***Unfortunately the link provided within the body of the article doesn't work. Hopefully the folks at Rolling Stone.com will fix that soon. From RollingStone.com: Jason Bonham recently talked to Rolling Stone’s David Fricke to discuss how he prepared for the Led Zeppelin reunion show and how he’s dealt with the legacy of his legendary father John.

Hello friends, We have some very unfortunate news to report. Neko had a really bad fall in Washington DC, which resulted in a fractured ankle, and will be leaving our tour today. She was really trying to be a trooper and stayed on as long as was possible through Richmond and Athens, but it has gotten to the point where she must return home and have her ankle taken care of and to recuperate. She's very upset about having to leave, it's been super fun having her on stage and around the bus. We hope that you understand Nashville, St. Louis, Chicago, Madison, and Cleveland. The rest of us will just have to play that much harder to put on the best show possible. Aside from Neko's fall, this has been a SUPER great tour for us, and thank you thank you thank you for everyone who has come out so far and bought tickets for the remaining shows. best TNP TOUR DATES: Apr 18: Nashville, TN @ The Cannery * Apr 19: St. Louis, MO @ The Pageant SOLD OUT Apr 20: Chicago, IL @ Riviera SOLD OUT Apr 21: Madison, WI @ Orpheum * Apr 22: Cleveland, OH @ Beachland Ballroom * SOLD OUT May 24: Gorge, WA @ Sasquatch Music Festival May 25: Chillicothe, IL @ Summer Camp Festival June 21: Minneapolis, MN @ Walker Arts Center w/ Andrew Bird June 22: Calgary, AB @ V Fest July 18: Bennicassim Spain @ Festival Internacional de Benicàssim Aug 07: Northampton, MA @ Calvin Theater w/Grizzly Bear Aug 08: Jersey City, NJ @ Liberty State Park

Panic in the Streets Honoring the 10th anniversary of Athens' Infamously Massive Spreadhead Invasion Jeff Montgomery The 1998 Panic in the Streets crowd fills West Washington Street and beyond. Hearing that the city of Athens has a vibrant and integral music scene is not the same as seeing it, hearing it and being overwhelmed by it. That’s what happened to me on Saturday, April 18, 1998. I was 18 years old and in my first year at the University of Georgia. Having lived in town for only about half a year, I had not yet navigated downtown Athens and its art and live music scene which was known to me more by reputation than through experience. I’d been to a few shows once I’d turned 18, sure, and had spent several nights trying to convince dorm friends to go to the Morton for the fledgling film festival I’d read about in a strange and scrappy paper called Flagpole that I’d found discarded on campus, but for the most part if something was going on somewhere, like many students I had no idea how accessible it was. Widespread Panic collapsed those misconceptions on that Saturday with what came to be known as Panic in the Streets, a record-shattering outdoor concert held in celebration of the release of the band’s first official live album Light Fuse Get Away. You can read the rest of the article here.

From the Rocky Mount, NC Telegram: E Street Band’s Danny Federici — Rest In Peace By Jeff Herrin My wife and I scored tickets in 2001 to one of Bruce Springsteen’s famed Holiday Shows at the Asbury Park Convention Hall in Asbury Park, N.J.. At the last minute, I noticed on a Web site somewhere that Danny Federici (longtime organist and keyboard player for the E Street Band) was going to be at Jack’s Music Shoppe in Red Bank on the afternoon of the show to sign records and CDs. We drove like mad to get to Jack’s in time, figuring that even if we had to stand in line for an hour or so, it would be worth it. Amazingly, there might have been three people in the entire store when we got there. Danny stood smiling behind a counter and thanked me when I bought a copy of his new solo jazz album, then asked him to sign it. I couldn’t believe we were the only people in the store with him. He talked to us for a good 15-20 minutes … as if he had all the time in the world for two complete strangers from North Carolina. I asked him about rumors of a new Springsteen album (the first with the E Streeters in almost 15 years), and he told me Bruce and the band had been recording some stuff just before 9/11. After that, he said, everything had changed … schedules, flights and most of all … the subject matter of Bruce’s music. It was the first time I heard any kind of hint about what was to become “The Rising” — Springsteen’s 2002 album that deals in large part with the 9/11 tragedies. Danny asked Susan and me how long we had been married, then kidded about some of the … um … less-than-lifelong relationships he had been in. He joked about a lot of things, actually. And even though Susan and I were pinching ourselves to be talking to someone who had been a key part of the E Street Band since its inception, he acted like he was the one honored by our company. Danny died of melanoma Thursday. You meet so many jerks day in, day out. But on that afternoon, in December 2001, Danny Federici was the nicest guy in the world. We had driven from North Carolina to Red Bank, N.J., to meet a guy whose talent we’d long admired. We left feeling like we’d been in the house of a friend. God bless him. Some of the greatest music this life has ever offered will never sound the same again.

Thought this article might be some interest to Ryan fans here since Brad used to play in Whiskeytown and some of Ryan's solo bands. As you'll also see from the article he was also pretty much a fixture on the Triangle (Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill) music scene for many years. From the Raleigh, NC News & Observer: He's a long way from the Brewery Ace guitarist Brad Rice, who has played with many Triangle bands, will perform in Keith Urban's show. BY DAVID MENCONI, Staff Writer Whenever you hear someone drop the phrase "living the dream," there's almost always a sarcastic undercurrent. But for old Raleigh hand Brad Rice, it applies with no undercurrents whatsoever. An ace guitarist and longtime sideman, Rice will be back in his former hometown Saturday night, playing in country superstar Keith Urban's band. Rice is part of a huge stage production that will play the RBC Center as part of Urban's co-headlining tour with Carrie Underwood. "There are around 70 people in this entourage," Rice says, calling from home in Austin, Texas. "There's the band, tour manager, backline people, video people for this 40-by-60-foot HD screen. There's 11 buses and 14 tractor-trailers. We took this picture of everyone and everything at the end of last year, and it's just crazy." If Rice is living large nowadays, few people deserve it more. The last time he played in Raleigh was a bit more than two years ago at Disco Rodeo, playing both halves of a twin bill -- opening with Tift Merritt, then closing with Son Volt. Before that, he played with a long list of Triangle bands including Backsliders, Finger, Ryan Adams and Whiskeytown. There were some pretty flush times, especially playing "Saturday Night Live" and opening for the Rolling Stones with Adams. But for most of Rice's career, he has logged a lot more miles than money. Playing with Urban has put him in a whole other league, on stages including Al Gore's "Live Earth" concert, the CMA Awards and "The Today Show." "I'll do these TV gigs, and friends from way back when will send text messages," Rice says. " 'Man, this is a long way from the concrete floor beer joints.' Yeah, it's a long way from the Brewery. But it's all important. "The good thing about this band is that all these guys have been in the van. Nobody takes anything for granted. We're all lucky to be able to do this for a living. And the pay is like a real job. "I've never been in a better situation. If you can't have fun with this, there's something wrong with you." Along with his abilities, Rice has personal connections to thank for his gig with Urban. A friend recommended him to Urban's musical director, which led to a series of auditions. He didn't clinch the job until he aced a one-song performance with Urban on television in Germany. Urban's tour has since taken Rice back to Europe, as well as Urban's native Australia. About the only downside is that Rice hasn't had much time to work on his own songwriting, which he hopes to get back to this summer. By then, Urban will just be playing stadium shows a few weekends a month with Kenny Chesney. That will give Rice time to get reacquainted with his house, wife and life off the road. "I'm also looking forward to being back in Raleigh," he says. "This will be the first time I've ever been inside the RBC Center. "It's been a fun year. My dad came out to see us play in Greenville, S.C., so it was fun to take him around. He'd come out when I was 18 playing in little bars, and now I'm up to arenas. "This is good."

From The L.A. Times: Chris Gaffney, 57; witty songwriter, Southern California bar musician Chris Gaffney By Mike Boehm, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer Chris Gaffney, a roots-music omnivore whose earthy aplomb and offhand mastery of many styles made him a quintessential Southern California bar musician -- but who also earned international regard for his heartfelt and witty songwriting -- has died. He was 57. Gaffney had been getting treatment for liver cancer that was diagnosed in February. His brother Greg said he died Thursday morning at Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian in Newport Beach, where family members rushed him after a fall in his Costa Mesa home. Gaffney toured extensively over the last nine years as a member of Dave Alvin's backing band, the Guilty Men, playing accordion and guitar and adding vocals, and as lead singer of the Hacienda Brothers, in which he teamed with veteran San Diego guitarist Dave Gonzalez. But Gaffney had been a presence on the regional bar scene since the 1970s, playing multiple sets each night in small clubs such as the Upbeat in Garden Grove and the Swallows Inn in San Juan Capistrano. It was a hard-won musician's existence that he and Alvin captured in their easygoing honky-tonk number "Six Nights a Week." "One of the things that may have hindered him commercially was that he couldn't turn it on; he was a hundred percent honest," recalled Alvin, who considered Gaffney his best friend. "If Chris is in a good mood, you get an amazing show; if he was in a bad mood, he wouldn't hide it." As a songwriter, Gaffney was a peer of Alvin, Los Lobos, X and the Red Hot Chili Peppers in chronicling the life of Southern California. In "Artesia," from the 1990 "Chris Gaffney and the Cold Hard Facts" album, he evoked memories of his teenage years cruising through the San Gabriel Valley -- remembrances stirred by the scent of cow manure carried on the wind from inland dairy farms. "The Gardens," from the same album, and later recorded by Freddy Fender with the Texas Tornados, was an aching assessment of the void that gang violence leaves in a community's heart -- in this case, Hawaiian Gardens. But many Gaffney songs reflect the dry, sometimes absurdist, sense of humor that stayed with him in his day-to-day life: "They made a mistake and they called it me," he sang in one jaunty tune; in another lyrical self-description he pegs himself as "a dancing cretin with faraway eyes." Gaffney sang in a tuneful yet conversational voice that was both sandpapery and sweet. He had no pretentiousness about his music. In a 1992 Times interview, he described taking part in a songwriters panel at a folk festival: "The kids were asking, 'How do you write songs?' I said, 'I'm sitting in front of the TV, having a beer, and something comes to my mind, and I go 'what the hell' and write it down." Born in 1950 in Vienna, Austria, he grew up mainly in Cypress, the son of a telephone company executive. Tall and solidly built, Gaffney excelled at track and cross country at Western High School in Anaheim and took his licks as a Golden Gloves boxer. "I always ascribed his cockeyed view of the world to being beat around the head a few too many times," Alvin said. As he built a critically acclaimed recorded repertoire during the 1990s with three studio albums, including "Mi Vida Loca" and "Loser's Paradise" for Hightone Records, Gaffney was unable to capitalize on it with touring -- tied instead to his bar hero regimen on top of days spent scraping hulls at a Newport Beach boatyard. Gaffney accepted the bar-musician's lot with equanimity: "I was a working guy before becoming an unheralded roots-music recording eminence, and I continue to do that. If they don't want to put out an album, I'll go and do my day job," he told The Times in 1999. What sustained him, he said, was "the music, and I love the people. You surround yourself with good friends, and you're good to go." Starting in 1999, though, Gaffney got to live the life of a musical road warrior, with Alvin and then the Hacienda Brothers, touring extensively through the United States and Europe. Alvin said he soon learned not to give Gaffney a weekly advance on his meal money: "He'd give it to some homeless guy or a guy standing at a rest stop begging for change." With the Hacienda Brothers, who blended classic country and rhythm and blues styles, Gaffney recorded two studio albums and a live release. In December, he and Alvin recorded the song "Two Lucky Bums," a mellow duet to friendship: Let's make a toast to the times we've had The good, the crazy, the rough and the bad. We've survived every one, a couple of losers who won, And when it's all said and done, we're two lucky bums. "He might have gone out early, but he did everything he wanted to do," said Greg Gaffney, who played bass beside his brother through many of the bar years. "He loved being on the road, happy in a van with a bunch of buffoons." In addition to his brother Greg of Costa Mesa, survivors include his wife, Julie, of Costa Mesa; daughter Erika of Houston; sister Helen of Oakland; and brother Robert of Vancouver, Canada. Services are pending. ------------------------------------ From NoDepression.net: Chris Gaffney, RIP Liver cancer claimed vocalist, guitarist and accordion player Chris Gaffney the morning of April 17 at an Orange County, California hospital. Gaffney and Dave Gonzalez (best known from his long stint with the Paladins) led the Hacienda Brothers through three well-regarded albums: a self-titled debut (2005, on Koch, produced by Dan Penn), What's Wrong With Right (2006, on Proper American), and 2007's self-released Music For Ranch And Town. Gaffney also led the Cold Hard Facts, and was among Dave Alvin's Guilty Men. His fourth solo album, 1995's Loser's Paradise (HighTone), included contributions from Lucinda Williams (he had played accordion on her self-titled album) and Jim Lauderdale. His last solo outing, Live & Then Some, was released in 1999 by Tres Pescadores. His credits include appearances on albums by Rick Shea, Christy McWilson, Amy Farris, James Cotton, Billy Bacon & the Forbidden Pigs, Bill Kirchen, and Tom Russell. A series of benefits has been ongoing to defray his medical expenses.

Cool to see someone around here besides Swede and myself that's even heard of them. Far too many write the 80s off when all they're aware of from that time period is the synth-heavy New Wave bands that were popularized by MTV. There were also many artists back then that were heavily influenced by American roots music such at the Long Ryders, Lone Justice, Los Lobos, The Radiators, the Blasters, X, Del Fuegos, Rank n' File and many, many more. And that's without even mentioning such other outstanding 80s artists as U2, R.E.M., the Cure, the Replacements, the Alarm, etc.

By all means get it. Even though it was mostly favorable I wouldn't let that review deter you one little bit. I greatly admire No Depression magazine and will miss it dearly (the last issue arrived in my mailbox yesterday) but they have a way of frowning upon "Southern Rock" and some other very deserving pioneers of the alt.country genre (or "subgenre") such as the Grateful Dead and their off-shoot country band The New Riders of the Purple Sage who were just as important as Gram Parsons to the development of "country rock" (as it was called then) during it's formative years. I can also attest to the greatness of the reissue myself. Yes, the original recording of Street Survivors may only be a curio at best and the quality of the live tracks may leave a lot to be desired but at least they put them out there. Some of the arrangements of a few of the Street Survivors songs are a bit different and the live versions of some of those songs are hard to come by so that's worth the investment right there, not to mention the improved sound quality of the finished album itself. What I don't like is how they keep putting previously unreleased songs on Skynyrd compilations just to get you to buy the same shit most of us already have just for those one or two songs we may not own. In a new low, they're even using the same tactic on the upcoming new Skynryd album by including the previously unreleased Cottonmouth Country just to get folks to buy it. I'd much rather they gathered all of those songs up and put them on one album or a new box set, not making them available scattershot across a bunch of compilation albums. In case you missed it, here's a thread with some more info on the new record: Vintage Tune May Grace New Skynyrd Album

I'm honestly not trying to be a smartass but if you knew he was touring how come you said, "I hope he tours, I'm dying to see him"? Again, I'm not trying to me short with you but have you read any of the posts in this thread thus far or ever bother to click on the links to the previous threads I posted?

I haven't seen Widespread in recent years but still, I agree. No offense to Jack Johnson fans but from what I saw of his set at ACL Fest a few years back I'd need an endless supply of No Doz just to make it through one of his shows.

Traffic played at Woodstock '94 during their reunion tour but things had gotten so muddy by that point I simply wasn't up to traveling from my camping spot over to the main stage to hear them (or Dylan or the Allman Brothers) but I could hear them all pretty good from where I was at.

He is touring, with Tom Petty. You can find the dates along with more info on the tour and Winwood's new record in these threads: Tom Petty/Steve Winwood Tourdates Winwood 'Lives' Again On Columbia

From NoDepression.net: LYNYRD SKYNYRD Street Survivors (Deluxe Edition) (Geffen) by GRANT ALDEN (NODEPRESSION.NET) -- But for the passionate arguments of Patterson Hood, Lynyrd Skynyrd would probably be remembered here only as the music blaring from the bondo camaros the rough smoking guys stood around with their high school girls, who probably did put out. Or as the flames LP, recalled and redesigned after the plane went down, a lower case butcher album on the collector market. Or, and this is the most inexact fate, for its principal single: "What's Your Name," a cavalier -- wonderful word, that, for both meanings fit: its archaic sense as a gentleman, and its present connotation of disrespect -- ode to the rock star life of the 1970s. It is the kind of song which would have kept me from listening to the band, much less the album, for that kind of hedonism has always seemed both below and beyond me. And yet. And yet it is a finely drawn, carefully rendered song, or so it plays today. (So it played then, but I couldn't hear it, too much a fan of Peter Green and Keith Emerson.) Effortless in its simplicity, and deceptive for all that. It's a nasty guitar riff, a nasty, predatory song. And it's not. In 1977 that opening line about a limo driver smelled of debauchery, but now it seems quite self-evident that musicians should not drive themselves around strange towns, particularly when they're achieved a certain iconic status. And "little girl"; man, that plays differently now than I think it was meant when written. "I've done made some plans" and "I've found a little queen/and I know I can treat her right" roots the singer's class, there's been a fight in the hotel bar, and yet the closing line for the one night stand is this: "shouldn't you stay/little girl/though there ain't no shame." Shame. In the end, of course, the singer offers cab fare home, same time next year. A gentleman, despite himself. In addition to himself. The temptation, then, is to let that song frame Street Survivors as an album celebrating the wretched excess of '70s rockstardom, only this simple eight-song LP is far more complex than that. Remember that it was built during the era of rock operas and concept albums, and remember that albums were conceived of as comprehensive statements, as suites. That sequencing was important. Except the second track is "That Smell," Ronnie Van Zant's voyage through the same territory Neil Young explored with "The Needle And The Damage Done," with more preaching and less fury, if that makes any sense. The juxtaposition here cannot have been accidental. And, in passing, I wonder if some of the street jargon -- "'ludes", in particular -- is as impenetrable to most of today's listeners as Billy Joe Shaver's dominecker hen was until I realized it was a specific kind of barnyard animal, and nothing less...nor more). Point being, the balance of the album seems like a meditation on the singer's transition from roving hotel cavalier to family man ("One More Time," "I Never Dreamed," etc.). The second side, of course, opens with "You Got That Right," another one of those feral, fighting songs for which the band was justly famous. But it closes with "Ain't No Good Life," which almost certainly has to be a nod to Willie Nelson's "Night Life," doesn't it? Only it feels more like Haggard: "I want to know/Tell me why is it so?/Well, just 'cause I don't pray/Lord that don't mean I ain't forgiven/Just because I'm alive/that don't mean I'm making a living." (There's a song begging to be recast as southern gospel, should, say, Mike Farris happen by needing material.) And on those terms, as a self-conceived work of art, not simply as an ode to the sybaritic excesses of the road, this is one hell of an album. And, of course, it rocks. This deluxe edition reissue appends the original eight tracks with a second disc, which you will listen to once. It includes the first version of the album, produced by the legendary Tom Dowd, known (apparently) as the Criteria Studios Album. The same eight songs, only they sound as if they were played by a really competent cover band who had learned them note by note from careful tablature. Dowd has a great reputation, though I confess to not really knowing his work. This, too, is a fascinating reminder (Car Wheels On A Gravel Road is another) that musicians aren't simply being petulant artists when they reject all that work because it comes off wrong. Somehow Dowd neutered a band, neutered these songs. It's bizarre to listen to, but no fun at all. And then there are five live tracks from August, 1977, just before the crash. But the sound quality's not much, and I can't make it through them. So you're on your own there. Some of us will always wonder what Jimi Hendrix might have become had he struck up a working relationship with Miles Davis. What Buddy Holly might have made of Sgt. Peppers and Phil Spector, or whether he'd have gotten their first, somehow. (But not, somehow, what Kurdt Cobain might have come up with; he wasn't going to pull through, not that burning ember, though I wasn't clever enough to see that.) I don't often put Ronnie Van Zant and Skynyrd in that same dream world, the one in which he steals Brian Henneman from the Bottle Rockets about 1998 and...oh, that's just silly. And this is a serious album, conflicted, complex, and a whole lot of fun. And sad, for there was no next year.

Unless you're a fan of Emmylou Harris, alternative country and/or have seen the CMT Crossroads special with Plant/Krauss you probably haven't heard of Buddy Miller. In any event, he was named No Depression magazine's Artist of the Decade and is featured in the final issue which should be hitting newsstands any day now. In the interview he relates how he met Plant at an Emmylou show and how he came to play in Plant & Krauss' backing band. The interview is a must for any fan of the new record that wishes to learn more about this wonderful musician.

A R.E.M. fan has uploaded a shit ton of rare performance footage including a long sought after show from The Pier in Raleigh, NC from 1982, promo clips, etc. to YouTube. You can check it out here.

Not to be rude (so please don't take it that way) but the whole idea of "The YouTube Thread" is to post music clips from YouTube.

From CNN.com: E Street Band's Danny Federici dies NEW YORK (AP) -- Danny Federici, the longtime keyboard player for Bruce Springsteen whose stylish work helped define the E Street Band's sound on hits from "Hungry Heart" through "The Rising," died Thursday. He was 58. Federici, who battled melanoma for three years, died at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York. News of his death was posted late Thursday on Springsteen's official Web site. According to published reports, Federici last performed with Springsteen and the band March 20, appearing during portions of a show in Indianapolis, Indiana. Springsteen concerts scheduled for Friday in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and Saturday in Orlando, Florida, were postponed after news of Federici's death. He was born in Flemington, New Jersey, a long car ride from the Jersey shore haunts where he first met kindred musical spirit Springsteen in the late 1960s. The pair often jammed at the Upstage Club in Asbury Park, New Jersey, a now-defunct after-hours club that hosted the best musicians in the state. It was Federici, along with original E Street Band drummer Vini Lopez, who first invited Springsteen to join their band. By 1969, the self-effacing Federici -- often introduced in concert by Springsteen as "Phantom Dan" -- was playing with the Boss in a band called Child. Over the years, Federici joined his friend in acclaimed shore bands Steel Mill, Dr. Zoom and the Sonic Boom and the Bruce Springsteen Band. Federici became a stalwart in the E Street Band as Springsteen rocketed from the boardwalk to international stardom. Springsteen split from the E Streeters in the late '80s, but they reunited for a hugely successful tour in 1999. "Bruce has been supportive throughout my life," Federici said in a recent interview with Backstreets magazine. "I've had my ups and downs, and I've certainly given him a run for his money, and he's always been there for me." Federici played accordion on the wistful "4th Of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)" from Springsteen's second album, and his organ solo was a highlight of Springsteen's first top 10 hit, "Hungry Heart." His organ coda on the 9/11-inspired Springsteen song "You're Missing" provided one of the more heart-wrenching moments on "The Rising" in 2002. In a band with larger-than-life characters such as saxophonist Clarence Clemons and bandana-wrapped guitarist "Little" Steven Van Zandt, Federici was content to play in his familiar position to the side of the stage. But his playing was as vital to Springsteen's live show as any instrument in the band. Federici released a pair of solo albums that veered from the E Street sound and into soft jazz. Bandmates Nils Lofgren on guitar and Garry Tallent on bass joined Federici on his 1997 debut, "Flemington." In 2005, Federici released its follow-up, "Out of a Dream." Federici took a leave of absence during the band's tour in November 2007 to pursue treatment for melanoma, and was temporarily replaced by veteran musician Charles Giordano. At the time, Springsteen described Federici as "one of the pillars of our sound and has played beside me as a great friend for more than 40 years. We all eagerly await his healthy and speedy return." Besides his work with Springsteen, Federici played on albums by an impressive roster of other artists: Van Zandt, Joan Armatrading, Graham Parker, Gary U.S. Bonds and Garland Jeffreys.

From The Boston Globe: New folks at Newport rock festival's traditions Jug bands, fiddlers left out of '08 lineup By Joan Anderman Globe Staff In 1965, Bob Dylan turned the folk world on its ear when he plugged in an electric guitar at the Newport Folk Festival. In 2008, things are going to get a whole lot louder. Under new management and with a young producer at the helm, the venerable Newport Folk Festival is stepping out of the past and into the rock 'n' roll mainstream. Gone are the jug bands, Cape Breton fiddlers, and bluegrass patriarch Ralph Stanley. This year's lineup features good-time tunesmith Jimmy Buffett, swaggering rockers The Black Crowes, and indie-soul chanteuse Cat Power. "For me the theme was bridging the gap," says Jay Sweet, a 37-year-old editor at Paste, an indie-oriented music magazine. Sweet is coproducer of this year's event, which takes place Aug. 1-3 at Fort Adams State Park. "We're going to try to bring in more sizzle, in the artistic sense. We're creating a festival for musical omnivores." In the bargain, they're creating New England's first real rock festival, which Sweet hopes will someday rival the genre-spanning sprawl of Tennessee's Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival. "If we do it right and book it right, the kids will come," he says. Newport has long been known for pushing the boundaries of folk by booking unexpected artists, from '60s screamer Janis Joplin and punky troubadour Ani DiFranco to jazzy hitmaker Norah Jones and alt-rock heroes the Pixies, while presenting a vibrant blend of new and old-school styles. It's what is not on the roster for this year's event - straight, traditional folk music of any stripe - that signals a dramatic reinvention of the Newport Folk Festival. "I don't like the idea that it's just dissipating into another festival like so many others," says Joan Baez, who launched her career at the 1959 festival. "It seems that it's all about money and not much about holding onto something that's been pretty precious for a lot of years." In the past decade, attendance at the Newport Folk Festival, founded in 1959 by live-music impresario George Wein and managed until last year by Wein's Festival Productions, has averaged only half to two-thirds of the site's capacity of 10,000 concertgoers a day. With alt-country collective Calexico, reggae royalty Damian and Stephen Marley, My Morning Jacket howler Jim James, and second-generation folk-rocker Jakob Dylan on the bill, the event's new owners expect 2008 to sell out. (Tickets go on sale April 23.) "This year should mark a turning point in revitalizing Newport Folk," says Tom Shepard, chief executive officer of Festival Network, a San Francisco-based company that purchased Festival Productions last year. "In these economic times, when you can spend less in a day on an unforgettable experience for the entire family at Newport than you would going out on the golf course, I'd say we've developed a value proposition." But at what cost? "This signifies the death knell for traditionalists," says Betsy Siggins, executive director of Passim Center, the Harvard Square folk-music institution. "But I see a constant broadening at Passim of the music you can hear in a folk setting, and, personally, I think this is a strong concert. Would I love to see [85-year-old guitarist] Doc Watson and people I still think have great value? Yes. Do I hope they bring in more traditional music down the line? Yes. But it's a tough time for folk; they're looking for a home run the first time out of the gate, and I wouldn't miss it for anything." The graying of the core folk audience is sparking similar reinventions nationwide, as traditional festivals strategize ways to reach younger listeners. On Monday organizers of the Philadelphia Folk Festival, now in its 47th year, unveiled the lineup for this summer's event, which includes fringe singer-songwriter Kimya Dawson, psychedelic folk band Espers, and roots-rocker Steve Earle as well as heritage acts such as Tom Paxton and the Cajun dance band Beausoleil. The legacy artists at Newport are Levon Helm, longtime drummer for the influential rock outfit the Band, and Gillian Welch, an L.A.-bred musician who channels the sounds of Appalachia and is equally at home on bluegrass bills and cutting-edge rock stages. Welch doesn't believe the influx of contemporary music threatens the festival's legacy, but rather that the spirit of Newport will imbue the artists who play there. "I live in Nashville, and a lot of acts come through Ryman Auditorium who have nothing to do with old-time country music, but it's famous enough and has a deep enough tradition that it invariably affects the shows there," Welch says. "Performers are very aware of the legacy, and I can envision the legacy at Newport having the same effect. I know that Jimmy Buffett will have at least one folk song in his set because he just cut one of mine on his last album." Indeed, Buffett - whose "Margaritaville" is a staple at arenas and tailgate parties - is considering playing a stripped-down set with just two acoustic guitars at his Newport debut. "I threatened to do Newport before I was gone, and I seriously want to honor the heritage of the festival," Buffett says. "I came up as a folk singer. I've always loved the idea of being a balladeer. You know, I might do Gordon Lightfoot's 'Canadian Railroad Trilogy.' I am not going to do a Parrothead show." Even if he did, it wouldn't worry Bob Jones, the longtime producer of the Newport Folk Festival, who like several of his Festival Productions colleagues is now working at Festival Networks. "We've always stretched the limits, and there are always people saying, 'What are these people doing here?' " notes Jones, who acknowledges that this year's lineup is skewed heavily toward rock and pop. "Yes, it feels a little unbalanced. Next year, which is going to be the 50th anniversary, we'll see a wider range of traditional acts. But there are so many other festivals that cover that. We might have bluegrass, but it'll be out on the edge of bluegrass. And I think that will be more interesting to the young listeners we have," he says. "Or hope to have."

From Billboard.com: Jimmy Buffett Mitchell Peters, L.A. Jimmy Buffett, the Black Crowes, Cat Power and Jakob Dylan are among the artists performing at this year's Newport Folk Festival, to be held Aug. 1-3 at Fort Adams State Park in Newport, R.I. Other artists include the Avett Brothers, Levon Helm, Stephen and Damian Marley, Gillian Welch, Jim James of My Morning Jacket, She & Him, Calexico, Kaki King, Cowboy Junkies, Willy Mason, Over the Rhine, the Felice Brothers, Jake Shimabukuro, Kate Taylor, Richard Julian and Jesca Hoop, among others. The Newport Folk Festival is booked and produced by Festival Network, which also overseas such jazz/folk-themed festivals as JVC Jazz Festival Miami, Los Angeles' Playboy Jazz Festival and JVC Jazz Festival New York. "We're consolidating all of our brainpower and trying to come up with some of the most progressive and creative programming going forward, so all of our Festival Network events are sprinkled with new and exciting events that differentiate ourselves from other music festivals," Jason Olaine, VP of programming at Festival Network, tells Billboard.com. Tickets for the Newport Folk Festival go on sale April 23 via festivalnetwork.com. Ticket prices and package options are still being confirmed and will be announced in the coming days.

From Billboard.com Widespread Panic Subs For Allmans At Bonnaroo Widespread Panic Ray Waddell, Nashville Widespread Panic has been named as the closing main stage act of the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival, set for June 12-15 in Manchester, Tenn. The lineup was shuffled in the wake of a cancellation by the Allman Brothers Band due to health issues with founding member Gregg Allman. "We're thrilled that Widespread is joining the Bonnaroo lineup again this year," Ashley Capps, president of A.C. Entertainment, producer of Bonnaroo with Superfly Presents, tells Billboard.com. "It was very disappointing that the Allman Brothers had to cancel, but we feel lucky that Panic could step in. They've been at the heart and soul of Bonnaroo from its inception and their Bonnaroo sets never fail to be an extraordinary experience for the fans." Jack Johnson will now precede Pearl Jam on the main stage Saturday night, stepping into the slot vacated by the Allmans. Johnson, who had originally been scheduled to close the fest on Sunday, will perform beginning at sunset on Saturday, to be followed by Pearl Jam's closing main stage set. Bonnaroo also has added Les Claypool, Chali 2na of Jurassic 5, Superdrag, What Made Milwaukee Famous, Adele, Grand Ole Party and the Postelles to this year's festival lineup.

From her mailing list: Today (Thursday), Tift will be appearing on Morning Becomes Eclectic on KCRW radio, Santa Monica, California at 11:15am Pacific Time. The program can also be streamed on the world wide web at www.kcrw.com NEW VIDEO: When Mark Borthwick shot the wonderful photos for Tift's Another Country album, he brought along a video camera to the beach. Tift hijacked the tape, gave it to film editor Andrew Hafitz who turned it into a video for the song Keep You Happy. You can see it here: Keep You Happy

I heard a cut from this the other day on XM, sounded pretty damn good to me. Same for what I've heard of the new Van Morrison. And some say the old guys no longer have it. Looking forward to seeing Winwood with Tom Petty this summer except Petty should be opening for him not the other way around. Can't say I'm much of a Petty fan but it should be worth it for the Winwood factor.

It's cool, I was just referring to your misspelling of "sombersault". I'm pretty sure it's "somersault" so you were just one letter off.