The Wall Street Journal’s Dave Shiflett covers (it’s not really a review) the new autobiography of bluegrass legend Dr. Ralph Stanley, Man Of Constant Sorrow. Shiflett details Stanley’s birth in Dickenson County, Va., his early sometime dangerous career playing alongside his older brother, Carter, and how a man named Elvis upended the country and bluegrass [...]
Legendary Texas singer/songwriter Terry Allen talks to the Austin Chronicle’s Robert Faries about his colorful life that led to his skill as a storyteller and his new solo play, Dugout III, written and directed by Allen playing at Austin’s State Theater.
Willie Nelson’s long-time harmonica player Mickey Raphael will be holding a twitter press conference today [...]
Tune in tomorrow night to catch Emmylou Harris and Vince Gill perform together Wednesday’s Jay Leno Show. The pair on the West Coast participating in a series of All For the Hall benefit shows. Proceeds from the all-start line up, which also includes Melissa Etheridge, Dwight Yoakam, Keith Urban, Jason Aldean, Faith Hill and Taylor [...]
PopMatters.cam has 20 questions for Austin’s neo-trad honky-tonker Wayne “The Train” Hancock.
Johnny Cash: I See a Darkness, ia a new comic book/graphic novel by Abrams ComicArts based on the life of Johnny Cash. It will be available in November. (thanks to the 9513.com and That Nashville Sound)
San Jose Mercury News is just one of many [...]
The New York Times features a great feature on Todd Snider. Snider discusses his long career of writing smart roots-folk songs, speaks to some of his fans (like Kris Kristofferson) years of struggling with addiction, and his new Don Was produced release “The Excitement Plan” on Yep Roc records.
Tom Russell’s new upcoming , Blood [...]
Postings have been slow going here at Ranch Twang. The holidays have me running like a headless chicken and my trips to Washington DC on my solid-gold private plane to ask for a bail out. Since I’m the only employee of Ranch Twang I’m none too happy about my audacious behavior while my job hangs [...]
Ellensburg, Washington based alt.country artist Star Anna is already a Twang Nation favorite and has tickled our fancy even further by offering an excellent ‘Crooked Path Live EP‘ available for download at Amazon. The digital four track EP release includes live versions of Crooked Path, Bed That I’ve Made, Five Minutes To Midnight and a [...]
Amanda Petrusich has interviewed Liz Phair and Feist for Pitchfork.tv, not she turnes her talents to documenting the vast and rugged territory that is Americana.
From Pitchfork.com: “It Still Moves: Lost Songs, Lost Highways, and the Search for the Next American Music. (Her first book was last year’s entry on Nick Drake’s Pink Moon in the [...]
God’s Middle Finger: Into the Lawless Heart of the Sierra Madre by Richard Grant
It’s no great feat for a travel writer to make me long for white-sandy beaches, warm turquoise oceans and ice cold cervezas. It’s a much more challenging feat for a writer make me want to risk my life and travel up the [...]