Modern Acoustic

That ’70s sound

  Not long ago I wrote of my quest to find a new sound, to get outside the now-overcrowded genre of “Americana” – acoustic guitar, banjo, mandolin, fiddle. While I still love the music played by some of the bands in the genre, it is so oversaturated that it is getting impossible to distinguish one [...]

Shock and ugh

Michelle Shocked changed my musical life forever – and for that I’ll be forever grateful. But I believe that the joy she gave me will also never return. When I first heard her album “Short Sharp Shocked” in 1988, I was listening to almost exclusively classic rock. Yes, the Allman Brothers, Pink Floyd. I had [...]

Goodbye, Newport

Goodbye, Newport. I’m very sorry but I will not be attending this year. The Newport Folk Festival has been one of my favorite summer events for many years. It’s one of the best music festivals on the East Coast: the venue is amazing, with its stage looking out past the vast audience onto the surrounding [...]

Out with the old, in with the new

  As many Modern Acoustic followers know, I took a break last year from the magazine and the blog. Life and family left little time to keep up with the flood of concerts and new albums. During that time, I also realized that I needed a change – musically. In 2011, the genre of Americana [...]

The long and winding road

The road to where I am now musically is one that took many twists and turns. I can pinpoint 1976, the bicentennial year, and all I can remember is Three Dog Night songs were all over AM radio. I knew all the words to “Shambala,” “One,” and “Joy to the World.” In high school (I [...]

Teleprompters for musicians: cheating or helping?

A recent story in the Washington Post brought to light that Bruce Springsteen was using a teleprompter on stage during his recent tour as well as his last one (read it HERE.) While the article didn’t flat-out deride him for using it, it did lament that an artist of Springsteen’s stature, who comes across as [...]

1/17 “Voyageur,” Kathleen Edwards; 1/24 “Bhiman”, Bhi Bhiman;