A memorial services was held in Saugerties, New York on Sunday for Dick Kniss, a bassist who accompanied Peter, Paul and Mary for decades and co-wrote “Sunshine On My Shoulders” with John Denver. Kniss died Jan. 25 of pulmonary disease. He was 74.
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PBS Television’s acclaimed American Masters‘ series of documentaries opens its 26th season with Phil Ochs: There But for Fortune this month. The revealing biography of a conflicted, truth-seeking troubadour who, with guitar in hand, stood up for what he believed in and challenged us all to do the same, premieres nationally on Monday, Jan. 23 at 10 p.m. (ET) on PBS stations (Check your local listings).
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Alison Krauss and Union Station’s Paper Airplane is the top album of the year and “Scarlet Town” from Gillian Welch’s The Harrow and the Harvest, the #2 album, is the top song of 2011, based on radio playlists submitted to FOLKDJ-L, an electronic discussion group for DJs and others interested in all folk-based music on the radio.
[To view the Top Albums and Songs charts compiled by Richard Gillmann, click on the headline.]
Warren Hellman, a San Francisco-based financier and philanthropist who founded and funded the city’s nationally renowned Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival and toured earlier this year with his band, The Wronglers, died Dec. 18 from complications of leukemia. He was 77.
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