Posts by Maeri Ferguson

It is not easy to describe a Mountain Man show. It would be too reductive to simply call it quiet folk music, and it does not do it justice to call it an acapella show. Seeing a performance from the three women that make up Mountain Man – Alexandra Sauser-Monnig, Amelia Meath and Molly Erin […]

[rating=7.00] Whether you know them from their stunning backup roles with artists like Jenny Lewis and My Morning Jacket, or for their handful of gorgeous studio albums, The Watson Twins have long been a staple in Americana music. Chandra and Leigh Watson’s lush harmonies are the stuff of dreams, and on their latest record Duo, […]

[rating=9.00] Five years between albums can invite a lot of curiosity, and in the case of Phosphorescent, whose 2013 record Muchacho felt like a tall peak for Matthew Houck as an artist, it has also left a void. His absence has been felt; his distinct voice one that has been missed. In the time since […]

Even after more than 20 years in the business, Neko Case still gets nervous on stage. She told us so at the top of her September 20th show at the Beacon Theatre in New York City. Before she even played a single note, she had to be up front with us about that. And Case […]

In the two years since Courtney Marie Andrews garnered critical acclaim for her stellar record Honest Life, she has toured like crazy, released another excellent record – 2018’s May Your Kindness Remain – and, judging by her performance at Rough Trade on September 19, gained a lot more confidence. In May of 2017 at a […]

[rating=8.00] It was 2014 when Alexandra Sauser-Monnig captivated audiences as she opened up for Hiss Golden Messenger on their Lateness of Dancers tour. I remember exhaustively researching her to find out who she was, where she came from and where I could hear more. Turned out, she was one third of the once beloved trio […]

The final day of Newport Folk Festival – Sunday – always carries a different vibe from the rest of the weekend. It’s quieter and moves at a slower pace. This could just be subjective, as typically the majority of acts I prioritize are coincidentally packed tightly between Friday and Saturday. Sundays are when I take […]

In case we needed a reminder that Newport Folk Festival is not about the headliners, Saturday evening was gave it to us. After two days of heavy speculation that Neil Young would be making an appearance at Fort Adams, many festival-goers were met with some disappointment when the surprise unannounced final act was Mumford and […]

On the first day of Newport Folk Festival on July 27th, there was no doubt the place to be was the main stage – the Fort Stage. All day long, from the earliest set from Oakland-based Fantastic Negrito to the closing set from Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, the Fort Stage hosted some of […]

Surprise guests are no strangers to the three stages of Newport Folk Festival, particularly the biggest, the Fort Stage. So when the lineup gradually began to roll out over the last couple of months and one of the prime spots – Saturday’s headlining set – was still billed as “Unannounced,” theories began to float around […]

An artist as great as Erin Rae deserves a room packed to the brim at her live shows, and though her show at New York City’s City Winery on July 14 seemed criminally under attended, the audience was rapt. Rae released her new record Putting On Airs earlier this summer, and its pastoral mix of […]

[rating=7,00] If you caught John Moreland on tour any time in 2017, you were treated to a mind-blowing performance from his sideman and sole bandmate, John Calvin Abney. The fellow Oklahoman is a multi-instrumentalist and managed to keep up with the notoriously brisk pace of Moreland’s setlist, switching guitars and jumping on harmonica at lightning […]

[rating=8.00] Hearing Neko Case’s voice feels like coming home again. It is all at once powerfully singular and familiar, but still mysterious and bewildering in its beauty. A new Neko Case record is like a gift with endless layers to unwrap, and Hell-On – her first since 2013’s The Worse Things Get, The Harder I […]

[rating=8.00] It’s rare when an artist enters our lives fully realized and with a confidence that convinces us we’ve been following them for a long time. Brent Cobb has that something and it was evident in 2016 when he released his phenomenal record Shine On Rainy Day. Though Cobb had been around before this, it […]

In an interesting pairing, Ryley Walker and Calexico shared the stage at Brooklyn’s Music Hall of Williamsburg April 28th. Walker delivered a hypnotic set to warm things up for the seven-piece band, bringing his heady guitar shredding to the crowd before they started the grooving and shaking that was to come. Walker’s boggy sound had […]

With a voice like that, Ashley Monroe could have all the confidence in the world. But last week, performing a set at Brooklyn’s Rough Trade on April 24th, there was trepidation in the way she held herself. It sure didn’t affect her singing, and it faded after a few songs, but it was clear she […]

[rating=8.00] There’s that old adage, “they don’t make ‘em like they used to,” and then there’s Joshua Hedley. The buzz country singer’s major label debut Mr. Jukebox (on Jack White’s Third Man Records, no less) feels like stepping back in time to an era of rhinestone suits and waltzes, but without all the dust. Hedley’s […]

Longtime fans of Nashville singer-songwriter Tristen Gaspadarek were treated to a wide-ranging live set at a recent show at Brooklyn’s Union Pool. On the heels of her fizzy 2017 release Sneaker Waves, Tristen might have stuck behind her signature keyboard for the entirety of the show, but instead, we were treated to a more rock […]

Smiles were plentiful last Thursday night (3/29) at Brooklyn Bowl when Erika Wennerstrom performed her stellar opening set for the Drive-By Truckers. In the first night of two shows in a row, Wennerstrom and her band (and the Truckers) left it all on stage and left the packed room with full hearts. Decked out in […]

[rating=7.00] When I first saw the Naked Giants’ frenetic shredding onstage a few months back, it felt like capturing lightning in a bottle. Their performance was youthful and wild like they were making it up as they went along and it just happened to come out perfectly. Their look was nostalgic, like 70s punk colliding […]