1. Frank Beard, ZZ Top Drummer, Dies at 77
Frank Beard, the drummer whose Texas shuffle anchored ZZ Top for more than five decades, died at his ranch in Richmond, Texas, while receiving hospice care.
Beard performed on every ZZ Top studio album and helped the blues-rooted Texas trio sell more than 50 million records. Billy Gibbons said the band intends to continue performing in line with Beard's wishes.
Source: Associated Press
2. Indigenous Musicians Organize Canadian Forest Fire Benefit
Twenty-five Indigenous musicians will perform at the Mikinakoos Forest Fire Relief Show in Toronto on August 29.
Jeremy Dutcher, Aysanabee, Julian Taylor, Logan Staats, Mimi O'Bonsawin and Adrian Sutherland are among the artists raising funds for the Mikinakoos Children's Fund. The fund supports First Nations children in northern Ontario communities affected by wildfire evacuations.
Source: Roots Music Canada
3. Community Support Rescues Newfoundland and Labrador Folk Festival
Two months after its future appeared uncertain, the Newfoundland and Labrador Folk Festival staged a free 49 and a half edition with support from the provincial government, the City of St. John's and the local community.
More than 2,500 people attended the event and contributed more than 17,000 dollars in donations. The support gives organizers a foundation from which to rebuild toward the festival's fiftieth edition in 2027.
Source: Roots Music Canada
4. Traditional Music Takes Over Five Dublin Neighborhoods
The Dublin City Fleadh returned on August 22 and 23 as a free traditional music celebration spread across Smithfield Square, Meeting House Square, Wolfe Tone Square, Parliament Street and Capel Street.
Altan, Dervish, the Sharon Shannon Big Band, Andy Irvine, Kila and The Scratch led a programme of concerts, ceilis, piping, harp recitals, workshops and informal street sessions.
Source: Dublin City Council
5. Irish Harpmaking Presented as a Living Heritage Craft
Harps for Heritage: Macalla na Mara brought musicians and instrument makers together at Muckross Traditional Farms in County Kerry.
The programme included performances by Lisa Lambe, Cormac De Barra, Deirdre Granville and Aoife Granville. Master harpmaker Tim O'Carroll also demonstrated the woodworking techniques behind handcrafted Irish harps and discussed efforts to protect and continue the tradition.
Source: National Heritage Week
6. The Long Road Prepares Major Americana Lineup
The Long Road Festival announced a transatlantic lineup for its August 27 to 30 event at Stanford Hall in Leicestershire.
Emmylou Harris, Maren Morris and Steve Earle headline a programme that combines prominent American and Canadian artists with British roots performers. The festival continues to establish itself as an important European gathering point for country, folk and Americana music.
Source: Americana UK
7. Kate Miller-Heidke Explores Australian Gothic Folk
Kate Miller-Heidke released her sixth studio album, The Kiss and the Abyss, combining gothic folk, baroque pop and medieval imagery.
The Australian awarded the album four and a half stars and described it as potentially her strongest work. The review highlighted its theatrical arrangements, existential anxiety and dark humour.
Source: The Australian
8. Brandon Flowers Leaves Las Vegas for Nashville
Brandon Flowers released Thrasher, his first solo album in eleven years and his most direct engagement with country and Western music.
Recorded at Nashville's RCA Studio A, the album features collaboration with David Rawlings, pedal steel guitarist Bruce Bouton and harmonica player Charlie McCoy. The record draws on Flowers' small town Utah upbringing and the Waylon Jennings and Johnny Cash albums favoured by his father.
Source: NME
9. Keb' Mo' Turns Personal Upheaval Into The Breakdown
Keb' Mo' released the ten song album The Breakdown, recorded at his home studio outside Nashville after open heart surgery and the end of his long marriage.
The record channels those experiences through his established blend of acoustic blues, Americana and conversational songwriting. Its central themes are recovery, endurance and moving forward.
Source: WBGO
10. Grace Potter Returns With Trespasser
Grace Potter released her seventh studio album, Trespasser, through Thirty Tigers. The release was accompanied by a video for Mainstreet U.S.A.
The lead single, Love Me Not, had reached the Americana radio top five by the album's release date. Potter also confirmed the September return of her Grand Point North festival in Burlington, Vermont.
Source: Official release announcement
11. Ian Munsick Builds a Modern Western Mythology
Ian Munsick's fourth album, The Mountain Goat, uses Wyoming landscapes, horses, family stories and cowboy identity as central themes rather than decorative country music imagery.
The album is grounded in traditional fiddle, banjo, pedal steel and acoustic instrumentation, while also incorporating psychedelic textures, flamenco influences and contemporary production. It presents the American West as a living cultural environment rather than a nostalgic costume.
Source: Entertainment Focus
12. Ken Pomeroy Records the Songs That Formed Her Musical Identity
Cherokee singer-songwriter Ken Pomeroy released Tonight's News, a six song collection recorded live in one day at Wilco's Chicago studio, the Loft.
The musicians recorded together in a circle without overdubs. Pomeroy reinterprets songs that shaped her musical identity, including Gillian Welch's Look at Miss Ohio, Woody Guthrie's Deportee and John Denver's This Old Guitar.
Source: Rounder Records
13. Mike Bern Examines Inherited Trauma Through Wolastoqey Songwriting
Tobique First Nation singer-songwriter Mike Bern released The Belt, a song written from the perspective of a child trying to understand a father changed by war.
Produced by Mathieu LeGuerrier, the song explores discipline, silence and intergenerational pain. It avoids reducing the father to a simple villain or hero, instead treating the subject with emotional complexity.
Source: Roots Music Canada
14. Warren Haynes Gives Southern Rock and Jam Music an Orchestral Frame
Warren Haynes will release Dreams and Songs: A Symphonic Journey on September 18. The album documents his 2019 performance with the 64 piece Asheville Symphony Orchestra.
The programme reimagines music associated with Gov't Mule, the Allman Brothers Band and the Grateful Dead. Songs include Whipping Post, Shakedown Street and Terrapin Station. Don Was served as co-producer.
Source: American Blues Scene
15. Steep Canyon Rangers Return to Hard Driving Bluegrass
Steep Canyon Rangers released Babylon Stone from their current album, Next Act.
Written by banjoist Graham Sharp, the arrangement rotates lead vocals between Aaron Burdett and Barrett Smith. It uses tempo shifts, key changes, banjo, fiddle, mandolin and resonator guitar to foreground the band's traditional bluegrass strengths.
Source: Bluegrass Today