“What’s It Gonna Take” vibrates in our souls, catches us in our spirits, and asks us how we can reconcile the mistreatment and abuse of groups of Americans with a rhetoric that preaches equality and justice for all.
The bright, but oddly mournful, opening guitar notes of Vivian Leva & Riley Calcagno’s deeply affecting “Good and Gone” grab us right away and vibrate in our hearts, naming every moment we’ve yearned for lost connections, muddled about in a ragged search for completion, regretted leaving but longingly looked back, or run back home with jubilant ambivalence.
The video celebrates the beauty of the world around us, reminding us to revel in the joy of our relationships with others and the world. As Fisher says, "After a year of being reminded everyday of what we don't have, it's easy to forget what we still do. This song is about taking stock of the good things in life, the little things, the overlooked things.”
The effervescent soul of Mark Erelli's “Handmade” vivaciously affirms that anything worth doing takes time and patience and care and love.
If you’re looking for a breath of fresh air from the frozen North, turn to French-Canadian band Rosier, whose new album, Légerement, merges the balladry of old France with fresh new sounds from Montréal’s streets. Made up of the children of prominent folklorists and master traditional artists, Rosier have grown up deep in the Québécois tradition and have internalized the old songs in a way that only an artist who listened to this music in the womb can understand.
When banjo innovator Tony Trischka embarked on this 18-track story cycle, Shall We Hope, 12 years ago, he could not have envisioned a group of right-wing protestors breaching the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, DC, as part of thrumming movement to reverse the results of a democratically held election.
North Texas songwriter, Jackson Scribner has one of those intriguing voices that make you lean in and listen. His voice runs atop a meandering melody (has he been listening to Mary Gauthier?) on his new song “Family Gatherings,” which Folk Alley is happy to debut today.
Like the troubadour he’s always been, Jesse Colin Young always find a new highway to travel, even when the rest of the world is standing still. His new album is aptly named Highway Troubadour, for it contains a lifetime of music that reflects Young’s journey’s into the shadows and into the brilliant sunlight. The new album features newly-recorded solo performances—just Young and his guitar—of songs from his entire catalog, from “Sugar Babe” to “Cast a Stone,” from his most recent album Dreamers to the theme song he wrote for his series of podcasts this year, Tripping on My Roots. The COVID lockdown certainly has not kept this troubadour from flying down the highway, making the music he loves and raising his voice in support of justice, compassion, and unity. “This has been a grand adventure,” he says.
Many of us stand outside certain communities looking in, sometimes yearning to be a part, often simply marveling that the community shares so freely a love missing in our own community. With a momentary tinge of regret, we might walk away, or we may tentatively approach members of the community, seeking welcome and acceptance; very often the circle widens, embracing us. In some ways, we’re all outsiders during the pandemic, with community circles closing tighter and tighter and disallowing others in.
Michael Doucet’s ferocious, almost, savage sawing of his fiddle opens this harrowing minor chord mantra about the fear, the claustrophobia, the anxiety, the isolation we’ve all been feeling since the COVID-19 virus spread rapidly around the world.
