Poss frequently acknowledged that he didn’t have a very conventional career path. “I used to joke that I had the perfect qualifications for being in the music business,” Poss once wrote. “I had no business training; in fact, no formal music background either but I teach Sociology of deviant Behavior.”

After graduating from Duke, he took a position with County Records in Floyd, Virginia. Poss and its owner, Dave Freeman, launched Sugar Hill Records in 1978, embracing what Poss called “contemporary music grounded in traditional music roots.” A self-described “wayward academic in an entrepreneurial role,” Poss assumed full control of the label in 1980, and moved it to Durham. He operated the label from there until its sale to Welk Music Group 20 years later. He became the group’s chairman in 2002. It’s now part of Concord Music, which also owns Rounder Records.

Among the many artists of note who recorded for Sugar Hill Records during Poss’ tenure were Pat Alger, Byron Berline, Ronnie Bowman, Sam Bush, Guy Clark, Mike Cross, Rodney Crowell, Jerry Douglas, Sara Evans, Cathy Fink, Butch Hancock, Hot Rize, The Infamous Stringdusters, Chris Hillman, Wanda Jackson, Sarah Jarosz, Robert Earl Keen, Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver, Lonesome River Band, Lyle Lovett, Nashville Bluegrass Band, Nickel Creek, Tim O’Brien, Dolly Parton, Dirk Powell, The Red Clay Ramblers, Peter Rowan, Ricky Skaggs, Darrell Scott, Marty Stuart, Bryan Sutton, Chris Thile, Townes Van Zandt, Doc Watson, and Jesse Winchester.

“The identity peg for Sugar Hill is having that traditional connection to contemporary music,” Poss Told Blue ridge Outdoors in 2008. “Some have taken to describing a ‘Sugar Hill Sound,” but I am not going to try to define that. To me, it’s what connect Doc Watson to Chris Thile, ricky skaggs to Guy Clark, Townes Van Zandt to dolly Parton. They all exhibit a rootedness in their contemporary expressions of music. I like it because the music comes from a place. It’s not prefabricated or manufactured.”

Douglas and Skaggs had been part of a bluegrass group called Boone Creek, whose One Way Track album was Sugar Hill’s first release in 1978. In a May 18 Facebook post, Douglas wrote of Poss: “His dream was to have a label that mirrored the same idea as Sam Phillips and his famous Sun label, which catered to a specific audience and created a new genre, Rockabilly Plus. Barry knew an audience was there for a specific form of music (bluegrass) and there were certain bands who could grow that audience and the music would evolve with the growth of that audience.”

Douglas, who also produced a number of recordings for Sugar Hill Records, noted that he and Poss were “very close friends. Confidants really. He was like my wingman and brother at any event we collided with. We would spend hours talking about the direction of the music and the parameters he wanted his label to maintain no matter the current climate.” Poss was also godfather to Douglas’ daughter Nola. “Barry loved my family, and Jill and I, along with our children, will forever press his memory closer to our hearts.”

In addition to spending many years at the helm of Sugar Hill Records, Poss was a founding board member of the Bluegrass Hall of Fame & Museum in Owensboro, Kentucky and helped to launch the International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA).

“Barry Poss was not just a champion of roots music and the artists that made it, but he was instrumental in the founding of our organization,” Ken White, IBMA’s executive director, said in a statement. “For that and so much more, we will always be grateful.”

Poss was a recipient of the IBMA’s Distinguished Achievement Award in 1998. The Americana Music Association also honored him with its Lifetime Achievement Award in 2006 in recognition of Sugar Hill’s pivotal role in both preserving and reinvigorating traditional music, while he was inducted into the Oak Ridge Music Hall of Fame in 2023.

Closer to home, Poss also served on the boards of the Carolina Theater, the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University, MerleFest, the North Carolina, Folklife Institute, and WUNC-FM.

While many artists and others have shared tributes to Poss since his passing, for his part Poss once said: “It’s the artists who make the music to which I’m the most indebted. They had something important to say. They needed to be heard. And I wanted to be part of their creative lives – because it mattered.”

Born (Sept. 25, 1949) and raised in Atlanta, Georgia, Taylor became a leading figure in the Texas singer-songwriter scene of the early 1970s after standing himself in Houston in 1970 while en route to California following a brief stint at Georgetown University in Washington, DC.

“There were no lines drawn in the sand between musical genres back in those days,” recalled Taylor, whose contemporaries included the late Guy Clark and Townes Van Zandt. “You were just a musician. I believe so many great writers came out of that scene because you could learn from others. Just as Clark and Van Zandt influenced him and his narrative storytelling style of songwriting, so too did Taylor inspire others like Robert Earl Keen and Lyle Lovett.

Although Taylor made his recording debut in 1976 as part of a Houston songwriters compilation entitled Through The Dark Nightly, and was a winner of the prestigious New Folk competition at the Kerrville Folk Festival in the Texas Hill Country in 1977, it wasn’t until 1981 that he released his first album, Shameless Love, which the Houston Chronicle named as one of the Top 50 Great Texas Singer-Songwriter Albums in January 2017. Following a hiatus of nearly 14 years, Taylor’s self-titled sophomore release came out on the Austin, TX-based Watermelon Records in 1995. He followed that three years later with Resurrect, which was named one of the “100 essential records of all-time” by the now-defunct Buddy magazine. Among his six albums to follow was Scuffletown, a 2001 release that prompted Taylor’s first headlining appearance on Austin City Limits. He previously appeared on the show a year earlier as a guest of on Lyle Lovett’s 25th season episode, during which Lovett paid tribute to Texas songwriters who inspired him.

Here’s a link to view a video of Eric Taylor performing “Hemingway’s Shotgun” with Lovett on Austin City Limits:
https://vimeo.com/396765167

In addition to these and other appearances on Austin City Limits with Guy Clark and Robert Earl Keen, Taylor also appeared on Late Night with David Letterman with Nanci Griffith, to whom he was married from 1976-1982 and who called him “the William Faulkner of songwriting in our time.” Griffith also recorded several of Taylor’s songs – including “Deadwood,” “Dollar Matinee,” “Storms,” and “Ghost in the Music” (which they co-wrote).

Taylor’s The Kerrville Tapes (2003) was his first live recording and captures performances during three years of appearances at the Kerrville Folk Festival. Over the years, he also played such notable U.S. music festivals as the Newport Folk Festival and the Woody Guthrie Folk Festival, as well as a number of festivals in Europe and venues across the U.S. and Europe. He also taught at the Kerrville Song School, led songwriting workshops elsewhere, and created The Texas Song Theater in which he was joined by performing songwriters David Olney and Denice Franke on songs and spoken word.

The Great Divide, Taylor’s fifth studio album, reached #3 on the EuroAmericana Chart and was among the most-played releases on folk radio in 2006. That was followed in 2007 by the 10-song collection Hollywood Pocketknife and by Live At The Red Shack, a live recording before a studio audience and featuring some of his oldest friends and favorite musicians, in 2011. Among those who joined him on vocals during two nights of music at the Houston studio in May of that year were Franke, Griffith, Lovett, and Susan Lindfors Taylor.

Taylor’s 10th and final CD, Studio 10 (2013), also was recorded at The Red Shack. Among his nine original songs on it (in addition to a cover of Tim Grimm’s “Cover These Bones”) are two that were written for the Storyworks.TV documentary film Road Kid to Writer – The Tracks of Jim Tully, for which Taylor received an Emmy Award nomination for Music Composition in 2016.

In a Facebook post, Amy Rigby, a singer-songwriter who was sharing the stage with Olney and Scott Miller as part of a song swap, wrote:

“David Olney, a beautiful man, a legend, a songwriting poet died last night. I was sitting next to him in the round, had been so honored and looking forward to getting to trade songs with him and Scott Miller. Olney was in the middle of his third song when he stopped, apologized and shut his eyes. He was very still, sitting upright with his guitar on, wearing the coolest hat and a beautiful rust suede jacket we laughed about because it was raining like hell outside the boathouse where we were playing- I just want the picture to be as graceful and dignified as it was, because it at first looked like he was just taking a moment. Scott Miller had the presence of mind to say we needed to revive him. Doctors in the audience and 30A folks were all working so hard to get him to come to. It’s hard to post about this because I can’t really believe he’s gone. I am so sorry for his wife and family and friends and all the people who loved him and his music. Even those who never heard of him. We all lost someone important last night.”

Here’s a link to a nearly 30-minute Acoustic Interlude session featuring David Olney that was recorded during the 2020 30A Songwriters Festival:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxF6WXW4Hq0&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR0ADwrIUBizMkjE2EbVfBGJEjcnVE1QI0CVPplVN9hyJlX1Vou3SClU8po

Based in Nashville since 1973, the Lincoln, Rhode Island native, who was born on March 23, 1948 and moved to Music City after briefly studying English at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, had quickly become part of a like-minded group of songwriters that included Guy Clark, Townes Van Zandt and Rodney Crowell. “Anytime anyone asks me who my favorite music writers are, I say Mozart, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Bob Dylan, and David Olney,” Van Zandt once said. “David Olney is one of the best songwriters I’ve ever heard – and that’s true. I mean that from my heart.” That quote appears in the liner notes for Olney’s 1991 release, Roses.

After fronting a band, The X-Rays, who recorded two albums for Rounder Records, Olney released his first solo album, Eye of the Storm, in 1986. His 1988 sophomore release, Deeper Well, featured his song “Jerusalem Tomorrow” that Emmylou Harris covered on her 1993 album, Cowgirl’s Prayer; she also covered its title track on 1995’s Wrecking Ball. Of Olney, Harris had said: “David Olney tells marvelous stories, with characters who cling to he hope of enduring love, all the while crossing the deep divide into that long, dark night of the soul.”

Here’s a link to a video of David Olney performing “Jerusalem Tomorrow”:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQcX_rv20dk

Olney, whose last album, This Side or the Other, was released in 2018, was a prolific songwriter and a mainstay of the Nashville music community. He also was a cinematographer and helped to produce a number of short films and documentaries.

Facebook, the online social network, was replete with online tributes to and remembrances of Olney, beginning shortly after his death.

“I’m in shock. Devastated that my friend, songwriter David Olney has passed away,” wrote singer-songwriter Abbie Gardner in a Jan. 19 post. “We were supposed to write together next week. I spent the morning watching videos of him just trying to turn back the clock and spend some more time listening to his stories and grumbly voice… I always tucked away ideas I thought he would like and saved them for our co-writes. I don’t know what I’ll do with the one I’d hoped to share with him next week. There’s one of our songs on his last record ironically called “Death Will Not Divide Us.” Listening to that now is heartbreaking and healing all at once. I hope you’re right, David, I really hope you’re right.”

Here’s a link to view the official music video for “Death Will Not Divide Us”:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uA2AEyo74ds

Dan Navarro, a fellow singer-songwriter, noted that he was on the same stage, The Boathouse at Watercolor, in a round just before Olney. “I greeted and hugged him as I came offstage, as he was prepping to go on,” Navarro posted. “I hadn’t seen him in a year… He was sweet and I thought he looked great, with his long white beard, which was not so long last year. I complimented him on his cool suede jacket, and he prepped to go on. About ten minutes later, he was seated onstage checking, and I went up to say bye bye. An hour later he was gone. What a shocking heartbreaking loss.”

Singer-Songwriter Amy Speace also posted on Jan. 19: “11 or 12 years ago I got an email from Mary Sack saying that David Olney had heard me at the Folk Alliance and wanted me to join him in a 9pm round at The Bluebird Cafe. It was my first time there. It felt like I’d been handed a secret key to a kingdom. He was one of my first calls when I moved to East Nashville and we had coffee at Bongo and talked about Shakespeare and folk music and touring in Holland. He was welcoming. He was unpretentious and kind. A true master. I saw him only a week or so ago at The Five Spot sounding on top of his game. Word spread quickly at this festival that he died on stage tonight and it doesn’t seem real. The last Bluebird Round I hosted, he was my first call and I got the chance to sit next to him and hear him play all those songs and thank him for graciously opening the door for me years ago. I hope he knew how much that invitation meant. I hope he feels that the tribe won’t sleep tonight. This is one of my favorites. My heart is with his family and his close friends.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxF6WXW4Hq0&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR0ADwrIUBizMkjE2EbVfBGJEjcnVE1QI0CVPplVN9hyJlX1Vou3SClU8po

Olney was to have showcased his talents and been part of a Wisdom of the Elders panel discussion at the annual Folk Alliance International Conference in New Orleans later this week. In addition to an official juried showcase, he was slotted to play Acoustic Chaos: The Georgia Room on Thursday, Jan. 23, at 11 p.m. The room’s host, Jill Kettles, Olney’s ‘on-again and off-again publicist,’ has invited conference attendees to come to the room during that time and sing their favorite David Olney song or talk about him as a friend, a colleague, or as an inspiration.

Olney leaves behind his wife, Regine, daughter, Lillian, and son, Redding, as well as many friends in the music community. Memorial services have not yet been planned.

An Idaho songbird who wrote heartfelt, expressive, often deeply personal songs of love and loss, loneliness, poverty and social injustice, and sung them in her fluid, mellifluous yet sometimes heartbreaking voice, Sorrels passed away at the Reno, Nevada home of her daughter Holly Marizu, where she had been living for the past several years. Although the cause of death was undetermined, Sorrels, 83, had been suffering from dementia and colon cancer. Nearly 20 years earlier, she had beaten breast cancer after having suffered a cerebral aneurysm ten years earlier in 1988.

Sorrels also was a folklorist and a collector of folk songs of all kinds – ranging from English ballads to Mormon songs and the works of contemporary songwriters — who had a near-encyclopedic knowledge of musicology.

Five generations of her family lived and worked in Idaho. Her paternal grandfather, Rev. Robert Stringfellow, was an Episcopalian preacher who came to Idaho during the state’s early years, while her grandmother, Rosalie Cope Stringfellow, for whom she was named, was a photographer and journalist. Interestingly, her maternal grandfather, James Madison Kelly, was “an Irishman and an Atheist,” who she recalled “having cursed at his horses in Shakespearean language.”

Many of her family members were storytellers, and Sorrels grew up surrounded by books and songs and immersed in ideas and poetry She was born in 1933 and lived in Idaho for many years in a cozy handmade cabin that her father, Walter Stringfellow, a piano-playing and musical-loving engineer, had built on Grimes Creek, located in the mountains near Boise, the state capital. Her mother, Nancy Stringfellow, who ran a bookshop in downtown Boise and through whom she acquired her love of literature, had named the cabin “Guernica,” meaning “little place that holds your heart.” Although she later returned there, Sorrels left Idaho at age 19 — determined to see the world beyond its boundaries.

In the early 1950s, she married Jim Sorrels, whom she met while both were performing at the Boise Little Theatre. A few years later, they moved to Utah. She launched a career as a folklorist at the University of Utah during the 1950s and also taught folk guitar classes there and promoted concerts in the area – including Joan Baez’ first Salt Lake City appearance.

After 14 years of an often stormy and abusive marriage, she left her husband and Salt Lake City in 1966 and with her five children headed back home to Idaho. Taking to the road, Sorrels followed her true passion – music – with her children in tow – embarking on a lifetime of traveling that resulted in her being known as the Travelin’ Lady, also the name of one of her early songs and albums, which tells of her divorce and heading out on the road. For a brief period of time, she and her children lived in Saratoga Springs, New York with Lena spencer, founder of the famed Caffe Lena there.

During a career that spanned more than six decades, Sorrels recorded more than 25 albums and appeared on many others. She performed at numerous clubs and venues and at many major music festivals. She graced stages at the Newport Folk Festival in 1966 (where she first drew notice while performing with Mitch Greenhill) and Woodstock in 1969 (where she jammed with Jerry Garcia), and received a standing ovation following her performance at the 1972 Isle of Wight Festival. Sorrels continued performing actively through the 1990s, touring both as a solo artist and with longtime close friend Bruce “Utah” Phillips. Health issues prompted the “travelin’ lady” to cut back on her touring and eventually retire to her home in Idaho during the next decade. However, she returned to the studio in 2007 to record an album, the Grammy-nominated Strangers in Another Country: The Songs of Bruce “Utah” Phillips, to benefit her friend who had congestive heart failure and died the next year.

Considered among the top artists of the Beat Generation, Sorrels earned the admiration and friendship of such famed writers as Hunter S. Thompson and Studs Terkel, both of whom wrote liner notes for her. Thompson, the gonzo journalist and author of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, referred to her songs as “so close to the bone, I get nervous listening to them.” A Rosalie Sorrels Archive is maintained as part of the Beat Generation Archives at the University of California at Santa Cruz.

Through the years, Sorrels also earned praise from the Boston Globe, which hailed her as “one of America’s genuine folk treasures” and from fellow folksingers and storytellers like the late Gamble Rogers, who called her “the hillbilly Edith Piaf.” Sorrels, who was herself influenced by Malvina Reynolds, also helped to inspire a new generation of folk artists during the 1980s – including such notables as Mary Chapin Carpenter, Guy Clark, Nanci Griffith, Christine Lavin, and Tom Russell.

Although most of the songs Sorrels recorded and performed (accompanying herself on acoustic guitar), she also helped to preserve the oral folk tradition through her fine interpretations of traditional songs and those written by others. Sorrels also wrote or co-authored several books — including Way Out in Idaho, a collection of songs, stories, poems and recipes published by the Idaho Commission for the Arts in connection with the state’s centennial celebration in 1991.

Sorrels received two Grammy Award nominations, the Idaho Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts in 1986, the World Folk Music Association’s Kate Wolf Award in 1990, a Circle of Excellence Award from the National Storytelling Network in 1999 for “exceptional commitment and exemplary contributions to the art of storytelling,” and an honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts from the University of Idaho in 2000. She also was a featured artist in the Smithsonian Institution’s Founding Members of Folk exhibit and accompanying recordings.

Besides her daughter Holly, Sorrels leaves behind another daughter, Shelley Ross, a son, Kevin, her brother Jim, five grandchildren and two great grandchildren. Her eldest son, David, committed suicide in 1976, and she paid tribute to him in her plaintive song, “Hitchhiker in the Rain.” Another daughter, Leslie, died last year.

A multi-CD set of songs entitled Tribute to the Travelin’ Lady is expected to be released soon and may expose Sorrels’ songs to a new generation.

Here’s a link to a video promoting an Indiegogo campaign to raise funds for the tribute album.

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/rosalie-sorrels-tribute#/

Recorded live during the American Music Association’s 15th Annual Honors & Awards ceremony at Nashville’s storied Ryman Auditorium on Sept. 21, the music-filled hour-long show will feature many of the evening’s award-winners and honorees.

Singer-songwriter Jason Isbell, who took home trophies for Album of the Year (Something More Than Free) and Song of the Year (“24 Frames”) — accompanied by his wife, fiddler Amanda Shires, and his band, The 400 Unit — performs “if It Takes a Lifetime. The former Drive-By-Trucker is now the recipient of six Americana Awards.

The Honors & Awards ceremony celebrates authentic, diverse and original music from many genres, both traditional and contemporary. “If you can taste the dirt through your ears, that is Americana,” says Jed Hilly, executive director of the Americana Music Association. “It is music that is derived or inspired by American roots traditions.”

The broadcast features tributes to three roots music luminaries who died within the last year: country outlaw Merle Haggard, troubadour Guy Clark, and bluegrass legend Ralph Stanley. Grateful Dead founder Bob Weir, the night’s Lifetime Achievement Award Honoree for Performance, opens the show with a rendition of Haggard’s iconic “Mama Tried.” Steve Earle performs Clark’s classic Desperados Waiting for a Train.” And Alison Krauss sings Stanley’s “Gloryland,” a cappella, joined by Buddy Miller, Melonie Cannon and Stuart Duncan.

The PBS broadcast also features performances of “Bring It On Home” by Duo/Group of the Year honoree Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell and “What I Don’t Know” by honky-tonk maverick Dwight Yoakam. 2015 Lifetime Achievement Award honoree Bonnie Raitt performs “Gypsy in Me” (backed by gospel greats The McCrary Sisters) and joins Stax soul legend William Bell, the 2016 Lifetime Achievement Award honoree for Songwriting, on “The Three of Me,” accompanied by producer John Leventhal on guitar. Emerging Artist Award-winner Margo Price sings her “Tennessee Song,” while up-and-coming Americana sensation Parker Millsap is joined by Sarah Jarosz and Aoife O’Donovan on backing vocals as he performs “Heaven Sent” from his critically acclaimed Album of the Year-nominated release. The Lumineers perform a new song, Angela,” while Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats perform “Wasting Time.” Country music star George Strait closes out the broadcast with a performance of his signature “King of Broken Hearts, “ joined by songwriter Jim Lauderdale, the Americana Honors & Awards show’s host for 14 consecutive years and a Lifetime Achievement Award recipient.

The Americana Honors & Awards show was a highlight of AmericanaFest, the Americana Music Festival and Conference, which extended from September 20-25 and featured lots of learning and networking opportunities as well as musical entertainment at various venues throughout the Music City.

Here’s a link to an article entitled 2016 Americana Honors and Awards Presented that was previously posted on AcousticMusicScene.com:

https://acousticmusicscene.com/2016/09/27/2016-americana-honors-and-awards-presented/

Established in 1999, the Americana Music Association is a professional trade association dedicated to building and promoting the Americana genre and the individuals who participate in the industry. For more information, visit www.americanamusic.org.

Since its inception in 1974, Austin City Limits has helped secure Austin’s reputation as the Live Music Capital of the World. The longest-running music series in American television history, it’s also the only TV series to ever be awarded the National Medal of Arts. The show, produced by KLRU-TV, also received a Peabody Award for excellence and outstanding achievement in 2012.

Isbell, who took home trophies for his 2015 release, Something More Than Free, and for the song “24 Frames,” is now a six-time Americana Award winner. The former Drive-By Trucker had snagged the most nominations (three) earlier this year. Isbell thanked Amanda Shires, his wife and fellow artist, for helping to keep him grounded amid his artistic success. “If you can, keep people around you who will tell you when you’ve done something awful, whether it’s in a song or in your personal life, and listen to them if at all possible,” he said while accepting the award for Song of the Year.

Here’s a link to a lyric video for Isbell’s “24 Frames”:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZtgPeNKpnyw

Stapleton, a Kentucky-born singer-songwriter, who has co-written six number one country music hit songs and formerly fronted The SteelDrivers, was hailed for his 2015 solo debut Traveller. The critically acclaimed album that also topped the Billboard Top 200 charts and landed him appearances on several late-night television shows, also received a Grammy Award earlier this year for Best Country Album, while Traveller was named 2015 Album of the Year by the Country Music Association (CMA). Stapleton also won a Grammy Award this year for Best Country Solo Performance and was named CMA’s Male Vocalist of the Year and New Artist of the Year in 2015. During the Americana Honors & Awards show, he expressed thanks to all the Americana radio stations, noting: “It’s been a big part of what we’ve been doing.”

Here’s a link to hear the title track of Chris Stapleton’s solo debut album:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kBnFgLP8po

Other winners of Americana Music Association member-voted awards included Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell (Duo/Group of the Year for a second time), Margo Price (Emerging Artist of the Year), and Sara Watkins (Instrumentalist of the Year).

Lifetime Achievement Award recipients included Shawn Colvin (Trailblazer), William Bell (Songwriting), Bob Weir (Performance), Jim Lauderdale (WagonMaster), Woody Guthrie (President’s Award) and Billy Bragg (“Spirit of Americana” Free Speech in Music Award, co-presented by the First Amendment Center). On behalf of the Guthrie family, a President’s Award in Honor of Woody Guthrie was presented to Lucinda Williams.

Hosted by Lauderdale for the 14th consecutive year and featuring an all-star band led by Buddy Miller, the Americana Awards and Honors show also featured musical tributes to several luminary artists who died in the past year: Guy Clark, Merle Haggard, Ralph Stanley and Allen Toussaint. The show was a highlight of “AmericanaFest,” the Americana Music Festival and Conference, which extended from September 20-25 and featured lots of learning and networking opportunities as well as musical entertainment at various venues throughout the Music City.

Established in 1999, the Americana Music Association is a professional trade association dedicated to building and promoting the Americana genre and the individuals who participate in the industry. For more information, visit www.americanamusic.org.

The May 2016 FOLKDJ-L charts are based on 14,497 airplays from 147 different DJs. Label and release date appear in brackets below, while the number of reported spins is shown in parentheses. The charts are posted on AcousticMusicScene.com, with permission.

Top Albums of May 2016

1: Lift, Dave Gunning [Wee House, 7/15] (108)
2: Mud And Apples, Lucy Wainwright Roche And Suzzy Roche [Bunny, 5/16] (102)
3: The Pilot And The Flying Machine, Ben Bedford [Waterbug, 4/16] (80)
4: Weights And Wings, Brother Sun [brothersun.com, 4/16] (77)
5: Nine Pin, Kaia Kater [Kingswood, 5/16] (75)
6: Jump The Fire, Evie Ladin Band [Evil Diane, 5/16] (71)
7: Trail Of Tales, The Bills [Borealis, 3/16] (63)
8: Square Peg, Marci Geller [marcigeller.com, 12/15] (56)
9: Sometimes I Feel Too Much, Cosy Sheridan [cosysheridan.com, 3/16] (51)
10: Blue Skies, Mountain Heart [Compass, 5/16] (44)
11: Excellent Day, Lizanne Knott [Proper, 4/16] (41)
12: American Landscape, Dave Murphy [davemurphy.net, new] (39)
12: Flight, Coty Hogue [Perpetual Hoedown, new] (39)
14: Keepsake, Gathering Time [Treble-G, 3/16] (38)
15: Restless Moon, Meg Braun [megbraun.com, 4/15] (37)
16: Still The Birds, Darryl Purpose [Blue Rock, 5/16] (35)
17: The Deep Hollow, The Deep Hollow [thedeephollow.com, 4/16] (34)
17: Del And Woody, Del McCoury Band [delmccouryband.com, 4/16] (34)
19: Calla’s Waltz, Jed Marum [Boston Road, 3/16] (32)
19: This One’s For Him: A Tribute To Guy Clark, Various Artists
[Icehouse, 2011] (32)
21: Grain By Grain, Mark Mandeville And Raianne Richards [Nobody’s
Favorite, 4/16] (31)
22: Sing Me Home, Yo-Yo Ma And The Silk Road Ensemble [Masterworks,
4/16] (30)
23: Keepers, Guy Clark [Sugar Hill, 1997] (29)
23: Old Songs For Modern Folk, Vincent Cross [Rescue Dog, 4/16] (29)
23: Rattle Your Bones, The Haunted Windchimes [Blank Tape, 5/16] (29)
26: All These Years, Solas [THL, 2/16] (28)
27: The Things That We Are Made Of, Mary Chapin Carpenter [Lambent
Light, new] (27)
28: Dark Horse Days, Donal Hinely [Atom, 2/16] (26)
28: Red Grass, Ilya Toshinskiy [Hadley, new] (26)
30: Ladies And Gentlemen, Infamous Stringdusters [Compass, 1/16] (25)
30: More Alive, Don White [donwhite.net, 11/15] (25)
30: My Favorite Picture Of You, Guy Clark [Dualtone, 2013] (25)
30: Songbirds And Fog, The Lark And The Loon [Self, 5/16] (25)
34: Empty Train, David Francey [Laker, 2/16] (24)
34: Family, Friends And Heroes, Frank Solivan [Compass, 3/16] (24)
34: Freedom Blues, Ken Whiteley [Borealis, 4/16] (24)
37: Charismo, Hackensaw Boys [Free Dirt, 4/16] (23)
37: For A Song, Mark Erelli [markerelli.com, 4/16] (23)
37: Pick It Up, Jim Stringer And The AM Band [Music Room, 4/16] (23)
37: Red Shoes, Roosevelt Dime [Self, new] (23)
37: Worth The Wait, Goodbye Blue [Wondermore, 3/16] (23)
42: The Hazel And Alice Sessions, Laurie Lewis And The Right Hands
[Spruce And Maple, 1/16] (22)
43: Cold Dog Soup, Guy Clark [Sugar Hill, 1999] (21)
43: Couchville Sessions, Darrell Scott [Full Light, new] (21)
43: Dublin Blues, Guy Clark [Elektra, 2012] (21)
46: Choreographic, Rachael Sage [Mpress, new] (20)
46: Echoes, Jason Wilber [Self, 4/16] (20)
46: Gathering, Maria Dunn [Distant Whisper, 4/16] (20)
46: I Was So Fond Of You, Matt Patershuk [Black Hen, 2/16] (20)
46: Songs About Lessons Learnt, Robin Bienemann [Self, 3/16] (20)
46: These Houses, C. Daniel Boling [Berkalin, new] (20)
52: The Both, Eli West [elidoes.bandcamp.com, 2/16] (19)
52: Detour, Cyndi Lauper [Sire, 5/16] (19)
52: I Love Hamburgers, Joe Giacoio [Romantic Devil, 10/15] (19)
52: Live At Maximal, Sonia Disappear Fear [Self, 4/16] (19)
52: Live From Blue Rock, Moors And McCumber
[moorsandmccumber.bandcamp.com, 2/16] (19)
52: My Lucky Stars, Arnie Naiman [Merriweather, new] (19)
52: Old No. 1, Guy Clark [Sugar Hill, 1975] (19)
52: Totally Average Woman, Carla Ulbrich [Romantic Devil, 8/15] (19)
52: Weight Of The World, Western Centuries [Free Dirt, new] (19)
61: Roses And Victory, Honor Finnegan [Frock, 2/16] (18)
61: Washashore Cowgirl, Monica Rizzio [monicarizzio.com, 2/16] (18)
63: Boats To Build, Guy Clark [Elektra, 1992] (17)
63: Paths That Wind, The Paul McKenna Band [paulmckennaband.com, 4/16] (17)
65: Didn’t We Waltz, Amy White with Al Petteway [Fairewood, 1/16] (16)
65: Foxhounds, Kathy Kallick Band [Live Oak, 11/15] (16)
65: Lovers And Leavers, Hayes Carll [Hwy 87, 4/16] (16)
65: These Are The Days, Burning Bridget Cleary
[burningbridgetcleary.com, 11/15] (16)
65: Wondrous Traveler, The Small Glories [Self, 2/16] (16)
70: The Dark, Guy Clark [Sugar Hill, 2002] (15)
70: Deep Waters, The Lonely Heartstring Band [Rounder, new] (15)
70: Electricity, Victor And Penny [Overtone, 3/16] (15)
70: The K.O.A. Tapes (Vol. 1), Kate Campbell [Large River, 1/16] (15)
70: On The Ropes, The Honeycutters [Organic, new] (15)
70: One Of These Days, The Regulators [Self, 3/16] (15)
70: Stitch An Ocean, Wren [wrenmusic.net, 2/16] (15)
70: Ziggy Marley, Ziggy Marley [Tuff Gong, 2/16] (15)

Top Songs of May 2016

Here are links to an audio recording of Ben Bedford performing “Pilot and The Flying Machine, Part 1” and a video of Dave Gunning performing “Sing It Louder” — the month’s two most-played songs on folk radio:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJnBuHKk904

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqa7myWevac

1. “Pilot And The Flying Machine, Part 1” (19)
by Ben Bedford
from The Pilot And The Flying Machine
1. “Sing It Louder” (19)
by Dave Gunning
from Lift
3. “Landslide” (17)
by Lucy Wainwright Roche And Suzzy Roche
from Mud And Apples
4. “Homegrown Tomatoes” (16)
by Guy Clark
from Keepers
also Craftsman
4. “Letters From The Earth” (16)
by Ben Bedford
from The Pilot And The Flying Machine
4. “Save Me” (16)
by Marci Geller
from Square Peg
7. “Desperado” (15)
by Lucy Wainwright Roche And Suzzy Roche
from Mud And Apples
8. “Ease On Down” (14)
by Evie Ladin Band
from Jump The Fire
8. “L. A. Freeway” (14)
by Guy Clark
from Keepers
also Old No. 1
8. “Wonders I’ve Seen” (14)
by The Bills
from Trail Of Tales
11. “Desperados Waiting For A Train” (13)
by Guy Clark
from Old No. 1
also Keepers
11. “Randall Knife” (13)
by Guy Clark
from Dublin Blues
also Craftsman
11. “Saint Elizabeth” (13)
by Kaia Kater
from Nine Pin
11. “They Don’t Do That No More” (13)
by Dave Gunning
from Lift
15. “Mary Don’t You Weep And Moan” (12)
by Brother Sun
from Weights And Wings
15. “Rhythm Of The Rain” (12)
by Lucy Wainwright Roche And Suzzy Roche
from Mud And Apples
15. “This Changin’ Wind” (12)
by Dave Gunning
from Lift
18. “Bleecker Street” (11)
by Lucy Wainwright Roche And Suzzy Roche
from Mud And Apples
18. “Cold October Day” (11)
by Lucy Wainwright Roche And Suzzy Roche
from Mud And Apples
18. “Mud And Apples” (11)
by Lucy Wainwright Roche And Suzzy Roche
from Mud And Apples
18. “Paradise Fell” (11)
by Kaia Kater
from Nine Pin
18. “Trail Of Tales” (11)
by The Bills
from Trail Of Tales
18. “White” (11)
by Kaia Kater
from Nine Pin
24. “Long Blue Hills” (10)
by Ben Bedford
from The Pilot And The Flying Machine
24. “Tractor” (10)
by Dave Gunning
from Lift
24. “When I’m Gone” (10)
by Brother Sun
from Weights And Wings
24. “Where Are You Moses” (10)
by Brother Sun
from Weights And Wings
24. “Woody Guthrie Watch Over Me” (10)
by Cosy Sheridan
from Sometimes I Feel Too Much

Roots Music Report compiles weekly and monthly radio airplay charts for various roots-related genres. These are based on spin totals reported by music directors and DJs from more than 400 terrestrial and Internet radio stations. Its first monthly Top 50 Roots/Americana Albums Chart is posted here with permission.

(Key to Chart: This Month, Last Month, Album Title, Band/Artist Name, Label)

*NEW* 1 – South Blackie and The Rodeo Kings File Under Music
*NEW* 2 – Echo Sessions The Stray Birds INDIE
*NEW* 3 – 12 Stories Brandy Clark Slate Creek
*NEW* 4 – My Favorite Picture Of You Guy Clark Dualtone
*NEW* 5 – Bison Ranch Recording Sessions Little Miss Higgins & The Winnipeg Five LMH Music
*NEW* 6 – Sweetheart of the Sun The Greencards Darling Street Records
*NEW* 7 – This Side Of Jordan Mandolin Orange Yep Roc
*NEW* 8 – Red River Drifter Michael Martin Murphey Red River
*NEW* 9 – Not Cool Tim Easton Thirty Tigers
*NEW* 10 – A Little Piece Ray Benson Bismeaux
*NEW* 11 – Hang Your Hopes On A Crooked Nail Rod Picott Independent
*NEW* 12 – Never Give In Will Hoge Thirty Tigers
*NEW* 13 – Memories And Moments Tim O’Brien & Darrell Scott Full Skies
*NEW* 14 – In Our Nature Blue Rodeo Self Release
*NEW* 15 – No Way There From Here Laura Cantrell Thrift Shop
*NEW* 16 – Old Time Angels Jim Lauderdale Sky Crunch Records
*NEW* 17 – Prairieography Del Barber Linus Entertainment
*NEW* 18 – Long Night Moon Reckless Kelly Self Released
*NEW* 19 – Tennessee David Newbould Self Released
*NEW* 20 – The Lights From The Chemical Plant Robert Ellis New West
*NEW* 21 – Tambourine Fred Eaglesmith Independent
*NEW* 22 – The Love I Have for You Miss Tess & the Talkbacks Signature Sounds
*NEW* 23 – Still Fighting The War Slaid Cleaves Music Road Records
*NEW* 24 – Memories & Moments Tim O’Brien & Darrell Scott Full Skies
*NEW* 25 – Small Town Heroes Hurray for the Riff Raff ATO Records
*NEW* 26 – The River And The Thread Rosanne Cash Blue Note
*NEW* 27 – Shine The Keller Sisters Self Released
*NEW* 28 – Bitin’ at the Bit Clay McClinton Clayster
*NEW* 29 – The Waiting Place Sara Jean Kelley Blue Jean Records
*NEW* 30 – Roll Me, Tumble Me The Deadly Gentlemen Rounder
*NEW* 31 – Break These Chains Tia McGraff Bandana Records
*NEW* 32 – Chapter One Carolina Story True Bearing Entertainment
*NEW* 33 – Lone Chimney Red Dirt Rangers Ranger Records
*NEW* 34 – Walking Through Clay Dirk Powell Sugar Hill Records
*NEW* 35 – Better At Goodbye Shantell Ogden Hip Farm Chic Records
*NEW* 36 – Break & Bloom Jane Kramer Self Released
*NEW* 37 – Goodbye Hello Wyatt Easterling Phoenix Rising
*NEW* 38 – The Dream Tracie Potochnik Self Released
*NEW* 39 – Songs To Sing and Stories To Tell Kerry Wallace Colt Records
*NEW* 40 – The Haden Triplets Haden Triplets Third Man Records
*NEW* 41 – Keep a Fire Amanda Rheaume Self Released
*NEW* 42 – Reserva The Claytones Rip Roar Music
*NEW* 43 – Sparkle and Shine Jonny Kaplan And The Lazy Stars Reckless Grace
*NEW* 44 – Another Man’s Treasure Greg Klyma Self Released
*NEW* 45 – Pushing Back Wintertime Mike Laureanno Self Released
*NEW* 46 – Downtown Mytic Downtown Mystic Sha La
*NEW* 47 – Often Wrong, Never In Doubt Deadfields Self Release
*NEW* 48 – Old Crow Medicine Show old Crow Medicine Show Self
*NEW* 49 – Into The Setting Sun Andrew Delaney Self Released
*NEW* 50 – Cross My Heart + Hope To Die D.B. Rielly Shut Up & Play!

Roots Music Report compiles weekly radio airplay charts for various roots-related genres. These are based on spin totals reported by music directors and DJs from more than 400 terrestrial and Internet radio stations. The latest Folk and Americana/Roots Country charts are posted here with permission.

Best American Roots Song
“Love Has Come For You” – Edie Brickell & Steve Martin (from Love Has Come for You on Rounder)

Best Americana Album
Old Yellow Moon – Emmylou Harris & Rodney Crowell (Nonesuch Records)

Best Bluegrass Album
The Streets of Baltimore – Del McCoury Band (McCoury Music)

Best Folk Album
My Favorite Picture of You – Guy Clark (Dualtone)

Best Regional Roots Music Album
Dockside Sessions – Terrance Simien & The Zydeco Experience (Musicmatters Records)

In addition, The Civil Wars were named the winners in the Best Country Duo/Group Performance category for “From This Valley.” The East Nashville, Tennessee-based singer-songwriter duo of Joy Williams and John Paul White previously took home two Grammy Awards in 2012 for Best Folk Album of the Year (for its debut album, Barton Hollow) and Best Country Duo/Group Performance for that album’s title track.

The Grammy Awards are presented by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, also known as The Recording Academy. A complete list of nominees in all 82 categories appears online at www.grammy.com.