(Tania Alexander performs during an open mic at The Mediator Stage.) Tania Alexandra, seated at a baby grand piano, turns around and breaks into an awkward grin. The piano at The Mediator Stage in Providence, Rhode Island, faces away from the audience in this old church, stage right. Colored lights play the dust on it. [...]

In this exclusive excerpt from I’ll Be Here In The Morning: The Songwriting Legacy of Townes Van Zandt (out now from TAMU Press), Lucinda Williams muses on one of her musical heroes, country-folk music icon Townes Van Zandt. “When I first met him, I thought he was a really good-looking guy,” says Williams, who wrote [...]

This weekend, Austin City Limits dug up and rebroadcast one of their most storied episodes — Tom Waits’ December 5, 1978 appearance. This bootlegger’s delight finds the gravelly-voiced songwriter working his original, theatrical barfly persona, and contains classic readings of songs like “Small Change” and “Romeo’s Bleeding.” Watch Waits sweat his way through a one-of-a-kind [...]

Karen Dalton 1966 (Delmore) Rating: Roots folk doesn’t get more organic than this. Recorded in the titular year on a reel to reel tape deck in a remote Colorado cabin without running water, or even an address, and never meant for public consumption, this is the purest music available from Dalton. She was an under-the-radar [...]

Is Taylor Swift’s collaboration with folk duo The Civil Wars the best thing she’s ever done? We’re not being “mean” in suggesting that it is. Sounding more like The Swell Season than the product of Music City marketing, “Safe And Sound” relies on a swelling melody, and is built around an escalating run of notes [...]

Indie-pop artist Risa Binder studied songwriting in Nashville, but makes her home in New York. Her song “Paper Heart,” from the album of the same name, drops this Valentine’s Day. “‘Paper Heart’ was co-written with Brett Boyett on one of my writing trips to Los Angeles,” Binder tells American Songwriter. “It’s crazy how co-writing works. [...]

Swedish sisters Klara and Johanna Söderberg were just 15 and 18 years old when they uploaded a cover of Fleet Foxes’ “Tiger Mountain Peasant Song” to YouTube. In the video, they’re sitting in the woods wearing flannel shirts, and look pretty much like any other teenagers, but when they start to sing, something happens. Almost [...]

  For 27 years, the American Songwriter Amateur Lyric Contest has helped thousands of songwriters become involved in our community. Established in 1984, America Songwriter magazine sponsors six (6) contests per year that run in conjunction with each issue published.  Entry fee is $12 per lyric which comes with a complimentary trial issue of American [...]

(Singer-songwriter Emma Louise) Forget Men At Work’s Vegemite sandwiches – these days, Australian artists are tapping universal subject matter and expanding their reach beyond the southern hemisphere. Here are our picks from Down Under’s fresh crop of songwriting talent. Boy & Bear Fresh from tours with Mumford & Sons and Laura Marling, Sydney folksters Boy [...]

Former Squirrel Nut Zippers head honcho Tom Maxwell will release his new Christmas song “Jacob Marley” tomorrow on iTunes. It’s Maxwell’s first yuletide offering since the Squirrel Nut Zippers’ Christmas album back in 1998, and it has a timely message. “I wrote “Jacob Marley” after the economy tanked and the banks got bailed out,” explains [...]

Move over, Middle Brother. There’s a new supergroup in town. Meet Diamond Rugs, a new band featuring John McCauley (Deer Tick, Middle Brother), Robbie Crowell (Deer Tick), Ian Saint Pé (The Black Lips), Steve Berlin (Los Lobos), Hardy Morris (Dead Confederate) and Bryan Dufresne (Six Finger Satellite). Watch the video for the band’s “Christmas In [...]

A great American songwriter once wrote, “Jingle bells/ Batman smells/ Robin laid an egg.” We may never know the author of that timeless composition, but here’s 20 more great holiday songs whose origins are not in doubt. Season’s greetings, y’all. 1. Paul Simon – “Getting Ready For Christmas Day” 2. Hayes Carll – “Grateful for [...]