Basic Folk

Anna Tivel and Jeffrey Martin have both released new albums in the past year that have knocked us right over. Living Thing is the most recent Anna Tivel singer-songwriter record and Thank God We Left the Garden being the Jeffrey Martin new album. Of all the singer-songwriter interviews and musician conversations we've done over the course of the pod, these two kooks have been a popular pair on this Basic Folk podcast. Their singer-songwriter inspiration, musician life stories and music career development have been a fascinating journey. Jeffrey being a former high school teacher and Anna spending her formative years intensely playing the fiddle before moving to Portland at the age of 18.

In our conversation, Anna and Jeffrey speak to several hot topics like "do you write about your neighbors," "how's your physical body at processing stress" and "what is the point of your newsletter." We dig right into it in true folk music podcasts fashion and these two are not holding back. If you are looking for some top notch singer-songwriter advice, music collaboration ideas and the latest in folk music trends... it remains to be seen whether you will find that here. What you will find are two very deep and thoughtful musicians sharing what goes on in their lives and hearts and in their designated work spaces. Spoiler alert: Anna's office has five massive paper mache eyeballs.

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The world of Austin's Matt the Electrician, aka Matt Sever, is quirky and sincere. Sever is known for his work ethic and vibrant presence in the Austin Texas music scene. Before music was full-time, Matt worked as an actual electrician in between folk music gigs and open mics. He found people were drawn to his skills in the trade, so he decided to make it part of his musical moniker. After self-releasing 11 studio albums and a couple of live sets, the name remains even though he has not been a professional electrician for a long time. In this episode, Matt discusses his new album release, "The Ocean Knocked Me Down," and shares insights into his songwriting process and the unique creative writing techniques that keep his music fresh. We learn about his experiences with the independent music community, performing live, and the joys of music discovery in the 90s through alternative music magazines like Puncture Magazine.

Matt also opens up about the evolving landscape of music marketing strategies, reflecting on his journey from traditional methods to the more creative approach he employs today. For instance, Matt's been conducting fake interviews on his social media between himself and Spotify, Facebook and Rolling Stone that are hilarious. Also he reminisces about the excitement of finding new music back in the day and talks about his favorite snacks, like carnitas tacos and the benefits of black coffee, that clearly fuel his creativity.

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Originally from Devon, the English singer-songwriter John Smith got his start playing bars and clubs in Liverpool, both with his own songs and as a side player for artists like Lianne La Havas, Lisa Hannigan and David Gray. Growing up with folk music and guitar music influences from Eric Clapton to Maria Callas to Nick Drake, John’s sensitivity as a player is one of the cornerstones of his music, especially when it comes to his live music. It's earned him a passionate fanbase ever since his first EP release in 2009. I (lizzie) got to witness the connection he shares with audiences on a recent month-long tour around the UK. Everywhere we went, audience members had stories of how important John’s songs were to them, and guitar nerds flocked to have a look at his pedal board.

Beyond his musicianship, John’s music is imbued with an earnestness that invites listeners to look around and feel gratitude: for nature (especially the vistas of rural England), for the wisdom that memory can provide, and for the people close to us. John’s latest album, ‘The Living Kind,’ is a meditation on how delicate love and life can be, but also how enduring. It also showcases the creative partnership between Smith and his longtime friend and roots music industry icon Joe Henry. One of the album’s highlights is “Milestones,” in which John reflects on how parenthood has changed his perspective on the artist’s life.

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Editor's note: For this episode, we invited our friend Dawn Landes to interview Peggy Seeger. Dawn was the perfect choice to interview the feminist folk icon. She recently joined us on a special episode with Aoife O'Donovan to discuss their feminist-themed new albums. We're thrilled to welcome Dawn back as guest host!

I can’t believe it took me 40 years to come across Peggy Seeger’s music. I’m a little mad about this honestly, and have been trying to make up for lost time by diving deep into her songs and her story. I’ve been a fan of her older brother, Pete Seeger since I was a kid but didn’t realize the depth of talent and reach in the Seeger family …they are truly Folk Royalty! Peggy Seeger is the daughter of a celebrated modernist composer and a musicologist who grew up with people like Alan Lomax and Elizabeth Cotten hanging out in her family home. At 89 years old she’s released 24 solo recordings and been a part of over a hundred more. She’s built her career on wit, incredible musicianship and unflappable activism.

On this episode of Basic Folk, I am honored to talk with Peggy Seeger about her beginnings in feminism, her decades-long partnership with Scottish singer Ewan MacColl, the creation of the BBC Radio Ballads, the importance of hope and her dream tattoos! She even sang us a song from memory that I doubt she had sung in many years. Peggy is a repository of traditional songs and continues to tour and play music with her family as she’s done throughout her whole life. Although she claims that she doesn’t write anthems, Seeger’s songs have become synonymous with women’s rights and environmental activism. Coming from a woman who once sang her defense in a courtroom, we should all take Peggy’s advice…“Something wrong? Make a song!”

--- Dawn Landes

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Folk music singer Ana Egge's 13th album Sharing in the Spirit came out of the musician one song at a time. She didn't even think about moving onto a new song before the writing and production of each song was complete. Working with her friend and collaborator Lorenzo Wolff, the songwriting process and music production plan was to just work on a handful of songs. Their creative collaboration manifested an entire record's worth of indie folk, acoustic music and new folk music. The record includes eight originals and two covers: one by the Biloxi songwriter Ted Hawkins and one by Irish musician Sinead O'Connor.

Ana gives a huge songwriting credit to her dreams, which started getting more and more intense when she began her sobriety journey four years ago. Since then, she's recorded her dreams, especially those with music segments and full songs, on her voice memos app. We go through the new album track by track, addressing themes in the songs like not sleeping through the revolution, the importance of telling the truth, feelings on mortality and how are we gonna feel when Bob Dylan dies. Also: Ana was the VERY first guest on Basic Folk! I can't go back and listen to myself four years ago, but I encourage you to check it out and then dive into her great new album.

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Chris Smither has been Peter Mulvey's mentor since back in 1993, when the young Mulvey opened for the already seasoned Smither. The blues and folk legend liked what he heard and enjoyed the similarities in creativity and quirks and he took that young man on the road with him. Their musical partnership has crossed paths and outlasted the digital age, the pandemic, parenthood and the indictment of a former president. Along the way each has worked to influence their best habits and life lessons on the other and as far as mentor-mentee relationships go, this one is for the history books. Also there are nods to David 'Goody' Goodrich, Jeffrey Foucault, Kris Delmhorst and the woman behind it all: Carol Young (aka Smither's long-time manager, aka his wife).

In this rare joint interview, we address the important questions: like why do they delight in calling each other by their last names? Smither shares that he was first called by his last name in Paris when he was in school. They debate who has the better hometown: Milwaukee or New Orleans. Actually it's not so much a debate as a reflection on New Orleans music, since that is clearly the better spot to grow up a musician. Mulvey reflects on their musical differences citing some of his main inspirations to be Kendrick Lamar and Ani DiFranco versus Smither's affinity for Joni Mitchell and Bob Dylan. We break down how each feels about fatherhood and try to get Smither to spill his secret to longevity. Spoiler alert: it's not from remaining still. Chris Smither's 20th album All About the Bones is out now. Peter Mulvey's latest is the acoustic retrospective More Notes From Elsewhere.

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If you're looking for recommendations for desserts, might I suggest asking folk music and comedy savant Steve Poltz? This man loves gluten and carb-heavy deserts. He also loves collaborations, camaraderie, creativity and using humor in music. It all began for Poltz, or Poltzy as his friends call him, in his birthplace of Halifax Nova Scotia, making him an official Canadian. He spent his formative years in Palm Springs and Los Angeles where, due to his stutter, allergies and asthma, he learned to talk fast to get himself out of trouble. His sense of humor was cultivated in part by his funny parents as well as radio and television. He was particularly taken with The Smothers Brothers, Laugh-In and the novelty songs he heard on Dr. Demento's radio program, which solidified his own aspirations for being silly as hell in his own writing. Along the way, he picked up the guitar at six years old and it's been by his side ever since.

After he moved to San Diego to attend college in the 80s, he formed the cow-punk band The Rugburns with Robert Driscoll. The band, who Steve has described as "really slow speed metal," developed a cult following across the US in the early 90s. It was at that time, Poltz met Jewel, who was a struggling musician in the San Diego scene. The two dated (they remain friends to this day) and ended up co-writing one of the biggest songs of the 90s with "You Were Meant for Me." After a brush with a major label (thanks to all the Jewel stuff), he remained an independent artist who developed a reputation for a singular live performance experience. In 2014, he actually had a stroke on-stage, which temporarily caused him to lose his vision, the ability to read and also gave him a new outlook on life. Also: post-stroke, he found a late-in-life obsession with The Grateful Dead. In 2016, he and his wife, Sharon, moved to Nashville, where he discovered that he actually does like the Nashville co-writing thing. He's written songs with people like Molly Tuttle and Billy Strings. His friend Oliver Wood (The Wood Brothers) produced his most recent record, Stardust and Satellites. Here's to Steve Poltz!

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Editor’s note: Basic Folk is pleased to introduce our listeners to one of our favorite podcasts by sharing an episode in our feed! I am awestruck with the charm and charisma of Texas Country Musician Bri Bagwell - most impressively demonstrated on her podcast Only Vans, where she talks to her friends in her van (actually she recently upgraded to an RV, but it still counts) about the music industry along with her dog, Whiskey.

Bri is a force to be reckoned with from her rousingly fun live performances to trailblazing recordings garnering her twelve #1 singles on Texas Country Radio and counting. The Bluegrass Situation Podcast Network recently welcome Only Vans to the fam and I wanted to share this super helpful episode where Bri talks to Mitch Ballard (BMI’s Executive Director of Creative in Texas). They discuss what BMI is and why it’s important, along with the constantly evolving nature of the music business and what BMI is doing to keep up and help artists.

Listen > Subscribe > Support! and share with a musician you love! This one's got some great tips and info!

Iowa folk music icon Greg Brown is living that retired life. After playing his farewell retirement concert in 2023, he's returned with a new book: Ring Around The Moon: A Songbook, which highlights a song selection personally picked by the songwriter himself, as well as family photos, personal anecdotes and self-penned drawings. The book features a foreword by Seth Avett (The Avett Brothers) who calls Brown's songs "plain ​spoken ​expression ​of ​the ​nearly ​inexpressible." In our conversation, we touch on topics like inner peace, happiness, personal growth and self-acceptance.

He speaks of how art has impacted him in ways the artist will never understand. He talks about what it's like to be on both the receiving and sending end of this exchange. It especially impacted him when he learned the poet Allen Ginsberg listened to an album of his while he was dying. I asked him about his music archives, which he calls "a ​bunch ​of ​old ​notebooks ​on ​a ​shelf" and "a ​couple ​boxes ​of ​old ​photos," which assisted him in recalling family connections for the songbook. Going through the photos and old songs instilled a sense of music nostalgia, including collaboration with Iowa musicians at the Wednesday Night Jam at The Mill. Music nostalgia surfaces several times through the pages like his incredible story of founding the successful and beloved Red House Records. There's also discussion on a few choice Greg Brown songs like "If You Don't Get it at Home," addressing replacing love for materialism and drug use. We talk about "Brand New '64 Dodge," chronicling Brown's personal experience with JFK's assassination in 1963 and "Two Little Feet," written in Alaska where he was inspired by Native American myths he heard and felt in the area. Greg Brown's songbook was an awesome trip down memory lane for some of the best folk songs ever written from one very serious, yet very silly songwriter. It was an honor to dig in with one of the best to do it!

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After banjo player Kaïa Kater attended Americana Fest in 2016, the music industry started telling her she was a part of the genre, which encompasses all kinds of roots music, acoustic music, folk music, singer-songwriter and alternative country music. She was singing about heavy themes like historical trauma, her cultural heritage (her father is from the Caribbean country of Grenada) and her music history. She confesses in our interview that she never felt comfortable in Americana, that she was always just on the outside never fully feeling accepted by this mostly white world. Kater has declared that her new album, Strange Medicine, comes from a place that lays beyond the white gaze of Americana. This music is filled with emotional healing with music production that sonically ​reflects the vulnerability that she is expressing so deeply for the first time in her career. It's also the first time she's avoiding metaphors and really letting her most raw feelings about colonialism, sexism, racism, and misogyny rip. These songs see her using violent language and releasing emotions she’d previously kept frozen like anger and revenge.

While creating Strange Medicine, she listened ​to ​a ​lot ​of ​instrumental ​music allowing her ears ​to be bigger ​than ​they ​had ​been ​on ​previous ​records. Which translated to her being ​more ​willing ​to ​take ​big ​swings ​and ​take ​risks. Kater ​attended school ​to ​learn film ​composition ​allowing her to be more ​comfortable ​with being ​a ​little ​bit ​more ​overstated ​in ​her ​songs, which certainly proves true on the new record. Another good piece of news is that the banjo is back! After using it very minimally on her last release, Kaia picked it up again after listening ​to ​a ​lot ​of ​Steve ​Reich, a composer who developed a groundbreaking minimalist style in the 1960s that's marked by repetition. His work ​helped ​Kater ​conceive ​of ​the ​banjo ​as ​an ​instrument ​that ​could ​hypnotically play ​patterns ​over ​and ​over. We go through this monumental album track by track and unwind songs with topics from Tituba's revenge (the first to be accused during the Salem witch trials) to getting the critic out of the room, to realizing the critic is you. She also recounts her history in her hometown of Montreal and what the Internet was like when she first logged on in the 2000's.

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Frontman ​Ryan ​Miller joins us ​to ​talk ​about ​all ​things ​Guster. ​From ​their ​tried ​and ​true ​collaborative ​writing ​process ​to ​the ​theatrical ​delights ​of ​their ​recent "We ​Also ​Have ​Eras" ​tour, ​to ​what ​it ​really ​looks ​like ​to ​make ​environmental ​sustainability ​a ​priority ​on ​tour. Guster ​has just released ​their ​9th ​studio ​album, ​Ooh ​La ​La. ​As ​we ​talked ​about ​the ​new ​record, ​Ryan talked ​about ​how ​these ​new ​songs ​touch ​on ​questions ​that ​the ​band ​has ​been ​asking ​throughout ​their ​over ​30 ​year ​career. For ​example, ​"Maybe ​We're ​Al​right" ​calls ​back ​to ​the ​collectivist ​spirit ​that ​we ​loved ​in ​2003's ​Keep ​It ​Together. ​​"Gaugin, Cezanne (Everlasting Love)" ​talks ​about ​God ​in ​a ​way ​that ​brought ​up ​new ​questions ​for ​me ​about ​2010's ​album, ​Easy, ​Wonderful, ​and ​so ​on. ​This ​is ​what ​makes ​being ​a ​Guster ​fan ​so ​rewarding. ​The ​longer ​you ​listen ​to ​these ​guys ​and ​the ​deeper ​you ​dig, ​the ​more ​you ​feel ​empowered ​to ​ask ​questions ​about ​the ​world ​around ​you ​and ​approach ​the ​answers ​with ​playfulness. ​Guster ​is ​a ​band, ​but ​it ​is ​also ​a ​place ​where ​we ​all ​meet ​to ​dance ​away ​the ​big ​questions ​with ​whimsy ​to ​the ​beat ​of ​tasteful ​hand ​drums.

It ​is ​no ​exaggeration ​to ​say ​that ​lizzie ​has ​waited ​over ​20 ​years ​to ​talk ​to ​Ryan. ​They became ​a ​fan ​of ​the ​New ​England ​indie ​outfit ​in ​2003 ​when they opened ​for ​John ​Mayer ​at ​the ​West ​Point ​Military ​Academy, ​of ​all ​places. ​The ​vibe ​in ​the ​room ​was ​a ​little ​stiff, ​but ​Guster ​was ​anything ​but. Their ​exuberant, ​generous, ​harmony ​filled, ​idiosyncratic ​performance ​blew her ​teenage ​mind. ​As lizzie ​dug ​deeper ​into ​their ​lore, ​they ​discovered ​that they were ​a ​part ​of ​a ​vast ​network ​of ​weirdos: The ​Guster ​fandom. ​

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I hate surprises. However, Oklahoma's pride and joy John Moreland surprised us with his latest album Visitor and I guess I'm okay with it. Moreland's gone back to a sparse acoustic instrumentation, unlike the electronic sound (which I also loved) on his previous release, 2022's Birds in the Ceiling. Recently, he took a page from his wife Pearl Rachinsky and musician (and recent tour buddy) Chris ​Staples' book, and quit his smartphone, took a social media break and stopped all touring for six months. What ensued was an incredible psychic change discovered through living electronically off the grid. Another thing that came about during experiencing this simplicity in life: an album full of songs. He would take long drives at night, bringing along his guitar and making field recordings of his new writing. All this culminated into his beautiful new record.

Moreland talks about the process of unraveling himself from the smartphone, reconnecting with the acoustic guitar and getting to know himself again during this period of quiet. He talks about how playing live is very vulnerable for him to the point where he started taking (and loving) beta-blockers to stave off anxiety and adrenaline. He is very candid with his current thoughts on body image, he has been known to experience body shaming online after performing live. We also get into something that's been on my mind all year: is climbing the professional songwriter ladder worth it? Pretty sure we figured out the answer. LoL.

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Barnstar!, Boston's premiere kinda bluegrass and definitely bombastic band, has released their new album Furious Kindness and we're #blessed to welcome Mark Erelli and Zachariah Hickman to the pod. Originally a fun side hustle and bluegrass vehicle for Zack, the group, which also includes Charlie Rose and Taylor and Jake Armerding, started very casually performing at the legendary local Cantab Lounge. Zack accurately likens the vibe of the place to a basement Star Wars Cantina full of bluegrass bands.

In between their main gigs with performers like Josh Ritter and Lori McKenna and solo careers, Barnstar! has cultivated an explosive live performance filled with energy and emotional expression leaving concert attendees cheering and crying along. Included in their repertoire are some of the finest music covers including many that you'd never expect to see on a kind of bluegrass band album, like The Hold Steady, Patty Griffin, Elliott Smith and Elizabeth & The Catapult. We talk about what it's like to bring a cover song to the band to learn as well as co-writing with friends like Dinty Child and Chuck Prophet. We'd be remiss if we did not address the alien-like quality of Mark Erelli's singing voice and learn that it is because of his bestie Zack and Barnstar! that he can sing like this. Now he finds himself performing vocal warm-ups before hitting the stage with the guys. Not something he ever thought he'd do. All members of Barnstar! contribute and sing to the new album Furious Kindness, an album that just wants to shout in your face about how awesome you really are.

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Two long-time collaborators, cellist Francesa Ter-Berg and violinist Flora Curazon, Fran & Flora, have bonded over their obsession with ancient music, rooted in Eastern European and Jewish culture, for over a dozen years. Together and separately, the English musicians have been studying with teachers of ethnomusicology in places like Transylvania and Romania. There, they took in the music as well as the cultural influences. That's not to speak of their higher musical education, Francesca holds two masters in music (including ​in ​contemporary ​improvisation ​at ​the ​New ​England ​Conservatory ​of ​Music) while Flora trained at the Royal Academy of Music in London. They break down the benefits of each learning style and how it impacts their creative process. They also get into their love of klezmer music and the importance of portraying cultural heritage while remaining modern.

We also talk about how as female musicians, they are expected to do absolutely everything and excel at it while people still talk about whether or not you smile on stage.
They share “There’s a very deep thing in there that has effected our choices as a band in order to keep it safe and healthy within ourselves.” Their latest album Precious Collection features a couple of original tunes, but it's mostly new and unique arrangements of traditional Klezmer and Yiddish songs. Don't sleep on the smokey translation that Flora shares of the song "Little Bird" and stick around to learn who is the better roommate. All in all, great conversation with wonderful people who create bonkers music that's rich in tradition and layers. 

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Billy Bragg joins lizzie and Cindy on-board Cayamo to talk about songwriting, social justice, punk rock and, of course, The Little Guy (Bragg's nickname for Woody Guthrie). In our interview we talked about using humor as a way to connect to his audience, so that he can bring up his political activism like fighting for transgender rights, the importance of unions and abortion rights. It's interesting to hear how he wants the Americana audience to remain as relevant as he does. Billy talked about his place as a British ​artist ​in ​the ​genealogy ​of ​folk ​music and how working on Mermaid Avenue with Wilco allowed him to be a part of the folk tradition.

He also shared how he overcame anxiety as a teenage musician. Standing in front of a crowd playing with his friends in a band really boosted his confidence. Meanwhile, the old school "stiff upper lip" of British culture created an emotional barrier between Billy's and his parents' generation. The older generation grew up with the cultural heritage of separating oneself from any emotion. When Billy was a teen, his father was dying. The doctor recommended not telling the patient or talking about it at all. Several decades later, his mother insisted that everyone talk to and about her terminal cancer diagnosis. Bragg also gets into the merits of socialism, why nostalgia rubs him the wrong way and his favorite English treat. Spoiler: It's marmite. Gross.

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Singer-songwriter Leyla McCalla and her band (bassist Pete Olynciw, drummer Shawn Meyers and guitarist Nahum Zdybel) join us onboard the Cayamo cruise to go through their incredible, righteous and fun new record Sun Without Heat. It is a Leyla McCalla solo album but no solo artist is an island! Once we saw Leyla perform with her band, with whom she has collaborated for the past six years, we had to get the whole collaborative outfit in on the interview.

The sounds on the album are inspired by Afrobeat, Haitian Music, folk music, indie music, Americana music, Brazilian tropicalismo, amongst others. Leyla calls it "a record that is playful and full of joy while holding the pain and tension of transformation." McCalla’s liberatory politics find their way into the record, evidenced by the title which comes from a Frederick Douglass speech given six years before the Emancipation Proclamation. Leyla explores her cultural heritage while reflecting the African diaspora using elements of Afrofuturism. She's leaning into a concept that challenges women in music (particularly women of color) of how to free herself from labor that should not be hers and fighting for her right to be joyful in her creative expression.

When asked about how these new songs feel through the lens of somatic experience, Leyla says the new music feels different and that she's let go of the idea of perfectionism as a single mom of three kids. A lot of the record was informed by different authors she's read recently like adrienne maree brown (Pleasure Activism) and Susan Raffo (Liberated To the Bone). Leyla's really changing the game in the Americana genre when it comes to incorporating the academic into truly bitchin' music. Sidenote: we really loved hanging out with this crew at sea on Cayamo. They had great vibes, good laughs and also very good outfits. lizzie even recruited Pete to play bass in an impromptu trio while on-board. More good times with Leyla and band, please!!

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Siri Undlin, better known as Humbird, is a talented singer-songwriter from the Twin Cities with deep roots in Minnesota music and the land that surrounds her. Growing up, she was a true cold weather kid who loved hockey during winter In Minnesota, but also loved music and feeding her vivid imagination. Her love of music was nurtured by her parents, religious music, church choir and also her Aunt Joan, who taught Siri guitar at age 12. Hockey actually led her to her first band Celtic Club, with a set of triplets. The band would play at Irish Pubs, talent shows and, of course, at the local hockey rink. The band introduced her to Celtic music and her first live performances.

Undlin shares her rich experience studying folklore and fairy tales, which greatly influenced her musical journey. She discusses her intensive research in Ireland and Nordic countries, exploring how music intertwines with storytelling traditions. Throughout the episode, Undlin reflects on her upbringing, her time at an art school, and her evolving approach to songwriting, blending traditional folk music with indie music and experimental sounds. On her new album, Right On, Siri is acknowledging and addressing white supremacy in Middle America, as highlighted in her song "Child of Violence." She talks candidly about what writing and releasing the song taught her about white supremacy. Touring has provided Siri with unexpected challenges and valuable insights, shaping her perspective as a musician and performer. We talk about the importance of being open to chaos and disciplined in one's mindset while navigating the music industry and life on the road.

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We're live at sea! lizzie and Cindy recorded this episode onboard Cayamo, which is a singer/songwriter cruise that's been sailing yearly since 2008 and is one of the best music festivals we've attended. AND it's another edition of FOLK DEBATE CLUB. This time it's Community vs Capitalism! Our panel features Jenny Owen Youngs (musician and co-host of Buffy the Vampire Slayer podcast, Buffering the Vampire Slayer), Amy Reitnouer Jacobs (Co-Founder / Executive Director of The Bluegrass Situation) and Natalie Dean (Director of Events at Sixthman, which presents Cayamo). We talk about both through the lens of folk music and the music industry at large. Community building amongst folk artists and fans in authentic and unique ways will help drive your passion. Organically finding community through event production, online presence or music promotion is at the core of folk culture. Community trust and cultural diversity are key in ensuring that folk music artists will thrive in our Capitalistic society. How do you build that trust among your audience in a way that allows them to build trust with each other?

How do you stay true to your values while being able to pay for your life? How have musical community leaders cultivated their particular communities? Capitalism is our current reality, but it historically has not mixed well with Community. Clearly, one must be pursued vigorously more than the other! Or does it? Is there a way that these two can live side by side in folk music? If you are listening to this or reading this right now, I can make this assumption: You want to support music financially and with your heart. Music is something that sustains our lives, but it’s also a profession and something people consume. Don't worry, we figure it all out in this episode of FOLK DEBATE CLUB AT SEA!

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Originally from Greenville Georgia, musician Jontavious Willis is a Blues music phenom. When we talk about the Blues, the phrase or the word "torchbearer" comes up a lot when it comes to young, new Blues artists. I think of that word as a double edged sword. When you think of a torchbearer, you think about someone who's carrying on a flame that was lit long ago. It's somebody who's carrying on a tradition, but it also can come with restrictions. Such as oldheads telling you you're not doing it right or asking you: "have you really paid your dues? Are you really faithful to the tradition?" And just asking you questions about whether or not you belong. Jontavious handles that double edged sword with such alacrity. His writing is firmly contemporary at the same time that his playing is rooted in the tradition of Country Blues. He knows so much about the genre that he's basically in a walking encyclopedia of the Blues. I don't want to spoil the surprise, but instead of the the traditional Basic Folk lightning round, we played a pop up game at the end of the interview. I put different styles of the Blues (like Delta or Piedmont) in one cup and different ripped from the headlines, 2024 topics in another. Then we just matched them up. He was so quick on his feet.

Jontavious is a great example of a new spin on a genre that a lot of people think they know already. He is so adamant that the blues is a contemporary genre and always has been. He made the point during our interview that a lot of the Blues legends that we've kind of encased in the amber of memory were young teens or twentysomethings when they wrote their iconic songs. It's really a genre for free people, for young people, for people looking ahead. It's not about the past. Another point of his he made while discussing his southern roots was we talk about country, often we're talking about a musical genre with a certain difficult history. But for him, and I imagine for a lot of other artists, country is a way of life. It's about being out in the wild. It's about having a connection to nature. It's about sitting with quiet. It's about having time on your hands to experiment with songwriting or being a singer. It's about a genuine experience of being connected to a particular place in time.

This interview and live performance was recorded for the podcast live at Fort Worth African American Music Festival (FWAAMFest). When I (lizzie) was a kid, my dad's family used to have these big reunions. They're from North and South Carolina Baptist family, and it would be like a big barbecue at the state park or in a church hall. We would have t-shirts made, people of all ages milling around, catching up. Often there would be an elder getting up to say a long prayer or make an announcement. This sense of belonging and intergenerational connection, that is what the FWAAMFest felt like. Brandi Waller-Pace, the founder, is such a visionary, and they bring together artists of so many different genres, all of which fit under the roots music umbrella. There's this beautiful link between all of the music based on The African American Storytelling Tradition and The Artistic Tradition. In addition to being able to interview, Jontavious, this was my first time headlining a festival, so it couldn't have been more of a special day for me. 

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Coincidentally, long-time friends Aoife O'Donovan and Dawn Landes both have new albums with strong feminist themes, so I (Cindy) wanted to interview them together and talk about WOMEN. Aoife's album, All My Friends, is specifically centered around Carrie Chapman Catt, a prominent leader in the Suffragist Movement, and her work in the fight for the 19th Amendment. Inspired by speeches and letters, one song, War Measure, is even based on a letter of support from Woodrow Wilson to Chapman Catt. This album also marks the biggest project Aoife worked on with her husband Eric Jacobsen, who conducts the Orlando Philharmonic and the Virginia Symphony Orchestra. It's also the first record she's released since becoming a mother. Of her Daughters song she says she sings "as a modern woman, not wanting to leave the fight to the daughters of our daughters."

Dawn Landes, also a mother, has a more broad focus with her new album The Liberated Woman's Songbook. The album features songs from the 1971 songbook of the same title to inspire second wave feminists' women's liberation movement and modern feminism of the 1970's. The songs on Dawn's album span from 1830 (Hard is the Fortune of All Womankind) to 1970 (There Was a Young Woman Who Swallowed a Lie as well as Liberation, Now!) showcasing how women of the past expressed political activism in the struggle for gender equality.

Both Aoife and Dawn released their albums during Women's History Month, which leads to a discussion of what that means to each of them. We also talk about what is on their protest signs at the march, the Taylor Swift movie, gender stereotypes and, of course, all the waves of feminism. When thinking about the 19th amendment, we acknowledge that this only allowed WHITE women to vote. That leads to talk of how suffragists and feminist protest songwriters, like Meredith Tax, contributed to and gleaned inspiration from the civil rights movement. Aoife and Dawn are legends! We start with what their internal dialogue was like at first when undertaking these ambitious and important projects and end with Aoife putting Barbie on blast. All and all, this one's a winner. 

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Acclaimed bluegrass musician Missy Raines is also a very cool and funny lady originally from West Virginia, not far from the Maryland border and the city of Cumberland. First of all, I had questions for her about why people from West Virginia are SO into their state. She gets into that and also the influence of the rich tapestry of bluegrass music she found there as well as the scene in nearby Washington DC. Raines has made a significant impact on the genre, earning 14 International Bluegrass Music Association awards, including 10 for "Bass Player of the Year." Her latest album, "Highlander," showcases Raines' mastery of the bass alongside an ensemble of top-tier musicians from Nashville (her home base for the last 34 years) and beyond, blending traditional bluegrass with innovative twists.

Throughout our conversation, Raines reflects on her deep connection to Appalachian culture and the Appalachian Mountains, which have profoundly influenced her music. We explore her experiences performing live at music festivals and the evolution of bluegrass music. We recount the passion her family felt for music touching on the story of her mom and aunt crying their eyes out over John Duffy leaving their favorite bluegrass band, The Country Gentlemen. She also talks about taking care of her late brother Rick, who died in 1994 from AIDS at the age of 39. Through that experience, she was empowered to help others whose loved ones were also dying and suffering from HIV and AIDS. With her unique blend of banjo and fiddle music and her activism in a normally conservative genre, Raines continues to push the boundaries of the genre while staying true to its roots, making her a trailblazer in the world of Americana and folk music. Our conversation was in depth, fun and enlightening - I had high hopes for this one and I was not disappointed!

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Bob Hillman had a real thing going on in the early 2000's. He had made waves in New York City rubbing shoulders with some of the finest songwriters of the era at places like the open mic, Fast Folk and The Living Room, the singer-songwriter was creatively fulfilled, but not gaining the momentum in order to experience strategic growth in folk music. After opening for a long list of dates for Suzanne Vega, Hillman decided it was time to step away and get back to business.... school that is. He got his MBA in Marketing and went on to hold a decent paying job for the next decade and a half, raising his family in the Bay Area.

After a layoff, Bob thought it was time to dig in again and started writing, recording and performing. Since 2016, he's released a couple of albums and an EP (Extended Play) or two. The most recent is the mostly acoustic Downtown in the Rain. In our conversation, we talk about what it's like to reignite his creative entrepreneurial musical spirit, how he used that energy in his corporate jobs and also hoping to one day meet his singing partner on the EP, Maria Taylor. 

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Joe Pug will not engage in the Left-Brained Vs Right-Brained debate. His artistry and pragmatic business sense have lived in actual parallel through his music career. His songwriting and creativity are fueled by passion and result in dramatic and exciting songs, as on his new album Sketch of a Promised Departure. He also has stayed ahead of the curve and created an ecosystem where self-reliance, growth and music business thrive especially with his latest venture, The Nation of Heat Vault that has every album, podcast, and newsletter up behind a paywall. In our interview, we dig into his creative process, artistic balance and family life while creating his latest project.

The album was made on his own time at his new home studio (which he's been working on for a decade). His reflection of having complete control over the music production is one of relief and joy in that he was able to take as long as he wanted. We go through several songs on the album, remarking on songs like "Then the Rain," which shines in it's simplicity just like many of Lucinda Williams songs, one of his biggest inspirations. We also talk about his life journey into adulthood when he moved to Chicago, which is a chapter in his life he is writing about in detail on the new album. He talks about what he hopes for his own young kids' futures and how parenting has changed since he first became a dad seven or eight years ago. And of course, we talk about his fantastic podcast, The Working Songwriter and how being an interviewer has changed his attitude about being the interviewee.

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Singer songwriter Hannah Connolly, originally from Eau Claire, WI (same as Justin Vernon and the Bon Iver crew!) has just released her second solo album, Shadowboxing. Written to reflect musical and life transitions, it was recorded in beautiful Idyllwild, CA, just outside of her new hometown of Los Angeles. While in the mountain town, Hannah reconnected with nature through hiking and found joy in connecting with her friends and collaborators in music. The process of making the record was crucial for her mental health in music that was celebratory and fun. Her debut album centered around the trauma and healing she and her family faced after her little brother Cullen was killed by a drunk driver in 2015. Born with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, Cullen was the life of the party and a bright light in every room he entered. Being able to process and mourn his loss through the making of her first record was not only extremely difficult, but also very necessary for Hannah. We talk about who Cullen was and how he continues to influence Hannah's life and music. These days, Hannah is looking for the fun and lightness again, which is exactly what her little brother would want her to do.

Even though Hannah's visual storytelling and folky roots are strong, they are no match for her love of emo music, which has influenced her since she was a teenager. She even performed, recorded and toured in an emo band prior to going solo. Hannah gets into her emo past, her childhood stint in musical theater and, of course, cheese curds. She also gives us the all important update on wedding planning! She recently got engaged to Eric Cannata of the alternative rock band Young the Giant. I'm so happy for Hannah not only for her future marriage, but also for creating this joyful new album. 

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Bestie Lizzie No has just released their career-defining new record Halfsies and we are 100% here for it on our 250th episode!! lizzie, who co-hosts Basic Folk, put her entire being, identity and creativity into this project. There's a lot going on with their main character, the avatar Miss Freedomland, and we're getting to the bottom of it in our conversation. Our hero's journey begins even before the main character is born. Her inception grew out of disdain for childhood beauty pageants, which lizzie's mother actually won back in the early 60's at a now defunct amusement park called Freedomland. And there are photos of Little Catherine Quinlan with a look of disgust on her five year old face. lizzie grew up with this story and as she got older, she began to think hard about societal expectations and the stock put into women and children's emotional expression through their faces. Lizzie also grew up hearing and saying the word "No," hence the stage name.

Enter Miss Freedomland (also the name of lizzie's new record label)! She has been tasked with a journey to become free, which will require inner healing, exploration of self-identity and giving up performance of gender that just feels wrong. The album starts with our main character trying to level up (because, yes, this is a video game) with her own self-expression, revisiting past traumas and shedding the baggage and the hot garbage that got her trapped in the first place. In our conversation, we go track by track through this showstopper of a record and even get some solo live performances. I hope you enjoy exploring lizzie's world as much as I did. These songs are brilliant and the concept executed remarkably. Thanks to Studio 9 in North Adams, MA for the use of their beautiful studio!

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Dinty Child, founding member of Session Americana, the beloved Boston roots music collective, who've accidentally been a band for twenty years, has just released his second solo album, Letting the Lions In. The new songs feature co-writing on all tracks between Dinty and Boston area songwriters like Mark Erelli, Kris Delmhorst and Dave Godowsky. A self-proclaimed slow-writer, the majority of these songs were written on the annual Sub Rosa songwriting retreat Dinty runs on Three Mile Island (no, not that Three Mile Island) on Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire. Owned by the Appalachian Mountain Club, Dinty's family has been working at the island for over 100 years. Dinty currently serves at the off-season manager, putting his musician and carpenter skills to good use hosting songwriter friends at said retreat like Rose Cousins, Rose Polenzani, Rachael Price, Miss Tess and many more, as well as Miles of Music, a summer camp run by Dinty, Kristin Andreassen and Laura Cortese.

Letting the Lions In was co-produced by Zachariah Hickman (Josh Ritter, Ray LaMontagne) and recorded at Great North Sound in Parsonsfield Maine over the course of three days in the spring of 2021. Dinty says: "I often trade construction work for studio time there." During our conversation, we dig into why these songs needed to be recorded. Our consensus is that legacy and spreading joy to his community are the top two reasons. Also, Dinty, who says an annoyingly large percentage of his songs start as dreams, talks about what kind of sleeper he is, what's with the lion and his thoughts on drinking thanks to the handful of alcohol songs on the new album. Dinty is a dear friend to the podcast and an important part of the New England musical landscape, we're thrilled to have him on the show!

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Tyrone Cotton, a decades-long mainstay of the Louisville, KY music scene just released his 2023 debut album, "Man Like Me." A quick listen to these songs reveals an artist who has spent decades steeped in roots music. Lizzie No spoke with Tyrone and Ray Rizzo, one of the album’s producers, about Tyrone’s journey as an artist and the making of ‘Man Like Me.’ Tyrone grew up listening to his grandfather and his friends in the neighborhood playing guitar. Along with his $60 guitar, Tyrone headed off to music school, studying classic guitar under David Kelsey. At first a shy performer, Cotton leaned into his craft and into the supportive musical community he found in Louisville. He has become a stalwart of the local music scene, playing club shows and a standing gig at a local senior center where he brings the house down with soul classics.

This is where producer Ray Rizzo enters our story. A Kentuckian since the age of eleven, he was well-versed in the Louisville music scene when he came across Tyrone and his music at The Rudyard Kipling, a club in town. Ray’s admiration for Tyrone’s songwriting and musical instincts was a guiding principle as they went into the studio to record ‘Man Like Me.’ Rizzo had spent years watching Cotton perform and wanted to make sure that he captured the magic he had witnessed so many times. If the confident, eclectic roots of ‘Man Like Me’ are any indication, Tyrone Cotton has more stories to tell and we will be lucky to listen. What makes this album special is what makes the best Americana albums special: a patchwork of influences and traditions, the best of contemporary recording techniques, and a singular storytelling voice.

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Canada's Talia Schlanger is best known for her work in broadcasting; guest-hosting Q with Tom Power on CBC and Alec Baldwin's "Here's the Thing" podcast, as well as taking over for David Dye on NPR Music's World Cafe in Philadelphia. Before all that, Talia was an actor and singer in many theater productions including Mamma Mia, Queen's We Will Rock You and Green Day's American Idiot. While she has found much success in her two previous careers, something has been pulling on Talia for years. She wanted to write, record and perform her own music. She had something to say and made the brave leap into the unknown and left her coveted role at WXPN's World Cafe in order to say it. The culmination of events has led Talia to her debut album, Grace for Going.

In our conversation, Talia shares insights into her upbringing in Thornhill, Ontario, within a Jewish family deeply rooted in faith and family heritage. She reflects on the impact of her grandparents, Holocaust survivors, and how their stories shaped her childhood. Talia talks about her unique journey from performing in 8 shows a week in theater productions to becoming a distinguished radio host. Her evolution as a singer, her bravery and some important boundaries have allowed her to find her authentic voice while maintaining a crucial work-life balance. Throughout the interview, she touches on themes of personal growth, acts of kindness, and her commitment to learning and curiosity, offering a fascinating glimpse into the life and career of this remarkable person.

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Dive into the enchanting world of Elise Leavy, a musician hailing from the picturesque Monterey, California through her latest album A Little Longer. Elise's artistic journey is steeped in the influence of her magical surroundings and a childhood filled with music, thanks to her mom's painting and stepdad's musical talents. Growing up with a deep appreciation for nature and a belief in faeries, Elise shares how these elements shaped her musical perspective.

As we explore Elise's musical evolution, we touch on her experiences with live performances, overcoming stage fright, and the art of songwriting. Her unique approach to music, stemming from a background rich in magical thinking, reflects in her exploration of various musical instruments, from accordion to guitar, piano, fiddle, and more. We also uncover the impact of her time at summer camps, fostering a sense of community that continues to shape her artistic expression.

The episode delves into the intriguing intersection of Elise's musical journey and homeschooling, highlighting the unconventional path she took to prioritize her love for music. She left public school in eighth grade to focus on music and worked her schedule around attending music camps. She would go on to study at New England Conservatory Of Music in Boston, lived briefly in New York and after several years in Nashville, she has recently found herself living in Lafayette, LA. The songs on her new album A Little Longer were mostly written while she lived in Boston and New York. Elise also opens up about her connection to music, magical creatures, and the harmonious blend of romance in her musical creations.

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Sarah Jarosz is what happens when young women are taken seriously. A huge part of the mandolinist’s story is that she had supportive male mentors and that has added to her confidence. We all know the age old story of “Young woman shows promise, gets exploited by the patriarchy and it affects her work.” We need to hear stories like this. Starting in her hometown of Wimberley, Texas, just 45 minutes outside of Austin - the live music capital of the world, Sarah found the mandolin at ten years old. Labeled a prodigy and thanks to the encouraging spirit of folk music, she found music mentorship with seasoned professionals like David Grisman, Ricky Scaggs, Tim O’Brien and Bela Fleck. After her time at The New England Conservatory of Music, she moved to New York and would go on to collaborate with people like Chris Thile in the Live From Here House Band and her trio I’m With Her, featuring Aoife O’Donovan and Sara Watkins and won four Grammys.

After making the move to Nashville, on her latest album, the very impressive and sonically expansive Polaroid Lovers, Jarosz collaborated with producer Daniel Tashian, which originally was just a low-stakes co-writing project. The success of her first co-writing experience with Daniel led her to pursue other songwriting sessions with Ruston Kelly and Natalie Hemby. The collaboration found on the record has opened Sarah up to new sounds and new experiences. In our conversation, we talk about Sarah stepping into her own voice with confidence on this record and knowing her musical self enough at this point in her life. She describes her experience with ​confidence using the ​Dunning–Kruger effect, in which people with limited competence in a particular domain overestimate their abilities. AKA Fake it till you make, AKA Leap and the net will appear. She also talks about her parents' influence on her early musicality and how her mom is doing with her cancer remission. An overall theme of this conversation is that Sarah never lost sight of her goal: keeping it all about the music and don’t let noise get in the way of your important work.

Also! For those interested in Sarah's #1 skincare product: HERE YOU ARE.

ORDER/STREAM LIZZIE NO'S NEW ALBUM HALFSIES: https://orcd.co/halfsies

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Vivian Leva and Riley Calcagno, known as Viv & Riley, dive deep into the nuances of old-time music, folk influences, and the process behind their album, Imaginary People. The duo, who ​met ​at ​a ​music ​camp ​in ​Port ​Townsend, ​Washington, trace their roots from Riley's disciplined musical practice to Viv's intuitive approach. The two found inspiration from growing up in the Seattle area listening to KEXP (Riley), to living in Portland, Oregon to their current home in Durham, North Carolina. Drawing on their experiences at fiddlers conventions and music camps, Viv & Riley reflect on the transformative power of collaboration and the vibrant community that has shaped their unique sound in their duo as well as their other band, The Onlies.

As they share insights into their songwriting process, the episode unravels the intricate layers of Imaginary People, delving into the harmonious blend of indie roots and experimental production that defines their latest release. With a nod to their eclectic influences, including the supportive atmosphere of Durham, NC the duo discusses the evolution of their sound under the guidance of producer Alex Bingham from Hiss Golden Messenger, who produced their latest album. 

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Rachael Kilgour unravels the layers of her late father on the album, "My Father Loved Me." Recorded in the cold of Toronto and produced by Rose Cousins (who also joins us for this conversation), this album carries the essence of Canadian roots and is a profound exploration of family heritage through the lens of an ordinary, hard working and humble man who died in 2017. The Duluth-born Rachael, and Rose, based in Halifax, reflect on their cold weather experiences, infusing the recording process with warmth despite the chilly Canadian setting.

The core of our discussion revolves around Rachael's deep emotional connection to the album, particularly her poignant exploration of the father-daughter relationship amidst the challenges of dementia. We navigate the themes of grief, death, and identity, while learning about Rachael's father and how he has impacted and continues to live on through Rachael's personality and idiosyncrasies. They shared the struggle of anxiety and self-doubt, which the songwriter addresses on the album. We also get a look into Rose's perspective on Rachael's growth and the impact the vulnerable creative process has had on her songwriting. And then, we wrap it all up with a very fun Dad-themed lightning round.

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The cover of Darrell Scott's latest album, Old Cane Back Rocker, immediately sets the tone for your listening experience. The inclusion of the names of the Darrell Scott String Band (Bryn Davies, Matt Flinner and Shad Cobb) lets you know right off the bat that this recording is a band effort. The photo on the album cover gives a visual of Scotts' family roots in rural Kentucky. His cousin Dwight Messer is standing in front of his former childhood home, now abandoned on the family land. The music reflects his family's story: some, like Dwight, stayed behind and some, like Darrell's father, Wayne Scott, moved up north to find work. Despite being raised in the north, Darrell's home has always felt like Kentucky and traditional music learned from there. These songs showcase those roots.

In our conversation, Darrell digs into the darkness that can be heard in his music, even if it's not a sad song. He talks about his friend and frequent collaborator, Tim O'Brien, and how his performance and writing has allowed Scott to level up. Darrell also speaks to leaning into emotional songwriting and trusting his tears during the creative process. He shares the emotional account of rerecording his father's song This Weary Way and how he used to think Hank Williams had actually written it. Immediately after we finished our interview, lizzie texted me "what a cool eccentric intellectual dude." Couldn't have said it better myself. This episode honestly discovers the true essence of Darrell Scott—an artist whose music resonates with the soul, rooted in the traditions of Kentucky. 

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Let's get folking special! We're closing out 2023 with an exclusive live recording from folk mothership Club Passim, the historic folk venue located in Cambridge, MA, celebrating the bi-annual festival campfire. and its remarkable 25th anniversary. It started as a way for the club to book a slow holiday weekend and now 25 years later, campfire. is still held every Memorial Day and Labor Day weekend and remains an extremely popular fundraiser for Passim. Cindy and lizzie host this live show featuring captivating performances by lizzie, Zachariah Hickman, Kara McKee, and Mercedes Escobar. Additionally, listeners are treated to a rare on-stage interview with Managing Director and campfire. founder Matt Smith and Club Manager and campfire. programmer Abby Altman, providing unique insights into the festival's evolution and the passion that fuels its success.

The episode highlights the unpredictability of campfire., where both emerging artists and legends like Peter Wolf share the sacred stage. Matt Smith and Abby Altman's dedication shines through as they discuss their exhaustive efforts in planning, booking, and executing nearly 60 campfires, showcasing the heart and soul behind this beloved festival. 

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Songwriter Maya de Vitry and bassist Ethan Jodziewicz come to their partnership with an understanding for their chosen lifestyle and a creative playfulness that enhances their connection. While Maya's roots are firmly planted in folk music, Ethan brings classical music and improvisation to the table. They've been collaborating together since Maya's post-Stray Birds solo career, which launched in early 2019 with her record, Adaptations. Fast forward to 2023, they are back alongside Joel Timmons and Hannah Delynn with the fabulous new EP Infinite. For the first time in years, Maya is back on the road, while Ethan has been touring basically non-stop with musicians like Aoife O'Donovan, Sierra Hull and Lindsay Lou. In our conversation, they talk about how it's helpful to be in a relationship with someone who is also deeply committed to a musician's lifestyle while understanding when someone needs a break.

Maya also reflects on her current state of being within her body and how she has trouble recognizing physical pain to the point where she can't move. She talks of the realization that she had the tendency to tense up when picking up a guitar and how that was because she felt like she didn't belong. Ethan and Maya share their observations on working within a boundary. Ethan laments that he often works within a boundary with improvisation while Maya speaks of placing limitations around touring and performing live shows. We end this insightful interview with Maya revealing celebrity sightings are her Nashville Starbucks and a very fun Lightning Round called "Which One."

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Thirty years ago, Rosanne Cash experienced an all-encompassing transformation. She had just left Nashville, her major label record deal and her marriage. She was living in New York and found herself falling in love with her producer, the guitarist John Leventhal. Her previous album Interiors had set the stage for the new Rosanne. With her landmark album, The Wheel, Cash and Leventhal came together to work on a brand new sound for the artist, who had a well established career in mainstream country along with multiple #1 radio hits. She blew it all up for love! Cash had been unhappy and was yearning to live a life of authenticity in her music and her personal life. Three decades later, she's reissued The Wheel and is ready to TALK ABOUT IT.

In our conversation, Rosanne addresses the inner critic and how she's come to harness its power for good in the editing process. She took a painting class, where she painted a picture of her inner critic and has never looked back. After her divorce, she struggled with motherhood while trying not to ruin her kids' lives. She looks back now with regrets and guilt as most mothers do. Her saving grace is that she was not a normal mom. Her oldest daughter assures her that she would not want a normal mom. We also talk about John's upcoming solo debut album and why the two have established their own record label. Rosanne Cash is a treasure and I very much appreciated this deep dive into such a pivotal moment in her career and life!

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Long before the world fell in love with the music of Iron & Wine, and even before he knew that he wanted a career in music, Sam Beam knew that he loved making things. His parents, who didn’t necessarily understand their artsy kid but wanted to support him, kept Sam well-supplied in drawing paper and art supplies so that his imagination could run free. Sam knew that he was different from other kids but that didn’t bother him. In his early days of making music, Sam obsessively honed his skills as a producer so that he could present the most polished songs possible. It wasn’t until later that he realized that live performance was just as important a part of his craft. Following his own curiosity has enabled Sam to remain intellectually energized throughout two decades of touring and releasing music.

One thing you might not know about Iron & Wine is that he has worked with the same manager for his entire career. When he met Howard Greynolds, Sam’s music career was just beginning to take off. Howard quickly proved that he cared more about the music than about getting money and credit. Their relationship has deepened and evolved over the years as Iron & Wine has become one of the most beloved singer-songwriters in folk music, and the music industry has reinvented itself in the age of streaming. 

Iron & Wine is notoriously private and mysterious, but that might be about to change with the release of ‘Who Can See Forever,’ a meditative documentary. The project started as a concert film but the director, Josh Sliffe, was able to convince Sam to sit for a series of interviews reflecting on his life, his work, parenthood, creativity, craft, and legacy. Those conversations find Sam looking back but mostly looking forward with curiosity and acceptance. 

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After two decades in The Infamous Stringdusters, the Grammy-award winning neo bluegrass band, Travis Book releases his rock americana debut: Love and Other Strange Emotions. That's not to say that Book, who thrives on collaboration, got here on his own. The Colorado musician (now residing in Western North Carolina), was raised by parents who went out their way to ensure that young Travis respected music and had access to instruments. His mother bought him his first bass guitar and his dad allowed him to buy Red Hot Chilli Peppers Blood Sugar Sex Magik (even though it had a parental advisory sticker on the cover). As Travis went off to college in Durango, CO, he found a supportive and vibrant Bluegrass scene where he encountered future members of Greensky Bluegrass (Anders Beck), Leftover Salmon (Andy Thorn) and The Jon Stickley Trio. Those musicians would form their first bluegrass band Broke Mountain Bluegrass Band, which has just reissued a remastered version of their album Cabin in the Hills.

In our conversation, Travis talks about his brief time in Nashville, after he auditioned for The Stringdusters and got the gig as their upright bass player and vocalist. Spoiler alert: he felt VERY intimidated. We get into why he loves collaborations so much and has chosen to create his variety show turned podcast, The Travis Book Happy Hour, into an engine for unique performances with guests like Lindsay Lou, Jim Lauderdale, Sierra Hull and many more. The Happy Hour, which started in Spring 2020, was first set without an audience, which made Travis let go of his attachment to their reaction using wisdom borrowed from Eastern philosophy. He also explains how he is romantic, yet practical in everything he works to accomplish. Travis is a literal ray of positivity, so if you're having a bad day, I promise that this conversation's gonna lift you up in a seriously not-cornball way. TRAVIS!

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Former trumpet player and anxious adventurer Caroline Cotter had been constantly on the move performing hundreds of live shows since 2015. At the dawn of the pandemic she had a full album in the can and ready to go. When the world shut down, so did she. She set her songs to the side and didn't pick up her guitar for a long while. She left her city of Portland, Maine and headed even more north to the Acadia region and reconnected with nature: i.e. hugging as many trees and rocks and one woman can. Also during that time, she had the opportunity to sit with her shelved album. She discovered something amazing in that stillness: She, along with co-producer Alec Spiegelman, had made a fucking bomb record. She went forward with release plans, blew up her Kickstarter goal and finally gave us her third album, Gently as I Go, this past August.

In our conversation, Caroline talks about what she's like to work with in the studio (hint: she is not a relaxed and calm dreamboat) as well as her relationship to rest. As someone who has struggled with anxiety, she did not take to rest naturally, however, she’s cultivated a yoga and meditation practice in order to maintain calm. We also dig into her history: talking about how the ocean has remained a constant in her relationship to home. Growing up in Rhode Island, she and her siblings all took piano lessons. Heading to college, she majored in art with a minor in Spanish. She has a reputation for being a globe-trotter, which began in her travels to Thailand, Spain and Portugal as an international educator. She quit her day-job in 2015 to pursue music with a basically nonexistent fanbase. These days, Caroline's fans are many and they are dedicated. You don't find many independent musicians with such a devoted crowd as Caroline: they buy her music, they attend her shows, they put her up when she's in town. So hello all you Cotter-Kickers, hope this conversation does your favorite songwriter justice.

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Jobi Riccio has only begun to scratch the surface of what they have to offer on their debut album Whiplash. The songwriting is centered around self-discovery and mourning past lives laid alongside super smart country and pop melodies. Our hero grew up an outdoor kid amongst the woods of Red Rocks Parks and Amphitheatre in Colorado. A strong bluegrass community encircled her playing from a very young age in a way that encouraged her to pursue music as a career. She spent time in Boston attending Berklee College of Music nestled in the folk community centered around the historic venue Club Passim. Then March 2020 hit.

Jobi left her newfound community and found herself back in her childhood bedroom. She was “wrestling with all the complications of finding herself and her place in the world while letting go of her childhood and the sense of grounding that came with it.” Eventually, they made their way to Asheville, North Carolina to work on Whiplash. In the studio, she took her time making the album and discovered that, indeed, she had a strong sense of vision for the music. The trust of her collaborators allowed her to trust in herself and create an album that is turning heads and make Jobi Riccio one of the most exciting young songwriters of 2023. I loved talking to them about their origin, time in Boston and their continuing musical journey. Can't wait for you to hear her new album!

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Curiosity, luck and drive are three words that revolve around singer-songwriter Billy Keane. He was born with all three traits and they are the hallmark of his music, especially his new album Oh, These Days. The seven song cycle was written during the pandemic and right after some very big life changes: he got divorced, quit alcohol and split with his band The Whiskey Treaty Roadshow. He approached his healing process with an extreme curiosity and a need for simple living. For the last several years, he's been cultivating a simple space to ignite creativity in the Western Massachusetts town of Lenox, MA, where he owns land and a small cottage.

In our conversation, Billy talks about his roots in spirituality and his early devotion to music. Keane was born in Australia while his father was working as a minister there. They moved their family to Connecticut when he was two years old. He left his hometown at 18 for college, but left for Seattle to work in commercial deep-sea diving. From there, he made his way to Western Mass where he found himself working at James Taylor's studio. James and his wife Kim quickly realized that Billy was a talented musician and turned into key figures and big time supporters. Oh, These Days, Billy's second album, is truly a meditation on the human experience met with an insatiable love for life and rebirth.

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Bluegrass hero and former weird kid Alice Gerrard strongly believes that traditional music is connected to everyday life. She has said: “When you listen to traditional music you have such a sense of this connectedness of this person’s life. It comes out of the earth.” She was first exposed to folk music while attending Antioch College. Jeremy Foster (her boyfriend at the time, who would become her first husband) introduced her to The Harry Smith Anthology of American Folk Music. Upon listening, she became hooked and more drawn to lonesome and rough folk songs versus the pristine vocalists. That mentality of keeping her performance untarnished and imperfect has followed her ever since.

After she and Jeremy moved to Washington DC, she became acquainted with Hazel Dickens. She considered Hazel a mentor figure and studied her musicality. The two would record four albums together as the seminal duo Hazel Dickens and Alice Gerrard. The two did not speak for many years after they split in the late 70's. The breakup was messy and hard for both, particularly Hazel. Years later, they reconciled and would perform and were close until Hazel's death in 2011. Nowadays, Alice, who lives in Durham, NC, has begun digitizing her huge photo archive for a book as well as performing with the younger generation of traditional music. People like Tatiana Hargreaves, Reed Stutz and Phil Cook are regulars on her stage. They also contribute to her new album Sun to Sun. Alice digs in talking about her unorthodox parenting style (which is no secret), imperfectionism, appreciating memory and the fantastic new record.  

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This week we have a Basic Folk hero returning to the pod! Tre Burt is back today, going track by track through his new album, ‘Traffic Fiction.’ I am a longtime fan of Tre’s music, and this new release on Oh Boy Records is my favorite of his records so far. It combines what fans have come to love about Tre’s writing and unmistakable vocal performances with a new infusion of soul and Motown-inspired styles. The soulful grooves of ‘Traffic Fiction’ are souvenirs of Tre’s close relationship with his grandfather, who recently passed away. Tre recalls listening to his pops’ favorite records and invites us into his family’s musical lineage.

The heart of the album are field recordings that Tre made of his grandfather while he was still alive. Just two people, talking about music, talking about life, encouraging one another. The simple moments that mean the most when somebody is gone. And they give us insight into one of the greatest triumphs of ‘Traffic Fiction,’ which is the transformation of melancholy into dancing. You can’t help but move your body when you hear this music, even as Tre deals with profound loss. He reminds us that being an Important Artist is not incompatible with having fun. And isn’t that what great Black artists do? Tell you the story of a tragedy in a way that somehow makes you feel joyful?

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Antje Duvekot confronts trauma with a newfound wisdom and fierceness on her new record, My New Wild West, her best in her 20 plus year career produced by her friend Mark Erelli. To put it plainly, Antje, who moved to America from Germany at age 13, had a really rough time as a teenager. She was transplanted to a totally new universe with a new language she barely understood with unsupportive and abusive parents. She soothed herself with music, her first love. She sang and played guitar very quietly, which has translated to the musician she has become. Her voice can be soft, child-like and playful, but it can also be strong and deep. The control is incredible. Not to mention, this woman's observation of the world is profound. In each song, she creates worlds that come to life with her poignant lyricism. It's arresting and always unexpected.

This interview was different for me in that Antje and I have known each other for over two decades. That's happened before on Basic Folk, but it feels like our careers started on the exact same day and we've grown together in this messy business. The story is that we met at Club Passim (maybe it was a Gillian Welch tribute night and thanks to Matt Smith) in Cambridge, MA around 2002. It took one song and I was floored. She gave me her CD, I took it and played it over and over on the WERS Coffeehouse (the morning folk show). Every Coffeehouse DJ knew how to spell her name and would expect to field calls every time we played her music. That just doesn't happen anymore; it was right at the end of an era when radio could do that. From there, Antje's career took shape. I'll be forever grateful to her for that experience. It really felt like radio at its best: connecting a community with something really needed in an organic way. It's good to get back together in our conversation. Please excuse me if I'm a little too casual in this one! 

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Your Career vs Your Soul: a debate feat. The Milk Carton Kids (Kenneth Pattengale and Joey Ryan), music journalist and Why Write Host, Kim Ruehl, Isa Burke (Lula Wiles, Aoife O’Donovan), musician and Basic Folk guest host lizzie no and yours truly, Cindy Howes, boss of Basic Folk. It's Folk Debate Club, our occasional crossover series with fellow folk-pod Why We Write!

I’d like to think that the act of “selling out” ebbs and flows with the passing of time. As the earning power of the folk musician changes, so does the allowance of what is perceived as abandoning your principles for the almighty dollar. That doesn’t mean that it always feels great. Choices musicians have to make to further their careers can be exhausting and detrimental to their art. How do you strike that balance at the intersection of art and commerce in the folk music world?

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Podcaster, #1 hit songwriter, human and dog mother, gay icon Jenny Owen Youngs returns with her first full length album since 2012! In the last decade plus, Jenny has experienced a wild ride of changes like divorce, extreme grief, moving across the country, remarrying, etc. Her main project while not writing, recording and tour, she hosts podcasts like the very successful Buffering The Vampire Slayer alongside her ex-wife, Kristin Russo ("A Buffy The Vampire Slayer" rewatch pod, which is now an X-Files rewatch show called The Ex-Files). She also has songwriting credits for Panic! At the Disco, Pitbull, Ingrid Michaelson, and Brett Dennen thanks to her deal with Dan Wilson (Semisonic and epic co-writer) and his publishing company.

JOY's new album Avalanche covers a lot of hard topics (see earlier: divorce, grief, moving, remarrying) and was produced by angel human Josh Kaufman (Taylor Swift, The National, The Hold Steady, Josh Ritter, and so on...). Jenny has always been an artist who is not afraid to show her whole self: good and the bad. Case in point: She described the inspiration for her very first break-through song "Fuck Was I" as "horrible, horrible, horrible decision making," adding it was "just your classic love gone wrong hell." Never one to back down from a fight, Jenny's approaching these songs with honesty, bravery and her biting sense of humor. It's cliche to say that talking to Jenny is a JOY, but it's a cliche for a reason. Thanks Jenny!

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Milwaukee singer-songwriter Buffalo Nichols returns to Basic Folk today to talk about his new album, ‘The Fatalist,’ out September 15 from Fat Possum Records. We picked up where Nichols’ debut album left off, traveling the world hot on the heels of the blues. Following a profound tradition can be just as frustrating as it is romantic. In his years on the road promoting his self-titled debut album, Carl aka Buffalo has witnessed how the blues can be a home base for listeners’ nostalgic, back-in-the-good-old days, artistically stagnant, patriarchal tendencies. He wants none of it. ‘The Fatalist’ is an offering to the gods of change, of self-awareness, of integrity.

One of the major achievements of this collection of eight songs is the seemingly effortless sonic collage that comes second nature to hip hop but is less discussed in roots and americana. From a Charley Patton sample to “Ali Farka” Touré-influenced fingerpicking to tasty 808s to contemporary songwriting that wrestles with what it means to be a good man in 2023, ‘The Fatalist’ tells a story about the present, while keeping the past close and eschewing sentimentality. This sense of being in conversation with storytellers of the past is a pillar of what I would call the Black Art Tradition, and it is part of what makes Buffalo Nichols one of the most exciting artists in blues music right now.

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Sisters Leah Song & Chloe Smith grew up in Urban Atlanta, they also lived in New Orleans and outside of Asheville. The pair are deeply rooted in their Southern identity as evidenced in their band, Rising Appalachia. Although their parents are not professional musicians, music was a constant part of the family. Their parents were dedicated students of early Appalachian music. The sisters played music everyday, were classically trained, attended fiddle camps and music festivals among other musical activities. The sisters developed their own taste in Atlanta’s 90s rap underground scene. There was a time when the two didn’t want anything to do with their parents' music, however, eventually they came back to it and decided to pursue Appalachian music thanks to some time spent away living in Mexico.

Aside from music, activism and purpose remain very important to Rising Appalachia. Leah's idea for "The Slow Music Movement" came out of the desire to sustain the troubadour lifestyle over participating in the traditional touring musician industrial complex. While touring, the band requests local food in their rider, invite tabling from non-profits, and work to create relationships with the local community. They also will seek out alternative methods of transportation: trains or smaller vehicles that use non-fossil fuels. Rising Appalachia has been known to do hub shows where they stay for a few days and create relationships with the community. This past July, they hosted Catalyst, their first annual music art and education festival in Asheville. Leah and I dug into how being musicians helped them create a space where artists felt welcome and taken care of. We also talk about Chloe's new baby and how touring might be looking different this fall. Check them out and their latest album, Live At Preservation Hall.

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Lancaster-born, Nashville-based Nina de Vitry‘s debut album, What You Feel is Real, shines while showcasing her passion for jazz and folk music. de Vitry’s name may sound familiar, as she comes from a musical family and is the youngest sister of folk superstar Maya de Vitry (formerly of The Stray Birds). She grew up fiddling around the campfire, while being classically trained on the violin and (her true love) the piano. She started writing songs very young, became enchanted with foreign languages and found herself studying at Temple University. Part-way through her freshman year, something felt wrong and she decided to take a gap year in order to operate outside of a system and find out what she wanted to do. After attending the beloved Miles of Music camp in New Hampshire, Nina was inspired to fully lean into her musicality. She recorded an EP in 2017 and started dabbling in music as a profession.

During the pandemic, she was in the creating process of What You Feel is Real. At the time, Nina experienced a return to self in several ways including reconnecting with the piano. A theme of the record is the making the choice believing yourself: You say “What we feel is real. What we love is real. And I think the more we all trust these inner voices, the closer we will get to both knowing ourselves and knowing a more loving and peaceful society.” Her new record is a fabulously strong debut that feels like a classic songwriter album playing with different styles of jazz. It is a pure delight to talk to Nina!

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Ben Harper has a deep connection to music through his family, who own a a very special music store in the Inland Empire of California. The legacy of the store is founded on ensuring its community always has access to music. That legacy has deeply impacted the type of person Ben Harper continues to be throughout his artistic life. He’s been a musician who has given so many artists their start (very notably Jack Johnson), and has been a gateway into roots music for many of his listeners. 

In our conversation, we really dig into Ben’s new album Wide Open Light, which takes him back to his acoustic and slide-heavy roots. It walks that beautiful line between singer-songwriter, country and soul that his fans have loved for decades. The record shows him being vulnerable, talking about spirituality and, of course, flexing his impressive guitar chops and his intimate vocal delivery. We also got to talk about Harry Styles, who Harper has recently gone on tour with and where he’s met a whole new generation of fans. It was very cool to discuss not only his beginnings, but where he is now as an artist and how he's shaping his legacy with the next generation of musical listeners.

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Canadian-born, New York based banjo person Taylor Ashton’s second solo album, Stranger to the Feeling, was recorded on a coast to coast road trip during 2021. These were the two weeks post-vaccine where we thought everything was A-OK, so Ashton and producer Jacob Blumberg set out on a recording adventure that included collaborations with friends new and old. Ashton, who’s since become a new parent with wife Rachael Price (Lake Street Dive), wanted to create an album that “meditates on the meaning of closeness and connection in an age of increasing isolation.” The energy of the new album is just that and it is palpable alongside its use of space and natural sound (gotta love those birds and room noise).

In our conversation, Taylor expands on the making of the album while addressing questions of the difficulty of reconnecting after the pandemic and how the music helped break that barrier of social isolation. We also go through a lot of the album’s songs and get to topics like crying while playing your own song, struggling with expressing feelings and not being and being cool. Taylor also graciously shares their thoughts on gender expression and walking the line of benefiting from the patriarchy and not feeling exactly like they embody the male gender all of the time. Being 6’2 and crying while listening to your own song maybe sums it all up? Or maybe you can’t summarize Taylor Ashton? I’m very grateful to welcome him back to Basic Folk!

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The headline for Los Angeles-based Raye Zaragoza's new album Hold That Spirit is that after she broke off her engagement, she used her wedding budget to fund the recording. She wrote the songs the year she turned 30 while she was thinking of the expectations placed on women in society to have everything together at a certain age: marriage, kids, career, etc. She's decided to let those expectations go and live in the joy that life offers and explores her newfound freedom and indigenous identity in these new songs. She's moving forward as a role model in Los Angeles' indigenous community, which she has been a part of since she was 14 years old.

We go through the album track by track covering topics of social justice, eating disorders and perfectionism. She worked exclusively with female collaborators on Hold That Spirit, which allowed Raye a vulnerability in her writing sessions and studio time that she had yet to experience. She found co-writing with other women an easy space to feel emotionally safe. Working with like-minded feminists and activists fueled this album, which has allowed Raye to begin to break through those unfair expectations society places on women. In our conversation, Raye is thoughtful and serious, yet fun and playful even with such heavy topics addressed. Thank you, Raye! Don't sleep on our first interview with Raye from episode 107!

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It’s been ten years since Boston-area Meg Hutchinson has released an album and she did it super quietly, so no shade if you didn’t realize that your favorite middle sister is back with some seriously devastating songs. Meg grew up just outside of Great Barrington, MA where she had an idyllic childhood surrounded by woods and framed by her desire to become a folk singer. That dream was realized after she graduated college, quit her organic lettuce farm job and moved to Boston in the early 2000’s. There, she wove herself into its vibrant folk community gigging around New England, performing in the subway and getting signed to the prestigious Red House Records, where she released three albums.

Throughout her life she has suffered from several mental illness, experiencing her first major bout of depression at age 19. Not understanding, she felt ashamed and hid her illness for nine years. After a huge whirlwind 2006 tour in England where she experienced a high never felt before, Meg came home and felt mania and severe depression all at once. She called her family to help and it was her younger sister, Tessa, who eventually got Meg professional help. After a long road stabilizing and healing, Meg has a grasp on her bi-polar disorder, which she calls by its former name: manic depression. She’s discovered her calling as a palliative care hospital chaplain and hospice worker. She’s no longer working music. She’s playing music and that’s how she approached this new album: All The Wonder All The Beauty, an album she says “is about things we don’t want to talk about.” She writes about her mental illness, midlife and death. This is an intense discussion with one of my favorite people! I’m so happy she’s released this album and excited for you to get to know Meg Hutchinson.

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Basic Folk is thrilled to interview The Bluegrass Situation's July 2023 Artist of the Month: Molly Tuttle! Quickly becoming The Bluegrass American Idol, Molly Tuttle's new album City of Gold is hot off the heels of her Grammy-award winning 2022 record Crooked Tree, which also got her a nomination in one of the coveted "Big Four" categories: Best New Artist. Aaand we know that WE ALL have had eyes on Molly for years, BUT since she's fully embraced the bluegrass genre on these last new albums, Best New Artist makes a lot of sense. Bluegrass was the music she grew up with in Palo Alto, CA with her guitar-teacher father helping her soak in the vibrant scene. She's also learning how to take control of the bluegrass narrative by telling her story and sharing her perspective through her new songs.

That rings so true with the new record, City of Gold, co-produced by Tuttle and Dobro-master Jerry Douglas (of Alison Kraus & Union Station fame), mostly co-written with her partner Ketch Secor (of Old Crow Medicine Show) and featuring her crack backing band: Golden Highway. She's writing bluegrass songs that are fun and insightful at the same time. We get a bluegrass version of Alice in Wonderland, the story of a woman fighting for her bodily autonomy and not to mention that time she married Dave Matthews on a road trip (LOL J/K, but that is a real new song with the real Dave). She digs into her new album as well as finding her own way in the patriarchal world of Bluegrass and leveling up about her alopecia, an autoimmune skin disease, causing hair loss. Molly Tuttle is a great hang, an inspiration for us all and has made a fabulous new album, City of Gold. LYLAS, Molly!

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Kara Jackson has a mind like a diamond and a voice like maple syrup. She has always been drawn to music as a medium, but you probably first heard of her as the National Youth Poet Laureate. Cutting her teeth as a performing poet gave Jackson a huge public platform as well as a sense of how form can be a foundation for expression.

Now, at the ripe age of 23, Jackson has released her stunning debut album, ‘Why Does The Earth Give Us People To Love.’ As the title suggests, this album reflects on love and loss. Kara has some fantastic insights about how embracing grief, and sharing it with others, can lead us to a healthier culture. She also shares about how her parents’ political convictions have influenced her concept of an artist’s role in the world.

One of my favorite moments in my conversation is where Kara articulates how she sees her work in conversation with Black artists who came before her. What a gift, to hear a brilliant young artist speak so clearly about how their creativity fits into a bigger tradition. We cannot wait to see what she does next.

*** lizzie and Kara talked about Kara’s poem “anthem for my belly after eating too much” at the top of the interview. Click here to read.

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Tim O'Brien is one of Bluegrass' beloved players, from his work with the innovative Hot Rize to his yearly appearances at The Telluride Bluegrass Festival. He's just released his first album of all original material, which is something to be said for his 50 year career. At 69 years old, it's no surprise that the theme of aging pops up on quite a few of his new songs. He opens up about his perspective on aging and what it has looked for his predecessors in Bluegrass. He reflects on his history, from choosing Colorado to over New York or L.A. to being very aware of how hard it was for his sister, Mollie O'Brien, to have a solo career and be a parent.

Nicknamed Red, Tim O'Brien serves as hero and mentor to many of today's finest players in the genre including Sarah Jarosz and Chris Thile. He recognizes the importance of allowing younger generations to step into the spotlight, while still being ready to honor his own Bluegrass heroes. In our conversation, Tim gets into things he's noticed changing for the better in his scene and also talks about how technology is both a good and challenging thing. For instance, In-ear monitors are great, HOWEVER, they really isolate the players instead of really feeling like they are playing together. Thanks Tim O'Brien!

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I am feeling #blessed and #grateful to be sharing today’s interview with our listeners. Brian Dunne is one of my dearest pals in the music biz, not to mention one of my favorite songwriters working today. Brian’s songs are always clever and sincere, dark and fun, honest and imaginative. He’s got a way with words, a killer voice, and big time rock star vibes. These are a few of the reasons why “Loser On The Ropes,” Dunne’s Kill Rock Stars debut, is earning this indie rocker critical acclaim and a ton of new fans.

Brian is a New York-born artist who knew he wanted to be a musician from the first moment he saw Bruce Springsteen on television. After graduating from Berklee College of Music, Brian started making records and figuring out his sound. He’s become a stalwart in the New York music scene both with his own music and as a member of the super-silly supergroup Fantastic Cat [shoutout to bandmate and Basic Folk alum Anthony D’Amato!].

In 2022, Brian got word that a live recording of his song “New Tattoo,” which had been recorded during a 2018 soundcheck, was climbing the charts in the Netherlands. His unexpected European star turn has not gone to this working artist’s head one bit; in fact he has delved even deeper into themes of failure and humility in his recent songs. But what keeps people coming back to Brian’s music is his hopeful spirit in spite of all the darkness.

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Is mandolinist Ethan Setiawan 100 years old?! The Indiana-born Setiawan's expert playing will fool you into thinking he's four times his actual age. Thanks to a supportive family and mennonite community, Ethan came to the mandolin and folk music at an early age. His impressive proficiency and technical prowess landed him a full scholarship to Berklee College of Music in Boston. There, he was exposed to all different types of music and developed that natural rhythm and groove that only comes with being in musical community.

His new instrumental album Gambit was produced by his mentor, the legendary fiddler Darol Anger, best known for being in the original lineup for The David Grisman Quintet. Through Darol, Ethan was able to work on a tradition of his own through music built from a foundation of Bluegrass. He talks about that AND he explains what the bluegrass vocabulary is on the mandolin for dumb-dumbs like me, who do not play music and are not folk scholars. Setiawan is an in-demand side man and band member, and can be seen playing with his band Corner House, Darol Anger, and Tony Trischka among others. Enjoy Ethan and get to know his new record!!

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Urgency and patience are the two poles of New England songwriter Caitlin Canty’s magnetism. Her music invites you to quiet moments of reflection with unhurried confidence. When I first heard her song “Get Up” in 2015 I felt like I was receiving a very important magical message. Canty’s subsequent releases have further revealed her uncanny talents for grooving at the right tempo, describing the memorable image, leaning into elegant arrangements, and letting delicate moods hang in the air.

Canty’s new album, ‘Quiet Flame,’ was recorded live with a string band and no drums. Live tracking has become her signature over the years, and this new record shows the authentic and powerful moments that can only be created in that setting. Produced by Chris Eldridge of the Punch Brothers and featuring collaborators like Sarah Jarosz, Brittany Haas, and Paul Kowert, ‘Quiet Flame’ is not only a showcase for Canty’s unmistakable voice and songwriting, but also a celebration of her impressive artistic community.

Caitlin knows a thing or two about teamwork after many years of team sports. She was a soccer player and heptathlete through her college years, and I have a hunch that her athlete-brain and her musician-brain share a particular wisdom. Pacing, collaboration, focus, and graceful movement characterize her unique body of work. It was a true delight to talk about writing, friendship, family, touring, humility, and self-belief with this gem of a musician.

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Rissi Palmer and Miko Marks have been laying the foundation for country musicians and fans who are Black for almost 20 years. Back in the early 2000's both women experienced the trials and tribulations of being Black women in country. Despite their success and large growing fanbase, both were separately discouraged by the ceilings and roadblocks they encountered from the white-dominated industry. Even though they nearly quit music, they discovered a deep and meaningful ally and friend in each other. Now, both are back in the spotlight in a different era that has seen a rise of Black musicians and The Black Opry in Nashville. Recently, Rissi and Miko have been touring together and we got them both on to talk about their parallel experiences, friendship and what they've been up to recently. It was a sincere honor and a blast to speak with these inspiring women.

This month The Bluegrass Situation is highlighting The Black Opry as their artist of the month. Basic Folk, a part of The Bluegrass Situation Podcast Network, is proud to present this episode in collaboration with our BGS motherhost. 

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Welcome to Folk Debate Club, our occasional crossover series with fellow folk-pod Why We Write! Today, to discuss Lyrics vs Melody, we welcome our panel of guests: music journalist and former singer/songwriter, Kim Ruehl, Isa Burke (Lula Wiles, Aoife O’Donovan), illustrious male folk singer Willi Carlisle, musician and Basic Folk guest host lizzie no, and yours truly, Cindy Howes, boss of Basic Folk.

In music (and life), there is debate over authenticity versus performative. On stage, in written music, online and in person: what is the artist going for? Realness or entertainment? It doesn’t seem that simple. There are many examples of artists who do both very well and I think the best art is created at the intersection of the two.

There is no question: it’s hard to pull off. We want to try and break down what each of these elements is in music, how to achieve each and what is more important: to perform a personality or just be your genuine self?

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Lately I have been fascinated by musicians who are creative not only in what they create, but also in terms of how they share it. This curiosity has made me a fan of Matt Sucich, an artist who has cultivated a passionate fanbase via his live performances, instagram livestreams, and thoughtful email newsletter. We are living in a moment of history where there is more music available than ever before, and more ways of interacting with creators than ever before. But it can be challenging to sift through all the noise and get to the heart of things. True intimacy in creative community is rare and I admire those who are able to sustain it. Matt is one of those people.

If you are new to Sucich’s catalog, I suggest starting with his thoughtful, inviting, pandemic-era album, ‘Don’t Be So Hard On Yourself,’ and then diving into his latest release, ‘Holy Smokes,’ which is out now on Five and Dime Records. Matt and I talked about how the recording process for this new album differed from past releases, the role humor plays in his music, the open mic night that changed his life, his passion for puppets, what it means to show your work, and the songwriters who have shaped his worldview. He is one of the New York music scene’s best-kept secrets, so welcome aboard the Sucich train!

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Fiddler Hanneke Cassel has been a big Celtic star for decades and comes to the pod to try and teach me the difference between Irish and Scottish music. Just kidding all you Hanneke-heads! …. But seriously, she helps me keep some things straight. She’s been fusing all different styles of music for a long time and her latest album Infinite Brightness weaves her signature flowing Celtic style along with traces of Americana, old time (but she tells me she’s not an old time or a bluegrass player) and a hint of classical and maybe even Texas Swing, which was how she first started on the fiddle. Well, she actually started playing classical and found it hard to read music, but eventually discovered a fiddling competition and fell in love with the instrument.

In our conversation, Hanneke reflects back on her youthful playing and how she decided to go to Berklee College of Music in Boston. Once there and along with Laura Cortese and Lissa Schneckenburger, she was at the forefront of a fiddle revolution that continues to this day in New England. She talks about her teachers who connected her to the music she loves most, the importance of encouragement from her peers and the inspiration for her to do the same for the next generation. Also, there are lots of Matt Smith references in this episode, so if you are not familiar: Matt Smith runs the historic Club Passim in Harvard Square, Cambridge and is the center point for many touring and New England folk musicians. There is no one like Hanneke! Her new album is a delight and I’m so happy to have her on the pod!

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Dr. Dom Flemons comes off as older than his 40 years and I think it's because he seems like he is of a different era. This is thanks in part to his work in teaching and interpreting such old songs, such as his work with the Carolina Chocolate Drops that he was in alongside Rhiannon Giddens and Justin Robinson. Originally from Phoenix, Dom is considered an expert player on the banjo, guitar, harmonica, jug, percussion, quills, fife and rhythm bones. When he was 18 years old, he saw Dave Van Ronk in concert and was completely taken with the way Van Ronk told the stories and history behind the old songs he was playing in concert. From then on, Dom also would give the background of the songs he performed in concert, leading to much intense research for songs and their backstories.

On his latest album Traveling Wildfire, he began work on the album during the pandemic. He wanted “to figure out a way to give the listener a way to process the world around them without being too didactic.” The record is filled with Dom's most personal songs about his family, history and, of course, interpretations of very old songs. We talk about all this and his strong outfit game, which, I'm sure, no one is surprised by. 

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Libby Rodenbough’s second solo record sees the fiddler and songwriter further stretching from the bluegrass/old time style of her band Mipso. Born in Greensboro, SC, music was just another activity that Libby did along with soccer and going to girl scouts. She played violin in her school’s orchestra and thought she’d be a music major, until a college professor let her know that her playing was not up to par with those who studied classical music at a collegial level. She found herself at local bluegrass jam sessions and meeting her future Mipso band members, which led to her discover that music could be a creative outlet and a means of expression.

On the new record, Libby is processing and coping with the death of her mother, who was diagnosed with an incurable cancer and died about 5 months before she began recording the album. Created amongst North Carolina musicians, she found herself nestled in a group of people who were also dealing with loss of and serious illness of loved ones. This gave the sessions a heavy and contemplative feel, but it was also comforting to be around friends who felt the existence and love of those who were no longer alive in the room. Libby is open, honest and real. We get into lady-things and cat-things. Hope you enjoy Libby! Her new album is wonderful.

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Tracking with her brand: “an old soul inside a 30-something millennial,” Alice Howe‘s latest was recorded at FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, AL. Although the legendary studio has seen massive icons like Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett and Etta James recording their biggest hits, the building itself is quite unremarkable. Regardless, Alice was able to soak up the incredible vibe that ugly wood-paneled space offers over the course of the recording sessions, which was done in two parts. Freebo, her frequent collaborator and bassist, helmed the production and joined us for this interview. The two gave some insight into the way they communicate and how that works itself out in a studio setting.

We dig into some of the songs on the new record Circumstance, including “What About You,” which comes along with a music video featuring some very playful sides of Alice, including some very femme scenes of her at the pool and on the beach. We got into an interesting discussion of different ways women portray themselves in music, using Bonnie Raitt and Linda Rondstadt prototypes. Not sure if we reached a consensus, but I enjoyed getting into it! We also get into how Freebo is a goofball AND a cool-guy scholar and how those traits translate into his and into Alice’s music. And we leave some space for Alice and Freebo to fawn all over Freebo’s former collaborator, Bonnie Raitt, and her recent song of the year award at the 2023 Grammys. It’s always so fun to talk to Alice (who was also on episode 72!) and we have a doubly good time with Freebo. Enjoy!

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Kristian Matson grew up in the Swedish countryside and came to be The Tallest Man on Earth in the country's diverse and low-key music scene. He often speaks of his weird little brain and a wild imagination, which actually stems from a heap of anxiety that he lives with everyday. Growing up, he struggled to tamp down his high-energy, especially in a culture that encouraged everyone to not stand out or draw attention to themselves. When he discovered the guitar, it felt like he found a vessel to harness all his energy, creativity and imagination. As a teenager, he found solace in the music of Bob Dylan, which led him to discovering other American folk artists like Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger. His world opened up when he found guitarists that used open tunings like Skip James and Nick Drake.

His new album Henry St., was written and created in the aftermath of the pandemic. Kristian struggled with writing in forced solitude and found himself focusing too much on darkness. His inspiration returned when he finally got back on tour, where he began writing non-stop due to being back in motion and around other people. Human connection fueled the new album, which was produced by Nick Sanborn of Sylvan Esso in North Carolina. The two musicians' similarities create a beautiful chemistry on the new record, which is the first complete band album recorded by Tallest Man on Earth.

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William Prince spent a long time recording his debut album. By the time ‘Earthly Days’ was released in 2015, Prince had lived a lot of life and was ready for the sort of instant stardom that would throw a lot of emerging singer-songwriters for a loop. A number of extraordinary things happened followed the release of ‘Earthly Days:’ the song “Breathless” was a hit on the Billboard adult contemporary music charts, Prince won the Juno Award for Contemporary Roots Album of the Year, and Prince toured the hell out of the record for several years, opening for artists like Neil Young. This extended tour gave him the opportunity to basically perfect his live set in a way many new artists don’t get to.

William has gone deeper and deeper and deeper with subsequent releases. He describes love and loss and self and community and fear and courage with universal appeal on 2020’s ‘Reliever.’ He reinterprets the orthodoxy and aesthetics of his Christian upbringing through an indigenous lens on ‘Gospel First Nation.’ He synthesizes varied traditions and flexes impressive vocal chops almost casually.

William’s new record, ‘Stand In The Joy,’ comes out April 14th on Six Shooter Records, and it is a catchy, ambitious testimony about the power of love and hope. Talking about the album with William gave me the chance to ask him about his evolving spirituality, the tension between tradition and trendiness in roots music, how the loves of his life change how he shows up as a performer, what it’s like to work with superstar producer Dave Cobb, and what freedom looks like from a Peguis first nations perspective.

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Multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, librettist, teacher, and dog lady Kimaya Diggs grew up surrounded by music. In her family music was a tool for connection. Kimaya’s 2018 debut album, ‘Breastfed,’ puts together the story of her upbringing through dreamy soul-folk jams. Even though she had been a musician all her life, she experienced a steep learning curve when it came to recording in the studio. She quickly figured out how the complex processes of mixing and mastering can impact how an audience receives your music, AND how frustrating it can be to play guitar to a click track.

These lessons learned left Kimaya excited to get to work on her second album. In the meantime she had adopted a traumatized racing greyhound, and tragically lost her mom to breast cancer. There was so much love and loss to process, and Kimaya was figuring out how to share these precious pieces of her life while still honoring her mom’s privacy and her own healing journey. You might think that as a result, the album would comprise 45 minutes of whispered meditations on the great beyond. But ‘Quincy’ is an album bursting with joy and exuberant grooves.

Kimaya’s husband, Jacob, plays in her band and contributed music for this new album. One of the most interesting parts of our conversation was when Kimaya shared how she manages to keep both her marriage and her creative partnership healthy at the same time. Here’s a hint: the secret has to do with co-writing.

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Brett Dennen is a songwriter, painter and summer camp enthusiast. His camp experience was instrumental in developing his musicality. He attended Camp Jack Hazard in the Sierra Nevada Mountains where young Brett was enamored with the music his camp counselors would play on guitar around the campfire. He was introduced to Paul Simon, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell and John Denver thanks to his counselors and his parents. He really developed as a songwriter in college at UC Santa Cruz. After school, he wove himself into the LA songwriter scene, which in the early 2000’s was a haven for musicians like himself, Alexi Murdoch, Damien Rice and Josh Ritter. He developed a large fanbase that remains loyal to this day.

Brett talks about running his own summer camp, Camp Dennen, which allows him to create community through nature and art. He shares his experience of writing and thinking about being a dad and how that relates to the reality of fatherhood. And he talks about decidedly not being in the cool crowd and also not caring about it… well not caring about it as much as he used to. Brett’s written some of my favorite songs of the 21st century. It was an honor to have him on the pod!

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Nickel Creek, the bluegrass trio who's been in existence for almost 35 years, returns with their first original release in nine years. It's brainy, it's theatrical, its twists and turns are not predictable from its authors, who have entered mid-life. To that point, there is lots of middle on this album. The middle's not the most exciting or thrilling part (see: beginning or ending), but there is plenty happening and plenty to celebrate. The band says that's the feeling they want to convey through the record. Lucky us, we get to crawl into the band's history and approach to the new music via folk fashion icon, Sara Watkins.

Despite the focus on the middle, Sara gets into the beginning of her musical experience, talking of her practicing habits, musical summer camp, and being friends with 70 year old bluegrass players at the local pizza parlor. She also talks about her vocal prowess, particularly on "Where The Long Line Leads," where she blazes; singing on the very edge of her voice and it's so exciting. Of course we talk about her history of stage outfits, from mid-length skirts to fashionable jumpsuits, she's done a lot of fashion in the folk world over the course of her career. Sara Watkins is a dream: From Nickel Creek, to I'm With Her and The Watkins Family Hour! Enjoy this wonderful person! Go get that Nickel Creek record - holy cow!

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Adeem the Artist has gained a slew of new fans in the past year with their new album, ‘White Trash Revelry,’ but they are anything but an overnight success. Their journey to singer-songwriter acclaim began in middle school, when they moved from the Carolinas to New York State. Finding themself a southerner in the north, they found out that being from the American south meant something to people. It came with a certain set of assumptions and expectations that they have reckoned with over the course of their eight albums.

2022’s ‘White Trash Revelry’ is packed with poignant, witty, economical lyrics and characters so real you could reach out and shake their hands. Throughout the album you’ll notice a complicated relationship with religion, which of course we had to dig into on the podcast. In a past life Adeem was called strongly to the church, and served as a worship leader. You might be surprised at how highly transferable their pastoral skill set has been in their work as a singer-songwriter.

This episode contains many, many, many laughs, some guitar talk, some crowdfunding talk, some deep family and spiritual talk, and a million great insights from one of alt-country music’s rising stars.

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Welcome to Folk Debate Club, our occasional crossover series with fellow folk-pod Why We Write! Today, to discuss Lyrics vs Melody, we welcome our panel of guests: music journalist and former singer/songwriter, Kim Ruehl, Isa Burke (Lula Wiles, Aoife O’Donovan), musician and Basic Folk guest host lizzie no, and yours truly, Cindy Howes, boss of Basic Folk.

Our conversation begins with a case each for melody and lyrics from members of the panel. Some panelists are more fluid with their thoughts and feelings and at least one of us changes sides mid-discussion. Some interesting opinions emerge! For instance, manipulation in music is no good if the listener can see through your bullshit: “Part of the job [of songwriters] is to emotionally manipulate people. When you are feeling manipulated is when the person has missed,” says Kim. The panel talks about rawness: it can take lyrical editing before it can be presented to the public. “It’s sometimes hard to tell as the songwriter, like, how raw am I actually being?”, shares Isa, who goes on to talk about how being raw in melody can be very effective. She points to her emotional guitar solo (that was done during a difficult moment in her life) in the Lula Wiles song “The Way That It Is” as one of her most favorite musical accomplishments.

Bob Dylan comes up within 90 seconds of the debate! Don’t worry, Taylor Swift, Maggie Rogers, Stevie Wonder, Adele, and Paul McCartney also make cameo appearances. And lizzie no ftw: “Lyrics are the hand-holding that we need to bring us into the glory of instrumental music.” Enjoy! We had a good time doing this, so we’ll see you again soon!

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Sam Phillips was born to a family that loved doling out nicknames. She was called “Sam” growing up in a house that was filled with readers. She nurtured her love of philosophy and spirituality by exploring different religions and devouring works by authors like C.S. Lewis and Thomas Merton. Early in her career, she found success as a Christian musician under her real name: Leslie Phillips. She made several albums, but became uncomfortable with her label marketing her as “the Christian Cyndi Lauper.” She also had a desire to write songs that didn’t reinforce people’s religious beliefs. For her final Leslie Phillips album, she worked with future spouse/ex-spouse, T-Bone Burnett “a fellow Christian with a maverick approach to songs about faith and morality, and found a kindred spirit.” She decided to rebrand and start recording as Sam Phillips. Sam and T-Bone worked together from 1988’s The Indescribable Wow to 2004’s A Boot and a Shoe.

In our conversation, we talk about Sam’s writing process, which she is always changing up. She comes up with her best ideas when she “turns off the trying part of her brain,” but at the same time, she strongly believes in the power of editing. Sam’s probably best known for composing and performing the score for the beloved Amy Sherman-Palladino series The Gilmore Girls, for which she also made a brief appearance on the season finale in 2006. You remember those “La la la’s” while Lorelei and Rory carried around their armpit purses, drank coffee and while wearing those horrible boot cut jeans? That was Sam Phillips! Currently, Sam is working on a new album and she’s taking her time, so don’t rush her, OK?

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Fun times with our favorite non-duo duo Anna Tivel and Jeffrey Martin. The pair met in the early 2010's in Portland, bonded over songwriting and have been together ever since. They got together at a time when they were both learning how to tour and they were able to figure it all out as a pair. And yes, they have toured and do tour together and have sang on each other's records, but there has never been an interest in an official collaboration. In this special interview, they discuss their thoughts and feelings on their partner's musical style: from how each learned music, to the way they each write songs. They discuss the space they give each other to be alone in creativity and how that space is key to their success as partners.

Anna released her latest album, the acclaimed Outsiders in 2022 and Jeffrey is currently working on a new record. In fact, Jeffrey is recording his upcoming release in a small shack he built on their property in Portland. He completed the structure just in time for the pandemic to start, which was perfect timing since it meant he had his own space to work outside of his house and they both had a place to perform their weekly live streams. Jeffrey is also quite handy and has agreed to build a house for me and don't think I won't hold him to it. We have it on tape, Jeffrey. Please enjoy this fun interview with two of my favorite people and musicians. 

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WHOA! SistaStrings is the real life sister duo of Monique (cello) and Chauntee (violin) Ross. Currently tearing it up on the road with Brandi Carlile and Allison Russell, The Ross sister’s musical roots began with their intense classical training, family gatherings and in church. All five of their siblings played music, toured around with their minister parents and even had their own family band, Sisters of Praize with older sisters Charice Ross on violin and Rickena Johnson on viola. After Chauntee was done with college, she and Monique teamed up again and ventured out in the Milwaukee music scene where they cut their teeth and tried their hand at all sorts of different styles: hip-hop, jam bands, electronic music and singer-songwriters. There, they met a kindred in Peter Mulvey, who they started performing with in 2016.

SistaStrings officially made the move to Nashville in the summer of 2021. Once there, they started playing gigs with Allison Russell. Monique’s encounter with Brandi Carlile at Newport Folk Fest, led them to both touring with her band. In our conversation, Lizzie and Cindy talk to Monique and Chuantee about being romantic string players thanks to their classical background, which also gave them a very thick skin. They also talk about the decision to pursue a musical path into the folk and Americana world, which is notoriously a white space. Spoiler alert: it wasn’t an easy decision, but it’s one they have not come to regret.

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Growing up in the Berkshires, Massachusetts-born Eliza Edens grew up in a family with strong musical roots. Getting her first guitar at 16, she was moved to write songs as her chosen form of expression. After some time in Philly, Eliza took on New York, choosing Brooklyn as her home base. There she found community and began to thrive creatively, especially in embracing her queer identity, Eliza uses she/they pronouns.

She released her second album We’ll Become the Flowers in 2022 seeking to understand what happens after the end. She had a lot of processing to do after a breakup and her mother being diagnosed with a neurodegenerative disease. Her mother has been a central figure in her songwriting recently, especially in her love of gardening and flowers. Eliza's music, like the person, is thoughtful, unpredictable, serious, and silly. Hope you enjoy getting to know this cool musician!

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Mark Erelli is slowly going blind. In August 2020, he noticed he couldn’t see his fingers during a show. After that, as he was driving in a tunnel everything went black. Mark went to the doctor and was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa, or RP. Since then, his life has changed in ways he could have never imagined. He doesn’t drive at night, he carries a flashlight everywhere he goes, his relationship with his family, his writing and career have been pushed to the brink. All the processing he’s done over the last three years has led him to his latest album, Lay Your Darkness Down.

In our conversation, we talk about Mark’s new challenges he’s faced while living with RP. He shares what it was like for him to tell friends and how he constantly has to advocate for himself. One aspect he did not expect was being able to use his white male privilege to speak up about his disability in hopes to help the community of people with disabilities. Once he realized that, he recognized that it was his responsibility to speak up for the greater good.

One hilarious note: my 6 month old puppy decided she wanted to interrupt and tear apart a book during the interview. I tried to get her out of the room, but in the end, she insisted that she remain. I apologize for the occasional rustling and background noise. If you listen hard enough at one point, you can hear Dottie the cat growling at her. Yay puppies.

Originally from a small town: Gause, Texas, Ruthie Foster came from a family of gospel singers. Singing gospel music acted as a prime method of communication in her life strongly enough that it ended up being her career. Along the way, Ruthie studied audio engineering in college, which ended up giving her invaluable knowledge to support her artistic expression, especially as a woman in a male dominated field. She quit music for about a year and joined the Navy, wanting to do something other than music. In the Navy, stationed in San Diego, she worked around helicopters, giving her even more of a technical mindset. While in the Navy, she also learned how to be chill AF, thanks to her recruiting officer who led by example and taught Foster and fellow recruits how to relax in their work.

One aspect of Ruthie's story that blows my mind is her time in New York City. In the post-Tracy Chapman era, she was swept up and signed by a major label looking for the next Chapman carbon copy. During her years with Atlantic, Ruthie took the time to learn how to be a songwriter and performer, while never recording a single thing. It was a genius move and gave her an invaluable education for a young musician! She moved back to Texas to be with her ailing mother to spend the remaining years of her life together. Ruthie Foster is an impressive artist and person who has learned the lesson of where to be and when to be there. Of her new album Healing Time, she says “There’s always time for healing, if you give it time.” Enjoy!

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By the mid-2010’s Canadian rock legend Tom Wilson’s life was already pretty epic: he had perfected his blue collar roots rock sound in his bands Blackie and The Rodeo Kings and his seminal 90’s outfit Junkhouse. He was a home-grown rock and roller with humble Hamilton, Ontario roots. In addition to his musical output, he had overcome addiction, he was a father, grandfather and painter. However, his life completely changed when, by chance, he discovered he had been adopted and that he was actually of full blood Mohawk descent and not Irish like he was raised to believe. His birth-mother was actually a “cousin” of his, who had been forced into Canada’s cruel residential schools. The people he thought were his parents, had actually been his great Aunt and Uncle. At 53 years old, his world was about to get 100% more wild.

Ever since then, Tom has been on a path to identity. He’s written a memoir, made a documentary, an album as his musical alter-ego Lee Harvey Osmond and his latest project, collaborating with fellow Canadian, the Cree-Métis musician iskwē | ᐃᐢᑫᐧᐤ. Tom’s new mission at this point in his life is to tell his story, “Our greatest job as storytellers is to open up the door to the next person and let them know they can tell their stories too.”

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Courtney Marie Andrews seems anciently wise in general, but on her new album Loose Future, she's particularly tapped in to some cosmic intelligence. Growing up, CMA spent a lot of time alone, so we naturally start our conversation there. People have been isolated in the last few years, which can be sad and scary, but also offer certain gifts. Courtney was able to quarantine during the first summer of the pandemic on Cape Cod. She grounded herself by walking six to eight miles daily and exploring herself “forever against the backdrop of summer.” She painted, reconnected with nature and wrote a song a day. Those songs resulted in the new record.

 She made the album at Flying Cloud Recordings in New York, taking a dip in the creek every morning before getting to work in order to embody the feeling of letting love in: “Sometimes you plunge, and sometimes you walk slowly in," she says. We discuss how that practice got her ready for the day and the ins and outs of several of the songs. We also get into the intentionality she put into the beat for Loose Future. She wanted to make something modern with a driving percussive beat, but Graceland was also an inspiration. CMA ended up at a few distanced drum circles during the pandemic that felt very healing and communal. Enjoy Courtney Marie! She's brilliant and offers so much foresight. 

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The latest from Nashville-based, New York-bred and Georgia-born trio The Lone Bellow, Love Songs for Losers, was recorded at Roy Orbison’s creepy former house in Hendersonville, TN. The house’s vibe bled its way into the vibe of the album, which was co-produced by band members Brian Elmquist and Kanene Pipkin, producing vocals. The band went for a bombastic sound and they did it with no adult supervision (read: no outside producer influence). Frontman Zach Williams expounded on the experience along with his affinity for the house’s architect, the eccentric Braxton Dixon.

We talk about a few standout songs from album including “Gold,” which takes a look at new small town life heavily impacted by the opioid crisis, “Honey,” a sort of poking love song to his wife and “Homesick,” which serves as the theme song for his new renovation program “The Williams Family Cabin.” The TV show features Zach and his wife Stacy flipping a cabin outside of Nashville and all the antics that come with it. Zach is familiar with the world of home renovation shows thanks to his close friend and home reno personality, the designer Leanne Ford. He actually got some good advice from Leanne prior to starting the show, but neglected to listen (LOL).

Zach’s a really fun person to watch on stage, he’s a remarkable showman. Catch The Lone Bellow live if you can. Their new album is fantastic! The creepy old matchstick house must have really worked wonders.

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*** Lizzie No interviews John Calvin Abney... A lot of people like to claim the title “Hardest Working Person In Music” but John Calvin Abney might take the crown from them all. John has made a name for himself as a shit-hot guitar player, accompanying John Moreland, Samantha Crain, Margo Cilker, and many others (including Lizzie No herself!). But the reason we wanted him to join us as a guest on Basic Folk is that his own catalog is poetic and beautifully produced. 

John grew up in Nevada and Oklahoma, and you can hear the restless desert highways in all the soundscapes he creates. His latest album, ‘Tourist,’ asks the question of how a person can feel at home when they spend their life on the road. It also finds resolution after the death of John’s father, through found recordings and thoughtful lyrics. Listening to ‘Tourist’ feels like catching up with an old friend. You might hear Elliott Smith in “Good Luck and High Tide” or J.J. Cale in “Call Me Achilles,” but the stories are John Calvin to the core.

We dug into recording techniques, John’s high school identity as “guitar guy,” touring with Hanson, Christian camp, and how running off to Europe as a romantic gesture helped launch John’s career.

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Known as one of the foremost fiddlers of her generation, Lissa Schneckenburger's latest release is a huge left turn for the Vermont resident. Thunder in My Arms is unique because Lissa is not only singing her own compositions, but the subject matter is hugely personal. The album chronicles her experiences adopting her son. Through the fostering and adoption process, she came across resources, workshops and books, but no music that specifically was about this experience. Since she processes hard things through music, she decided to step up and create this album for her family and for those in the adoption and fostering communities. Lissa thrives and lives in the community through music, so creating and reaching out to this new community came as second nature.

Born and raised in rural Maine, Lissa grew up around music and started on the fiddle at five years old. She competed in fiddle competitions, went to Maine Fiddle Camp and the much revered Valley of the Moon Camp in Northern California. Arriving in Boston for school at New England Conservatory of Music, she found herself among a familiar group of musicians that she'd grown up with at the camps. She teamed up with Laura Cortese, Hanneke Cassel and Flynn Cohen to form the seminal Boston fiddle group Halali, which inspired so many young players and ignited a fiddle renaissance in town. Since then, she has released solo albums and been a part of groups like Low Lily. She now lives in Brattleboro, VT with her son and her husband, in-demand upright bassist Corey DiMario (Crooked Still). Lissa has a new fiddle album on the way in 2023, which you can pre-order right from the lady herself. Enjoy Lissa!

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Upright bassist, singer and songwriter Melissa Carper has been playing in bands since she took up the position of bass in her family band at the age of 12. She grew up with a reverence for country music in her small town Nebraska family. The original Carper Family band toured regionally on the weekends at Elks lodges, VFWs and small bars. Little Melissa made $50 a gig, which allowed her to take her friends out for dinner and give her an early sense of what it was like to be a paid musician. She attended school for music, but ended up leaving two and a half years in and began her rambling.

Melissa’s lived in Nebraska, New York, Alaska, New Orleans, Arkansas and Austin to name only a few. She usually has stayed around a place for a couple years until she moves on. Along the way, she’s formed many bands like a new version of The Carper Family, Sad Daddy and Buffalo Gals. In recent years, she’s been releasing albums under her own name, which is strange because she does not like being the center of attention. Her writing is filled with humorous quips, even though she claims to have a “slow wit.” Her classic country sound is unique in that her writing is sharp, her delivery is relaxed and her voice is unreal. She spent a lot of time studying the voices of Hank Williams and Leadbelly to develop that honeyed, yet raw sound. Melissa Carper is the real deal! Go check out her new album Ramblin’ Soul and enjoy our conversation.

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A note before we begin: our guest on this episode, Patrick Haggerty of Lavender country passed away on October 31 at the age of 78 several weeks after he’d had a stroke. This episode was produced before his death. We are grateful to be able to share this conversation with Patrick and we hope our listeners will take some time to learn about Patrick’s remarkable life, especially his pro-LGBTQ+ and pro-working class activism. We are sending love to his many fans, friends, and especially his family at this difficult time.

Patrick Haggerty, the frontperson of Lavender Country, is a legend of queer country music. He made history when he released the first openly gay country album in 1973. In a lot of ways, Nashville still isn’t ready for queer folks to be our outspoken selves, but in 1973 it was almost unthinkable. Patrick walked into the cultural storm consciously, knowing that his story needed to be told even though few were ready to hear it. 

After being shunned from the music industry, Patrick continued to do important work in the communities he cared about. He worked for decades as a social worker, community organizer, gay rights activist, and anti-racist activist. He got married and raised children. Then, a wild twist of internet fate took place. One of Lavender Country’s songs got posted to youtube and Patrick found himself signed to a record label and creating his second album. He re-emerged into a world that was more gay friendly, and to a new legion of fans who had found his music on the internet.

It was a special honor to speak with Patrick and his husband, JB, after spending time on the road with them this past spring during the “Roundup” queer country tour. Their steadfast relationship, humor, activism, and dedication to building a better world have taught me so much about what it means to make a life in music as a queer person. We at Basic Folk are honored to share this conversation with you.

CONTENT WARNING: this episode contains mentions of self-harm, suicide, and homophobia.

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Lizzie No talks to Ondara

When Ondara was a little boy growing up in Nairobi, Kenya, music was both everywhere and just out of reach. He walked around the market listening to vendors playing music from stereos, stopping to listen when he heard something that caught his attention. His family couldn’t afford musical instruments, and the household radio was constantly in demand so he would wait until everyone was asleep so that he could listen to music by himself. He began writing poems, and eventually a cappella songs. He figured that if Bob Dylan could create a legacy setting insightful poems to music, so could he.

In 2013, Ondara won the green card lottery and moved to Minneapolis, because a. He had a family member there, and b. His hero Bob Dylan came from there. Ondara quickly discovered that Minnesota was a little different than he had dreamed. He was working temp jobs to buy his first guitar, writing dozens of songs that would eventually become his debut album, ‘Tales of America,’ and getting his foot in the door in the Minneapolis open mic scene. But he found that it was difficult to put a band together, that the life of a songwriter was lonely, and that, in America, the color of his skin came with a whole set of expectations about how he should behave (and even about what kind of music he should create).

Ondara has worked to understand the expectations without bowing to them. He shared during our conversation that being Black in America means joining a tradition of art and resistance, and that helping The Cause matters to him. And his ability to contribute to the cause has grown exponentially, since Ondara hit the road in support of his hit debut album and opening for artists like Neil Young, Lindsey Buckingham, and the Lumineers.

Since then, Ondara has looked outward for subject matter, releasing a pandemic-inspired album in 2020 based on his friends’ stories of quarantine dating and struggling to pay the rent. He has also undertaken a significant spiritual journey as he struggles to reconcile fame and the demands of capitalism with his desire to become a grounded, useful, wise, grown-up adult. His solution, for now, comes in the form of the Spanish Villager, the hyper-performative character at the center of his new album.

Lizzie No talks to Mali Obomsawin

Y’all ready for a crossover? Basic Folk listeners will remember Mali Obomsawin from their work as a bassist, singer, and songwriter with folk trio Lula Wiles, but today we are celebrating Mali’s debut as a jazz bandleader/composer. Mali’s new album, ‘Sweet Tooth,’ was inspired by field recordings of elders from Mali’s Wabanaki community.

Mali’s improvisational approach to creating music results in a remarkable living piece of music that not only illustrates hundreds of years of their people’s history, but also illuminates their hopes for the rematriation of Native lands. One of the most insidious lies about Native people in the Americas is that they are relics of the past, not constantly-evolving communities. Through their music and activism, Mali refutes this claim. The record weaves field recordings with intense instrumentals and Mali’s stunning voice. They even co-wrote a Penobscot language chant to close the album. ‘Sweet Tooth’ confronts heartbreaking history while insisting upon a path forward. It is at turns heartbreaking, jarring, tender, and fun.

Those who are interested in learning more about the concept of intersectionality will find this episode of Basic Folk fascinating. Mali and I dig deep into what it looks like to embrace gender freedom while remaining loyal to the bonds shared by women of color within a hostile colonial culture.

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Originally from Charlottesville, Virginia, Caroline Spence came from this cool family that always seemed to be messing around with music: listening and playing music. She’s recently been discovering and sharing home movies from when she was a kid: scooting around in diapers on a guitar case, singing with her grandfather and mother. The clips, which she used in the video for “Clean Getaway,” were a gift in which she was able to see her true personality and genuine love of music from a young age. She was emboldened to perform and write by her musical aunt, who invited Caroline to open for her as a teenager.

She came to Nashville for a job in the music industry and slowly started putting herself out there as a songwriter for other musicians. Her writing is based in honesty and she opens up about her relationship to the truth in our conversation. We also get into how she had to develop ego, why it matters and how she let herself have access to ego. We discuss her love of flowers and how she relates the songs on her new album True North to different flowers. Caroline is an avid reader of Mary Oliver and even has a new song named after her as the poet feels devotional and spiritual. Enjoy Caroline Spence!

When Will Sheff was a baby, he had a life-threatening illness that required him to have a tracheotomy. From that moment, he was always aware of being fragile and somewhat out of place in his body. He never quite fit in in the New England prep school culture he grew up in. His childhood was full of magic, however. He spent a lot of time in the woods, and when he looked up at the sky he felt the presence of the divine more deeply than he ever did in church. 

A lot of people dream of forming a band with their high school buddies and making it big. Will and his friends actually did it. Folk rock outfit Okkervil River released nine critically acclaimed albums and traveled the world together. You can read all about them elsewhere. I was most interested in how being the frontman of Okkervil River made Will into the performer and writer he is today.

One of the most interesting questions that Will explores on his new solo album, ‘Nothing Special,’ is how to remove ego from the album-making process, even as he puts his own name front and center for the first time. This question led us down paths of meditation and consciousness, drugs and religion, power and acceptance. This record creates impressionistic scenes as much as it tells stories. It is an expression of Will’s higher self, tempered with humility. ‘Nothing Special’ is bound to be a blessing.

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Lizzie No interviews Caleb Caudle on Basic Folk!

Caleb Caudle has lived a lot of his life on the road. His father was a truck driver and Caleb learned early on that making a living often meant long days away from home. The North Carolina-born Caudle started out in a rock band before he found his calling as a thoughtful alt-country singer-songwriter. When Caleb released his debut solo album, ‘Red Bank Road,’ in 2007, he was just beginning to realize what made his songwriting voice distinctive, and his numerous releases since then have been a journey deeper into his own sound and point of view.

Caleb has driven a hard road in music, releasing albums and touring relentlessly since ‘07. Albums like Carolina Ghost and Better Hurry Up gained him a reputation as one of the Americana performers to watch in Nashville. As Caleb opened up about getting sober and being more intentional about his legacy, his gifts as a songwriter truly started to blossom. He recorded his latest release, ‘Forsythia,’ at the Cash Cabin with a close group of trusted collaborators. It is an album whose imagery brings you home with him to North Carolina and into himself. He even came full circle with a new recording of “Red Bank Road,” the title track from his debut album. 

Caleb brings the past with him while challenging himself to make something new with his life and with his art.

This song was mentioned in the episode:

Caroline Reese, "(I'm Not Selling the) Telecaster"

Fiddler Brittany Haas has an impressive resume: she started touring at 14 with Darol Anger, recorded her debut album at 17, started performing with Crooked Still before she finished college and has played on Chris Thile’s radio program Live From Here and done stints in David Rawlings and Gillian Welch’s David Rawlings Machine. Currently, she’s teaching workshops and classes in between working with her band Hawktail along with Paul Kowert, Jordan Tice and Dominick Leslie. Their latest album, Place of Growth, is a song cycle in appreciation to the natural elements, which have always intrigued Brittany.

She’s a trailblazer in fiddling and also has an acute awareness of burnout. The past few years have seen her pursuing and obtaining a masters in social work and teaching classes at East Tennessee State University as their artist-in-residence. Our conversation includes a discussion of balance and awareness when it comes to keeping her music joyful. And then there’s science: she has a degree in Evolutionary Biology at Princeton University. Also, Hawktail’s latest album is a journey through the natural world. We talk about the band giving each other the space to be themselves on the record. Brittany is chill, brilliant and generous. Enjoy and then go listen to Hawktail’s new record all in one sitting.

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Amy Ray is best known for being one half of Indigo Girls with Emily Sailers, a band that’s been going strong since the late 80’s. She’s also known for her activism and love for all types of music. On her latest solo album, If It All Goes South, Amy’s bringing us songs of comfort and healing. Recorded live to tape in Nashville, this album features an incredible lineup of guests like Brandi Carlile, I’m With Her, Allison Russell, Phil Cook and Alison Brown. She’s confronting racism, homophobia, religion and mortality in her songs and we go deep into those topics.

Aside from exploring gender identity and being comfortable in your own body, I had an agenda in our interview. I’ve talked about this a little on the podcast, but recently our dog Willis suddenly and unexpectedly died. Amy’s new album features the song “Muscadine,” which was written when her oldest dog passed away. The song’s about “learning to love and receive love in the purest way, and to not be picky about life, but to stay the course with curiosity and gratitude.” I was grateful for Amy’s words of wisdom about the loss of a dog and am happy to share them with you. Actually, Amy’s full of wisdom and is always so open to whatever questions come her way. Enjoy this conversation with a very very good person.

Lizzie No interviews Ken Yates!

Ken Yates grew up in the college town of London, Ontario and he is truly Canada’s Next Top Model, by which I mean he is wonderfully talented, disarmingly nice, and from Canada, obviously. Ken is a Berklee College of Music graduate, and I took the opportunity to talk with him about that experience. Why would somebody choose to go to music school, what were you hoping to gain, and what did you actually get out of it, are questions that are fascinating to me, and Ken’s answers were super interesting. One takeaway I learned from his stories of Berklee is that even some of the most talented musicians feel like they have no idea what they’re doing. 

Ken’s breakout 2016 album, ‘Huntsville,’ earned him the Emerging Artist of the Year award at the Canadian Folk Music awards. It was not just a huge and competitive honor, but it was also a defining moment where Ken started getting categorized as a folk artist. 

Ken released a beautiful album, ‘Quiet Talkers,’ in 2020, and instead of touring in support of that album, he had to do a bunch of covid-era online shows. I was impressed with how gracious and level-headed he seemed despite the crappy circumstances. This grace, perspective, emotional openness, and flexibility, are a big part of what makes his new album, ‘Cerulean,’ so special. ‘Cerulean’ came out in 2022 and it bridges the gap between folk and indie rock, between skepticism and hope, between the pain of losing someone and the possibility of embracing what you have. ‘Cerulean’ has a distinct groove, features vocals from Americana stars like Kathleen Edwards, Liz Longley, and Katie Pruitt, AND some of the prettiest production I’ve heard all year.

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Kyshona is an artist with a literal mission statement: “To be a voice and a vessel for those who feel lost, forgotten, silenced and are hurting.” She’s found that having this tool at her disposal gives her work meaning, especially on those nights when she’s felt like she hasn’t sold enough tickets, merch or gotten enough applause. If one person comes up to her and tells her they feel seen, she walks away feeling like she’s done her work. That work also includes many years of being a music therapist with mental health patients, children and those who are experiencing incarceration. Through music, she’s found that everyone has a story to tell. It is her honor and privilege to help them tell their stories.

Growing up in South Carolina, she was surrounded by music thanks to her father and grandfather’s musical groups. She was classically trained on the piano and also the oboe, which she compares to a human voice. After receiving a music scholarship, she found her way to the field of music therapy and found so much purpose and meaning. After graduating from University of Georgia and working as a music therapist, she found her own way to her songwriting in order to keep a separation from her work. She’s released several solo albums, most notably, her 2020 album Listen, who’s title track made waves in the Americana world. Recently, she’s released three singles leading us to highly anticipate her next full length. Enjoy the wise and delightful Kyshona!

Lauren Balthrop's Mobile, AL upbringing saw her soaking in the music of The Andrews Sisters, Steve Sondheim, R.E.M., Elliott Smith and Neil Young. As a child, she was involved in activities that varied from sports, to drama, to music and beyond. She never really settled on a passion, until she found acting and theatre. She pursued that dream from fourth grade until after college, moving to New York to go after auditions and acting parts. She found a soft landing in the city by moving in with her brother, Pascal. The two would then go on to form the large band, they called it a traveling small town, Balthrop, Alabama. From 2007 to 2012 they toured the country with as many as nine band members taking to the road. In this experience, she met Dawn Landes and Annie Nero, who she joined up for the harmony centered trio, The Bandana Splits.

In 2013, she released a solo album under the name Dear Georgiana, which referred to Georgiana Starlington, the pseudonym she used in Balthrop, Alabama (everyone went by a character name). She called those "the songs her brother doesn't like," at least not for their band... After that, she wrote a bunch more songs that felt as though they were written in her own voice, which she released under her name as the album This Time Around. Her new solo album continues the sentence: Things Will Be Different. She's exploring the themes of change, upheaval and heartbreak while looking towards the future with hope. What's also cool for Lauren is that she's finding new meanings in these songs that differ from their original purpose. Lauren is a curious learner who seems like she's always got her antenna up. I love her new record: the lush sounds and humor are hitting me right. It was great to talk to Lauren in this medium! We have known each other for almost 15 years and have instigated many antics over the years. Enjoy! 

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Lizzie No interviews Molly Tuttle on Basic Folk!

Growing up in Palo Alto. California, Molly Tuttle was surrounded by music. Her dad was a teacher at Gryphon Stringed instruments, which is not-so-coincidentally where I got the pickups installed on my mini harp. Molly took to the guitar early and intensely, eventually earning a scholarship to the prestigious Berklee College of Music. But I think it was those early days growing up in California, attending bluegrass festivals with her family, basking in the glow of the jam, that set the tone for her warm and collaborative approach to playing music.

At Berklee, Molly formed a band called “the Goodbye Girls,” and cut her teeth touring in Scandinavia. Digging into The Goodbye Girls was a good launchpad for talking about what it means to be a female musician in Americana, as well as what happens when you explicitly call yourself an all-female group. As the first woman to win the IBMA Guitarist of the Year award, Molly has a unique perspective on this particular conundrum. It’s juicy.

I talked with Molly about her debut album, ‘When You’re Ready,’ and her dazzling covers album ‘…But I’d Rather Be With You’ before sifting through the many layers of her latest album, ‘Crooked Tree.’ ‘Crooked Tree’ features Molly’s brand-new band, Golden Highway. This new record is a study of bluegrass sensitively executed by one of the genre’s stars. Molly’s interpretations of bluegrass traditions like the murder ballad, shiny stacked vocal harmonies, and lightning fast guitar playing, are something to behold.

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Milwaukee-born Peter Mulvey has, along with classical duo SistaStrings, made an anti-fascist record. According to Peter, “to make an anti - fascist record, you must keep kindness and compassion in the foreground.” Love is the Only Thing goes from family, to politics, to family, racism and then back to family. It's as optimistic and introspective as it is filled with "running out a burning building" type of songs. All the while, Peter is joined by powerful, thoughtful and extremely talented musicians in Monique and Chauntee Ross.

Lots has happened in Peter's life since his last album. He moved to New England, fell in love and got married, A PANDEMIC, and he's become a father. All these eek their way into songs on the new album. A particularly poignant song is the co-write with his partner about their possible future as parents (good luck not crying to all the parents out there!). Don't worry if you didn't catch all the buddhist references, we talk about each one in finite detail. Enjoy!

Editor’s note: Lizzie No interviews Adia Victoria on Basic Folk! Be sure to go back and listen to Lizzie’s previous guest host spots on the pod and subscribe, so you never miss Lizzie!

For Adia Victoria, the blues are not just a genre of music or a set of formal elements. She lives the blues. In her life and work the blues are a mode of creating, a river-tradition into which she steps with each performance, and a way back into self-acceptance. Adia has traveled the world and infused her unique songwriting with Paris and New York as much as with her home state of Tennessee.

Adia has released three studio albums, working with producers like T Bone Burnett and The National’s Aaron Dessner. In her climb to indie stardom she has remained laser focused on interpreting the blues tradition for contemporary audiences.

My conversation with Adia came shortly after we finished a whirlwind North American tour this spring, and it felt like we were back in the tour van just shooting the shit. Transparent and hilarious, Adia challenged me to go as deep in conversation as she does in her songs.

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I have been wanting to talk to Scotland-born fiddler and current New Yorker, Hannah Read on the pod, for longer than Basic Folk has existed. I met her at the very fun camp, Miles of Music in New Hampshire. We laughed our faces off all week and I was truly blown out of the water by her fiddling and singing. She’s just released a new duo album with the Scottish banjo player Michael Starkey, so it seemed like a good time to get Han on. She grew up in Edinburgh as well as on the Isle of Eigg, a remote island off the western coast of Scotland and she talks about how living simply as a younger person has impacted her adulthood. Growing up, there was a lot of music in the house: in terms of listening and playing. Her mum played cello, sister played fiddle, there was also a community of musicians on the island playing that she connected very deeply with. She started playing Scottish traditional music at the age of six and cites her biggest influences as the musicians surrounding the trad scene in Scotland. She made her way to America to attend Berklee College of Music in Boston and eventually moved to Brooklyn.

Her new album with Michael, Cross The Rolling Water is filled with old-time fiddle and banjo duets with the Edinburgh-based musician Michael Starkey. The two met at an Appalachian old time session in Edinburgh in late 2019. She talks about their musical relationship as well as how Michael only has a flip phone, which is always hilarious to hear about from someone who’s on top of technology. Hannah’s hilarious, kind and has an infectious energy that carries from her personality to her music. Enjoy!

We go track by track on Canadian-born New Zealand feminist trouble maker and country music superstar, Tami Neilson’s 5th album, Kingmaker. Recorded at Neil Finn’s Roundhead Studios, the songs of Kingmaker expose industry systems, exploding patriarchal structures of the industry, society, and family. It’s definitely not new territory for Tami, her previous two albums called attention to misogyny and patriarchal structures. Tami digs into these themes with sophistication, grace, emotion and humor. The way she brings these important messages to life hits you hard, but you can also dance to it.

This is Tami’s second appearance on the podcast (she was first on episode 79). Definitely check out our first conversation as we talk about her life in her family band, move to New Zealand and her relationship to fashion and appearance. She also talked about experiencing the death of her father, the musician Ron Neilson. He appears on Kingmaker in several forms. For instance, on the song “Beyond the Stars,” written with Delaney Davidson, she sings about the loss of her father and the longing to be with him again, with the legendary Willie Nelson singing the part of Tami’s dad. Tami’s one in a million! Enjoy this conversation and her brilliant new album, Kingmaker.

This preview of Backstage (Basic Folk's bonus episodes) features Willi Carlisle (who was on BF episode 171 this past week), talking about learning the traditional song "The Riddle Song (I Gave My Love a Cherry)". Check out the full episode and a performance from Willi, by contributing to Basic Folk. Links below!

Hear Field Music with Willi in it's entirety: http://basicfolk.com/Backstage

Contribute and gain Backstage access: http://basicfolk.com/donate

It's hard to not fall a little in love with Willi Carlisle. The former high school football captain is irresistible on stage and on record. He grew up an outsider and the feeling remains in his adult life. In writing about his intense life, he's found an outlet and in his music we, the others, feel seen. His history is filled with complex experiences like having a musician father, singing in punk bands, getting a masters in poetry and finding true home and community at square dances in the Ozarks.

I got Willi to talk about a couple of notable contradictions in his life including his unflinching willingness to lay it all out for his music living alongside not trusting himself and believing that he can do this. He also loves high-brow poetry and punk rock, but "I don't want to come across as too heady, but I also don't want to be so punk rock that I lack polish." We talk about those contradictions and, of course, the music. His new album, Peculiar, Missouri, is filled with songs that seem very hopeful and these songs, even the protest songs, are coming from a place of love. Willi's not reached a state of queer joy, which he'll freely tell you, but he's working on it. Meanwhile, his honesty, curiosity and big heart have us hooked.

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Editor’s note: Lizzie No interviews Leon Timbo on Basic Folk! Be sure to go back and listen to Lizzie’s previous guest host spots on the pod and subscribe, so you never miss Lizzie!

When Leon Timbo was a teenager, he prayed for a singing voice. As a young poet and the child of a preacher, he was a born storyteller, but he dreamed of being able to sing. Leon’s remarkable artistic journey has been the answer to that prayer. 

Timbo started writing and performing songs on DIY solo tours in his native Florida, eventually expanding his reach across the United States. He focused on connecting with each audience member and immediately started building a loyal following. It was on one of these tours that musician and actor Tyrese Gibson fell in love with Leon’s music and storytelling and invited him to open for him. Gibson’s mentorship helped Leon hone his sound and opened massive doors of opportunity.

Each step of Leon’s musical path has been guided by faith, spirituality, and the power of human connection. He has performed with the legendary Fisk Jubilee Singers and hung out at a bar with Quincy Jones. He has a unique take on Americana, R&B, gospel, and folk music. His new album, ‘Lovers & Fools, Vol. II,’ is a vehicle for his hopeful worldview, and of course, for his spectacular voice.

This preview of Backstage (Basic Folk's bonus episodes) features Dietrich Strause. Dietrich, who just appeared in our main feed (ep. 171), hangs with Cindy and Lizzie: talking about music at weddings, what it's like to play a wedding and the main difference between Baz Luhrmann and Tchaikovsky

Hear the entire Friend Hang with Dietrich: http://basicfolk.com/Backstage

Contribute and gain Backstage access: http://basicfolk.com/donate

Help produce Basic Folk by contributing at https://basicfolk.com/donate/

Dietrich Strause, raised in Lancaster, PA, was classically trained on trumpet growing up, but the allure of songwriting and performing his own music pulled him into the Americana world. He found his way to the Boston area and into the super collaborative and supportive community found there. On his new album, You And I Must Be Out Of My Mind, Dietrich found himself more in control of the creative process thanks to spending years cultivating his skills at Great North Sound in Parsonsfield, Maine. Under the mentorship of producer Sam Kassirer, he became empowered in his craft by offering up his services as a session player, engineer and studio handyman. The record took several years to record, but due to his experiences with Sam, he was able to see the way that bands made decisions in the studio and how a record takes shape, which all culminated on his latest record.

Dietrich’s known in the Boston area for sitting in on sessions and live shows with people like Rose Cousins, Kris Delmhorst, and Session Americana. He’s built a home and a community there. Now, Dietrich is in the process of moving his base to London, which sounds challenging to do at any time, never mind during a global pandemic. He talks about how it’s been a strange move and how the pandemic has impacted his relationship with touring. Full disclosure: Dietrich is a close pal of mine and one of my favorite hangs. When I spend time with Dietrich, I feel like a little kid: anything is possible and the day is ours. His music gives me that feeling, too. Hope you enjoy getting to know Dietrich and his perfect songs.

Help produce Basic Folk by contributing at https://basicfolk.com/donate/

Edie Carey's last solo full length album was in 2010 (holy smokes!), so we are more than ready to dig into her new record The Veil, encompassing themes like motherhood, infertility, love, being a lady while raising a girl and all the things that make you cry in your cereal. Edie first appeared on Basic Folk on episode 18 and if you haven't, you should listen. Not only does she talk about her history, but she very openly details her experience with infertility, including winning her son in a raffle (TLDR: her husband won a free IVF treatment at an infertility conference, which then turned into their son Luca). In this conversation, Edie and I go track by track on her new album, which is a JOY because #1 I love Edie's songs and #2 I love Edie. A winning combo.

These days, Edie is residing in Colorado Springs, working with area musicians, touring occasionally (when Covid is not raging) and raising her two young kids. Something that's extraordinary about Edie is that she is not afraid of saying things out loud that most people are. She experienced burn-out after her first baby was born, longed for her pre-baby life and felt guilty about it. The good news is that she turns emotions like this into fully formed songs where people can see themselves through her experience and then be okay with talking about hard things. Enjoy this conversation, Edie is so fun and inspiring!

Help produce Basic Folk by contributing at https://basicfolk.com/donate/

Editor’s note: Lizzie No interviews Cristina Vane on Basic Folk! Be sure to go back and listen to Lizzie’s previous guest host spots on the pod and subscribe, so you never miss Lizzie!

Blues musician Cristina Vane has lived many lives. She grew up in Europe listening to an eclectic mix of emo, pop, and rock. She came to the US to study comparative literature at Princeton before moving to Los Angeles to pursue her songwriting career. Determined to get her music out there on her own terms, Cristina embarked on a life-changing solo tour that took her across the United States. She slept in her tent, took in the majesty of the National Parks, and learned more about American culture than most Americans learn in a lifetime.

Vane’s new album, ‘Make Myself Me Again,’ is a sonic homecoming that showcases her remarkable talents as a guitarist, songwriter, and vocalist. Ever a student of the blues, Cristina pays homage to her forebears while telling her own stories with vulnerability. Some of the highlights of our conversation include central New Jersey deli memories, tour stories, Cristina’s approach to finding the perfect guitar tone, and a roundabout journey to identity.

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Former Grant Lee Buffalo frontman, Grant-Lee Phillips' latest solo album, All That You Can Dream, is -quite- dreamy. During the pandemic, Grant's been contemplating many things and figuring out how to spend his time away from the road. One interest he's been cultivating is painting. He's been sharing his paintings on social media and even used a painting of his beloved silver headphones, which you can also find on the liner notes for Grant Lee Buffalo's Mighty Joe Moon. He worked on this album from his home in Nashville where he produced, engineered, mixed, and recorded himself. And in addition to a few other musicians, he's joined by the crack team of bassist Jennifer Condos and drummer Jay Bellerose. It's always a treat to hear this dynamic duo! He said working on the album at home "pushed me to take the wheel as an engineer, mixer and producer. Consequently, so many nuances remain in the final mix, all the weird stuff that sometimes gets lost in the polishing stages of production." I'm all about that on a GLP recording. It sounds rich and raw at the same time, which feels very good in the chest. All That You Can Dream is filled with his signature songwriting: “using rich historical references to illuminate modern truths.” Grant says "I'm always juxtaposing the events that we're all going through with similar events in history.”

In our conversation, we talk about Grant's early life in Stockton, CA. He grew up knowing his family included Native American on both parents' sides. He made an album in 2012, Walking in the Green Corn, which explored his indigenous heritage. He gets into how David Bowie opened up his world, why he started playing guitar and what he likes about playing a 12 string versus a 6 string guitar. He talks about how acting has been a constant in his life; from being a professional magician at age 10 to appearing regularly as The Town Troubadour on Gilmore Girls. Hope you enjoy this interview with one of my favorite people!

Help produce Basic Folk by contributing at https://basicfolk.com/donate/

Editor’s note: Lizzie No interviews S.G. Goodman on Basic Folk! Be sure to go back and listen to Lizzie’s previous guest host spots on the pod and subscribe, so you never miss Lizzie!

S.G. Goodman’s Kentucky upbringing is front and center in a lot of her songwriting. She is an artist concerned not just with her roots, but also with what it means to stay and invest in community even when it is hard. We started our conversation digging into the DIY music scene that inspired SG’s Jim James-produced debut album, ‘Old Time Feeling.’

Goodman’s new record, ‘Teeth Marks,’ portrays the scars of love and grief. It is a complex, rock-inflected album rooted in relationship. Whether telling a story of romantic love, playfully establishing a connection between the artist and audience, or interrogating a community’s attitude toward the ‘other,’ these songs made me think long and hard about what we are really doing when we talk to each other.

SG was also down to talk religion and politics, addressing which issues she wishes more artists would discuss in their works. She is a serious person, a singular artist, and a fascinating person to talk with.

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Richard Thompson's memoir, Beeswing: Losing My Way and Finding My Voice 1967 - 1975 (now out in paperback) is a page-turner of a read about a legend at the dawn of British folk rock. Thompson details his early days with Fairport Convention, one of the most influential folk bands of all time. He writes how they strived to be different and sought out then-unknown songwriters like Joni Mitchell and Leonard Cohen while adapting a modern sound for traditional British folk songs, some that were over 500 years old. He recounts tragedy when the band suffered a huge loss: the 1969 car accident that killed their drummer, Martin Lamble and Richard Thompson's girlfriend of just two weeks, Jeannie Franklyn. He writes about their first experiences in America: rolling around Los Angeles with the likes of John Bonham and Janis Joplin and their triumphant debut at The Philadelphia Folk Festival. 

RT was game to get into anything I threw at him: talk about experiencing such excruciating grief at a young age, what British fortitude means to him, did he ever really get to know his parents, being outwardly calm and inwardly chaotic. There's a chapter in the book where he details some session work he did in between the time he left Fairport Convention in 1971 and his solo work and work with his then-wife, Linda Thompson. I had a blast looking up all these albums on YouTube, especially Lal and Mike Waterson's Bright Phoebus from 1972. Very fun music and fun that RT is playing on it! I highly recommend his memoir and hold out my hopes that there may be a part two in his future. I think there is much left to write: his days after the very public breakup with Linda, establishing himself as a solo act and then coming back to work with his extended family in the group Thompson in 2014 on the album Family. Richard's got a busy summer ahead of him with a couple of cruises and the tenth anniversary of his writing camp, Frets and Refrains. I'm grateful he was able to make some time for us on Basic Folk!

John Doe's career has gone from poetry to punk to country to acting to punk to folk and back again several times. Frontman for the extremely influential LA punk band X, John was there at the dawn of West Coast punk and has written about it (twice) in his books Under the Big Black Sun and More Fun in the New World. He actually sourced out most of the books’ chapters and had his friends and other people who were there give accounts, which makes them both pretty well rounded. John grew up mostly in Baltimore, under the influence of John Waters and Divine. He worked odd jobs and ran a poetry group there. He moved to Los Angeles in the mid 70's and met his future X bandmates Exene, Billy Zoom and D. J. Bonebrake. John's been in countless films and TV shows since 1987. He kind of stumbled into acting by getting an agent after he was in the indie film Border Radio. You may have seen him in films like Road House or Boogie Nights or series like Carnivale. He's lived in Austin, Texas since 2017 and loves to tell people it's terrible, so no one else moves there.

John Doe's latest album Fables in a Foreign Land takes place in 1890's and surrounds a young man who's found himself alone in a cruel hard world. The album’s sound was developed through weekly jam sessions in his bassist's backyard. This time around, John's played up his interest in folk and roots music, all the while keeping that punk sensibility. John says "These songs take place alone, wandering, searching and hungry accompanied by horses not machines." And speaking of horses, John's got a couple and it seems they've kept him grounded especially during the pandemic, so yeah, I ask the guy about his horses. That and we also talk about controlling the ego, listening to intuition, taking care of your physical health and his cameo in The Bodyguard (yes the Whitney Houston movie). Thanks Joe Doe!

This preview of Backstage (Basic Folk's bonus episodes) features the premiere of a new song from Jean Rohe (also of the duo Robinson & Rohe) called "Animal," which tells of her experience with abortion. After the song, I'm joined by Jean and Abby Minor, board member at Abortion Conversation Projects. Check out the full episode by contributing to Basic Folk. Links below!

Hear the entire Backstage with Jean Rohe: http://basicfolk.com/Backstage

Contribute and gain Backstage access: http://basicfolk.com/donate

Editor's note: This conversation was recorded before we knew about the leak of the Supreme Court draft opinion to overturn abortion rights. Although the timing of this release is coincidental, we're honored to be able to meet this difficult moment with a nuanced conversation about abortion experiences, creative process, and the many ways that songwriters and artists approach stigmatized subjects.

Help produce Basic Folk by contributing at https://basicfolk.com/donate/

Steve Forbert is not a dramatic person. His stories are fairly straight forward even though he's lived a pretty incredible life, which began in Meridian, MS as a young musician. In the hometown of Jimmie Rodgers, Steve found a great guitar teacher in Virginia Shine Harvey, who claimed she was a relation to the famous singing brakeman (Jimmie Rodgers). Ms Harvey taught Steve music through performance and connected him to other young musicians in the area, who then went on to form a couple of bands. He left his town for New York City in his early 20's where he pounded the pavement as a singer/songwriter for a couple years before catching a break. During his climb upwards, Forbert found acceptance in New York's punk scene, especially at the historic CBGB's where club owner Hilly Kristal gave him a chance and introduced him to his manager. From there, Steve went on to start recording records. His second album, Jackrabbit Slim, gave him his hit song, "Romeo's Tune," which he credits giving him his career and "a ticket in to the show." He's releasing his latest, "Moving Through America," with more character studies and focuses on life's oddities.

It's not easy to get Steve to talk about himself and his reflections, but he's up for giving it a shot. He wrote a memoir in 2018, Big City Cat: My Life in Folk-Rock, which sounds like it was a challenge for him to revisit and write about his past, not because it seems like it was filled with mistakes and scandal, but because it was sooooo much about himself. He seems grateful for the opportunity to still have a career and does not take it for granted. He also makes some very hip and hot music references in our conversation: like bringing up rappers Megan Thee Stallion and Jack Harlow. Color me impressed, Steve Forbert is watching the Billboard Hot 100.

Help produce Basic Folk by contributing at https://basicfolk.com/donate/

Fiddler and singer/songwriter Lily Henley's latest album, Oras Dezaoradas, is a full-on celebration of her Sephardic Jewish Heritage. The lineage of Sephardic people can be traced back to the Iberian Jews expelled from Spain and Portugal in 1492. For Jewish people, there are many diasporas and lots of different ethnic heritages and practices that have been adopted and blended from many other groups along the way. Lily's heritage is different from the Ashkenazi Jewish people, which is the most represented Jewish sect in The United States, who can be traced back to Eastern Europeans. Lily graciously gives a very brief overview of the diaspora (which is pretty amazing to take in) and the geographical and cultural differences.

Lily grew up moving around a lot and talks about how that act of moving from place to place impacted her as a young person and how it still affects her. She found a sense of belonging and home at the fiddle camps she attended alongside other musicians her own age. At camp, she learned to play Celtic, Old-time and Cape Breton style tunes. While at home, she played traditional Sephardic tunes, sung in the Ladino language, also called Judeo-Spanish, a combination of Spanish with Hebrew, Arabic, and Turkish elements and is spoken by less than 100,000 people. As an adult, she was inspired by living in Tel-Aviv for three years and immersed in Sephardic culture. She was awarded a Fulbright research grant and is currently an artist residency at the Cite Internationale des Arts in Paris. She recorded her latest album in Paris: on a label run by a Sephardic community leader while being embraced by and collaborating with the Sephardic community there. OH!: Lily has another new non-Ladino album on the way: Imperfect By Design coming January 2023. It's an Indie-Folk anthology about love, belonging, independence, and change. Look out for that and enjoy this deeply educational conversation!

Grace Givertz, born and raised in South Florida, began writing and performing at age eleven when she got a guitar and learned to play off YouTube videos. Grace is a survivor in many ways: she manages and confronts several chronic illnesses, she survived having her Berklee scholarship rescinded due to a systematic error and lived through being struck by a city bus in 2015. The accident left her unable to play her instruments for several months. During that idle time, she reflected on how being a musician defines she who is. Her writing changed and became more open and honest about chronic illnesses. In her most recent single, "Papa," she writes about the traumatic murder of her grandfather and how he lives on in Grace.

I first came across Grace working at Club Passim in the Boston area, where she currently lives. Grace's visual appearance, sense of humor and sparkling personality are undeniable. In addition to music, she's super crafty and her reputation for cute outfits, cute earrings (which she sells on Etsy) and her cute apartment (which I've seen a lot of thanks to Zoom concerts and social media) proceeds her. She surrounds herself with her adorable pets that pop up frequently on her social media. One time, my mom (unprovoked - she doesn't know Grace!) sent me a video of Grace's bearded dragon, Baby Pancake, being cuddled by her peachy cat Persimmon. Yes, I know most of her pets' names and have a Grace Givertz t-shirt with a sweet Baby Pancake design on it. I am a fan all around.

Help produce Basic Folk by contributing at https://basicfolk.com/donate/

LA-based singer/songwriter Amy Correia will tell you that she is not a prolific writer, which… okay maybe she doesn’t write a million songs in one year, but holy crap, those songs and that voice will wallop you. Originally from Lakeville, Massachusetts, Amy’s musical roots lay in New York City’s lower east side in a scene that produced Jeff Buckley, Richard Julian and Jesse Harris. She discovered her musical voice while recovering from a back injury her junior year of college. She was actually a big fan of laying in bed and doing nothing but writing songs and playing around on her guitar. After college, she was playing around and got offered a major label deal, recorded an album with seven different producers and countless musicians, left her label and signed another deal, which would eventually become the place where she released her debut, Carnival Love in the year 2000. Another album followed in 2004 (fan funded) and another in 2010 (also fan funded). She opened for big acts like Chrissie Hynde, John Hiatt, Richard Thompson and Marc Cohn. She started living in Boston, fully embraced by “a collective of musicians who uplifted her with their creative camaraderie,” which included Kimon Kirk who turned out to be one of her most important friends and collaborators.

Kimon encouraged Amy to record this new batch of songs on her latest release, the EP As We Are, which just came out in March 2022. During our conversation, Amy revealed that the recording session took place in 2015, but she wasn’t ready to release the music until now. Kimon had persuaded her to revisit the songs during the pandemic and the plan was set in motion for the EP. We also discussed Amy’s connection to spirituality, her affinity and experience in the theater world and letting go of control. She also opens up about her relationship to her singing voice, which is so special and always digs deep in me every time I hear it. I hope you enjoy this wonderful and vulnerable conversation with Amy Correia!

Editor’s note: Basic Folk is pleased to introduce our listeners to one of our favorite podcasts by sharing an episode in our feed! Why We Write features conversations between folk music reporter Kim Ruehl and a hand-picked array of great songwriters, presented by Folk Alley.

So much goes into a song—the songwriter’s intimate life, their upbringing, their worldview, what they see going on in the world. What moves them to put pen to paper? How do they do it? When, where, and why? Ruehl explores all of this with some of the finest songwriters working these days—old favorites, up-and-comers, and everything in between.

Kim is one of my favorite music writers and (frankly) one of my favorite people. Her laid back demeanor is easy to vibe with and does well for her scholarly approach. Kim is basically a folk-brainiac and cannot be stopped. I first met her while she was the editor in chief at No Depression. She's since gone on to publish her first book A Singing Army: Zilphia Horton and the Highlander Folk School. A former singer/songwriter herself, Kim not only brings her big writer's brain and cool attitude into these conversations, but she has a unique musician's perspective that her guests can feel and relate to.

Basic Folk is pleased to share Kim's interview with Rosanne Cash (This episode was originally published on June 9, 2021). There is much that could be said about Rosanne Cash’s number-one hits and Grammy awards, her family legacy and her celebrity. But whether she’s writing songs, articles, essays, or books, Cash is always a writer’s writer.

She has a knack for catchy, chorus-worthy turn of phrase, sure, but she also has a generally superb literary sensibility. Thus, the opportunity to discuss writing with her for this episode of Why We Write was a bit of a no-brainer.

One of the things that strikes me most about Cash’s songwriting is the way she sets her songs and stories very strongly in a specific place. So, we began our conversation with the relationship between story and place. Press play and come along for the ride.

This preview of Backstage (Basic Folk's bonus episodes) features Amy Helm (who was on BF episode 138, Oct. 2021), the daughter of Levon Helm, legendary drummer and vocalist for The Band. Amy talks about her affinity for hymns: their impact and where they still show up for her today. Check out the full episode by contributing to Basic Folk. Links below!

Hear the entire Backstage with Amy Helm: http://basicfolk.com/Backstage

Contribute and gain Backstage access: http://basicfolk.com/donate

Mason Jennings has the most interesting songwriting process I've come across. Since he was around 13 years old, the Minneapolis songwriter has had songs just come to him while randomly playing guitar and singing. He gets in touch with his subconscious and discovers his songs there very naturally. He also never writes the songs down. That's right, he commits each song to memory and only writes them down for liner notes. Born in Honolulu and raised in Pittsburgh, he chose Minneapolis to settle into his music career. There, he found lots of success and managed to avoid the ever-tempting major label record contracts, which were being offered as high as $1 million. Wanting to remain in control of his creativity, he opted to stay independent until he signed with Glacial Pace, a subsidiary of Sony's Epic Records headed by Isaac Brock of Modest Mouse. He released Boneclouds in 2006 and gained much acclaim. An album with Jack Johnson's label and an appearance on the soundtrack to Todd Haynes Bob Dylan film I'm Not There, solidified his presence in the folk mainstream.

Fast forward to his latest album (his 14th studio record), Real Heart, co-produced by Pearl Jam guitarist Stone Gossard, is an ode to the acoustic guitar and a love letter to songwriting. Lately, Mason's been working on himself through therapy and self-reflection. In the last few years, he's been working on conquering and controlling depression, agoraphobia and living a sober life. He's also gotten married again to Josie Jennings and the couple just recently welcomed their son Western in March 2022. A lot of these themes appear on Real Heart. We dig into those as well as his painting, the lake he lives on and Painted Shield, his synth-based rock and roll band with Stone Gossard and Matt Matt Chamberlain. Mason's a very special person and I'm grateful for this conversation!

Help produce Basic Folk by contributing at https://basicfolk.com/donate/

When Tatiana Hargreaves was younger, she was a shit-hot fiddle player; recording her debut album at age 14, a first prize winner at the Clifftop Appalachian Stringband Festival Fiddle Contest that same year and gaining all sorts of accolades before even graduating high school. After some thought, she went after a degree in ethnomusicology and performance at Hampshire College in Amherst, MA, where she continued to play fiddle like a maniac. Her time in college allowed her to reconnect with her friend, the equally impressive banjo player, Allison de Groot. She reflects on one summer where she and Allison kept finding each other and jamming at various events and festivals. They decided to record their debut album and tour. The duo are back again with the new record Hurricane Clarice, using traditional stringband music as a way to interpret our uncertain times.

Our conversation leads into topics like the negative impact of music as competition. Tati has spoken before of her experience competing on the Texas Fiddle circuit that’s pretty popular on the West Coast. Also, after college, she moved to Durham to be closer and work with old-time legend Alice Gerrard. Since 2017, she’s been soaking up Alice’s influence and knowledge through being her fiddle player and digitizing her old photos. This has led to a vast amount of inspiration, from recording songs on the new record that Alice had introduced to her to going back to school to study archival science. I am fascinated by this person and her work. Tatiana keeps it close to the chest, but I’m grateful for what she shared in conversation.

Allison de Groot & Tatiana Hargreaves’ new album, Hurricane Clarice 

Julian Saporiti is the brilliant mind behind No No Boy, a recording project that tells the incredible stories of historical triumphs of Asian Americans making their way in the United States. Julian, an Italian American and Vietnamese American, has always been drawn to history and music and has used his two passions to elevate these stories. He was truly inspired by his doctoral research at Brown University on “Asian American and transpacific history focusing on sound, music, immigration, refugees and everyday life.” Julian began to explore his family’s history, pore over archival material, and conduct interviews; and found untold musical stories of Asian American artists like himself.

Julian got the No-No Boy name from Japanese Americans who were forced to live in internment camps during World War II, soon after the Pearl Harbor attack in 1942. They were asked to serve in combat and swear allegiance to the United States. Those who answered “no” to those two demands on the government’s “Loyalty Questionnaire” became “No-No Boys.” and Those who refused were sent to concentration camps. It’s also a novel by Asian American author John Okada (also a song by The Spiders). Our conversation covers his own family history, in which he also unabashedly shares his perspective on the concept of “generational trauma” (he’s not super into it). He expands on the influence of Asian musicians who have learned and perfected the music of the oppressor, like the George Igawa Orchestra, which was a jazz band held at an internment camp led by the Los Angeles musician George Igawa. When he was forced to relocate to the camp, he could only bring what he could carry, which, to him, meant his instruments. He formed a group in the camp where they would play parties and even outside beyond the confines of the camp’s barbed wire.

Julian’s identity and the identity of No No Boy is solidly rooted in his Asian American experience, but I decided to start our interview with questions about his dad’s work in the music industry. Julian’s father was a major player in Nashville’s country music industry and he would often take Julian with him to work. This left huge impressions on young Julian, so of course, I had to dig into that first thing!

Help produce Basic Folk by contributing at basicfolk.com/donate

Editor’s note: Lizzie No interviews Brent Cobb on Basic Folk! Be sure to go back and listen to Lizzie’s previous guest host spots on the pod and subscribe, so you never miss Lizzie!

Georgia-born Brent Cobb is a true blue southern Gospel country artist. His music career kicked off when he shared a demo tape with Dave Cobb, one of Nashville’s finest producers and Brent’s cousin. The two have collaborated on numerous albums since Brent’s debut and I had a lot of questions about that creative relationship during our interview.

Cobb’s 2016 album, ‘Shine On Rainy Day,’ earned him a Grammy nomination and saw him tour with country stars Chris Stapleton and Zac Brown. He has also written songs for stars like Luke Bryan and Miranda Lambert. Brent has fascinating insights about touring, collaboration, and his role as an interpreter of Southern culture in an interconnected world.

In July of 2020, Brent was driving with his one-year-old son when their truck was t-boned. He got up off the pavement and found his son unharmed in his car seat. This brush with death inspired him to create a Gospel album, drawing on the musical tradition in which he was raised. ‘And Now, Let’s Turn to Page…’ reimagines time-honored hymns and features one original song co-written by Brent and his wife, Layne. Life, death, love, community, and Willie Nelson-style gentle vocal performances, this album has it all.

Help produce Basic Folk by contributing at basicfolk.com/donate

Enter to win the Basic Folk/BGS Sweet Prize Pack: https://woobox.com/2mythq or http://basicfolk.com/news

Suz Slezak is one-half of the extremely talented and thoughtful band David Wax Museum. Suz, along with her husband David, has been touring and performing their Mexican-inspired, Americana folk act since 2009. Along the way, the two got married, had a couple of kids, and settled pretty finely into the pandemic with bi-weekly and then weekly live streams. All the while, Suz has been living with her bipolar disorder, which has impacted her life in incredibly unbelievable ways. She's also been pretty vocal, especially lately, about how she interacted with her brain health, mental health, and treatment for both of those elements, which includes her intense journey with medications. Her Instagram is filled with brutally honest posts about the difficulty of finding meds that continuously help her stabilize her brain.

On her new album, Our Wings May Be Featherless, Suz is addressing her life from the perspective of a person who is bi-polar, a mother, a touring musician, and a creative person. She digs into the power of acceptance, traumatic birth, and grief. In our conversation, we talk about what a special musician she is and how she's been able to cultivate and keep a childlike wonder alive through her playing. This conversation is heavily rooted in Suz's journey with her bipolar disorder and you'll learn a lot about her experience as she is very open. She addresses the choice to share her experiences publicly and how the sharing impacts her. About the album she says: “I hope you will also hear the way that a song, or any piece of art, can transform haunting pain into sounds and rhythm, allowing it to finally diffuse. I have needed to make this record for a long time. The relief I feel that it is finally emerging into this physical realm for you to enjoy is immense.” SUZ!

Maya De Vitry, who just appeared in our main feed (ep. 155), hangs with Cindy and Lizzie: talking about music, dogs and being a horse girl. Today we'll check out a preview of this fun and insightful hang with the former Stray Birds member.

Hear the entire Friend Hang with Maya: http://basicfolk.com/Backstage

Contribute and gain Backstage access: http://basicfolk.com/donate

Help produce Basic Folk by contributing at https://basicfolk.com/donate/

Enter to win the Basic Folk/BGS Sweet Prize Pack: https://woobox.com/2mythq or https://basicfolk.com/news/

Maya De Vitry released her third solo record, Violet Light, earlier this year and I, for one, am happy that my fiancée has a new Maya record to play endlessly in our house. Lol j/k. I love Maya and this album is perfect. Maya’s originally from Lancaster, where she lived and met the members of her old band The Stray Birds. Since the dissolution of the Birds, she’s been incredibly prolific with all these solo albums, co-writes and the like. If you’re not familiar, this record is a great intro to the genius of one of the greatest musicians on the scene today. The vibes I’m getting on this record are John Prine, Patty Griffin and, of course, Gillian Welch/Dave Rawlings. We. Are. Digging. IN!

I’m so happy Maya was up for going through this beauty of a record track by track! It’s a brilliant collection that subtly knocks you to the ground over the course of its eleven songs. Produced at home with her partner, the much in-demand bassist and producer, Ethan Jodziewicz (The Milk Carton Kids, Sierra Hull, Aoife O’Donovan, Darol Anger, Tony Trischka), Violet Light actually contains a ton of collaborations from Maya’s extensive musical community. This includes her own family; her siblings all collaborated for the very first time on tape for the song “Real Time, Real Tears,” about losing a favorite uncle. Yeah, you try not to cry during that one. Anywoo. It feels like a gift to be able to turn these songs over and over, contemplate their meaning, their creation and then be able to talk directly to the brains behind it all. I implore you to check out this whole episode and then go buy Maya’s new album, preferably on Bandcamp. Support an independent artist who’s music is meaningful and worth getting paid for. She’s a once in a lifetime artist.

Editor's note: Lizzie No interviews Joy Oladokun on Basic Folk! Be sure to go back and listen to Lizzie's previous guest host spots on the pod and subscribe, so you never miss Lizzie!

The Arizona-born Joy Oladokun grew up listening to her dad’s extensive record collection and falling in love with the wide and wondrous world of rock and roll. You can hear these diverse sonic influences, from genesis to tracy chapman, in joy’s rootsy, contemporary pop-savvy 2021 album “in defense of my own happiness.” Of particular note are her superpowers for Melody and smart repetition, which have made her a force to be reckoned with ever since she made the leap from LA to Nashville to make a life as a musician.

Joy is not only a phenomenal songwriter, but she's also fearless and hilarious on social media. Believe it or not it was twitter that brought us together and catalyzed this interview. It was fascinating to hear her talk about how she uses her platform as a rising star in indie pop and folk to create the kind of world she wants to see. The way I see it, she uses emotional transparency as a tool for political change. She is healing in public and gently nudging others to heal as well. Her new single “keeping the light on'' is the perfect distillation of her radical softness.

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Editor’s note: Basic Folk is pleased to introduce our listeners to one of our favorite podcasts by sharing an episode in our feed! American Songcatcher with Nicholas Edward Williams, is an independent audio documentary-style podcast hosted by the folk musician and music history enthusiast.

Each episode has five stories: starting with one traditional song’s journey to America, followed by the stories of four musicians in American roots starting with legends of the past going all the way to current artists of the day.

You’ll hear the stories behind songs of immigrants from the British Isles and Europe who brought their tunes into the Appalachian mountains…To songs of the South: Gospel, Bluegrass, Ragtime, Blues, Old-Time, Country, and the Folk music derived from it all.

This podcast goes behind the curtain of legends, and shines a light on integral artists who have influenced generations: Bessie Smith, Ola Belle Reed, Blind Blake, Odetta and Dave Van Ronk. I am SHOCKED that Nicholas does not have a journalism background. His approach is warm, insightful and he has the true spirit of a detective uncovering the mysteries of these songs and musicians. It’s a wonderful listen!

In this Season 2, Episode 2 of American Songcatcher, Nicholas has the following lineup:

Traditional – “Lil’ Liza Jane” (:28)
Dock Boggs (11:22)
Snooks Eaglin (25:54)
Nina Simone (43:36)
Billy Strings (1:04:18)

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Fruit Bats have been on the indie rock radar since the early 00's, so I'd say that calls for a double album compilation documenting their 20 years of music! However, the brains behind FBs and it's only regular member, Eric D. Johnson, is a man who tends to solely look forward. Thankfully for us, he rolled up his sleeves, dug into some old hard drives and sifted through two decades of MP3s, WAVs, AIFFs and the like that make up the band's brand new collection: Sometimes a Cloud Is Just a Cloud: Slow Growers, Sleeper Hits and Lost Songs (2001–2021). On Basic Folk, Eric talks about growing up constantly moving around and the impact on him then and now. He also gets into his time working at Old Town School of Folk Music in Chicago. His time there allowed Eric to evolve and embrace his folk musicality as well as the punk side he was nurturing in Chicago's scene.

He also gets into reframing career aspirations after he saw a lot of his friends' careers, who came up in indie rock at the same time he did, reaching new heights that Fruit Bats just simply weren't. He was affordable many amazing opportunities before he was ready, recording Fruit Bats debut album with Tim from Califone and then getting signed to Sub Pop thanks to The Shins and Modest Mouse's advocacy. He talks about how he felt about those chances back then and how he reflects on them now. His time playing with The Shins allowed him to "climb into someone else’s work a little bit," which gave him perspective on his own. There was a time when Eric ditched the Fruit Bats name to record under his initials, EDJ, in what he calls “career stalling move,” but I pressed him to expand on the fact that it might have been a really necessary move for him personally. He's been recording and playing under Fruit Bats again since 2015, which he sees as a new era for Fruit Bats, which he gets into. I also brought up Bonny Light Horseman and the incredible vocal pairing of himself with Anaïs Mitchell, who he calls his "main singing partner" these days. Eric D. Johnson is the nicest guy in indie rock and I'm here for that!! Enjoy!

Anaïs Mitchell, who just appeared in our main feed for a track by track (ep. 152), joins us Backstage for an Extended Lightning Round (XLR). Today we'll check out a preview of this fun light hearted Q&A with the genius behind the Tony award wining musical Hadestown, Bonny Light Horseman and her new self-titled album.

Hear the entire Extended Lightning Round with Anaïs: http://basicfolk.com/Backstage
Contribute and gain Backstage access: http://basicfolk.com/donate

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Anaïs Mitchell goes track by track through her new self titled release (out now!) and holy smokes what a volcano of an album! It’s been a decade since she last released an album’s worth of new material and since then, Mitchell’s been keeping very busy with the game-changing Tony Awards winning Broadway sensation, Hadestown. She started working on the folk opera in the early 00’s, she’s also recently been performing with Bonny Light Horseman (with Eric D. Johnson and Josh Kaufman) and is the mom of two young kids, so very busy!! It took a global pandemic to stop everything and allow her to concentrate on her own inner world. All of the songs on Anaïs Mitchell are truly biographical, which is not the norm for the Vermont songwriter. She was actually 9 months pregnant when the pandemic hit, and thanks to a tip from a Seattle friend, she packed up her family and left the city for her home state. She ended up spending lockdown in her grandparents house on her family’s Vermont compound. There, she unearthed some embarrassing teenage journals (which she promptly burned) and had the opportunity to reconnect with her younger self. Those perspectives and more were sown into this incredible new album. Let’s get into it!!

It was truly a gift to be able to dive deep with Anaïs and producer Josh Kaufman (who briefly joined us for this episode!). Hope you get into this album as deeply as I did. I look forward to many more inspired works of art from Anaïs! She is a treasure and I’m so glad she’s in our world. After you get into this episode, you can go way back to Basic Folk Episode 8 and listen to Anaïs’ first appearance on the pod. One of my favorite interviews ever!

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Editor's note: Lizzie No interviews Erin Rae on Basic Folk! Be sure to go back and listen to Lizzie's previous guest host spots on the pod and subscribe, so you never miss Lizzie!

Singer-songwriter Erin Rae grew up in Jackson, Tennessee, which might ring a bell for our listeners because Valerie June is from the same town. There must be something in the water in Jackson because both songwriters are majestically creative, playful, spiritually minded, and bring a sort of supernatural calm to their work. 

Erin gave college a try before falling in love with the camaraderie of the singer songwriter scene in tennessee. She dropped out and answered the artist’s call. She released an album with her band erin rae and the meanwhiles before her solo debut “putting on airs” in 2018. Erin’s knack for dreamy, deeply personal songwriting and velvety vocal delivery mader her a fixture of the nashville songwriter scene. Her follow up LP “Lighten Up” expands on her classic sound, while also surfing on the groovy waves of laurel-canyon influenced pop.

I had a ball talking to Erin about the making of this gorgeous new record, about 21st century feminism, about meditation, about being weird, and about which clothes make her feel most powerfully herself.

BASIC FOLK 150 EPISODES WOO!!! Ok ok ok... for our 150th episode, we are so pleased to welcome Aoife O'Donovan to the pod. Aoife's new album Age of Apathy is out now! This is her third solo record after years of performing with her bands I'm With Her (along with Sara Watkins and Sarah Jarosz), Crooked Still, Sometymes Why (Kristin Andreassen and Ruth Merenda) and The Wayfaring Strangers. She was born and raised in Newton, Mass and her dad, (radio host and music champion) Brian O’Donovan, moved to the US in 1980. Thanks to her music loving parents, she and her siblings grew up in the “Irish music party world” in Boston. Aoife spent summers in Ireland and is very closely associated with the music, culture and people there. The impact her heritage and the early environment of her life have had on her musicality cannot be understated. 

The role that Aoife has played in the folk and roots world has grown significantly over the years. From her appearances on Prairie Home Companion and Chris Thile’s Live From Here program to her many appearances at Newport Folk Festival, she is a household name in many folk-oriented communities. On her latest album, she works with producer Joe Henry to insight a hypnotic groove throughout her beautifully written songs. There is so much to listen to and discover on this album. Aoife’s been living in Orlando, FL where her husband is the artistic director and conductor for a few symphonies there. She’s actually turned into the city’s number one advocate! She talks about this and entertains my cosmically woo woo questions about feminism, energy and alcohol. Thank you, Aoife!

Welcome to a preview of BACKSTAGE: special bonus content for Basic Folk. You can gain access by contributing at http://basicfolk.com/Donate.

This month we’re celebrating our 150th episode with an in-depth interview with Aoife O’Donovan on Basic Folk! Recently, I’ve been spinning her records non-stop, especially her new album Age of Apathy: which is out now! It’s a great album, so go buy it and listen. I’m excited for you to hear our conversation on Basic Folk, which will be released this Thursday Jan 27, 2022.

Aoife’s an old friend from the Boston days and we’ve known each other for a long time, which makes her appearance on our 150th episode SO SPECIAL! To get ready, please join us Backstage and revisit an interview I did with Aoife O’Donovan in 2014 along with some personal reflection on what a lunatic year 2014 was for me.

Check out the entire interview, plus pictures of my insane 2014 at http://basicfolk.com/backstage. Gain access to exclusive special bonus content at http://basicfolk.com/Donate

Thanks to WYEP for the use of the Aoife interview and to Ian Fox for producing this preview of Backstage. 

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When Tré Burt was signed to John Prine’s Oh Boy Records in 2019, he was one of only two artists—including label-mate Kelsey Waldon, to join the label in the past 15 years. The Sacramento-born singer/songwriter had released his debut album independently, catching the attention of Prine’s son Jody Whelan, who sent Tré a message on social media. Sadly, the message, which landed in one of those secret inboxes no one knows about, remained unread for a long time. When Tré finally found it and responded, it began a relationship with the label and allowed him into John Prine’s orbit. He only met the man once after John came backstage at one of his shows. The kindness and opportunity Prine imparted on Tré cannot be understated by the young musician. We talked about John’s impact and how he helped shape and reinforce Tré’s writing.

thanks to a school project. Formerly a fast picking guitarist (much like the busy and flowing style of The Tallest Man on Earth), his playing slowed down when his writing got more intense as that helped in getting people's attention. We also discuss the range in his comfortability when it comes to speaking about the Black experience in folk music. This stemmed from his appearance on Adia Victoria's excellent podcast Call and Response, which is a must listen. It’s an important moment where two Black people who create music in a white space talk about what that entails in finite detail.

Tré is easy to talk to and we cover a lot: from his grandfather’s impact to an operator at T-Mobile recognizing his name from his music. One thing we didn’t mention, but I mentioned her in the Lightning Round is his pet bearded dragon, Yara. I thought he had a pic of her online, but I couldn’t find it. I swear she exists. Okay enjoy Tré!

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Eliza Gilkyson is a middle child, a constant reinventor of herself and a surprise teacher of songwriting. Her father, the acclaimed folk singer/songwriter Terry Gilkyson, moved his family to California in the late 1940's to pursue a career in folk music. He found success with his group The Easy Riders and as a staff songwriter for Disney. He wrote songs for animated films and most famously "Bear Necessities" from The Jungle Book, which earned him an Oscar nomination. Terry greatly influenced Eliza's style with a love of melody, natural talent and visceral writing. Young Eliza spent time in the southwestern US soaking in the sounds of "western folk." That sound encompasses her new album Songs From the River Wind (out on Jan 14, 2022). She's spent many years going back and forth from New Mexico to California, to Austin, Texas and back to New Mexico again. The pandemic and settling into her third act put a lot of things into perspective, including officially moving 100% to her beloved Taos, New Mexico. 

The new album is not political, which is unusual for Eliza, who's been known to write pointed political scorchers on her records. Lots of these songs and sounds are encompassing a time gone by featuring moments of joy and beauty. The sounds of the album completely encapsulate her dad's trademark style, led by Taos band The 'Rifters, who accompany Eliza this time around. Eliza's embarking on another new reinvention of herself, which she has been known to do over the course of her amazing life. Most famously, at 50 years old around the year 2000, Gilkyson reclaimed the identity of "folk singer" and released her career-affirming and changing album Hard Times in Babylon. That record unlocked her writing and set her on a path of authentic creation in her music and she has not looked back. Here's to constant reinvention!  

Welcome to the third preview of Basic Folk: Backstage! 

For this episode, we're taking you inside a very special moment that happened one night at Miles of Music Camp in 2019. It was a late night music hang where a guitar was being passed around. I had my mic with me and my friend Christopher Pappas asked me to start recording. He has been working on a song, "Lighting Myself on Fire," and wanted to record it with his friends. Present in the room were Laura Cortese, Taylor Ashton, Eleanor Buckland, Mali Obomsawin, Isa Burke, Chas Justus among others. It's hard to explain what it's like to witness a moment like this where everyone is loose, punchy and so talented it knocks the wind out of you. Lucky for us, we got it on tape!

To hear the full episode, join us Backstage by donating to Basic Folk today.

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It’s hard to put into words why I love MC Taylor so much, but I know when it started. His band, Durham’s Hiss Golden Messenger, stopped by to play live at WYEP in Jan of 2017. They were the first band I interviewed after Tr*mp was inaugurated. Like a lot of people (and like the white liberal woman that I am), the state of things had shocked me awake. I decided to use my platform differently and this was the first interview where I attempted that and Mike picked up what I was laying down. I got him to talk candidly about Trump, he declared his band was against Trump and stood with marginalized people, but still invited anyone who supported Trump to his show. After that interview I felt some pressure and anxiety inside of me release and then I never forgot his grace and bravery. This guy is so full of wisdom and we get to experience that through his music and his person. I’m so thrilled to talk to him about his music and latest album Quietly Blowing It. Although he’s also just released a Hiss Golden Messenger holiday album, O Come All Ye Faithful, and a companion holiday release from his new project, Revelators which he refers to as “spiritual jazz and dub-influenced.” The guy is prolific.

Mike was always playing music, thanks to his music loving parents. His dad played guitar; outside of his school teaching career he would play occasional gigs around their home in Orange County, California. He spent some time in San Francisco in a hardcore punk and alt country band. He became burnt out on playing music and headed East to The University of North Carolina to study folklore. He decided to start writing and recording some music under the name Hiss Golden Messenger (an homage to his complicated feelings about religion and love the the lo-fi). He’s since released a dozen or so albums and EPs under that name with a rotating cast of players backing him up. In our conversation we cover topics including uncertainty, boundaries and the state of music journalism. He also told me what the C stands for in MC Taylor. He said no one ever asks that and no one knows, so I’ll just keep that one to myself.

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Once Baltimore claw-hammer banjoist, radio host and community organizer Brad Kolodner got a banjo in his hands, it was game over. Brad had previously played the cello in the school orchestra and had held a strong interest in sports, but his true passion for old time was realized at Meadowlark Music camp in Maine. He signed up for the banjo for beginners class after his father (the renowned fiddle and hammer dulcimer player Ken Kolodner) brought him along to the camp under the condition that he was to play some kind of music that week. While Brad had grown up around traditional music through his father's performances with his band Helicon, dad's recordings and music lessons at the house, he wasn't drawn to that particular style of music. Once he started on the banjo, however, he began going down YouTube rabbit holes, going out to jams and soaking in as much as he could. Brad went to school in Ithaca, NY, where he started hosting a folk radio show that further deepened his love of old time. Once he returned home to Baltimore, he became invested in community organizing with weekly jams and music festivals.

Brad's released albums with his band Charm City Junction, as Ken & Brad Kolodner and recently, he's put out his debut solo record, Chimney Swifts. The album focuses on what he calls “private music.” This is what musicians play when they first pick up their instruments, it’s familiar and evokes time and place. In our conversation, he goes into detail about what that means and how the pandemic has impacted his practice of "private music." He also talks about his most recent project The Birds' Flight with Pete Sutherland and Timothy Cummings. Pete and Tim were working on Scottish songs and then decided to bring Brad in since he has an affinity towards genre-mixing and is a kick-ass banjo player. As a DJ, you can hear Brad on Folk Alley, Radio Bristol for the Old Time Jam and on Bluegrass Country Radio, you can find him playing at the Baltimore Old Time Jam, Baltimore Square Dance, Baltimore Old-Time Music Festival. And you can find him online teaching banjo and making everyone feel comfortable at the slow jam.

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Miko Marks’ story starts in Flint, MI where she was immersed in music, specifically country music (Loretta Lynn and Kenny Rogers were in heavy rotation) and in the music found in Black church at the Church of God in Christ. As a young girl, she first sang live in that church and found the experience to be overwhelming when she noticed it was making members of the congregation weep. She got more comfortable with performing once she recognized that it was only people responding emotionally to the music. It’s important to keep in mind HOW talented of a singer Miko is. Her chosen sound is based in roots and country, but this woman can sing ANYTHING. She attended college at Grambling State University, a historically Black school in North Louisiana – FULL SCHOLARSHIP for singing. This fact will also lead you to her Erykah Badu connection which, OF COURSE, I asked her about and OF COURSE she has a very good story.

Miko was living in San Francisco when she won a radio contest for singing. After that, her dream-boat fire-fighting ultra-supportive husband encouraged her to pursue a music career in Nashville. She went for it and started making some traction in the 2000’s. To make a long story short, she found a lot of people that really really loved her music, but she could not find a major label that would sign her because she was too “innovative.” Which, we can assume is code for too Black. She decided to not go after any major label dreams, focused on smaller musical projects and stopped writing. That is, until she had a dream that she was playing with her former bandmates. She texted them both about the dream and they both responded, got together to play, recorded a few songs and then recorded Miko’s first full length album since 2007. 2021’s Our Country was followed just recently by her EP Race Records, which focuses on country songs written by white men. The EP inserts this extremely talented singer/songwriter and Black woman into the songs that she loves. Miko Marks is graceful, generous and holy cow, what a voice and what a spirit. Enjoy!

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Dori Freeman is an Appalachian woman using her music to break the stereotype of her region, which specifically is her town of Galax, VA - where she was born and still lives. Dori's new album, Ten Thousand Roses, is a celebration of layered sound, beautiful drums and lyrics from an evolving songwriter. Her voice came to us fully realized on her more traditional learning 2016 self-titled debut. Dori learned to sing among the circle of musicians she grew up surrounded by. Her father was the driving force for her guitar lessons, but her grandfather's playing style has still managed to seep into her own. She's named for her great-grandmother, who would have pursued playing music with more fervor had life not presented the responsibility of raising her younger siblings and then her own children.

Our conversation includes discussion of the need for rhythm on the new album, which was produced by her husband, who is a drummer. We also talk about the patriarchy (obviously), dark humor, being comfortable using your picture to promote your music and the deep traditional roots of her upbringing.  Her town is known for it's 90+ year Old Fiddler's Convention that Dori's been to every year of her life, aside from the year she had her baby, now her 8 year old daughter Osa. Osa's a big influence on her life and she talks about the struggle of being a parent and a touring musician. It's not typical for her to find a parent-friendly environment at a festival or venue, so when she arrives at the gig to discover childcare provided for her, it's a huge triumph. 

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Editor's note: Lizzie No interviews Valerie June on Basic Folk! Be sure to got back and listen to Lizzie's previous guest host spots on the pod and subscribe, so you never miss Lizzie!

Today’s guest, Valerie June, grew up as country as country gets in Jackson, Tennessee. She remembers writing songs at an early age with frogs and rainbows as her inspiration. Her musical world was divided between the church, where the voice was a tool for worship and instruments were forbidden, and the secular world where she helped out with her father’s side hustle as a promoter in the local music scene. 

After a stint in a band, June struck out on her own as a solo artist, influenced by the thriving Memphis musical community she found herself in. Her solo work is shaped by blues, folk, rock, and spiritual influences, and it was fascinating to talk to her about the role of intuition in her writing. Her latest album, The Moon and Stars: Prescriptions for Dreamers, is a powerful step on her path as a one-of-a-kind creator who shapes new worlds with each track. The album features a range of emotions, from meditation to celebration, not to mention a guest appearance from the one and only Carla Thomas.

I also took this interview as an opportunity to get a little personal about my own journey as a folk artist. Valerie June has had an enormous impact on my musical path and it was a privilege to hear the stories behind some of the songs that made me who I am as a songwriter, in particular, working woman blues from the album Pushin Against a Stone.

Welcome to the second preview of Basic Folk: Backstage! 

For this episode, I wanted to share a very special interview I did with my favorite person to talk to: KT Tunstall. We discuss 2013's Invisible Empire // Crescent Moon, which is one of my favorite LPs. Born out of two difficult personal shifts, the death of her father and the end of her first marriage, IE // CM was recorded in Tucson and sonically reflects the desert landscape. KT is candid and open about this incredible record and basically makes it very easy for me to ask these difficult questions. It was not easy for me to ask them.

To hear the full episode, join us Backstage by donating to Basic Folk today.

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Ok I think that Erin McKeown was really into this conversation solely because it allowed her/them to dig deep into the new record Kiss Off Kiss. Halfway through the interview, Erin proclaimed how fun it was to get to address each track... I concur! It was very fun. KoK was funded through a generous gift from a friend of Erin's, who gave away the money with no stipulations about how it should be used. Erin decided to make a record AND pay it forward with microgrants for individuals serving their community with proceeds from digital sales of the album that she'll be distributing at the end of 2021. The subject matter of the new album stems from a breakup Erin experienced a couple of years ago. They thought they were done with all that, but sneaky feelings of heartbreak found their way into her mindset when she found herself settling into the pandemic. Erin decided to challenge themself by writing as many songs as they could about the topic and bam! We got a whole dang Erin McKeown album … and she thought she was done making records!

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Mary Gauthier's book, Saved By A Song, is a must-read for all humans with feelings that need feeling. Gauthier has been writing and recording songs since the the early 90's, but she actually started her music career relatively late at age 30. She had grown up as an adopted child in Thibodaux, Louisiana, which was something that she didn't realize had greatly impacted her until she was in her 40's. She created a concept album, The Foundling, out of that realization. Some people find that album hard to listen to, but it was deeply healing for her and for other grown-up adopted children. She found herself in the Boston area as a chef in her late 20's. She was arrested for drunk driving the night of her restaurant opening, The Dixie Kitchen. She spent a hard night in jail, got sober and started taking an interest in songwriting. Thanks to encouragement she found at open mics in the area, including at Club Passim, Mary discovered her true passion was writing songs. 

She stepped away from her stable career in the restaurant business and started pursued music full time. She's toured, released albums and co-written songs with music professionals for the past 30+ years now. For the past several years, she's been working with soldiers and their families on writing songs together. The process has been rewarding and challenging for her, culminating in her latest studio album Rifles and Rosary Beads. She has continued her writing with professionals and soldiers as well as teaching songwriting classes. Most recently, she's been working with health care workers to write songs in reaction to their Covid-19 experience. Her work is a gift not only to us, her listeners, but it has actually been life-changing to countless individuals and their families. She is brilliant at bringing people to their most frightening and vulnerable places because she is living proof that life is better on the other side of trauma. Thank you for you wonderful work, Mary Gauthier!

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Carl Nichols (aka Buffalo Nichols) found out that he liked playing guitar way more than anything else when he was around 12 years old. He took his older sister's guitar (what? she wasn't using it) and started obsessively learning to play. He'd listen to songs 200 times in a row to get it right. Very soon, he was out performing his peers as a young teen. He started playing gigs around town in many different bands and many different styles, over extending himself. He was perhaps best known for being in the folk duo, Nickel & Rose, who released music from 2017 - 2019. He eventually got burnt out and realized he wanted to play music that resonated with him. He gave himself a break and went overseas to West Africa and Europe. There he discovered there was a way to connect tradition in music with modernism.

Carl uses the blues on his self-titled debut album to tell and express Black stories and the Black experience. He chose the stage name Buffalo Nichols because he was fascinated with the Buffalo Soldiers. He actually learned his grandfather was part of an all-Black infantry in the Korean War also called the Buffalo Soldiers. The writing process for the album was a new venture for Carl. Normally, he works on songs slowly and takes his time (he is more of a cat friend, even though he's allergic to them). For this album, he just let the songs flow out of him without overthinking or over editing himself. The end result is a raw record from someone who's pushing himself outside of his comfort zone. However, don't be surprised if he abandons that free flowing process in the future!

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This special episode of Basic Folk features Allison Russell, Jake Blount, Kaïa Kater, and guest host Lizzie No in a roundtable conversation about Black artists in folk music. Black musicians are more visible than ever in the roots music space, but they continue to face unique challenges from tokenizing placements on festival lineups to outright racism in the press.

During this hour of Basic Folk we tackled questions like “under what circumstances is it useful for Black artists to self-categorize based on identity?,” “how can we respond to bigotry without wasting our time justifying our worthiness in the roots space?,” “what advice would we offer to up-and-coming Black folk musicians?,” and “how can we bring a holistic understanding of consent to our relationships in the music industry?”

Musicians talked about in this episode:
Our Native Daughters
Amythyst Kiah
Adia Victoria
Yola
Mali Obomsawin
Valerie June
Crys Matthews
The Sojourners
The Carolina Chocolate Drops
Rhiannon Giddens
Hubby Jenkins
Po’Girl
Ndidi Onukwulu
Kyshona

Non-musicians talked about:
Adrienne Maree Brown, Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds
Caroline Randall Williams
Andrea Williams

Resources:
The Black Opry
Country Queer
Country Soul Songbook

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You can contribute $5 a month or more and get access to Backstage, our exclusive bonus content. Here's a preview of what's happening Backstage. Hope you will join us! 

For our first Backstage ep, we are going to check out something we like to call “Field Music.” We’ll hear a recording of a traditional song from a folk musician, who from and where they heard the song originally and what they know about the song. This time around we’ll hear “Lazy John” featuring Charlie Rose (of the bluegrass band Barnstar!), Carolyn Kendrick and Chris Idell – recorded at Miles of Music Camp in New Hampshire. 

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Editor's note: Lizzie No interviews Dar Williams on Basic Folk! Be sure to got back and listen to Lizzie's previous guest host spots on the pod and subscribe, so you never miss Lizzie! Dar’s new album, ‘I’ll Meet You Here,’ is out now.

Dar Williams, originally from Mount Kisco, NY, grew up in an era and a household where everyone was tearing down the old ways of doing things, and learning new ways of expressing themselves. For Williams this meant participating in theater and learning to play instruments. She attended Wesleyan University where she studied theater and religion. A deep engagement with matters of the heart and spirit continues to permeate her work today.

After college Dar found herself in Boston, immersed in the singer-songwriter scene. She wrote and released her album ‘The Honesty Room,’ which changed everything. That album started her on a path to becoming a venerated performer in the folk space. She was on the original Lilith Fair lineup, which included too many musical legends to name here. It was a dream come true to talk with Dar about that experience, about what it might take for another Lilith Fair to happen, and about the current climate for women in the music industry.

Dar’s new album, ‘I’ll Meet You Here,’ will be released on October 1st. This beautiful collection of songs was mostly recorded pre-Covid, but then hit a number of road bumps on its way to release. It deals with time, acceptance, places, and small towns, topics about which Dar Williams is a master storyteller.

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Amy Helm grew up surrounded by some of the most influential musicians in American roots music, including her father Levon Helm, legendary drummer and singer for The Band. That also meant that her childhood was a “very colorful” experience where she was raised by a “village of brilliant and talented people who were also wrestling with the grips of addiction.” When she was a kid, she liked kid things, just like a normal kid. Case in point, she attended the fabled 1976 concert, The Last Waltz when she was five years old. Her most prominent memory: all the candy and snacks her and the other kids were given backstage. She also didn't have a great relationship with her dad until she was a young adult. Levon took her on the road to tour with his blues band, The Barn Burners. He thought she was ready and it was trial by fire each night on the road for young Amy. She learned so much from that experience. After that, she and her dad started his much loved Rambles at The Barn in his Woodstock home. Those nights started as a rent party for Levon who had just overcome addiction, survived throat cancer and had just filed for Bankruptcy. They soon grew into a Woodstock institution, featuring artists such as Emmylou Harris, Allen Toussaint, Elvis Costello, Phil Lesh and more. After Levon died, Amy decided to record and release her first solo album at 44. Now, she's on her third album, the excellent and very personal What The Flood Leaves Behind.

Carolyn Kendrick's California childhood was filled with music: from listening to music to musicians in her family, especially her father, a professional jazz drummer. Having a well revered musician in her family meant overcoming a reputation that preceded her, but it also gave her a special relationship with the beat as a guitarist and a fiddler. She talks about her connection to rhythm and how it lives strongly in her and her songs. I first met Carolyn at The Miles of Music Camp on Three Mile island in New Hampshire, which is one of the most wonderful music communities you could find. She has found many communities in her life like at Berklee College of Music, in Austin, Nashville and very recently, in Maine.

She's been living in rural Maine throughout the pandemic with her husband, Alex Steed. The two of them started a podcast called You Are Good - a feelings podcast about movies. Alex and the writer Sarah Marshall (who also hosts You're Wrong About) dig into movies every week with a special guest. Carolyn produces and writes a song inspired by the movie or covers a song from the soundtrack. Carolyn is an exquisite editor for the pod and she gets into how that has translated into her musical life. Make sure you listen to You Are Good, right after this episode and after you listen to her EP Tear Things Apart!

Editor’s note: Basic Folk is pleased to introduce our listeners to one of our favorite podcasts by sharing an episode in our feed! One of my favorite and most insightful interviews on Basic Folk has to have been from Ben Arthur. Ben let the walls come down and allowed us to both dig into his psyche. It was a rare privilege to be able to strip feelings and actions down to their studs and really examine what's going on. I'd recommend checking out Ben's previous appearance on Basic Folk... that is, after you take a listen to his wonderful podcast, SongWriter. The concept is amazing: some of the best writers present their stories followed by an answer song written specifically for the tale by some of our favorite songwriters. Enjoy!

SongWriter is a podcast of stories and “answer songs,” featuring performances by Amanda Shires, Roxane Gay, Mary Gauthier, Joyce Carol Oates, Tift Merritt, and David Gilmour of Pink Floyd. Each episode includes a story from an author or storyteller, and a song written in response, as well as conversations about inspiration, art, and music. Host by songwriter and previous Basic Folk guest, Ben Arthur. 

In this episode of SongWriter, bestselling author Cheryl Strayed reads a letter about her mother from her celebrated advice column "Dear Sugar," and songwriter Maia Sharp talks about a recent break-up and performs her song "It's Always Good to See You.”

Cheryl’s memoir Wild was made into a movie starring Reese Witherspoon, and Maia has written songs for Bonnie Raitt, Cher, and Trisha Yearwood.

Martin Sexton's career was built by his work as a street musician on the Boston scene in the 80's and early 90's. His audience knows him for being connector by making them a part of the magic he, the performer, creates onstage. On the street, he would use tricks like strategically placing himself in an area that would bottleneck a crowd and keep people around with delightful audience participation and soaring, imaginative vocal aerobics: imitating a flute or saxophone or singing into a vocal processor like his hero Peter Frampton. All the while, Sexton, who goes by "Marty," was writing incredible music. The tricks made them listen, but the songs made them stay.

Marty's from a big family: 12 kids in Syracuse, NY, featuring different orientations, occupations, political views and just plain differing opinions. From that structure, he's learned how to get along, how to love and how to talk to people he disagrees with. His message of unity has been going strong since his street musician days and it's ever-present on his new ep, 2020 Vision. The EP was born out of Marty's pandemic silver lining of being forced off the road and in his Saranac Lake, NY home with his family: it all started with a treehouse he and his son had been meaning to build for four years. That sparked a song and then more songs followed: with a song about calling on unity in America, a song about the opioid epidemic, particularly prevalent during the pandemic. He's been following his bliss his whole career, which includes a stop at a major record label. In fact, his time at Atlantic Records in the late 90's and early 2000's might be the most unusual and drama-free experiences among his singer/songwriting peers who were living major label nightmares at a strange time in music history. Enjoy Marty!

Editor's note: Lizzie No interviews Alisa Amador on Basic Folk! We're so pumped for you to hear this conversation with Lizzie and Alisa. Be sure to got back and listen to Lizzie's previous guest host spots on the pod and subscribe, so you never miss Lizzie! Alisa Amador's EP Narratives is out on 9/17/2021

It was such a treat to talk with Alisa Amador. I love the way that she talks about life and connecting with people. One thing about Alisa that stood out to me right away was that she has been doing the work of performing since long before she thought of herself as a musician. She got her start as a backup singer for her parents’ band when she was four years old. Her own artistry has developed as she has discovered her own taste, her love for the guitar, and her voice as a songwriter.

Alisa has also developed a unique point of view as a bilingual songwriter, which goes way beyond simply singing in two languages. Alisa draws on a variety of Latin-American cultures in her music which makes for a huge imaginative universe. Not only is she using the vocabulary of English and Spanish, but she incorporates a variety of ways of looking at the world.

I talked with Alisa about performing, connecting with people, and about her new EP ‘Narratives,’ which I think our listeners will love. It’s folksy, jazzy, intimate, personal, and timeless. Everyone should look out for Alisa as a star on the rise because she has one of the coolest voices I’ve ever heard. Like a magical elf calling out beyond the scope of time.

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Chris Thile (Nickel Creek, The Punch Brothers) has been making music nonstop since he was 5 years old. His musical parents found him a mandolin, he started taking lessons and jamming at nearby Southern California pizza shops. He met Sara and Sean Watkins when he was 12 and started the band Nickel Creek. In the meantime Chris' parents moved the family from California to Murray, Kentucky and really started getting serious about evangelical Christianity. This would have a huge impact on Chris; his new record, Laysongs, is asking a lot of questions surrounding his experience with religion as a young kid. He talks about the transition from being a family with no religion in their routine, to being amassed so intensely in one.

Another important aspect that comes along on the new album is Chris' intense love for classical music. His grandparents gave him some pieces by Bach and set him up for a lifetime of studying and playing classical. He gets into what it was like to grow up alongside Sara and Sean as bandmates, friends and fellow Christians. One of the themes of the new album is about community: engaging in a community that you love. Chris recognized that he dissented from Christian community in his young adult life where everyone was thinking the same way- Chris felt excluded, so he left… Now in music, he's found in a new community where everyone is thinking the same, so certain people are excluded. He talks about how the Pandemic has helped further shape those feelings about exclusionary community. We also get into a riveting conversation about Chris' thoughts on writing simple pop music and one of his deepest passions: wine.

Paula Fuga is a magic person. The Hawaiian singer/songwriter has lived through some of life's horrors. When she was young, her living situation was extremely unstable for several years. She lived with her mom, who suffered from addiction, on the beach around a pretty shady crowd of people. She accounts her survival to her dream of being a performer. That dream would manifest itself into visions Paula would experience. As a young person, she had no idea what the inside of a recording studio looked like, but would have these tiny peaks into her future where she would see herself recording a song or see herself on stage performing. She was actually able to place her very first vision of a live performance at a specific venue: Red Rocks. Paula still has not played Red Rocks, but she plans to get there and she plans to headline.

One fateful day Paula and her band were performing at a kickball tournament. One of the players happened to be the extremely famous and influential singer/songwriter, Jack Johnson. From that day on, Jack has been one of her biggest supporters and dearest collaborators. She talks about what it was like to meet and then become close friends with Jack, who actually appears on her newest album, Rain on Sunday. She and Jack perform his song "If Ever," which he wrote about the death of his father. Sadly, Paula's father had recently passed away and she shares how she processes that kind of grief through making music and how the song helped. There are one million quotes in this interview that I want printed on t-shirts! Get to know and enjoy Paula! Aloha!

Editor’s note: Basic Folk is pleased to introduce our listeners to one of our favorite podcasts by sharing an episode in our feed! I truly appreciate an interview where the hosts are basically scholars on their subject – aka they come so prepared it’s wild. Scott and Paul are industry professionals who are super knowledgeable about the songwriting craft, so they come at these interviews with a unique perspective. Also at the top of every episode, they do a current events and catch-up section that lets their sweet buddy chemistry shine. Be prepared to learn and have fun with Scott & Paul from Songcraft! Listen > Subscribe > Support!

Songcraft: Spotlight on Songwriters is a bi-monthly podcast featuring in-depth career-spanning interviews with songwriters of all genres and eras, including Smokey Robinson, Steve Earle, Bill Withers, Shawn Colvin, Lori McKenna, Lucinda Williams, and more than 160 others. Hosted by Nashville-born and long-time Los Angeles residents Scott B. Bomar and Paul Duncan, Songcraft is a forum for everyone from casual music fans to fellow creative types to hear songwriters in conversation about their influences, the stories behind their songs, and how they’ve honed their craft. Check them out at songcraftshow.com, or wherever you get your podcasts.

In this episode of Songcraft, Nine-time Grammy nominee Ani DiFranco joins Scott and Paul to talk about her career as a fiercely independent singer-songwriter and activist, and share some insights into the social, political, and personal challenges that inspired her honest but hope-filled new studio album, Revolutionary Love.

Becca Mancari does things her own way. Raised in New York and Virginia, Mancari found herself living a nomadic lifestyle in her teens and twenties. As she grew as a songwriter and performer she also found her footing as an outspoken queer woman. She re-negotiated her relationship to spirituality and gender and this transformation found its way into her music in powerful ways. Her 2020 album ‘the greatest part’ is a coming out album that invited listeners into a deeply personal journey. Musically the album is a departure from her earlier indie-folk releases. Becca worked with Zac Farro of Paramore to create a pop-influenced indie rock sound scape that always stays true to Becca’s intimate feeling. I think that feeling is a big part of why so many fans keep coming back to Becca Mancari shows with a kind of spiritual reverence. She has a transcendent connection with her audience.

We also talked about Becca’s 2021 EP ‘Juniata,’ an orchestral daydream of an EP. We also dug into the nitty gritty icky details of funding an independent album, Becca’s quarantine ditch digging, and her friendships with musicians like Julien Baker and Brittany Howard.

*** I want to share a word of caution that my conversation with Becca touches on some difficult topics such as religious trauma and homophobia. I know those stories can be upsetting, so I want our listeners to have a heads up about that.

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Two years into starting his band Mandolin Orange, Andrew Marlin and his partner Emily Franz were having second thoughts about their band name. Nine years later, they announced their new name: Watchhouse. It's easy to understand why it took so long: they were putting out records, gaining momentum and quickly establishing themselves with this funny meaningless band name: Andrew had an orange mandolin and he named the band as such. What's harder to grasp is that Andrew Marlin is an individual whose every action, output and intention is incredibly thoughtful and filled to the brim with meaning. On the pod, he talks about the new band name's origin: it's named after a place he would visit as teen in the Chesapeake Bay. It was a quiet place where he would spend a lot of time in silence and communion, and he talks about why he wanted to bring that essence to the sound of Watchhouse.

Andrew was born and raised in a small North Carolina town surrounded by the musical women in his family: his grandmother, mom and sisters played piano in church growing up and he was surrounded by a lot of hymns and old songs. He bought a guitar 14 after saving up his own earnings from the nearby farm store (it took three long weeks to save!) and began to write songs. He moved to Chapel Hill in 2008 to dig into the music community, meeting Emily at an impromptu jam one year later. There, he met his match, started a band and has subsequently made a life and family with her. He gets into how the two were able to connect, how she truly sees him and his obsession with the mandolin and how listening to Bill Monroe instrumentals and old fiddle tunes really sharpened his playing. Andrew is a very smart and articulate person who makes important music. I'm excited to hear more from Watchhouse and where they grow. Enjoy Andrew! And yes, an Emily interview is in our future.

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Ok, so yes I cried when I interviewed Rachel Baiman. Her writing is stirring and brutal and then when you read about the inspiration behind the songs on her new album Cycles, it's like automatic water works for me. From frank observations of her grandparent's loss of agency to women reckoning the heaviness and grief of motherhood, I am INTO the emotion of these songs. Rachel came to songwriting after she had spent her youth mastering the fiddle. She actually kept her school life separate from her fiddle life, where she would pal around with other kids at the fiddle contests and also play in jams with people four times her age. She attended Vanderbilt in Nashville for an anthropology degree where she centered a lot of her research papers on the fiddle. She left Nashville to study in Edinboro and took full advantage of of the music community she found. That would also set her up to seek out a music community in Nashville upon her return.

Rachel is known for her solo career and for her “Nerdy Fiddle Duo“ 10 String Symphony with fiddle player Christian Sedelmyer. The band deconstructs traditional forms and incorporates a lot of original elements. She's three albums deep into her solo work, the latest being produced by Liv Hally of the Australian indie band, Oh Pep! For Cycles, she went to Melbourne to record with Liv to get into her scene. Rachel says “I kind of have this theory that if you want a specific sound, go to the place, use the studio, use the person, use the gear, get in the vibe of the place.” The album, while it's rooted in her folk sound, has a grittier and poppier edge that I find irresistable. It's on the top of my list for 2021 (so far!). Also, she gives us the details on her super cute house and what it means to her to have a place like that to call home. Lots of leaking eyes (AKA crying) for Rachel Baiman.

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John Hiatt's latest is a collab with bluegrass great Jerry Douglas, with Jerry as producer and his band as backup for Hiatt. John's digging into some serious past memories for these songs, which include a song about his older brother Michael. Michael died by suicide when John was only 9 and it's only until now where he's chosen to write about the experience in his music in the song “Light of the Burning Sun.” Jerry knew that the material was very serious and approached it very lovingly with John and the band. On the pod, John expands on his grief and giving himself the time and space to mourn. We also talk about the importance of radio in John's young life: he would listen to WLAC Radio from Nashville as a kid around 11 years old. There was a show on Sunday night they'd have a gospel show and they'd go to a different Black church every week and just broadcast the service. John has said “Those gospel shows used to scare the shit out of me." That opened his world to a completely different way to relate to music in terms of faith.

John picked up the guitar at 11 years old to cope with the trauma involved in being an overweight child. This was especially hard because he was a bigger kid at a time when it was rare for a child to be heavier. He discusses how music and surprisingly how drugs and alcohol helped him overcome his weight issue. Which then of course, the drugs and alcohol led him to new problems in his adult years requiring him to overcome that addiction and live a sober life. John talks about his kids, which includes the musician Lilly Hiatt. Lilly said in an interview once: “I was crying over the fact that my career seemed stalled and I wasn’t the flavor of the month, and dad said, “Lilly, we will never be hip. We’re just not those people.”” John's been a steadfast songwriter since the 70's who's written many well loved songs like "Have a Little Faith in Me," "Cry Love" and, of course, "Thing Called Love." The writing on his latest album spans several decades and confronts some of his most vulnerable feelings. To be able to talk to John Hiatt about this project was a sincere privilege and I hope you enjoy!

Kaoru Ishibashi who is known as Kishi Bashi, is a violinist, guitarist, multi instrumentalist, singer and songwriter from WA state and VA. He got a really interesting start in music because he went to Cornell to study engineering, ended up flunking out, and kind of realizing his true path in music. He went to Berklee College of Music to study film scoring, started playing in bands, moved to NYC, and the rest is history. He has an incredible fluency in rock, pop, and experimental styles, that is refreshing and uplifting. All of his music is energetic, sort of hypnotic, and brings you into his loving arms. When you talk to him you realize that he is incredibly creative and critical, but also hopeful. His work deals with how we can, in a practical sense, bring compassion into our daily lives. It was so cool to talk with him about his outlook on life, his music, his family, road trips, and traveling. Something I was really excited to talk to him about is his recent film/music projects about the internment camps that the US government subjected Japanese Americans to during WWII. He has done a ton of research at these sites and the resulting work is breathtaking.

Editor's note: Basic Folk is pleased to introduce our listeners to one of our favorite podcasts by sharing an episode in our feed! Get Up in the Cool is a sweet old-time/bluegrass podcast hosted by Cameron DeWhitt. What's amazing about this podcast is that Cameron has taken "the hang" at the jam and turned it into a podcast. The Jam happens *very* frequently in the old-time, bluegrass, celtic, roots, etc. worlds in the form of informal performances of music among friends and strangers. It's the best place to hear and learn traditional songs, spend time around the campfire and just be with friendly faces connecting in the way that only performing music together can do. I've really loved listened to Cameron's candor with their guests as well as learning about the amazing music that everyone is sharing. Whether you love the jam, love the hang or love 'em both, hope you enjoy Get Up in the Cool! Listen > Subscribe > Support!

Get Up in the Cool: Old Time Music with Cameron DeWhitt and Friends is a weekly interview and jam podcast hosted by banjoist Cameron DeWhitt. Each episode features conversations and musical collaborations with today’s most influential traditional musicians, like Jake Blount, Tatiana Hargreaves, Nic Gareiss, Laurel Premo, and Adam Hurt.

As an interviewer, Cameron balances an effusive curiosity for the potential of traditional music with a dogged respect for its origins. Serving as audience surrogate, they ask illuminating questions to Old Time's best and brightest while telling the larger story of the tradition's modern era. And with over 250 episodes released and no signs of slowing, Get Up in the Cool is one of the largest available archives of new recorded Old Time music.

In this episode of Get Up in the Cool, Adam Hurt returns to play selections from his 2020 release Back to the Earth, the "sequel" to his all gourd banjo album Earth Tones. In between tunes, Adam and Cameron talk about Adam's unique approach to melody with the clawhammer technique, the challenge of arranging for string band around a gourd banjo, and the tension of individual expression and tradition.

Alex Cuba grew up 50 minutes west of Havana immersed in the music of his town Artemisa. His father, the musician Valentin Puentes, is a household name in the country and prioritized Cuban music in the house growing up. When Alex was six years old, Valentin told his son not to sing, leading Alex to concentrate on his bass guitar playing. As a teenager, Alex rebelled and started soaking in the sounds of American music; blues, jazz, rock and funk. This has lead him to develop a unique style of Latin music that crosses cultures and appeals to people who don't even speak his language. He sings English, but is most comfortable singing in Spanish. We talk about how even though a lot of his fans are English speakers, they often have an emotional reaction to his music even though they don’t know what he's saying. He expands on how emotions transfer via music no matter what language.

in 1995, Alex was allowed to tour in Canada with his dad's band and met someone who would forever change his life, his future wife Sarah Goodacre. They eventually ended up married with children and living in Cuba. After awhile, they moved closer to her family in Smithers, B.C., where they have single handedly created a Latin music industry in the small Canadian mountain town. Despite not being able to work with major record labels due to the Cuban Embargo with America, Alex has thrived as an independent artist with 4 Latin Grammys, 3 American Grammy nominations, 2 Junos and numerous other accolades. We talk about what changes he experienced in himself while recording his latest album 'Mendó’ during the pandemic. Alex, like many musicians, was forced to change plans and ended up working on the album at his house, while collaborating with other guest musicians remotely. We also talk about how he wanted the cover to reflect his African heritage. Brianna McCarthy, an artist from Trinidad and Tobago, illustrated the cover and Alex talks in depth about its meaning and importance.

Mali Obomsawin is the mighty bassist/songwriter/singer from Lula Wiles, whose musical talents run tandem to her activist spirit. She really had no choice in the matter, seeing that her parents met through their advocacy for Abenaki and First Nations sovereignty battles. Mali's dad is a member of the Odanak Abenaki Nation and her mom at the time they met, was following and supporting tribal land claim initiatives. Along with Lula Wiles, her solo career (which is a bit of a new venture for Mali) and her sideplayer gigs, Mali works with several racial and environmental justice organizations based in Wabanaki homelands, and is the founder and executive director of Bomazeen Land Trust. She is a crucial voice when it comes to speaking out for First Nation representation and justice in the roots music world and beyond. She is generous with her knowledge, but also as her Twitter profile reads: "pay me for educating you." Which you can do! She has her PayPal linked right there.

Mali grew up in rural Maine among five siblings and was constantly surrounded by music in her family. Her dad is a musician and Mali was always the performer as a little kid, constantly trying to make people happy and laugh while being a goofball. She was also made aware of the cruel stereotypes and racism in the world at an early age through mainstream culture. As she became older, she gravitated towards the upright bass and talks in the pod about her jazz sensibilities and what drew her to the instrument. She talks about how she came to songwriting last, but has managed to successfully combine a very rad sweepy dream-like style while "punctur[ing] the dream-haze of our apocalyptic capitalist world." On the new Lula Wiles album, Shame and Sedition, Mali's songs really shine through with highlights being "Everybody, (Connected)" "Do You Really Want The World to End" and "In Dreams." I look forward to more conversations with Mali, hopefully about a solo record... No pressure, Mali :)

Joe Pug explains that the venn diagram of his fans and the people he'd like to have a beer with is almost exactly a single circle. The prolific troubadour has been organically gaining admirers one by one throughout his entire musical history. When he began, the Maryland songwriter would not only give away copies of his music, but he would send multiple copies to Joe Pug converts, so they could distribute among their friends. This and many other similar acts have earned him a loyal fanbase that allow him a career in music (versus carpentry, which is his other trade). His success can be attributed to learning to "keep it skinny" in terms of preserving resources in his work in addition to his timeless charm and sharp sense of humor. Not to mention, his songwriting is reminiscent of some of literature's finest like Walt Whitman, John Steinbeck, Raymond Carver and Cormac McCarthy, who he counts as large looming influences.

There is a legendary tale about the night Joe Pug quit college and ran off to Chicago to pursue his musical dreams. It was the eve of his senior year at University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, where he had been studying playwriting. Pug experienced this intense feeling that he just needed to go to Chicago and write songs and play music. He speaks to how that moment translated into the mystical for him and how his relationship to his intuition has been since that moment. He also speaks about touring with Steve Earle, one of his early big breaks, and what he's learned about keeping it clean and sober on the road, something he still struggles with. We talk about his incredibly adored podcast "The Working Songwriter," where he talks shop with some of today's finest songwriters. And we get into his latest, The Diving Sun, a collection of various studio sessions with producers Duane Lundy and Kenneth along with new songs recorded in quarantine. I loved talking to him... hope you enjoy Joe!

Editor's note: we're pleased to welcome guest host Lizzie No to Basic Folk for her debut episode with Amythyst Kiah! Lizzie will be on the podcast interviewing folk musicians once a month. We're thrilled to bring her perspective and insight to our listeners. Enjoy! 

Amythyst Kiah is a star rising so quickly in the roots music universe that it is almost impossible to keep up with her. Raised in Johnson City, Tennessee, Amythyst taught herself guitar and banjo before studying the bluegrass tradition at East Tennessee State University. She released two solo albums, both rich with her bluesy guitar playing and affecting vocal performance.

In 2019 Amythyst grabbed the attention of the folk music community as a member of the supergroup Our Native Daughters alongside Rhiannon Giddens, Leyla McCalla, and Allison Russell. Their captivating album, ‘Songs of Our Native Daughters,’ tells the often-ignored stories of Black women in American history in the language of traditional folk.

Amythyst’s new album ‘Wary + Strange’ is her first record released with Rounder Records, and includes the Grammy-nominated anthem “Black Myself.” I couldn’t wait to discuss this genre-fluid exploration of loneliness and loss with Amythyst. We also got to talk about anime, the marvel cinematic universe, touring with her dad, fashion, and the nitty gritty of how Amythyst recorded, then re-recorded, and then re-re-recorded, this phenomenal album

Denison Witmer's music is gentle and kind, he's a skilled woodworker, an avid birdwatcher and until 2020 hadn't made a record for 7 years. Growing up in Lancaster, Denison was lucky enough to get some guitar lessons from Don Peris of The Innocence Mission, a well loved indie-folk band. This led to one of many lasting relationships in music as Don went on to produce some of Denison's early projects. He also counts Sufjan Stevens and Rosie Thomas among his friends and long-time collaborators, with Sufjan signing Denny to his label and saying something to the effect of “I don’t care if you never sell one album, releasing your music is a public service.” Rosie Thomas, who is the only person, I guess besides me now, that calls him Denny, has experienced life and career in parallel. He talks about what it's been like to have someone to grow up with like Rosie.

Denison has a beautiful skill in that he is able to truly notice and truly see others. He gets into how this skill has made him a better person and a better songwriter. His latest album, American Foursquare, is written in tribute to his hometown Lancaster, PA, which he and his wife moved to in 2013 and where they have decided to raise their family. Denison talks about raising kids, calling it "the most creative thing that I can do."  He has also been working on songs for a side project called "Uncle Denny," where he wrote a song for every day of January 2020. That project has produced some beautiful songs and is available on Bandcamp, a must listen!!

Sunny War goes through her new album Simple Syrup track by track on the pod! Talking to Sunny is an absolute trip: she has lived through incredible trauma and addiction, but approaches life with a sharp sense of humor. This is all coming through on the new record, which was recorded in her usual spot in Venice Beach with producer Harlan Steinberger. Sunny's deeply rooted in Los Angeles where she started a Downtown LA chapter of food not bombs, giving out a weekly lunch to homeless folks on skid row during the pandemic. This has made her think differently about food preparation, which is something she's pretty passionate about. She talks about what it's been like to make so many lunches at a time and how this process of coming together weekly feels like church.

And then we dig into this record, which contains songs about lucid dreaming, sober living, the military industrial complex, adult men acting like babies and her self realization that she's not going to stop drinking right now even though she's an addict. One album highlight, Like Nina, a song about Black women: four different archetypes: Nina Simone, Aretha Franklin, Tina Turner and Beyonce. Sunny writes them as personality types and “the only four I'm allowed to choose from.” Sunny, of course, aligns herself with the archetype of Nina Simone: kind of crazy, introverted, a weirdo. I can't wait to talk to this weirdo again. She's unlike anyone else. Enjoy!

Bowerbirds have been off the radar musically since 2012's The Clearing. Lots has changed for the B-Birds, which now centers solely around Phil Moore since his bandmate and former partner Beth Tacular has left to concentrate on her own artwork. 2021 sees a new Bowerbirds album, becalmyounglovers, and a new version of Phil himself. He writes to his fans “It’s been 8 years since you’ve heard new Bowerbirds music and you and I have changed in ways that we couldn't have imagined back then.” Phil's intense connection to nature remains, as he has always been drawn to the outside world starting as a kid, going to college for biology and moving to North Carolina in 2005 for a job as a bird tracker. In our conversation, we probably spend way too much time talking about birds and birdwatching. I came to find a real appreciation for the activity hearing about it through Phil's experience and just might be inspired to pick up a field notebook and night vision monocular myself. It seems like a very calm and grounding experience, which can also be said for the music of Bowerbirds.

There's also a deep dive into different kinds of anxiety that Phil experiences, which seems to be mostly logistical/non performance panic. He talks about different ways he understands and manages fear and anxiety. I also basically give him a lecture about how important his music is to people because it has meant so much and helped me through so much. Helping people has been one of Phil's main objectives for Bowerbirds and I'm here to tell him straight to his face that he's doing it. Now let's all go birding. Phil is so good. Thank you Phil.

Growing up, Oliver Wood thought he'd try the bass guitar, but after 6 months, he handed it to his younger brother Chris. That's right, *the* Chris Wood, virtuosic bassist of acclaimed Medeski Martin and Wood. Even at a young age, the brothers' styles were pretty clear. While Chris was getting intense about the bass, Oliver was meandering on the guitar and forging his own musical path. He ended up in Atlanta and eventually got a spot in Tinsley Ellis’ band, a very well respected blues player. Oliver was playing guitar and singing background vocals, but soon enough he was shifting to the spotlight. It turns out that Tinsley was a really important mentor for Oliver: he taught him the ins and outs of the business and encouraged him to sing. After touring hard for 15 years, Oliver and his brother met up again at a fateful shared 2004 bill. He sat in with MM&W and the brothers immediately felt that familial connection through their performance. They decided to keep up playing together and formed  The Wood Brothers.

Coming together in the band, Chris and Oliver discovered that the music of their folk-singing father, Bill Wood, was acting as a huge inspiration. Bill spent time on the folk circuit surrounding Cambridge, MA in the 1950s, performing with legends like Joan Baez. He would settle down with a career as a biology teacher, but kept the spirit of folk music alive for his boys. Oliver talks about how forming a band around that sound made him appreciate his father in new ways. Seven albums later and The Wood Brothers are one of the most beloved bands in the Americana community. Oliver, who is motivated by connection and community, spent 2019 co-writing with various touring musicians making their way through Nashville. While this project was just for fun, he found the results inspiring enough to make a solo album during the 2020 pandemic, resulting in his debut album, Always Smiling. Oliver talks about choosing joy, connection and feeling grounded through meditation, which has helped him immensely through the last 14 months. Thank you, Oliver!

Raised outside of Austin, Texas, Katy Kirby grew up homeschool, enamored with Jesus and was rocking out to Christian Contemporary Music from the late 90's and early 2000's. BUT THEN: she went to college in Nashville and her world opened up. She started questioning everything she believed about God and the church. She fell in with a crowd of musicians who were going through similar situations. She had a lot to let go of when it came to her high school education. Her parents sent her to a private conservative Christian high school. Once she was out of it, she realized how backwards her education was: how racist and close-minded the experience had been. She began writing her way to an understanding. She calls that time “the weirdest and one of the darkest experiences that I’ve had – trying to rewire my brain to not have a loving God that’s ever-present in it.”

She fondly looks back on her experience of learning how to play music in the church. She was 13 years old and playing bass for the first time in the church band where she was the youngest person by 25 years. The relationships formed with the adults in the band were fundamental, especially in introducing Katy to the world of secular rock and pop music. The music of Peter Gabriel, Led Zeppelin, Sufjan Stevens all came to her through the other members of the band. Her debut album Cool Dry Place really relied on her intuition to figure out what worked best for the songs, she talks about how that experience impacted her confidence. The record is rad and I think her intuition is spot on. Keep following it, Katy!

Allison Russell's story is unreal and it's hard to know where to begin. Unfathomable childhood abuse: sexual, physical and emotional abuse (at the hands of her white supremacist step-father) is chronicled in searing detail for the very first time on her debut solo album Outside Child. Up until now she was not able to honestly address this story in her other projects: Birds of Chicago (with husband JT Nero), Our Native Daughters (with Rhiannon Giddens, Leyla McCalla and Amythyst Kiah) and Po' Girl (with Trish Klein and Awna Teixeira). These days, Allison recognizes that she needed the support system in her life in order to process and use her gift to share her story through music. That support system, which she calls "The Magic Circle," includes her partner JT and her daughter Ida, her chosen family of musicians, her newly found biological father and extended Grenadian family and her ancestors. Mainly learning about her many times great-grandmother, Quasheba, and the extreme hardships she faced as a stolen slave in Grenada. Quasheba's survival allowed Allison to realize that she also had the strength to reclaim agency over her story and break the cycle of abuse.