Gillian Welch News

The British alt-rock band Fanfarlo has played a few odd venues in its three years of existence -- a Scottish cloisters, a London taxicab -- but it has never had a gig at some guy's desk. Until the other day, that is, when the group's five members wedged themselves into a corner beside a desk in a District office building.

With the sound echoing down the fifth-floor corridor, the band played a few songs from its latest album. The audience consisted of perhaps 40 office workers, some of whom bobbed along to the music without ever looking up from their computer screens.

David Rawlings usually thrives behind the scenes. He is perhaps best known as singer-songwriter Gillian Welch's musical other half.

With great joy, Love Police announce the return of the amazing OLD CROW MEDICINE SHOW to New Zealand in March 2010.

Dave Rawlings admits his new gig is "a little strange." Rawlings, of course, is known to fans of old-time country music for his musical partnership with Gillian Welch.

When last we checked in with David Rawlings, the usually silent partner of Americana singer Gillian Welch, he was somewhat reluctantly anticipating the release of "A Friend of a Friend," his first solo album.

Dave Rawlings Machine A Friend of a Friend An apt title, that one, as Dave Rawlings is indeed "a friend of a friend". The Nashville-based musician isn't a household name, but he's the long-time musical partner of Gillian Welch, who is.

"Dave's gone and done it," was roughly what Gillian Welch announced a couple of months ago to 50,000 bluegrass fans in Golden Gate Park.

It's hard to believe A Friend of a Friend is David Rawlings' first album under his own name.

Folk/Country/Bluegrass Songwriter JAN SMITH - The next incarnation of Gillian Welch is hiding out in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Central Virginia.

For a holiday rooted in outsize theatrics, Halloween doesn't often translate into great music.

She was adorable and her folk songs brought Joanna Newsom & Gillian Welch to mind, high praise in my book.

Every lilting vocal and atmospheric guitar line on Emily Rodgers' new album Bright Day evokes a hazy memory, the earliest being her Mennonite upbringing in the small Indiana city of Elkhart.

The river of American music twists and turns in new directions every day, but that river has another current that's deeper and never changes.

"The Bride of Frankenstein" runs Oct. 2 - 17, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. at Stage Werx, 533 Sutter St., San Francisco.

Singer and songwriter Gillian Welch is coming to Chico State University's Laxson Auditorium this Sunday night, along with guitarist and longtime collaborator David Rawlings, both of them returning as just one of this season's bright offerings from Chico Performances.

It's been six years since the singer-songwriter and Americana ambassador last released a record.

David Rawlings and Gillian Welch perform at the 2009 installment of the Rocky Mountain Folks Festival in Lyons.

David Rawlings and Gillian Welch perform at the 2009 installment of the Rocky Mountain Folks Festival in Lyons.

Gillian Welch came on stage to close out the Folks Festival on Sunday night and said she felt like sitting around a campfire all night swapping songs and stories.

Tickets: $45-$50 single day; $110 weekend; 12 and under free. Info: Camping available; off-site parking with shuttle buses to festival; bluegrass.com or 800-624-2422. Lineup: Friday: Rufus Wainwright, Madeleine Peyroux, Dougie MacLean, Mary Gautheir, Peter Himmelman, Vance Gilbert, Folks Showcase; Saturday: Don McLean, Susan Tedeschi, Over the ...