Ready for some of the best new music we’ve heard this week? It’s a great list as you’ll see below — and as you’ll hear when you join me for my ‘Fresh Cuts’ radio hour! Listen every Friday at 2 p.m. Eastern, 11 a.m. Pacific via the 24/7 stream on our website, app, or your smart speaker. Or, just click on the Fresh Cuts stream whenever it’s convenient for you. In the meantime, check out some of the best new music we’ve been listening to this week. —– Folk Alley is able to produce and offer this weekly new music hour thanks to support from our members. If you enjoy the Fresh Cuts hour please ..read more

Billy Bragg joins lizzie and Cindy onboard Cayamo to talk about songwriting, social justice, punk rock and, of course, The Little Guy (Bragg’s nickname for Woody Guthrie). In our interview, we talked about using humor as a way to connect to his audience, so that he can bring up his political activism like fighting for transgender rights, the importance of unions and abortion rights. Billy also talked about his place as a British artist in the genealogy of folk music and how working on Mermaid Avenue with Wilco allowed him to be a part of the American folk tradition. He also shared how he overc ..read more

Mother’s Day is here and what better way to celebrate all the folk-music loving moms, grandmas, and mom-figures this year than by sharing a playlist of some of our mom-themed favorites? Celebrate the person (or people!) in your life you call mom with 20 Songs For Moms. Altan, “Mother’s Delight” Ana Egge, “Rock Me (Divine Mother)” Bill Withers, “Grandma’s Hands” Brandi Carlile, “The Mother” Brandy Clark, “She Smoked In the House” Dolly Parton, “Coat of Many Colors” Eilen Jewell, “Songbird” Frank Solivan, “A Mother’s Hand” Gillian Welch, “Happy Mother’s Day” Greg Brown, “Ella Mae” Iris ..read more

This week on Folk Alley, join Elena See for new spring releases with the latest music from Jacob Jolliff, Dawn Landes, Anya Hinkle, Iron & Wine, New Dangerfield, and Chris Smither; classics from Peggy Seeger and Greg Brown with Bill Morrissey; plus, favorites from Dervish, Jeffrey Foucault, Watchhouse, Della Mae, and more. In hour two, it’s more new music from Kyshona, Eric Bibb, Barnstar!, Bronwyn Keith-Hynes, Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats, and a 2’fer set from the new Mountain Stage 40th Anniversary live compilation. Plus, hear an excerpt from the most recent Basic Folk podca ..read more

Ready for some of the best new music we’ve heard this week? It’s a great list as you’ll see below — and as you’ll hear when you join me for my ‘Fresh Cuts’ radio hour! Listen every Friday at 2 p.m. Eastern, 11 a.m. Pacific via the 24/7 stream on our website, app, or your smart speaker. Or, just click on the Fresh Cuts stream whenever it’s convenient for you. In the meantime, check out some of the best new music we’ve been listening to this week. —– Folk Alley is able to produce and offer this weekly new music hour thanks to support from our members. If you enjoy the Fresh Cuts hour please ..read more

Happy birthday, Pete! 105! As we celebrate the life and legacy of Pete Seeger on what would have been his birthday, take a minute to just reflect on the incredible impact he had on folk music and activism. Pete Seeger was more than just a musician; he was a voice for social change, using his songs to spread messages of peace, justice, and environmental stewardship. Born on May 3, 1919, Seeger’s influence on American folk music is immeasurable. He was a masterful storyteller, weaving tales of struggle, hope, and resilience into his music. His songs became anthems for the civil rights movement ..read more

Singer-songwriter Leyla McCalla and her band (bassist Pete Olynciw, drummer Shawn Meyers and guitarist Nahum Zdybel) join us onboard the Cayamo cruise to go through their incredible, righteous and fun new record Sun Without Heat. It is a Leyla McCalla solo album but no solo artist is an island! Once we saw Leyla perform with her band, with whom she has collaborated for the past six years, we had to get the whole collaborative outfit in on the interview. The sounds on the album are inspired by Afrobeat, Haitian Music, folk music, indie music, Americana music, Brazilian tropicalismo, amongst oth ..read more

The sweetest scents in the spring air waft their way from lilac blooms, transfixing bees with their olfactory spells. Lilac blooms mesmerize with their beauty and offer the promise of a season purified of the toxins of winter and the anticipation of starting anew in life and love. Like those fragrant flowers, Ruth Moody’s exquisite “The Spell of the Lilac Bloom,” the new single from her forthcoming album Wanderer (out May 17 on her own Blue Muse Records), features spellbinding layers of vocals, instruments, and lyrics as it evokes the newness and the hope of love. Fellow Canadian Joey Landreth ..read more

Make no bones about it, Chris Smither looks below the surface to examine the skeletal structures of our lives on his new album All About The Bones. In the lucid lyrics in these songs, he cuts to the bones of human relationship, revealing the ways that they crack and splinter as well as their tensile strength for enduring disappointment, loss. The emotionally resonant waltz “Still Believe in You” creates an airy dreamscape through which float filaments of vulnerability and need, resolve and love. Chris Cheek’s spiraling sax on the instrumental bridge casts an enchanting spell that transfixes wi ..read more

Our 2024 Spring Fund Drive ENDS TODAY! Since you listen to Folk Alley and since you appreciate the unique mix of music you hear, 24/7, please donate today! It’s thanks to our members that Folk Alley remains accessible to anyone in the world who wants to hear it. This spring, we’re so glad to shine a spotlight on the folks who really matter — our members, who make Folk Alley possible for all of us! This week, get to know GG Ramirez, a Folk Alley member since 2010! Where do you listen to Folk Alley and how did you discover it? GR: I listen in San Antonio, Texas where I live but with my App I lis ..read more