I learned yesterday from a post on Twitter by Austin singer/songwriter Kelly Willis alerted me that Austin native fiddle player Amy Farris had been found dead at her residence in Los Angeles at the age of 40. Suicide is suspected, but an investigation is currently underway. Farris was a talented fiddle player and had recently been part of the group Dave Alvin and the Guilty Women. Her only solo release, Anyway, was produced by Alvin in 2003. Farris was scheduled to play Saturday with the Guilty Women at San Francisco’s Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival. As of this writing her name is still on the schedule.
Hear Rosanne Cash’s new release The List at NPR, including an iTunes exclusive cut featuring Neko Case, Satisfied Mind.
Check out the San Francisco Weekly’s Hardly Strictly Bluegrass family tree featuring some of the acts features at the free 9th annual Americana/roots music festival.
Miranda Lambert will appear on the Jimmy Fallon show tonight. Lambert also tweets that Jimmy Fallon is cute and sweet. Aww!
Ft. Worth-based honky-tonk heroes Eleven Hundred Springs will release their new record This Crazy Lifein February. The record will be released on Smith Music.
PopMatter’s Bob Proehl posts a nice piece on the legacy of Kris Kristoffersson.
Memphis, Tennessee-based Alt.country band Lucero commissioned a music video for each song on their upcoming record 1372 Overton Park– making 12 videos total. The level of sophistication of each fan-turned-videographer ranged from “some holding only handy-cams, others with years of training under their belt.” Ceck out the first two videos for What Are You Willing To Lose? and Goodbye Again.
