It’s been 54 years since Chris Smither’s debut album, I’m a Stranger Here Too! (produced by the recently deceased Michael Cuscuna, who also produced Bonnie Raitt’s Give it Up, which contained Smither’s most famous song, “Love Me Like a Man”). It made him known among critics, but not a household name. From the follow up Don’t it Drag On till 1991’s Another Way to Find You he only released one album in 19 years.  Thereafter he consistently released a fine album every 2-3 years. However, after More from the Levee in 2020 (containing additional sessions from the 2014 career retrospective  ..read more

Chekhov’s plays, like Shakespeare’s, are essential to the theater canon. His oeuvre isn’t as deep as Shakespeare’s, of course, but it is rich and thus open to multiple revivals. Lincoln Center Theater’s revival of Uncle Vanya is satisfying in every way. Directed by the white-hot Lila Neugebauer, it has an all-star cast which brings the play to life. The success of the production starts with a new translation and adaptation by Heidi Schreck, who won acclaim for her play, What the Constitution Means to Me. She has worked as a teacher and journalist in St. Petersburg, so she’s well-versed in Russ ..read more

It really has been an amazing journey for Tommy since The Who released the original double album in 1969. Hyped as the first rock opera, it did have an operatic structure – an overture, an “underture,” certain recurring musical themes – and Pete Townshend’s expansive ambitions (including borrowing the “Amazing Journey” riff from his previous “mini-opera,” “Rael,” on The Who Sell Out). With some dissenters, it did generally get critical praise and strong popular support, driven in part by “Pinball Wizard” as a hit single. Tommy didn’t win a Grammy until being inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fa ..read more

The first time I heard Aoife O’Donovan was in 2001 when violinist Matt Glazer brought the Wayfaring Strangers (a talented ensemble including Tony Trischka on banjo and Andy Statman on mandolin) into WFUV’s Studio A for a session spotlighting Shifting Sands of Time, an album of largely traditional Appalachian tunes played with a jazz feel. One of the vocalists was Aoife, then a student at the New England Conservatory. Even then she had the irresistible, velvety voice that’s animated songs for the progressive string band Crooked Still, sessions with Garrison Keillor, Yo-Yo Ma, and Chris Thile, t ..read more

TOM RUSH – GARDENS OLD, FLOWERS NEW At the age of 83, Tom Rush’s powers are undiminished: as a singer, a guitarist, an onstage performer, and judging by his new album, Gardens Old, Flowers New, as a songwriter. Because he’s known for burnishing the careers of Joni Mitchell, Jackson Browne, James Taylor, et al, he is sometimes underrated as a writer himself. Thanks to the prodding of his frequent sideman, the multi-talented Matt Nakoa, he’s come up with 14 new songs that feel fresh and inspired. Delivered in his warm voice, they feel intimate, as if sharing secrets from his experience. Signific ..read more

FAI RECAP I’m back from Kansas City for my annual (10th? 12th?) Folk Alliance pilgrimage – both an exhausting and refreshing experience. The main objective, of course, is to hear as much music as I possibly can, but the ancillary benefits (learning from sessions, reconnecting with friends) are equally rewarding. Just to have some quality time with Tom Paxton, Noel Stookey, and David Amram alone is worth the price of admission. The Wednesday night International Folk Music awards honored some of my favorites: Molly Tuttle, Billy Strings, Tracy Chapman, and Folk DJ Hall of Famers Bob Sherman and ..read more

The ghost of Jack Lemmon has appeared twice on Broadway this season. First In Some Like It Hot, the adaptation of the 1959 film starring Lemmon, Tony Curtis and Marilyn Monroe which closed at the end of the year (and recently won a Grammy). Now in Days of Wine and Roses, a teleplay that became a  1962 film and earned Oscar nominations for Lemmon and Lee Remick. The latter, now a musical at Studio 54 in a limited engagement starring Kelli O’Hara and Brian D’Arcy James, may earn Tony nominations for its stars, but unlike the former, this musical is in no way a comedy. Days of Wine and Roses ..read more

Sam Robbins has created a buzz in the folk community with his appealing, James Taylor-like melodies and manner. He’s been a winner at the prestigious Kerrville and Falcon Ridge folk festivals, he’s performed on my On Your Radar series, and I declared him my top Discovery of the Year in the 2023 WFUV Listener Poll. With two solo albums behind him, he’s teamed up with Berkelee College classmate (and new fiancée) Halley Neal for a holiday album, You & Me On Christmas Eve, that’s exquisite in every way. Produced in Nashville, their hometown, by Dylan Alldredge (who’s worked with some of other ..read more

VARIOUS ARTISTS, “MORE THAN A WHISPER: CELEBRATING THE MUSIC OF NANCI GRIFFITH” Let us now praise Nanci Griffith. We lost her two years ago, a fragile creature at the time physically, because of her failing health, but spiritually strong. She was one of the country-folk pioneers of the ‘80s, along with Lyle Lovett and Mary Chapin Carpenter. She proudly wore her deep Southern roots on her sleeve, in her songs and in her singing, but she was revered around the world. While she delighted in covering other people’s songs (most prominently on the Grammy-winning Other Voice, Other Rooms collection ..read more

I made my annual pilgrimage to NERFA (the Northeast Regional Folk Alliance) this past weekend, held for the second year in a row in beautiful Asbury Park, NJ. The weather was almost as nice as last year, and the music was just as fine. Who can beat seeing old friends and making new ones? It was gratifying to see so many On Your Radar alums in the formal and late-night showcases: Ryanhood, Rebecca Loebe. Youth in a Roman Field, Scott Wolfson and Other Heroes, Cricket Blue, Suzie Vinnick, Katie Dahl, Meghan Cary, Orly Bendavid, Katie Martucci, Alice Howe & Freebo, Arielle Silver, Zoe Fitzger ..read more