Guardian Music — Influential banjo player and last of the four founding members of folk band formed in 1962 died in Dublin hospital aged 72Barney McKenna, the last founding member of the Irish folk band the Dubliners, has died aged 72.It is understood McKenna collaps... more info

L.A. Times - Pop & Hiss — The band's annual love note to Shane MacGowan's beery outfit takes inspiration from "El Batallon de Los San Patricios," a group of Irish-American soldiers who fought on the Mexican side of the Mexican-American War. more info

Guardian Music — Purcell Room, LondonFor a brief moment it seemed that this adventurous marriage of technology and tradition was doomed from the start. Surrounded by five musicians playing fiddle, dulcimer, pipes and piano, Gerry Diver turned to the computer at the b... more info

Guardian Music — The innate musicality of speech has inspired Gerry Diver's Speech Project. Colin Irwin talks to him, and looks at the chequered history of words and popular music"Speech … speech is dripping with musicality. There's a real magic to it," says Gerry ... more info

Guardian Music — (One Fine Day)The idea is certainly original: take a series of interviews with well-known Irish musicians, and then mix short excerpts of speech with instrumental work that follows the rhythms of a spoken phrase. The interviewees include Christy Moor... more info

Guardian Music — Shane and Kirsty, Justin and Mariah, Benton the dog – they've all tried to capture the spirit of Christmas. But who does it best? Jude Rogers finds out with our panel of judgesLast month the Reverend Dr Giles Fraser resigned from St Paul's Cathedr... more info

Guardian Music — A ballad from one of the pioneers of modern Irish folk brings back memories of the immigrant experienceBetween 1961 and 1969 the Irish group Ceoltóirí Chualann made a successful attempt to keep alive and promote Irish traditional music. Among the m... more info

Stereogum — The legendary French singer/libertine Serge Gainsbourg is a man worth honoring, and a new tribute album called From Lulu To Gainsbourg does just that. Gainsbourg’s son Lulu put together the tribute and sings about half the songs, but he also brough... more info

Guardian Music — (Anti-)"I'm the boat that won't sink, I won't sleep a wink," declares Tom Waits, perhaps explaining the rollercoasting urgency that runs through his 17th album and the first of completely new material in seven years. Now 61, with Keith Richards in hi... more info

Guardian Music — (Topic)Twenty-one years ago, June Tabor and Oysterband got together to record what is now recognised as an English folk-rock classic. It wasn't exclusively a folk album, though there were some traditional tracks, but rather an eclectic, powerful rewo... more info