http://www.braveboots.com/ts/ Discovery of singer/songwriters....everywhere en-us 2005-08-09T22:07:43-05:00 http://www.braveboots.com/ts/archives/000564.html Heard Jeff Black on NPR this evening. He is already using podcasting to distribute new music every week. This model explodes the frequency of even an Ani DiFranco who puts out a new CD every year as well as bootlegs every few months. Black's music was pleasant and interesting to listen to -- as professional... men stessa 2005-08-09T22:07:43-05:00 http://www.braveboots.com/ts/archives/000528.html Joni's got a new compilation of songs, Songs of a Prarie Girl -- songs about Canada and her childhood, including Urge for Going. Reminded me immediately of another prarie girl - Connie Kaldor -- who has has long written and sung to and about the Canadian Prarie. One of These Days and Moonlight Grocery are... Canadian heartandmind 2005-05-30T20:24:15-05:00 http://www.braveboots.com/ts/archives/000394.html Not Forest and Sun. Forest Sun. Based in San Francisco, he travels all around the US. Heard God's Breath this afternoon from his CD Plenty. Awesome lyrics. Deep strong, soul-full voice and guitar. Do you know why your here? Do you know from where you've come? Do you know what you came to do? And... men heartandmind 2005-05-28T14:51:09-05:00 http://www.braveboots.com/ts/archives/000507.html This Washington Post article on ipod dj-ing started me thinking about the future of folk. No, not whether the genre will survive, but about how we will listen, how we will share new music. Instead of house concerts, ipod Folk nights? Do you have an ipod? I don't. But I do listen to new music... Where to find new music heartandmind 2005-02-27T20:15:58-05:00 http://www.braveboots.com/ts/archives/000493.html what happened to Chuck Mitchell, the guy who gave Joni her last name? He performs every now and then, but also moved on to other things, other lives. Chuck Mitchell could hardly be called a careerist. A seminal figure on the '60s folk scene in Michigan, he and his ex-wife have traveled very different paths.... Joni heartandmind 2005-02-03T20:21:20-05:00 http://www.braveboots.com/ts/archives/000483.html Yes, another female singer/songwriter, but this one a 2003 winner of the New Folk award at Kerrville. I heard a song from her latest CD, Hymns for the Exiled.... new folk heartandmind 2005-01-08T21:38:18-05:00 http://www.braveboots.com/ts/archives/000478.html the new Ani DiFranco Knuckledown. I listened to a couple of tracks online and read lyrics. Pretty powerful, as usual, but these songs are weathered by loss, grief, sadness and new life... Sunday Morning is especially poignant: sunday morning you're doing your thing and i am doing mine speaking words more a formality cuz we... women heartandmind 2004-12-31T15:21:57-05:00 http://www.braveboots.com/ts/archives/000466.html Brooklyn's Hem, in their new Eveningland CD, cite as a guiding light the "country-politan" sound of Ray Charles' 1962 classic LP, "Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music." Yes, there's lush orchestral backing on several tunes (the Slovak National Radio Orchestra, no less). But instead of Brother Ray's lucky-ol'-sun voice, Hem fronts the lazy soprano... duo michael 2004-11-29T08:24:50-05:00 http://www.braveboots.com/ts/archives/000456.html We might need to remember some of these older songs like Talkin in Vietnam Talking Blues by Johnny Cash One mornin' at breakfast, I said to my wife, We been everywhere once and some places twice, As I had another helping of country ham, She said "We ain't never been to Vietnam, "And there's a... political heartandmind 2004-11-12T20:37:35-05:00 http://www.braveboots.com/ts/archives/000455.html Heard a cut off her latest The Last New York Horn don't remember the cut but remember I liked it. It's her 5th cd! She's not touring right because she's in grad school. A back up plan is always good. Not everyone gets a career like Dar's.... women heartandmind 2004-11-12T20:21:18-05:00 http://www.braveboots.com/ts/archives/000445.html I have not chronicled the many Native American singer/songwriters -- of which there are many. Joanne Shenandoah comes to mind, of course, but also John Trudell. But I did hear one tonight, a nice antidote to the debates, that reminded me of the power of politics in song: Annie Humphrey. Her voice, guitar, and lyrics... new folk heartandmind 2004-10-08T23:11:16-05:00 http://www.braveboots.com/ts/archives/000439.html At first I wasn't impressed. Her voice sounded off-key, like she didn't know how to sing. But her guitar kept me listening to those a bit off-center lyrics. Viers is based in Seattle and her latest CD Carbon Glacier is on Nonesuch, but her first recordings were on her own label Raven Marching Band. Gotta... new folk heartandmind 2004-09-29T08:05:45-05:00 http://www.braveboots.com/ts/archives/000438.html Is she Suzanne Vega or Jane Siberry or Dar Williams? I dunno, but her website is a bit odd. Olivia 101 reminds me of Siberry's Writers are a Funny Breed or Marco Polo... new folk heartandmind 2004-09-27T18:20:39-05:00 http://www.braveboots.com/ts/archives/000436.html Add Jesse Sykes to that list.... new folk heartandmind 2004-09-25T22:03:38-05:00 http://www.braveboots.com/ts/archives/000433.html San Francisco Chronicle interview with Joni Mitchell about her retirement from music: On this afternoon, she talks about how she developed her style, but the most essential quality of a songwriter, she suggests, may be mental toughness. Like Bob Dylan and fellow Canadian Neil Young, Mitchell has fallen in and out of favor over the... classic heartandmind 2004-09-23T20:42:56-05:00