Tag: Americana

You Gotta Hear This: Red Camel Collective, Wood Box Heroes, and More

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

It’s not only the end of the week, it’s the end of the month! And that, to us, is scary enough for October 31. Mark the occasion – whether Halloween, the end of the week, or the end of October – with our new music roundup.

Kicking us off, singer-songwriter Sophie Gault releases her new album, Unhinged, today so we’re sharing the project’s title track to celebrate. Inspired by a stroke of luck playing cards aboard a cruise ship, Gault leans into trusting your gut and doing what feels true – even if others might call that “unhinged.”

Red Camel Collective, 2025 IBMA Award winners for Best New Artist, have unveiled a new music video today for “In The Mexican Sun,” written by hit bluegrass songwriter Malcolm Pulley. Perfect contrast for the cool, rainy days of fall or the quickly approaching shivery weather of winter, “In The Mexican Sun” wasn’t intended to be a bluegrass number, but the Collective make it feel right at home in the genre.

Meanwhile, contemporary bluegrass (and everything else) guitar great Bryan Sutton has a special posthumous duet with Doc Watson that he’s sharing today. The new single, “Working Man Blues,” includes vocals and guitar by Watson and Sutton shares the story of how the Merle Haggard cover came to be.

Experimental old-time and indie musician Laurel Premo shares her new project today, Laments, a thoughtful and deep exploration of grief from a variety of perspectives. A sort of instrumental text painting, “Grief Of The Angler” listens like an entrancing dreamscape as resonant bow strokes and heart-wrenching vocalizations interweave in evocative and inspiring ways.

Bringing us home, Nashville bluegrass-Americana supergroup Wood Box Heroes pay tribute to K.T. Oslin with a video performance of their cover of “Do Ya.'” With fiddler/vocalist Jenee Fleenor on the mic, it’s a lovely homage to a relatively undersung hero of ’80s and ’90s country music. Of course, the track shines with the Wood Box treatment.

There’s plenty to enjoy in our weekly collection of new music, videos, and premieres. You Gotta Hear This!

Sophie Gault, “Unhinged”

Artist: Sophie Gault
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
Song: “Unhinged”
Album: Unhinged
Release Date: October 31, 2025 (single); January 23, 2025 (album)
Label: Torrez Music Group

In Their Words: “I wrote ‘Unhinged’ after going on the Outlaw Country Cruise. I was learning to play blackjack and everyone told me I was crazy for doubling down on a 17 – but I did it anyway, and won. That moment kind of summed up everything for me. The song’s about gambling, but really it’s about trusting your gut and doing what feels true, even when the odds are against you. Sometimes the biggest risk is the one that pays off inside. On the way off the boat, this guy stopped me and said, ‘Hey, you’re that unhinged girl from the blackjack table!’ and I thought, ‘Yup, that’s the spirit of the song right there.'” – Sophie Gault

Laurel Premo, “Grief Of The Angler”

Artist: Laurel Premo
Hometown: Traverse City, Michigan
Song: “Grief Of The Angler”
Album: Laments
Release Date: October 31, 2025

In Their Words: “The four pieces on this record each hold a different-sized relationship. The third track, ‘Grief Of The Angler / I Grieve In The Realization Of The Generosity Of Your Gift,’ is sung from a formed deeper intimacy with the ecosystem that I belong to. In my life, my relationship with a form of hunting has been fishing and this piece sings the shared experience of taking another body for nourishment.

“As every relationship deepens, as the bonds are woven together between individuals, there is the opportunity for those threads to hold beings closer together but also to create tension when one leans back. The ties stay connected in both directions and that reciprocity demanded is an exchange for the gift of being able to be closer in intimacy. This piece sings from the moment of gravity of the fisherperson deciding to keep a catch and the energetic blending of beings therein.” – Laurel Premo

Red Camel Collective, “In The Mexican Sun”

Artist: Red Camel Collective
Hometown: Wirtz, Virginia (Johnathan Dillon); Walnut Cove, North Carolina (Tony and Heather Mabe); Oakboro, North Carolina (Curt Love).
Song: “In The Mexican Sun”
Release Date: October 17, 2025 (single); October 31, 2025 (video)
Label: Pinecastle Records

In Their Words: “This tune comes to us from the pen of our buddy Malcolm Pulley. You may recognize that name as he also wrote the hit song ‘In The Gravel Yard,’ which went on to become a bluegrass jam standard. ‘In The Mexican Sun’ is one of those songs that you’re sure you’ve heard somewhere before. The melody seems familiar somehow. It has all the earmarks of a hit tune. This one wasn’t a bluegrass song from its conception, but I believe it was always destined to become one.” – Heather Berry Mabe

Track Credits:
Heather Berry Mabe – Guitar, vocals
Tony Mabe – Banjo, vocals
Johnathan Dillon – Mandolin
Curt Love – Bass
Stephen Burwell – Fiddle

Video Credit: Laci Mack

Bryan Sutton, “Working Man Blues”

Artist: Bryan Sutton
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
Song: “Working Man Blues”
Album: From Roots to Branches
Release Date: October 31, 2025 (single)
Label: Mountain Home Music Company

In Their Words: “On the original 2006 release, I would just show up, set my gear up, and we would record. Even in those sessions I had a general idea but not so much of a design on what exactly I needed to get. Once [Doc] got comfortable, he was just starting to talk and show me some different tunes. … He just launched into ‘Working Man Blues,’ out of nowhere! It felt like, ‘I hope I got all that, I hope the tape didn’t run out.’ Then he said at the end of it (and I kept it on the recordings), ‘I just wanted to hear what you did with it.’

“You never knew what you were going to get with Doc Watson – from Crystal Gayle songs and ‘Nights in White Satin,’ certainly all that Doc-abilly stuff and swing tunes – outside of just fiddle tunes and bluegrass and folk ballads and things like that. Certainly Doc Watson was a fan of Merle Haggard and probably knew more Merle Haggard songs than he ever played for anybody. And I don’t know that I’ve ever heard him play it any other place.” – Bryan Sutton

Track Credits:
Bryan Sutton – Acoustic guitar
Doc Watson – Acoustic guitar, vocal

Wood Box Heroes, “Do Ya'”

Artist: Wood Box Heroes
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
Song: “Do Ya'”
Release Date: October 31, 2025 (video)

In Their Words: “I heard K.T. Oslin’s ‘Do Ya” on the radio one day and immediately thought, ‘Now that’s a song I’d love to sing.’ I brought it to the guys and when we worked it up together the crowd response was incredible! K.T. has always inspired me – not just because of her artistry, but because her country career didn’t take off until she was in her 40s. I’ve been so blessed with a successful fiddle career, but I’ll admit, there were times I thought about stepping away from singing and letting that part of me go. Starting Wood Box Heroes reignited that spark and this song, in particular, hit me on so many levels. It’s a joy to perform and I hope we can all take a moment to remember and celebrate the great K.T. Oslin.” – Jenee Fleenor

Track Credits:
Jenee Fleenor – Lead vocal, fiddle
Josh Martin – Vocals, guitar
Barry Bales – Upright bass
Matt Menefee – Banjo
Thomas Cassell – Mandolin

Video Credits: Videography by Barry Rice, Steve Anderson, and Andy Jeffers.

Photo Credit: Red Camel Collective by Ed Rode; Wood Box Heroes by Eric Ahlgrim.

The Glittering Golden Grass of The Brothers Comatose

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Bay Area five-piece The Brothers Comatose were actually founded by the brothers Morrison: that would be Ben on guitar and lead vocals and his brother Alex on banjo. The Morrisons came from a musical family and were influenced as much by classic rock as they were by country and bluegrass – their first album, Songs from the Stoop (2010), even contains a cover of The Rolling Stones’ “Dead Flowers.” Initially, the band’s lineup included bassist Steve Height, fiddler Phil Brezina, and mandolin player Greg Fleischut.

In the 15 years since, they have stayed busy both in the studio and on the road. As anyone who has seen the band’s concerts can attest, The Brothers Comatose are anything but… comatose. Their live performances are known to be high energy and often include audience participation. They have supported everyone from Gillian Welch & David Rawlings to Yonder Mountain String Band to Trampled By Turtles. In addition, the group has played festivals like Hardly Strictly Bluegrass and Outside Lands.

The Brothers Comatose returned at the end of July with their fifth studio outing, Golden Grass. The title track, which also opens the album, came from an unlikely source. “A fan started calling our sound ‘golden grass,’” explains Ben Morrison. “And the phrase just felt right.”

Golden Grass arrives three years after the band’s prior album and continues their mix of traditional bluegrass and rock. But behind the scenes, there have been some changes. The Brothers recorded Golden Grass in two separate installments with two different producers, Greg Holden and Tim Bluhm. While they were making the disc, mandolin player Greg Fleischut decided to leave the group. His replacement, Addie Levy, is the first woman in the band and, at just 23, significantly younger than her fellow members. “We always thought it would be cool to have a female voice to hit those high harmonies,” says Morrison. “Addie’s such an incredible mandolin and fiddle player, but she’s also a great singer and songwriter in her own right.”

Golden Grass is probably a bit more diverse than the band’s previous albums. Beyond being their first release to include a woman singer and mandolin player, it’s more collaborative in general. Ben wrote several songs, of course, but other tracks were penned by Levy, Brezina, and Alex Morrison. Still, Golden Grass maintains a pretty consistent sound over its 10 songs. The title track sounds like a lost Allman Brothers tune from back in the day and other highlights include lovely ballads like “Home Again” (featuring Lindsay Lou on guest vocals) and “My Friend” as well as the funny, rollicking “The IPA Song.”

I recently had the pleasure of catching up with Ben Morrison and Addie Levy for BGS.

To start with, tell me a little about the making of Golden Grass. I understand there were some changes between your last album and this one. Addie obviously is the new addition. And I guess Greg was the guy who left?

Ben Morrison: Yeah, Greg was in the band before. He left like halfway through the album. We recorded it in chunks. So we recorded half the album, we were working through the rest of the songs, and in that process, he left the band. Addie joined and recorded the second half of the album with us. But it’s funny. There are four mandolin players on [Golden Grass]. We had a couple of guest mandolin players on the album before Addie joined. Ronnie McCoury’s on there. It’s a good variety, I guess. [Laughs]

Tell me about the title track, which is also the first song on the album.

BM: That’s a good question. It started out with us trying to identify ourselves – that age-old question when you ask a musician what kind of music they play. “Well, it’s kind of hard to define. We’re jazz and pop and metal and boy band!” [Laughs] You know, it’s definitely pulling a lot from the bluegrass world. But also from a bunch of other influences.

We kept posting these things on Facebook and there’s this guy, Cyrus Clark, I believe his name is. He kept commenting about a lot of music coming from California – string band music specifically – going back to Old & In the Way. He kept saying, “Golden Grass! Brothers Comatose, Molly Tuttle, and AJ Lee.” We thought that was really cool.

I think I had just written it down in a notebook one day. And we did a cowrite – myself, our fiddle player Phil, and the guy that produced the second half of the record, Tim Bluhm. I was like, “What if we called it Golden Grass?” We started name-dropping different bands in the lyrics and kind of giving them a little shout out. We had fun with that and went with it.

“Home Again” – reading the press release, I know what inspired it. But just listening to the lyrics, I [probably] would have known anyway. For those of us on the East Coast, tell me a bit more about what [the wildfires] were like and how it affected the song.

BM: That wasn’t a personal story; it was about good friends of ours who lost their house in the Santa Cruz Mountains fires a few years back. For those of you not in California, there’s a fire season [here] where fires can just rip through and destroy communities. It’s pretty messed up and now it’s literally close to home. Some good friends of ours – all their property and their house got destroyed. I think it was during the pandemic and it hit me pretty hard. I was just really feeling for them and that song kinda came pretty quickly.

We had the song and thought about getting somebody to help sing it with us. Lindsay Lou’s been a friend for a long, long time and she’s such a great singer. We sent it to her and she was on it. It’s about a couple losing their house and building back together. So it made more sense to me as a duet.

I like the ballads on the album. Addie, I think you were the one who wrote “Blue Mountain?”

Addie Levy: I am.

Tell me a bit about the inspiration for that song.

AL: I’m from the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. I grew up in Appalachia my whole life. [The mountains] have always been a very big inspiration for my writing and who I am as a person.

I was driving to work one day and was listening to the Infamous Stringdusters’ [version of the Cure’s] “Just Like Heaven” and got really inspired by having a keen lick throughout the whole song. I was like, “I need to write a song like that.” It all came to me within the drive to work. I showed it to my mom when I got home and she kind of looked at me with concern. She was like “Are you and your boyfriend okay?” I was like, “What does that have to do with the song I just played you?” I accidentally wrote the entire thing about him – which is bad ‘cause he cheats on me in the song! But he doesn’t in real life! [Laughs]

There were all these little pieces. Like, I pass his exit to work every day. He knows my Starbucks order. I painted the walls blue in his bedroom in one of our first months of dating. I pulled all these little things I didn’t mean to. Then I had to show it to him. I was like, “I am so sorry I wrote this song about you!” But when you’re in a nice, healthy relationship – I don’t have that much stuff to complain about so I can’t really write about it!

“The IPA Song” is a fun track. Anything either of you want to share with me about that?

BM: When we play shows, we like to get people onstage to help us out – you know, for sing-alongs or whatever it might be. I think we’ve had more children onstage for “The IPA Song” than any other song, which is ridiculous. But they make signs and stuff – like the IPA circled with a line through it. We had a 15-year-old last night playing mandolin with us for that song! I mean, the lyrics are goofy, but I guess it’s a catchy one. It’s been a fun song to play live.

Going back to the Bay Area music scene. In the late ‘60s, it was known for bands like The Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, and the whole psychedelic thing. And in the late ‘70s, there was something of a punk scene. Even in the ‘90s, there were bands like Counting Crows that recorded in San Francisco.

What is the scene like now? And with all these different musical sounds that have come from the city, how did you settle on more of an Americana/bluegrass sound?

BM: The band got its start in 2008 in San Francisco. My brother and I were living in a house on Haight Street – right in the thick of it. Phil lived a few blocks down, so he would come over. We continued to live in the city for a long time and there was a bustling scene. With bluegrass too – like this [past] weekend was the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival. I kind of credit that festival with my direct interest with this kind of music. It’s massive, three-quarters of a million people throughout the weekend. It’s all free. Huge headliners. It’s not all bluegrass but it definitely leans in that direction.

It was so cool being exposed to different kinds of music that I hadn’t really listened to before. What was also cool was watching artists play – Del McCoury, John Prine, Emmylou Harris – all these players that were older. It seemed like the older you get, the more respect you get in this world. [That] was interesting, because I felt like in the rock world there was sort of a shelf life. Like “Oh, you’re in your late 20s in a rock band? Give it up, kid.” That kind of thing. But in this world, when you’re 70, you’re doing it! That was always so cool to me.

So San Francisco does have a pretty cool scene. Probably 10 years ago, a lot of people started moving out because tech started moving in [and it became] more expensive. But I’ve heard that it’s getting cool again. I don’t hang out there as much anymore ‘cause we’re on the road a lot and I’ve got two kids. I mean, Addie probably hangs out there more than I do.

AL: Anytime I’m in town, I try to find a bluegrass gang. There’s a couple of bars [where] I’ve made some good friends. Sometimes there are jams, sometimes they’re just drinking. But there are some really cool musicians in town.

Ben, I know your brother is also in the band. Tell me what Alex brings to The Brothers Comatose that is unique.

BM: Alex has swagger beyond belief. [Laughs] Is that what you would call it?

AL: Yeah. [He’s] the most photogenic, most in the vibe of every situation.

BM: And the way he plays, too. To me, he plays banjo like Keith Richards plays guitar. You know, he’s not trying to be the Yngwie Malmsteen of the banjo or anything. He’s just trying to make it groovy, stanky, in the pocket. It’s just got such good feel to it. And also, he’s a great songwriter and singer. But a lot of his influences come from [bands like] The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin. We used to listen to a lot of classic rock when we were kids.

Addie, I guess I wanted to ask you what it’s like so far as the new member of the band and also the first woman. Crashing the boys’ club, as it were.

AL: My very first show with them was in Idaho. I had never met any of them, I had one phone call with them and I had never been west of Nashville! You know, I grew up traveling up and down the East Coast and never really left. I remember touching down in Sun Valley and the realization hit that I knew two people there and they were leaving the next day. And I was like, “I’m gonna get murdered. I am gonna die out here!” [Laughs] I never heard of the festival, it was in the mountains somewhere… I was like, “This is the end.”

[I was] super anxious to start. I mean, our first show was a headlining slot that Sunday. That was terrifying. But [the Brothers Comatose are] just the greatest people. They’re so welcoming. And I’m an only child. So they’re really the siblings [I never had]… They’re the best.

Photo Credits: Lead image courtesy of Burning House Management. Alternate image by Jessie McCall.

Basic Folk: The Barr Brothers

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

In the eight years since The Barr Brothers last released an album, Andrew has been drumming with people like Feist, Mumford & Sons, and Broken Social Scene while Brad released a solo record and underwent incredible personal change. Brad made the huge decision to get sober, which he talks about candidly in our Basic Folk interview.

Anything you read about the new record, Let it Hiss, might allude to his newfound sobriety while not mentioning it directly. The band made a conscious decision not to include it in any press releases specifically so that their audience could have their own relationship with the new music. It seems like getting sober has impacted every aspect of the album, but one could listen and project just about any personal pivotal shift onto these songs. Regardless, I am so appreciative that Brad opened up about his sobriety, so we could better understand the music and the incredible relationship that he and Andrew share.

LISTEN: APPLE • SPOTIFY • AMAZON • MP3

Elsewhere in our conversation, we talk about Brad’s deep connection to the number 216, its origin, and why he’s kept that number close to him for most of his life. He shares his reflections on the music lessons given to him and Andrew from visiting Malian musicians, who exchanged their services for free dental work from their father. Those lessons completely changed the musical trajectory of the brothers and still impact them today. We also talk about their former band, The Slip (who are actually still active every now and again), a much-loved Boston group that was fully embraced in the jam band world. I find the music of Andrew and Brad Barr to be completely transformative and not of this world – and I’m so grateful for the new record. Please go see them live, especially if you are into celestial experiences!

Photo Credits: Lead image by Sarah Melvin. Alternate images by Meghan Sepe and Pappy’s Portraits.

Singer-Songwriter Madi Diaz is Metal as Hell

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Hitting play on singer-songwriter Madi Diaz’s latest album, Fatal Optimist, one wouldn’t automatically identify her close-to-the-mic, chunky strums and anxious, confident vocals as “metal.” But keep listening and trust.

Fatal Optimist is heavy on numerous elements of metal – fantasy, humor, darkness, anger. For much of its runtime, it feels like the inside of a clenched fist, slowly but surely letting go. With songs that are, this time, centered around her solo voice and acoustic guitar, Diaz turns her liminal songwriting further inward than ever. This is saying a lot for an artist who’s no stranger to personal narrative. While her prior album, 2023’s Weird Faith, brushed up against hopeful optimism, this follow-up proves that earned optimism is perhaps the better version.

After all, Diaz chose to open the disc with the wordplay stunner “Hope Less,” a stiff shot of reality that reorients us to a heart at least as full of darkness as light. If the LP’s vibe is “clenched fist,” its songs play like spokes in a wheel rolling us toward the jubilant title track – a progression Diaz admitted in our recent BGS interview was equal parts intentional and inevitable.

This album starts out very quiet. It feels very close and very intimate, then it slowly opens up. Was that the intentional vibe and arc of the album for you?

Madi Diaz: It definitely ended up being a much more lean-in [kind of] record. The further I got down the road, the more it felt very obvious that was just what the song content needed. It’s kind of heavy stuff, I think. It was a lot of mining of the self, which I did a lot privately. So I felt like I wanted the songs to match that [vibe], in the end.

I was listening to it this morning, thinking about your song “Everything Almost” from the last record. Like, how optimistic and full of hope that song is and then this album starts off with a line like “hope less.” Obviously, when you’re writing about personal events in your own life, it’s easy to see connection in the rearview. But I’m wondering if there’s something more to what feels, to me, like a connection between that song and this project.

That’s funny. I was just talking about this. I do feel like a lot of the songs in the last record … are about following that gut intuition. That gut feeling. So a lot of the songs on Weird Faith are absolutely going like, “I think this is it. I think this is gonna work. I think we’re really gonna get there.”

There was a really funny moment I had recently. I was practicing for this tour and putting [together] the set list. I wrote this song called “This Is How a Woman Leaves” for my friend Maren Morris, her last record that she put out [Dreamsicle, 2025]. I am planning on releasing a version … at some point down the road a little bit. But I was practicing “Everything Almost” and then I wanted to go into “This Is How” because in “Everything Almost,” I’m packing the boxes and moving in. In “This Is How” I’m fucking moving out.

Like, “How it started, how it’s going.”

It’s the “fuck around and find out” journey right there, in a nutshell.

Nice. I was reading that you went to an island when you were writing the album. Can I ask what island you went to? And did you know that’s what you were going to do when you started your trip to that island, planning, like, “I’m gonna get it together.” Or was it just kind of like how life happens?

There were, actually, many islands. Physically, mentally. … I started off coming off of this European tour. We finished this tour in Italy, so I went to an island off the coast of Italy and was there by myself. I did a lot of journaling and walking – so much walking. I’m a big processor by walking and talking, so I would kind of record myself as I was processing things out loud. I really wanted to be in a space where I felt safe to do that. It felt like the safest thing was to just take myself away from everybody, so as to not barrage people with [my feelings].

I started off in Ischia and then I ended up, really wonderfully, being asked to be a part of this [songwriters’] colony in Nantucket. So I did that. I ended up going to Long Island with my dad, to Noyack, and just [did] a lot of journaling there.

Also, [I was] feeling very much like I couldn’t tell whether I was the island or the island was the island. It was just this very unescapable lonerism. Solo mission, you know. Like in a spacesuit, kind of feeling. I just couldn’t shake it, so I just took it with me everywhere I went.

Can you talk a little bit about the process of songwriting? Your songs are so personal, almost uncomfortably so. I wonder if that’s the result of writing in an actual journal on paper and if that’s a different kind of creative experience for you than voice memos on your phone, which so many people do now instead of journaling.

I definitely rely on journaling still. A lot. Sometimes, if I’m in a pinch, I’ll text myself an idea. Or, I have [the] Notes app open. A lot of Fatal Optimist was pulled from about a year’s worth of pretty serious journaling and going back over certain words that kind of stuck out. I love journaling. I think it’s like a life scrapbook, you know? There’s a funny thing that happens. Sometimes I’ll open a journal and I don’t even know what year it’s from, because some of the issues [are] so consistent. … But it’s kind of like a sweet reminder, of survival, I guess.

Totally. Do you remember writing the couplet at the beginning of “Lone Wolf”? “Lamb’s gotta lamb, god planned it/ Wolf’s gotta wolf, goddamn it.” It’s such a perfect little song, but it doesn’t feel trope-y. It feels, really, like a strike of inspiration.

Well, I remember it was dead of winter. I was sitting on my couch with Stephen Wilson Jr. and I was going through my journal. I was talking about what was on my heart that felt so difficult, about reaching this person who chose to be a loner. I mean, he literally said to me, “I’m a loner. I’m a lone wolf kind of guy.” And I [thought,] “You just said that. That’s ridiculous.” Like, have you not seen the Pee-wee Herman movie where he’s like, “I’m a loner, Dottie. A rebel!”

But it was this thing, you know, that I almost didn’t take seriously, because it was such a crazy thing to say. And I should have [believed him], obviously, because here we are. I was talking to Stephen about it and we were laughing about this wolf character and the lines just fell out. In the aftermath of it, it’s funny.

You know, when you push somebody that wants to be alone away, they tend to want to be less alone. They feel very confronted. I mean, I’ve been there. All of a sudden, you’re confronted with your loneliness and wishing that you actually had that connection. So, when I pushed him away initially, he would just kind of show up and stick around. I really wanted him to leave me alone. Damn it. “Goddamn it” definitely came from that.

The lyric on that song is so simple. You don’t go into a lot of poetry, you don’t go into a lot of storytelling. The wolf keeps showing back up, looking good, trying to get back in. Can you talk a little bit about trusting yourself to keep it so simple? Does that come from editing or did it just feel like that’s what the song was?

I try to say it in a way like we were just talking about it sitting in the bar. I’m trying to not be misunderstood. I’m trying not to feel misunderstood even to myself. So I think I try to keep it clear and cutting, and [the way] it comes out. If it’s possible to get even closer to it, I’ll edit, but I don’t really edit a lot.

Oh wow. So it just comes out that way. That’s impressive.

Sometimes it does just come out that way. Not all the time, but sometimes it mostly does.

The other line on this album that I really wanted to unpack is in “Heavy Metal.” The line is, “In some religions, repetition is spiritual.” I wanted to unpack it a little bit, because music is often a place where people will repeat words or phrases, for a whole bunch of reasons.

But that line made me really listen to the words and phrases you were repeating elsewhere on this album: “Whose move is it to move on.” “I always love you.” “God knows how long.” “Ambivalence.” Can you tell me a little bit about how you decide what to repeat? Is it a conscious choice or just part of the process?

I think when I’m repeating something, it’s because it feels different on every lap. I’ll repeat something when the feeling is lingering in a way that– maybe if I say it enough, some magic spell will break and I’ll be released by this thing. Sometimes I feel like the repetition of it comes from a bit of a desperate [place] like, “Just get it out of me.” Maybe if I do this ten times, I’ll never have to do this ever again, which is why the [line,] “In some religions, repetition is spiritual.” …

You’re always going to carry it with you. You can learn how to hold this. I can learn how to learn from it differently every time, you know.

I guess that’s why repeating “ambivalence” is really interesting to me, because it seems like repeating that particular word is a contradiction.

I guess that’s true. Ambivalence means “caught in the middle.” Feeling in so many different directions. For me, ambivalence feels like a very desperate feeling. It almost feels like it should come with a bit of an alarm bell. Like, “Oh God. I’m feeling all of the feelings at the same time and I don’t know which one to choose.”

That makes sense. The other thing in the song “Heavy Metal” – I wanted to ask about your mom. I feel like you have mentioned your parents in other songs on other albums. But this made me wonder about your relationship with your parents. Somehow, I don’t think people talk about their parents much in music. I can’t figure out why. Do you have any thoughts on that?

I think it’s scary. It’s so scary. When I know a song is about me, I definitely tend to listen with a microscope. No one is trying to hurt anyone, but we’re all really trying our best to process love, pain, joy. I don’t know. Our effect on each other. What’s mine, what’s yours. So yeah, it’s not an easy thing to write about. …

I feel like I’ve felt the most loved and I’ve felt the most hurt by both of my parents. I think that that’s pretty normal. Or maybe not? Maybe it’s not normal.

I think it’s pretty universal.

It always kind of ends up that way. The people closest to you hurt you the most, which is why you really have to trust the people closest to you. So that when they do hurt you, you can [heal].

I think “Heavy Metal” felt right to start you talking about my mom, because she’s kind of a badass and kind of a hardass. In all the best ways and all of the hardest ways. There are some things about being tough and resilient that I wouldn’t trade for the world. It helps me survive in so many corners of my life. But also, I’ve had to really undo some of the damage that being tough does. You start to weaponize that toughness against yourself and others in a way that I didn’t even know I was doing for a long time.

Then [again,] you just don’t want to piss them off because you also want to be able to go home for Thanksgiving and stuff.

Right. That’s what makes it such a metal move, you know, to comment on your mother in this way. I’m assuming she’s still alive. Has she heard the song? Does she have any feedback for you?

I haven’t heard [feedback] yet. I really don’t know. But I’m so grateful to my mom for raising me the way that she did and giving me and my brother the lives that she gave us. I feel so lucky that she’s my mom. It’s hard to have a song like this. … But that’s just fucking art, man. It’s so hard, at the end of the day. You know, we can make it as personal as it is or as just-about-me as it is.

The last thing I want to ask about is the song “Fatal Optimist,” which is sort of a sonic departure from the rest of the album even though it’s obviously very on-topic. As a listener, it feels like we just went on this long, arduous, emotional journey, and now we’re suddenly above the tree line and the drums are here and everybody’s in the room. Not to get too nerdy about sequencing and stuff, but was there any world in which that song could have been anywhere else on the album?

It would have been a nice break, wouldn’t it have been? I just couldn’t do that. I couldn’t interrupt the intensity of this record.

I do know that optimism is a soothing balm. When it hits you, it just hits you. There’s no explanation for it. And I knew that, for me, I want a reason to listen to a record again. … This whole record feels like one step after the other. It’s like my attempt at a gift or something [for] going through it. Hopefully, these [songs] can all be like little lights on the path that lead the way to this finish line of fatal optimism. Then we can run it all back again.

Photo Credit: Allister Ann

Finding Lucinda: Episode 12

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

After the conclusion of their journey, Ismay tours the nation with screenings of Finding Lucinda, inviting local artists to play Lucinda Williams songs in the round. Following a show at Chico Women’s Club in California, Ismay interviews Chuck Prophet, a celebrated musician who co-produced the film. The pair discuss the origins of the project, what surprised them about making this documentary, and how Lucinda has influenced their songwriting and careers. They also discuss Chuck’s time opening for Lucinda in the early 2000s.

LISTEN: APPLE • SPOTIFY • AMAZON • MP3

Produced in partnership with BGS and distributed through the BGS Podcast Network, Finding Lucinda expands on the themes of Ismay’s eponymous documentary film, exploring artistic influence, creative resilience, and the impact of Williams’ music. New episodes are released twice a month. Listen right here on BGS or wherever you get podcasts.

Finding Lucinda, the documentary film that inspired and instigated the podcast, is now available to purchase, rent, or stream via video on demand. (Watch the film, listen to the soundtrack, or find a screening near you here.) Both the film and podcast showcase never-before-heard archival material, intimate conversations, and a visual journey through the literal and figurative landscapes that molded Lucinda’s songwriting.

Credits:
Produced, recorded, and mixed by Avery Hellman for Neanderthal Records, LLC.
Special thanks to: Rick Anderson, Gavin Jones, Joel Fendelman, Rose Bush, Liz McBee, Mick Hellman, Chuck Prophet, Jonathan McHugh, Sydney Lane, Jacqueline Sabec, Rosemary Carroll, Lucinda Williams & Tom Overby.

Photo Credit: Peter Dervin

Find more information on Finding Lucinda here. Find our full Finding Lucinda episode archive here.

Watch Finding Lucinda, listen to the soundtrack, or find a screening near you here.

BGS 5+5: The Prickly Pair

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Artist: The Prickly Pair
Hometown: Santa Monica, California (Mason Summit), Berwyn, Pennsylvania (Irene Greene). Now Nashville, Tennessee
Latest Album: The Prickly Pair (EP)
Personal Nicknames (or rejected band names): Sharktooth Necklace

What’s your favorite memory from being on stage?

Last year, we were honored to take part in a tribute to one of our songwriting heroes, Gene Clark, produced by Carla Olson at McCabe’s Guitar Shop, where Mason used to work. It was thrilling to perform alongside Gene’s family and collaborators.

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

We watch a lot of movies together – foreign films, ’40s and ’50s film noir, and horror. Often, we’ll be watching a movie and when a phrase or line of dialogue stands out to us, we turn to each other at the same time and say, “Write that down!”

We’ve also written songs based on true stories and real people. Our song “Wilderness” was partially inspired by Chris McCandless (Into the Wild) and our latest single, “Swamp Angel,” is about Helen Spence, also known as the Daughter of the White River.

Genre is dead (long live genre!), but how would you describe the genres and styles your music inhabits?

We like to call ourselves an “Angsty Americana” duo – twangy music with a dose of melancholy and fatalism. We also love the recently-popularized term “Y’allternative,” as Mason’s production on our records tends to have some lo-fi and psychedelic elements alongside more traditional country instrumentation. Gram Parsons conceptualized “Cosmic American Music” and that phrase resonates with us as well.

What is a genre, album, artist, musician, or song that you adore that would surprise people?

We love Amyl & the Sniffers and saw them put on a phenomenal show at Marathon Music Works in Nashville earlier this year.

What would a perfect day as an artist and creator look like to you?

It’s a great feeling to finish a song and perform it the very same night.

Photo Credit: Bridey Caramagno

Lydia Luce’s Feet in the Grass, Head in the Clouds Playlist

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

This is a Mixtape of songs I enjoy listening to in nature. I hope you listen to it while hiking or laying in the grass. Hiking and walking are my ways of meditating and connecting with myself. Especially now that we have our baby coming next month. Really trying to center myself in preparation for this beautiful life change.

I never go on a hiking or camping trip and regret it. It always helps to put things into perspective for me. My worries and stresses feel insignificant when I’m staring out at a mountain range after climbing to a peak. The title track of my new album, Mammoth, is about hiking and all of the artwork and music videos were taken while either hiking in the Swiss Alps or the Colorado Rockies. My love for nature seeps out of this new project. I hope it finds its listeners craving the outdoors. – Lydia Luce

“Head in the Clouds” – Mocky

This song is one I keep coming back to. I have spent many moments in nature with my husband camping or in our Skoolie listening to this song. It’s one of our faves.

“Free Treasure” – Adrianne Lenker

Adrianne has a beautiful way of reminding us there is treasure all around us in nature and with loved ones – and we don’t have to pay for it. There have been so many times that I have found what I’ve been looking for just by sitting outside.

“The Wind” – Feist

This song is a perfect poem about the wind. Leslie sings about the power of nature, connecting us to ourselves and to each other. She sings, “You find you, keep on the horizon.”

“Quiet as a Star” – Jon Middleton

This song reminds me of camping by the ocean. The waves, the glow of a fire, and the stars above. It’s such a simple, stunning song.

“Hello Sunshine” – Damien Jurado, Richard Swift

In Nashville we have a big lake called Percy Priest with tons of tiny islands. I love kayaking out to the islands to camp. I’ve done a lot of solo camping trips out there and this song reminds me of those times. Paddling out to watch the sunset glow.

“Pretty Stars” – Bill Frisell

This song is so beautiful. The guitar melody reminds me of night swimming. Growing up in south Florida my brother and I used to go snorkel at night to see the bioluminescence. It feels like swimming in the stars; when you pop up out of the water you see the stars glowing up above. Some real magic.

“The Moonlight Song” – Blaze Foley

There is nothing like camping in the autumn. When the season changes and making a fire to stay warm is a necessity. This song reminds me of camping in the fall with buddies. It sounds like he’s singing to us around the fire, pulling us into the moment.

“The Ocean” – Richard Hawley

I have this distinct memory of driving out of the tunnel in Santa Monica where it turns into the PCH listening to this song. I have lived half of my life close to the ocean and I miss it so much. I moved to Nashville eight years ago from Los Angeles and this song brings me right back to staring out at the Pacific Ocean.

“Pink Moon” – Nick Drake

Who doesn’t love this song? It’s just a perfect song. I love Nick Drake’s open tunings and melodies. This song reminds me of hiking and though I have heard it a million times I never get tired of it.

“Brassy Sun” – S. Carey

This is another song that takes me back to solo camping on the lake. Microdosing mushrooms and watching the sunset. Appreciating the solitude in nature.

Photo Credit: Ryan Usher

You Gotta Hear This: Eddie Barbash, Chris Jones & the Night Drivers, and More

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Saxophone, mountain dulcimer, mandolins, banjos – what else could you need? Our weekly new music roundup is here!

Today, we complete our mini-series with saxophonist Eddie Barbash with a video for “Fort Smith Breakdown,” an old-time fiddle tune performed exquisitely by Barbash on sax in a lovely, natural setting. You can find links to watch all four of Barbash’s live performance videos from his upcoming project Larkspur, below. On the other end of the roots instrument continuum, perhaps the South’s most accomplished and technical mountain dulcimer player Sarah Kate Morgan teams up with fiddler Leo Shannon on a new album, Featherbed, out today. To celebrate, we’re sharing their track “Belle of Lexington,” which they first sourced from a Library of Congress recording made in 1941 before crafting their own arrangement.

Bluegrass stalwarts Chris Jones & the Night Drivers offer a delightful play on words with “Under Over,” a song Jones wrote with broadcaster-songwriter Terry Herd. The uptempo, straight-ahead bluegrass single is available today wherever you stream music. Jones’ labelmate, mandolinist and singer-songwriter Ashby Frank, also launches a new single today. “Mr. Engineer” is a Jimmy Martin and Paul Williams classic that Frank has performed for years, but only just recorded for the first time.

Alt-Americana rockers Keyland release their new EP today, so don’t miss the title track to Stand Up To You below. As you’ll hear, this soulful Oklahoman outfit blend so many roots genres together into a melting pot style all their own. Singer-songwriter Jon Danforth then takes us just across the state line to Arkansas with his new single, “Arkansas Sunrise,” which will be included on his upcoming 2026 album, Natural State. Dripping with childhood memories and nostalgia, it’s an homage to his home state and its moniker, from which he pulled the title of the new LP.

Plus, don’t miss the new music video for a just-released single from singer-songwriter Abby Hamilton “Fried Green Tomatoes” was inspired by a line uttered by Idgie Threadgoode of the novel (and film) Fried Green Tomatoes. The vibey country-folk track explores relationships and friendships – and the parts of ourselves we display or keep hidden away.

There’s plenty to explore and enjoy from all corners of the roots music landscape! You Gotta Hear This…

Eddie Barbash, “Fort Smith Breakdown”

Artist: Eddie Barbash
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
Song: “Fort Smith Breakdown”
Album: Larkspur
Release Date: November 28, 2025 (The album will be released one song at a time with the last track coming out Nov. 28).

In Their Words: “I learned ‘Fort Smith Breakdown’ from a great Floyd, Virginia, old-time fiddler named Earl White. My favorite old-time guitarist Danny Knicely was playing with him at the time and called it ‘that tune that goes to the 4 all of a sudden.’ This practice of adding or dropping beats in unexpected places is one of my favorite things about the old-time tradition. Four of the nine tunes that I chose for Larkspur are ‘crooked’ like this. We made this recording on a trail through the Larkspur Conservation area’s natural burial ground. After two days on the grounds, I’m completely sold on natural burial. I’d much rather feed the forest and donate my body to the preservation of wild land than to rot alone in a concrete box under a lifeless lawn.” – Eddie Barbash

(Editor’s Note: Watch all the videos in our mini-series with Eddie Barbash here, here, and here.)

Jon Danforth, “Arkansas Sunrise”

Artist: Jon Danforth
Hometown: Dallas, Texas
Song: “Arkansas Sunrise”
Album: Natural State
Release Date: October 24, 2025 (single); January 23, 2026 (album)

In Their Words: “‘Arkansas Sunrise’ is about the countless, lazy Saturday mornings I’ve spent in my home state with family and friends. Arkansas is a beautiful state and a wonderful place to be, especially in the fall when the hot temperatures finally drop. There is nothing better than waking up to cool weather, leaves changing, and bacon crackling alongside the people you love. My goal was to capture that warmth and nostalgia in a song that hopefully honors my home state.” – Jon Danforth

Track Credits: 
Jon Danforth – Vocals, acoustic guitar, songwriter
Will Carmack – Bass
Aaron Carpenter – Drums, percussion
Bobby Orozco – Piano
Melissa Cox – Fiddle
Hannah Brooks – Background vocals

Ashby Frank, “Mr. Engineer”

Artist: Ashby Frank
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
Song: “Mr. Engineer”
Release Date: October 24, 2025
Label: Mountain Home Music Company

In Their Words: “I started performing this Jimmy Martin and Paul Williams classic on stage with Mashville Brigade years ago and recently started adding it to the set list of my Yachtgrass band’s shows. I have wanted to record it since I started singing it live and I am so proud of the finished product. I just love the old-school vibe and super lonesome content of the lyrics and melody, and of course Matt Menefee (banjo) and Jim VanCleve (fiddle) added some wicked and bluesy solos that made the whole track gel. I can’t wait for everyone to hear it!” – Ashby Frank

Track Credits:
Ashby Frank – Mandolin, lead vocal, harmony vocal
Seth Taylor – Acoustic guitar
Travis Anderson – Upright bass
Matt Menefee – Banjo
Jim VanCleve – Fiddle
Jaelee Roberts – Harmony vocal

Abby Hamilton, “Fried Green Tomatoes”

Artist: Abby Hamilton
Hometown: Nicholasville, Kentucky
Song: “Fried Green Tomatoes”
Release Date: October 24, 2025

In Their Words: “‘I’m as settled as I’ll ever be’ is the line from Idgie Threadgoode in Fried Green Tomatoes that inspired this song. It’s about the inner dialogue in relationships and friendships as you never show the world what you question from within. The world sees you as secure and confident, which you very well may be in some ways, but inside you feel a sense of doubt that no one else knows. Maybe just the most intimate of friendships or relationships get questioned. That in whatever you’re carrying on about inside or out, it’s still ‘look at those fried green tomatoes’ in the middle of ‘she’s trying to teach me how to cook.’ Chaos and joy and confusion. You can be all out of sorts about whatever’s in your brain and it’s still just ‘fried green tomatoes.’ The right person will make you laugh and ground you, remind you that you’re not so alone.” – Abby Hamilton

Chris Jones & the Night Drivers, “Under Over”

Artist: Chris Jones & The Night Drivers
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
Song: “Under Over”
Release Date: October 24, 2025
Label: Mountain Home Music Company

In Their Words: “I have no idea where the phrase ‘file it under over’ came from; it was just one of those things that popped into my head one day. Aside from the play on words, I just got to thinking about the idea of filing something away for good, whether it be a bad relationship or an addiction of some kind, and I pictured a file with ‘over’ on the tab. I’ve been friends with songwriter and bluegrass broadcaster Terry Herd for many years and he’s written all sorts of award-winning and hit bluegrass songs with a range of writers. But we had never written one together and it’s been something I’ve wanted to do for a long time. We discussed the song concept together when I was at his house in Nashville and we got right to work on it. He was the one who came up with the phrase ‘in a little box of pain,’ which I think is my favorite part of the song. The uptempo, straight-ahead bluegrass feel really fit with the uplifting feeling of filing something negative away and moving on.” – Chris Jones

Track Credits:
Chris Jones – Acoustic guitar, lead vocal
Jon Weisberger – Bass
Mark Stoffel – Mandolin, harmony vocal
Grace van’t Hof – Banjo, harmony vocal
Tony Creasman – Drums
Carley Arrowood – Fiddle

Keyland, “Stand Up To You”

Artist: Keyland
Hometown: Tulsa, Oklahoma
Song: “Stand Up To You”
Album: Stand Up To You (EP)
Release Date: October 24, 2025
Label: One Riot

In Their Words: “I’m hoping this song feels like you’ve heard it before and you can’t remember where or from whom. I think most of my favorite music has this effect on me – whether it’s from 1965 or 2025. When I listen to music like this, I feel like I’ve known it forever. And not in a redundant, boring sense, but in a way that feels as though that particular song has just always existed in some deeper, elusive but still tangible reality. Like you’ve always known it, but you can’t exactly remember how.

“I’m unsure if we’ve actually accomplished that, but hopefully it is somewhat close. I also love music that makes you feel like you are in the same room as the artist. I think live-tracked recordings have a lot to do with this particular effect, so we leaned into that with this song – as well as a few others on this EP. I was listening to a lot of Ray Charles, Stones, and Faces (and will always be) when I wrote this one, so I’d guess that will come through as well. In the words of Taylor Goldsmith, ‘Anyone that’s making anything new only breaks something else…'” – Kyle Ross

Sarah Kate Morgan & Leo Shannon, “Belle of Lexington”

Artist: Sarah Kate Morgan & Leo Shannon
Hometown: Hindman, Kentucky (Sarah Kate); Whitesburg, Kentucky (Leo)
Song: “Belle of Lexington”
Album: Featherbed
Release Date: October 24, 2025
Label: June Appal Recordings

In Their Words: “This is a very old fiddle tune which I learned as a teenager in my mom’s living room in Seattle, Washington. The source is a recording of fiddler Emmet Lundy made by the Library of Congress in Galax, Virginia, in 1941. (Many thanks to the Slippery Hill archive for facilitating this transmission.) Eighty-four years later, our performance of the tune was recorded live at The Burl in Lexington, Kentucky, by the intrepid Nick Petersen. We dedicate this track to all the beautiful people in all the Lexingtons around the world.” – Leo Shannon

Photo Credit: Eddie Barbash by Jeremy Stanley; Chris Jones & the Night Drivers by Brooke Stevens.

These Days, Tommy Emmanuel is Living In The Light

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Last October, Tommy Emmanuel took a fall and busted a couple ribs at a concert in Toronto’s Massey Hall. While the injury led to some postponed concerts (although he performed the full show in Toronto), it also produced, in its own way, a very welcome result: Emmanuel’s first solo studio album in a decade.

From his home in Nashville the guitar master told BGS that he experienced a burst of creativity while recuperating at home. “I’m like, ‘Wow, I’ve got time to write and play and experiment.’ All of a sudden I’m a kid in a candy store again.” He also confided that he disregarded his doctor’s advice on how long to rest and was back on the road after “going into hibernation” for three weeks. “If I had taken my doctor’s advice, he’d have set me back 20 years. I’m a moving-forward guy,” he explains.

Emmanuel may not pass muster as a medical doctor, but he certainly qualifies as a doctor of guitar playing. In fact, an authority such as Chet “Mister Guitar” Atkins bestowed Emmanuel with his Certified Guitar Player honor, one of only four CGPs that he handed out during his lifetime. An Australian native who moved to Nashville in the early 2000s, over his long, exceptional career Emmanuel also has earned a GRAMMY, many various music awards in Australia, a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Guitar Museum, and he is a Member of the Order of Australia.

Never one to rest on his laurels, Emmanuel delivers perhaps his most eclectic album with Living In The Light. While it is definitely stocked with exquisite acoustic picking, the album also contains some more experimental tracks. On “Intuition #25,” for example, he uses some delay pedal wizardry to reimagine an old instrumental. He also handles lead voices on a trio of tunes, including his take on an ‘80s Australian new wave pop hit “Maxine,” the even older, yet still timely “Waiting For The Times To Get Better” – previously recorded by folks like Crystal Gayle and Doc Watson – and a funky, inspiring number, “Ya Gotta Do What Ya Gotta Do,” written by his buddy Michael “Mad Dog” McRae.

Emmanuel may have turned 70 this year, but he exhibits a perennially youthful passion for music. As he explains it: “Music is my blood. I love it.”

Living In The Light is your first solo studio album in around a decade – how did it come about?

Tommy Emmanuel: Well, after I broke my ribs [last year], I knew I had to surrender from touring, and so I was forced to come home and hibernate – try to get my ribs fixed or healed. When I got home, even though I was kind of slightly medicated because of the pain and everything, I was in a great place. I didn’t have to walk out the house and fly somewhere and go play shows. All I had to do was be here and get healed. … Probably the best thing to happen to me was falling, breaking my ribs, and then being poured into a break, because then I got the whole record together.

The first thing I wrote was “Black and White to Color.” It’s like full of energy, full of spark, it’s got everything. It’s completely adventurous and it just came out of nowhere. I started playing some of the guitars that I don’t take on the road, and all of a sudden I got this idea in the way it went. And that’s kind of like how it all came together.

How did you hook up with Vance Powell as your producer?

My great desire was to work with Vance Powell, who I had heard and discovered through Chris Stapleton, Jack White, and people like that. I just loved his work. It was so real and so pure. And I thought, “I’ve got to work with this guy.” He is so busy that last year when I tried to book him, he could only give me four days this whole year, right? That’s how busy he is. So, I booked him. And we cut the whole album, finished, [and] mixed it in four days. That’s it.

I got to tell you that Vance is my kind of guy. There’s no bullshit. There’s no wasting time. We start at 10, we finish at 6. That’s it. We didn’t work all night and wear ourselves out and labor over take after take after take after take. People are always surprised when you say, “Well, I just did it in one take.” They’re like: “What? That’s impossible.” No, it’s not. I have to do it every night when I walk on stage.

You sing on a couple songs on this album, which is more than you usually do.

I’ve worked with some great singers and I’m not one of them, but there’s an honesty about what I do. If you sing something because you really love it and you love to sing it, that’s a good enough reason, you know? I don’t have to prove that I’m the world’s best singer, because I’m not.

Where did the album title, Living In The Light, come from?

I’m glad you asked that. This is how it all started. I was out with my buddy, “Mad Dog.” Him and I are early morning walkers. We go down to an area called Percy Priest Lake here in Nashville and there’s a three-mile walk. We usually do that at like 6 a.m. We’ll meet there and we’ll walk the three miles and talk and laugh and carry on.

And he was amazed how well I looked. He said, “Brother, I’ve never seen you looking so well. You must be living in the light.” And when he said that, I went: “That’s it!” I just thought: “Living in the light. Wow, this is what it’s about.” We’ve all had enough darkness. Let’s get some light.

Can you talk a little about the guitars you use here?

They’re mostly my touring guitar, my Maton Traditional, it is called. When I did “Ready for the Times to Get Better,” I borrowed a Martin D28 because it was just the right sound for that track. When I played “Little Georgia,” I used my Larrivée, which was a different, Canadian guitar and it just sounded just right for that track.

Did you know which guitar you wanted for “Little Georgia” or did you try your Maton guitar and then go, “I don’t think it’s the right match”?

I went straight to the Larrivée because the guitar has a sweetness and it has great sustain. When you play it in a kind of close-to-the-microphone, intimate way, it’s like everything you need is right there, and it’s beautiful.

I’m a song player, I’m a song person, and so I need the right voice to tell the story.

And on instrumentals, your guitar is like your voice?

That’s right. I tell stories without words. That’s my job.

Bluegrass has been influential in your music, but on Living in The Light it seems less prominent than other albums.

I tend to not think about putting a label on it or a genre. Bluegrass music is to me as soulful as R&B or as in-your-face as rock and roll. So I never worry about someone saying “Oh, is this really bluegrass?” or whatever… I’m hardly bluegrass, but yet I am bluegrass in many ways. But I’m also R&B and I’m rock and roll, and I love pop music. I just like good songs and good music.

What American music did you first connect with growing up in Australia?

My first love was Jimmie Rodgers and Hank Williams. And then I heard Jim Reeves and Marty Robbins. Then, when I was about seven, I heard Chet Atkins and that galvanized me. That sent me on another path and changed my life completely. Because when I heard Chet Atkins, something changed inside me. I heard a sound that I’d never heard before and I just knew that’s what I wanted to do. “I want to do that – whatever that is.” I didn’t know how to play like him at all. But I worked it out myself.

And because, you got to remember, this is the early ‘60s. There were no music shops. There were no guitar teachers. There was no video. There was no TV in Australia that we could see live music on. It was all either on the radio or the record player. That was it.

To have Chet Atkins take you under his wing must have been an unbelievable dream come true.

Exactly! You said it, right on. When my dad died, I was 10, I kind of retreated into Chet’s records. That’s what got me through that terrible loss and that period. And I ended up writing a letter to him and he wrote back and we stayed in touch. We were like pen pals and he stayed in touch with me.

Then somebody sent him a tape of me playing when I was about 18 and I get this letter out of the blue. It’s from Chet saying, “I heard your tape and when you come to Nashville, you call me and here’s the number.” He gave me his office number. I came to Nashville to meet him in 1980 and we were like family when we got together. He was my daddy, you know.

You’ve hosted a guitar camp for several years. Is that a way for you to mentor the next generation of musicians, similar to what Chet Atkins did for you?

It’s not just my camp. It’s nearly every night of my life, wherever I am. I meet young players and people and I try to be a positive force for them in their life. I try to show them that if you’re willing to put the work in, this is what’s possible, because I came from nothing and from nowhere, and this is what you can do. You’ve just got to stick at it. Do not quit. You know, stuff like that. But also, my camps give me a chance to talk to people from the perspective of: “I’m an example to you of someone who makes a living playing the guitar. I don’t do anything else.”

Most of the teachers that I employ are much better teachers than I am, but I have fun talking about what I do and demonstrating stuff that shows people behind the wizardry that they’re seeing with their eyes. I can open the window on it and say, “Look in here, this is what I’m actually doing.”

Congratulations on turning 70 earlier this year. I was wondering how your playing style has evolved. Have you had to make any adjustments to the way you play guitar?

Here’s the truth. I’m pushing harder than ever. I’m getting out there like a kid having the time of my life. I’m bulldozing the shit out of everything. I’m having a great time. And I feel energized, inspired, and I just feel like I don’t have that anxiety of, “Oh I’ve got to get out and prove myself.” I just get out and play because I love to play and take people with me. It’s as simple as that.

Of course, there are certain things, like some songs that I try to play that I struggle with now, because my skills in some areas are not what they used to be. I can hear myself playing a song 30 years ago and I go, “Holy shit, I can’t play anywhere at all like that now.”

But I can do other stuff that’s more meaningful to me now, you know. So, my focus has changed. I know that I don’t have the skills in some areas that I used to have but I’ve been there and done that, so now I’ve got this. And I’ll try to do my best with whatever I’ve got to give the people right now at this time in my life.

It certainly seems like you also now have the freedom to make the music that you want to make.

That’s exactly right. And I don’t labor over stuff and I’m not a perfectionist. It’s about telling the story and capturing the feeling of the whole thing, even if it has a few rough edges. If this is the one that has all the feeling, [then] that’s the one I’m going to live with. I’m not going to try and polish it up.

I’m just going to say, “This is it and here’s the story,” and that’s it. … It’s only the people who are willing to be true to their art [who] are the ones that the public actually really likes – all the other stuff is contrived.

Photo Credit: Simone Cecchetti

Tending to Fires,
Getting to Truth

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

New days and clean slates keep coming for singer-songwriter Caitlin Canty. She is sharpening her skills, raising a family, and continuing to build a body of work that reflects resilience, quiet strength, and resolute honesty. Her new record, Night Owl Envies the Mourning Dove, is a testament to her evolving artistry – an album that turns natural solitude, domestic change, and hard-earned wisdom into a collection of songs that sound both grounded in the earth and untethered from time.

Canty was born in Proctor, Vermont, in 1982 and grew up surrounded by rural landscapes and the gentle rhythms of small-town life. Raised by a schoolteacher mother and a housepainter father, she found song in ordinary moments – singing in chorus and playing trombone in school before receiving her first guitar and VHS-tape lessons at age 17. After earning a biology degree from Williams College she moved to New York City, where she worked for the Emmy-nominated series Live from the Artists Den while pursuing music on her own terms.

Her early releases – including Golden Hour (2012) and the breakout Reckless Skyline (2015) – drew acclaim for her “casually devastating voice” and “hauntingly urgent” Americana ballads. She won the Telluride Troubadour songwriting competition in 2015 and began touring extensively across the U.S. and Europe, collaborating with artists like Peter Bradley Adams and Jamey Johnson, and earning praise from Rolling Stone, NPR, and No Depression for her gritty lyricism and radiant poise.

In recent years, she and her husband, musician Noam Pikelny, moved back to Vermont, settling on a mountaintop near her childhood home. There, Canty continues to record, tour, and write – with the same battered 1939 Recording King guitar that has accompanied her throughout her career.

One of the album’s most tender tracks, “Don’t Worry About Nothing,” carries the voice of a mother consoling and encouraging against the endless churn of small anxieties. It is at once lullaby, sermon, and reminder: that one bad thing does not mean the whole world has collapsed.

“There is a mom’s voice and perspective to focus and worry about the things that do matter,” Canty explained. “But also how little worries and little jealousies can work against us… Tornadoes, awful things, [they] remind you how short life is and what’s actually important.”

The song’s origins stretch back to a small mishap – her young son’s toy castle tumbling down – but its weight comes from deeper, darker places. In March 2020, a tornado tore through her East Nashville neighborhood, missing her home by mere yards. Not long after, the pandemic upended the world. The castle was a metaphor, she realized, for the way everything can crash at once, yet perspective offers a way forward.

For Canty, who released Reckless Skyline a decade ago, the test of time has reshaped her relationship to both music and ambition. “My real goal is to be writing more and better songs,” she said. “My real goal is to be connecting with more people through those songs, playing with musicians that I adore, and getting on good stages. Not worrying about courting people, but to do right by the music.”

Doing right by the music has meant widening her scope. Night Owl Envies the Mourning Dove reaches for longevity, not trends. It sits comfortably in a lineage of songwriters who, like Canty, trust the songs to outlive themselves. “I look to musicians who have had longer careers, like Dolly Parton,” she said. “She is singing songs that she wrote in her 20s. There are so many who have a gorgeous output of songs that are their lifelong friends. It’s not about when they were written or how people liked them then.”

Canty doesn’t wait around for the muse. To her, waiting for inspiration is “a fool’s errand.” She compares songs to photographs – fleeting impressions that must be captured before they fade. “You take a picture and you remember it as notable and beautiful and there is something about it that makes you want to share it. That type of inspiration sparks a song. It happens countless times a day.”

But the challenge, she says, is to honor the purity of that first flash. “You are lucky if you have the time from start to finish to complete the song and make the world go away. The fewer co-writers the better, including myself. If you open it up again in two weeks, or a year, you have different eyes… and that brings too many people and opinions into the room rather than one solid voice.”

Some of her most recent songs arrived in just such a spark – like during a violent rainstorm in Vermont. Alone in her cabin as thunder cracked over the mountains, Canty felt a song arrive like lightning. Hungry, shivering, and unable to leave, she turned to the page. “That’s when it is about honoring your craft and keeping your calluses hard,” she said. “Writing songs and tending to those fires.”

Much of the new album reflects Canty’s sense of place. After years of calling Nashville home, in Vermont the woods, weather, and solitude shape her work. Songs like “Electric Guitar” hum with what she calls “domestic noise” – the sound of home life creeping into the music. “Examining what home means is another strong thread in a lot of these songs,” she said. “There is a lot of domestic noise in ‘Electric Guitar’ of a life settled and tied to the home front.”

The landscape also plays a role. Birds, trees, and storms become metaphors for transformation and survival, grounding her reflections on motherhood and the passage of time.

Every songwriter brings along artists who came before them and for Canty, one such artist is Lucinda William and her landmark album, Car Wheels on a Gravel Road. Canty first heard it in college while working as a server to make ends meet. Living in a big house with wide kitchen windows, she found herself singing along to those raw, unvarnished songs. “The sound, the songwriting, the singing – it all was a high-water mark for me,” Canty recalled. “It had the mystery of how something so simple could be so powerful. Why is this message of another person hitting my heart and staying embedded? How do I do that?”

Since Reckless Skyline, Canty has been described as gentle, quiet, restrained. But she resists those labels. “I don’t think that that is what this record is,” she said. “There might be fingerpicked and more solitary numbers, but a lot of the songs are more electric and grittier, and closer maybe to Reckless Skyline or Car Wheels in that regard.”

There’s grit beneath the quiet, steel beneath the lull. That mix – of softness and resolve – has become her artistic fingerprint. At the core of her music lies a devotion to truth.

“I could never act,” Canty admitted. “As a kid, I loved band and singing. Music is getting to truth and getting yourself out of the way of a song. If it’s the truth, then I feel comfortable singing it.”

That truth may be wrapped in storms or in stillness, in the clatter of home or in the electric hum of a live stage. But it is always there – steady, unpretentious, and deeply human.

With Night Owl Envies the Mourning Dove, Caitlin Canty has crafted more than an album – it is a meditation on resilience, a love letter to songwriting itself, and a statement of intent. She is not chasing spotlights or trends, but tending her fires, shaping her craft, and writing songs that might someday be her lifelong friends.

“My real goal,” she repeats, “is to be writing more and better songs… to do right by the music.”

For Canty, that’s enough. And for those who listen, it is everything.

Photo Credit: Noah Altshuler