Some amazing interviews

Although I didn't have the pleasure of attending the Anais Mitchell/Jeffrey Foucault concert at Roaring Brook Nature Center last evening (a halloween party precluded my attendance - a parent and child affair it was a lot of fun), I did have the privelege of interviewing Anais in a short visit to the WWUH studios on Saturday.

Anais is pretty amazing. First and foremost, she's a singer and songwriter to be reckoned with. With that on her side, she's decided to write and stage a "folk opera" called Hadestown, based on a retelling of the Orpheus myth. As she noted, it's set in a "post-apocalyptic depression, dust-bowl town." The show with a full folk band, along with cast, costumes and sets will travel to five old Vermont theaters, and one in Somerville Mass (near Boston) on the last weekend of November and the first of December. If the songs she sang in the interview are any indication, it's a show not to miss. Anais is also looking for angels to sponsor the show rehearsals, costumes and sets. You can find out all you need to know at her website.

The interview will play Wednesday morning (6-9 a.m. Eastern US at wwuh.org) on my show along with one I did a few weeks back with Will Kimbrough, and if all works out, a live interview with Nerissa and Katryna Nields to preview their weekend show at the Sounding Board, and to talk about their new album, Sister Holler.

Kimbrough and Crowell

Will Kimbrough and Rodney Crowell gave powerhouse performances of rootsy, topical American music on Friday at the University of Hartford's Wilde Auditorium in a benefit for the UofH chapter of Habitat for Humanity.

Kimbrough, despite being jet-lagged and exhausted from three weeks of touring in England and Ireland took time before the show to record an interview for Caterwaul which will be broadcast this coming Wednesday morning.

Crowell, who has been at the top of the country charts, is finding his own as a songwriter spilling venom about the troubled world we live in.

Concerts of the Week

Billy Bragg
Thursday Oct. 18
Calvin Theater, Northampton, Mass

Hell, there are a thousand good reasons to see and hear Billy Bragg, and I think I've written them all in posts over the past few weeks. Skip the Red Sox for this. Check below for tales of Billy and her majesty.

Beausoleil
Thursday Oct. 18
Iron Horse, Northampton, Mass

Why are all the good shows on the same night? Happens all the time, doesn't it? Mike Doucet and his intrepid band of exceptional Cajun musicians returns to the Iron Horse for a dance. Doucet is now the inspiration to an entire new generation of young Cajun musicians. He was inspired himself by greats like Dennis McGee, Canray Fontenot and Dewey Balfa. Still one of the finest bands (and not just Cajun bands) in the country.

Rodney Crowell and Will Kimbrough
Friday October 19
Wilde Auditorium, University of Hartford

Very likely a bill put together by right-wing bloviator Jim Vicevich (well, he doesn't really bloviate, he kind of sputters), but damn good music nonetheless. Kimbrough has played with everybody in Nashville worth listening to, and Crowell was a chartopper turned songwriter. Both have recorded amazing albums.

Erin McKeown
Saturday October 20
The Space, Hamden CT

Erin's a powerhouse performer, and a giant musical brain on two legs. If I wasn't going to be in a different state, I'd sure be in Hamden. BTW, I sing on one of her albums. Yeah, I do.

She's also at the Iron Horse on Friday.

Teach your children

Right now, limited-wattage, chickenhawk Jim Vicevich of WTIC-AM is pillorying David Crosby and Graham Nash for appearing with Chris Matthews on Hardball and talking about the Prayer For Peace concert.

I'm not sure what Vicevich is against. Peace? Music? Free Speech? Prayer? Reconciliation?

And yet, Vicevich is pushing this week's Music for a Change Concert with Will Kimbrough and Rodney Crowell both of whom have released music in the past two years which directly addresses the lies of the government and the horrors of war.

I think Vicevich is a wannabe dove, and doesn't know how to escape his military upbringing, and his right-wing Christian interpretation of the bible. Or he's schizophrenic.