Past blog posts
March 2010
Mulatu Astatke and Ethio-jazz
Posted in Africa, Ethio-jazz, Ethio-jazz, Ethiopia, Jazz, Latin Jazz, Traditional
Tags: East Africa, Ethio-jazz, Ethiopia, Groove, Instrumental, Jazz, Latin Jazz, Mulatu Astatke
October 2010
Johnny & June Carter Cash duets and other folk love songs
Posted in Americana, Austin, Country, Folk, Gypsy, History, Middle East, Sephardic Jewish Folk Music, Traditional
Tags: Folk, Traditional, Johnny Cash, June Carter Cash, Alison Krauss, Bobby Darin, Bob Dylan, Anais Mitchell, Justin Vernon, Scalerica D’oro, Sephardic Folk Music, Sacred Music, Folk Wedding Songs
September 2010
Legends of the 88s: Cuba to Chicago, New Orleans to New York
Posted in Americana, Blues, Chicago, Country, Creole, Cuba, Jazz, Keyboards, Latin Jazz, Louisiana, New Orleans, New York City, Nuyorican, Piano, Puerto Rican Music, Salsa Music
Tags: Barrelhouse, Blues, Boogaloo, Boogie Woogie, Champion Jack Dupree, Charlie Palmieri, Chucho Valdez, Country, Floyd Cramer, James Booker, Jazz, Jimmy Yancey, Keyboards, Latin, Mambo, Noro Morales, Otis Spann, Peruchin, Piano, Rumba, Salsa
August 2010
Cool show alert! Lipbone Redding at The Mint
Posted in Americana, Blues, California, Country, Folk, Guitarists, Jazz, Los Angeles, Memphis, New Orleans, New York City, Singer/Songwriter, Soul, Throat Singing, Troubadour, Trumpet, Voicestrumentalists
Tags: Blues, Folk, Jazz, Lipbone Redding, Los Angeles, Singer/Songwriter, The Mint LA, Troubadour, Trumpet, Tuvan Throat Singing
July 2010
La Santa Cecilia: Homegrown LA style
Posted in Americana, Bass, Blues, Blues Rock, California, Chicano music, Folk, Funk, Guitarists, Jazz, Klezmer, Latin Fusion, Los Angeles, Musica ranchera, Soul, Traditional
Tags: Accordion, Boleros, California, Jambands, Jazz, Klemzer, La Santa Cecilia, Latin Fusion, Los Angeles, Olvera Street, Rock, Soul, Traditional
Woody Guthrie’s “This Land is Your Land” reinterpreted
Posted in Americana, Chicano music, Country, Folk, History, Pete Seeger, Singer/Songwriter, Soul, Traditional, Troubadour
Tags: Americana, Bruce Springstein, Country, Folk, History, Johnny Cash, Lila Downs, Los Lobos, Pete Seeger, Roots rock, Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings, Singer/Songwriter, Sones De Mexico, The Grateful Dead, Troubadour, Up In The Air soundtrack
June 2010
Honduras, Garifuna Soul & Andy Palacio
Posted in Belize, Folk, Garifuna, History, Honduras, Punta, Soul, Traditional
Tags: Andy Palacio, Aurelio Martinez, Belize, Futbol, Garifuna, Punta, UNESCO, World Cup 2010
May 2010
Raw, swampy, earthy, pure groove: Florida’s JJ Grey & Mofro
(Americana, Blues, Blues Rock, Country, Fender Rhodes, Florida, Funk, Harmonica, Keyboards, Piano, Singer/Songwriter, Slide Guitar, Soul, Troubadour,
Groove, Roots Rock, JJ Grey, MOFRO, Lochloosa, Blackwater, Country Ghetto, Alligator Records, Jacksonville, Orange Blossoms, Swamp, Harmonica)
Independent spirit: Ocelot Robot rockin’ the road
(Los Angeles, Rowdy Rock, Ocelot Robot, Indie Bands)
Portrait of a long life: Dizzy Gillespie, Bebop & Latin Jazz
(Bebop, Dizzy Gillespie, History, Jazz, Latin Jazz, Trumpet, A Night In Tunisia, Afro, Afro-cuban jazz, Manteca)
Meandering through the homeland of Los Angeles: DJ Moonbaby, Canter’s Deli, Lalo Guerrero, & Petrovic Blasting Company
(Blues, California, Chicano music, Funk, History, Los Angeles, Murals, Canter’s Deli, Chavez Ravine, DJ Moonbaby, Laird Hamilton, Lalo Guerrero, Rick James, Ry Cooder, Surfing)
April 2010
Bringing the (City of) Angels back to higher ground: DJ Moonbaby
(California, Funk, Hip Hop, Jazz, Keyboards, Soul, Biggie Smalls, DJ Moonbaby, Electronica, Fela Kuti, Funk, Herb Albert, Hip Hop, Little Dragon, Soul, Stevie Wonder, Zaki Ibrahim)
Back to basics: The blues with Ali Farka Touré
(West Africa, Blues, Guitarists, History, Mali, Mississippi, Traditional, Troubadour, US State Dept Travel Advisory, African blues, desert blues, John Lee Hooker, Junior Kimbrough)
Groovin’ with the sons of Booker T: MMW, Big Organ Trio, & The City Champs
(Funk, Hammond B-3, History, Jazz, Memphis, Soul, Big Organ Trio, Booker T & The MGs, Funk, George Sluppick, Groove, Hammond B-3, Jambands, Jazz, Medeski Martin & Wood, The City Champs)
Sweet harmonies & Southern rock: Stonehoney & The Mother Truckers
(Americana, Austin, Blues, Blues Rock, Country, Singer/Songwriter, Texas, Texas Blues, Roots rock, Southern Rock, Stonehoney, Texas, The Mother Truckers)
Journey with the Music Voyager: Mumbai, Kingston, your town?
(History, India, Jamaica, Music Voyager, Traditional, Etana & Caltariba System, Farook Singh, Jacob Edgar, Mumbai, Sona Mohapatra)
March 2010
From DC to Digable Planets to DJ LadybugMek
(Brazil, Funk, Go-go, Hip Hop, History, Jazz, Washington DC, Brazil, Digable Planets, DJ LadybugMek, Gilberto Gil, Mal Waldron, Raheen Devaughn, Rare Essence)
I live for the funk: James Brown, The Meters & Curtis Mayfield
(Bass, Blues, Fender Rhodes, Funk, Hammond B-3, History, New Orleans, Soul, Curtis Mayfield, Groove, James Brown, The JBs, The Meters)
“Llanero, si soy llanero”: music from the plains of Colombia
(Cowboys, Folk, History, Joropo, Musica Llanera, Traditional, Colombia, Harp, Maracas)
February 2010
Cowboy yodels & música ranchera: from Gene Autry to Javier Solis
(Country, Cowboy songs, Mexico, Musica ranchera, New Mexico, Don Walser, Gene Autry, Javier Solis, Lola Beltran, Mexico, New Mexico, Patsy Montana, Vincente Fernandez)
Hecho en Venice: Tom Freund & Chris Joyner
(Bass, California, Country, Folk, Funk, Guitarists, Keyboards, Troubadour, Ukelele, Chris Joyner, Culver City Dub Collective, Singer/Songwriter, Tom Freund, Upright bass, Venice, wurlitzer)
Somalia: K’Naan, Magool, &; the meanest streets in the universe
(Hip Hop, History, Somalia, Traditional, Troubadour, K’Naan, Magool)
Louisiana gumbo: Cedric Watson et Bijou Créole
(Cajun/Zydeco, Creole, Folk, History, Louisiana, Traditional, Cedric Watson, Jacob Edgar)
January 2010
To Haiti With Love: Racine, Kompa, Twoubadou, & Jazz
(Folk, Haiti, History, Jazz, Kompa, Racine, Troubadour, Twoubadou, Hope for Haiti, Wyclef, Yele)
Goodbye Lhasa: this space had become too small
(Folk, Nueva Canción, Singer/Songwriter, Soul, Troubadour, Lhasa de Sela)
December 2009
Have a very rootsy Christmas!
(Bluegrass, Blues, History, Holiday Music, Jazz, Piano, Rockabilly, Soul, Bill Monroe, Canned Heat, Charles Brown, Duke Ellington, Elvis Presley, Jazz, Little Johnny Taylor, Louis Armstrong, Rock, Rockabilly, Victor Wooten)
November 2009
Música Boriqua & Nuyorican love
(Hip Hop, Merengue, New York City, Nuyorican, Poetry, Puerto Rican Music, Salsa Music, Lauryn Hill, Miguel Piñero, New York City, Nuyorican, Nuyorican Poet’s Cafe, Oscar D’Leon, Pete “El Conde” Rodriguez, Poetry, Puerto Rican Music, Salsa Music, Willie Colon)
Mysteries & Legends: Django Reinhardt, Tommy Johnson, Robert Johnson & the unidentified photo
(Blues, Django Reinhardt, Folk, Guitarists, Gypsy, History, Jazz, Mississippi, Robert Johnson, Slide Guitar, Tommy Johnson, Traditional, Crossroads, Legends, Mysteries, Myths)
La poesía, nueva canción, y trovadores
(Folk, History, Mercedes Sosa, Nueva Canción, Pablo Neruda, Pete Seeger, Poetry, Singer/Songwriter, Spanish Civil War Songs, Traditional, Troubadour, Caetano Veloso, Canto Nuevo, Carlos Puebla, Hasta Siempre, La Quinta Brigada, Rubén Darío, Trovador)
October 2009
Troubadour Lipbone Redding & throat singing
(Blues, California, Folk, History, Jazz, New York City, Singer/Songwriter, Throat Singing, Traditional, Troubadour, Voicestrumentalists, Lipbone Redding)
Can’t get enough of Texas…part 2 (blues)
(Austin, Blues, Folk, History, Texas, Traditional, Guitar, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Blind Willie Johnson, T-Bone Walker, Lightin’ Hopkins, Freddie King, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Los Lonely Boys, Gary Clark, Jr.)
Can’t get enough of Texas…part 1
(Austin, Blues, Folk, History, Jazz, Texas, The Tiny Tin Hearts, Carolyn Wonderland, Deadman, Ephraim Owens, Glenn Rexach, Jazz, Just Released, Suzanna Choffel, Trace Ready)
September 2009
Bakersfield & Bhangra
(Bakersfield, Bhagra, California, Country, Folk, History, India, Sufi-folk songs, Traditional, Rockabilly, Buck Owens, Dwight Yoakam, Buck Owens, Merle Haggard, Kalbelia Dance of Rajasthan, Kalish Kmer’s Kailasa, Punjabi folk music/Bhangra)
Esperanza giving us hope!
(Upright Bass, Jazz, Esperanza Spalding)
Is there any sound sweeter than slide guitar?
(Blues, History, Mississippi, Slide Guitar, Mississippi Fred McDowell, Derek Trucks, Napoleon Strickland, Robert Randolph, Ben Harper, Debashish Bhattacharya)
New Orleans: “The music bubbles up from the cracks in the sidewalks.”
(Blues, Cajun/Zydeco, History, Louisiana, New Orleans, Piano, Soul, Dwayne Dopsie and the Zydeco Hellraisers, Grandpa Elliot, Irma Thomas)
Roots, routes, & The Tiny Tin Hearts
(Austin, Bass, Texas, The Tiny Tin Hearts, Folk, Pop, Rock)
