Why a Music Blog in 2026?

After writing hundreds of artist bios and promos for festivals over the past 20 years, it’s finally time to revive the glory days of early ‘00s blogging. Music blogs are deeply personal - mixing stories of the blgger’s life experience with their musical discoveries. It’s time to renew the craft of vulnerability and honesty.

I relied on regional music blogs to discover music from Edinburgh, Vancouver, Montreal, Brooklyn, London. The bloggers had only the mission to share the music they loved. Maybe someone would read their posts, or maybe they would just have it as a record for their future selves. (Is there a better album title than the Beths’ brilliant debut Future Me Hates Me?)

The goal here isn’t to rate music. If I don’t like it, I won’t talk about it. Criticism by omission (or equally likely: omission by ignorance). The goal is to pass along my personal passion for an album.

It starts with the album. I might get interested in an artist from a buzzy video or a live set. But I become obsessed when the complete album captures me. I play an album for a run or a drive, then I feel the need to hear it again, and again. Soon I can anticipate what song comes next, the change in key/tempo/mood over the course of an entire album. This is the music that captivates me enough to tell strangers about - to scream about from the top of the Quartz Way hill. And those feelings find their way onto this blog.

This blog also gives me an outlet to share playlists from my KGNU radio shows (Old Grass Gnu Grass and Morning Sound Alternative). I put hours of discovery and thought into those shows, then on-air I limit my comments to 1-minute voice breaks. Here, I can go beyond the playlist; share why a song earned its spot on the playlist.

Why the name Pitchfolk? These are not 30-second marketing “pitches”. I have nothing to gain beyond the pressure release of sharing something I love. And it isn’t a crew of pitch people; it’s just me. Pitch here is melody: the hooks that captivate and penetrate (beyond the Ear Worm). It’s a love of a good tune, a surprisingly lush harmony, a fiddle line that lifts. The “folk” is one descriptor of this rootsy music, and the people who make it.

So yeah, there’s “folk” in the name. But genre is mostly an invention of record label marketers. I’m more interested in a sound and ethos: personal, creative, emotional, warm, virtuosic. Bluegrass often fits that. But so does indie rock, singer-songwriter, jazz and celtic. It’s more about how the music moves me.

Much of my listening happens outdoors while running. I’m at my most impressionable when soaring down a trail or cresting a mountain ridge. But the bar is high (like the pile of new albums): so if a record doesn’t connect quickly, it gets pushed aside.

And of course, I look forward to a long drive in a car without blown tweeters. This blog is the neverending music gushing of a close friend who finally gets full control of what is playing on that car stereo. Thanks for sharing the ride with me.