Plenty of songs have extolled the watery, nubile virtues of Miami, or even of Florida in general. But few -- beyond those by hyper-local artists based here -- have name-checked other specific locales in South Florida's tri-county area. Which is why "West Palm Beach," written by the folkie Bonnie "Prince" Billy under his on-and-off Palace Brothers moniker, is so surprising. Billy (born Will Oldham) is from Louisville, Kentucky, and his bittersweet, country-flavored paean to the city starts off pr
Picking the best folk and Americana records of the year isn't nearly as hard as discarding those great records that just didn't feel right stuck in the category.
Releases by Calexico and DeVotchKa felt far too worldly to pigeonhole as folk or country, for instance, while Blitzen Trapper's fantastic Furr smells more like the Kinks than Neil Young. [Editor's note: That's why we put it on our indie-rock list.] We likewise discarded Shearwater's near-masterpiece Rook, despite the fact that the albu
