Esteemed North Carolina indie rock label Yep Roc Records celebrated 15 years with performances from Fountains of Wayne, Robyn Hitchcock, Chatham County Line, John Wesley Harding, Dave Alvin, Nick Lowe, Tift Merritt and more. The festivities took place in Carborro, North Carolina over the weekend.

(Erika Goldring, Getty Images Entertainment) Americana now has the marks of an established music genre. A standalone Grammy category. An entry in Webster’s dictionary. Acts that have grown from baby band-dom to highly-respectable-for-any-genre-this-decade sales. (The Civil Wars’ debut album, for one, recently went gold.) Current listening habits, on the other hand—especially those of younger listeners—seem [...]

Various Artists Lowe Country:The Songs of Nick Lowe (Fiesta Red) Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars This isn’t the first Nick Lowe tribute album — 2001’s Labour of Love with contributions from higher profile acts such as Tom Petty, Marshall Crenshaw and Graham Parker beat it by 11 years—but it’s the first to feature primarily acoustic, [...]

On September 18, Fiesta Records will release Lowe Country: The Songs of Nick Lowe, a tribute album to the British songwriting great and honorary Wilco member. The album features contributions from JEFF The Brotherhood, Robert Ellis, Ron Sexsmith, Hayes Carll and more. Proceeds from sales will be split between the Texas Wildfire Fund and The [...]

How much money would you pay to be in this dressing room? During their recent run of shows in their hometown of Chicago, American Songwriter’s 2011 Album of the Year winners performed a feel-good version of The Band staple “The Weight” with Mavis Staples and opening act (and honorary Wilco member) Nick Lowe. The band [...]

Singer-songwriter JD McPherson, who hails from Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, is influenced by hip hop, the blues, and artists like Little Richard and James Brown. Like his heroes of soul, McPherson recorded his new album, Signs & Signifiers, using all-analog technology at Chicago’s Hi-Style studio. We asked the rootsy troubadour about writing Signs & Signifiers‘ “A [...]

Nick Lowe And Wilco perform at the second of two sold-out shows at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium.

“We understand the days of the week,” said Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy, midway through Sunday night’s epic set, the second in a two night stand at the Ryman Auditorium.  He was explaining why the band was playing some of their softer songs. “We know you have to work tomorrow,” said the purported ring leader of [...]

Nick Lowe The Old Magic (Yep Roc) Rating: Once upon a time, Nick Lowe was a creative multi-tasker who bounced between twisting knobs for a number of artists (The Damned, The Pretenders) and pounding out jangly pub-rock alongside his drinking buddies in Brinsley Schwarz and Rockpile. During this time, Lowe was embraced by music aficionados [...]

Might you be interested in some news about Wilco? The pioneering Chicago rock band have announced that the first single from their upcoming album, “I Might,” will debut at the band’s own Solid Sound Festival, which takes place in North Adams, Massachusetts June 24-26. The single will be available as a limited-edition clear vinyl 7”, [...]

An out-of-print classic, revisited.

Elvis Costello and Nick Lowe are set to share a stage to benefit the Richard de Lone Special Housing Fund. On October 1, the longtime collaborators will perform two sets at San Francisco’s Great American Music Hall. The show will feature Costello and Lowe playing songs from each others’ catalogues, backed by a band featuring [...]