In a black ruffled shirt on a brightly colored stage, Tommy Emmanuel sits with his guitar and, like always, amazes the audience with his music. His latest video, “Gdansk/Tall Fiddler (Live at The Sydney Opera House)” is an upbeat and beautiful showcase of his songs that demonstrates the excitement and ease Emmanuel brings to his music. The medley is a single from his forthcoming album, Live at the Sydney Opera House, out March 21.
The clip starts off with a new original, “Gdansk,” named after Gdansk, Poland, where Emmanuel wrote the tune. It’s soft yet energetic, emulating the feeling of calm ocean waves on a sunny day that at the same time brings energy and joy to the music. The peaceful and uplifting melody might make you want to get up and dance.
“Gdansk” then beautifully leads into another tune of Emmanuel’s entitled “Tall Fiddler,” a number off Emmanuel’s 2006 release Endless Road that was inspired by the great fiddler Byron Berline. With fast licks and a rock and roll feel, he effortlessly transitions between a bluegrass fiddle tune and a heavy, rocking vibe.
It’s easy to see the excitement Emmanuel brings to playing and performing. The way he just “goes for it” is utterly inspiring – you can see how the music takes over him as he becomes the vessel that brings it into fruition.
For a quarter century Yonder Mountain String Band has inspired a generation of bluegrass fans with its fusion of traditional sounds and intricate jams. That trend continues on Nowhere Next. The band’s first full-length album since 2022, it showcases the abilities of its two newest members – mandolinist and vocalist Nick Piccininni and fiddler Coleman Smith – front and center.
Piccininni connected with the group in January 2020 and Smith was added earlier this year, joining the band’s longtime core of bassist Ben Kaufmann, guitarist Adam Aijala, and banjo player Dave Johnston, collectively bringing a new energy to the band that harkens back to its early days – when they also consisted of the frenetic and oftentimes unpredictable Jeff Austin. Despite being in the band for nearly five years now and co-writing nine of the album’s 11 songs, Piccininni says that joining up with such an established collective was intimidating at first.
“It’s definitely daunting when you come into something that’s been around as long as these guys have,” Piccininni admits to BGS. “But working with Adam, Ben, and Dave has actually come very naturally. They’ve made me comfortable in expressing opinions about the music and giving my two cents. They’ve not once made me feel like I was an outsider.”
In our latest installment of First & Latest, we chart the band’s evolution and trailblazing nature from their 1999 debut, Elevation, all the way to their brand new album, Nowhere Next, a collection that features old favorites familiar to longtime fans alongside new songs sure to make you fall in love with them all over again.
Two songs on this record – “Didn’t Go Wrong” and “River” – have been a part of your live show for years, even making it on to different iterations of your Mountain Tracks compilations. What made y’all want to finally give them a proper studio treatment?
Adam Aijala: Ben sings on and had been pushing both of those. We have about 30 songs we’ve written over the years that aren’t on a formal record yet. Even before Nick joined the band, we’d been thinking about getting into the studio and recording some of them. That being said, I still prefer to write new stuff. When people ask me how you keep going after a quarter century, I always say that if we weren’t writing new material I don’t know that we would still be around. You’ve got to keep things fresh, whether that’s learning new covers or having your own new stuff to perform.
Given the mix of new and old on this record, both in terms of the song selection and rotation of band members, what are your thoughts on where Nowhere Next stacks up with the rest of the Yonder catalog?
AA: When Get Yourself Outside came out, I thought that was our best record, but now I think this one is. I still hold an affinity for albums like Elevation and Town by Town, but I’m really happy with Nowhere Next and what we were able to do on it. It’s still bluegrass, maybe not the traditional kind, but Yonder Mountain’s bluegrass with varied rhythms, tempos, and styles.
One of our biggest influences is The Grateful Dead, and they’re the same way. In the years between their albums – from their self-titled first album to their Skulls & Roses live album, Wake of the Flood, Terrapin Station, and Workingman’s Dead – they evolved in different ways, but always stuck to a similar blueprint no matter what musicians happened to be around them. Similarly, you can still hear elements of what we did on our first few albums today, which songs like “Didn’t Go Wrong” and “River” further help bridge the gap to.
One song that I feel ties together all of the elements that make up “Yonder Mountain’s bluegrass,” that you just spoke of really well, is Nick’s song, “Secondhand Smoke.” Mind sharing a bit about how that one came to be?
Nick Piccininni: The basis of that is that I went through a divorce and when I separated from my wife the first apartment I got had my landlord living downstairs. He was unfortunately confined to a wheelchair and just sat there chain-smoking cigarettes one after the other. I only lasted a month there before I went out and found a new place. In that sense the song was very literal, but there was also the aspect of going through a big change in your life while living in a small town and feeling like everyone is watching you and talking behind your back.
Interesting. I picked up on the themes of deceit, but the literal reference to secondhand smoke is a nice touch. What does the band’s songwriting process look like as a whole, especially with Nick and Coleman now part of the band?
AA: Everybody in this band has written songs that I really like. With that in mind, I don’t think it’s a “too many cooks in the kitchen” kind of situation. It’s more like, I trust that we’re going to get the best song by letting everyone have a listen, peek at it, and hear what they have to say, whether it’s with one of my songs or someone else’s. I’m not someone to hold my ideas close. It’s better not to be married to them, for me at least. For instance, when Dave tells me he doesn’t like something of mine, it doesn’t bother me because he’s not saying it to be hurtful, he’s just giving his opinion and I trust him when it comes to that.
For me most of my songwriting ideas start with music first. I don’t have a great writing regimen or practice, I just wait for something to spark interest and roll with it. But if it’s music first and I don’t really have an idea on what it would be about, I think on the mood of the music and what those chords and potential melody makes me feel and go from there.
What about you, Nick? And has your process changed at all since joining Yonder?
NP: Historically, for me, I’ve been a music-driven ideas guy too. On most days I’ll sit down at home, pick up my guitar and record or work on a few voice memos. Lately I’ve also gotten into a better habit of working on a lyric while on an airplane or sitting at a hotel because we have so much downtime with all of our travel. At the same time, things have changed a lot in the last four and a half years of being with Yonder though. Prior to joining them I’d never co-written. Getting that outside perspective on my songwriting is something I’d not experienced before and has been incredibly beneficial to me.
Although it’s not Nowhere Next or new songs, I wanted to briefly discuss your I’d Like Off EP, a previously unreleased project from 2010 featuring former member, Jeff Austin, that dropped earlier this year. What was the motivation behind finally sharing those recordings?
AA: When we recorded it our intent was to do a full album. We recorded about 13 tracks for it in pre-production at my house, some of which ended up on the EP and others that were never recorded. We’ve had a couple projects like this that we’ve sat on so long that we didn’t see much of a point in releasing so far down the road, but with this one we decided to move forward since everything was done aside from it being mixed and mastered. We’ve been playing “What the Night Brings” and other songs from it live regularly, as well. It helps to keep us interested, which in turn keeps the crowd interested and connected to what we’re doing as well.
What has your time with Yonder Mountain String Band taught you about yourself?
AA: It’s helped to hone my social interactions. If there’s one thing in life I’ve learned it’s that the world doesn’t revolve around you, especially when you’re a traveling outfit with multiple people. You’ve got to learn to roll with things and when we first started the band I wasn’t like that. Before I joined the band, I traveled all over the country in my own vehicle by myself. I got so used to going where I wanted when I wanted, but in a band it’s the exact opposite.
NP: It’s taught me how impatient I can be. Musically, it’s been cool because I’ve usually played banjo, fiddle, and more melodic instruments, but stepping into a mandolin role has taught me just how much of the snare drum of bluegrass it really is and learning to just do one very simple thing repeatedly and lock in on it. It’s been one of the most challenging things I’ve had to take on and pushing myself to do it to the best of my ability has been neat.
Our next artist on Out Now is Morgan Harris, solo artist, old-time guitarist, and member of the Tall Poppy String Band (with Cameron DeWhitt and George Jackson). Her new solo album, Alone Will Tell, is a reflective work featuring twelve tracks.
Harris reinvents this collection of traditional tunes with a stark, raw, emotive sound. Traditional music toes a line between preserving the sounds (and sometimes the values) of the past while embracing the innovations of the future. In our interview, we talk with Harris about that central conflict in traditional music, where many individuals feel the need to “uphold tradition” – which often can be used as justification for discrimination.
This is Harris’ first release as a transgender musician. Alone Will Tell honors traditional music while illustrating innovation and transformation. We are proud to feature Morgan Harris on Out Now.
Why do you create music? What’s more satisfying to you, the process or the outcome?
I don’t know if there’s a reason I make music, other than “I like it” – it’s both as simple and as enormously complicated as that implies. I guess it’s the process that I find most satisfying, by which I mean the parts where I’m actively learning, creating, and collaborating. I’m not very good at sitting back and appreciating what I’ve created (though I’m trying to get better at that). Even as the process can be frustrating and confusing at times, and it can be tempting to think, “I’ll be satisfied if I can just finish this project,” I try to remind myself that the act of making is what I’m in it for. That’s where I ultimately find the most meaning.
You play in a trio as well, Tall Poppy String Band. How does it feel to release this album as a solo act? How does the intimacy of your solo work differ from the collaborative energy of playing in a group?
Releasing a solo record definitely feels more vulnerable! In Tall Poppy String Band I have the luxury of having two incredible musicians to support me and lend their energy, but when it’s just me, there’s no one else to lean on and nowhere to hide. Having said that, it also allows me to delve into certain aspects of my playing more deeply than I could otherwise. I love the sense of space that becomes possible when playing solo and not having to be heard over other instruments means I can really use the full dynamic range of the instrument.
You’ve mentioned that this album was shaped by “long familiarity and patient questioning.” Could you share more about what that process has been like for you, both musically and personally?
Most of the tunes and songs on this album have been with me for a while, but they’ve only taken shape very gradually. I think that’s because I’ve allowed myself to be more patient with the material – rather than rushing to pigeonhole it based on how I think it (or I) ought to sound. I’ve felt more able to let it develop in its own time, slowly uncovering what feels like the most honest and rewarding approach for me to take. And, I think I partly have my gender journey to thank for that. So much of my transition has involved a parallel kind of process, of learning to resist jumping to quick conclusions about myself (based in anxiety and internalized expectations) and trusting that in doing so, I would gradually get better at tuning in to something deeper, more elusive.
What does it mean to you to be an LGBTQ+ musician?
Queerness (and particularly trans-ness) can still be a rarity in trad music, meaning it’s easy to feel isolated in those spaces, especially when one is first considering coming out. But there is a small community out there of wonderful, welcoming queer trad musicians. I want to do my part to nourish that community and to help make queerness in these spaces not just feel like a possibility, but a given.
Also: while old-time music is a rich and beautiful tradition, it can tend to attract the type of person who links it to some imagined “simpler” past of traditional values, when people neatly and happily fell into their prescribed gender and social roles – while ignoring how such systems required, and still require, savage enforcement in order to exist.
Who are your favorite LGBTQ+ artists and bands?
I’m continually inspired by many amazing queer musicians in the old-time world, such as Jake Blount, Tatiana Hargreaves, Rachel Eddy, and Cameron DeWhitt, just to name a few. On a completely different note, I think Lena Raine’s music is incredible – her soundtrack to the video game Celeste means a lot to me.
What’s the best advice you’ve ever gotten?
“Give it time.” Suddenly realizing a few years ago that I might be trans, and all the questioning and experimenting that followed, was extremely scary and destabilizing. I often found myself anxious to quickly come to some kind of decision about what it all meant, to restore some small sense of stability. It was so helpful to be reminded in those times that I didn’t need to have the answers immediately. It takes time and practice to learn to listen to who you are, and to deconstruct the toxic stuff you’ve internalized about yourself. Even the uncertainty itself becomes more familiar with time. I took comfort in the idea that, whatever the result, I was undoubtedly doing something out of love and care for myself.
What would a “perfect day” look like for you?
Maybe hanging out at a swimming hole with my partner and our dog, thrifting something cute, getting hazelnut gelato, and playing old-time tunes all night with my best music pals from around the country. If I could somehow combine all of these, that would be pretty hard to top.
What are your release and touring plans for the next year?
I’m looking forward to touring solo in 2025 and sharing the music on this record with more people! And as usual I’ll be playing shows with my group Tall Poppy String Band. We also have plans to record a new album together next year, so I’m really excited for that.
With only about ten days left in October, we’re spending each available moment we have remaining to continue spotlighting our Artist of the Month, Yasmin Williams. An impressive and innovative guitarist, Williams pulls seemingly impossible compositions, tones, licks, and endless originality from her instruments with ease and artfulness. Her brand new album, Acadia, demonstrates the instrumentalist has reached a new creative plane, one where limitless universes of creativity and collaboration are at her disposal.
Already this month we’ve shared our Essential Yasmin Williams Playlist, we featured an exclusive interview with the guitarist about her new project, and the incredible Jackie Venson – fellow guitarist and musical trailblazer – considered Williams’ approach to their shared instrument in a heartfelt op-ed. Now, we want to cap our AOTM coverage with this quick but mighty primer, a list that will immediately catch up our readers – from the uninitiated to the longtime fans – on exactly why Williams is a once-in-a-generation picker and musician. Check out these 5 must-watch videos from our Artist of the Month, Yasmin Williams.
Tiny Desk (Home) Concert
There’s almost no better way to introduce oneself to a new artist than through a Tiny Desk Concert. Even during the height of the COVID pandemic, when NPR pivoted their hit video series to Tiny Desk (Home) Concerts, the performances still carried the characteristic appeal and charm of performing behind the fabled Tiny Desk. That’s certainly true for Williams’ stunning performance, which features a handful of tracks from her critically-acclaimed 2021 album, Urban Driftwood. Listeners get a tantalizing preview of Williams’ multi-instrumental approach as well, with percussion by her tap shoes and a kalimba fastened to the face of her guitar, too.
“Restless Heart” for NPR
Even before Urban Driftwood became a breakout moment for Williams, she was on the radar of NPR and their Tiny Desk as far back as 2018, when she was a stand-out entrant in their Tiny Desk Contest. Her Night Owl performance of “Restless Heart” – a track from her 2018 debut project, Unwind – showcases still more bespoke techniques Williams employs, transitioning from tapping the fretboard while bowing the strings with a violin or viola bow, then laying the instrument flat in her lap to continue in her signature tapping style. She adds percussion with her knuckles and the heel of her right hand striking the top of the guitar, building an ornate and resplendent track that never sounds solo.
“Mombasa” with Tommy Emmanuel
Who better to collaborate with Williams than Chet Atkins acolyte and “CGP” Tommy Emmanuel? Williams appeared on his 2023 duet album, Accomplice Two, on the track “Mombasa.” They begin with tender guitar and kalimba in duet, before building into full time and loping through the Emmanuel-penned melody, a classic in his repertoire. Williams employs a guitar thumb pick while tapping, complementing Emmanuel’s relatively traditional flatpicking approach. They meld seamlessly, two bold voices on the instrument working in tandem and striking harmony. Before you know it, Williams has switched back to kalimba again, multi-tracking enabling what we know she can do analog, as well.
“Urban Driftwood” Featuring Amadou Kouyate
The title track from her most recent album before the just-released Acadia, “Urban Driftwood” features musician, percussionist, and kora player Amadou Kouyate. This composition feels especially lush, broad, and fully-realized. It has cinematic touches over its languid and relaxed melodic arc, but it’s also trance-like and meditative. You can sense how Williams and her collaborators seek and find a riff, phrase, or lick to lean into and explore all of its textures and variations. Relax, enjoy, and drift away on the musical sea like your own bit of urban driftwood.
“Through the Woods”
Another track from Urban Driftwood, “Through the Woods” demonstrates even more techniques that Williams employs in her music making. This time, she’s once again affixed a kalimba to her guitar top, while using a dulcimer hammer to elicit tones similar to a piano or a harpsichord, striking the strings close to the bridge for a brighter, crisper, more tight tone. She’s donned tap shoes, using a small board beneath her feet to supply even more sounds and percussion. Watching her limbs work with total autonomy and of one accord simultaneously is jaw-dropping. Somehow, she makes all of these complicated approaches to the instrument feel intuitive, organic, and infinitely listenable.
As a duo rooted in both Celtic and American traditions, we find the intersection of these worlds to be a rich and endlessly inspiring place. From the rhythmic drive of Irish & Scottish reels to the melodic storytelling of ballads, we’ve always been captivated by how these two traditions speak to one another. They each carry a sense of community and history, and both offer the chance to push boundaries and explore something new.
Our latest album, Now, O Now, wants to embrace this duality. It’s a reflection of our love for these traditions, but also a hope to continually reinterpret them. This Mixtape is a collection of the kinds of tunes and songs that have shaped our journey – music that evokes both the wild energy of a late-night session and the quiet contemplation of a solo walk through the woods.
These tracks are selected from the voices of friends, mentors, and heroes who have inspired our original music along the way. We hope you enjoy the mix! – Rakish
“6 Then 5” – Seamus Egan
We love to put this track on at the beginning of a long drive. Seamus continues to be a master of bringing together composition, sound design, and groove.
“Goodbye” – Sean Watkins & The Bee Eaters
This whole record is great; it combines Sean Watkins’ brilliance with the thoughtfulness of The Bee Eaters, who happen to be some of our favorite musicians in the world.
“765” – Rakish, Jamie Oshima
We composed these tunes and had the idea of having our good friend Jamie Oshima produce/remix the track. He’s an incredibly thoughtful and agile musician and brings such a unique aesthetic to new fiddle music. Thanks Jamie!
“Hidden Love/Sheila Coyles” – Four Men & A Dog
We listened to this album in the car recently and this track was so good that Conor had an epiphany about how it brought together all the elements of arranging music that inspire him: highly poetic language, mystery, and an excellent Irish tune.
“City In the North” – Maeve Gilchrist
Maeve is remarkable at seemingly everything she puts her hands to; this song highlights not only her virtuosity and inventive harmony, but also her narrative ability to weave melancholy and joy.
“Bull Frogs Croon (Suite)” – Aoife O’Donovan
This whole record is potent for so many reasons. Aoife’s setting of Peter Sears’ poems is a reminder of her singular gift for putting melody to text, and Jeremy Kittel’s string arrangements are some of the best we’ve ever heard!
“Jack Dolan” – John Doyle
Just of the grooviest versions of a ballad ever from the preeminent master of Irish guitar in the modern era.
“Imaginary People” – Viv & Riley
Viv & Riley are at the forefront of writing incredible original music inspired by their traditional music backgrounds. We’ve admired them for a long time and they always blow us away.
“6 O’Clock in the Morning” – Darrell Scott
Tristan Clarridge, who always has the best listening recommendations, turned us onto this album. This track stands out with its intense lyricism and amazing instrumental orchestration.
“Turn the Page Again” – Tim O’Brien
We’ve loved this song for so long. This whole album is incredible, but this track in particular has been a source of inspiration by bringing together Tim’s songwriting, John Doyle’s groove, and Casey Driessen’s improvisational style.
“We’ve Got Our Friends” – Maura Shawn Scanlin
Maura’s solo record impeccably brings together the many things she excels at (and some of the things this playlist hopes to demonstrate): instrumental acuity, lyrical thoughtfulness, and masterful arranging.
“Strange Vessels” – Caoimhin Ó Raghallaigh & Thomas Bartlett
Conor listens to this album all the time. It’s a source of inspiration and a reminder to make music that feels relaxed and to not use too many notes.
“Dear Starling” – Pumpkin Bread
This is a favorite tune from a band with some of our best friends we were a part of in our college days. Thanks for listening!
No one on earth plays the guitar like Yasmin Williams. When the BGS team was first introduced to her music – back a few years now, in 2017 or 2018, during our annual programming for our Shout & Shine diversity showcase – it was an objectively jaw-dropping discovery. We’ve covered many singular musicians, instrumentalists, and guitarists over the years on our site, but here was something completely and totally brand new. Then, in 2021, she wowed our BGS audience with her Shout & Shine livestream performance. From our staff to our followers, we were all hooked.
Immediately upon hearing Williams’ ethereal, otherworldly, and effortlessly charming guitar-centered compositions, it’s natural, reflexive even, to imagine how listeners may have first reacted to encountering Sister Rosetta Tharpe’s earth-stopping rock and roll, or Elizabeth Cotten’s unassuming backwards-and-upside-down guitar genius, or Jimi Hendrix’s showy shredding behind his head. There’s a jolt of electricity, a child-like wonder, and proper awe that each result from even the slightest encounter with Williams’ talents.
But, like those legends before her, this is not merely toxically masculine, performative, over-the-top “guitar culture” music. You can tell, from the first breath of tone from her instruments, that Williams is not now nor has ever been the guitarist trying to impress or outdo all of the AC/DC or Led Zeppelin rehearsers plucking through “Stairway to Heaven” at the local Guitar Center.
No, Williams’ approach to the instrument is totally brand new, too – and a remarkable breath of fresh air in a scene that is often derivative, competitive, exclusive, and rife with “Um, actually…” Instead of focusing her ambitions or goals entirely on the insular, inward-facing guitar world, Williams has demonstrated over two impeccable, critically-acclaimed albums – 2021’s Urban Driftwood and her first Nonesuch project, Acadia (out October 4) – that her community is far broader, richer, and truly incandescent.
Acadia builds on the rich and resplendent universe Williams built for Urban Driftwood – and has been cultivating for years, since her full length debut in 2018, Unwind. With a foundation centered on fingerstyle acoustic guitar with plenty of blues, bluegrass, flatpicking, and Americana infusions, Williams approaches the instrument as if a just-invented, novel machine; pedagogy, tradition, and technique are all present, but only ever in service of the melodies themselves – never as exercises in “correctness” or propriety. She’ll play with the guitar in her lap, tapping with both hands on the surface of the strings and fretboard. She’ll affix a kalimba to the face of the instrument and play both simultaneously. She quite literally turns her six-string (and her harp guitars, banjos, and more) on their ears, throwing all expectations and convention out the window.
There’s showmanship evident herein, of course, and a tinge of acrobatics, but these are merely knock-on effects and not the entire point. Instead, it seems Williams’ intention is to follow each and every tendril and tributary of her musical ideas to their natural conclusions, raising no barriers to herself in the process. Not even the barrier of the guitar itself. What even is a guitar, if you approach it from a unique perspective or through a fresh lens each time you pick it up? Williams shows us this common, everyday, century-spanning instrument can always find new sounds and styles.
Again, in contrast with “norms” in the guitar scene, Acadia is a testament to Williams’ community, as well. Her albums as yet never feel like guitar vanity projects, as the picker decidedly brings in so many facets of her musical and creative community to her music making. In just the first three singles from Acadia she taps an impressive array of featured artists, from Aoife O’Donovan to Darlingside to Allison de Groot & Tatiana Hargreaves. On prior releases, she’s recorded with the legendary Tommy Emmanuel, Taryn Wood, Dobrotto, and many more. Her approach to the instrument is singular, but it’s never solitary. Where other guitarists might prefer to leverage the instrument and their virtuosity to center themselves, Williams seems determined to do the opposite. The results are, as always, stunning.
Fingerstyle acoustic guitar is engaging and lovely music to begin with, but given her particular touch, her compositional voice, and her community collaborations, Yasmin Williams is showing roots music fans everywhere that even our most familiar instruments can be wellsprings of originality, inspiration, and joy. Acadia is a masterwork, and a perfect album to spotlight as we name Yasmin Williams our Artist of the Month. Enjoy our Essentials Playlist below to kick off the month and read our exclusive interview feature here. And, read an excellent op-ed on Williams written by buzzworthy viral guitarist and improviser Jackie Venson here. Plus, we’ll be dipping back into the BGS archives for all things Yasmin throughout October.
There’s something for everyone in this week’s premiere round-up!
From the bluegrass realm, check out a new, suitably spooky track from southwest Virginia mainstay Amanda Cook, a vocal trio number from the fellas of Sideline, and Twisted Pine have a brand new music video for a song all about bluegrass festival fun, “After Midnight (Nothing Good Happens).”
From elsewhere on the genre map, check out tracks debuting from singer-songwriter Bailey Bigger, Swedish artist Sarah Klang has an Americana-flavored number featuring Eric D. Johnson of Fruit Bats, and Emily Frembgen declares she’s “Hard 2 Love.”
Don’t miss a lyric video for the title track from American Idol winner Lee DeWyze’s brand new album, Gone For Days, as well. It’s all right here on BGS and You Gotta Hear This!
In Their Words: “‘Nancy Jo’ was a more recently written song this year. I wrote it in memory of my grandmother, who represents to me all the women in my life who have sacrificed their own dreams for the inevitable love for those around them. It’s a bittersweet, give-and-take feeling to experience and watch take over the amazing women in our lives, and something I think we can all relate to universally. The duality of my grandmother was beautiful to me. She had so many regrets, dreams she never got to take a real shot at, and hopes, yet so much gratitude, love, and confidence in the path she did choose in this life. She loved her life and brought so much joy and presence to those around her. But we would dream together every time I sat with her in the kitchen. When I reach for my life and my future, it’s not just my hands, it’s all the women in my ancestry, standing behind me, pushing me further.
“This song was highly influenced, musically, by the dream pop movement of the ’90s. My dad gave me his CDs by The Sundays that he wore out in college, and I fell in love instantly with their dreamy guitar tones and Harriet’s voice just painting the canvas with her melodies. I wanted to create a similar production with clear inspiration behind this song, and dream pop is a genre I’ve been itching to explore in my own sound as I get creative with guitar pedals and melodies.” – Bailey Bigger
Amanda Cook, “Devil’s Looking Glass”
Artist:Amanda Cook Hometown: Fancy Gap, Virginia Song: “Devil’s Looking Glass” Album:Restless Soul Release Date: September 18, 2024 (single); October 18, 2024 (album) Label: Mountain Fever Records
In Their Words: “I love a spooky song and when Troy Boone (our mandolin player) let me hear his demo of ‘Devil’s Looking Glass,’ I knew I was going to be hooked. Troy’s vivid lyrics make the story feel so real that it’s almost like a true legend coming to life. As Troy shared, he wrote ‘Devil’s Looking Glass’ in high school, drawing inspiration from the rock formation above the Nolichucky River near his childhood home and crafting a haunting song based on a local curse story.” – Amanda Cook
Track Credits: Written by Troy Boone. Amanda Cook – Lead vocal Carolyne Van Lierop – Banjo Troy Boone – Mandolin Brady Wallen – Guitar Josh Faul – Bass George Mason – Fiddle
Lee DeWyze, “Gone For Days”
Artist:Lee DeWyze Hometown: Chicago, Illinois Song: “Gone For Days” Album:Gone For Days Release Date: September 13, 2024 Label: Mavelle Records
In Their Words: “‘Gone For Days’ for me reflects on how someone can feel lost, but through that – inspired and transformed by their environment. Ultimately, for me, it’s a story of growth and rebirth. To an extent, it captures my own personal experience of stepping into the unknown when choosing to make the decision to head to Bristol, Tennessee and make this album.
“My hope is that this song can serve as an anthem for those who navigate the dark, and seek their own path. I want ‘Gone For Days’ to offer reassurance that even in the darkest moments, there’s a way forward.
“It was one of the last songs I wrote for this album – and while working with the amazing musicians out in Bristol and taking in the energy of where I was, it dawned on me it wasn’t just a song, it was a documentary for my journey and a snapshot of the profound changes I was experiencing.” – Lee DeWyze
Track Credits: Written by Lee DeWyze. Lee DeWyze – Vocals, acoustic guitar Phil Faconti – Electric guitar Dave Eggar – Cello, string arrangement Noah Denton – Bass Jordan Katz – Horns Mike Stephenson – Drums, percussion Blake Collins – Mandolin
Video Credit: Lee DeWyze
Emily Frembgen, “Hard 2 Love”
Artist:Emily Frembgen Hometown: New York City Song: “Hard 2 Love” Album:No Hard Feelings Release Date: September 13, 2024 Label: Don Giovanni Records
In Their Words: “I made ‘Hard 2 Love’ at Excello Studios in Greenpoint, Brooklyn with my producer Hugh Pool. We recorded it and most of the other tracks on No Hard Feelings live with Keith Robinson on drums, Bruce Martin on piano, and Charles Dechants on bass. Melody Stolpp came in later to record back up vocals. The song owes a lot to Lucinda Williams’s ‘Blue,’ which is often playing in my head. I’m so fascinated with these super simple yet emotionally impactful songs. Lucinda’s ‘Blue’ and ‘Lonely Girls,’ Lou Reed’s ‘Pale Blue Eyes,’ Sondheim’s ‘Losing My Mind.’ My relationship with my father informs this and many of the songs on this album as it has greatly informed the way I exist in the world. This is a cathartic song for me to sing and I hope it’s cathartic for other people. It’s hard to love and to be loved, at least for some of us.” – Emily Frembgen
Track Credits: Emily Frembgen – Vocals Hugh Pool – Guitar Keith Robinson – Drums Bruce Martin – Piano Charles Dechants – Bass Melody Stolpp – Backup vocals
Sarah Klang, “Last Forever” featuring Fruit Bats
Artist:Sarah Klang Hometown: Gothenburg, Sweden Song: “Last Forever” featuring Fruit Bats Release Date: September 13, 2024 Label: Nettwerk Music Group
In Their Words: “It’s a song about the feeling of being ‘the bad one’ in the relationship. Or maybe even that you are ‘the bad one.’ And you love someone who insists on seeing the best in you, and constantly fights on, even though you behave badly. I didn’t really have any idea that it could be a duet until Eric suggested it. He asked me to write down some of my dream artists to duet with, and of course I wrote his name as #1 on the note. Luckily he said yes!
“This collaboration was an eye-opener to me, because it immediately opened two creative worlds: suddenly there were two perspectives and that is very new for me to have. To get to work with someone I admire so much was a dream come true, and I felt like it made me a stronger writer too.” – Sarah Klang
“When Sarah and her writing partner, Theo Stocks, brought this sketch in, I was already all in on it going on the album. The opening line: ‘I’ve got two issues with you, and one of them is that you love me…’ just devastated me out of the gate. The song starts off as a lilting waltz, then turns into a chugging, desperate rock anthem and fades off into the sunset. When they suggested I sing a verse, I was honored and intimidated. I love that each verse comes from a different perspective – and then ends on intertwined stories about lovers trying to figure out the balance of life.” – Eric D. Johnson, Fruit Bats
Sideline, “Is It True”
Artist:Sideline Hometown: Raleigh, North Carolina Song: “Is It True” Release Date: September 13, 2024 Label: Mountain Home Music Company
In Their Words: “It’s really awesome to watch a band take an older song and make it into their own without completely dissecting the original. When Steve brought this one to the table, it was obvious that it was a Sideline song. We applied our drive and energy to it and let the lyrics do the rest of the work. It is also one of the very few – if any – Sideline songs with a trio throughout the whole song, and Bailey nailed the lead part. High-powered and exciting!” – Skip Cherryholmes, guitar and vocals
“What caught my attention about this song was that it is one of the rare cases where the verses have harmony all the way through, and the choruses are sung solo. Typically, it’s vice versa.” – Steve Dilling, banjo and vocals
Track Credits: Skip Cherryholmes – Guitar, vocals Steve Dilling – Banjo, vocals Bailey Coe – Lead vocal Kyle Windbeck – Upright bass Nick Goad – Mandolin, vocals Matt Flake – Fiddle
Twisted Pine, “After Midnight (Nothing Good Happens)”
Artist:Twisted Pine Hometown: Boston, Massachusettes & Toronto, Ontario, Canada Song: “After Midnight (Nothing Good Happens)” Album:Love Your Mind Release Date: September 17, 2024 (single); October 18, 2024 Label: Signature Sounds
In Their Words: “Every summer, music fanatics assemble their camping gear and instruments and gather together in a field somewhere for that most peculiar of community events: the bluegrass festival. As a band, many of our formative and milestone experiences have taken place at festivals. We’ve learned a lot of lessons – good and bad. This song is our ode to the festival experience. It’s about a universal thought process that happens every night at festivals around the world, ‘Should I be trying to get some sleep right now? Or should I stay up, and pick, and see where the night takes me?’ It’s definitely a coin toss, and depending on how you feel you might regret the late night the next morning, but either way, it makes for a memorable night, and you look forward to what next year’s fest will bring
“The details of the song are based on true events and everyone’s festival vibe. Chris likes to wander around looking for hot dogs; Kathleen croons country ballads in the moonlight; Anh typically stays out until the sun comes up; Dan posts up at the center of the old-time jam on bass. And there’s always that dude at the jam trying to get laid so in our song we named him Dirty Pete.
“Shot on location at two of the very best festivals in our part of the country: the Ossipee Valley Music Festival and Green Mountain Bluegrass and Roots, ‘(Nothing Good Happens) After Midnight’ should be a familiar sentiment for BGS readers. See y’all next year!” – Twisted Pine
Track Credits: Written by Kathleen Parks, Dan Bui, and Anh Phung. Kathleen Parks – Lead vocals, fiddle Chris Sartori – Bass Dan Bui – Mandolin Anh Phung – Flute, background vocals Ethan Robbins – Guitar
Video Credit: Directed, filmed, and edited by Jay Strausser, Jay Strausser Visuals
Photo Credit: Twisted Pine by J. Chattman; Lee DeWyze by Kalin Gordon Photography.
With the September release of her album Queen of Time, Nashville artist Lindsay Lou takes listeners beyond a creative journey – it’s more like a long, strange, and satisfying trip, where her “radical truth” conquers all.
A former bluegrass songsmith with roots in groups like her former backing band, the Flatbellys, and Sweet Water Warblers, Lou’s Queen of Time marks the start of another new solo chapter and follows a rough time in her life filled with earthquakes of change. She both lost a grandmother who was pivotal to her development and experienced the end of a marriage – all while her career picked up steam. But, through those endings came a new beginning. One where she better understood her place in the universe, both spiritually and musically.
On Queen of Time, Lou welcomes herself to that new identity (and all who care to follow), doing so with a fresh sound and some old friends. Featuring Billy Strings and Jerry Douglas, 11 thought-provoking tracks infuse her bluegrass roots with atmospheric folk, back-porch psychedelia, and more, as lyrics and voice weave together into something like a sonic dreamcatcher – snatching ethereal truths from the cosmos and translating them in ways the mind can just begin to process.
Recently, Lou spoke with BGS about this heady transformation, working with her friends, and how her “teacher-turned-Rainbow-Gathering-healer” of a grandma helped shape her radical spirituality.
BGS: Tell me how you’re feeling about music making these days? I know this album comes after a lot of change in your life, personally and professionally. Has the way you feel about making music changed, too?
Lindsay Lou: It felt like the most freeing recording endeavor that I have ever set out on. Working with [producer] Dave O’Donnell was really great. He held a ton of space for me creatively and emotionally and just in all the ways. So it was really nice. I brought in all of my friends, and what drew me to music to begin with was jams that my family would have, so feeling among my chosen family, being able to bring in the people who I’ve been jamming with in living rooms and on stages for the last several years, was really, really sweet.
Honestly, I’m feeling really inspired and just really happy about music. All of the tours have felt like they were in really good flow, and spiritually, it just feels very open and satisfying. I sort of blew up my life a few years ago, and the last three years or so I’ve been gestating and rebuilding my path. It was rebuilding on the foundation I had laid down with the Flatbellys and the Warblers, so it wasn’t out of nowhere, but it felt like there was a lot of unknown – and there were times where I felt there’s just some fear that goes into it. But now I’m on the cusp of watching all of this be born and come to life, and it feels so good. It’s like everything that I could have hoped for.
Seeing the record in the hands of people and hearing all the stories they send me about how it’s touched their lives has been very, very fulfilling. And I’m watching the album chart and watching different things on the horizon, different gigs and stuff – it’s just really inspiring, and I feel really excited to follow this new path that I’ve laid out for myself.
You don’t always get that payoff when your life blows up, so congrats! Tell me a little bit about the imagery behind the Queen of Time theme. You’re asking the listener if they know who they really are – did that come from an epiphany you had?
It definitely came from an epiphany and the ongoing question and journey of self-discovery, because it’s something you never achieve. It’s just a journey you’re always on. The imagery [for the song “Queen of Time”] was definitely from Absolem, the caterpillar from Alice in Wonderland. He challenges Alice, “Who are you?” And it was less about who she was and more about who she identified as, because we contain multitudes. So this is a broad and complex question, and as I’ve been playing it, the song has sort of come to life and revealed itself to me in new and unexpected ways. I always love that with songs.
You start the album off with this refrain saying, “I don’t need the world to hear me / I’m singing and nothing else matters.” What’s the significance of that to you?
I guess it’s just acknowledging the personal relationship. I always say that the voice is a window to the soul, but a lot of people have this horrible trauma that they carry with them – that they’re not a good singer and that they don’t have a good voice, and so they don’t ever sing. I feel so much grief thinking about people not even singing to themselves. In my darkest hour, the most soothing thing that I have found to do is to sing to myself. And it’s not because I think that I have the greatest voice, it’s because singing actually releases endorphins in your mind. It’s like a physiological truth that the experience of singing is medicinal and it’s a form of meditation.
The obvious interpretation of that is that as career musicians, you’re always wanting more people to hear you and wanting your fan base to expand. But at the end of the day, the reason that I sing and I think the reason anyone sings, is because it is a magical and medicinal way of expressing your soul, your spirit, your inner truth. So just remembering that value that I don’t need to be anywhere to let my voice ring and to connect with my own soul in that way, that’s really the most powerful thing.
I know your grandmother had a big part in influencing the record. But on top of everything else she was to you, did she also help you get into music?
I guess in a roundabout way, she did. Her greatest influence on me was spiritually. She was a preacher woman, and she lived her life the best that she could in the literal footstep of Jesus. So she took everyone in and she welcomed everyone. She was always preaching that [unless] you have not sinned, don’t cast the first stone and really strongly believed that no one will be left behind. Like if God said the greatest commandment was to love God and to love your brother, then she spent her whole life practicing that. Now, I call myself a praying atheist. I don’t necessarily connect with any institution of religion, but I do connect with the practice of spirituality and of love. Even Christianity says that God is love. So in my mind it’s like, “Well, then let’s just get right to the heart of the matter and call it love!” If we’re living in love and if we’re thinking critically and we’re following our radical truth, then we’re doing it right.
Was music a part of your childhood?
[My grandmother] had 12 children and she surrounded herself with hippies and counterculture. And her husband – the father of her 12 children – was a musician. He played the trumpet and he sang, so they always sang to their children, and the songs that she sang to them, they sang to their children. So I heard all the gospel songs that she sang to my mom, because my mom sang them to me, and there’s been various forms of family bands throughout the generations of all of her children. The older kids had a rock band, and they would get together and sing gospel songs in harmony and Beatles songs and folk songs, and the younger kids formed bands with the older cousins. There was just always music around, so I think she just held space for music.
She sounds like an amazing person. Is that her voice in the phone conversations you put on “Love Calls”?
Yeah. I played that song for a couple of my friends before she was in it. There was this long expansive jam and my girlfriends listening to it were like, “We want more Lou here.” I thought, “Well, what version of Lou makes sense to go there?” And it dawned on me that it was the version of Lou that interviewed grandma. I interviewed my grandma on the one hand to sort of preserve her radical life story for posterity. And on the other hand, as a way of knowing myself. I’ve collected about 27 hours of her telling me her life story and how she came to believe what she believes. It’s a little bit foggy now, but I had an idea of what story I wanted to put there, and once that conversation was in there, the song had the context that it was calling for.
What was the context?
The song is about someone being a guide of love for someone else. And the conversation is her telling me the story of meeting someone at a rainbow gathering who she had a conversation with, and later found out that that conversation talked them out of suicide. Many parts of this record came together in the context of me witnessing suicides in my music community, and addiction and mental health struggles. And pretty much all of my music goes back to that in some way, because of where I came from and the world that I see around me.
Other songs have that through line to it too, right? Like “Nothing’s Working”? I know you worked with Billy Strings on that one, how did it come together?
He and I get together every once in a while to write and we had gotten together and started that song. He had just been hanging out with Bryan Sutton and had this open B shape thing in his head that he started to play along with, and he was talking to me about Ionia – the town that he grew up in. He had just seen so many people get a job and try to make all the right decisions and try to always do the right thing, and just end up with nothing to show for it, because they’re stuck in a system that doesn’t support them and wasn’t built for them, or a scene that really wasn’t good for them.
We wrote the first verse, and kind of left it at that, and it sat in my voice memos for a couple years. Then I was on a plane on my way to the Jeff Austin tribute concert benefit [late member of Yonder Mountain String Band, who died in 2019], and I was just thinking about things. I think I finished it on my way home, but during that same week, I attended my cousin Emily’s funeral. She died in her 20s and was struggling with opiate addiction. I don’t mention either of them in the song necessarily, but it really got me into the headspace of thinking about people I know who are still alive, who are struggling with similar challenges. The song is about telling their story, and telling their story with compassion and honesty.
I noticed a lot of hard bluegrass influence on tracks like “Rules,” and along with Billy you have a collab with Jerry Douglas. Do you still feel like you can be creative in the bluegrass form these days? Or is it harder to do that as you grow as an artist?
Bluegrass gave me a lot of tools and a home. It gave me a place to belong and an opportunity to hone my craft, just in terms of tightening up rhythm and getting better at playing the guitar – and having an entire world of people I can get together with anytime, anywhere, and play any one of the many songs in the bluegrass canon and sing three-part harmony, like we’ve been a band our whole lives. It gave me so much, but I didn’t grow up in a family or a community that played bluegrass music. It was something I found in my early 20s. I’ve never been like people like Billy and Molly [Tuttle] – [bluegrass] is not just a part of their history, it’s like their earliest memories.
I grew up doing acoustic music, so there’s always going to be some element of that in my music. And I’m so grateful to have bluegrass now as a tool of expressing myself. But I don’t think I find it harder as I get older. I just find it easier to connect more authentically with my own voice, and bluegrass is a tool of doing that – but it’s not the only tool.
Can’t get enough of the record by boygenius?We understand and empathize. Did your ears perk up immediately when you heard the twinkle of the banjo on “Cool About It?” Do you rewatch the video of Julien Baker, Lucy Dacus, and Phoebe Bridgers performing The Chicks’ “Cowboy, Take Me Away” over and over and over again? If so, this list is for you.
It’s not hard to place boygenius within the universe of folk music and its endless variations, with their perfectly blended, nearly familial harmonies, their lyrics and song structures that are so singable, cyclical, and relatable, and the way, together, they exceed the sum of their individual parts by leaps and bound. Comparisons to other iconic supergroups – Dolly, Linda, and Emmylou’s Trio, or Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young – illustrate further that boygenius are often a string band and always a folk group.
We’ve collected songs from 18 other folk groups that also center female and femme friendship, slippery harmonies, and egalitarian ensemble arrangements in their music. If you adore boygenius, these acoustic bands are for you.
(Editor’s Note: Scroll for the playlist version of this collection.)
The band JOSEPH’s latest release, The Sun, is perhaps their furthest foray into pop- and indie-folk, with a sound that’s not just adjacent to “the boys” of boygenius, but often parallels the genre and aesthetic territories explored by the latter trio. These songs are rich and fully realized, from the tender and contemplative to full-bore rock and roll. Remind you of anyone?
We’ve loved watching this California-based group grow and expand their listenership across the country and around the world, from the Bay Area to Cayamo and beyond. Like boygenius, Rainbow Girls have quite a few joyous, smile-inducing cover videos that are wildly popular on the internet, but the group really shines while singing sad, introspective songs that still make you feel so good.
Since their first studio album in 2004, the Wailin’ Jennys have become one of the most beloved vocal trios in bluegrass, old-time, and folk music, with a robust, devoted international fan base. Perhaps best known for their appearances on public radio, the Juno Award-winning ensemble is in a phase of part-time, infrequent touring while balancing motherhood and solo projects, too. Their cover of “Wildflowers” remains one of the most popular BGS posts in the history of the site.
An important addition to this list – the aforementioned “Cowboy, Take Me Away” cover by the boys notwithstanding – the similarities between the Chicks and boygenius are many. Righteous anger, agency, and collective rebellion, flouting gender roles, “tradition,” and industry norms – the list could go on and on. But perhaps the most striking throughline between both trios are their evident prowess as instrumentalists, whether guitar, fiddle, banjo, or voice. And there’s a tambour to Phoebe and Julien’s vocals that certainly conjures the crystalline, one of a kind singing of Natalie Maines.
What would boygenius be, together or separately, without longing? Without lost or waning or fading or burning or lustful or ethereal love? Love that’s sexual and romantic and hungry, but love that’s tender, platonic, and eternal, too. Mountain Man, who describe themselves as a “trio of devoted friends,” conjure all of the above within their catalog and certainly on “Baby Where You Are,” with a vocal arrangement that could have been pulled right from the record.
Country-folk duo Plains, a duo made up of Katie Crutchfield (Waxahatchee) and Jess Williamson, could be described, in a boygenius-centric way, as sounding like that band dragged through… well, the plains. There’s an agnostic, informal country aesthetic here that sounds just like the prairie of which they sing on “Abilene.” And, their origin story matches the boys’, as well, with Crutchfield and Williamson first admiring each other’s music before joining forces. There are far worse impetuses to start a band than mutual admiration.
Does the transitive property apply to trio supergroups? Because, if I’m With Her is a band of bona fide bluegrassers playing delicious indie-folk and folk-rock, then that makes boygenius, a delicious indie-folk and folk-rock band that much closer to being bluegrass, right? Right? Okay, it’s nonsense, but genre is dead. (Long live genre!) We love how our friends in I’m With Her, Sarah Jarosz, Aoife O’Donovan, and Sara Watkins have colored outside the genre lines across their entire careers, not just in their collaborations together. Now, for a collaboration between I’m With Her and boygenius. Please.
Trio
While Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris, and Linda Ronstadt collaborated on Trio and Trio II at the heights of their careers, boygenius came together as a supergroup when each of its members were on steep ascents, launching into the stratosphere. Somehow, as with Trio, the collective art boygenius has created supersedes even their heightening fame, not just as artists and musicians but as celebrities, too. These are just some of the reasons Trio comes to mind in the same train of musical thought as boygenius. Another is the “True Blue” friendships underpinning both groups.
case/lang/veirs
Our hearts, be still, because a few short days ago kd lang shared a photo on Instagram with Laura Veirs captioned: “Waiting on Mr. @nekocaseofficial to bring the love…” Whatever they’re working on, it will be must-listen and anxiously awaited! There are so many connection points between this incredible assemblage of musicians and the boys. Queerness; ethereal production; poetic lyrics; swapped lead vocals; oh-so-much text painting. If you’ve never given case/lang/veirs’ 2016 self-titled album an in-depth listen, there’s no better time. But the lead track, “Atomic Number” is an excellent audio swatch for the entire record.
Though on indefinite hiatus, Lula Wiles remains one of BGS’ favorite folk groups to emerge from the New England / northeast string band scene in the 2010s. Like boygenius, Isa Burke, Eleanor Buckland, and Mali Obamsawin each have vibrant and widely variable (while interconnected) solo careers, so despite their music making as a group being on pause, there’s a wealth of music in their combined and individual catalogs to binge your way through. We suggest starting with “Hometown,” a track that’s stuck with us since its release on What Will We Do in 2019.
One in the solidly pop/pop-rock category, Lucius still have dabbled often and intentionally in Americana, folk, and country, as demonstrated by this track from their latest album, Second Nature, which features their friend and tourmate Brandi Carlile and country star Sheryl Crow. It listens more similar to Phoebe Bridgers’ or Lucy Dacus’ genre aesthetics overall, but still calls on two roots musicians and vocalists, highlighting the mainstream success such cross pollinations attract.
Known for their iconic, self-titled 1975 album Kate & Anna McGarrigle, often referred to as the McGarrigles or the McGarrigle Sisters, epitomized the post-folk revival appetite for sincerity, authenticity, and literature in song, but their music never felt trope-ish, cheesy, or painfully earnest at the same time. Instead, its impact comes from its vulnerability and raw emotion, as in “Go Leave,” a song written by Kate for her unfaithful husband (Loudon Wainwright III). The lyrics drip with an indelible pain, reminding of Lucy, Julien, and Phoebe all, who for ours and hopefully their own benefit, often bare their entire souls in song.
There’s a quality to boygenius’ music that reminds of church, of songs intentionally crafted for group singing and raising our voices up together. Perhaps it’s their bond as friends or their love of seamlessly blended harmonies and unisons, perhaps it’s their own histories with and upbringings in/around the church, perhaps it’s the relatability of their lyrics, but whatever it is their music begs to be joined. The same is true for Songs of Our Native Daughters, by roots music allstars Rhiannon Giddens, Leyla McCalla, Amythyst Kiah, and Allison Russell. You can hear their voices twining not only in sound, but in message and mission, and listeners can’t help but feel the urge to sing along. Music by community and for community, that centers and celebrates the friendships of those creating it.
The Secret Sisters have a penchant for the macabre, the spooky, the longest shadows and the darkest nights, often sung to a gritty minor key. They highlight the classic Southern Gothic aesthetics of their Alabama homeland with a groundedness and hair-raising realism. It’s not difficult to picture them, say, wearing rhinestoned skeleton suits. This collaboration with their friend and (sometimes) producer Brandi Carlile soars, highlighting the similarities between Laura Rogers’ and Lydia (Rogers) Slagle’s and Lucy Dacus’ voices.
Now, from which folk and acoustic group can you get the rock and roll, shredding guitar solo, writhing on the ground, leaping into the crowd, pyrotechnic, Julien Baker-sprinting-across-the-stage, grand finale level energy for which boygenius is becoming known as they tour the record? It’s that caricature of a caricature of rockism that boygenius do so well. Look no further than blues duo Larkin Poe, made up of sisters Rebecca and Megan Lovell (who, the diehard fans will remember, began their careers as a family bluegrass band). Every song on their albums or in their live sets is dialed to eleven on the face-melting meter. They skewer the performative masculinity of the genres they inhabit – just like boygenius – not by mocking, but by doing it better. And we love the genderfuckery and queerness they bring performing a lyric like “She’s a Self Made Man.” Again, just like boygenius.
The Roches
What could be more archetypically boygenius than exploring familial trauma? A gutting hook standalone, taken in this context sung by sisters Maggie, Terre, and Suzzy Roche, “Runs in the Family” is jaw-dropping. Another group lauded and adored for their releases in ‘70s and into the ‘80s. Their music runs in the family, too, with Lucy Wainwright Roche (daughter of Suzzy), who is an accomplished singer-songwriter. Keep Dacus’ “Thumbs” and the record’s “Without You Without Them” in mind as you listen.
Fuzzy, full, and angry guitar is the sound bed for this, the title track from The Burney Sisters’ latest album, Then We’ll Talk. One of the hallmarks of boygenius’ generation of women and femme rockers is that their expressions of anger, justice, agency, and self advocacy feel real, not just like costuming for a genre that prides itself on counterculture and middle fingers literal and proverbial. When you hear women express anger in rock and roll, it doesn’t feel affected or constructed, and that’s one of the main reasons why women continue to lead – and revive – the genre.
Part of the appeal of a group like boygenius, and Shook Twins as well, is the beauty in lyrics simply stating exactly what they mean. These songs are accessible, listenable, resonant, and thereby incredibly impactful. “Safe” by Portland, Oregon-based twin sisters Katelyn Shook and Laurie Shook is one of their most popular numbers – especially their acoustic version. The singer cries out to be seen, heard, and loved. A common refrain for Phoebe, Lucy, and Julien as well.
Artist:The Wildwoods Hometown: Lincoln, Nebraska Song: “West Virginia Rain” Album:Foxfield Saint John Release Date: February 17, 2023
In Their Words: “While on tour in July of 2022, we had a couple of days off between performances in West Virginia and after sleeping in our little old RV in Love’s Truck Stops for the entire month prior, we decided to rent a campsite so we could easily explore the beauty of the state. Unfortunately, we were met with heavy rainfall for the entirety of our stay, and with many roads being blocked off around us, we found ourselves secluded and alone at the little campground. To pass the time, we worked on writing some tunes, and this was when our song ‘West Virginia Rain’ was born. At its core, the lyrics of the song are mainly about how personal tribulations can cause one to have difficulty seeing the beauty in the most beautiful aspects of life. At the time, we thought that the recording of our newest album Foxfield Saint John was complete, but upon finishing ‘West Virginia Rain’ and arranging harmonies, we knew that we had to add it to the album. Upon our arrival back to Nebraska in September after the tour was complete, we went back to Hand Branch Studio in Omaha, Nebraska, and recorded the final track of the project.” — The Wildwoods
Photo Credit: Chad Lemke
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