Jonathan Frahm

The debut LP from Atlanta-based father-daughter folk duo The Brookses, Lucky Charm, is the culmination of a decades-in-the-making partnership, harnessing and presenting an energy that could only be borne from family bonds. Between Jim’s experience in the Atlanta music scene–having performed with acts ranging from Kelly Hogan (Neko Case, Drive-by Truckers) to Michelle Malone—and Meg’s narrative-driven songcraft and soulful voice, this album’s blend of timeless folk themes and rich, lively prod...

Priding himself on his cross between undulating, indie rock-driven guitars and the straight-ahead roots of Americana, Australian singer-songwriter Josh Rennie-Hynes traveled to Nashville to record his new album, Patterns, after receiving a prestigious grant from the Australian Council for the Arts. Hailing from the forthcoming album, due 27 September, "Chapter" sees Rennie-Hynes looking back on a life well-led. Leading with yearning, guitar tones that are instantly redolent of the song's phil...

Fronted by Janine Cathrein, Zurich, New Zealand's Black Sea Dahu has quickly become an indie folk band to watch. With a finger on the pulse of urban developments, they've made a name for themselves through their heartfelt, musical interpretations of the human consciousness. Black Sea Dahu's previous LP, White Creatures, found acclaim for embracing complexities instead of shucking them. Continuing from White Creatures, and without sacrificing any of the cinematic nature of their songwriting an...

Katie Rose began writing and performing music in 2010, at the age of 12. One year later, she played her first live show and has been inspiring hope within listeners with her soulful songwriting since. To a point, Rose establishes herself as in the same vein of passionate singer-songwriters like Sara Bareilles and Billy Joel, performing gospel-tinged pop melodies with an infectious zeal throughout her new single, "Beginnings". It's a homage to a friend who took their life, wherein Rose ultimat...

Hot off the release of her new album, Rambling Stranger, Lucy Isabel releases a music video for her stunning Americana song, "How It Goes".
Following the 14 June release of her recent album, roots artist Lucy Isabel is continuing the tale of Rambling Stranger with her brand new music video for "How It Goes". Filmed at Nashville's OMNIsound Studios, the video gives Isabel's audience a glimpse at an in-studio performance.
Providing ample room for her vocals to resonate, the singer-songwriter so...

"This one started out as a song in tribute to life on the road and the camaraderie and friendship of bandmates and it quickly crossed into territory of honky-tonk life on the road," says Ana Egge, reflecting on her new single, "Cocaine Cowboys". Hailing from her upcoming album, Is It the Kiss, Egge's latest is a mellow, sweetly ruminant folk tune that explores the romantic haze surrounding the stories of old-school country stars.
Egge continues that it's about "The impossibility of a hick fro...

Ship & Sail made a splash in their respective Michigan scene following the release of their debut EP, From Seeds. Dedicated to Colin Haggerty’s late mother, his plaintive first studio cuts lived up to Ship & Sail’s tagline: “A little fun, and also a little sad.”
Haggerty is a folk singer-songwriter unfettered. The subtle grit in his vocals often come to a trademark quiver, straight-shooting and imperfect but brimming with character. In that sense, he fills a room with listeners like Cohen, bu...

"For me, it's about never really giving up hope. I didn't really play music at all the first few years I began living in Tucson, because I really just couldn't," says singer-songwriter Joyce Luna. Her vibe is similar to the type of acoustic tunes we've come to know from performers like Joan Baez or Joni Mitchell—something warm and pristine and smart that aims straight for the heart, which isn't afraid to raise a fist in protest—with more of a trademark humor. She's just recently sunken her fe...

Some might say that 2015 Ironwood Ridge High graduate Kaylor Cox has an unfair advantage. Her country roots might be genuine and freshly-sown, but she has the guidance of a guy named Du on her side.
"What I'm doing with Kaylor is developing her," Du Cassell says.
Now Du is a country-rooted producer and DJ with feet spread between New Jersey, Nashville, and the Old Pueblo.
"It's about transitioning her from a normal 19-year-old into what I hope and believe will be a superstar one day," he adds...

As Cecil Sharp once inferred, folk music tends to swell in times of social and political turbulence. Henceforth, it may not come as a surprise that the genre has grown steadfastly in recent years. As the genre grows, folk music continues to broaden its horizons, surpassing and oftentimes subverting expectations laid down for it. Just as Americana continues to distinguish itself as a movement to country music's left, folk in 2018 has kept the poignant storytelling elements so intimately knit i...

When Sarah Jarosz jumped on the phone with PopMatters, she was in the midst of a media blitz, conducting a string of interviews—ours included—in preparation for the impending release of her fourth full-length album, Undercurrent. As if being just ten short days away from its being let out into the world wasn’t enough for the rising Americana artist’s ongoing journey and where it had brought her up to that ...

It’s easy to mistake the Accidentals for a much older group of people in a much older band. For a trio having just hit their 20s -- and for one who have only been doing what they do for almost five years -- their megaton “genre-bending” talent has already seen them receive a bounty of acknowledgments and accolades.
Spanning SXSW showcases, sold-out shows at renowned theaters like the Ark in Ann Arbor, ...

Ronstadt sees his band at the precipice of a major shift on the promise of festivals and national tours, but he's never forgotten his roots.

In Southern Arizona, Ronstadt Generations y Los Tucsonenses are an establishment. Both Generations and its “Tucsonenses” subset represent the traditions of the American and Mexican West in music, and not unlike Petie (vocals, acoustic/electric guitar, banjo, tuba, stomp...

While it’s been some time since Signe Marie Rustad once lived on the Norwegian farm upon which she was born and raised, her experiences there invariably shaped her into the artist that she has become. The forests, rivers, and fields surrounding her home encouraged a restlessness and serenity in her alike, and have been flourishing within her heart and mind ever since. Such is what pervades Rustad’s work as a songwriter today, her textured Americana often recalling that storied balance between...

Jamestown Revival’s newest album, San Isabel, is all about finding the quiet between the noise. When asked about its recurring themes, band member Jonathan Clay stated, “We wrote this record with sort of an overarching theme, which is cutting out the noise for a minute and maybe stepping away from social media, from the internet and from the complicated, busy nature of most of our lives—and focusing on existing for a minute. If this record inspires people to do a little bit of that, then we w...