I don’t think it’s any secret how I feel about this month’s Featured Artist here on Red Line Roots. For the past year and half Ian Fitzgerald has become a friend, an occasional music collaborator, and most significantly, one of my all time favorite songwriters.
His last release “No Time To Be Tender” was one of my favorite records of 2013 (really a tie for my favorite alongside Jason Isbell’s “Southeastern”). His previous release isn’t favorite behind in my list of need to listen to albums and his live shows and onstage banter are something that one might call genius…ok, I’ll call them genius. Ian is a songwriter’s songwriter, the type of musician that people who write great songs aspire to write songs like.
This past weekend marked a great milestone for the songwriter with multiple performances at the legendary Newport Folk Festival alongside Joe Fletcher, Langhorne Slim and others at the official kickoff show and also a solo set at the Late July Tent stage during the actual festival. I am hopeful that this means big things for one of my favorite poets and singers and I couldn’t be more proud to say that we welcome Ian Fitzgerald in as the Red Line Roots Featured Artist for August 2014.