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Jonathan Ward Compiles First Record for Parlortone
The blogosphere meets the physical world with Parlortone's latest release entitled "Strings," a compilation of stringed instrument music from around the world. This is the first record in a series which takes its title from compiler Jonathan Ward's excellent blog Excavated Shellac. Although none of the tracks on the "Strings" LP have been featured on Ward's site, fans of the blog will be familiar with his superb musical selections accompanied by his insightful notes for each track. Those unfamiliar with Ward's work should check out this recent write-up on Boing Boing, and click here for a sample track from "Strings." Finally, if you would like more information about this title, or if you want to order a copy, here is the Paypal link, and here is the Visa/Mastercard link.



Rev. Johnny L. Jones on CNN
"In his place is the Rev. Hurricane, pounding a Hammond organ, ignoring the sweat that's pooling at his temples, letting whoever wants to get up and take the mic for a solo. Holding their elaborate hats in place, two elderly ladies defy their hips. They are singing hard: "This old building keep a-leakin'/I gotta move to a betta home/these old bones of mine keep on achin'/I gotta move to a betta home!" And then the Rev. Hurricane does his Thing. He is on his tippy toes, spinning. He's spinning and singing, arms up, voice higher, spinning, spinning." — Ashley Fantz, CNN


Lance Ledbetter: Founder, Dust-to-Digital named one of 50 Visionaries Who Are Changing Your World
Photograph by April Ledbetter
"Labors of peace, love, and justice are rarely recognized by our celebrity-obsessed media, and by extension most of us. Quiet resolve does not fill tents at the circus. Principle doesn’t make for a sexy photo. Selflessness, unless it is exhibited by heroes in the heat of a crisis, is often presented as weakness. Yet it is only the strongest among us who can stay true to a vision. This section is a tribute to that resolve. Here’s hoping it inspires your dreams." — Utne Reader


Brian Eno endorses Goodbye, Babylon
Photograph by Andrew Youssef
"Eno was mostly interested in talking about his general theories of art, but those of us attending the small press conference last Friday were treated to a rare insight into the contents of his iPod: 'I've been listening a lot lately to a box-set called Goodbye Babylon which is 6 CDs of early 20th-century American religious music, black and white music, you know. wood-box-cover.jpg ?It's got those Norfolk a cappella quartets and it's got country singers, and there's church services and everything. It's the best compilation I've seen for years. It comes with a fantastic book. I find that so intriguing that I just listen again and again.'" — Gustavo Turner, LA Weekly


Dust-to-Digital profiled in The New Yorker
Photograph by Sylvia Plachy
"Art Rosenbaum was a folk revivalist of the old school. He believed that traditional ballads, blues, spirituals, and fiddle tunes are among the glories of American culture, and he wanted to help preserve and disseminate them. Ledbetter, forty years younger, was less interested in preservation than in inspiration: the songs on Goodbye, Babylon had influenced artists as diverse as Bob Dylan and Arcade Fire. The best he could do for folk music, Ledbetter seemed to feel, was to research, remaster, and repackage it as beautifully as possible—to make the old songs seem new again.

Earlier that fall, Ledbetter’s label had released Art of Field Recording: Volume I, a four-CD retrospective of Rosenbaum’s work. It contained everything from ring shouts and murder ballads to a song about twenty frogs going to school. It was full of throaty voices and clanging banjos and the incidental music of daily life—babies crying, bar glasses clinking, cicadas on a summer night. A critic at the Times had called it “a gold mine, an ark . . . spooky and blindingly beautiful.” But now Rosenbaum and Ledbetter were gathering songs for the second volume, and wondering what they’d find. Fifty years after Rosenbaum’s first recordings, what was left of folk music?" — Burkhard Bilger, The New Yorker

Click here to read the full article: "The Last Verse: Is there any folk music still out there?"