Bob Dylan a Tree With Roots

A new compilation of vintage covers of Bob Dylan’s work by Fairport Convention and their friends, A Tree With Roots — Fairport Convention And The Songs Of Bob Dylan, will be released on Island on 3 August. It comes just ahead of the 2018 edition of the band’s celebrated Cropredy Festival, which takes place this year from 9-11 August with Fairport themselves in the traditional headlining slot.

The Top 100 '80s Rock Albums span a series of genres as startling and varied as the era's neon-flecked fashions.No one was immune to the early-decade emergence of new wave, from up-and-coming acts to legacy groups – many of whom began incorporating the then-new sound into their bedrock approach.Meanwhile, classic rock and subsequently metal began a transformation into mass acceptance when the edges were smoothed out to form arena rock and hair metal, respectively. The arrival of roots, thrash, and world music influences kept things interesting, along the way. All of it made selecting the period's best releases both intriguing and deeply challenging.Check out the list below, as Ultimate Classic Rock takes a chronological look at the Top 100 '80s Rock Albums.

Functioning as both the soundtrack to the group's disastrous feature-film documentary and as a tentative follow-up to their career-making blockbuster, Rattle and Hum is all over the place. The live cuts lack the revelatory power of Under a Blood Red Sky and are undercut by heavy-handed performances and Bono's embarrassing stage patter; prefacing a leaden cover of "Helter Skelter" with "This is a song Charles Manson stole from the Beatles, and now we're stealing it back" is bad enough, but it pales next to Bono's exhortation "OK, Edge, play the blues!" on the worthy, decidedly unbluesy "Silver and Gold." …

It seems odd that Salvation Blues is Mark Olson's first true solo recording. After his tenure with the Jayhawks, Olson left the band to spend more time in Joshua Tree with his then-wife, fellow singer/songwriter Victoria Williams. Olson released a quartet of recordings with the Original Harmony Ridge Creekdippers (aka the Creekdippers), always with Williams either sharing the billing or in the band. Olson and Williams divorced in February of 2006, and he lost the home he built in Joshua Tree as a result. He took off on a solo tour of Europe where the sketches for a number of the songs on Salvation Blues were written.

Bluesfest is back again and it's got some of the best blues and roots music the world has to offer! Bluesfest, Australia's premier music festival showcasing international and local music every Easter long weekend, just north of Byron Bay. Featured on the 2019 album is a selection of incredible artists performing, such as Norah Jones, Iggy Pop, Tash Sultana, Paul Kelly, Kasey Chambers, Ben Harper & Innocent Criminals and many more!