It may have gone a bit quiet here in the last couple of weeks, blame being able to earn a living – of sorts – again for that, but over at Americana UK I have been busy, busy. busy.
I wrote a piece on Karen Dalton for the feature AmericanA-Z. I had if I’m honest all but forgotten about her before someone suggested her as my subject. I’m not going to dwell on the
“tragic life story” thing because it doesn’t relate to the music, which was a mix of early blues, country, and folk traditions imported from as many cultures as arrived at Ellis Island. The earthy, primitive sound is unlike anything else, try it.
Next up was an article on Willy DeVille/Mink DeVille. If you only know Spanish Stroll then try this 3CD set that covers his career as Mink, and afterwards. It does miss a couple of early highlights but is better than the alternative collections. Mojo have featured his album Cabretta as a lost treasure in their latest issue. So, 160gigblog first with the news again!
I wrote up a couple of top 10 features as well. One easy – Internet radio and podcasts. There are some fab ones out there and the comments suggest at least one more that I hadn’t tried. And one
harder – my top 10 ever Americana albums. Although looking back at things I’ve written here and at AUK the choices did end up being fairly obvious in some cases. I love exercises like this and as I’m never going to get on Desert Island Discs, especially not after this previous piece here, I take any opportunity to share my thoughts.
Lastly a shout out for my colleague Rick Bayles’ obit on Judy Dyble. One of those artists who flew just under the radar her whole career. Mostly famous for being a “nearly” with Fairport Convention and the proto King Crimson of Giles, Giles and Fripp, both Trader Horn and particularly her late period solo albums are very much worth your attention. Visit Burning Shed for the best choice. Weavings of a Silver Magic gets my vote.
