Folk

The Swell Season Live From The Artists Den

Known to the world from Indie film sensation "ONCE", THE SWELL SEASON is Irish singer Glen Hansard (of the band The Frames) and Czech newcomer Marketa Irglova.
On a Crisp Autumn night shortly before receiving one Acadamy Award and two Grammy Award Nominations for music from "ONCE", the duo performed before an intimate Artists Den audience at the Good Shepherd Center Chapel in Seattle, a historic landmark built in 1906 as a shelter for young wayward or orphaned girls. The Magic of Hansard and Irglova playing together live is captured here for the first time

1. Say It To Me Now
2. Lay Me Down
3. All The Way Down
4. This Low
5. When Your Mind's Made Up
6. Lies
7. Drown Out
8. Falling Slowly
9. Golden
10. Pavement Tune
11. Once
12. If You Want Me
13. Concentric
14. Star Star

Down from the Mountain (The "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" Concert)

If you love the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack, D.A. Pennebaker, Chris Hegedus, and Nick Doob's exhilarating concert film Down from the Mountain will be sheer heaven. And if you're new to bluegrass and "old-time mountain-style" music, the performances (also on CD) will be a revelation. John Hartford, Emmylou Harris, Alison Krauss, Gillian Welch, the Cox family, the venerable Ralph Stanley, and other traditional and alt-country artists who contributed the music to the Coen brothers' spaced odyssey gathered onstage in May 2000 at Nashville's Ryman Auditorium to benefit the Country Music Hall of Fame. Interviews and rehearsal footage set the stage for this stupendous concert, highlights of which include "(Didn't Leave) Nobody but the Baby" by the sirens Harris, Welch, and Krauss; the Coxes' "(Will There Be) Any Stars in My Crown"; and Stanley's haunting "O Death." As one performer recommends, "Just ease in, sit down, and listen." It could be your salvation. --Donald Liebenson

Capturing one of the most extraordinary concerts in the history of traditional American music Down from the Mountain goes onstage and backstage with the acclaimed soundtrack artists of the Coen Brothers' hit film O Brother Where Art Thou? Filmed by the Academy Award nominated creators of The War Room this fascinating documentary features behind-the-scenes encounters and dazzling performances from legendary names like Ralph Stanley John Hartford Alison Krauss. Emmylou Harris and other celebrated bluegrass and country music superstars in a once-in-a-lifetime concert event!System Requirements:Starring: The Cox Family Fairfield Four Emmylou Harris John Hartford Chris Thomas King Alison Krauss David Rawlings & Gillian Welch Ralph Stanley and The Whites. Directed By: Nick Doob Chris Hegedus and D A Pennebaker. Running Time: 98 Min. Color. This film is presented in "Widescreen" format. Copyright 2001 Artisan Entertainment.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DOCUMENTARIES/MISC. Rating:  UPC: 012236123248 Manufacturer No: 12324

Patty Griffin: Live From the Artists Den

A Prairie Home Companion With Garrison Keillor (30th Anniversary Season Celebration)

The Best of Flatt and Scruggs TV Show, Vol. 1

Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs are two of the founding fathers of bluegrass music and their names are legendary to any fan of bluegrass. The "Best Of The Flatt and Scruggs TV Show" consists of live music performances with their group the Foggy Mountain Boys from a never before available TV show they did in their prime in the 1950s and early 1960s. These releases will be a major event in the bluegrass community and with bluegrass fans worldwide. System Requirements:Running Time: 60 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/SERIES & SEQUELS Rating: NR UPC: 016351061195 Manufacturer No: SHA-DV611

Gordon Lightfoot - Live in Reno

Live in Reno is a solid overview of an admirable career, even if this Gordon Lightfoot is not what he once was. The singer-songwriter, 61 when the 90-minute show was recorded in April 2000, looks gaunt, and his distinctive voice is on the frail side. Still, he has accumulated a remarkable catalog of material over the course of some four decades, and nearly all of the biggies are among the 22 songs performed here by Lightfoot and his four-piece band, from the early classics popularized by other artists ("For Lovin' Me," "Early Morning Rain") to his own best-known hits ("If You Could Read My Mind," "Sundown," "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald"). There are no theatrics or flashy production values, just a group of middle-aged men playing their music--and playing it well. So even if it's not especially exciting, fans will be satisfied. --Sam Graham

Steve Goodman - Live from Austin City Limits and More

John Prine - Live from Sessions at West 54th

John Prine's 2001 appearance on the PBS concert series Sessions at West 54th was easily one of that program's most exciting and satisfying offerings. In a rare instance of improving upon perfection, this DVD record of Prine's taping before a studio audience includes priceless material left out of the hourlong broadcast as well as the singer-songwriter's excellent supplementary interview with Sessions host John Hiatt. With only his spare, guitar-and-bass backup band, a bemused Prine quickly achieves glory revisiting three decades of eclectic material. From rockabilly satire ("Blow Up Your TV") to wintry folk ("All the Best") and compressed epics ("Lake Marie"), Prine underscores his reputation as a modernist master of storytelling. The show's centerpiece is a remarkable five-song duet with the great Iris DeMent, including a hilarious yet poignant tune ("In Spite of Ourselves") Prine wrote for an unreleased Billy Bob Thornton film. The show ends with the crystalline "Hello in There," a beautiful portrait of time and destiny. --Tom Keogh

Song list:

1. Blow Up Your TV
2. Six O'Clock News
3. Souvenirs
4. Far from Me
5. All the Best
6. Milwaukee Here I Come (with Iris DeMent)
7. (We're Not) The Jet Set (with Iris DeMent)
8. Let's Invite Them Over Again (with Iris DeMent)
9. When Two Worlds Collide (with Iris DeMent)
10. In Spite of Ourselves (with Iris DeMent)
11. Sam Stone
12. Lake Marie
13. Hello in There

Beowulf

One of Europe s greatest epics the story of King Hrothgar the monster Grendel and the hero Beowulf has been passed down in written form for hundreds of generations. In this remarkable oneman tour de force Benjamin Bagby (co-founder and director of the Sequentia ensemble for medieval music) accompanying himself on an Anglo-Saxon harp delivers this gripping tale in the original Old English as it could havebeen experienced more than a thousand years ago.BONUS FEATURES: Interview with Benjamin Bagby Discussion with Beowulf scholars John Miles Foley Thomas Cable and Mark AmodioSystem Requirements:Running Time: 98 minutes plus 34 minutes bonusFormat: DVD AUDIO Genre: MISCELLANEOUS/SPECIAL INTEREST UPC: 741952644590 Manufacturer No: KOCDV6445

Peter, Paul and Mary - Carry It On - A Musical Legacy

The importance of being earnest is vividly illustrated in Carry It On, which chronicles the enduring work of folksingers Peter Yarrow, Noel Paul Stookey, and Mary Travers, who at the time of this comprehensive, 80-minute documentary had already marked their 40th anniversary as a trio. There are nearly three dozen tunes (or parts of tunes) here, ranging from "Lemon Tree" in 1962 to several new performances from '03. And while their earlier music now sounds somewhat tame, even quaint (or, in the case of "Puff the Magic Dragon," cringe-inducing), at the time, Peter, Paul and Mary's pro-civil rights, anti-Vietnam War stances were considered rather radical, helping pave the way for Bob Dylan (whose "Blowin' in the Wind" they performed at the same '63 rally in Washington, D.C. where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his "I have a dream" speech) and the evolution of pop music's social conscience. These days, they've found a niche performing for kids and making programs for PBS (it's the perfect match). And while they may have lost their hair and their figures, Peter, Paul and Mary remain as committed as ever to making music that provokes, inspires, and entertains. Carry It On indeed. --Sam Graham

First-ever DVD from this award-winning group features vintage concert clips including "The Times They Are a Changin," "Blowin in the Wind," and "Puff the Magic Dragon." Traces the early days of the folk movement through archival and current interview footage and historical anecdotes. Supported by a March 2004 PBS pledge drive TV special. ?