Schmidt's poetic and melodic gifts have earned him glowing comparisons to Dylan and Leonard Cohen, his keen sense of humor has been measured against Prine and Steve Goodman and his haunting songcraft, as well as his roots, have aligned him with Townes Van Zandt.   

Billy Bragg has been proffering his brand of topical Folk Rock for more than 30 years now. Curiously, Bragg’s first album in five years, Tooth & Nail, is a wistful, less politically inclined affair anchored by the tasteful production work of Joe Henry.   

Everything Akron/Family does is patently fascinating, wildly evocative and compellingly mysterious. The Brooklyn, N.Y., collective assembled more than a decade ago and quickly became a central element of the Williamsburg scene.   

If there is a buzz on the concert circuit this spring, part of it centers on the shows currently being performed by Richard Thompson. The London, U.K.-born musician is a legend in many eyes, with Rolling Stone magazine listing Thompson as one of the “Top 20 Guitarists of All Time.”  

Need some Christmas woe in your springtime? If so, catch up with Home, the third (as far as we can tell) record by the Los Angeles-based Jeremiah Sammartano and his Delta Blues/Folk/Alt-Country outfit The Red Eyes.  

Trixie Whitley was destined for a creative life. She's the daughter of acclaimed Blues/Folk singer/songwriter Chris Whitley and his Belgian wife Helene Gavaert, whose Gypsy lineage brims with painters, sculptors and musicians.    

Robert Earl Keen has always straddled the line between Americana and Country Blues music. But, more than anything else, he is a singer/songwriter who has the ability to weave sonic tales that are vivid, interesting and fun.  

At age 14, Sean Scolnick started writing his first songs, penning Nirvana-inspired missives about authority, school and “stuff that a lot of 14-year-old kids probably write about.” Now in his early 30s, Scolnick doesn't employ those subjects as inspiration anymore. Listening to his story-heavy goulash of Folk and AltCountry reveals nary any traces of Cobain and Co. at all.   

Brooklyn, N.Y.’s Swear and Shake coalesced just a couple of years ago, but from the sound of its debut full-length Maple Ridge, you’d swear (and shake) that this electric Folk marvel has been percolating over the course of a decade or more with a half dozen previous releases under their belts.   

While Arlo Guthrie has blazed his own legendary path in music, he will forever be known as the son of iconic songwriter and singer Woody Guthrie. Friday, Arlo will celebrate his father’s historic life with a show at the David Finkelman Auditorium.