Fourteenth in a series of posts about protest music for the current crisis. The Bogmen in the nineties. Unless you're from Metropolitan New York, you probably haven't heard of the Bogmen. The band was a phenom in The City in the nineties, but their albums got caught in the meat grinder of label uncertainty about what to do with music that didn't fit neatly into any category. Tour with Kiss? Not a great idea. Tour with the Bare Naked Ladies, or Rusted Root? Neither was a g

Dick Gaughan when he was still performing. Thirteenth in a series of posts about protest music for the current crisis. The irony is undeniable. The Celtic Music record label in Britain, at one point, championed the release of music which deserved, but had previously not found an audience. Now the label is being legally challenged by Dick Gaughan , renowned Scottish singer and songwriter, to reclaim rights to albums of his music once released on the label. These days, Celti

The Yeats Society, Sligo, Ireland. My back was to the Yeats Society Building when I heard the chanting from O’Connell Street in Sligo.  I saw a festive set of tricolors being held aloft, and I pulled my phone to take a photo of what I first thought was a parade celebrating Irish heritage. “Whose country?” a man with a toy megaphone shouted at the head of the assembled marchers.  “Our country,” the marchers replied. I put my phone back in my pocket when I realized the parade c

Twelfth in a series of Protest Music for the Current Crisis Karine Polwart I've been remiss in keeping up this series of protest songs...