Basic Folk – Hanneke Cassel

Posted on by Shelby Williamson

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), 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.

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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!

Photo Credit: Kelly Lorenz

WATCH: ISMAY, “Stranger In the Barn”

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Artist: ISMAY
Hometown: Petaluma, CA
Song: “Stranger In the Barn”
Album: Desert Pavement
Release Date: May 25, 2023 (video)
Label: Ismay Music

In Their Words: “‘Stranger In the Barn’ depicts a child living on a farm who goes to do chores in the morning, when they encounter a man sleeping in the barn. After running to their parents, the family has to make a decision about how to confront him – should they attack the man and chase him away? They decide to offer him food and drink, and he makes his way on to the grange hall down the road. The story is about taking down our walls, and rather than meeting the unknown with contempt and anger, instead offering curiosity.” – ISMAY

Photo Credit: Aubrey Trinnaman

BGS 5+5: Rodney Rice

Posted on by Editor

Artist: Rodney Rice
Hometown: Morgantown, West Virginia
Latest Album: Rodney Rice 
Personal Nicknames: Munch

What was the first moment that you knew you wanted to be a musician?

I gravitated towards guitar and writing lyrics as a kid. It was never a conscious decision. It was something I started doing at a young age that I kept working on and carried with me through all my life events. By that time I went into record my first album writing and playing music was a part of my fabric, my identity, in my DNA. Jason McKenzie (longtime drummer of Billy Joe Shaver) helped get me into the studio for my first album which turned out to be a step change. After I recorded I never thought if people would want to listen to it. Another step change occurred working out of the Bomb Shelter in Nashville which provided a whole new experience by exposing me to a method of recording I hadn’t done before. 2” tape. Seemed fitting to send to vinyl and now I have my first vinyl record.

Which artist has influenced you the most … and how?

This is a tough to select only one. My mind immediately goes to Dylan, Prine, Billy Joe Shaver. I have seen them play shows, front row center stage soaking everything up like a sponge. Equally important are artists I play with on stage and in the studio — they have a huge impact on me. I have been very fortunate to surround myself with great musicians.

How often do you hide behind a character in a song or use “you” when it’s actually “me”?

I heard this discussion somewhere once before, but I can’t recall exactly. For me, I think it’s not a conscious hiding and I usually blend them together. Like in the last verse of “Get to Where I’m Going” where I sing “Loving someone who don’t love you back, puts a pain in your chest like a heart attack / Ain’t nothing left, there’s no point to stay. I played my part, so I’ll be on my way.” In “Every Passing Day” I start with “I got a lead act in a play, that I’m living today.” Yeah, I blend them. But sometimes when I use “you,” I am referring to someone else.

Which elements of nature do you spend the most time with and how do those impact your work?

A large portion of my life was spent on whitewater rivers, but having moved to Colorado, backcountry skiing has been my activity of choice. Staying connected to nature helps keep my mind, body, and soul focused. What I mean by that, these activities in the wilderness are at times physically demanding (body). Conditions can be intense at times, cold and wet, but having to remain mentally focused on the dynamic of the situation (mind). All this taking place in a vast wildness backdrop where I am just a speck on a mountain or a drop in a river (soul). These skills are not lost upon returning. When life is challenging, uncomfortable, stay focused on the task at hand. I think you would find this perseverance in other independent artists. The industry is stacked against us but it’s not a determent. We are all just drops in a big river; we all start and finish the same but take different route over the course of in between.

What’s your favorite memory from being on stage?

Anytime I am playing a new song that I know the audience has yet to hear but somehow, they are singing along to it. I could be way off base, but my thought is “Man, I must have got it right this time!”

Photo Credit: Laura E. Partain

LISTEN: The South Austin Moonlighters, “Box of Memories”

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Artist: The South Austin Moonlighters
Hometown: Austin, TX
Song: “Box of Memories”
Album: From Here to Home
Release Date: June 30, 2023
Label: The South Austin Moonlighters Records

In Their Words: “It’s tough to get over losing someone you love. For a long time, I carried a ‘memory’ around with me everywhere I went and it affected everything I did – without me really knowing it. There’s a lot of that in us. I’m not really the best communicator (which is why I think I get such satisfaction in writing songs), so it was really difficult for me or anyone around me to really know what was going on inside. One time a good friend told me something to this effect: ‘You know, no one can live up to that memory you’re carrying around with you in your head.’ He was right. There was something about it that I understood well, and I swore I wouldn’t live that way anymore. A few years later, I set out to write this song in retrospect.” – Chris Beall

Photo Credit: Mark Del Castillo

WATCH: Henhouse Prowlers, “Lead and Iron”

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Artist: Henhouse Prowlers
Hometown: Chicago, IL
Song: “Lead and Iron”
Album: Lead and Iron
Release Date: May 26, 2023 (single)
Label: Dark Shadow Recording

In Their Words: “I wrote this song from the perspective of a parent who has lost a child in a school shooting. I found myself thinking about the quote that no parent should have to bury their child. That quote always hit me hard and I couldn’t imagine the pain of losing a child, especially from a school shooting, a place meant for peace and learning. I wrote this one at the end of last summer, I wonder if it was a way for myself to mentally preparing for the next school year and the potential of another deadly shooting (the potential which seems to come true every year).” – Jake Howard, mandolin

“I realized what this song was about halfway through listening to it on a rough demo Jake sent us in October last year and it immediately gave me chills. There’s something about the perspective of it all that continues to rock me when we are rehearsing it. That line about ‘first words spoken and tying shoes’ hits hard.” – Ben Wright, banjo

Photo Credit: Stephen Mougin

WATCH: Missy Raines, “These Ole Blues”

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Artist: Missy Raines & Allegheny, featuring Danny Paisley with Darol Anger, Shad Cobb, and Ellie Hakansan
Hometown: Short Gap, WV
Song: “These Ole Blues”
Album: Highlander
Release Date: Fall 2023
Label: Compass Records

In Their Words: “I found this gem of a tune while taking a deep dive into Loretta Lynn’s catalog. Loretta wrote the perfect bar room country shuffle, but I immediately thought it could be a great bluegrass crooner and I knew exactly who I wanted to sing it with – Danny Paisley! I grew up listening to Danny and his father, Bob Paisley, sing together. Danny’s high lonesome edge defines a lot of what is bluegrass to me. Recording this duet with him was a personal bucket list item checked off and everything about the song fits perfectly into the theme of my new album, Highlander, which should be out later this year.

“The project is about paying homage to the earliest sounds that inspired me and this version of ‘These Ole Blues’ feels both authentic and genuine to my very core. Rounding out the track are the triple fiddles of Darol Anger, Shad Cobb, and Ellie Hakanson as well as the other members of my band, Allegheny: Tristin Scroggins (mandolin), Eli Gilbert (banjo) and Ben Garnett (guitar).” – Missy Raines

Photo Credit: Natia Cinco

WATCH: Nina de Vitry, “Open”

Posted on by Editor

Artist: Nina de Vitry
Hometown: Born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania; based in Nashville, Tennessee
Song: “Open”
Album: What You Feel Is Real
Release Date: August 25, 2023

In Their Words: “At its core, ‘Open’ is intended to coax listeners out of their shells. My personal experience creating the song and video parallels this message, as I found myself expanding out of my own comfort zone both as a musician and a visual artist in the creation process.

“‘Open’ builds from lonely, sparse verses to layered vocal harmonies and string parts, pleading with listeners to step out of isolation and towards connection. I originally intended to completely hire out the arrangements, but it soon became apparent to me that it was personally meaningful to arrange the harmony violin solo and the vocal harmonies (with background string pads by composer/arranger Duncan Wickel). Using my own voice as a violinist and harmony singer enhanced my creative confidence, and the ensuing world of strings and vocals elevated the expansive openness that I aimed to create.

“In the visual representation of ‘Open,’ a flower opens and the black and white illustration eventually turns into a full watercolor painting. The experience of making the video was cathartic, and reconnected me to a part of myself that I thought I had lost. Though I had always loved to draw as a child, I found that I had closed myself off to this creative outlet as an adult. Producing this song and video has helped me to expand my definition of what I do as an artist, and open myself to new artistic possibilities. It is my hope that pairing the song with this visual can appeal to the childlike wonder in all of us, and that it might inspire viewers to open themselves up to the world in a new way.” — Nina de Vitry

Photo Credit: Joseph Ross Photography

WATCH: Josie Toney, “City Girl Blues”

Posted on by Editor

Artist: Josie Toney
Hometown: Olympia, Washington
Song: “City Girl Blues”
Album: Extra
Release Date: April 7, 2023
Label: Like You Mean It Records

In Their Words: “‘City Girl Blues’ was one of the last tracks written for the album, Extra, which was recorded in summer of 2020. From 2018-2020 I lived in Boston, by far the biggest city I had really experienced, and I loved being in school there. Between the hustle to and from class, riding the T, and the endless things to do in a big city, the longing for wilderness was only a distant nagging feeling until I graduated in December of 2019.

“I was already starting to feel claustrophobic when the stifling weight of the COVID pandemic hit the city, and all the things I loved about it vanished. Suddenly all I could think about were the skyscraper evergreens and endless tides of my home on the Puget Sound of Washington State, and it started to feel like between class, networking, and gigging, maybe I’d ‘paid my dues’ in the city and I was ready to make a home somewhere green.

“This brought me to Nashville, where I now very happily live on two acres of my very own; I even managed to find property with a couple of evergreen firs to stand beneath when I miss home. Extra is full of themes like home and the search for belonging, and ‘City Girl Blues’ addresses the particular affinity we have for whatever environment we grew up in — whether it’s the Smoky Mountains, the Mississippi River, or Washington State, where the water meets the woods.” — Josie Toney

Photo Credit: Natia Cinco
Video Credit: Jesse Weeden

BGS 5+5: Pixie and the Partygrass Boys

Posted on by Editor

Artist: Pixie and The Partygrass Boys
Hometown: Salt Lake City, Utah
Latest Album: The Chicken Coop, Vol. 1

What’s your favorite memory from being on stage?

There are so many! It’s really hard to pick a single moment. There is one that comes to mind, however. We were a young band, having barely made the move to start playing outside of our home state. I can’t remember exactly where the show was, but it was one of our first times in Colorado. We were playing in a town that we had never been to, had no friends or family in, going in completely blind. Little did we know, but two of our songs “Home” and “Ski and Party” had gotten ahead of us and struck a chord with these mountain town ski bums. When we played those songs there were a bunch of people who knew ALL of the words!!! We were absolutely floored. It was the first time that had happened outside of our hometown, and it still is an amazing feeling when something born of our hearts resonates in the hearts of others. Really makes you feel warm and fuzzy, seen and heard.

If you had to write a mission statement for your career, what would it be?

When the going gets tough, the tough get silly. Too often in the music industry do we find seriousness at every step of the way. We are peddling joy in the industry of revelry, and while any job is bound to have its rough patches and challenges, a little bit of absurdity and playfulness can help bring us all back to the heart of the matter.

What rituals do you have, either in the studio or before a show?

We often do pre-show group burpees to hype ourselves up, but there is one thing that permeates all we do. I wouldn’t call it so much of a ritual as more of an inevitability. It’s practically tradition at this point that the longer we do a thing, the more our brains unravel and the weirder we get. When we’re approaching the 9th hour of a studio day, you might find Pixie and Andrew doing a ragtime rendition of a song about worms from her childhood that randomly popped into her brain, while the rest of us wriggle around on the ground like worms on a rainy day. At the end of a tour, when we are weeks deep and far from home, you might find us in the green room latching onto some catchy phrase and chanting it while we dance around the room. The most recent being “last night of the run, make it a good show cuz it’s fun!!!” When the gas tank is running low, nonsense is the name of the game.

Which elements of nature do you spend the most time with and how do those impact your work?

We all live in the state of Utah, and Utah has some amazing nature! Whether we moved here, grew up here, or left to then return, we all stayed for the mountains and deserts. It’s pretty obvious, listening to our lyrics, how deeply the mountains, deserts, and rivers of our home have influenced our music. We are all active skiers/snowboarders, desert dogs, mountain folk, and river rats. A lot of our songs directly reference these activities and the natural areas in which they take place, while the ephemeral nature of the snow, the permanence of the mountains and desert, and the ever changing fluidity of the river shape the way we think and view the world, and naturally that affects the way we compose.

What other art forms — literature, film, dance, painting, etc. — inform your music?

Dance has been heavily influential in our development. Years ago we were lucky enough to collaborate with Sarah Longoria and The Municipal Ballet Co. in Salt Lake City. Together we did an adaptation of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker, which we call The River of Rosewater. We performed it in a historic downtown mansion, with the guests following the band and dancers from room to room. We hope to release the recorded music this coming holiday season, and a video of the performance can be found on YouTube. Sarah and her husband, Colby, are also river rats, so we collaborated to create The River Speaks Plainly, which tells the tales of river heroes and heroines from Colorado River lore. The music, which can be found on Spotify, combines storytelling elements as we had Colby tell the stories campfire style between the songs. Writing for dance allows us to be a little more abstract and evocative, something that has found its way into our arrangements and compositions ever since.

Photo Credit: Dave Vann

WATCH: Anna Tivel’s Tender, Heartfelt Tiny Desk Concert

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Singer-songwriter and musical storyteller Anna Tivel recently stopped by NPR headquarters in Washington, D.C., to perform at the iconic Tiny Desk. Supported by drummer Micah Hummel and Galen Clark on keys, her four-song set showcases her empathetic, tender, and heartfelt style that runs through her entire 2022 release, Outsiders. But her performances are anything but one-note, she teases nuance from each number and complicates the stories within them through emotion and passion and, at times, a beautiful understated tension. The team at NPR Music puts it aptly: “Tivel’s remarkable empathy elevates her folk-based, jazz-touched compositions from mere stories to secular prayers.”

Enjoy Anna Tivel’s Tiny Desk Concert right here, on BGS.