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Alejandro Escovedo (left) performs at the Set Theatre, Kilkenny, Ireland, on April 13, 2017. (Photo by Sean Rowe)
Alt-country rock legend Alejandro Escovedo, named Performer of the Decade at the end of the 1990s by roots music bible No Depression, made his second appearance at City Winery DC on Tuesday, sharing a personal tale of perseverance and the search for a better life.
Caitlin Canty performs at Jammin’ Java on Jan. 11, 2019. (Photo by Matt Ruppert)
As a musical descriptor, “Americana” has lost its meaning, its context, slowly bastardized by the easy metamorphosis of a sound into something bigger, like a mouse birthing all other mammals over time.
The same is true of the descriptor “roots”, which is a catchall for anything predisposed towards a folky sound with tones inspired by the more-distant past. Without context, they are nearly meaningless terms. These genres were giving their proper context in a powerful show by Caitlin Canty at Jammin’ Java on Friday.
The Wood Brothers (Photo courtesy by Alysse Gafkjen)
The Wood Brothers recently released One Drop of Truth, the band’s sixth studio album, via ia Honey Jar Records/Thirty Tigers. The trio are coming to 9:30 Club for two shows on Thursday, Jan. 17, and Friday, Jan. 18!
Kentucky Avenue performs at The Hamilton Live on Jan. 5, 2019. (Photo by Ari Strauss)
DC-based Americana band Kentucky Avenue performed a set at The Hamilton Live recently. The performance on Saturday was in support of Celtic-rock sensation, Scythian, who headlined the evening.
Rayna Gellert and Kieran Kane (Photo courtesy the artists)
The godfather of Americana music is coming to DC metro to perform in at the Institute of Musical Traditions in Rockville, Maryland. Kieran Kane will perform with prodigious fiddler Rayna Gellert in what is sure to be a show to remember at the School of Musical Traditions on Saturday, Jan. 12.
The Band of Heathens performs at Michael Hearne’s 15th annual Big Barndance in Taos, New Mexico, on Sept. 8, 2017. (Photo by Dave Hensley)
Coming from one of America’s great musical cities, Austin, Texas, The Band of Heathens played on New Year’s Eve at Hill Country BBQ. Formed in 2008, the BoH mixes Americana influences with roots rock. On their most recent project, A Message from the People Revisited, they journey into soul, gospel, and R&B.
The Hackensaw Boys (Photo by John Smith)
It’s not every day that one sees a man wearing a homemade percussion instrument built mostly out of tin cans and a hubcap. But string band the Hackensaw Boys feature just such an instrument, the Charismo, originally created by founding member Fred Neuhardt, who has since left the band. The heavily bearded Beau Dodson, current percussionist for the Hackensaw Boys, used brushes to play the instrument in a lively show at Gypsy Sally’s recently.
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