The BGS Radio Hour – Episode 195

Posted on by Amy Reitnouer

Welcome to the BGS Radio Hour! Since 2017, the show has been a weekly recap of all the great music, new and old, featured on BGS. This week, we look forward to new releases coming in 2021 as we continue to celebrate roots Grammy nominations and as we bid farewell to our January Artist of the Month. Remember to check back every Monday for a new episode of the BGS Radio Hour!

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Sheryl Crow – “Woman in the White House”

One thing we can celebrate this January is the first ever presence of a woman in our nation’s second-highest office. So, what better way to begin our show this week than with this song from Sheryl Crow’s re-release of “Woman in the White House?”

The Burnt Pines – “Diamonds”

A collaborative effort between Boston and Lisbon, the Burnt Pines bring us this week a twist on the typical love song. “Love isn’t easy,” they told BGS, celebrating their just-released, self-titled album.

Colin Macleod – “The Long Road”

From the Isle of Lewis in Scotland, singer-songwriter Colin Macleod weaves in and out of regret with “The Long Road.” From his upcoming album, Hold Fast, this music video is one of our most recent features here at BGS.

Dolly Parton – “Shine”

Dolly Parton – queen of country music and COVID-vaccine backer – just celebrated 75 years! And what better to celebrate than with her classic bluegrass trilogy of albums (newly made digitally available) and this song, which earned itself a few 2001 Grammy noms, as well as Best Female Country Vocal Performance for Dolly herself!

Jimbo Mathus & Andrew Bird – “Sweet Oblivion”

Diving into 2021, we’re excited about all of the new releases heading our way. One that sticks out in particular is the collaborative This Thirteen coming in March from Jimbo Mathus and Andrew Bird, two musicians who call each other heroes. This week, we have a sneak peek with “Sweet Oblivion.”

Matt Urmy – “Lightning”

NYC-based Matt Urmy caught up with BGS this week on a recent 5+5 – that’s five questions, five songs. We talked all things Cowboy Jack Clement, weird rituals, the dream meal pairing of French food and Leonard Cohen – and, this song from his upcoming South of the Sky. 

The Bright Siders (Featuring Ed Helms) – “The Mad Day”

Nashville-based musician Kristin Andreassen (Uncle Earl) has teamed up with Brookyn’s Kari Groff, MD, child-psychiatrist and violinist for A Mind of Your Own. The album, which focuses on children’s mental health, features a wide range of guests, including the Punch Brothers, the War & Treaty, and none other than BGS co-founder Ed Helms!

Adam Klein – “Halfway to Heaven”

Not that long ago, we featured Athens GA-based singer and songwriter Adam Klein and his Low Flyin’ Planes release. Well, this song was meant to be there, but things never work out like we expect. Klein gives us the best of both worlds with his new EP, Little Tiger: Outtakes from Low Flyin’ Planes, out now!

Lizzie Weber – “Blue Wave Boom”

Lizzie Weber takes us from her St. Louis home to the California-coast for “Blue Wave Boom,” from her just release How Does It Feel EP. The song was inspired by the bright blue colors enveloping the black sea after the red tide, which served as a metaphor for the toxicity in one’s own mind, especially during the long shutdowns of 2020.

The Secret Sisters – “Cabin”

We revisit our March 2020 Artist of the Month, The Secret Sisters, in celebration of their Grammy nomination for Saturn Return, produced by Brandi Carlile and the Hanseroth twins. The sisters recently gave “Cabin,” which is also nominated for best American roots performance, an acoustic makeover.

Marty Stuart – “I’ve Been Around”

King of Country Cool, Marty Stuart brings us a previously unheard Johnny Cash song from the new collective tribute, Forever Words Explained. This song was lined up to be recorded before Johnny Cash’s death, but was never brought to light. When this tribute came around, well, who better than Marty Stuart?

Pony Bradshaw – “Foxfire”

From Chatsworth, Georgia, Pony Bradshaw wrote “Foxfire” out of 19th century historical inspiration after reading Down by the Riverside: a South Carolina Slave Community and Shared Traditions: Southern History and Folk Culture. Celebrating his new album Calico Jim, we’ve featured the song and Bradshaw on BGS this week!

The Stanley Brothers – “Angel Band”

There’s nothing quite better to wrap up our January Artist of the Month tribute to the soundtrack of O Brother, Where Art Thou? than end the show with the song that ends the movie. So from all of us here at BGS, we honor 20th anniversary of the momentous film and soundtrack with the Stanley Brothers “Angel Band.”

Photos: (L to R) The Stanley Brothers; Dolly Parton, ‘Little Sparrow’; The Secret Sisters by Alysse Gafkjen

WATCH: Margo Price, “Hey Child”

Posted on by Editor

Artist: Margo Price
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
Song: “Hey Child”
Album: That’s How Rumors Get Started
Label: Loma Vista Recordings

In Their Words: “‘Hey Child’ was a song that was written back in 2012 not long after my husband Jeremy and I lost our son Ezra. We were playing shows with our rock and roll band Buffalo Clover and occupying most of the bars in East Nashville. We had begun hanging with a rowdy group of degenerate musician friends and partying harder than The Rolling Stones… The song was about how many of our talented friends were drinking and partying their talents away, but after a few years had passed, we realized it was just as much about us as our friends. I had retired it when the band broke up but Sturgill Simpson resurrected it when he asked me if I would re-record it for That’s How Rumors Get Started.” — Margo Price

Photo credit: Bobbi Rich

MIXTAPE: David Starr’s Road Trip Touchstones

Posted on by Editor

“The idea of a road trip Mixtape really appealed to me after so many months off the road. While I truly enjoy playing in front of an audience, there is easily as much anticipation around just ‘getting on the road’ in this business. Most of my travels have been in a small motorhome over the past five years. The whole process of loading the gear, packing up merch, and stocking the fridge is something I really miss during this prolonged pandemic pause. Music is always an integral part of that process. One of my favorite memories from a road trip into Utah was listening to Bruce Springsteen’s Western Stars album as the desert road stretched out before us. Something truly American about the whole experience.” — David Starr

Jackson Browne – “These Days”

This Jackson Browne classic has always been a favorite of mine. He wrote it when he was only 16 years old and it shows a maturity and depth rarely expressed so well by a young songwriter. It speaks of self-reflection, looking back and moving forward all at the same time.

Bruce Springsteen – “Western Stars”

The title cut from Bruce Springsteen’s recent record is an epic road trip song. I loved the song when I first heard it. But when I listened to it while cruising across the Utah desert in our motorhome, the song really moved me. The whole album passes that same test, by the way.

Don Henley – “Boys of Summer”

Don Henley and Mike Campbell really captured the essence of lost romance and the change of seasons in this one. I can’t help turning the radio way up when this one comes on!

The Cars – “Drive”

My favorite Cars song. Ben Orr’s vocal is so moving here. And the music video released for it at the time, directed by Timothy Hutton, added context to the meaning of the song.

Joni Mitchell – “Coyote”

Joni Mitchell is always road trip favorite. Plenty of time to absorb the intricacies of the songs. “Coyote” physically moves us down the road with a cast of characters. This song from her 1976 album Hejira rocks along with a killer Jaco Pastorius bass line fueling the ride.

The Rolling Stones – “Brown Sugar”

Stones? Of course! I played this song a couple hundred times as a singing cover band drummer in my youth. Always fun to watch the dance floor fill up immediately upon kicking it off. Something about that intro and the feel just propels a road trip playlist!

The Tubes – “Talk To Ya Later”

This classic Tubes song is another one with a power intro that just cannot be denied. Fee Waybill wails and Toto’s Steve Lukather kills it on guitar. Watch your right foot on this one; you might just pick up speed!

Melissa Etheridge – “You Can Sleep While I Drive”

Melissa Etheridge sings of true love and tenderness on a true road trip. This one works especially well as the sun sets on a long Texas straightaway at about 55 mile per hour. Slow down and soak it in.

Daryl Hall and John Oates – “You Make My Dreams (Come True)”

This Daryl Hall and John Oates classic hit is good for the star of any road trip! Full of energy and another intro that simply cannot be denied. Great background vocal parts for that front seat sing-along, too!

Little Feat – “Dixie Chicken/Tripe Face Boogie”

It’s gotta be Little Feat’s live Waiting for Columbus version with this one. It literally chugs along in the funky slow lane until the pace picks up and takes off into the second tune. Good for getting you through Waco traffic and back out onto the four-lane!

Toto – “Running Out of Time”

The opening track from Toto XIV will put the pedal to the metal without fail. I put this song on coming out of LA into the desert headed for Vegas and was stunned at my speedometer reading. A slamming good road song!

Jackson Browne – “Running on Empty”

Another Jackson Browne classic that simply has to be on a road trip playlist. The whole record was recorded on the road and the immediacy can be felt on the song. David Lindley’s lap steel soars on this one. Highly recommended!

Eagles – “Take It Easy”

The Eagles version of the Glenn Frey/Jackson Browne hit is a must. This one has launched a thousand road trips. And the chorus and outro are top-down, Ray-Ban naturals for a summer sing-along!

Joni Mitchell – “Help Me”

Joni Mitchell nostalgia pick here. This song was on the radio every morning when I worked a grueling summer construction job back in the day. We’d rise up after a long night gigging in the bars and this song would set us on our way for the 30-minute drive to the site. Help me indeed!

The Band – “The Weight”

No playlist is complete without a Band song on it. Having known Levon personally, it’s always bittersweet to hear “The Weight.” This song is all about a pilgrim’s journey and seeking something; isn’t that what all road trips are about in some way? Enjoy the ride.

Photo credit: Jeff Fasano

LISTEN: Wolf van Elfmand, “Sweet Regret”

Posted on by Editor

Artist: Wolf van Elfmand
Hometown: Edwards, Colorado
Song: “Sweet Regret”
Album: All Blue
Release Date: January 29, 2021 (single), February 12, 2021 (album)

In Their Words: “‘Sweet Regret’ is a song that grew out of loss and its lessons. We all lose things and likely sometimes we flail about in anger or get lost in lonesomeness that follows. This song is about the long road towards discovering the only other option: acceptance. Learning to live with the darker parts in the journey and recognizing that old feelings sometimes live with us forever is a strangely beautiful lesson from losing.” — Wolf van Elfmand

Photo credit: Carolyn Pender

Sam Bush, Jerry Douglas, David Grisman – Toy Heart: Remembering Tony Rice

Posted on by Chris Jacobs

Host Tom Power speaks with Sam Bush, Jerry Douglas, and David Grisman about their old friend and bandmate Tony Rice, in the first edition of our special tribute, Toy Heart: Remembering Tony Rice.

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Critically acclaimed bluegrass podcast Toy Heart returns with a special, limited series, Toy Heart: Remembering Tony Rice. In the first installment of three, host Tom Power (CBC’s q) interviews Jerry Douglas, Sam Bush, and David Grisman, each lifelong friends and collaborators with Rice, who passed away unexpectedly on Christmas day. This extra-length episode includes reminiscing, storytelling, and remembrances of the flatpicking legend and Bluegrass Hall of Famer who not only blazed an innovative, often jaw-dropping trail in bluegrass – and all of American roots music – with his technical prowess, but also left a limitless musical legacy with his warm-honey voice, his tender songwriting, and his uncanny ability to inhabit each and every note he emitted, each and every stroke of his pick.

We hope you enjoy the first in this trio of episodes, Power’s and Toy Heart’s humble attempt to pay homage to a towering figure in bluegrass.

Editor’s note: Heart part two of our special tribute to Tony Rice here

 

‘Bluegrass at the Crossroads’ Series Displays a Big-Tent View of Bluegrass

Posted on by Editor

Over the last several years, it’s been fun watching the rapid creative growth happening at sister labels Mountain Home Music Company and Organic Records. Their rosters are musically diverse — a reflection of the music-rich mountains of Western North Carolina where the label group is based — thanks to the effort they’ve put into signing adventurous bands that redraw musical boundaries on stage every night, along with artists that are able to sound like themselves while keeping tradition’s torches shining. The prevailing attitude in the building, among staff and artists alike, is decidedly forward-looking; the music these groups and artists create is mutually influential, and the territory between them fertile ground for collaboration.

Mountain Home’s new series of releases, Bluegrass at the Crossroads, takes advantage of this by putting these artists together in unique and intriguing combinations to record mostly new music. The label’s team gets that this homegrown stylistic breadth is a great asset, and they aren’t shy in their commitment to the highly cooperative, big-tent view of bluegrass that’s proudly on display in the series.

Bluegrass styles cover a remarkable amount of ground — from Red, White, and Bluegrass to Red Rocks, if you will — while still remaining totally recognizable as the genuine article. As a result, there’s enough range within the genre that a gap exists to be filled by an ongoing project of this kind. And, since touring has been largely benched for the time being, this is the moment to gather these threads together, invite great players into the studio for new creative partnerships, and press “record.”

Music in general has become so cross-pollinated that you never know what you’ll find on another musician’s playlist or turntable, and as more musicians and producers jump their creative tracks to explore different genres, bringing their tastes and vocabularies along with them, they’re invariably influenced by the new sounds and ideas they encounter, and they exert their own influence in return.

Bluegrass is good at absorbing new ideas while holding on to its identity — the sometimes regrettable, sometimes successful, move of giving the bluegrass treatment to rock and pop hits is a perfect example – and so, as the music grows, bluegrass musicians of all kinds freely pull new ideas from all directions, incorporate them into their own expressions of the style, and wind up with something that is still absolutely bluegrass.

It’s easy to pick out classical music, jazz, indie rock, folk, metal, even electronic music, in the sounds of some of today’s bands. Other bands choose reach into the past to create new interpretations of Celtic music, old-time, classic country, and Tin Pan Alley. Turn your ear to a record from any performer on Bluegrass at the Crossroads and you’ll hear these influences effortlessly knit into the songs and arrangements.

It’s not surprising, then, that Bluegrass at the Crossroads is good, but it is striking how much fun it is to listen to. One-off bands like these can be like wrapped presents: lots of promise on the outside, but what’s inside might or might not meet expectations. Happily, there’s nothing to be disappointed about on these tracks; they’re full of life, maybe given a boost by a collective sense of cabin fever.

It also likely helps that most of the material is new. A few tunes from the standard repertoire appear, but few of the songs have been heard before. This keeps a lot of baggage out of a performer’s approach to a tune — each one is a blank slate, with no so-called “definitive” version to consult, and that extra space leaves room for a kind of subtle magic to happen.

Bluegrass may have a restless heart, but it also tends to hew close to tradition where it can be found (if you don’t believe me, listen to five different bands kick off “Steam Powered Aereo Plane,” you’ll see what I mean), and songs with unwritten histories don’t have conventions that must be attended to. So players are more free to search for new ideas, calling on their wide-ranging taste and experience, to create statements that seem more personal, the best of which sound as if they had always been there — just like the best songs.

These sorts of moments are everywhere in this series, and even though the players are all going for it, they’re also paying close attention to each other. The level of ensemble play is high, there are moments that have the intensity of a live performance, and a feeling that everyone involved was making themselves fully present for the project. That sense of life can be hard to come by in studio recordings, and the energy that’s captured is a refreshing reminder of what playing music is really about. It comes at a time when I know a lot of us could use something like this, and I’m excited for more!

A socially-distanced Bluegrass at the Crossroads session. (L to R: Joe Cicero, Sammy Shelor, Travis Book, Jon Weisberger, Carley Arrowood, Wayne Benson)

SPONSORED CONTENT: Occasionally, BGS brings you content curated by featured partners and sponsors.
Photo and graphics courtesy Crossroads Label Group

The String – Tony Trischka plus Jordan Tice

Posted on by Chris Jacobs

Banjo innovator and string band visionary Tony Trischka has kept his eyes on the future over a fifty year career, but on a new album he looks to our uneasy past.


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Shall We Hope is a song cycle about the Civil War and its aftermath, featuring a cast of elite collaborators such as Maura O’Connell and Guy Davis. We talk about how the project came together over more than a decade and about Tony’s rich career from his funky band Breakfast Special and teaching Bela Fleck to his work with Steve Martin. Also, another stringed instrument visionary is 33-year-old Jordan Tice of Nashville. The Hawktail guitarist has a new album of solo songwriting and guitar rags in the tradition of John Fahey.

WATCH: The Secret Sisters Give “Cabin” an Acoustic Makeover

Posted on by Editor

The Secret Sisters’ Saturn Return is a beautiful record marked by stripes of maturity, grief, and resilience, reflecting the significant life experiences the sisters were sharing at the time of the album’s creation. From the hope and promise of “Late Bloomer” to the anger and passion of “Cabin,” the duo’s full range is on display, mixing incisive lyrics and truly pure arrangements to create their unique brand of roots music. In a statement, they noted, “With Saturn Return, our hope is that women can feel less alone in their journey through the modern world. We need each other more than we ever have; the less competition and the more inclusiveness and understanding, the better. We are southern women in the 21st century, convicted by our beliefs.”

Our BGS Artist of the Month in March 2020, the Secret Sisters return this year with two Grammy Award nominations. Saturn Return, produced by a roots music trinity of Brandi Carlile and the Hanseroth twins, will compete for Best Folk Album (the group’s second appearance in this category) while “Cabin” is a nominee for Best American Roots Song. To commemorate the pair of nominations, the siblings recorded an up close and personal performance of “Cabin.” Read our one-on-one interviews with Lydia and Laura, and enjoy their acoustic video below.

Photo credit: Alysse Gafkjen

WATCH: Colin Macleod, “The Long Road”

Posted on by Editor

Artist: Colin Macleod
Hometown: Isle of Lewis, Scotland
Song: “The Long Road”
Album: Hold Fast
Release Date: June 18, 2021
Label: So Recordings

In Their Words: “‘The Long Road’ is a song about the ins-and-outs of regret. The times when you can’t help but think you could have tried a little harder, maybe reached out a little further. It’s also about the redemptive powers of a good friend and some strong words.” — Colin Macleod

Photo credit: Jack Johns

LISTEN: Pony Bradshaw, “Foxfire”

Posted on by Editor

Artist: Pony Bradshaw
Hometown: Chatsworth, Georgia (Murray County)
Song: “Foxfire”
Album: Calico Jim
Release Date: January 29, 2021
Label: Black Mountain Music

In Their Words: “‘Foxfire’ is the least personal song on the record, but maybe my favorite to play. It was inspired by a couple of Charles Joyner books I was reading at the time… Down by the Riverside: a South Carolina Slave Community and Shared Traditions: Southern History and Folk Culture. I’d recently written a song called ‘Old Dave Drake’ (not on this record) about the potter and slave from Edgefield, South Carolina, and was reading a lot of history, nonfiction, and folk culture studies. ‘Foxfire’ was born out of that time period. I don’t think it’s written enough about (in song form), but I also understand that it’s not my place to be an authority on the subject. I tend to write things I’m interested in as opposed to what might interest folks. Hopefully the two come together every now and then and we’re all satisfied, though.” — Pony Bradshaw

Photo credit: Bekah Jordan