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It’s been wild to watch the rise of William Apostol, a.k.a. Billy Strings, a bluegrass prodigy turned crossover star like fellow genre travelers Alison Krauss and Chris Stapleton — but one who’s found a home in Jambandlandia, where his super-sick flatpicking guitar virtuosity has met with big fat dancing bear-hugs. Leaning into long instrumental journeys onstage (see last year’s 38-minute single, an epic live sequence of “Meet Me at the Creek” > “Pyramid Country” > “Must Be Seven” > “Meet Me at the Creek”), Strings’ original songs have proved solid jam vehicles.

Jerry Allison, the groundbreaking early rock & roll and rockabilly drummer who, as a member of The Crickets with Buddy Holly, co-wrote landmark songs such as “Peggy Sue” and “That’ll Be the Day,” has died. He was 82.

According to a post on the Buddy Holly Facebook page, “Ji was a musician ahead of his time, and undoubtedly his energy, ideas and exceptional skill contributed to both The Crickets, and rock n’ roll itself, becoming such a success.”

Allison, one critic wrote, “knew how to get an incredible variety of percussion sounds, given the limitations of equipment in the era, sometimes working with as little as one snare, a cymbal, and a bass drum (if that).”

His work on “Peggy Sue,” for instance, involves the use of a paradiddle, a drumming rudiment that combines single strokes with precisely placed double strokes. He also contributed the title; “Peggy Sue” was originally titled “Cindy Lou,...

Because it is indeed the season, Austin City Limits has shared St. Vincent’s performance of “At the Holiday Party” from her upcoming episode in the second half of PBS’ long-running concert show’s 47th season.

The performance of “At the Holiday Party” begins with a light guitar strum and a waiter suddenly appearing on stage to hand out drinks to St. Vincent and her backing band. Before fully launching into the slick rendition of the Daddy’s Home track, St. Vincent proposes a toast to Austin City Limits and, “More than anything,...

One of the biggest all-star lineups ever will celebrate the 2021 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees this weekend. The ceremony filmed October 30 in Cleveland, Ohio, and now airs this Saturday, November 20, on HBO and HBO Max.

The event clocking in at 3 hour and16 minutes honors Foo Fighters, The Go-Go’s, Jay-Z, Carole King, Todd Rundgren and Tina Turner in the performer category. Kraftwerk, Charley Patton and Gil Scott-Heron were chosen for early influence induction. LL Cool J, Billy Preston and Randy Rhoads were honored in the musical excellence category. Clarence Avant received the Ahmet Ertegun Award.

King had been previously inducted as a songwriter. Turner is now a solo artist inductee after going in with Ike Turner the first time around.

SEEThe Go-Go’s, Foo Fighters, Tina Turner, Jay-Z among 16 artists eligible for 2021 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

While the order of inductions was different during filming, here...

Singer-songwriter Nanci Griffith has died at 66. Griffith was a popular country singer who made herself known throughout the United States through her folk and country blends, especially in her home state of Texas. A few of Griffith’s most famous songs include “From a Distance” and “Love at the Five & Dime.” However, she was best […]

The post Country Singer Nanci Griffith Dies At 68 appeared first on uInterview.

Nanci Griffith wrote songs that the music world loved to cover. With news of her death on August 13th at the age of 68, many are revisiting her folk and country standards — or learning about her incredible singing and songwriting gifts for the first time. But throughout the 1980s and into the Nineties, she was a stalwart for many in the folk and evolving country music scene — what Steve Earle termed “the great credibility scare” when Nashville “opened its doors (and ears) to such left-of-center artists” as Griffith, Mary Chapin Carpenter,...

From 1978 until her retirement in 2013, Nanci Griffith, who died August 13th at age 68, included numerous cover songs in her repertoire from writers as diverse as Nick Lowe and Paul Carrack (“Battlefield”) to Guy Clark (“Desperados Waiting for a Train”) and Julie Gold, whose “From a Distance” had been roundly rejected until Griffith became the first to record it. She even once covered the Rolling Stones’ “No Expectations” on Austin City Limits.

See Nanci Griffith Cover the Rolling Stones’ ‘No Expectations’

But it was Griffith’s original material that helped boost the careers of Kathy Mattea,...

Nanci Griffith, who won a Grammy Award and had a number of chart hits, has died at age 68. Her management confirmed the death today but gave no details.

“It was Nanci’s wish that no further formal statement or press release happen for a week following her passing,” Gold Mountain Entertainment said in a statement.

Singer Darius Rucker was among the online mourners.

“Today i am just sad man. I lost one of my idols. One of the reasons I am in Nashville.She blew my mind the first time I heard [Mary &] Omie. And singing with her was my favorite things to do. Grammy-winning folk singer-songwriter Nanci Griffith dies,” he wrote.

Griffith had hits with “Love at the Five and Dime,” “Once in a Very Blue Moon” and “Outbound Plane.” Her career was highlighted by a 1994 Grammy for Best Contemporary Folk Album, given for her record Other Voices, Other Rooms.

Nanci Griffith, the Grammy-winning folk and country songwriter whose popular recordings include “Love at the Five and Dime,” “Once in a Very Blue Moon,” and “Outbound Plane,” died Friday, her manager confirmed to Rolling Stone. No cause of death was given. She was 68.

Born July 6th, 1953, in Seguin, Texas, and raised in Austin, Nanci Caroline Griffith began her performing career as a teenager, playing at clubs and festivals around Texas. She attended the University of Texas and began a career as a teacher, but then switched full-time to music in 1977. Around the same time,...

Nanci Griffith, the Grammy-winning folk singer-songwriter from Texas whose literary songs like “Love at the Five and Dime” celebrated the South, has died. She was 68.

Her management company, Gold Mountain Entertainment, said Griffith died Friday but did not provide a cause of death.

“It was Nanci’s wish that no further formal statement or press release happen for a week following her passing,” Gold Mountain Entertainment said in a statement.

Griffith worked closely with other folk singers, helping the early careers of artists like Lyle Lovett and Emmylou Harris. She had a high-pitched voice, and her singing was effortlessly ...

Nanci Griffith, the Grammy-winning folk singer-songwriter from Texas whose literary songs like “Love at the Five and Dime” celebrated the South, has died. She was 68.

Her management company, Gold Mountain Entertainment, said Griffith died Friday but did not provide a cause of death.

“It was Nanci’s wish that no further formal statement or press release happen for a week following her passing,” Gold Mountain Entertainment said in a statement.

Griffith worked closely with other folk singers, helping the early careers of artists like Lyle Lovett and Emmylou Harris. She had a high-pitched voice, and her singing was effortlessly ...

Billy Joe Shaver, who died Wednesday at 81, wrote country songs about what he knew firsthand: sin and heartbreak, hard living and hard working, and ultimately salvation. Waylon Jennings famously cut a bunch of them for 1973’s Honky Tonk Heroes, and Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, and Johnny Cash would all record some too. Even Elvis Presley got in on the action. Here’s 10 Shaver classics that illustrate why Nelson once called him “the greatest living songwriter.”

“I’m Just an Old Chunk of Coal (But I’m Gonna Be a Diamond...

Don’t remember the supergroup the Buzzin’ Cousins? You’re not alone. Despite featuring five architects of Americana music, the collaboration remains a blind spot for most music fans, even those who may be hardcore devotees of the artists involved.

And what a group of names they were: John Mellencamp, Dwight Yoakam, Joe Ely, James McMurtry, and John Prine made up the Buzzin’ Cousins, Mellencamp’s lark of an answer to the Travelin’ Wilburys. The band’s blink-and-you’ll-miss-them status was by design, Mellencamp said.

”I wouldn’t expect an album or anything,...

“I’m still gone and it’s all the same/ I’m taking notes and naming names.” snarls Nanci Griffith on the churlish, Pogues-evoking-the-Everlys “Hell No, I’m Not Alright” from Intersections, a more aggressive, full-frontal reckoning from the woman who was once the sugary-voiced sweetheart of Lone Star coffeehouses. If the little dresses and anklets were charming once upon a time, on Griffith’s 20th album, the fairytale is over. Instead, she’s recorded a loose song cycle reflecting the corrosive nature of relationships, the loneliness one feels when it’s evident doubts and questions outstrip desired resolutions. Working with her lean road band of Pete...

Singer Nanci Griffith is an artist in the company of other American greats like Merle Haggard, Johnny Cash and Betty Lavette. Her ethereal vocal stylings are legendary in the realm of folk music. Today, Nanci Griffith releases her 20th album, "Intersection" (Thirty Tigers). The Texas-born, Nashville-based troubadour lays out poignant tracks of love lost, confessionals and even a beautiful Loretta Lynn cover. Beloved in the UK and the States, Ms. Griffith is still making some of the finest records without gimmick or artifice; her pure vocals are punctuated by her trademark styling. Nine of Griffith's 12 songs were self-penned or co-written. The covers include readings of Blaze Foley's "If I Could Only fly," Loretta Lynn's...

The Undertones, The Waterboys, Christy Moore and Imelda May have been added to the bill of this year's London Feis festival. They are joined by The Saw Doctors, Nanci Griffith, The Fureys and previously-announced headliner Bob Dylan at the event at London's Finsbury Park on June 18. Organiser Vince Power said: "I'm pleased to announce more acts for the London Feis. (more)...

Not all of the great film festivals are outside of the U.S. Even if you can’t book a ticket to Cannes or Berlin, you should be able to afford a flight out to Austin, Texas for SXSW, which is a festival for not only movies, but music and video games as well. Like the years before, the line-up for the 2010 SXSW Film Festival is the goods. Matthew Vaughn’s Kick-Ass will open up the fest and then there will be other great-looking films throughout including The Duplass Brothers’ Cyrus, SNL’s hard-r adaptation of MacGruber, Tim Blake Nelson’s Leaves of Grass, and Floria Sigismondi’s The Runaways, just to name a few. If you’re going to this year’s SXSW, let me know so I can steal your identity and go in your place.

The 2010 SXSW Film Festival will run from March 12-20. Check out the...

Less than a week worth of recovering from the Sundance Film Festival, and we are already looking forward to our next, big film fest coverage. That would be the South by Southwest Film Festival held annually in Austin, Texas. Last year, Scott and I brought you all kinds of coverage from the Lone Star State, and this year doesn’t look to be much different.

With that, the announcement came last night of the feature films that will be playing at the SXSW Film Festival. Previous announcement were already made about films like Cold Weather, Electra Luxx, Hubble 3D, Lemmy, Saturday Night, and The White Stripes: Under Great White Northern Lights making their debut. Kick-ass was recently announced as the opening night film, as well.

Among the other films being presented this year are some Sundance darlings, a few, highly anticipated premieres, and MacGruber.

Check out the full list...

Late yesterday the SXSW Fim Festival, which runs from March 12-20 in Austin, TX, announced the full lineup of films that will be screening at this year’s event. And baby, it’s quite a list. Mixing big name films with intimate indie gems, the sheer number of films and the vast array of talented filmmakers is sure to be a hit with attendees and critics alike.

This lineup includes premieres of studio films such as Universal’s MacGruber, Lionsgate’s teen superhero actioneer Kick-Ass and smaller films like Tim Blake Nelson’s Leaves of Grass, Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s Micmacs, Michel Gondry’s The Thorn in the Heart and Steven Soderbergh’s And Everything Is Going Fine. With so many films to watch, it will be very difficult to find time to seem them all during the events nine days. But hell, we’re going to try.

For more on...

The 2010 SXSW Film Festival and Conference has announced its initial slate of titles. The list is rife with hot world premieres (Kick-Ass), films fresh from Sundance (The Runaways, Cyrus), hot titles from the 2009 editions of Tiff and Cannes that haven't had much U.S. play (Enter the Void, Dogtooth, Trash Humpers), interesting documentaries (Lemmy, The People v. George Lucas) and much, much more. Simon Rumley's Red, White & Blue, which has received much praise on Twitch based on its Iffr screenings, will have its North American premiere.

Midnight programming courtesy of Fantastic Fest is also back with titles like Higanjima, Monsters, Serbian Film, Outcast, and a yet to be announced special film. Keep eye out for SXSW coverage at Twitch, but for now, pursue the massive list below (descriptions courtesy of SXSW).

Headliners

Big names, big talent:  Headliners bring star power to SXSW, featuring red carpet premieres and gala film...

Precious

Starring Gabby Sidibe, Mo'Nique, Paula Patton, and Mariah Carey

Directed by Lee Daniels

Rated R

Texas-based singer-songwriter Nanci Griffith doesn't have much in common with the characters in Precious, but while watching the film I was nevertheless reminded over and over again her song "It's a Hard Life Wheverever You Go":

It's a hard life, it's a hard life, it's a very hard life

It's a hard life wherever you go

If we poison our children with hatred

Then the hard life is all that they'll know

And there ain't no place in this world for these kids to go

We don't need to see this story unfold to know many of the particulars. Precious (newcomer Gabby Sidibe) is 16, pregnant with her second child, both the result of incestuous rape by her father. Her mother (Mo'Nique) blames Precious for the pregnancies, and blames her for just about everything else.

I had never been to the relatively new (December, 2008) Grammy Museum in Downtown L.A. until Monday night. I went to see Nanci Griffith speak about the making of her new album, The Loving Kind. The occasion was the official release of the album (you can -- and should -- buy it at the link above; I explained why a few weeks ago) and the launching of a new program at the museum called "The Drop," which will highlight new album releases with this same kind of q&a format. Nanci and her two co-producers, Pat McInerney and Thomm Jutz, were interviewed and then played some new songs. Amazing event in a small theater (200 people) with plenty of time for questions from the audience, almost entirely made up of longtime Nanci Griffith fans. The Museum's "Drop" program picked Nanci as their...

Nanci Griffith has a new album coming out in early June, The Loving Kind. I'll try to remind you about it when Rounder releases it. The record is spectacular but today I just want to say a few words about the title track. It's a really powerful song about a couple in Virginia, Richard and Mildred Loving. Despite Virginia's anti-miscengenation law which prevented mixed-race marriages-- something that more the half the states in the country had when I was growing up-- the young couple got married in June, 1958 in Washington, DC. She was 19 and he was 25. The police broke into their home and arrested them in bed. They were found guilty and sentenced to prison sentences which were suspended on condition of them leaving Virginia. At the time of the sentencing (in 1959), Judge Leon Bazile read...