Nashville in the mid-2000s was full of aspiring bluegrass musicians from my generation. People were starting bands, landing gigs as sidemen, and living in large, cheap houses on the east side of town. Almost nightly we’d gather at picking parties that sometimes more closely resembled what you’d see at a fraternity. One of the people I met and played with during these heady years was Luke Bulla. I was in awe of his professionalism and his palmarès and was struck by his calm demeanor. It had been almost 15 years since we’d last played together and I was delighted when he reached out about joining me for the Happy Hour.
This episode was recorded live at 185 King Street in Brevard, North Carolina on May 5, 2024.
Editor’s Note: The Travis Book Happy Hour is hosted by Travis Book of the GRAMMY Award-winning band, The Infamous Stringdusters. The show’s focus is musical collaboration and conversation around matters of being. The podcast includes highlights from Travis’s interviews and music from each live show recorded in Brevard, North Carolina.
The Travis Book Happy Hour is brought to you by Thompson Guitars and is presented by Americana Vibes and The Bluegrass Situation as part of the BGS Podcast Network. You can find the Travis Book Happy Hour on Instagram and Facebook and online at thetravisbookhappyhour.com.
Welcome to my Mixtape of loss and love! I hope you don’t need it right now, but if you do, it’s here to bring you a little comfort. When I was making it, I started out trying to make the most devastating playlist I could make, but then halfway through I decided to make something I’d actually enjoy listening to. Something that mimics the way we process loss and love– yes, there’s a lot of time spent in really dark places, but there’s also so much humor in the face of everything and a lot of reluctant joy, showing its light despite our best efforts to draw the curtains and hide.
That dialogue between loss and joy is at the heart of my EP, Bloodlust, which just came out on October 24. I wrote this project coming out of a period of life that was marred by grief, death, and illness, so naturally I had a lot of heavy stuff on my mind, but I felt this overwhelming need to write some of the most upbeat and energetic songs I’ve ever written.
Sometimes it helps to grieve and sulk and sometimes you want to just roll down the windows and feel your pain casually, communally, and maybe even with the last laugh. I think there’s room on this Mixtape to do both. – Melanie MacLaren
“Wayside/Back in Time” – Gillian Welch
We like to think of a loss as these finite events, but sometimes it’s a long, steady process, the passing of time and dissolution of relationships, a slow decline of health. Loss can sometimes simply be the progression of time, and Gillian Welch’s writing is so timeless, too, that it strengthens that feeling – she could be singing from any time about any time, as long as it’s gone.
“Change” – Big Thief
Thinking of loss as simply “change” is really difficult, but at its core that’s what it is.
“Flirted With You All My Life” – Vic Chesnutt
This song is wild. I remember the first time someone played this for me on a road trip, I was smiling thinking, “Oh man, he really likes me,” and then that guitar comes in and the lyrics change tone completely and you realize the whole song is about death. It’s a funny phenomenon. You can feel the sky darkening at that moment. But then you listen to the song again with all that in mind and you still feel happy in the first half of the song. I think that’s part of the beauty of it too– knowing the ending and still being receptive to joy.
“beachball” – Dan Reeder
This is a 90-second song about a beachball that makes me bawl my eyes out. I love Dan Reeder.
“Buffalo” – Hurray for the Riff Raff
I have a soft spot for songs that talk about animals (I guess that’s why I wrote a song about Laika for my EP). I think we can talk about them in a way that we’re afraid to talk about ourselves. Their fear is our fear, but it’s hard for us to think of it that way. Asking if the love we share with each other as humans will last forever or if it will go extinct the way that some animals have, at our hands, feels really bold.
“Bloodlust” – Melanie MacLaren
This is the title track off my new EP. This whole project is me trying to make peace with the constant cycles of loss and love we all inevitably experience in our lives. They’re natural like the seasons, but they still feel so overwhelming and unnatural. It was also my attempt to experience moments of joy while not shutting out my grief and anger.
“Random Rules” – Silver Jews
Love and loss are so incredibly random that it would be funny if it didn’t matter so much to us. I always laugh a little at the first line and feel really nonchalant in a dumb way. It sounds like wearing sunglasses inside to me. But then, by the second verse, I’m fully feeling my feelings and replaying every little thing that’s gone wrong between me and every person I’ve ever cared about.
“New Partner” – Palace Music
I like to listen to this song when I’m driving alone and see who I picture in the passenger seat beside me. It changes a lot. That’s probably a good thing.
“I’ve Got a Darkness” – Mick Flannery
Mick Flannery writes the best songs. This song is such a devastating portrait of generational pain and an ode to the fact that we can feel the effects of loss and love that we’ve never experienced in our own lifetime. We carry so much with us that we’re not even aware of.
“Lake Charles” – Lucinda Williams
I love how the verses are just memories, snapshots of life, and all questions and talk of death is reserved for the chorus. It’s such a beautiful homage that way, letting someone still be alive in the song and just describing things as they were, but then still asking those bigger questions because you can’t help but ask when you’ve lost someone you love. You just hope they’re ok.
“The Arrangements” – Willi Carlisle
I love the line, “It’s still sad when bad love dies.” Amazing album with lots of songs about animals.
“Whatever Happened to Us” – Loudon Wainwright III
I love how blunt this song is and how it relies on humor in the face of loss. I heard it for the first time this summer, after I had recorded my song “Get It Back.” I immediately resonated with its matter-of-fact nature. I also love the wordplay in it; I think having fun with language is a way we as humans maintain a little bit of control of the narrative of things we don’t really have much actual agency over.
“Donut Seam” – Adrianne Lenker
There’s so much off this album that could be on this playlist. I almost went with “Sadness as a Gift,” but I really loved the way this song intertwines a dying love with the feeling that the world is dying. Even if that isn’t literal, it often feels literal. The harmony on “what it means to walk that line” makes me feel human.
“Days of the Years” – The Felice Brothers
I love how loss is naturally integrated with the mundane and the beautiful: “These are the days, of the years, of my life.” What else is there?
“Don’t Let Us Get Sick” Solo Acoustic – Warren Zevon
The simplicity of this song is so overwhelming, especially from a writer who can obviously complicate things lyrically and musically when he wants to. He just stays in this sort of The MuppetChristmas Carol arena (compliment!) and it’s so effective, because what he’s asking for is so simple. It sounds like a child’s prayer.
On today’s episode of Only Vans, we have one of my all-time favorite Texas country singers, Bleu Edmondson! We talk about Robert Earl Keen, self-worth, getting Stoney’d, and making a record with Wade Bowen.
There are many kinds of music perfect for fall, but, in our humble opinion, almost none are better suited to the season than bluegrass, old-time, and country. (For instance, check out our playlist of Country Songs For Fall via Good Country.) Being that our latest premiere round-up falls directly between Halloween and the sad end of Daylight Savings Time, it’s apropos and then some that You Gotta Hear This is full of tunes perfect for autumn.
Mandolinist and songwriter Ashby Frank brings his version of “Blue Night,” a jam session classic that he’s performed for decades. Guitar picker Morgan Harris debuts her gorgeous video for a bluegrass and old-time standard, “Lonesome Road,” that has seemingly endless variations and versions out there. Harris’s is a stunner, drawing on a ’60s era recording of Addie Leffew.
Country and Americana singer-songwriter Garrett Owen releases his new album, Memoriam, today, so we’re celebrating the occasion with his track, “Punchline,” a deliciously melancholy and introspective number built on excellent guitar playing. Plus, Boston-based string band The Ruta Beggars “power waltz” through their new song, “Taking My Time,” with a video shot in the woods and ankle-deep in a stream.
To round out our perfectly (accidentally) fall-themed collection of premieres, don’t miss Rachel Sumner & Traveling Light debut their new Traveling Light Sessions series with “Bygone Times” from Sumner’s Heartless Things. And, Nashville country artist and songwriter Gabe Lee continues our AEA Sessions partner series with AEA Ribbon Mics – with special guests Lucciana Costa and Rachel Coats of King Margo.
It’s all right here on BGS… You Gotta Hear This!
Ashby Frank, “Blue Night”
Artist:Ashby Frank Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee Song: “Blue Night” Release Date: November 1, 2024 Label: Mountain Home Music Company
In Their Words: “I’ve been performing ‘Blue Night’ on stage since my Mashville Brigade days and still include it on most shows these days with my own band. It’s a staple song in the jam scene and there have been so many great versions recorded throughout the years since it was written and originally recorded by the great Kirk McGee. When I was doing pre-production for this new record, I started looking for a more traditional sounding up-tempo song, only to realize that I have been performing ‘Blue Night’ for 20 years – and the only recordings of my version are live videos floating around the internet. So it made perfect sense to record it. I am so thrilled about the version we wound up with in the studio. It has a certain in-your-face modern vibe, but also sounds like traditional bluegrass at the same time. I’m so excited for everyone to hear it!” – Ashby Frank
Track Credits: Ashby Frank – Mandolin, vocals Seth Taylor – Acoustic guitar Travis Anderson – Bass Matt Menefee – Banjo
Morgan Harris, “Lonesome Road”
Artist:Morgan Harris Hometown: Fort Collins, Colorado Song: “Lonesome Road” Album:Alone Will Tell Release Date: November 1, 2024
In Their Words: “This arrangement of ‘Lonesome Road’ takes inspiration from the playing of Addie Leffew, a Tennessee banjo player who was recorded by Peter Hoover in the early 1960s. You can find a million different variants of this song throughout the recorded history of American folk music, but her version hooked me with its stark, ambiguous tonality and the way the usually repeated vocal refrain at the end of each line becomes a purely instrumental echo. Addie’s version became a jumping off point as I moved it over to the guitar (re-tuning to mimic the modal ‘sawmill’ tuning of her banjo) and started exploring the different opportunities that yielded. This performance was recorded live in a friend’s barn in Fort Collins, Colorado.” – Morgan Harris
In Their Words: “In truth, I wish it had nothing to do with my personal experience. I started writing this when I was realizing just how isolated I let myself get, when I’d been taking care of my grandmother as a full-time job and the pandemic had been going on for a couple years. Lyrically, the song looks at the danger of leaning on the comforting words of others. In reality, ‘you’ll be alright’ doesn’t solve problems. Friends are not therapists. And it’s important to be able to self soothe your way through dark, dark feelings because there won’t always be someone available to talk to. Some wounds don’t heal, but feelings usually pass.” – Garrett Owen
Track Credits: Garrett Owen – Lead vocals, acoustic guitar, rhythm & chord melody electric guitar, piano Taylor Tatsch – Vocal harmonies, lead electric guitar, shakers, auxiliary rhythm Daniel Creamer – Keys, piano, bass, drums, organ, synths
The Ruta Beggars, “Taking My Time”
Artist:The Ruta Beggars Hometown: Boston, Massachusetts Song: “Taking My Time” Album:Big Noise Release Date: November 8, 2024 (single); Label: Skyline Records
In Their Words: “In bluegrass, there’s a long standing tradition of ‘power-waltzes’ – as we like to call them in The Ruta Beggars. One of our favorites is ‘I Live In The Past’ by Bill Monroe; when we heard it, we knew we needed one of these turbo three-quarter-time tanks in our repertoire. Thus, ‘Taking My Time’ was born. At shows, we often dare our audiences to waltz along to our too-fast-to-be-danced-to tune and leave them huffing and puffing and chuckling with delight.
“But what is the meaning of the song to which these folks dance so gleefully? The third verse of ‘Taking My Time’ makes an allusion to the famous folk song and story of ‘The Oxford Girl’ (also called ‘The Knoxville Girl,’ which is the title by which I came to know the story, via a Louvin Brothers recording). The line in that song, ‘They’re going to hang me up so high, between the earth and sky’ has a haunting beauty to it that we wanted to emulate in the lyrics of our composition. We Ruta Beggars hope that ‘Taking My Time’ can be seen as our nod to the Father of Bluegrass and an exploration of a small corner of the murder ballad’s vast lore.” – The Ruta Beggars
Video Credit: Director and Videography – Adam Hribar
Artist:Rachel Sumner & Traveling Light Hometown: Boston, Massachusetts Song: “Bygone Times” (Traveling Light Sessions) Album:Heartless Things Release Date: October 31, 2024 (video); May 10, 2024 (album)
In Their Words: “In May, I released my sophomore record, Heartless Things, containing ten original songs with highly lush studio arrangements (think woodwinds, strings, keys, vibraphone!). However, that’s not how these songs are heard live! When touring, I bring my string trio Rachel Sumner & Traveling Light on the road with Kat Wallace on fiddle and Mike Siegel on bass. We gather ’round a single mic and magic happens as we fill out songs that have many shifting textures and moods with just three instruments and voices. We wanted to capture this magic on film, so we spent one day in the studio re-recording the entire Heartless Things album, but as you’d hear it at a live show. And so the Heartless Things (Traveling Light Sessions) was created! This is ‘Bygone Times,’ a song about the restless moments before sleep when your mind wanders down the dangerous ‘what could have been’ road.” – Rachel Sumner
In Their Words: “Gabe is a fresh voice with an old soul. Just listening to him is like dropping the needle on an old album at the end of the day. Feels like coming home.” – Julie Tan, AEA Ribbon Mics
Yamaha Guitars knew they were breaking ground – and raising eyebrows – when they debuted their TransAcoustic Guitar at the 2016 winter NAMM and Musikmesse trade shows. The original TransAcoustic Guitar turned heads immediately, thanks to its innovative technology and, of course, the quality acoustic guitar body and sound that musicians have long associated with the Yamaha name.
Fast-forward eight years and Yamaha has introduced the second-generation TAG3 C, a completely new model offering advanced features and more options. With Bluetooth capability, a built-in looper, a rechargeable battery with a five- to eight-year life, iOS and Android compatibility, and a plethora of controls and effects — reverb, chorus, delay, its TAG Remote app, and more — the TAG3 C is a workhorse, opening new avenues for artistry at all levels. It’s also a beauty, with its dreadnought body, solid Sitka spruce top, and solid mahogany back and sides.
The TAG3 C was designed for guitarists and, in a sense, by guitarists. When the first generation entered the marketplace, Yamaha’s Product Manager, Shingo Ekuni, was hands-on with customer reviews and interviews – what they liked, needed, and ultimately wanted. “We concluded that we needed more capabilities for creative players,” he says, “for the person who is proactively doing their practice at home or creating songs at home.”
This presented the challenge of creating a high-tech yet user-friendly guitar that sparks interest in tech-minded musicians without alienating traditionalists. “From my perspective as a player, and with most of my friends also being musicians, guitar players can be very particular about their sound,” says Yamaha’s Marketing Manager, Brandon Soriano. “They want the level of control. One person might prefer a plate reverb while another prefers a hall. They might want a very specific decay time or tone, and the same thing goes for chorus or delay. At the same time, guitar players don’t want a lot of barriers to actually playing the guitar. They don’t want an overly complicated user interface and experience. The way the TAG3 C is structured, you get all of the control over the specific sounds you want in the app, but when it comes to actually using the guitar, it’s a very simple interface.”
A cursory glance at the TAG3 C might cause one to scoff, “Second-generation guitar, TikTok-generation players.” But – curmudgeons rejoice! – this is not the case. No interest in apps? No worries. “You don’t need internet to use the guitar,” says Soriano. “You don’t have to connect it to Wi-Fi. And it doesn’t require the app to run. Straight out of the box, without downloading the app or anything, you can turn the guitar on, effects will already be dialed in, and you can use all the functionality.
“If you want to use the Bluetooth audio, of course you need to connect your phone or another Bluetooth output device. And if you want to get into the parameters of the effects, like changing from a plate reverb to a hall, that’s where you start using the app. But you can fully use the guitar without using the app.”
“Something really great with this guitar is the quality strictly as an acoustic guitar,” he adds. “It’s built to Yamaha standards, which, as we all know, are very solid, rigorous, and high level. Even if you were to take out all the technology, I would still love it just as an acoustic guitar. I think that’s going to add to people wanting to pick it up.”
“Nowadays, with our mobile devices, the ‘smart’ devices, with tools for guitarists, everybody is using the tuner, the metronome, [from] the very basic stuff to more complex and connected devices,” says Ekuni. “Customers are happy to accept new technology for a new type of product. Parallel with that, the TAG3 C is an authentic acoustic guitar, but the technology can expand the possibility of acoustic guitar playing.”
“We are in a technological age, and it’s all around everybody all the time,” Soriano agrees. “There is a little more open-mindedness to innovation, even in commonly traditional circles like bluegrass, for example. Customers also want to know that their money is well spent and that they can be confident in their purchase from a quality standpoint, durability, sound, playability, all those things. Those are some of the main pillars of Yamaha — delivering the best quality for the money at any price point, from the $400 guitars to the $4,000 guitars.”
We’re starting with the end in our conversation with Kasey Anderson. On Basic Folk we’ve covered a lot of firsts: debut albums, origin stories, and the beginnings. Ever since I have known Kasey, his social media bio has been, “Gradually retiring songwriter.” I’m always teasing him about “What does that mean? When are you going to retire?” Officially, this latest album, To the Places We Lived, is his “last album.” I want to put that in very heavy quotes, because I hate to imagine a world where a great songwriter friend of mine is not making records. I think his insistence on this album as the last one has more to do with saying goodbye to parts of the music industry that he wants to release and ways of being in the world that he doesn’t want to engage with anymore. What do we need to let go of? What do we need to release? That’s the place where this album begins.
In our conversation, we talk about Kasey’s whole songwriting career and the moment where he went surprise viral for one of his political songs, “The Dangerous Ones.” We talk about his time being incarcerated and what that taught him about himself, what it taught him about the world, what it taught him about white supremacy. We talk about his family. We talk about his sobriety and his work in helping others get clean and stay clean, and what staying clean means in a holistic and gentle sense.
The songs on this album are mournful, literate, and very, very fun. My favorite is “Back to Nashville;” it’s a rock and blues song. Kasey is the type of artist who can write a really contemplative song about self reflection or grief or loss, and then a blues rocker that makes you want to shake your ass the next second.
Artist:Rachel Sumner & Traveling Light Hometown: Boston, Massachusetts Song: “Bygone Times” (Traveling Light Sessions) Album:Heartless Things Release Date: October 31, 2024 (video); May 10, 2024 (album)
(Editor’s Note: BGS is excited to premiere a new series of live performance videos from singer-songwriter and band leader Rachel Sumner. Over the next four weeks, BGS readers will enjoy four live song performances of tracks pulled from Sumner’s latest album, Heartless Things, and performed by her touring trio, Traveling Light. First in the series is “Bygone Times.” Watch the next installment here.)
In Their Words: “In May, I released my sophomore record, Heartless Things, containing ten original songs with highly lush studio arrangements (think woodwinds, strings, keys, vibraphone!). However, that’s not how these songs are heard live! When touring, I bring my string trio Rachel Sumner & Traveling Light on the road with Kat Wallace on fiddle and Mike Siegel on bass. We gather ’round a single mic and magic happens as we fill out songs that have many shifting textures and moods with just three instruments and voices. We wanted to capture this magic on film, so we spent one day in the studio re-recording the entire Heartless Things album, but as you’d hear it at a live show. And so the Heartless Things (Traveling Light Sessions) was created! This is ‘Bygone Times,’ a song about the restless moments before sleep when your mind wanders down the dangerous ‘what could have been’ road.” – Rachel Sumner
Track Credits: Rachel Sumner – banjo, lead vocals Kat Wallace – fiddle, harmonies Mike Siegel – bass, harmonies
Video Credits: Engineered by Zachariah Hickman. Filmed by Lindsay Straw. Mixed by Rachel Sumner. Mastered by Dan Cardinal. Video edited by Rachel Sumner.
The Nashville-based singer-songwriter just released her sophomore record, Deep Feeler, in mid-October and she wrote and recorded the LP guided by a simple but powerful ethos: Show up for the craft of songwriting and it will show up for you, too. In Greene’s case, that looked like committing to a daily writing practice and finding external sources of accountability – like writers’ groups and online communities – as well as learning to work through days when access to her writerly brain felt blocked.
“A lot of the songs came out of just showing up for the practice, like, ‘Okay, what is there to play with today?’” she tells BGS, calling from her home in Nashville. “‘What’s coming out of my brain today?’”
Though some days only yielded frustration, Greene soon found herself with an album’s worth of material, the bulk of which draws heavily from a concurrent stretch of curiosity-fueled introspection, during which she considered her life as a queer person as well as the quirks and habits that make her who she is.
Greene recorded Deep Feeler at Nashville’s famed Woodland Studios, the East Nashville outpost that serves as home base for David Rawlings and Gillian Welch. She and GRAMMY Award-winning engineer Matt Andrews co-produced the LP, pulling together an ace band that includes acclaimed singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Sarah Jarosz, whom Greene considers a musical hero. Highlights on the record include “Flowers,” a gentle and optimistic celebration of treating oneself with love and care, and “Wild Geese,” which draws inspiration from the late poet Mary Oliver.
Below, BGS catches up with Greene about her daily writing ritual, her experience producing Deep Feeler, and her decision to take a gamble on her artistic vision.
You just released a new record, Deep Feeler. What can you share about the project’s origins and how you conceived its initial vision?
Liv Greene: Most of the songs came out of a dedication to showing up for the craft, whether or not I had an idea when I sat down. I was almost forcing myself to write, but in a way that felt like cultivating a more consistent writing practice. Given that it was during the pandemic, it makes a lot of sense that many of these songs came out of that time. I had a few things to hold me accountable, too. There was a writers’ group I was part of, where I was writing a song a week for the first half of 2021, and a songwriting workshop where I wrote “Flowers.” I also led some workshops myself and participated in the exercises I’d give my students. After moving to Nashville, I wrote “Deep Feeler” and “Wild Geese,” and then the rest of the album took shape from there.
I love the idea of showing up for the craft. It’s not easy to sit down and write when you don’t have an idea at the ready. How did you begin those sessions? Do you have a ritual that helps you shift into that writer headspace?
When I’m in a writing season – which I’m always trying to get back to, though sometimes it’s just not the time, if I’m busier with other parts of my career – it’s usually marked by time with my instrument, just improvising. I’m most inspired by windows or outdoor spaces. Sitting on a porch or in my room looking out the window, just a lot of improvisation. That’s really the core of my songwriting: spending time seeing, maybe speaking in tongues, seeing what comes out in terms of gibberish, and then noticing what starts to stick. There’s something to that diligent practice of making things up consistently, even if you hate what you make up.
Tell me about choosing “Deep Feeler” as the title track. What does feeling deeply represent for you?
The album concept came out of a self-aware period of recognizing patterns in my life and seeing that I was the common denominator. I was in a lot of situationships. While the heart of this record is about the heartache and missteps of my early 20s, I hope it resonates with people beyond that scope. I’d come out, accepted myself, and allowed myself to feel desire and joy and all of these deep romantic feelings for the first time. This record is a lot of me sitting with myself and embracing the way I’m wired, trying to find a healthier self-awareness around it. I’m working on drawing boundaries with myself, but also being proud of my wiring and how it makes me a good storyteller and a good romantic.
As I was preparing to talk to you, I found a quote from you about making this record that really stuck with me. You said, “Now, rather than an escape from myself, songwriting is communion with myself.” Could you elaborate on that?
When I started writing songs in middle and high school, I was at an all-girls Catholic high school. I went to Catholic school most of my life. Being queer, I didn’t feel like I had much representation in my world, so I felt pretty lonely in high school. I didn’t have much of a musical community in D.C., where I grew up. Guitar was always my escape. I’d come home from school, play for hours, and write. As I got older, I had to form a bit more emotional intelligence and really sit with the person I wanted to be. I realized I couldn’t keep running away from parts of myself and that those parts were actually wonderful and something I should embrace. Songwriting became a different vessel for me to explore myself, rather than viewing it academically, as a hobby, or in a scholarly way.
You got to set up shop at Woodland Studios to record the album. Woodland is such a beloved part of Nashville’s music community, and it sounds like you had an excellent roster of musicians in the studio with you. What did being in that environment open up for you creatively?
The core of the record was made in one day in July at Woodland and it was just myself, bass, and drums – no headphones, live in two adjoining rooms, live onto tape. It was very high-pressure. We did six songs that day and just fired them off, trying to keep the authenticity of a live performance at the heart of the record. The studio days were some of the scariest of my professional life, but in a good way.
There were so many nights beforehand where I’d get the Sunday scaries and think, “Oh my God. Sarah Jarosz, who’s a hero of mine, is going to come to the studio tomorrow, and I’m producing. What if we don’t have time to do everything we need to?” It was an immense amount of pressure to be in the producer’s chair for my own project. But musicians put a lot of money into their records because it’s expensive to record. So I viewed the record as, like, “Okay, this is sort of like grad school.” Friends had asked me to produce their stuff before and I’d said no because I didn’t have the experience. Now, it’s baptism by fire, and I’m my own guinea pig.
You have some shows coming up, including a couple here in Nashville. Have you gotten to play much of this material live yet, or is that still to come?
Some of the core songs on the record have been in my set list for a while, at least around town; friends already know all the words to “Wild Geese” and some other “hits” from the record. But yeah, especially the B-side songs, a lot of those will be pretty new to my live show. I’m excited to hopefully do a lot more touring in the next year and see how the songs are landing out in the world. I haven’t really gotten to do that. My last record was a pandemic record and I never really toured it, so I’m really excited for the record to come out soon and then to get out there, meet people, and reconnect with those who resonate with it.
Are you still engaging in your daily writing practice? Do you have other new material on the horizon?
I’m hoping to go into the studio again soon to do a couple of songs. I’m just taking my time getting to know different producers around Nashville. I think this winter is going to be about doing one song here and one song there. I feel like I’m about halfway toward another record, so I’m getting excited to be in the studio again. It’s my favorite place to be.
Artist:Noeline Hofmann Hometown: Bow Island, Alberta, Canada Latest Album:Purple Gas EP
What’s your favorite memory from being on stage?
It’s nearly impossible to narrow down, but one of my favorite memories from the stage happened this October while on tour with Colter Wall. For the better part of the tour, Corb Lund – a fellow Western Canadian (like Colter and I) – was also on the road with us. I grew up listening to Corb on the radio back home and later discovered Colter as a teenager. Their songwriting resonated with and influenced me deeply as a young writer and continues to today.
Colter kindly invited us to join him in singing “Summer Wages” by Albertan cowboy legend, Ian Tyson, for his encore during tour. The first night that Corb joined us on stage, he took me by the arm for a two-step during the instrumental – much to mine and the crowd’s surprise. (Sorry about scuffing up your boots with my two left feet, Corb.) It was such a wonderful, full circle moment to be on stage beside two artists from home who had such a huge impact on me and singing a song together by a late legend from home who has impacted all of us.
Further, Patrick Lyons, the producer of my EP, Purple Gas, plays guitar in Colter’s band. Another reason that made these memories of singing “Summer Wages” special was it being the first time(s) I was lucky enough to share a stage with Pat as well as all of the other boys in the band, who I’ve come to know and love not only as musicians, but as friends.
Which elements of nature do you spend the most time with and how do those impact your work?
I love to spend time out on the prairie. It has an understated beauty that with every passing year becomes more and more striking to me. It is unforgiving. Seemingly never-ending. In tune and knowing. It’s seen my own blood, sweat, and tears and that of generations of people that I love, alike. I’ve never felt closer to God than I have out there, all alone. Being raised in a prairie town, around prairie people, the landscape and all that results due in part to it, has defined my life experience thus far in an immeasurable way – and consequently, impacted my work just as deeply.
What’s the most difficult creative transformation you’ve ever undertaken?
While I’ve been feeling incredibly inspired to write in the wake of releasing my first recording project, I think I am simultaneously in the midst of one of the most difficult creative transformations I’ve faced so far.
All of the songs on my debut EP were written during a very different time in my life; before I’d ever been on tour, or set foot in a studio, or before the music industry began revealing itself to me behind the thick veil of mystery that once clouded it from my gaze. I was working blue- and pink-collar jobs such as bartending and doing farm labor before eventually putting all of my cards on the table and giving a career in music an all-or-nothing go, starting with the regional music scene in Alberta. Those years, age 18 to 20, were raw and electric, reckless, trial by fire. I was full of piss and vinegar, stubbornly tuning out the expectations others had of me and striking out into the world for the very first times to try forging a path towards something more for myself in life. I confronted some shocking losses and also experienced those first great formative loves you do at that age. Environments and emotions that are natural recipes for songs.
My day-to-day life has pulled a complete 180 since those songs were written. I have a lot of writing to do from my new pair of boots. I haven’t been able to take them for many test drives behind the pencil while on tour this spring and summer and am waiting with bated breath for the winter, when I’ll get to sit down and really dig into writing and processing the last year. It’s in my nature to always want to step above the bar I last set for myself – it’s as nerve-wracking as it is exciting to be starting to write for the next project. Especially now that most of the surroundings and life circumstances that inspired the songs on my first project are no longer part of my daily life on the road and there is now a recorded precedent set that didn’t exist at the time I wrote the songs on my first body of work.
What is a genre, album, artist, musician, or song that you adore that would surprise people?
“Good Luck, Babe!” by Chappell Roan (of course!)
If you didn’t work in music, what would you do instead?
I would probably be a ranch hand. Ranching is humbling, creative, and requires your all – mind, body, and soul. You have to live and breathe it. I can’t do anything halfway. For two jobs that, on the outside, look as though they couldn’t be any more different from each other, I’ve found a surprising number of parallels between my experiences working on a ranch to working as an artist.
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Hey BGS! Erin from Rainbow Girls here. Our new record, HAUNTING, just came out October 13th and we put together this Mixtape of reference tracks that inspired the writing or making of the songs on our record. We ended up choosing one reference track per song. Got some help from Caitlin and Vanessa for a couple of these and we ended up creating an awesome playlist. Hope you enjoy! – Erin Chapin, Rainbow Girls
“Sadness as a Gift” – Adrianne Lenker (for “sixth grade girlfriend”)
I’ve always been so inspired by Adrianne Lenker’s style of guitar playing. There’s an intricacy and an intimacy that lends itself so perfectly to the lyrics; the guitar and the poetry of the words stand like a power couple, instead of one falling into the background as support. “Sadness as a Gift” is this beautifully poignant song about losing a relationship, but still wanting to hold the memory in your hand like a moth – it just breaks me. – Caitlin
“Let It Be Me” – The Sweet Inspirations (for “paying my tab”)
The Sweet Inspirations’ 1967 version of “Let It Be Me” inspired me to write a song with a similar groove. I heard that simple intro and it immediately grounded me. Griffin Goldsmith from Dawes played drums on our song, “paying my tab,” and he took this reference track and ran with it to the moon and back.
“Cold Little Heart” by Michael Kiwanuka (for “you must not feel the way i do”)
“you must not feel the way i do” was written after we had already started recording for HAUNTING, but we knew it was the single. We had all the vocals and main instruments recorded, but it needed a hook to open the song. I kept demo-ing this weird sound with my voice we were calling the “vocal theremin” – this ghostly, half-human/half-instrument sound. I knew it would sound too crazy for anyone else in the band to get excited about, so I sent them Michael Kiwanuka’s hit, “Cold Little Heart,” to exorcise any doubts. Thanks, Michael.
“Running Down a Dream” – Tom Petty (for “loser”)
Nirvana loomed large when writing the chord progression for “loser,” but it was a Petty classic that kept rearing its head and ultimately snuck its way into the lyrics. “Running Down a Dream” takes us on a journey that winds towards aspiration. The road is wet and laden with obstacles, but it’s the act of surmounting those blocks that makes accessing the dream so much sweeter. – Vanessa
“Song for Prine” – Jordan Smart (for “how to deal”)
Caitlin wrote “how to deal” the day John Prine died. Part of it is a response to our friend Jordan Smart’s “Song for Prine,” which is about all his attempts to see John Prine perform live, which ultimately he never got to do. But life goes on.
“The Boy Who Blocked His Own Shot” – Brand New (for “if i saw you now”)
The progression and mood of “if i saw you now” was inspired by Brand New’s “The Boy Who Blocked His Own Shot.” Brand New has a way of holding the morose and appalling within their songs that few other artists can capture.
When we first met and started playing music together in college, “Ageless Beauty” by Stars was on repeat. It was one of the first songs we ever sang together. Our song “ageless beauty, pt ii” reflects on our experience at that time and the beginning of Rainbow Girls.
“Fake As A Dream” – Rainbow Girls (for “sms to the void”)
“Fake as a Dream” is one of our songs, off our record Rolling Dumpster Fire. We had asked our friend Chris Lynch to arrange a string part for it, but what he sent back was so much more. It took the song to another dimension. When we decided that “sms to the void” should be more than an a cappella song, we knew Chris was the person to take the reins. And he did it again – the string arrangements, the piano. It’s both subtle and heartbreakingly gorgeous.
“Last Night” – The Lostines (for “a subtle f u”)
I heard the song “Last Night” by The Lostines and realized there was an entire element of “haunting” missing from our record. Their song opens up with this sweet-yet-spooky melody on an ambiguous keyed instrument and the sound conjures memories of classic ’90s Halloween-esque movies and tv shows like Hocus Pocus, Nightmare Before Christmas, Goosebumps, and Are You Afraid of the Dark. I knew we needed to have a layer like that somewhere on HAUNTING and our song “a subtle f u” won the draw.
“Subterranean Homesick Alien” – Radiohead (for our cover of it)
A cover of one of our favorite Radiohead songs. Alien contact, abduction, insanity. Everything you could ever need from a spooky social commentary.
“motel” – Hot Brother (for “spread me thin”)
We were in the studio recording our song “spread me thin” when we realized that we had 3/4ths of the band Hot Brother recording on the track with us (Nick Cobbett – drums, Ben Berry – bass, Jeremy Lyon – guitar). We decided to ask the 4th (and really first) member, Brittany Powers, to sing on it and that ended up transforming the song into a duet between two women singing about their community. Brittany performs with several other artists in the Bay Area and her voice is an iconic part of the music scene in Northern California. “motel” is the first song off her/Hot Brother’s upcoming record and it is a sheer banger.
“I Want Jesus to Walk With Me” – Mississippi Fred McDowell (for “dead ringer”)
Our song, “dead ringer” is a slide-heavy, minor blues song about being buried alive. It is musically inspired by Mississippi Fred McDowell’s 1959 version of “I Want Jesus to Walk With Me.” The vocal melody parallels the slide guitar’s melody interchangeably throughout the song, creating an eerie, almost trance-like soundscape.
“Cinnamon Tree” – Marty O’Reilly & the Old Soul Orchestra (for “goodnight angel”)
The last track on HAUNTING functions as a sort of secret track, though not-so-secret in the age of streaming platforms. “goodnight angel” is a lullaby we often sing to our friends at the end of long, inebriated nights that was actually a drunken, collective-consciousness co-write with our friend Marty O’Reilly while on tour together in the UK in 2013. We used to play shows together all the time when we first started out and “Cinnamon Tree” was one of our band favs from his first release.
Photo Credit: Kory Thibeault
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