend and collaborator Steve Goodman.

File format: mp3; file size: 93.0mb, interview length: 1h 42' 34" sound quality: ** (phoner)

Crystal Fighters: New band of the week: Crystal Fighters

Interview by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 23 June 2009

This East London five-piece bring traditional Basque folk music screaming and kicking into the 21st century by fusing it with heavy dance rhythms and synthesisers. ...

The Low Anthem: Evolutionary Twists

Profile and Interview by Tim Cooper, The Independent, 24 July 2009

The Low Anthem aren't like other US folk-rock bands. Tim Cooper discusses influence and innovation with the trio. ...

Buffy Sainte-Marie

Retrospective and Interview by Colin Irwin, The Guardian, 31 July 2009

ALL GUSHING JET-black hair, radiant smiles and shining eyes, Buffy Sainte-Marie looks fabulous. "Do I? Why thank you..." ...

Richard Thompson: Walking On A Wire

Review and Interview by Rob Young, Uncut, August 2009

Atop the emotional tightrope... an expansive, career-spanning four-CD set for Anglicana's finest guitar warrior. ...

Peter, Paul & Mary, Mary Travers: Mary Travers obituary

Obituary by Dave Laing, The Guardian, 17 September 2009

PETER, PAUL AND MARY were the most successful vocal group of the American folk revival of the 1960s. In particular, they were responsible for bringing ...

Peter, Paul & Mary, Mary Travers: Mary Travers, 1936-2009

Obituary by Dave Laing, The Guardian, 17 September 2009

Singer with the 1960s hit-making American folk revival trio Peter, Paul and Mary. ...

Monsters of Folk: Monsters Of Folk

Review by Bud Scoppa, Uncut, October 2009

Indie supergroup rewrites the country-rock bible. ...

Linda Thompson, Richard Thompson, Richard and Linda Thompson: Richard and Linda Thompson: Keeping Up with the Thompsons

Interview by Terry Staunton, Record Collector, October 2009

Once flippantly but affectionately called "the Sonny & Cher of the folk world", Richard & Linda Thompson are worshipped as living legends, a jewel in ...

The Unthanks: Folk is the new punk

Profile and Interview by John Lewis, Hotline, October 2009

The Unthanks have made fans of people who never thought they'd like folk. The secret of their success? Raw authenticity. John Lewis tells how folk ...

Woody Guthrie: My Dusty Road

Review by Colin Irwin, bbc.co.uk, 5 October 2009

A chance to grasp the full essence of the man behind the legend. ...

David Rawlings (2009)

Interview by Barney Hoskyns, Rock's Backpages audio, 6 October 2009

On the release of his solo debut, A Friend of a Friend, the man who (usually) accompanies Gillian Welch talks about discovering his own voice; assembling the material, including his co-write with Ryan Adams, 'To Be Young (...)'; recording the album, and the state of acoustic roots music today.

File format: mp3; file size: 33.6mb, interview length: 36' 39" sound quality: ** (phoner)

Devendra Banhart: What Will We Be

Review by Bud Scoppa, Uncut, November 2009

The freak-folk messiah confronts pop conventions on his first album for a major label. ...

Nick Drake: Robert Kirby, 1948-2009

Obituary by David Hepworth, The Word, December 2009

THE SPARSENESS of the three albums Nick Drake released in his lifetime are part of their enduring appeal. On two of those albums, string arrangements ...

Woody Guthrie

Retrospective by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, December 2009

THE SMALL, GRIZZLED man in the check shirt indicated he'd like a cigarette. The small, curly-haired, young man sitting opposite handed him a Raleigh. The ...

Phil Ochs: Pioneers: Phil Ochs

Retrospective by Mark Kemp, Texas Music, Spring 2009

WHEN CONVERSATION turns to the great lyricists of the '60s and '70s, Bob Dylan's name invariably comes first. Then maybe John Lennon, Neil Young, Bob ...

Brewer and Shipley: Weeds/Tarkio Road

Sleeve notes by Richie Unterberger, Collector's Choice, 2010

AFTER INTRODUCING their harmony-driven brand of folk-rock on their late-'60s A&M debut album Down in L.A., singer-songwriter-guitarists Brewer & Shipley moved to the Kama Sutra label ...

Nick Drake and Five Leaves Left: An Interview with Omnibus' Chris Charlesworth

Interview by Eddie Blower, unpublished, 2010

In 2010, Chris Charlesworth was interviewed by Eddie Blower about Nick Drake and Five Years Left for an unpublished article. ...

Davey Graham: Davy Graham: A Scholar And A Gentleman

Review by Rob Young, Uncut, January 2010

Perfectly tuned survey of the dad of DADGAD's musical wanderings. ...

Frank Fairfield: Frank Fairfield

Review by Rob Hughes, Uncut, January 2010

FRANK FAIRFIELD certainly looks the part: stiff back, suit, Brylcreem'd hair, banjo cradled high on his chest like some weapon of murderous intent. LA residents ...

Sharon Shannon for President

Profile and Interview by David Burke, R2/Rock'n'Reel, January 2010

HERE'S A MAD IDEA – Sharon Shannon as Ireland's next President, replacing Mary McAleese and thus maintaining the recent tradition (established with the appointment of ...

Kate & Anna McGarrigle: Kate McGarrigle: obituary

Obituary by Tony Russell, The Guardian, 19 January 2010

Folk singer and songwriter at the heart of an innovative music-making family ...

Kate & Anna McGarrigle: Kate McGarrigle remembered

Comment by Laura Barton, The Guardian, 20 January 2010

THERE ARE TWO words that have always epitomised the voice of Kate McGarrigle for me – they came in a Rolling Stone review that followed ...

Kate & Anna McGarrigle: Kate McGarrigle: Acclaimed musician left her mark

Obituary by Nicholas Jennings, The Globe and Mail, 20 January 2010

FOLK SINGER KATE McGarrigle left a deep musical legacy both in recordings with her older sister Anna McGarrigle and in her two children, singer-songwriters Rufus ...

Midlake: 'I Wish I'd Heard Black Sabbath in High School'

Interview by Sylvie Simmons, The Guardian, 28 January 2010

Texas rockers Midlake grew up playing jazz, but fell headlong into a love affair with vintage rock. Here they talk about their latest fixations, and ...

Gerry Rafferty

Report and Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, February 2010

"I DESPISE THE values of the rock music industry, for the most part," Gerry Rafferty tells MOJO as he launches his comeback into said biz ...

Stornoway: "We once won a giant bowl of fruit"

Interview by Laura Barton, The Guardian, 4 February 2010

From gigs in camper vans to being on TV with Jay-Z, it's been a rollercoaster of a ride for Stornoway so far. No wonder they ...

Mumford & Sons: The Almighty Power of Mumford & Sons

Profile and Interview by Laura Barton, The Guardian, 11 February 2010

THE PUB IS filling up: City boys in pinstriped suits, women clutching dry white wines; candles are lit on upstairs tables, voices rise to fill ...

Joanna Newsom: The Conversation: Joanna Newsom

Interview by Sophie Heawood, The Times, 20 February 2010

She is a homebody who models for Armani, a harpist and possibly the best composer of her generation ...

Valerie June, Whispering Pines: In the Whispering Pines

Report by Kandia Crazy Horse, San Francisco Bay Guardian, 25 February 2010

THIS IS THE YEAR when your scribing cowgirl returns wholly to the barn — or at least the fabled Cabin-in-the-Pines where folks used to pick, ...

The Chieftains: Hail to the Chief: Paddy Moloney

Profile and Interview by David Burke, R2/Rock'n'Reel, March 2010

Paddy Moloney talks to David Burke about the band's latest album, a collection highlighting a "forgotten" chapter in the history of neighbouring Mexico and America. ...

Bob Gibson: Unsung Heroes: Bob Gibson

Retrospective by Mick Houghton, Uncut, March 2010

From the dawn of the folk revival – a clean-cut junkie troubadour... ...

Laura Marling: I Speak Because I Can (Virgin) ****

Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 19 March 2010

ON I Speak Because I Can, Laura Marling continues to demonstrate why she's such an exciting singer-songwriter. ...

The Lovin' Spoonful, John Sebastian: John Sebastian's Spoonful of Magic

Interview by Charles Bermant, SonicBoomers.com, 26 March 2010

THE BEST 1960s bands always sounded so original, when in fact they filtered existing musical idioms such as folk and blues to gain a unique ...

The Kissaway Trail, Midlake: Midlake, the Kissaway Trail: The Tabernacle, London ****

Live Review by Paul Moody, Q, April 2010

THE TABERNACLE is just about perfect for Midlake's long-awaited return to these shores. Built in 1887, and close to Mick Jagger's Powis Square crash-pad in ...

Richard and Linda Thompson, Richard Thompson, Teddy Thompson: The Family Business: Richard Thompson and Relatives

Retrospective and Interview by Larry Jaffee, Audiophile Review, April 2010

Sept. 2011 note: I spent 18 months working on this piece. Richard was the easiest to get hold of. When I shared this tidbit with ...

The Incredible String Band: Reissues

Review by Rob Young, Uncut, April 2010

Scottish psych-folkies seek (and find) enlightenment. Praise be, says Rob Young. ...

Eliza Carthy: Strange Folk

Interview by David Burke, R2/Rock'n'Reel, May 2010

WHEN Christian Koch wrote in The Guardian earlier this year that British National Party (BNP) leader Nick Griffin was a big fan of "that most ...

Jane Weaver — Bring Down The Stepford Wives!

Interview by Jude Rogers, The Quietus, 10 June 2010

MY FAVOURITE ALBUM of this summer so far is an intoxicating, peculiar, heady, balmy thing. Full of eerie vocals, woozy synthesisers, urgent rhythms and drones, ...

The Acorn: No Ghost

Review by Graeme Thomson, Uncut, July 2010

Quietly excellent indie-folk alchemy, inspired by the Quebec wilderness. ...

Eliza Carthy, Norma Waterson: Eliza Carthy & Norma Waterson: Gift

Review by Laura Barton, bbc.co.uk, 13 July 2010

Mother and daughter's first album as a folk duo is a beguiling listen. ...

Sandy Denny, The Strawbs: Sandy Denny & The Strawbs: All Our Own Work

Review and Interview by Rob Young, Uncut, August 2010

Early recordings of English folk's finest voice, definitively remastered. ...

Fairport Convention: What They Did On Their Holidays: Fairport Convention at Farley House, Summer 1969

Book Excerpt by Rob Young, 'Electric Eden' (Faber), August 2010

NOTE: This is an excerpt from Rob Young's superb new folk opus Electric Eden: Unearthing Britain's Visionary Music, published in August 2010 by Faber & ...

Alasdair Roberts & Friends: Too Long in This Condition

Review by Pete Paphides, The Times, 14 August 2010

The folk musician, Alasdair Roberts, has a preoccupation with death. ...

Arlo Guthrie (2010)

Interview by Karl Dallas, Rock's Backpages audio, 22 August 2010

Arlo talks about songwriting and the folk tradition; his memories of his father, Woody Guthrie; on guitar playing; music and politics, and his family's history of Huntington's chorea.

File format: mp3; file size: 55.7mb, interview length: 1h 00' 47" sound quality: ****

Fairport Convention, Sandy Denny: Sandy Denny: Sandy Denny

Review by Jim Irvin, The Word, September 2010

A monumental box for a great voice. ...

John Martyn: Live At Leeds

Review by David Cavanagh, Uncut, October 2010

Previously unreleased document of 1975 concert in its entirety. ...

Sandy Denny, Fairport Convention, Fotheringay: Sandy Denny: "I don't think she ever gave the future the time of day…"

Retrospective by Rob Young, Uncut, October 2010

When Sandy Denny left Fairport Convention at the height of their success, she seemed destined for solo stardom. What went wrong? With the help of ...

Sharon Van Etten: Epic

Review by Laura Barton, bbc.co.uk, 11 October 2010

Melds pedal steel and electronica into something really rather gorgeous. ...

Erland and the Carnival not just another opening band

Interview by Jeff Slate, Examiner.com, 18 October 2010

FOR ANY BAND opening for the likes of Paul Weller would be a thrill as well as an opportunity to reach an avid group of ...

Shirley Collins/Alasdair Roberts/Trembling Bells: Cecil Sharp House, London

Live Review by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 1 November 2010

IT'S HALLOWEEN weekend in Camden, north London, and ghosts are rising at Cecil Sharp House. ...

Bob Dylan: Izzy Young: The Man Who Made Bob Dylan

Retrospective and Interview by Kris Needs, MOJO, December 2010

NOVEMBER 4, 1962: Bob Dylan is invoking the time-honoured image of the out-of-town rambler lost on New York's convoluted subway system as he nervously attempts ...

Odetta: 1930 — 2008

Profile by Michael Gray, Rock's Backpages, December 2010

N.B. This profile is an updated version based on Odetta's entry in The Bob Dylan Encyclopedia ...

Johnny Flynn's Special Relationship

Profile and Interview by Andrew Purcell, The Guardian, 2 December 2010

Johnny Flynn followed his childhood sweetheart to New York, then came back and fired up the English antifolk scene. He tells Andrew Purcell about a ...

James Booker, Alison Krauss, Robert Plant and Alison Krauss: Various Artists: 40 Years Of Rounder Records

Review by Kate Mossman, The Word, January 2011

Now in new hands, Rounder Records looks back after four decades of progressive signings in country, blues and folk. ...

Phil Ochs Lives!

Retrospective and Interview by Michael Simmons, Huffington Post, 3 January 2011

The late Phil Ochs, one of the greatest singer/songwriters of the 1960s in a rarified perch with Dylan, Joni and Cohen, wasn't a household name ...

The Humblebums, Gerry Rafferty, Stealers Wheel: Gerry Rafferty, 1947-2011

Obituary by Michael Gray, The Guardian, 4 January 2011

Singer and songwriter known for 'Stuck in the Middle With You' and 'Baker Street' ...

Leadbelly: John Szwed: The Man Who Recorded the World – A Biography of Alan Lomax

Book Review by Richard Williams, The Guardian, 8 January 2011

Richard Williams hails the man who devoted his life to recording the songs and soundscapes of America and beyond. ...

Woody Guthrie, Burl Ives, Leadbelly, Mississippi Fred McDowell, Muddy Waters: John Szwed: The Man Who Recorded the World – A Biography of Alan Lomax

Book Review by Richard Williams, The Guardian, 8 January 2011

Richard Williams hails the man who devoted his life to recording the songs and soundscapes of America and beyond. ...

Danny Schmidt: Man of Many Moons

Review by Colin Irwin, bbc.co.uk, February 2011

Schmidt gambles everything on lyrical intensity and simple presentation, and succeeds. ...

Alan Lomax: John Szwed: The Man Who Recorded The World – A Biography Of Alan Lomax

Book Review by Rob Young, The Wire, February 2011

WHO'D BE A folk song collector? ...

Paul Simon

Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, February 2011

A GREAT SONGWRITER'S imagination knows no bounds. Take Paul Simon. His 70th birthday is coming up in October and his musical and verbal cornucopia of ...

June Tabor: Watery, Not Grave

Profile and Interview by Pete Paphides, The Guardian, 10 February 2011

June Tabor's new album draws inspiration from the sea. But dogs, cows and a margarine ad also featured when Pete Paphides met her. ...

June Tabor: Ashore

Review by Colin Irwin, bbc.co.uk, 21 February 2011

Tabor's a colossus, and this is one of her finest hours. ...

Noah and the Whale: "I never thought of myself as a singer"

Interview by Laura Barton, The Guardian, 24 February 2011

With a new outlook, new drummer and some nice new shirts, Noah and the Whale are ready to meet the world head on. But their ...

Folk's man of mystery: is Cecil Sharp a folk hero or villain?

Retrospective by Colin Irwin, The Guardian, 24 March 2011

IT SOUNDS LIKE some hideous TV reality show dreamed up by Simon Cowell and Andrew Lloyd Webber during a night on the lash. Dump eight ...

The Unthanks: Last

Review by Graeme Thomson, Uncut, April 2011

The Northumbrian five-piece shatter folk's borders, as this expansive yet austere fourth proves. THE UNTHANKS SEEM to regard folk music the same way Miles Davis regarded ...

Traffic: John Barleycorn Must Die (Deluxe Edition)

Review by Rob Young, Uncut, April 2011

Winwood and pals' pastoral funk apogee, remastered. ...

Bob Dylan: In Concert: Brandeis University 1963

Review by Steven R Rosen, Blurt, 8 April 2011

WHILE LIBRARIES are filled with books about what's been gained from Dylan going electric, it's worth taking a couple minutes – maybe while listening to ...

Fleet Foxes: Helplessness Blues (Bella Union) *****

Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 22 April 2011

WITH HELPLESSNESS Blues, Fleet Foxes triumphantly deliver on the promise of their popular debut, the album that helped establish folk-rock once again as a formidable ...

Fleet Foxes: Pack Mentality: Fleet Foxes: Helplessness Blues (Bella Union)

Review by Rob Young, The Word, May 2011

Fleet Foxes return, warmer and more bracing, with a set of vivid utopian folk songs for an age of modern austerity ...

Martin Carthy: Essential

Review by Colin Irwin, bbc.co.uk, 9 May 2011

A collection marked by the many shifting contours of his remarkable career. ...

Sarah Jarosz: Follow Me Down

Review by Holly Gleason, Paste, 17 May 2011

WITH A DESCENDING CIRCULAR FLOURISH of acoustic guitar notes, the bluegrass influence on Follow Me Down is evident, but the almost weightlessness suggests something else, ...

Loudon Wainwright III: Loudon Wainwright: 40 Odd Years and Counting

Retrospective by Steven R Rosen, Blurt, 20 May 2011

THE SINGER-SONGWRITERS who came of age in the 1960s and early 1970s are the Boomers' major contribution to the Great American Songbook, and Loudon Wainwright ...

Fleet Foxes: How Fleet Foxes are handling high expectations

Profile and Interview by Laura Barton, The Guardian, 16 June 2011

Huge success began a steep learning curve for the Seattle band. Bandleader Robin Pecknold explains how the second album put the band in a "dark ...

The Byrds, David Crosby, Chris Hillman: Jim Dickson, 1931-2011

Obituary by Rob Hughes, The Guardian, 27 June 2011

Producer and manager behind the Byrds ...

Roy Harper: Songs Of Love And Loss: Volumes 1 & 2

Review by Rob Hughes, The Word, July 2011

Like Marmite and modern jazz, Roy Harper tends to polarise opinion. The man allergic to authority gets a digital reboot. ...

Laura Marling: A Creature I Don't Know (Virgin) ****

Review by Keith Cameron, Q, September 2011

Nu-folk starlet shines ever brighter on third outing. ...

Roy Harper

Interview by Rob Hughes, The Word, September 2011

"Unwanted Alien" — the stamp on Roy Harper's passport in 1962. It's been the story of his life: troubled outsider tries to break in. ...

Meg Baird: Seasons On Earth

Review by Rob Young, The Word, October 2011

Those in search of rapturous folk meditations with all the urgency of the '60s revivalists... tune in to Meg Baird. ...

Bert Jansch: A Modest Man with an Immodest Talent

Obituary by Pete Paphides, The Guardian, 6 October 2011

"REMEMBER ASKING Bert, 'When you were doing it, did you know that you were like … heavy? Heavier than all those bands that were heavy? ...

Sandy Denny, Thea Gilmore: Thea Gilmore breathes new life into the words of a tragic lost star

Report and Interview by Andy Gill, The Independent, 14 October 2011

Folk-rock pioneer Sandy Denny left a wealth of lyrics that have inspired the artist's new album. ...

Laura Marling: Westminster Methodist Central Hall, London ***

Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 31 October 2011

A Dylanesque troubadour who's knocking on heaven's door ...

Thea Gilmore: The Long Goodbye

Interview by Graeme Thomson, The Word, November 2011

THEA GILMORE has written music for ten lost Sandy Denny lyrics. Creative time-travel or over-milking a legacy? ...

Bert Jansch: On The Road So Long

Obituary by Colin Irwin, MOJO, December 2011

A virtuoso guitarist who knew no boundaries and inspired Jimmy Page and Neil Young, Bert Jansch died on October 5. Colin Irwin says farewell ...

Nanci Griffith: Blue Moons and True Believers

Profile and Interview by David Burke, R2/Rock'n'Reel, January 2012

About to make a welcome return to our concert halls and with a new album imminent, Nanci Griffith is in conversation with R2's David Burke. ...

June Tabor: Things I Like

Guide by Rob Hughes, The Word, February 2012

Folk luminary, former librarian, Anne Briggs acolyte and breadmaker. Well-versed in the history of war. ...

Bon Iver, Kathleen Edwards: Kathleen Edwards and Bon Iver: Love Triangle

Report and Interview by Graeme Thomson, The Word, February 2012

There's three in this relationship — Kathleen Edwards, Bon Iver and the big, sad, shimmering record they've made together. ...

Tim Hardin: The Unforgiven: Tim Hardin

Retrospective by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, February 2012

AS CONCEPT ALBUMS go it was one of the more eccentric creations of the late 1960s. The mouthful of a title alone (Suite for Susan ...

Tim Hardin: The Unforgiven: Tim Hardin and the Shock of Grace

Retrospective by Barney Hoskyns, Rock's Backpages, February 2012

NOTE: This is the "director's cut" version – at almost twice the length – of a piece written for MOJO and subsequently used as the ...

Bunky & Jake, Jake and the Rest of the Jewels: Everything's Jake on A Lick and a Promise

Review by Gene Sculatti, Rock's Backpages, 8 February 2012

THE SUBTITLE of a recently published book on Manhattan's Seventies punk scene is Five Years in New York That Changed Music Forever. It's a sure ...

Karen Dalton: From the Golden Age of Colorado to the Golden Age of Reissues

Retrospective by Steven R Rosen, Blurt, March 2012

DAN HANKIN, now a retired school social worker living in Denver, fondly remembers back to 1966, when he would visit Karen Dalton's Colorado mountain cabin ...

Joan Baez: Bridgewater Hall, Manchester

Live Review by Rob Hughes, Daily Telegraph, 6 March 2012

BY THE TIME she got to Woodstock, Joan Baez was six months pregnant and her husband was in jail. It was August 1969 and the ...

HAIM: New Band of the Week: HAIM

Profile by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 23 March 2012

A band featuring three sisters, who combine the wafty whimsy of folk with R&B beats. It shouldn't really work. It does  ...

John Martyn: One World... One John

Film/DVD/TV Review by Laura Barton, The Word, April 2012

A new John Martyn film is well-intentioned and clearly created with love — but falls short of the grand setting he deserves. ...

P.P. Arnold, Sandy Denny, Thea Gilmore, Joan As Police Woman, Maddy Prior, Scritti Politti, Trembling Bells: Sandy Denny: The Battle Of Evermore

Report and Interview by Kate Mossman, The Word, April 2012

The Sandy Denny tribute show is expanding, a long-running fight to "give her songs a future". ...

Frank Turner: Wembley Arena, London

Live Review by Stephen Dalton, The Times, 15 April 2012

FRANK TURNER'S inexorable rise from folk-punk busker to Wembley headliner has been a triumph of hard-gigging slog and astute anti-marketing over musical originality. The 30-year-old ...

Sandy Denny: The Queen of Fairport

Retrospective by Nick Coleman, Independent on Sunday, 6 May 2012

LESS THAN A decade ago a retrospective CD box-set came out. A Boxful of Treasures documented the life and career of the English singer-songwriter Sandy ...

Smoke Fairies: Blood Speaks

Review by John Aizlewood, bbc.co.uk, 21 May 2012

There’s much to adore from the bluesy folk duo on this second set. ...

Lucky Luke, Trembling Bells: Lucky Luke: Travelling For A Living/Trembling Bells: The Marble Downs

Review by Pete Paphides, The Word, June 2012

Lucky Luke were the greatest folk band that never was. They live on in Trembling Bells — now with added Will Oldham. ...

Nic Jones: What the folk! Nic Jones is back

Retrospective and Interview by Colin Irwin, The Guardian, 28 June 2012

Thirty years after the car crash that almost killed him, folk hero Nic Jones is returning to the stage. He talks about his rebuilt body ...

Neil Young's Visible Republic: Americana

Review by Wayne Robins, Rock's Backpages, 29 June 2012

THERE'S ALWAYS a method to Neil Young's madness, even on his most prosaic projects. Who would have thought that the eardrum-puncturing solo guitar project Le ...

The Lumineers: The Lumineers

Review and Interview by Graeme Thomson, Uncut, September 2012

A RAMBUNCTIOUS BAND based, rather incongruously, in Colorado, The Lumineers create primal, pounding folk music which lead singer Wesley Schulz has likened to the sound ...

Mumford & Sons: Babel

Review by Will Hermes, Rolling Stone, 20 September 2012

IT'S HARD TO imagine a more preposterous road to platinum success than the one Mumford & Sons travelled. Sigh No More, the 2010 debut by ...

Mumford & Sons: Babel

Review by David Bennun, Daily Mail, 24 September 2012

Nothing towers in Mumford's Babel ...

Mumford & Sons: Mumford and Sons: Roundhouse, London

Live Review by Kate Mossman, The Guardian, 25 September 2012

MARCUS MUMFORD is likely to be found starving, bleeding, dying, sighing, fading, sinning, hopeless, "in the dark" or — as the new song 'Broken Crown' ...

Terry Callier

Obituary by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 30 October 2012

FROM HIS BEGINNINGS in jazz, folk and soul music onwards, the singer and guitarist Terry Callier, who has died aged 67 after suffering from throat ...

Fairport Convention: Fairport's Cropredy Convention

Live Review by Mike Atherton, Record Collector, November 2012

IN MIDDLE ENGLAND, an Oxfordshire field came back to life to celebrate the 45th anniversary of folk-rock pioneers Fairport Convention, whose acoustic set launched this ...

Mumford & Sons: Hollywood Bowl, Los Angeles

Live Review by Roy Trakin, Hits, November 2012

"CAUSE I KNOW my weakness, know my voice," sings Marcus Mumford on the title track of Babel, the spectacularly successful U.K. folk-rockers' second album. "And ...

Beth Orton: Memorial Hall, Sheffield

Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 28 November 2012

"GOOD EVENING Shef-f-f-f-f-iel-d-d-d," begins Beth Orton, as an incorrectly set microphone makes her voice sound as if it has been remixed by King Tubby. Then ...

Jake Bugg

Interview by Tom Doyle, MOJO, January 2013

Notts' young songwriter-voice bottles lightning, goes to Number 1. ...

Terry Callier, 1945-2012

Obituary by Lois Wilson, MOJO, January 2013

The inspirational folk-jazz-soul singer songwriter died last month. Lois Wilson salutes him. ...

Tim Hardin: Remembering the lost genius of his music

Retrospective by Graeme Thomson, Daily Telegraph, 18 January 2013

BOB DYLAN once called him "the greatest songwriter alive" and Joe Strummer regarded him as a "lost genius of music". Yet when Tim Hardin died ...

Anaïs Mitchell, Karine Polwart, Emily Portman, Kathryn Roberts, Chris Wood: Never Mind the Birdlore: The New Face of Folk Music

Report and Interview by Colin Irwin, The Observer, 27 January 2013

The folk scene is changing – there are songs about police shootings, Occupy London and rape. Colin Irwin meets the singers who are shaking things ...

Woody Guthrie: House of Earth

Review by Michel Faber, The Guardian, 14 February 2013

Michel Faber asks if this explicit novel of poverty and sex is any more than a historic curio. ...

Devendra Banhart: Mala

Review by Laura Barton, bbc.co.uk, March 2013

A sense of love and lightness lingers after this eighth album has run its course. ...

Jake Bugg, Harry Styles: So Jake Bugg is authentic and Harry Styles is a fake? I don't think so…

Comment by Paul Morley, The Observer, 3 March 2013

In the great fabricated conflict between Jake Bugg and Harry Styles, it's the perversely sophisticated One Direction star who really represents what's left of pop. ...

Anaïs Mitchell: Interview

Interview by Rob Hughes, Daily Telegraph, 5 March 2013

Anaïs Mitchell, dubbed "the Queen of modern folk", tells Rob Hughes why she's inspired by centuries-old British ballads. ...

Cat Power: Her Majesty's Theatre, Adelaide

Live Review by Scott McLennan, Rip It Up (Australia), 7 March 2013

WHY DO CIGARETTE packet warnings have to always be such a downer? ...

Barry McGuire's Living Room Anthems

Profile and Interview by Charles Bermant, No Depression, 23 March 2013

BARRY MCGUIRE was around in the 1960s, and remembers them well enough to present a historical narrative of songs and stories for the benefit of ...

Billy Bragg: Barking's Woody Guthrie on 30 years of songs and activism

Interview by John Harris, The Guardian, 26 March 2013

From agitpop to love songs, Bragg has brought his audience through life with him, creating a soundtrack to thousands of lives ...

Robyn Hitchcock, The Incredible String Band, Scritti Politti: The RBP Album Club on the Incredible String Band (2013)

Interview by uncredited writer, Rock's Backpages audio, 9 May 2013

Robyn Hitchcock and Scritti's Green Gartside, aided by ringmaster Mark Ellen, discuss and play excerpts from the Incredible String Band's The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter. Recorded in 2013 at the RBP Album Club at the Idler Academy in London.

File format: mp3; file size: 79.9mb, interview length: 1h 27' 15" sound quality: ****

Valerie June: Dingwalls, London

Live Review by Lois Wilson, MOJO, August 2013

Memphis singer follows the gravelled road to Camden Lock. ...

Roy Harper: Confessions of a Hippie Sage

Retrospective and Interview by Rob Hughes, Daily Telegraph, 15 August 2013

Roy Harper has a glittering list of admirers, from Pink Floyd to Kate Bush. He tells Rob Hughes why it's taken 13 years to make ...

Clannad

Retrospective and Interview by David Burke, R2/Rock'n'Reel, November 2013

"PEOPLE ALWAYS say that we broke up. We never broke up – we're a family," says Moya Brennan of Clannad's return to the studio for ...

Jake Bugg: Shangri La

Review by Ian Gittins, Virgin Media Music, November 2013

IT IS JAKE BUGG'S misfortune to be recording in a cynical, over-mediated age. ...

Nick Drake, John Martyn: Solid Air: John Martyn and Nick Drake

Report and Interview by Nick Coleman, Independent on Sunday, 10 November 2013

JOHN MARTYN and Nick Drake have just tipped up backstage at an Oxford College Commemorative Ball. It is 1973. The older, newly-successful man, Martyn, is ...

Justin Timberlake, Dave Van Ronk: Various Artists: Inside Llewyn Davis: Original Soundtrack Recording (Nonesuch)

Review by Will Hermes, Rolling Stone, 21 November 2013

THERE'S SOMETHING deliciously perverse in hearing Justin Timberlake sing — gorgeously, it must be said — old-timey roots music. ...

Crystal Fighters: Brixton Academy, London ****

Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 24 November 2013

If you thought this sextet could only evoke Vampire Weekend and CSS, then think again: live, their passion can't be faulted ...

Various Artists: Choubi Choubi! Vol. 2 — Folk & Pop Sounds from Iraq

Review by John Doran, The Quietus, 29 November 2013

THIS EXCELLENT LP is a follow up to the original Choubi Choubi album that Mark Gergis put together in 2005 for Sublime Frequencies. ...

Another Day, Another Time: The Inside Llewyn Davis Concert Town Hall, New York City

Live Review by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, December 2013

IT'S LIKE A bunch of Midnight Cowboys (and Cowgirls) just stumbled into venerable old Town Hall from Times Square. Hats and braces and denim are ...

Robbie Basho: Visions of the Country (Gnome Life)

Review by Frances Morgan, The Wire, January 2014

ROBBIE BASHO's singing is sometimes written about as if it's a rather regrettable aspect of his work. ...

Jackson C. Frank: The tragic tale of Jackson C. Frank, forgotten legend of the '60s

Retrospective by Bob Stanley, The Guardian, 9 January 2014

He was one of the great singer-songwriters of the '60s folk scene, more highly regarded by some than Paul Simon. But he only recorded one ...

Pete Seeger: the man who brought politics to music

Obituary by Dorian Lynskey, The Guardian, 28 January 2014

One of Pete Seeger's greatest achievements was incorporating political activism into music, and realising that liberation struggles need a soundtrack ...

Pete Seeger: The road goes on for ever

Obituary by Richard Williams, The Guardian, 28 January 2014

The folk singer believed in handing on the traditions he had done so much to save, so that others could carry them forward. It was ...

Shirley Collins: Five of her best songs

Guide by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 11 February 2014

One of England's greatest folk singers has performed live for the first time in over three decades. To mark her return, here are some of ...

David Crosby: "The FBI scare me more than Hell's Angels"

Interview by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 26 February 2014

The legendary songwriter on Janis Joplin, being "the voice of cosmic America" and Croz, his first solo album in 20 years.   ...

Duffy Power, 1941-2014

Obituary by Colin Harper, The Guardian, 27 February 2014

Pop singer who found fame in the 1960s and became consumed by the blues, taking up Alexis Korner as an early mentor. ...

The Band, Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin, Otis Redding: D.A. Pennebaker (2014)

Interview by Barney Hoskyns, Rock's Backpages audio, April 2014

The film director revisits making Bob Dylan movie Dont Look Back; working with Albert and Sally Grossman; Dylan's wife Sara; the post-motorcycle accident Dylan in Woodstock; the 1966 tour film; shooting Otis Redding at Monterey... and playing Billie Holiday to Janis Joplin.

File format: mp3; file size: 69.9mb, interview length: 1h 12' 50" sound quality: ****

Beverley Martyn: "I'm still here and I know who I am now"

Interview by Graeme Thomson, The Guardian, 17 April 2014

"I thought I was over the hill," says Beverley Martyn, sipping water in a west London café and poring over a life filled with dark ...

Hamell On Trial: The trials of being Ed Hamell

Interview by Andy Gill, The Independent, 21 April 2014

He thrashes his battered guitar and sings about De Niro and Bill Hicks. But he's lucky to be alive, following a car accident for which ...

Beverley Martyn: Bush Hall, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 30 April 2014

BEVERLEY MARTYN has quite the folk backstory. A teenage paramour of Bert Jansch, who taught her to play guitar, she recorded and toured America with ...

Christy Moore

Interview by David Burke, R2/Rock'n'Reel, May 2014

LOOKING BACK often means you can no longer be arsed looking forward. That you'd much rather retrace your footprints on the road behind than make ...

Folk music field recordings in the British Isles

Review by Frances Morgan, The Wire, September 2014

Various Artists: The Barley Mow: Field Recordings And A Film Made In Suffolk In The 1950s Various Artists/Topic /The Flax In Bloom: Traditional Songs, Airs ...

Vashti Bunyan: Heartleap (Fat Cat)

Review by Jamie Atkins, Record Collector, October 2014

AFTER A 35-year gap between her beloved debut album and its follow-up, Lookaftering, Vashti Bunyan's third – and supposedly final – long-player, Heartleap, might have ...

Jake Bugg: Alexandra Palace, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 22 October 2014

JAKE BUGG'S ASCENT to fame may have been precipitous, but his idea of showmanship remains remarkably minimalist. ...

Vashti Bunyan: Heartleap (Fat Cat)

Review by Graeme Thomson, Uncut, November 2014

One more diamond day: an elusive singer-songwriter's beautiful, last (probably) album. ...

The Band, Bob Dylan: Bob Dylan: Lo and Behold!

Retrospective by Clinton Heylin, Uncut, December 2014

Forty-seven years on from the fabled sessions in Woodstock, BOB DYLAN'S complete Basement Tapes finally see the light of day this month — all 138 ...

Richard Dawson: Nothing Important

Review by Jamie Atkins, Record Collector, December 2014

WITH A TRACKLISTING running to just four songs, Richard Dawson's latest album might at first seem like an underwhelming prospect. As it happens, nothing could ...

Anne Briggs, June Tabor: June Tabor: The Art Of Singing

Book Excerpt by David Burke, 'Singing Out' (Soundcheck), 2015

An excerpt from Singing Out: A Folk Narrative of Maddy Prior, June Tabor and Linda Thompson. ...

Dolores Keane

Retrospective and Interview by David Burke, R2/Rock'n'Reel, January 2015

DOLORES KEANE has been through the mill. Conspicuous by her absence from Irish folk song this century, she spent most of those wilderness years inveterately ...

Nic Jones: The Enigma Of Nic Jones

Film/DVD/TV Review by Jamie Atkins, Record Collector, January 2015

ORIGINALLY AIRED on BBC Four last September, The Enigma Of… uses the return to live music of one of British folk's most beloved figures as ...

Brandi Carlile: Union Chapel, London N1

Live Review by Lisa Verrico, The Times, 18 February 2015

IN THE United States, Washington-born Brandi Carlile is sufficiently established to make whatever sort of music she pleases. Her five albums to date — one ...

Sandy Denny: Mick Houghton: I've Always Kept a Unicorn – The Biography of Sandy Denny

Book Review by Barney Hoskyns, The Guardian, 21 February 2015

WHAT, HYPOTHETICALLY, would have happened if Sandy Denny had tried out for The Voice UK? Would Rita and Ricky and Will.i.am and Sir Tom have ...

Kat Edmonson, Robert Ellis: Kat Edmonson/Robert Ellis: Rams Head On Stage, Annapolis

Live Review by Geoffrey Himes, Baltimore City Paper, 25 February 2015

KAT EDMONSON AND Robert Ellis, who brought their tour to Annapolis Tuesday night, are Houston singers with the same final initial and current Brooklyn addresses. ...

Don McLean

Retrospective and Interview by David Burke, R2/Rock'n'Reel, March 2015

THE OBJECTS OF pop culture iconography never grow old. Elvis Presley is forever framed as the hip-thrusting, kiss-curled, impossibly beautiful boy king, just as Bob ...

Sandy Denny, Jackson C. Frank: Learning the Game: Sandy Denny and Jackson C. Frank

Book Excerpt by Mick Houghton, 'I've Always Kept a Unicorn' (Faber), March 2015

"I think my first songwriting influences came from somebody called Jackson Frank. He's an American bloke who made one album over here just called Jackson ...

Vashti Bunyan Beguiles Estonia

Live Review by Kieron Tyler, MOJO, April 2015

Timelessness and continuity mesh as fabled folkstress plays Tallinn Music Week, hints at second retirement. ...

Shirley Collins: "When I sing I feel past generations standing behind me"

Retrospective and Interview by Jude Rogers, The Observer, 31 May 2015

LEWES, EAST SUSSEX, is a lovely, slyly rebellious town. Pretty shopfronts and streets mask its political history: Thomas Paine wrote his first pamphlet here demanding ...

Buffy Sainte-Marie

Profile and Interview by David Burke, R2/Rock'n'Reel, July 2015

DON'T TELL THE wife, but I've fallen for Buffy Sainte-Marie. She probably doesn't feel the same way about me, but then being well-versed in the ...

SOAK: Before We Forgot How To Dream (Rough Trade)

Review by Laura Barton, Q, July 2015

Derry youth's fragile debut. ...

Bob Dylan, Pete Seeger: Elijah Wald: Dylan Goes Electric! Newport, Seeger, Dylan and the Night That Split the '60s

Book Review by Peter Stone Brown, CounterPunch, 3 July 2015

THIS YEAR IS the 50th Anniversary of Bob Dylan armed with an electric guitar, taking the stage at the Newport Folk Festival, backed by a ...

Séamus Ennis: "When Séamus Ennis played, it stood your hair on end"

Book Excerpt by Colin Harper, The Irish Times, 27 August 2015

"SÉAMUS ENNIS was unique," wrote Ciarán Mac Mathúna, about the singular piper, folklorist and broadcaster on his death in 1982. "Of course, every person in ...

Nerina Pallot: Scala, N1

Live Review by Lisa Verrico, The Times, 22 September 2015

IF ALL WERE FAIR in folk and pop, Nerina Pallot would be one of Britain's most celebrated singer-songwriters and her extraordinary new album The Sound ...

Judy Collins

Interview by Jim Sullivan, Cape Cod Times, November 2015

ASK JUDY Collins a question about legacy – what would she like hers to be? – and she answers with this: "Always move forward." ...

Joanna Newsom: Eventim Apollo, W6

Live Review by Lisa Verrico, The Times, 12 November 2015

IT WOULD make sense to assume that it's because Joanna Newsom plays harp that audiences sit and watch her in silence. Her music may be ...

Mumford & Sons: O2 Arena, SE10

Live Review by Lisa Verrico, The Times, 11 December 2015

Having disappointed by going electric on their third album, the Mumfords issued a powerful reminder of their folk-hero status ...

The Blues Project, The Lovin' Spoonful: How the Lovin' Spoonful and the Blues Project Electrified New York City

Retrospective by Mitchell Cohen, Music Aficionado, 2016

THE LOVIN' SPOONFUL were NYC's Beatles. Lillian Roxon, in her indispensable Rock Encyclopedia, called them "our own little moptops, born, bred and raised right here ...

Steeleye Span: St. George's, Bristol

Live Review by Stephen Dalton, loudersound.com, 27 January 2016

The masters of English folk rock keep moving forward ...

Bob Dylan, Peter Yarrow: "The Greatest Place": Bob Dylan and Albert Grossman put down country roots in Woodstock

Book Excerpt by Barney Hoskyns, 'Small Town Talk' (Faber), February 2016

BY THE TIME Bob Dylan's 'Blowin' In The Wind' was turbo-charging the folk-protest movement in the summer of 1963, his manger Albert Grossman had become ...

The Corrs

Profile and Interview by David Burke, R2/Rock'n'Reel, February 2016

IT'S BEEN A long hiatus, punctuated by the joy of nativity, the sorrow of bereavement and the pursuit of singular ambition, but the Corrs – ...

Birdy: Oslo, London

Live Review by Pip Williams, Coup De Main, 20 February 2016

BIRDY'S SHOW at East London's Oslo marked both a triumphant debut for her new material, and a point of note along an unusual career trajectory. ...

Stick in the Wheel: What's Cookin', Leytonstone Ex-Servicemen's Club, London

Live Review by Nick Hasted, Uncut, March 2016

From the London riots to 18th-century laments on English injustice, the critically acclaimed band bring folk back home. ...

The Lumineers: O2 Academy Brixton, London

Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 25 April 2016

LIKE MUMFORD & SONS, the Lumineers have adopted a strand of rootless country-folk that has no geographical connection to Nashville. Founding members Wesley Schultz and ...

Ani DiFranco: Righteous Babe: Ani DiFranco On Music, Politics, And Staying Independent

Interview by Mark Leviton, The Sun Magazine, May 2016

SINGER-SONGWRITER Ani DiFranco doesn't like her music to be labelled. Some have called it "folk-punk," but when asked to define what she does, DiFranco says, ...

Father John Misty: Roundhouse, NW1

Live Review by Stephen Dalton, The Times, 20 May 2016

Despite some soft-rock padding, Misty’s signature brand of darkly funny lounge-singer archness came to the fore on slower numbers ...

Christy Moore

Profile and Interview by David Burke, R2/Rock'n'Reel, July 2016

WHEN YOU THINK about it, email is only a truncated form of letter writing. The art of literary correspondence re-imagined. And every bit as revealing ...

Leyla McCalla

Interview by David Burke, R2/Rock'n'Reel, July 2016

IF THE Haitian government wants to improve the international perception of its country, appointing Leyla McCalla as cultural ambassador with a roaming brief could be ...

Ani DiFranco, Woody Guthrie: Ani DiFranco Seeks a Higher Truth

Interview by Jim Sullivan, Cape Cod Times, August 2016

"THE IMPORTANT thing in poetry or songwriting is to ignore the facts and tell the truth," says singer-songwriter Ani DiFranco, on the phone from her ...

Judy Henske & Jerry Yester: Farewell Aldebaran

Review by Rob Hughes, Prog, 18 August 2016

At last! Unheralded '60s classic gets a proper reissue. ...

Judy Henske & Jerry Yester: Farewell Aldebaran (Omnivore)

Review by Kieron Tyler, The Arts Desk, 28 August 2016

The mystical Farewell Aldebaran gets its first-ever legal reissue. ...

Bon Iver: 'There are people who are into being famous. And I don’t like that'

Interview by Laura Barton, The Guardian, 24 September 2016

Justin Vernon’s falsetto-folk infiltrated pop and caught Kanye’s ear but now he’s kicking against the fame game. For his new album, he explains why the ...

Tim Buckley: The Dream Belongs to Me: The Tragic Journey of Tim Buckley

Retrospective by Kris Needs, Shindig, November 2016

FIFTY YEARS AGO this month, an album was released that, in its own strangely magical way, managed to stand out among the recent folk boom ...

Shirley Collins: With a guitar and a lipstick

Review by Jude Rogers, The Sunday Times, 6 November 2016

The radical folk pioneer has cut a bold new album – her first for 38 years. ...

The Lumineers: Eventim Apollo, London

Live Review by Lisa Verrico, The Times, 7 November 2016

Accused in the past of charisma-shortage, singer Wesley Schultz proved his critics wrong and his band had to play out of their skins to keep ...

Jacob Collier: Jazz artist of the week: Jacob Collier

Profile by Jasper Murison-Bowie, Under City Lights, 13 November 2016

Who's that then? Jacob Collier.  ...

Paul Simon: Peter Ames Carlin: Homeward Bound – The Life Of Paul Simon

Book Review by Chris Charlesworth, Just Backdated, December 2016

IF EVER A career in music was pre-ordained, it is that of Paul Simon, the ambitious, gifted and ever-so-scrupulous first son of a professional double-bass ...

Karen Dalton: Are You Leaving for the Country? Karen Dalton in Woodstock

Book Excerpt by Barney Hoskyns, 'Small Town Talk' (Da Capo), Spring 2016

FRED NEIL had returned to his beloved Florida by the early '70s, but from 1970 onwards Karen Dalton spent much of her time in Woodstock. ...

Phil Ochs: How Phil Ochs Went from Folk Hero to Rock & Roll Revolutionary

Retrospective by Mitchell Cohen, Music Aficionado, 2017

PHIL OCHS had been on the stage of Carnegie Hall before. He first headlined there in January 1966, armed with incendiary topical material and witty ...

The Beatles, Chuck Berry, Bob Dylan, The Everly Brothers, Marianne Faithfull, The Hollies, Graham Nash: In Praise of the Hollies

Retrospective by Mitchell Cohen, Music Aficionado, 2017

WITH THEIR EXUBERANT three-part harmony, chiming guitar riffs, and keen sense of what makes a memorable hook, the Hollies created a signature sound. At first, ...

Bert Jansch: Living In The Shadows (Earth)

Review by Jamie Atkins, Record Collector, February 2017

IT'S DIFFICULT to imagine a musician of Bert Jansch's standing and talent ever being taken for granted. But back in 1990, save for the attention ...

Bert Jansch: Living In The Shadows (Earth)

Review by Jamie Atkins, Record Collector, February 2017

IT'S DIFFICULT TO imagine a musician of Bert Jansch's standing and talent ever being taken for granted. But back in 1990, save for the attention ...

Bobby Darin: Songs of Freedom

Retrospective by David Burke, Vintage Rock, March 2017

AMERICAN CULTURAL icon Dick Clark once described Bobby Darin as "a musical chameleon" who could effortlessly traverse a multiplicity of genres, from heavy duty rhythm ...

Offa Rex: The Queen of Hearts

Review by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 13 July 2017

AS BAND-BUILDING chat-up lines go, "We'll be your Albion Dance Band" is certainly niche. ...

Judy Dyble and Andy Lewis: Summer Dancing

Review by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 24 August 2017

BURROW THROUGH folk-rock's foundations, and you'll find Judy Dyble, an early singer in Fairport Convention, with the Incredible String Band, and the group that burst, ...

Ian and Sylvia, Tom Russell: Tom Russell: Folk Hotel/Play One More – The Songs of Ian & Sylvia

Review by Peter Stone Brown, CounterPunch, 29 September 2017

IT WOULD BE easy to say that Tom Russell's new album Folk Hotel (Frontera Records) is a tribute to the Greenwich Village folk music scene ...

First Aid Kit: MOJO Working: First Aid Kit

Report and Interview by Kieron Tyler, MOJO, November 2017

Sweden's Soderberg sisters return, with electric guitar, more keyboards, members of Midlake and Wilco, and Peter Buck. ...

Joan Baez, Bob Dylan: Joan Baez

Interview by Graeme Thomson, Mail On Sunday, 24 March 2018

She's the queen of the '60s protest song, who helped make her lover Bob Dylan famous. Now, as she prepares for her farewell tour, Joan ...

Brigid Mae Power: Servant Jazz Quarters, London

Live Review by Tim Cooper, Louder Than War, 8 April 2018

After two acclaimed albums and a harrowing #metoo contribution, Brigid Mae Power performed her first sell-out date in East London. Tim Cooper went along for an ...

Olivia Chaney: Shelter (Nonesuch)

Review by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 6 July 2018

FOLK ARTISTS stepping into singer-songwriter territory are often treated with suspicion, as if their egos must be propelling them beyond the small stories of smaller ...

Richard Thompson: Gawsworth Hall, Cheshire

Live Review by Jude Rogers, The Observer, 12 August 2018

Half a century after his first gig with Fairport Convention, folk-rocker Richard Thompson is as cool and contemporary as ever. ...

Bon Iver, Cher, Jay-Z, Ke$ha, Migos, Travis Scott, Britney Spears, T-Pain, Kanye West: How Auto-Tune Revolutionized the Sound of Popular Music

Essay by Simon Reynolds, Pitchfork, 17 September 2018

An in-depth history of the most important pop innovation of the last 20 years, from Cher's 'Believe' to Kanye West to Migos ...

Joan Baez: Royce Hall, Los Angeles

Live Review by Michael Simmons, L.A. Weekly, 13 November 2018

ON SATURDAY, NOV. 10, Royce Hall at UCLA was sold out for Joan Baez's Fare Thee Well… Tour 2018. At the age of 77, the ...

Meg Baird, Mary Lattimore: Meg Baird and Mary Lattimore: Ghost Forests

Review by Will Hermes, Rolling Stone, 13 November 2018

Experimental music that's warm and inviting. ...

Mumford & Sons: SSE Hydro, Glasgow

Live Review by Graeme Thomson, Mail On Sunday, 24 November 2018

Mumford & Sons are 21st-century boys these days, with new album Delta continuing their self-conscious plunge into progress... but are they playing against their strengths? ...

Mumford & Sons: O2 Arena, London

Live Review by Rick Pearson, The Evening Standard, 30 November 2018

IT SAYS MUCH about the rise of Mumford & Sons that four dates on their current tour have had to be postponed due to the ...

Shirley Collins: "There was no way I could ever sing to be popular"

Interview by Kieron Tyler, The Arts Desk, 25 January 2019

Ahead of next week's Roundhouse concert, the voice of traditional English music reveals some unexpected musical likes and much more. ...

Kaia Kater: Grenades (Smithsonian Folkways)

Review and Interview by Rob Hughes, Uncut, February 2019

Twentysomething Canadian embarks on a deeply personal voyage of discovery.  ...

Beirut: Gallipoli

Review by Will Hermes, Rolling Stone, 3 February 2019

BEIRUT MUSIC sounds like the fuzzy memory of a wedding involving distant relatives, where you were swept up in folk dances and traditional drinking games, ...

Rhiannon Giddens With Francesco Turrisi: There Is No Other

Review by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 3 May 2019

FOLK MUSIC SHOULDN'T HAVE STARS, but Rhiannon Giddens' illuminating charge is hard to ignore. This February, she led the brilliant Our Native Daughters project, collaborating ...

Joan Baez: Saint Joan

Retrospective and Interview by Liz Thomson, Tortoise, 21 July 2019

As Joan Baez prepares to give her final performance, Liz Thomson talks to her and traces a 60-year career filled with courage and conviction. ...

Dorris Henderson, John Renbourn: Tangled Up in Blues: John Renbourn & Dorris Henderson – the '60s

Film/DVD/TV Review by Colin Harper, The Guardian, October 2019

BY THE TIME of his fourth solo album, The Lady and the Unicorn (1970), John Renbourn was living in a thatched cottage in Hampshire and, ...

The New Lost City Ramblers: John Cohen, 1932-2019

Obituary by Tony Russell, The Guardian, 14 October 2019

Film-maker, photographer, folk music revivalist and founder member of the New Lost City Ramblers ...

Richard Dawson: Anthems for a blighted nation

Interview by Jude Rogers, The Observer, 26 October 2019

Celebrated for his incredible voice and outsider-folk charm, the musician is stepping out of the shadows with his new album, 2020, a one-of-a-kind opus that ...

Richard Dawson: Anthems for a blighted nation

Interview by Jude Rogers, The Observer, 27 October 2019

Celebrated for his incredible voice and outsider-folk charm, the musician is stepping out of the shadows with his new album, 2020, a one-of-a-kind opus that ...

Judy Collins: Ol' Blue Eyes is back

Retrospective and Interview by Liz Thomson, Tortoise, 17 December 2019

No, not Frank Sinatra but the great folk singer, Judy Collins. Liz Thomson renews acquaintance with the woman who discovered Leonard Cohen and Joni Mitchell ...

The Innocence Mission: See You Tomorrow (Bella Union)

Review by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, February 2020

Follow-up up 2018's Sun On The Square. ...

Gordon Lightfoot: Just Like a Paperback Novel

Profile and Interview by Nicholas Jennings, Zoomer, March 2020

I'M DRIVING NORTH up Toronto's Bayview Avenue on a winter's night in early January. I turn east on Post Road and into the Bridle Path ...

Elyse Weinberg: Forgotten folk singer had a surprising late-in-life comeback

Obituary by Nicholas Jennings, The Globe and Mail, 15 May 2020

SHE WAS one of Yorkville's forgotten female folkies, a contemporary of Joni Mitchell and a friend of Neil Young who left Toronto in 1968 for ...

Fleet Foxes: "You can fake a guitar solo. You can't fake your voice"

Interview by Laura Barton, The Guardian, 23 September 2020

Back with a warm new album, Robin Pecknold talks about how the pandemic cured his anxiety – and how the Beach Boys' golden falsettos changed ...

Gordon Lightfoot: Gord's Gold

Interview by Max Bell, Record Collector, April 2021

  THE VOICE ON the other end of the line is hesitant. The hearing is none too good. Talking on the phone is a challenge. "Can ...

Patrick Sky, Singer-Songwriter Popular in the '60s, Dead at 77

Obituary by Jeff Tamarkin, Best Classic Bands, May 2021

SINGER-SONGWRITER Patrick Sky, a mainstay of the Greenwich Village folk music community in the mid-'60s, died May 27, 2021, in Asheville, N.C. His death was ...

Robert Shelton, Dave Laing, Karl Dallas & Robin Denselow: The Electric Muse Revisited (book)/Various: The Electric Muse Revisted (box)

Review by Tony Burke, Morning Star, 19 June 2021

THE ORIGINAL Electric Muse was written by Karl Dallas (Melody Maker), Dave Laing (Let It Rock), Robert Shelton (New York Times) and Robin Denselow (The ...

Jackie Leven: "Strong on the outside, brittle on the inside": the life, death and genius of Jackie Leven

Retrospective by Graeme Thomson, Daily Telegraph, 15 September 2021

The troubled, genre-defying Scot told stories that no one else dared to. Who cares if they weren't all true? ...

Martha Wainwright: Union Chapel, London

Live Review by Stephen Dalton, The Evening Standard, 21 September 2021

The singer songwriter was on perky form in a set that hinged on songs that explored her recent divorce ...

caroline

Press Release by Patrick Clarke, Rough Trade Records, 1 January 2022

A VERSION of 'Dark blue', caroline's sublime first single that also opens their self-titled debut album, was written on the day Casper Hughes, Jasper Llewellyn ...

Janis Ian: "I make people uncomfortable"

Retrospective and Interview by Liz Thomson, i, 4 February 2022

56 years after her first single was banned, the musician and songwriter is still causing a ruckus. She tells i about learning from Hendrix, and ...

Vashti Bunyan: "My voice made me think of sorrow. I didn't even sing to my children"

Retrospective and Interview by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 18 March 2022

GROOMED TO BE A 60S POP STAR, the singer instead headed for the Hebrides in a horse-drawn cart and then withdrew from music for 30 ...

Kevin Morby: A Conversation With Kevin Morby

Interview by Jacob Paul Nielsen, Magnet, 16 May 2022

KEVIN MORBY'S seventh LP, This Is A Photograph (Dead Oceans), tells a story about the often-tragic side of the American Dream. It's an album of ...

Shovel Dance Collective: "History is made up by the ruling class, so why not make up history in response?"

Interview by Patrick Clarke, Loud and Quiet, 28 July 2022

Meet the London group reclaiming the radicalism of traditional folk. ...

Lankum: The Sea, The Sea: An Interview With Lankum

Interview by Patrick Clarke, The Quietus, 8 February 2023

In their first interview about their fourth album False Lankum, Ian and Daragh Lynch, Radie Peat and Cormac Mac Diarmada speak to Patrick Clarke about ...

Bridget St John: Still Bridget St John

Retrospective by Mark Cooper, Rock's Backpages, November 2023

I CAN'T RECALL ever having seen Bridget St John before although I owned her first couple of albums as the '60s wobbled into the '70s. ...

Tracy Chapman, Natalie Merchant: Tracy Chapman: I Could Be Someone

Retrospective by Mark Cooper, Rock's Backpages, February 2024

THE FIRST TIME I heard Tracy Chapman was in the office of an Elektra A&R man at 9229 Sunset Boulevard late in 1987. ...

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