Yearly Archives: 2026

Finally some good news for Nashville-based artists trying to make a living playing music in Music City. For decades, the city of Nashville has been built upon the backs of the musically creative. Now, with free parking dwindling, and recent property tax hikes, Music City is making it harder and harder for aspiring artists – and anyone who could be viewed as the “little guy” – to afford to live and operate in Nashville. If you’ve visited Tennessee’s capital lately, […]

The post Nashville-Based Artists Just Scored $5 Daily Parking Thanks To New Musician-Friendly Initiative first appeared on Whiskey Riff.

Over the past week or so, we’ve been walking you through how to navigate the options and get yourself a quality bass setup without breaking the bank. In short, what are the best rods and reels I can get for less than $100? We’ve already tackled spinning reels and baitcasting reels; now, I’m going to detail my favorite casting rods for under $100. And this isn’t bargain-bin junk… these are quality rods, many of which I use every single day. […]

The post The 4 Best Casting Rods Under $100 – 2026 first appeared on Whiskey Riff.

Katie Pruitt: Songs for the Time We Have Katie Pruitt wrote more than 60 songs while working on Fools For the Fleeting, her third album for Rounder Records. She kept ten. Somewhere in the cutting, a subject emerged: the beauty and damage people carry around, and the difficulty of staying connected to one another when […]

The post Interview: Katie Pruitt: Songs for the Time We Have appeared first on Americana Highways.

On the final night of the Up the Sharp End tour, Plant and a remarkable band found new life in old songs—and a different kind of power in the Led Zeppelin catalog. The Chicago Theatre | Chicago, Illinois | October 15, 2026 For much of Robert Plant’s concert at the Chicago Theatre, something unusual happened: […]

The post Show Review: Robert Plant & Saving Grace in Chicago: The Music Was Never Meant to Stand Still appeared first on Americana Highways.

At Eric Clapton’s Austin guitar gathering, the most important moments were not displays of virtuosity. They were handoffs between musicians who reached the same music by different roads. The first lesson from Eric Clapton’s Crossroads Guitar Festival in Austin was that a guitar festival need not be a contest. Over September 26 and 27 at […]

The post Show Review: Crossroads Guitar Festival 2026 — The Music Keeps Moving appeared first on Americana Highways.

Dave Martin Donegal Tweed & Cowboy Chords Dave Martin is a folk singer-songwriter who pens songs with light poetic imagery and relatable experiences, as evidenced here in his new release: Donegal Tweed & Cowboy Chords. Dave’s song offer lighthearted humor and gentle honesty in observation of life though Midwestern experiences and natural metaphors, all set […]

The post REVIEW: Dave Martin “Donegal Tweed & Cowboy Chords” appeared first on Americana Highways.

At some point, we got tired of fast food and TV dinners as a society, and all the artificial flavors and chemical preservatives they contain. What you feed your brain and your soul is just as important, if not more.

The post Are You Checking the Ingredients of Your Music? first appeared on Saving Country Music.

This week the column visits two music festivals that take somewhat different approaches to roots music. One, in only its second year, Raleigh Wide Open Music Festival, October 1-3, 2026, in Raleigh, North Carolina and the other, the King Biscuit Blues Festival, which celebrated its 40th year, October 8-

Jake Blount talks about rehearsing as an apartment dweller, including renting rooms at Providence’s JamStage, where he might be playing in a room next to a dad band covering Linkin Park. He shares advice on staying hydrated on the road and discusses the benefits of a livable income stream outside of music. The fiddler, banjo player, and guitarist is pursuing a Ph.D. in Musicology and Ethnomusicology at Brown University.

The “Something in the Orange” singer spent years keeping Nashville at arm’s length, criticizing the sound of mainstream country and insisting Music City wasn’t his scene. Continue reading…