LISTEN: Randall Bramblett, “Never Be Another Day”

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Artist: Randall Bramblett
Hometown: Athens, Georgia
Song: “Never Be Another Day”
Album: Pine Needle Fire
Release Date: November 13, 2020
Label: New West Records

In Their Words: “I started this song thinking about my granddaughter and the struggles that young people face when they’re trying to separate from their families and find their own identities. It’s not really biographical, because she’s barely a teen and not thinking of running away or anything like that. Importantly, my wife, Lenore, changed the perspective on the song after I had gone down a lot of rabbit holes where the person was running away and stealing the family car. … She brought it back to the feelings of confusion and ambivalence that are at the heart of breaking away. I really just needed to write something that said, ‘I know it’s a confusing time. You’re a beautiful spirit and you’ll be OK.'” — Randall Bramblett

Photo credit: Ian McFarlane

LISTEN: Terra Lightfoot, “Two Wild Horses”

Posted on by Editor

Artist: Terra Lightfoot
Hometown: Hamilton, Ontario
Song: “Two Wild Horses”
Album: Consider the Speed
Release Date: October 16, 2020
Label: Sonic Unyon

In Their Words: “I had booked some time to write in Nashville and was having a hell of a time finding songs, inspiration, lyrics, any of it. I was out for a drive, having a bit of an existential crisis to be honest, feeling down about everything.… when suddenly I nearly slammed into two horses in the middle of Franklin Pike on a Saturday night. They walked slowly across the road, totally oblivious to all these speeding cars around them. I pulled over and tried to corral them away from anything that might hurt them, and eventually they ran off into the night.

“Seeing those horses really stirred something in me, made me want to forget about whatever was troubling me before that moment. I guess it fast-tracked me into the present, where I realized that the only thing that mattered was what was standing right in front of me: two beautiful wild horses in the middle of a highway on a Nashville Saturday night. About five days later, I found the song I was gonna write about the whole experience — and then, one by one, I found each song that you’ll hear on Consider the Speed with ease.” — Terra Lightfoot

Photo credit: Mat Dunlap

MIXTAPE: Jim and Sam’s Songs That Got Us Through Playing One Show Every Day for a Year

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“We discovered these songs right before we left home, while we were on the road, or soon after we got back from our 365-everyday tour. Each song is soaked in nostalgia and transports us right back into the wildest year of our lives. The songs of ours that appear on this Mixtape were born during or inspired by our tour.” — Jim and Sam, from the film After So Many Days

Jim and Sam – “After So Many Days”

On day 360, we were nearing Santa Barbara on our last cross-country trip of the tour. We were both feeling overwhelmed, sad, excited, and confused as we were inching our way back home to Los Angeles. We were listening to songs we had discovered while traveling throughout 14 different countries, when the last song came to an end. The car was quiet, tears were rolling down both of our faces, and we decided to pull over into a strip mall parking lot to take a break. We pulled out the guitar and a notebook, and this song came pouring out. We ended up using the original audio recording of this writing session as the soundtrack to the final moments of the film. When the tour ended, we tucked the song away for a while, and it ended up being the last song we recorded for the album.

Lucinda Williams – “Passionate Kisses”

This song captures so many of the simple things we want out of life and our career. Lucinda’s endless drive as an artist has always inspired us. “Is it too much to demand/ I want a full house and a rock-‘n’-roll band/ Pens that won’t run out of ink/ And cool quiet and time to think…”

Mulligan Brothers – “So Are You”

For 30 days we were on tour in Sweden with the amazing bluegrass band, The Mulligan Brothers. It took us all a few nights to get comfortable with each other, but once we did, the rest of the month felt like summer camp. Whether it was sitting on the stage after a show telling stories all night, late night fast food runs, discovering small Swedish towns together, or just listening to their amazing music night after night — having another road family for a month was a really magical and necessary part of the year.

Katie Melua – “Mary Pickford”

There was a week where we had to keep booking, cancelling, and rebooking our flight because our plans were changing. Every time we called up Norwegian Air, this song was playing in the background. What started out as an earworm became a song that traveled with us throughout the rest of the year and we now love. It’s also a beautiful song about the power of collaboration.

Jim and Sam – “Bloodstream”

The song is about trusting someone enough to let them see (and help you calm) your panic. It’s also about being there for the person you love in their most vulnerable moments. This song was co-written and produced by one of our best friends, Hustle Standard. HS had surprised us along the tour by attending several shows in LA, New York, and Houston. Knowing he had seen firsthand how we were struggling and changing during the tour, we knew we wanted to collaborate with him for the record.

Grateful Dead – “Brokedown Palace”

We got invited to play a birthday party at a farm filled with alpacas and goats in upstate New York, and were asked to play any Grateful Dead song we knew. Not being too familiar with The Dead we asked a Deadhead friend of ours what song we should cover… with no hesitation they texted back, “Brokedown Palace.”

Lauren Ruth Ward – “Did I Offend You”

We met Lauren playing on the same bill at Echo Park Rising in Los Angeles. We were first to go on that day and no one was in the room except for Lauren and LP. We stayed to watch Lauren’s set and were blown away by her power on stage. Even in the quiet moments she took up all of the space in the room. We’ve been a huge fan of hers ever since… This is one of our favorites.

LP – “Lost on You”

We met LP the same night we met Lauren. About a month later we went to watch her at an intimate venue in LA. We heard her sing a song called “Lost on You” (before it became the global hit that it is now). Jim and I turned to each other as we normally do when we both hear a song we love. About a year later, she was touring all over Europe and asked us to join her for a few shows during our year. After so many days of small and strange venues, playing to a sold out room of 3000 people in cities we had never been to was insane.

Rayland Baxter – “Yellow Eyes”

Something about the sound of this song reminds of the lines on the road when we’re leaving a city we just played in.

Jim and Sam – “Cold Cold Blood” (feat. Good Harvest & Rob Lewis)

A good friend of ours, Jono Hart, was putting on shows in churches throughout the UK. We actually met him right before our tour began. He said to us, “Any time you’re in the UK let me know, and if you need a church or a show, give me a call.” He ended up booking us some of our favorite shows on the tour, and he also gave us the key to this gorgeous church in Stoke Newington, London, to record. In the pouring rain, our friend, composer and cellist Rob Lewis, kindly let us borrow his gear and talent and we recorded this version in about 45 minutes before we had to leave. We then asked one of our favorite duos from Sweden, Good Harvest, to contribute their incredible harmonies to the track about 200 days later in another church, this time in Falun, Sweden. Finally, we had Tyler Chester record guitars in a garage in LA and Ryan Lipman mixed the track somewhere in Highland Park.

William Fitzsimmons – “Second Hand Smoke”

A year after our tour we got invited to support William Fitzsimmons throughout North America and Europe in a few venues we had always dreamed of playing. Picking a favorite from William is hard, but even after 40 nights of hearing his set… we’d usually always stand in the wings to listen to this one.

Tom Petty – “Walls”

Tom Petty passed away during the last month of our tour and became the soundtrack of our final month while driving home. We still quote this song everytime we are having a bad day… “some days are diamonds, some days are rocks.”

Chimney – “Paintings Are the Only Place You Never Lied to Me”

Chimney (aka Dan Molad) is a longtime friend of ours and also the producer of our Yeah Whatever Young Forever EP as well as the soundtrack tracks, “Unravel” and “Saturday Night (Low).” Jim wrote this song with Danny about our mutual friend who passed away. A few months before the tour, Danny had Facetimed Jim asking to help expand on an idea he started. One hour later, the song was finished, and 48 hours later Danny had recorded the song for his debut record.

Indigo Girls – “Closer to Fine”

We often roll the windows down and unapologetically sing this song at the top of our lungs like two high school girls getting ready for choir practice.

Jake Hill & Deep Creek – “High & Low”

Jake Hill is one of our oldest friends and remains a songwriter who is constantly inspiring us with whatever he’s creating. During our tour he hosted us for an event called Supper & Song in Plymouth, Massachusetts, where he would prepare an incredible three-course meal for a room full of people in a building from the 1800s…he would then play a few of his amazing songs and introduce another artist to perform. This was easily one of our favorite evenings on the tour and this is one of our favorite Jake Hill songs.

Jim and Sam – “Witch in a Window”

Upon returning home to LA from the tour we felt some whiplash; we had just emerged from feeling so inspired after having such intimate and real connections with strangers all around the world, then all of a sudden were thrown back into a city and industry obsessed with first impressions and fueled by small talk. Everything felt magnified. We began noticing people morphing into different versions of themselves to fit in or get ahead. We love LA; however, “Witch in a Window” is our tribute to the trickery and disguise the city perpetuates and makes us all believe we have to keep up with.

Rob Lewis – “The Sea”

We first heard this song from our friend Rob Lewis as a demo in his car on a rainy night in London. This song and all of Rob’s music is ethereal, calming, surprising and inspiring. Rob played cello on a few songs on our album and also contributed a few stunning score pieces to the film.

Starship – “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now”

Self explanatory.

Photo credit: Mike Zwahlen

 

On ‘I’m With You,’ William Elliott Whitmore Puts Family Wisdom to Use

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Over the last few years, William Elliott Whitmore has been thinking a lot about how we – as individuals and as a society – have a tendency to repeat our mistakes, and how we’re always trying not to. Yet the tone of his new album, I’m With You, is still infused with optimism, which often stems from the wisdom he’s learned from his family.

I’m With You is Whitmore’s first album of new material in five years, though its material wouldn’t sound out of place alongside his early songs like “Old Devils” or “Don’t Need It.” As always, his banjo and guitar are central to the album’s sound, while his raspy singing voice remains an effective tool at getting his point across.

Though the album does have some heavy themes, Whitmore often points out the silver lining in a situation, and moreover, he’s comfortable chatting up a stranger — a trait not uncommon to the Midwest. He spoke with BGS by phone from his farm in Lee County, Iowa, where he’s quarantining with his wife and their six-month-old baby.

BGS: There are several family relationships that you reference in the album’s first song, “Put It to Use,” and you’ve had family members as characters in your songs for a long time. Why is that bond with your family so inspiring?

Whitmore: Yeah, the bond with my family has always been inspiring. I’m pretty lucky in that I’ve got a big family that’s close by. Aunts and uncles and cousins. My folks were great people, full of wisdom and just caring, beautiful people, but through different circumstances they passed away when I was in my teens. So, that’s when I started writing songs, and in fact, that’s what made me start doing that — to codify what they had always been teaching me. And as a way to deal with it and not just go off the deep end. They pop up in songs a lot, and have since the beginning.

I don’t have them here, so I just think about their words of wisdom and lessons. I think we all get those lessons from someone, whether it’s your folks and a grandparent or a neighbor or a cool uncle or aunt. That cool person down the block that introduced you to The Ramones when you were a kid. [Laughs] It’s like, “Hey, check out Black Sabbath!” So you go, “I should listen up.” Not just music, but lessons, and we can gather that from anywhere. “Put It to Use” is about, OK, you’ve gathered all this good information. Now, put it to use. And more than just music — let’s try to love each other.

Was it someone in your family that introduced you to banjo?

Yeah, both of my grandpas played the banjo. One of them passed away when I was one year old, so I never knew him, but I actually have his old banjo. And one died when I was in my teens, and he was a banjo picker from the Ozark Mountains down in Missouri. My folks loved country music. My mom loved Willie Nelson and Charley Pride – those were her favorites. And in fact, my parents’ first date was a Charley Pride show at a county fair.

But [my interest in] the old-time stuff, Appalachia music and Ozark mountain music, came from my grandpa, and he played the banjo. When he passed away, I got his banjo because I was into playing guitar. I was like, “Oh, the banjo… it’s not THAT different than a guitar.” And I inherited all of his old records. He loved Roy Acuff and the Stanley Brothers. Again, it’s getting that influence from wherever you can.

Were those records your gateway to bluegrass? How did you become aware of bluegrass?

Yeah, those records. … He had a lot of compilations with 15 different artists on one record. You’d find out about a bunch of different stuff, like how Bill Monroe pretty much invented bluegrass by playing old-time music faster than everybody else. [Laughs] And the subtle differences between that and the old-time, slower stuff. A lot of it does have to do with tempo. The feeling is there for all of it, but Bill Monroe kicked it into that next gear.

It’s this whole rich history that’s really cool, and there’s still a lot to learn about, too. So I took that bluegrass influence, but I also liked Minor Threat and Bad Religion and Public Enemy, growing up in the ‘80s and ‘90s. There’s a theme running through all of this — punk and country and bluegrass and blues. Using simple tools to convey a message. No matter where you come from or what color you are, there’s a way to do this.

One thing you do well on this record, in my opinion, is setting the scene. While a lot of songwriters write primarily about themselves, or about love, you are writing about what’s around you. When did you become interested in environmentalism, for example?

That’s a great compliment, first of all. I’m right here on the farm I grew up on, and I’m very lucky to have that. So, the woods and nature and planting gardens — my folks were both naturalists. They wouldn’t have had the word for that, but they loved the land and they appreciated nature. That was passed on to us kids, the appreciation for the trees and the plants and the deer out in the field, and how we live among them and we’re part of it. We’re not above them. The grass in the meadow, the flora and the fauna that we see all around us, we’re just a part of that.

So it just doesn’t make sense to me, as an adult, why anyone would want to pour oil in the water, or level a whole forest, and cut every old-growth oak tree in the forest, just for the money! You want to live in harmony with nature, and sometimes you do have to cut a tree, but you want to be selective and do it in a smart way. … There are so many ways to do it mindfully. That’s my slant on it, and it all comes from living in the woods and living on a farm, and being instilled with those things at an early age.

Listening to your older records, I was struck by how much your singing voice has become more commanding. Did that come from you having to sing on stage, and use it as an instrument? At what point did you sense that your voice was becoming stronger?

That’s another great compliment. I didn’t even know if it was, but you know, it’s funny how things change over 20 years. I first started touring — gosh, it’s been over 20 years ago now. I used to smoke a lot of cigarettes and a lot of weed. … Well, maybe don’t write down “weed.” Oh, whatever, I don’t care. I just had a fucked up voice, but it was all I had. I was like, I wish I could croon like Dean Martin and Morrissey or Ralph Stanley, and have a beautiful voice, and I could never quite get there. So you just work with what you got, right?

So, I quit the cigarettes – and only the cigarettes. [Laughs] My voice changed after that, maybe, but it did come with playing a couple hundred shows a year, for years, and just being on stage, at least in the beginning, where they didn’t know who you are. It’s hard to be a presence when you’re by yourself. I was doing a lot of punk clubs and DIY spaces and bars, where they might not even care that you’re there. So you do have to make your presence known. I had to be more commanding. I am a loudmouth anyway, so it was natural. Put a microphone in front of me and I’ll make you listen! [Laughs] “I’m gonna start singing and you’re gonna wanna listen!” was my attitude, which is funny now.

But that did help me use it as almost a cudgel. Over the years, I’ve tried to sharpen that and make it more of a surgical thing and not a blunt instrument. [Laughs] I mean, I’m only dealing with guitar, banjo, and voice, and a beat — a kick drum now. Each one of them has to count. Any would singer would tell you, you take the time to write these lyrics, and in a live setting they just get lost. You’re just hollering. You have to learn to cut through. … Now it’s a bad habit to break because I’ll be singing in a quiet place, where everyone’s sitting down and listening and no one’s talking, and I’m just yelling like someone needs to hear me ten miles away. It’s those years of screaming over a bar room. I can’t shut it off.

Photo credit: Chris Casella

BGS 5+5: Lera Lynn

Posted on by Editor

Artist: Lera Lynn
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
Latest album: On My Own

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

I think everything we consume ends up informing our art. It’s difficult for me to pinpoint any one art form that influences me, but I did use the act of painting with intention while making my new record, On My Own. Because I was working completely alone on the record, I desperately needed some method for gaining perspective, so I kept my easel set up in the room where I was recording and would bounce back and forth between the two mediums. Where I would reach a roadblock with one, I would move to the other.

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

Music was always a big part of life for me growing up. If there wasn’t a record or the radio blasting, someone was playing guitar or keyboards and singing. I, however, had always planned on becoming an astronaut until one fateful day as a 10-year-old, when I learned that my eyesight was too poor for me to ever be accepted into the space program. I happened to be watching Star Search minutes after that disappointing realization and distinctly remember thinking, “Oh well, I’ll just do that.” It wasn’t until a couple of years later, playing violin in the school orchestra that I understood, for the first time, the hypnotic power of playing music with and for others and I was hooked.

What’s the toughest time you ever had writing a song?

I once spent 10 months working on a song, because someone I shared the song with suggested that the chorus wasn’t strong enough. I must’ve written six or eight different choruses and ultimately decided that the original chorus was the one. The song is called “Fade Into the Black.”

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

My rituals are pretty different for live shows vs. studio work. I have to be pretty straight before getting on stage. I sing the old jazz standard “Lover Man” for its vocal range as a warmup and just before going on stage I get pumped up by yelling like I’m at a drag race. In the studio, a good buzz goes a long way for getting inside the song and tracking vocals.

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

Let art guide the process and decisions, not the prospect of money or success. Maintain autonomy by nurturing meaningful engagement with fans; let them be the guide and support system. And finally, trust your gut!!

Photo credit: Alysse Gafkjen

LISTEN: Ruby Mack, “Little Bird”

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Artist: Ruby Mack
Hometown: Greenfield, Massachusetts
Song: “Little Bird”
Album: Devil Told Me
Release Date: October 23, 2020

In Their Words: “‘Little Bird’ is a spirited newgrass ditty about laying down your pride and being vulnerable to the risk and improbable feelings that flood in when you follow your heart versus the stasis of playing it safe. I wrote it with a friend when I didn’t have the courage to tell the one I loved that I loved her. ‘Little Bird’ was the 2am phone calls in the heat of the summer. We never kissed and we never told a soul. Historically, songwriting has been a vehicle for sharing everything I couldn’t say directly. I conceal my truths in poetry, metaphor, and melody. ‘Little Bird’ is a page from one of my oldest diaries.” — Emma Ayres, Ruby Mack

https://soundcloud.com/loudmouthpro/04-little-bird-ruby-mack/s-yNxMKMklVbp

Photo credit: Gianna Colson

On New Solo Album, Resophonic Guitarist Andy Hall Reaches for the Jam Songs

Posted on by Amy Reitnouer

Andy Hall is one of the fiercest slide guitarists we have around not just today, but probably ever. If there’s any doubt, you needn’t look further than his newest release, 12 Bluegrass Classics for Resophonic Guitar. The Denver-based singer and Dobro player of the Infamous Stringdusters has always pushed the envelope, but had never taken the time to put his own stamp on the formative tunes that all musicians of the genre play with one another. From teaching thousands of students online via ArtistWorks, to his work with Earl Scruggs, Dolly Parton, or Jack Black, it’s obvious that Hall is a master of the instrument, and the art itself.

BGS visited with Hall to talk all things pandemic, resophonic guitars, and what this record means in a time like our own. 

BGS: What was your initial inspiration for this recording?

Andy Hall: It was an interesting time in the spring when I was recording it, you know, but it’s all about taking opportunities that present themselves and making the most of the situation and what you can do. When everything stops, you have no idea what’s happening, you’re pretty quickly trying to figure out how to continue to be expressive. Our band the Stringdusters has toured so much for so long. …I don’t want to say I took it for granted, but when it all went away it was surprising — there was this withdrawal from doing the things that I love to do.

These are songs I’ve played for years and years, and I’ve always wanted to put my stamp on them, my take, you know? I totally overlooked them as anything I would record, because I always played them in jams. For most people, they don’t know these songs. So, I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to get a recorded version of all these jam songs. It was really just a matter of me sitting, playing, and enjoying these tunes enough to get a good representation of them.

At the same time that you’ve put your own stamp on these tunes, you said that they were formative. I noticed the speed-up in “House of the Rising sun,” just like Mike Auldridge of the Seldom Scene would do. Are there any influences you’re drawing from, more than others, on this record?

Everyone has their own version of what their “classic” tune would be for a certain instrument. So “House of the Rising Sun,” definitely based on the Mike Auldridge version. To me, if you do that song on Dobro, that’s just how it goes. “Dixie Hoedown” was on Jerry Douglas’ first solo record, and something like “Fireball Mail” couldn’t be a more quintessential dobro song. I was always too impatient to sit and get every nuance of somebody’s playing, so I kinda gloss over it for the general idea and fill in the blanks myself. So due to my impatience I have my own style with a lot of them.

So that’s what a lot of these are like, but you can trace most of them back to an original version — like “Cherokee Shuffle,” Sally Van Meter, a great dobro player from Colorado, did that on a record called the Great Dobro Sessions. One that’s totally my own is the first one on the record, “Leather Britches.” I’d never really heard a version of that, but I wanted to try and get that repetitive, cyclical, rolling sound of the fiddle. So a lot of them are jam tunes that I never heard a Dobro version of, and wanted to develop my own thing with. 

“Foggy Mountain Rock” really comes through that way. 

I actually was fortunate enough to get to play with Earl Scruggs some, and that tune is a perfect example of how I didn’t take the time to learn it officially like Josh Graves. When I auditioned for Scruggs’ band, I went to his house and jammed with both Earl and a fiddle player named Glen Duncan. My mind was just blown, you know, we’re just sitting in Earl’s living room playing “Foggy Mountain Rock.” When we finished playing it, it was clear I hadn’t done it the way he was used to hearing it. And he complimented it! “Oh, I love how you put that four chord in there. I love when people do their own thing.” That really justified my whole approach. If Earl Scruggs says it’s cool, then I’m good. 

Do you teach many of these in your class over at ArtistWorks?

There are a couple in my school. “Panhandle Rag” is in there, “Cherokee Shuffle.” I’m about to transcribe not just the melodies, but the solos for a few of these so that the students can have a crack at them. It seems primed for that kind of thing. This is a specialty project geared at Dobro nerds. With the Stringdusters or other projects I do it’s a bit more broad, usually song-based. This record definitely ties into ArtistWorks; it’s just getting deep into the slide guitar thing… because that’s what I love! 

“I am a Pilgrim” is so woody, while “Cherokee Shuffle” has that cutting metallic ring of the Dobro… Can you talk about some of the guitars you used on this record?

“I am a Pilgrim,” “Amazing Grace,” and maybe “Foggy Mountain Rock” were all played on a 1929 Squareneck Tricone National guitar. To me it just has a super unique blues sound. So I used it on the tunes that were slower, just to get some variety. I wrestled with how much variety to put on the record in that way, because I have a bunch of different slide instruments. I’ve got a Chaturangi, which is an Indian slide guitar with all of these resonant strings, of course lap steels and things of that nature, but I decided I wanted to keep it kind of Americana sounding. The National fit into that. All the rest I did on my favorite Beard guitar.

Speaking of formative years, I’m curious if there are any younger Dobro players that stick out to you, or even influence you?

For sure. As a Dobro player, when I was in my twenties, at a certain point I kinda felt like I had heard everything, because there weren’t all that many. I’d heard all of the Jerry Douglas and Rob Ickes, Mike Auldridge and Josh Graves. There’s a lot to dig into, but compared to any other instrument, there was a much smaller pool of stuff to draw on. It’s been cool as new players come up to hear new styles. I think the first guy that was new when I first moved to Nashville was Randy Kohrs. He had a technique that nobody else had.

Out of that came a couple of younger players that I really love like Josh Swift, who played in Doyle Lawson’s band for years. His technical ability is just insane — nobody else can do what he does. There’s a young guy named Gaven Largent who I remember teaching when he was probably 12. There’s a guy named Tommy Maher, who plays in a band called Fireside Collective. Andy Dunnigan from the Lil Smokies, he uses the Dobro very lyrically, and he’s the lead singer too. I love seeing that — a lead singer Dobro player!

I’d say one of my biggest influences in recent years is Roosevelt Collier, a lap steel player. I met him in 2013, on JamCruise, and of course became fast friends with the slide guitar connection. We stayed in touch and actually did a record together a few years back. Roosevelt’s very gospel, sacred steel, very singing, very emotive style, is something I’ve really tried to absorb. It just gets you in the chest. 

What do you foresee, or hope, will be the impact of this record?

There’s something about the coronavirus, or the lockdown, that made every part of life simpler. A lot of things got stripped away and we just got down to basics, be it hanging out with our families and making food, or with the music we’re not doing big tours or big production — we’re sitting in our basements by ourselves playing. It’s certainly one of the silver linings of the whole pandemic thing, the simplicity and the sweetness, and that’s what I was feeling with this. It’s just a reflection of me sitting and playing, and hopefully people will relate to that. People have had to strip everything down to being simple, and that’s what this record is. It’s a reflection of that return to the basics that the pandemic has put on us. It’s really forced us to get back to the root of why we do what we do!

Photo credit: Tobin Voggesser

The Show on the Road – Mipso

Posted on by Shelby Williamson

This week, we feature one of the leading roots-pop bands working today: Mipso. An affable and endlessly-creative quartet formed in Chapel Hill, NC, they are made up of fiddle player Libby Rodenbough, mandolinist Jacob Sharp, guitarist Joseph Terrell, and bassist Wood Robinson.


LISTEN: APPLE PODCASTS • SPOTIFY • STITCHER • MP3

Despite the anxious mood of their swing-state home base, it’s quite an exciting time for Mipso. Host Z. Lupetin was able to catch up with Libby and Jacob (via Zoom of course) to discuss their lushly orchestrated, self-titled record which just dropped last week; and if you walk down 8th Avenue in Nashville this week, you might catch a billboard with their sheepish grins large in the sky.

How did they get here? It’s hard to find a group where every member can effortlessly sing lead and write genre-bending songs that fit seamlessly on six acclaimed albums — and counting — in under ten years. Earlier standout records like the breakout Dark Holler Pop, produced by fellow North Carolinian Andrew Marlin of Mandolin Orange, and Edges Run, which features a veritable online hit in the broken-voiced, emotional “People Change,” show how Mipso appeals not only to folk fest-loving moms and dads, but also their edgier kids, who appreciate their subversive turns of phrase and playful gender-ambiguous, neon-tinted wardrobe.

As Z. found out during his conversation with Libby and Jacob, the band nearly broke up after a series of grueling 150-shows-a-year runs, a scary car wreck, and the pressure of putting out Edges Run for their rapidly growing fanbase. The forced slower pace of this last year and a half has been a gift in several ways — allowing the group to catch their breath and hole up to write more collaboratively than ever. The shimmering sonic backdrop that gifted producer and musician Sandro Perri was able to bring to the Mipso sessions at Echo Mountain studio in Asheville really makes the songs feel like they could exist in any era.

You wouldn’t be alone if you heard the connection between the honey-hooked newest record with the timeless, mellow-with-a-hint-of-menace hits of the 1970s (looking at you James Taylor and Carly Simon). Songs like “Never Knew You Were Gone” show off Terrell’s gift for gently asking the deepest questions, like where he might go when he transitions to the other side in a “silvery fire,” or the sardonically nostalgic “Let A Little Light In,” which wonders if the soft-focused images we have of the peaceful, boomtime 1990s (when Mipso was growing up) could use some real scrutiny. Rodenbough’s silky fiddle work stars throughout –and her courageous, vulnerable lead vocal on “Your Body” may be the most memorable moment on the new work.

Stick around to the end of the episode to hear mandolinist Jacob Sharp introduce his favorite contribution, “Just Want To Be Loved.”

Photo credit: D.L. Anderson

LISTEN: Rachel Brooke, “Undecided Love”

Posted on by Editor

Artist: Rachel Brooke
Hometown: Lovells, Michigan
Song: “Undecided Love”
Album: The Loneliness in Me
Release Date: October 23, 2020
Label: Mal Records

In Their Words: “It’s like a good classic heartbreak song. Waiting for someone to choose you and return the love you have for them… but maybe they won’t. It’s leaving your fate up to someone else, knowing that there’s a good chance you’ll fall. I love all the sounds and instruments on this one, and I feel lucky to have Dave Feeny play pedal steel. He makes it sound exactly like I’ve always imagined it. I also love the ‘back and forth’ with guitar (Louis Osborn) and pedal steel. I wanted to create a somewhat call and response feel, similar to a conversation between two people, echoing the lyrics in a way. This is actually one of the older songs of the bunch. I think the idea came for this song a few years ago, and it was just a fragment of an idea/song, but we knew something was special about it, and kept working on it. This is my mom’s favorite song on the album, so you know it’s good. ;)” — Rachel Brooke

Photo credit: Jess Varda

WATCH: Alright Alright, “Missouri Calling”

Posted on by Editor

Artist: Alright Alright (husband and wife Seth and China Kent)
Hometown: Denver, Colorado
Song: “Missouri Calling”
Album: Crucible
Release Date: October 23, 2020

In Their Words: “‘Missouri Calling’ is an empathetic, compassionate vignette of a woman who leaves Missouri after being kicked out of her unhappy home. She heads to Denver with marijuana-tinted dollar signs in her eyes, and eventually finds herself out on the streets. After working with homeless women at a shelter for several years, Seth and I heard enough stories to understand that people find themselves without homes for countless reasons, and we are all closer to that line between shelter and no shelter than we would like to believe.

“This summer, the reliable network of church-led homeless shelters shut down due to COVID, and as a result, countless homeless camps began popping up all around Denver. Huge city parks and lots were filled with tents and makeshift shelters, laundry hanging on chain link fences, as pop-up bike repair stations appeared on random street corners. I wanted to capture footage of these homeless camps around the city to bring the plight of the unhoused to light in the age of COVID. Our 13-year-old son, Fender, and I took a trip to the capitol building where the largest of these camps was located, and equipped with only a GoPro and iPhones, we walked around and captured the footage that is now in the video.

“After editing the footage together, I wondered if, perhaps, the video would be made stronger by the addition of fact-based context. If, perhaps, we could find out some statistics about homelessness in Denver and maybe understand a little more about why the unhoused were so visible all of a sudden. Our kids attend an amazing school whose mission is to provide students with a racially and economically diverse educational environment, so we asked the social justice teacher at our kids’ school to help. Mx. Saleh was so excited about the prospect that they jumped right on it, and Fender’s 8th grade class researched and wrote all of the facts presented in the video.” — China Kent, Alright Alright

Photo credit: Made Shop