While on a trip to the Azores in the mid-Atlantic in 2011, Dana Louise taught herself to play guitar. At the time Dana was establishing herself as a visual artist. As the daughter of Ezra Idlet, a member of the celebrated folk duo Trout Fishing in America, though, her...
“I am a working class musician.” With these simple words Ellis Paul described himself at the Northeast Regional Folk Alliance Conference in November 2015. “I want to talk about basically where I’ve come from and why it worked for me. I’ve done 5,000...
Editor’s Note: Swallow Hill’s James Cook interviewed John Craigie and wrote this article. Somewhere in Portland, Oregon, hidden under a wash of pine trees, John Craigie is on his porch playing guitar with his friends. That is, when he isn’t playing...
“One man with a guitar who played what was in his soul,” is how Tom Munch sums up his friend Chuck Pyle. Tom and Chuck first bonded decades ago when the fingerstyle guitarists realized they also shared a penchant for keeping up on new music technology. Technology...
I had never heard of Paul Kelly before we booked him and his band this summer to play Daniels Hall on October 13. I’ve since learned that Paul is a songwriting legend in his native Australia, where he is celebrated for giving voice to everyday Australians. His...