duggup

Another weekend is about to begin and so it should start with a bang. Try this outfit and they will thrill you with picking, strumming and clawing banjos galore. The name of the band gave me pause, but it was worth investing the time into listening to them. They are from Austin, Texas and play [...]

Old Man Luedecke came to my notice when the Brunswick Music Festival email came out with a list of performers. This is what they had to say… Old Man Luedecke lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia and works all over the huge country of Canada, from the Yukon to Vancouver. In the tradition of solo banjo [...]

Circus Envy are from Hull in the UK and as their website tells us: Circus Envy are a rootsy five piece based in East Yorkshire, with a sound equally influenced by classic rock, folk rock and Americana. Diverting from the mainstream by using instrumentation as exotic as the cajon, and the bouzouki, Circus Envy delight [...]

Cotton Jones are Michael Nau and Whitney McGraw and together they create a music that  mixes elements of folk, rock and gospel into a truly familiar sound. The guitars and voices blend together like old friends. Hype from the website… Paranoid Cocoon: the debut full-length for Suicide Squeeze.  It’s an album full of quiet, wooden [...]

Arborea is Shanti Curran and Buck Curran. Shanti Curran provides lead vocals, banjo, harmonium, ukulele, sawing fiddle, and hammered dulcimer and Buck Curran provides, vocals, guitar, slide guitar and sawing fiddle. They both write arrange and produce. Now I know most of you saw the word banjo, freaked out and were loath to continue BUT [...]

A few weeks ago I was having a coffee with a friend and the conversation turned to music (I dont do sport politics and religion can be “tricky”, so music is really about the only “safe” subject – besides I love finding out what people are listening to), and we discovered we were both fans [...]

Wendy Ealey has a voice that takes me back to smoke filled folk venues of Melbourne 30 odd years ago. With good reason, she has been a performer on the folk scene both in Australia and in Britain since the 70′s.

Hers is a big beautiful voice that resonates with passion as she sings songs penned by herself and others accompanying herself on guitar. Political songs nestle comfortably with love songs to form a quilt of human experience.

A song written by Mary Caruana with Brent Parlane called “Bigger Than This” can be found on on her MySpace site, is a ballsy dig at the treatment of “illegal” immigrants. “Child of My Heart” is the story of grief felt by an infertile woman.