Block Party: A Guide to Good Things Happening Around the Web
The third Block Party — a guide to good things around the web in September 2009, from the Americana and folk corner of the internet.
The Block Party entries are occasional roundups of things worth looking at around the web. The format is simple: links to music, writing, and discoveries from the Americana and folk world, collected into a single post for people who might have missed them.
This is the third installment.
What's worth your time in September 2009
The immediate post-summer period in the music calendar is when the fall releases start arriving. September 2009 had several records either freshly out or imminent that warranted attention.
Gillian Welch and David Rawlings at the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass preview: The San Francisco festival was announcing its lineup for October. Welch and Rawlings were on it. Everything they do in the live context is worth making time for.
The Americana Music Association conference: The annual Nashville gathering of the Americana world was generating discussion about the direction of the genre. The question of whether "Americana" was a meaningful category or a marketing term was being debated with the seriousness it occasionally warrants.
New Mountain Goats material: John Darnielle had been posting about the The Life of the World to Come sessions. The Bible verses album was previewing as something unusual in his catalog — more direct than the autobiographical material, differently weighted.
Magnolia Electric Co. on the road: Jason Molina's band was touring in support of Josephine. The shows were being reviewed with the appreciation they warranted. Molina was at a high point.
The Great Townes Van Zandt reissue discussion: The ongoing conversation about the right versions of Van Zandt's catalog to own — which pressings, which compilations, which live recordings — was generating useful writing in several places.
Neko Case's fall dates: The Middle Cyclone tour was continuing. Case performing live is the best argument for what this music can do.
On the format
The Block Party entries work because the web in 2009 was producing genuinely good writing about this music from people who cared about it. The landscape has changed since then — consolidation, social media, the migration of music writing to platforms that operate differently — but in September 2009 the music blog format was still producing real journalism and real criticism.
This is an archive of what that moment looked like.
More at Field Notes.