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TweedBlog: the Tangleweed blog
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The blog was started by the Chicago-based acoustic Americana group Tangleweed to document their activities as working musicians. It has since expanded its mission to help engender greater interest and understanding of American vernacular music. The blog i
Recent Posts Tagged With 'tweedblog'
Who wants pie?
We look forward to playing the Bucktown Apple Pie Contest every October. In anticipation of this year’s contest, we offer this footage of last year’s event, with some fine Tangleweed and pie-related footage. Scott was a finalist the firs...
Thursday night’s BBQ is SOLD OUT
Thursday night’s (8/20/2009) pig roast is sold out. If you were unable to get tickets, why not come see us Friday night at The Hideout. Three bands: Tangleweed, Majors Junction, and the Lawrence Peters Outfit. We play first, so come early. Eigh...
August 20th: Pig Roast, Wine Pairing & Music!!!
Tangleweed & members of the MEAT PURVEYORS, Cellar Rat Wine Shop, Clandestino Community Dining Project & H2Vino bring you a unique, fun wine & food event!!! Hear——————————EatR...
Cherokee Shuffle live at Fitzgerald’s
This is the maiden voyage of our version of the warhorse fiddle tune Cherokee Shuffle, from last week’s show at Fitzgerald’s in Berwyn. You can download the whole show at Archive.org. Download audio file (tangleweed_-_cherokee_shuffle_-2...
Most Folk Heroes reviewed in Sing Out!
Our most recent CD, Most Folk Heroes Started Out As Criminals, received a nice review in Sing Out!. Reviewer Tom Druckenmiller liked our take on traditional stringband music, as well as our approach to original material: Tangleweed writes tunes about...
Dancing Charlie Chaplins
We were on WGN’s morning news this morning. Here’s a shot we took with Ana Beleval. We’re playing the Square Dance this Friday (10th) for the Great Performers of Illinois Festival. 10 dancing Chaplins is nothing to sne...
Most Folk Heroes reviewed in Bluegrass Unlimited
Our latest CD, Most Folk Heroes Started Out As Criminals, got a favorable write up in this month’s Bluegrass Unlimited: This latest collection features traditional numbers “Sandy River Belle,” “Short Life Of Trouble,” an...
Hot 78rpm action with the Sons of the Pioneers
There’s a fellow on YouTube by the name of 78Man, who has posted over 800 videos of 78rpm records playing. The result is strangely compelling — like the yule log, but with better music. One of the more appealing sides offered is the Sons ...
Very cool 1960s Gibson tenor guitar/ mandolin double neck
2 necks, 12 strings. This 1960s-era mandolin/ tenor guitar is one of the cooler things I’ve seen for a while. I’ve been switching between mandolin and tenor guitar for some of Tangleweed’s stuff, so a 2-header monster like this has ...
Jimmie Rodgers singing Sleep Baby Sleep
This is the track that launched a career, and a career that helped launch an industry. It was recorded in Bristol, Tennessee, on August 4, 1927 for the Victor label. Though it was only a modest success, it marked the beginning of one of the most illu...
Fiddlin’ Frank Nelson playing And the Cat Came Back
I listened to this expecting to hear the song Riley Puckett sang so well, and was surprised to hear this very nice fiddle instrumental instead. Surprised, especially, in that I had never heard of Fiddlin’ Frank Nelson. A quick check of Tony Rus...
Fiddlin’ Powers playing Cluck Old Hen
Fiddlin’ Powers was a John Cowan Powers, from Russell County, Virginia. His recording career encompasses 33 sides for the Victor, Edison, and OKeh labels, though 14 of those seem to be unissued. This is a 1925 Edison recording, and he is backed...
Most Folk Heroes is Traditional Music CD of the Year
The Rural Roots Music Commission has named Most Folk Heroes Started Out As Criminals as its ‘Traditional Music CD of the Year’. Thanks!...
Chicago Bluegrass Festival Recording
A solid recording of the recent Chicago Bluegrass Festival in Evanston, IL is available for free bit-torrent download at bt.etree.org: http://bt.etree.org/details.php?id=524105 Here’s a little sample, our four-man, banjo-less version of the ...
Interview in today’s Chicago Tribune
Today’s Chicago Tribune has an interview with me, and a nice picture of the band (one of Paul Natkin’s photos from the ‘Most Folk Heroes’ sessions), and a writeup for our Bluegrass Legends benefit performance tomorrow in Evans...
My Fender FM-60E electric mandolin for sale on eBay
I’m in the early stages on an equipment purge (or, to use the terminology of the day, “equipment right-sizing”). One of the early casualties is this Fender FM-60E 5-string electric mandolin. It’s up for sale now on eBay. Fende...
We reek of authenticity
According to Cool Noise, Tangleweed is a band that ‘reeks of authenticity’. They posted a very kind review of our newest CD, Most Folk Heroes Started Out As Criminals. Tangleweed are an Americana five-piece from Chicago who have a recent ...
Newman honored by House of Representatives
Actor, philanthropist, race car driver and inspiration for Tangleweed’s third album title Paul Newman has just been honored by the U.S. House of Representatives for his life’s achievements. The House passed H.Res.18.EH yesterday, and you...
Most Folk Heroes now available on eMusic
Tangleweed’s most recent CD, Most Folk Heroes Started Out As Criminals, is now available on eMusic for your downloading pleasure. If you’re an eMusic member, please consider taking a moment to review the record....
Sailing in BVI
I just returned from a week-long sailing trip in the British Virgin Islands. It was an amazing experience, and one I hope to replicate in the years ahead. The band is currently exploring ways to implement a zero carbon sailing tour around Lake Mich...
Paul’s Suitbass Remix
In the spirit of going green. I’ve redesigned and revived the suit bass for maximum output and it still sounds sweet. I’ll be unveiling it on our summer 2009 shows. Yes, that’s a vintage wooden suitcase complete with f-holes, ...
South Australia, live at the Old Town School
Both our of sets from our January 17th shows at the Old Town School of Folk Music in Chicago are available for download at archive.org. Here’s a sample track from the second set, our performance of South Australia, from the Old Town School of F...
Most Folk Heroes now available on iTunes
At long last, our third CD, Most Folk Heroes Started Out As Criminals, is available at iTunes. The process was delayed several times. It was delivered to Apple in October, but an unspecified error prevented it from being added to the site. Some addit...
Dragging and drumming and driving
More mysterious driving and drumming from the streets of Chicago. This time, the soundtrack comes from our second CD, the leadoff track, “Draggin’ the Bow”. I’m guessing this was shot under the Lake Street El tracks. I just g...
There is nothing to dislike on this record
Positive reviews continue to flow in for our newest CD, Most Folk Heroes Started Out As Criminals. The latest comes from Andy Riggs at Americana-UK. Tangled Up In The Bluegrass Weed Of The Folk Criminals Over the Xmas break I was given the film ‘Th...
Honeysuckle Rose at OTS
Here’s some video footage of us at our last Old Town School show two years ago. It’s one of the handful of jazz tunes we play, “Honeysuckle Rose” by Fats Waller. We’ll be back on stage this Saturday, the 17th for two s...
Ginseng Blues, live at the Old Town School
As we ready ourselves to play two shows with Jerry Douglas at the Old Town School of Folk Music next Saturday, here’s a wee snippet from a previous performance there. The tune is Ginseng Blues, from Where You Been So Long, and the recording is ...
More nice things said about us in Dutch
Positive reviews of Most Folk Heroes Started Out As Criminals keep coming in. This comes from RootsTime. The pull quote is the last line: “The men of Tangleweed are our Folk Heroes of the moment.” Dank u wel. De vooruitgang heeft ook zijn...
Tangleweed at Bernice’s Tavern Sat. 1/3
Greetings and Happy New Year from Tangleweed! 2008 was a great year for us. We played a slew of shows, visited several states for the first time, won an award, and released our third cd. Thanks for your support along the way! We’re kicki...
Radio, live transmission
I’ll be joining our pal Di on her radio program this Friday, January 2nd, on WLUW 88.7 FM in Chicago. Starting at 4PM, we’ll spin some tracks from Most Folk Heroes Started Out As Criminals, and then talk about the decline of Friedmanian e...
