Kenny Berkowitz

Blues

buffalo nichols playing his guitar against a wall of art

Buffalo Nichols’ Blues Guitar Hits Hard in this Acoustic Guitar Sessions In Place Performance

Buffalo Nichols is writing songs that channel the music he heard growing up into a deeply lived vision focused on “putting more Black stories” into acoustic blues.

December 11, 2021

Album Reviews

Sarah McQuaid’s ‘The St. Buryan Sessions‘ Is a Beautiful Reimagination of Her Finest Songs

In the cavernous 15th-century St. Buryan’s Church, McQuaid collected two decades of songs and reimagined them into the strongest album of her career

November 30, 2021

Album Reviews

Thoughtful Old-Time and Newgrass Ideas Coalesce on Eli West’s ‘Tapered Point of Stone’

There’s an architectural quality to Eli West's Tapered Point of Stone, a careful sense of craft that methodically builds from one note and one instrument to the next.

November 2, 2021

Album Reviews

John Hiatt and the Jerry Douglas Band Shine on ‘Leftover Feelings’

The settings in Leftover Feelings, recorded live in Nashville’s historic RCA Studio B, find the middle ground between wisdom and cleverness, country and bluegrass.

October 19, 2021

Album Reviews

‘Mande Guitar: African Guitar Series’ is a Revelatory Album From True Master Boubacar ‘Badian’ Diabaté

There’s plenty of awesome to go around on Boubacar "Badian" Diabaté's "Mande Guitar," the first album released on Banning Eyre’s Lion Songs Records.

October 12, 2021

Album Reviews

Vivian Leva & Riley Calcagno Dig Deep into Country and Old-time Roots

Both have been steeped in Appalachian music for as long as they’ve been alive, and each comes to this music with a determination to dig deep.

May 17, 2021

Album Reviews

M. Ward’s ‘Think of Spring’ Is a Stripped-down Take on a Billie Holiday Classic

This albums features a handful of open tunings recorded to 4-track

April 19, 2021

Album Reviews

Album Review: Pierre Bensusan Reimagines His Guitar as an Orchestra on Beautiful ‘Aswan’

Bensusan’s touch keeps growing increasingly subtle, and it’s steadily matched by the responsiveness of his 1978 Lowden, producing a variety of tones and textures along the spectrum.

March 1, 2021

Album Reviews

David Broza’s ‘en Casa Limón’ Moves from Flamenco to Swing to Jazz and Pop

Broza has taken a huge leap, writing and recording an entire album of music for Spanish nylon-string guitar

November 5, 2020
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Album Reviews

Album Review: Acoustic Blues Titan Rory Block Broadens Her Focus on ‘Prove It on Me’

After announcing her new “Power Women of the Blues” series, snagging the 2019 Blues Music Award for Acoustic Artist of the Year, and releasing a tribute album to Bessie Smith, Rory Block is back with a follow-up that’s even better.…

October 5, 2020

Album Reviews

Album Review: Hiroya Tsukamoto’s Brilliant ‘Window to the World’

Amazing fingerpicking on a Martin, plus looping pedals.

September 14, 2020

Songwriters

Justin Townes Earle poses with a black and white guitar

Justin Townes Earle on Songwriting, His Idiosyncratic Fingerpicking Style, and Battling Personal Demons

[Ed. Note: Singer/songwriter Justin Townes Earle passed away on August 23, 2020, at the age of 38. Earle last sat with Acoustic Guitar’s Kenny Berkowitz for an extended conversation in 2012. Here is that interview.] As the son of Steve Earle, Justin Townes…

August 24, 2020

Album Reviews

Dave Simonett’s ‘Red Tail’ is Full of Revealing, Plainspoken Honesty

The lead singer, guitarist, and songwriter of Trampled by Turtles has finally released an album under his own name.

March 30, 2020

Album Reviews

Album Review: The Milk Carton Kids Return to Spare Acoustic Sound on ‘The Only Ones’

The quietness of the production makes these songs feel especially brittle and heart-worn, as if there’s nothing left for Kenneth Pattengale and Joey Ryan to hide.

January 22, 2020

Album Reviews

Album Review: Billy Strings’ ‘Home’ Moves Beyond Bluegrass

Billy StringsHome(Rounder) Home begins with 30 seconds of down-tempo guitar arpeggio and fiddle birdsong. It ends with the full quartet—Billy Strings (guitar), Billy Failing (banjo), Royal Massat (upright bass), and Jarrod Walker (mandolin)—crashing through a cover of Bill Monroe’s “Big…

January 21, 2020

Album Reviews

Ace Fingerpicker Charlie Parr Revisits His Catalog on Self-Titled Album

Parr returns to some songs he’d written years earlier, determined to “live through them again, and take them apart, and put them together.”

November 18, 2019

Album Reviews

Album Review: Scorching Guitar-Dobro Combo of Rob Ickes and Trey Hensley Live In a ‘World Full of Blues’

Ickes and Hensley are clearly made for each other, and over time they’ve learned how to bring out their one-upping best.

November 8, 2019

Album Reviews

Catfish Keith Plays Some Smokin’ Guitar on ‘Reefer Hound: Viper Songs Revisited’

At 21, Keith Kozacik recorded his first song about smoking dope, and three decades later, he’s still going strong

August 6, 2019

Album Reviews

The Andrew Collins Trio Spreads Its Wings Wide on Double Album ‘Tongue & Groove’

This double set of 11 vocal songs (Tongue) and 11 instrumentals (Groove) is the best of both worlds

July 1, 2019

Album Reviews

Album Review: Hayes Carll ‘What It Is’

With Hayes Carll's dust-dry Texas delivery, this album knows how to rock when it needs to rock, dance when it needs to dance, and lean in close when he needs to promise.

June 3, 2019

Scenes

10 Music Festivals You Must Attend At Least Once

Here are ten musical festivals to put on your bucket list (plus, an idea for creating the eleventh...)

February 7, 2019
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Album Reviews

Album Reviews: Revealing Solo Guitar Outings from Duck Baker and Nathan Salsburg

Two albums reviewed, Duck Baker's Demos & Outtakes, and Nathan Salsburg's Third

October 29, 2018

Album Reviews

tommy emmanuel and amanda shires onstage

Tommy Emmanuel and Friends Shine on ‘Accomplice One’

Star duets bring out guitar slinger’s best

March 21, 2018

Album Reviews

CD Review: Bruce Cockburn Is Still Searching for Answers on ‘Bone on Bone’

In the six years since Small Source of Comfort, his last album of new songs, Bruce Cockburn has gotten married, settled in San Francisco, become a father for the second time, and started going to church again. That’s a lot,…