Tag: Alison Krauss

MIXTAPE: Growing Up Hardly Strictly with ISMAY

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

I consider myself to be amongst the luckiest of music lovers. Growing up, I saw some of the most incredible roots artists from backstage while holding my Jack Russell terrier and playing with my cousins. When I was 8 years old, my grandfather Warren started a free bluegrass festival in San Francisco called Hardly Strictly Bluegrass. These artists shaped me since they were the first ones I watched perform, but the connection went on to become even deeper. When my grandfather passed away in 2011 I started performing music, and the larger community of Hardly Strictly was where I found my encouragers and mentors.

This is a compilation of the artists who I heard from and listened to as a child, and those whose songs I learned when I first became a musician. – ISMAY (AKA Avery Hellman)

“Dark Turn of Mind” – Gillian Welch

Just after high school I spent time working on some small homesteads with a farm labor trade for room and board. This was the same time that The Harrow & the Harvest by Gillian Welch came out – a literary masterpiece. Every time I listen to this record it reminds me of those homesteads and my borrowed car with a faulty battery. It brings me back to the day I arrived late to a new farm in West Virginia while my roommate was still sleeping and how odd it felt to be in a house with a stranger. I got up in the morning to make sourdough toast with an egg wondering what that person who was asleep in the loft of that ’80s wood cabin would think of me.

“Concrete And Barbed Wire” – Lucinda Williams

In the ’90s I was fortunate that my mom had great music taste. She took us around in a magenta suburban car and played Lucinda Williams. She said us kids used to sing along with silly accents to the words “concrete and barbed wire.” It took me another 20 years to fully appreciate Lucinda Williams and the masterful lyricist she is. Over the last four years, I’ve been working on a documentary about her, and it’s been so rewarding, because Lucinda’s music is the kind that gets better the more you know it.

“Dallas” – The Flatlanders

My grandfather was not a professional musician for most of his life, but in the final years he played in a bluegrass band with his friend Jimmie Dale Gilmore. What a kind man Jimmie is, with a voice that reminds me of a dove fluttering away. Because of this relationship he had with my grandfather, I heard about this record Jimmie made with his band The Flatlanders that was lost for 40 years. It was raw and made me feel like I was under a tin roof in Texas. It’s said that this tape helped mark the birth of alt-country.

“The Times They Are A-Changin'” – Odetta

A few years ago I was asked to perform at an event that compared and contrasted Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen. I’m more of a Cohen person, so I had more trouble finding a Dylan song that felt like it would fit my feel. That was when I came upon this remarkable Odetta cover and I was inspired. She changed the whole feel of the song to make it her own. In 2008, she performed at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass just two months before she passed away, it was one of the final times she ever performed.

“St. James Hospital” – Doc Watson

I know that most people know Doc for his flatpicking, but I’ve always been much more drawn to the fingerpicking style of guitar in general. “St. James Hospital” feels like a fascinating departure from the more well known Doc Watson performances, and I love hearing him playing in a less linear fashion. This shows he can do it all. In the music that I’ve recorded I sometimes feel a bit out-of-the-norm and nowhere-to-belong, but this song feels similar to one I recorded called “A Song in Praise of Sonoma Mountain.” Hearing “St. James Hospital” makes me feel less out-on-a-limb in roots music.

“Permanent” – Kenneth Pattengale & Joey Ryan (The Milk Carton Kids)

As I started playing music I found this record by The Milk Carton Kids before they had that name, and played under Kenneth Pattengale & Joey Ryan. Listening to this song now, it is still unreal that it was all recorded live at a concert. It was deeply inspiring to see artists like Gillian Welch and Dave Rawlings generating a new live sound that was somehow very modern and yet felt like a continuation of original folk music. As if the ’80s and ’90s had never happened! What a gift. Then, seeing The Milk Carton Kids take that torch and carry it on was so exciting for me as a 19 year old.

“Boulder to Birmingham” – Emmylou Harris

I listen to Emmylou every year on Sunday night at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass. Her silver hair and steadiness feel beyond time. I can’t believe she is still here, with that same strong presence since I was just 8 years old. As a performer she has a strong sense of worthiness to the audience, a sense of mutual respect for the relationship between listener and performer. I hope that I can hold just a bit of her steadiness within myself.

“Restless” – Alison Krauss & Union Station

I was in 6th grade and didn’t much enjoy recess out on the playground. I brought my CDs over to an empty classroom, and sat in the back listening to Alison Krauss & Union Station. Sometimes I’d show these CDs to my friends. This was before I figured out that it was cooler to be listening to rock music. But I loved that music, and the songs were amongst the first I tried to learn in singing lessons.

“The Silver Dagger” – Old Crow Medicine Show

Old Crow Medicine Show was playing at Hardly Strictly as they rose up in mainstream culture. I appreciate the edge that this recording preserves. There’s even a moment where it sounds like someone might have dropped something or hit their instrument on another (01:35). I wish more recordings kept imperfections preserved within them.

“Pretty Bird” – Hazel Dickens

Part of the reason that my grandfather started Hardly Strictly Bluegrass was because of his love of Hazel Dickens. They were from very different backgrounds, but they became friends and saw the common humanity in one another through music. She played every year until she died. This is my favorite song of hers. What is beautiful to me about Hazel’s take on bluegrass is the imperfections and raw emotion. She brought her whole self to the song.

“Harlem River Blues” – Justin Townes Earle 

I can still picture Justin on the stage with his impeccably curated suits. Back around 2018, I opened a show for him in Santa Cruz, California. He drove up to the venue in a red convertible, which I thought was the coolest thing ever. Just a guy and his ride. He was very kind to me and I wish I had more chances to see him play again. May his music never fade away.

“Tiniest Lights” – Angel Olsen 

When I was 20, I went into a record shop in Ohio. The guy there said they only really carry more obscure records. No problem, I thought, I was here for Captain Beefheart and PJ Harvey. But when I asked, he said those artists were too well known. He pointed me towards Angel Olsen and I heard something in songwriting I had never heard before. My world opened up, and I knew there was so much more that was possible after listening to “Tiniest Lights.” She performed at Hardly Strictly in 2015 and her voice was as real and penetrating as the recordings.

“If I Needed You” – Lyle Lovett

What’s better than Lyle Lovett playing a Townes Van Zandt song?? We listened to Lyle a bunch when I was a kid. No, I’m not from Texas, but I do love those Texas songwriters.

“Long Ride Home” – Patty Griffin

The first time I performed at Hardly Strictly (although somewhat tangentially) was at an artist after party. I chose this song, because it had a fun fancy guitar line I could play with my beginner fingers. Someone who was performing came up and said they thought I was talented. I think that might have changed my life right there. It was the first time anyone had come up to me and said I was good enough to do this as a job, not to mention amongst professional musicians.

“Are You Sure” – Willie Nelson

Willie played Hardly Strictly in 2003 and I remember that big black bus sitting behind the main stage. I can’t even imagine the thrill of the audience members, his fans are as dedicated as they come. I heard this song at a recently released film that is fantastic called To Leslie.

“Little Bird of Heaven” – Reeltime Travellers

This band was part of that wave of old-time style artists that came at the same time as Hardly Strictly. The vocals are so unexpected, but real and honest. One of their band members became a mentor of mine and helped me get my start in the music business and I am forever grateful.

“Essay Man” and “The Golden Palomino” – ISMAY

These are two songs from my latest release, Desert Pavement, that would never have happened if it weren’t for Hardly Strictly. I am trying to find my way with my own version of folk, and can’t help but be inspired at what a rich trove of artists I have to draw from.

Photo Credit: Aubrey Trinnaman

Artist of the Month: Willie Nelson

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Earlier this year legendary musician, songwriter and recording artist Willie Nelson announced his 151st studio album would be a return to bluegrass, this time reimagining 12 of his own originals with a string band lineup. Available September 15 and simply titled Bluegrass, the Buddy Cannon-produced project reinforces the career-long relationship Nelson has had with bluegrass and bluegrass pickers, calling on old friends and collaborators like Barry Bales, Ron Block and Dan Tyminski, as well as band members and vocalists Aubrey Haynie, Rob Ickes, Josh Martin, Mickey Raphael, Seth Taylor, Bobby Terry, Wyatt Beard and Melonie Cannon.

Nelson is a revered song interpreter and cross-genre adventurer, covering and recording songs from all across the American roots music landscape, from the Great American Songbook to blues and soul, from jazz to Texas swing. No corner of Americana in any/all of its forms has been left untouched by this prolific music maker. But his relationship to bluegrass – similar to his peers like Dolly Parton or Lee Ann Womack, or his acolytes and emulators like Sturgill Simpson and Kacey Musgraves – speaks to the primordial relationship between country and bluegrass, more than just musical touristing or a genre-based gimmick. Nelson doesn’t put on “bluegrass” as a costume, he brings it forward from the earliest days of country music as a genre, before sub-genres like bluegrass had stratified and coalesced as identities somewhat separate from country as a whole. It’s part of what makes Bluegrass a compelling collection, tracks like “Still Is Still Moving to Me,” the album’s lead single, don’t feel like songs wearing bluegrass drag, but rather feel like country gone back to its roots.

Across a career that has touched so many other musicians, singers, and creators – from Waylon Jennings to Ray Charles to Snoop Dogg – it follows that Nelson has counted many bluegrass greats among his album guests, track features, and show bills. He’s toured extensively with Alison Krauss & Union Station over the past two decades; it’s no surprise to find a handful of Union Station alumni on Bluegrass. He’s recorded with Rhonda Vincent, Billy Strings and all the McCoury boys, Del, Rob and Ronnie – the latter two have toured with Willie, too. Country Music, a 2010 release from Nelson produced by Americana superstar T Bone Burnett, was also a bluegrass-centered album, pulling from the deep and broad repertoire of early country, old-time and bluegrass – when the three genres could be represented by a Venn diagram of one circle.

There are so many facets of Nelson’s music making that feel patently bluegrass: his love of borderless, boundless cover songs; his ability as a picker standing equal with his songwriting and one-of-a-kind vocal interpretations; his endless output of personal, meaningful music; his mutual admiration of his compatriots, adorers and mentees. The list could go on ad infinitum. It makes perfect sense that this year he’ll join the father of bluegrass, Bill Monroe, in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

It’s rare that a multi-hyphenate musician and songwriter such as Willie Nelson can shift so effortlessly between contexts, gathering and maintaining a diverse following that understands great music can – and should – transcend not only genre, but all of the trappings of the music industry. It’s part of why Bluegrass feels grounded, honest and resonant. Willie Nelson isn’t playing pretend, he’s just being himself – and that might be the most bluegrass thing about him.

Watch for our Artist of the Month feature, an in-depth exploration of Willie Nelson’s relationship with bluegrass across his life and career coming later this month, and enjoy our Essential Willie Nelson Playlist, featuring many of his bluegrass forays among his popular recordings and our BGS favorites.

Photo Credit: James Minchin

Telluride, the Most Beautiful Bluegrass Festival, Turns 50

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

(Editor’s Notes: Headline image of Béla Fleck & the Flecktones. Scroll to see a photo gallery.

To mark Planet Bluegrass’s 50th annual Telluride Bluegrass Festival, we asked author and music journalist David Menconi to reflect on its impact – and the vibrant community that’s grown up around this iconic roots music event.)

The circuit of roots music festivals in America has some similarities to the Professional Golf Association. There’s at least one festival as well as one golf tournament pretty much every week of the spring, summer and fall. But a few stand out as special and even career-making – golf’s four major championships, and the handful of prestigious main-event music festivals. North Carolina’s MerleFest is like The Masters, the early-season springtime kickoff each April, while late-season festivals like San Francisco’s Hardly Strictly Bluegrass line up nicely with the British Open.

But there’s no question which music festival stands as the summit of the circuit, and not just because it’s in the mountains of Colorado. That’s the Telluride Bluegrass Festival, which marked its 50-year anniversary with the 2023 edition last weekend, June 15-18. The fact that Telluride has prospered for half a century makes Telluride something like golf’s U.S. Open championship, the big one that everybody wants to be a part of. Telluride’s status is something that the musicians who play it are well aware of.

Del McCoury Band performs Thursday, June 15, at the 50th Annual Telluride Bluegrass Festival.

“Festivals and musical trends come and go, and acoustic music has been through some serious peaks and valleys the last 50 years,” says Chris “Panda” Pandolfi, banjo player for Telluride regulars The Infamous Stringdusters, who were on this year’s lineup. “The one mainstay throughout has been Telluride Bluegrass Festival. When we started out, Telluride was the place to be and the definitive crossroads we aspired to, and it still is. Lasting 50 years is an amazing testament to its importance. Bluegrass is more popular than ever now, and Telluride is a big part of that.”

There are literally hundreds of music festivals spanning every style imaginable nowadays, including massive annual gatherings like Bonnaroo in Tennessee and Coachella in the California desert. But there were just a small handful of festivals when Telluride Bluegrass Festival started up in 1973 in the scenic Colorado mountain town that bears its name. And even though Telluride’s daily capacity of 10,000 fans is significantly smaller than a lot of the other major festivals on the circuit, it has still maintained its prestige status.

A drone shot of the festival grounds of Telluride Bluegrass Festival.

In spite of that smaller size, Telluride does have a few structural advantages that set it apart. One is a picturesque setting of surpassing natural beauty on the western edge of Southwestern Colorado’s San Juan Mountains. For performers as well as attendees, there’s not a better view anywhere than what you see at Telluride.

“The view from the crowd is amazing, but from the stage it’s the most incredible view imaginable as an artist,” says Pandolfi. “It’s this multi-layered inspirational snapshot of some of the best music fans, at the best-run festival, in the most beautiful environment in the world. I think a lot of people have this experience, knowing of Telluride as this iconic festival with an outsized reputation, but it more than lives up to the hype. First time we played there, I remember feeling intimidated because so many heavy-weight players we looked up to were there. But as soon as we got onstage, everything clicked.”

Yasmin Williams performs on Telluride Bluegrass Festival’s main stage – its sole stage.

Another major difference between Telluride and its festival peers is scale, and not just in terms of the size of the crowds. Most festivals cram as many performers onto as many stages as possible, all of them running simultaneously, resulting in sensory overload as well as the fear that you’re missing out on something elsewhere. By contrast, Telluride still has just one stage. Every act gets a solo spotlight at Telluride.

“Every year’s festival lineup is an interesting thing,” says Craig Ferguson, who oversees Telluride Bluegrass Festival under the auspices of Planet Bluegrass. “I’ve always said, just watch and it will book itself, and that’s really true. Our process is unique because we have just the one stage and not a bunch of bands, so everybody in the crowd gets to have the same experience. There’s not 18 different stages, so we can create one festivarian experience that everyone shares. We do the booking one act at a time, and we often wind up with interesting combinations.”

Robert Plant & Alison Krauss perform at Telluride Bluegrass Festival.

Indeed, those interesting combinations can venture well beyond what you see at a typical folk or bluegrass festival. Along with Sam Bush, Emmylou Harris, Peter Rowan, Del McCoury and The Infamous Stringdusters doing a Sunday morning gospel set, this year’s lineup features ringers like the West African ngoni master Bassekou Koyate and the venerable jam band String Cheese Incident. Some of the anomalous acts from previous years include pop-star jazz pianist Norah Jones, the comedic folk duo Tenacious D and even singer/rapper/actress Janelle Monae. Even with the unlikely acts, the Telluride experience sells itself. It doesn’t take much convincing to get any artist to play.

“Janelle Monae was the most interesting person to talk to,” Ferguson says. “I snuck into her RV just as she was sitting down to a meal by herself, and I was able to sit and talk to her for an hour. I think she would’ve signed up to play every year if she could have, she was so enthralled by the fact that there were elk in the park. It was the most wonderful conversation, and she was great. We’re famous for our curveballs and she was the oddest, I’ll give you that.”

BGS’s own Ed Helms with Sam Bush and Jerry Douglas at Telluride Bluegrass Festival.

Apart from the change-ups, multiple generations of musicians in the world of acoustic music count Telluride among their major artistic, career and personal milestones. One of them is Sarah Jarosz, a four-time Grammy winner who first went to Telluride as a fan at age 14 and played it herself for the first time two years later. Telluride is where Jarosz first connected with idols and future peers like Gillian Welch and Abigail Washburn. It’s also where Gary Paczosa saw Jarosz for the first time at her 2007 Telluride debut. He subsequently signed her to Sugar Hill Records and produced her first four albums.

“It’s the quintessential place to see your heroes, and even get to jam with them,” says Jarosz, who is back on this year’s lineup. “You’ll hear, ‘There’s a jam at this house down the street after the shows.’ So I brought my mandolin and before I knew it, Chris Thile was showing up. Also Jerry Douglas, Tim O’Brien. That was really life-changing, this proximity to heroes that allowed me to become friends with them. And even though Telluride is rooted in bluegrass, they always bring in artists from beyond that world – Janelle Monae, Decemberists, Alison Krauss and Robert Plant. It feels like anything can happen, and the audience that goes is very supportive of that.”

The stalwart House Band of Telluride Bluegrass Festival.

Still, no matter how far afield the lineup wanders, Telluride is ultimately rooted in bluegrass.

“Bluegrass is a fable, and a team sport,” says Ferguson. “That informs how we create the lineup. Looking to the future, socially as well as musically, we think of bluegrass as an allegory. It’s a context that is invitational to all these other styles, country or jazz or classical, and it complements all of them. That remains the heart and soul of this festival, surrounding bluegrass with these other complimentary musics. We are fortunate to be of service to the festivarian community. It’s an annual privilege to see how much it brings to people’s lives, the connection to community.”

All photos by Maya Benko, courtesy of IVPR

BGS 5+5: SloCoast

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Artist: SloCoast
Hometown: Los Angeles, California
Latest Release: “What Are We Waiting For?”

(Answers by Trevor Jarvis)

Which artist has influenced you the most … and how?

There are seven of us in this group. Collectively, we all have a wide variety of tastes and influences, but one artist we all love in common is Alison Krauss & Union Station. I guess you could call that group our North Star for SloCoast. Good players, good songwriting, killer harmonies — the stuff we all love. Our band crush, for sure!

What’s your favorite memory from being on stage?

We recently played a show at a farm up near Sacramento. In the middle of a song, Mark [Cassidy] broke and replaced a string right when he was about to take a solo. The band just vamped while he was doing it and then we all came back into the song form together when he was done. It’s always memorable when something like that happens cause it’s like one big trust fall.

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

A lot of life experience usually informs our writing — could just be a simple conversation that sparks some kind of idea. Going out to a show can also be really inspiring. Just hearing a good song can open up a lot!

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

Almost every time we write a song, there will be a flow period where everything writes itself, but then we’ll get stuck on one final line. Sometimes it takes hours (if not days) to finish that one line. This seems to be our process with every song — and it’s maddening.

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

Honestly, we have more of a post-show/recording ritual than we do beforehand. After the show, or a long day of writing or recording, we usually sit in a circle with a bottle of Jameson on the table and talk/jam into the midnight hours. Just hanging out together is good for the soul and creates a perfect environment for making new music, too!

Photo Credit: Elle Jaye

MIXTAPE: Doug Paisley’s Merle Watson Memorial Festival 1994 Playlist

Posted on by Editor

It’s terrifying to imagine now that when I was 18 I got in a station wagon with six other teenagers and drove 12 hours from Toronto to Wilkesboro, North Carolina, to the Merle Watson Memorial Festival. Terrifying because I don’t think any of us had much driving experience, money or sense. I had a big crush on one of the other passengers and would have gotten into the car whichever festival it was going to, but now when I look at the lineup for that year (1994), I’m glad we made it. Over the weekend that crush turned into a romance that lasted for what amounts to a lifetime at age 18, so most of my memories are not of the performers I was listening to who came to dominate my ears for years to come. But the moon-eyed haze I was floating around in tied up my first experience of bluegrass with all the intensity and longing of love and the freedom and excitement of traveling.

I like that bluegrass means such different things to its adherents, but that they all feel it strongly. It can be an exercise in authenticity, an article of faith, a technical jungle gym and an emblem of a time and place in history. It’s a genre that’s small and quirky enough that some people feel they can inhabit, protect and partly own it. Now it’s so embedded in my musical history that I don’t know if I can speak about it intelligibly with anyone who doesn’t already love it as much as I do. Here are some of my favourite songs by some of the artists that were playing at the Merle Watson Memorial Festival in 1994. — Doug Paisley

Alison Krauss – “Endless Highway”

I’m deeply attached to this album and feel that it’s some of the most emotional bluegrass singing. I also love Jeff White’s guitar playing.

Tony Rice – “Walls”

Tony Rice more than anyone else is the reason I am a guitar player and a musician. His many layers of musicality and his broader interests from modern acoustic instrumental music to restoring Accutron watches to his appearance on stage to his insights and comments in interviews make him a fascinating character. I’m so grateful for his time on earth.

Seldom Scene – “Wait a Minute”

When I began to play bluegrass, the high-water mark of what a bluegrass group could be was for me the Seldom Scene. They were such an assemblage of distinct characters. John Starling and John Duffey are two of my favourite singers.

Iris DeMent – “Our Town”

In my daily life I can connect to so much feeling in Iris DeMent’s music, but if I’m going through a hard time I think I’d approach it very carefully because it’s just so powerful.

Peter Rowan – “Moonshiner”

The myriad permutations of Peter Rowan’s music are mind-boggling. On my record shelf he’s the Zelig of great acoustic music.

Emmylou Harris – “Before Believing”

Aside from all the great and probably familiar things we can say about Emmylou Harris, I love her forays into more traditional music — especially on “Roses in the Snow” with Tony Rice on guitar.

Ralph Stanley & The Clinch Mountain Boys – “Sweet Thing” (The Stanley Brothers)

I realize this may not be a landmark tune for the Stanley Brothers, but it always sticks with me and I also love George Shuffler’s guitar playing.

JD Crowe & The New South – “Tennessee Blues”

Once I had finally recovered from the New South lineup with Tony Rice, I then discovered that there was a whole other set of tunes with Keith Whitley on vocals, and my head just about exploded.

Claire Lynch – “Second Wind”

Such a beautiful singer. I heard from dobro player Don Rooke that Claire Lynch may be living up in our neck of the woods now. I hope I get a chance to see her play here.

Tony Rice – “Shadows”

I discovered Gordon Lightfoot’s songs through Tony Rice. He brings out all the power and sadness in this tune.

Doc Watson – “Winter’s Night”

Although I’ve listened to Doc Watson all along I never tried to emulate or learn from his guitar playing the way I did Tony Rice or Norman Blake. There’s something inscrutable and compelling about it for me, and I’d rather take in his music not as a guitar player, but purely as a listener.

Photo Credit: Dave Gillespie

MIXTAPE: Ashby Frank’s Songs For a Traveling Life

Posted on by Shelby Williamson

My new album Leaving Is Believing features songs that are related to my journey as an artist. I’ve spent 23 years on the road performing bluegrass, country and roots music, and I’m a huge history, food and geography nerd, so I’ve gained a unique perspective on both the culture in which I grew up and the cultures I’ve been fortunate enough to experience around the world throughout my travels. On this mixtape are some of my favorite songs that feel relevant to my life on the road, as well as some newer tunes that represent what’s moving me these days. — Ashby Frank

Blue Highway — “Message From the Wind”

Everyone has had that “urge to go” at one time or another, and I don’t know of another song that describes that feeling as well as this song does. It was perfectly written and sung by the great Shawn Lane, and I’d venture to guess that I’ve listened to it at least 10,000 times.

Rodney Crowell — “Earthbound”

The line “One man’s lust for life brings world renown, and the next guy can’t get two feet off the ground” always jumps out at me when I listen to this track. The same Rodney Crowell that wrote the classic “Song for the Life” that was recorded by bluegrass legends The Seldom Scene and Alison Krauss also wrote this song, and it’s one of my favorites. Lots of existential questions that we all have are masterfully referenced in “Earthbound,” but it also has such a catchy melody and production that the listener can choose to dive as deep into the lyrics as they want to. So perfect.

Mary Chapin Carpenter — “Down at the Twist and Shout”

Mary Chapin Carpenter is a songwriter’s songwriter. I’ve read that she wrote this song about a venue in Bethesda, Maryland, but the picture she paints with the words, melody, and backing musicians transports you so deep into Louisiana that you can almost smell the gumbo. It’s such a great song from such a great talent, and every time I hear it, I want to be in the scene she’s describing. What more could you ask for from a song?

Dale Ann Bradley — “Falling Down”

I wrote this song quite a few years back while I was stuck in an ice storm waiting for an accident to clear on I-40 coming back from a show at the old Pyramid in Memphis. The words came to me in less than 10 minutes, and I wrote the melody with a guitar as soon as I got back home. Everyone has doubts, insecurities, and anxiety, and I think for artists and creators, it’s amplified. This song is about those all too familiar feelings, which might be something you don’t hear a lot about in bluegrass music.

“Falling Down” was originally recorded by my buddy Will Southern when he was a student at Belmont, and the great Dale Ann Bradley came in to sing the harmony vocals. Luckily, she remembered the song and recorded it on her album The Things She Couldn’t Get Over some 15 years later and invited me to sing harmony and play mandolin on it. She did such a wonderful job and poured her heart into it.

Tim Wilson — “First Baptist Bar and Grill”

I grew up in rural west-central North Carolina and heard country comedians like Ray Stevens, Lewis Grizzard, Jerry Clower, Jeff Foxworthy, and Tim Wilson at my childhood home and at my grandparents’ home constantly. I think that the hokeyness that surrounds this sub-genre prevents a lot of people from realizing how brilliant and well-written a lot of the material is. These folks obviously greatly influenced my writing, and I’m really proud of that. This particular song is a masterpiece by the late great Tim Wilson.

Ashby Frank — “Arkansas Island”

This is one of three songs that I wrote on the new album, and all three of them come from a span of a few years in my life when I was living and working on cruise ships in the Caribbean. One day, I was stuck onboard in Cozumel because of a safety precaution known as “port manning” where the ship has to have a minimum number of employees onboard, and I wrote this song looking out my cabin window. The scene I witnessed looked very much like what you’d see at a marina or lakefront beach in rural America, and I thought that was amusing, so I wrote about it. The subtle Caribbean vibes that Scott Vestal added on the banjo and my Mountain Heart bandmate Josh Shilling added on organ really made this track fit the lyrics, and I couldn’t be more pleased with the end result.

The Wonderful Nobodies — “The Wire”

Lacy Green of The Wonderful Nobodies is one of my favorite singers and writers in Nashville. This song tells a different kind of story about performing and the highs and lows that go with it, creating tension and putting you on the edge of your seat.

Amanda Cook — “Point of No Return”

This is another song I wrote, and it’s about being a free spirit and going where you’ve never been before. There are many “normal life” sacrifices that are made when you pursue your dreams and try to make a living out of the art that you’re passionate about. But the rush that you get from a great performance where you connect with the audience, or from discovering a new town, venue, artist, song, or even a beautiful landscape is always something special and can be addicting. That’s what I wrote this song about, and Amanda, her band, and her producer Aaron Ramsey did a perfect job of presenting it.

Sean McConnell — “What the Hell Is Wrong with Me”

Sean McConnell’s 2021 album A Horrible Beautiful Dream is in my opinion one of the most masterfully written, produced, and performed collections of songs in recent American music. This song stands out to be included on this mixtape because it asks a lot of the questions that any sane professional musician would ask.

Sam Bush — “Same Ol’ River”

This song was masterfully written by the great Jeff Black, and to me the lyrics demonstrate the overwhelming feelings that free spirits often encounter when they think about the world around them and the myriad of possibilities in life and directions they could go. I first heard Sam sing this one at MerleFest when I was a teenager, and it’s still my favorite song that he performs.

Robbie Fulks — “Where There’s a Road”

Robbie Fulks has such a way with words, and this song is a road warrior’s anthem. So many of the lyrics to this one are relatable for any traveling musician, so it’s no surprise that there are also two great cover versions of this song by my friends Blue Moon Rising and the great Sam Bush.

Brandon Ratcliff — “Tale of Two Towns”

“Are you more brave for leaving or sticking around? It’s one dot on a map but a tale of two towns.” Whoa. Brandon Ratcliff is kind of new on the scene. He’s the son of roots music royalty (his mom is Suzanne Cox of the legendary Cox Family) and the writing on his new project has impressed me so much. This song really struck me and is very relatable to anyone that grew up in a small town.

Photo Credit: Melissa DuPuy

WATCH: Robert Plant & Alison Krauss Sing “Can’t Let Go” on New ‘CMT Crossroads’

Posted on by Editor

Robert Plant and Alison Krauss are still riding a high from Raise the Roof, a well-received surprise album that appeared late last fall. After an international tour and three Grammy nominations, they’re now returning to the CMT Crossroads spotlight for the first time in 14 years.

Plant and Krauss first teamed for an episode of CMT Crossroads in 2008 following the release of their six-time Grammy Award-winning album Raising Sand. Their reunion marks the 20th anniversary of the franchise. CMT Crossroads: Robert Plant & Alison Krauss premieres with a special 90-minute presentation on Tuesday, November 29 at 9p/8c, exclusively on CMT. Encores are scheduled for Tuesday, November 29 at 10:30p/9:30c, and Sunday, December 4 at 11a/10c.

The anniversary special features the songs “High and Lonesome,” “Can’t Let Go” and “Gone Gone Gone” from their collaborative albums, as well as classics such as Led Zeppelin’s “Rock and Roll” and “When the Levee Breaks.” Enjoy the duo’s charming performance of “Can’t Let Go” (featuring a standout solo from guitarist JD McPherson) below.

Photo Credit: David McClister

BGS 5+5: The Foreign Landers

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Artist: The Foreign Landers (David and Tabitha Benedict)
Hometown: Travelers Rest, South Carolina
Latest Album: Travelers Rest
Personal nicknames (or rejected band names): Tabs and Doodles

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

“Traveler,” the first track on our new album, is a song we wrote from the perspective of Tabitha’s family back in Northern Ireland. Since we moved to the States at the end of 2020, it’s been so difficult being so far away from family, a feeling I’m sure a lot of people are familiar with since the start of the pandemic. We wanted to find a way to capture that sentiment in this song, but it ended up being one of the most difficult writing experiences we’ve had. Not only was it hard to find the words to communicate these feelings, but it was also an emotional process. But after a couple months of challenging writing sessions, we came up with “Traveler” and it’s become a focal point for this new Travelers Rest album.

Which artist has influenced you the most … and how?

We’d have to say Alison Krauss has been one of our biggest inspirations. Tabitha first picked up the banjo in Northern Ireland after hearing Ron Block on Alison’s Every Time You Say Goodbye album. Hard to beat that title track, too! I once heard a 10-year-old kid in New Zealand play Adam Steffey’s mandolin kickoff on this song note for note. Just another testament to how far reaching bluegrass is and how much we owe to Alison and her music!

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

Tabitha loves to walk so much! We often take our crazy dog Finn to our favorite hiking haunt Paris Mountain State Park not too far from our home here in Travelers Rest, S.C. While we walk among the beautiful forests and lakes in that park, we talk about songs we want to write and make plans for future music projects. We love that spot so much that we commissioned artist Dealey Dansby to do a linocut interpretation of an iconic reservoir at the park. That same spot was an inspiration in part to another new song of ours called “Garden” — a song all about planting roots in the place you’re in, no matter what the circumstances.

Since food and music go so well together, what is your dream pairing of a meal and a musician?

We absolutely love the clawhammer banjo playing of the great Adam Hurt! His Earth Tones record in particular is played almost nonstop in our car journeys. And since he’s playing a gourd banjo on that record, we think the perfect meal and musician pairing would be stuffed and roasted acorn squash with Adam’s warm banjo tones! Check out one of our favorite tracks from that Earth Tones album, “Old Beech Leaves/Sheeps and Hogs Walking Through the Pasture.”

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

We love this quote from C.S. Lewis, who said, “If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world. If none of my earthly pleasures satisfy it, that does not prove that the universe is a fraud. Probably earthly pleasures were never meant to satisfy it, but only to arouse it, to suggest the real thing. … I must keep alive in myself the desire for my true country, which I shall not find till after death; I must never let it get snowed under or turned aside; I must make it the main object of life to press on to that other country and help others to do the same.”

Since Tabitha and I are both from different countries, we often feel like there’s no real place where we can both feel at home. And in a deeper sense, we know that there won’t ever be a place in this life that will fully satisfy our desire to belong somewhere. And I’m sure most people feel that way, too, no matter where you’re from. Our mission statement for our career would simply be to convey with our music that universal longing for something better, and point people to the truth and hope of this deeper reality as Lewis suggests. Nashville songwriter Andrew Peterson really captures that sense of longing for “another world” in his song “The Far Country.” Love his music!

Photo Credit: Nicole Davis

Brandi Carlile, Keb’ Mo’, Molly Tuttle Receive Grammy Award Nominations

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Brandi Carlile, Alison Krauss, Keb’ Mo, Bonnie Raitt and Molly Tuttle are among the roots artists receiving nominations for the 65th Annual Grammy Awards, to be presented on February 5 on CBS.

Carlile’s In These Silent Days will compete for Album of the Year and Best Americana Album. In addition, “You and Me on the Rock” (featuring Lucius) is nominated for Record of the Year, Best Americana Performance, and Best American Roots Song, while “Broken Horses” is on the ballot for Best Rock Performance and Best Rock Song.

Krauss and Robert Plant share nominations for Best Country Duo/Group Performance (“Going Where the Lonely Go”) and Best Americana Album (Raise the Roof). In addition, the composition “High and Lonesome” earned Plant and co-writer T Bone Burnett a Best American Roots Song nomination.

Keb’ Mo’ returns to the ballot in the category of Best Americana Album with Good to Be…. His 2019 album, Oklahoma, is a past winner in the category. (Read our BGS interview with Keb’ Mo’.)

Bonnie Raitt’s “Just Like That,” which she wrote, is nominated for Song of the Year and Best American Roots Song. Another of Raitt’s recordings, “Made Up Mind,” is nominated for Best Americana Performance. Her album Just Like That… is up for Best Americana Album.

In a rarity for bluegrass artists, Molly Tuttle secured a high-profile Best New Artist nomination in addition to a placement in the Best Bluegrass Album category (for Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway’s Crooked Tree). Read our BGS interview with Molly Tuttle.)

Other artists nominated in multiple categories include Madison Cunningham, Willie Nelson, Aoife O’Donovan, and Dolly Parton. A selection of American Roots Music nominations are listed below. See the full list of nominations.

Best American Roots Performance

“Someday It’ll All Make Sense (Bluegrass Version)”
Bill Anderson Featuring Dolly Parton

“Life According to Raechel”
Madison Cunningham

“Oh Betty”
Fantastic Negrito

“Stompin’ Ground”
Aaron Neville With The Dirty Dozen Brass Band

“Prodigal Daughter”
Aoife O’Donovan & Allison Russell

Best Americana Performance

“Silver Moon [A Tribute to Michael Nesmith]”
Eric Alexandrakis

“There You Go Again”
Asleep at the Wheel Featuring Lyle Lovett

“The Message”
Blind Boys of Alabama Featuring Black Violin

“You and Me on the Rock”
Brandi Carlile Featuring Lucius

“Made Up Mind”
Bonnie Raitt

Best American Roots Song

“Bright Star”
Anaïs Mitchell, songwriter (recorded by Anaïs Mitchell)

“Forever”
Sheryl Crow & Jeff Trott, songwriters (recorded by Sheryl Crow)

“High and Lonesome”
T Bone Burnett & Robert Plant, songwriters (recorded by Robert Plant & Alison Krauss)

“Just Like That”
Bonnie Raitt, songwriter (recorded by Bonnie Raitt)

“Prodigal Daughter”
Tim O’Brien & Aoife O’Donovan, songwriters (recorded by Aoife O’Donovan & Allison Russell)

“You and Me on the Rock”
Brandi Carlile, Phil Hanseroth & Tim Hanseroth, songwriters (recorded by Brandi Carlile Featuring Lucius)

Best Americana Album

In These Silent Days
Brandi Carlile

Things Happen That Way
Dr. John

Good To Be…
Keb’ Mo’

Raise the Roof
Robert Plant & Alison Krauss

Just Like That…
Bonnie Raitt

Best Bluegrass Album

Toward the Fray
The Infamous Stringdusters

Almost Proud
The Del McCoury Band

Calling You From My Mountain
Peter Rowan

Crooked Tree
Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway

Get Yourself Outside
Yonder Mountain String Band

Best Traditional Blues Album

Heavy Load Blues
Gov’t Mule

The Blues Don’t Lie
Buddy Guy

Get On Board
Taj Mahal & Ry Cooder

The Sun Is Shining Down
John Mayall

Mississippi Son
Charlie Musselwhite

Best Contemporary Blues Album

Done Come Too Far
Shemekia Copeland

Crown
Eric Gales

Bloodline Maintenance
Ben Harper

Set Sail
North Mississippi Allstars

Brother Johnny
Edgar Winter

Best Folk Album

Spellbound
Judy Collins

Revealer
Madison Cunningham

The Light at the End of the Line
Janis Ian

Age of Apathy
Aoife O’Donovan

Hell on Church Street
Punch Brothers

Best Regional Roots Music Album

Full Circle
Sean Ardoin And Kreole Rock And Soul Featuring LSU Golden Band From Tigerland

Natalie Noelani
Natalie Ai Kamauu

Halau Hula Keali’i O Nalani – Live at the Getty Center
Halau Hula Keali’i O Nalani

Lucky Man
Nathan & The Zydeco Cha Chas

Live at the 2022 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival
Ranky Tanky

Photo Credit: Pamela Neal (Brandi Carlile); Jeremy_Cowart (Keb’ Mo’); Samantha Muljat (Molly Tuttle)