To that list of storied musical roads — Route 66, Highway 61, Broadway — Blackie & the Rodeo Kings’ Tom Wilson wants to add Highway 6. It’s a less-heralded stretch of blacktop that knifes through southern Ontario and, according to Wilson, should properly cut an even bigger swath through cultural history. “When I think of [...]

In 1999, Cary Fridley left the Freight Hoppers to settle in Asheville, North Carolina. A year later, she released Neighbor Girl, showcasing the traditional Appalachian music she loves, on her own Juba label. While performing locally in various traditional contexts, she broadened her musical palette as she faced the working musician’s primary challenge: economic survival. [...]

Don’t let the name, or the lush landscape depicted on the cover of their debut disc Invitation Songs, fool you. Seattle trio the Cave Singers are city boys. Guitarist Derek Fudesco hails from upstate New York, and singer Pete Quirk grew up on the Jersey shore. Only drummer Marty Lund is an Evergreen State native, [...]

Almost immediately after I get them on the phone, it becomes reasonably clear that, in the background, the members of Grace Potter & the Nocturnals are beating themselves senseless with something. “Tubes,” Potter reports, when I ask after the splendid, yet weirdly melodic, racket. “We tracked down these plastic PVC things. We just pulled into [...]

A few years back, Roman Carter was touring with his brother Albert in Tokyo. As the Alabama-born blues singer tells it, “I was in a little nightclub, and they had some guy there playing the drums, saying he was Roman Carter, playing my music. I told my brother, ‘What the heck is this?’ “Someone told [...]

It was on a pivotal night five years ago that Ryan Bingham realized he was destined to be a singer-songwriter. Faced with either fulfilling his regular duties — as a rodeo contestant — or playing a previously scheduled bar gig, he chose the latter. From that point forward, Bingham’s days as a bull rider were [...]

Somewhere in New Jersey, there’s a hospital worker Tom Gillam wants to meet, because he owes this person his life. It was March 2006 and Gillam had just had his third heart attack. This one was so serious, it looked like he wasn’t going to make it. “I was told after the fact that someone [...]

“Mary Oliver, a poet I’m fond of, talks about writing for twenty years before she ever was published as a choice,” says Wes Doggett, a.k.a. Willem Maker, by way of explaining the circuitous route that led to his recent solo debut. “It was an inward thing for me, like a journey. I wanted to make [...]

In the spring of 2005, Sam Quinn and Jill Andrews of the Everybodyfields were at a crossroads. David Richey, the dobro player who had helped shape the band’s folk-bluegrass sound, had recently decided to jump ship. Quinn and Andrews forged on and continued playing dates, but it took several months to find a new musical [...]

“We’re mentally preparing for a storm of sorts,” says Irish singer-songwriter Fionn Regan, referring to his upcoming performance at the Glastonbury Festival. He might as well have been talking about the release of his full-length debut, The End Of History. Upon its release in the U.K. last summer, the album met with tolerable sales and [...]