Artist:The Wildmans Hometown: Floyd, Virginia Latest Album:Longtime Friend (out July 11, 2025)
Which elements of nature do you spend the most time with and how do those impact your work?
Growing up in the rich and vibrant region of the Appalachian mountains, nature has always been extremely influential to everything we do. Hearing the frogs sing in the evening or when the cicadas come out and fill the air with their hypnotic mantra every few years. Nature perseveres out here and if you want to live in it you are always battling one element or another. We don’t have AC, so in the summer all of our instruments are inundated with humidity, of course bringing them outside adds to this which we do often too. Dehumidifiers help. But it’s that soft humid atmosphere that makes the forest so lush and dense out here. I think it has always taught us a lot too living in such a rural area. And I would say the musical culture of these mountains and this region of America is possibly the most impactful aspect in our work today.
What’s your favorite memory from being on stage?
Every year as kids we got to attend the local music festival in our home town, Floydfest. We discovered so much music throughout those years and specifically it was an experience we shared at Jon Lohman’s workshop porch stage when this band The Boston Boys, along with Danny Knicely and Nate Leath, invited us up to play a couple tunes on stage. It was our first time being on stage in front of a real audience and it’s one of those quintessential moments in our lives that is significant to where we are and what we are pursuing today. I think that the relaxed and inviting atmosphere that both the musicians and the audience gave to us in that moment is something that we take with us into every show we play now.
What is a genre, album, artist, musician, or song that you adore that would surprise people?
Ever since Mk.gee dropped Two Star & The Dream Police in the beginning of 2024, it has stayed on rotation. Whether in the tour van, headphones, or home stereo. I also have a serious soft spot for 90s R&B like SWV and Soul For Real. And D’angelo always. – Aila
Since food and music go so well together, what is your dream pairing of a meal and a musician?
This is such a great question and immediately it makes me think of this scene of Leon Russell playing “Jambalaya on the Bayou” in 1972 filmed by Les Blank for his film, A Poem Is A Naked Person. This is the dream pairing right here, Leon is onstage with a plate of what appears to be half-eaten ribs sitting in front of him on his piano, full of soul and groove singing this old Hank Williams song. I mean did he wipe his hands before starting the song? It’s rock and roll, it’s Leon Russell with southern bbq. – Eli
What would a perfect day as an artist and creator look like to you?
Waking up in the morning and having a hot beverage of some sort. Tea or coffee. This is a good time to write freely, reflect. Even sing a new song. Then going outside to sit in the sun for a half hour before making a really good breakfast. We are serious about breakfast as a band, sometimes all other meals can feel like a failure while on tour, especially with dietary restrictions and what not. But we always make sure breakfast is accomplished and done right.
After breakfast, we might play some music by ourselves or with each other. Giving time and space into the day for creativity and practice. Exercise is also really important to us, this would come next as we are easing into the afternoon. Into the evening we love to have friends over to share music and food, cooking together or grilling out. Good food, good people, and good music make the world go round. All of these things are what make up a “perfect day as an artist” to us. General simplicity and grounding.
From their earliest days as a duo, Gillian Welch & David Rawlings have crafted utterly timeless old-time, bluegrass, and American roots music of the highest order. Their lyrics and melodies sound as though they could have been plucked from any/every golden era of folk music on this continent, while at the same time being effortlessly forward-looking and grounded in the present. Perhaps that timelessness is why it feels so surprising that Welch & Rawlings have entered their own new era, as sceptered elders in their chosen genres and communities. The surprise being, of course, the realization that… have they not always been roots music elders?!
Last week, NPR Music unveiled a brand new Tiny Desk Concert by Welch & Rawlings, 15 years since their last appearance at the internet’s biggest smallest stage. In the roughly 20-minute performance, the pickers, singers, songwriters, and life partners perform three songs from their most recent album, 2024’s Woodland, as well as revisiting one of their all-time classics, “Revelator” – from 2001’s Time (The Revelator). Viewing 2025’s Tiny Desk Concert alongside their 2010 performance (watch both sets below), the circuitous journey they’ve taken to sage old-time veterans is obvious, apparent. But it’s still no less mystifying that two artists and creators so adept at musical time traveling have landed in this new phase of their careers right under our noses. With silver hair, wizened voices, a lifetime’s supply of grit, and a tenderness that’s begun to eclipse their fiery, razor’s edge aggression, Welch & Rawlings continue to be their generation’s epitome of modern folk troubadour-ship.
And aren’t they suited for it! “Empty Trainload of Sky,” a song inspired by their titular recording studio Woodland’s propensity for landing in the middle of catastrophic tornado tracks, hits just as hard in this context, their Tiny Desk performance released mere days before tragic and fatal natural disasters and flooding hit multiple states across the U.S. Their songs constantly bend time like this, finding resonance in specificity and universality, both. “Lawman” and “Hashtag” sound like numbers that could’ve been sourced from wax cylinder recordings – or from 9:16 short form videos ripe for virality and topically delicious. “Revelator,” then, reminds that Welch & Rawlings know that they operate from within and outside of the constructs of time, at least as far as music goes. They are perfectly at home in this wormholed medium.
Fifteen years feels like a mere instant, a split-second, in the grand scheme – and, certainly, when you consider the ubiquity and staying power of Welch & Rawling’s body of work over the decades of their career. Still, you can see and hear the age, the miles traveled, the hardships overcome, and the joys celebrated on their faces, in their voices, and in the pluck of their strings. Gillian Welch & David Rawlings, with each and every note they utter, invite each of us to step outside of time. It’s no wonder that they’re thriving, at the highest of heights they’ve reached yet, as they enter their latest golden age, as roots music heroes and elders who’ve touched countless scores of us with their art.
Gillian Welch & David Rawlings continue on tour now through the fall. More info here.
(Editor’s Note: Welcome to our Reissue series! For the past several weeks, Basic Folk has been digging back into the archives and reposting some of our favorite episodes alongside new introductions commenting on what it’s like to listen back. This is our last Reissue for now, so please enjoy!
This episode featuring separate interviews with The Indigo Girls – Amy Ray and Emily Saliers – and host Cindy Howes was originally posted winter 2019.)
Back in 2019, my now-wife and I attended the inaugural Girls Just Wanna Weekend in Cancun, Mexico, which featured an all-women lineup curated and hosted by Brandi Carlile. I was lucky enough to be able to interview The Indigo Girls there in two separate solo interviews. I still feel nervous thinking about the scene of talking to both Amy Ray and Emily Saliers in each of their (very nice!) hotel suites on my new little Shure mic that connected to my phone. Lucky for me, both Amy and Emily were really into my new mic, so it served as the best possible icebreaker. Both were very generous with their time and with their answers to my unorthodox questions.
First I got to speak to Amy Ray, who talks about growing up in a conservative, modest Southern family with her radiologist father and a smart, scholarship-attaining mother. She speaks to how her suburban upbringing and intake of conservative values of the South has influenced her identity. She shares about her father’s deep involvement in community service and the impact of her father’s generosity on her own activism. I also asked Amy about her sense of fashion and how it challenges traditional gender norms. She talks about her love for creative clothing and that her historically unconventional approach to style serves as a form of activism.
Next up: Emily Saliers. She talks about her relationship with guitar playing, tracing it back to childhood lessons at the YMCA and musical members of her family. She also points out how playing electric guitar changed the game, particularly through collaborations with Amy Ray. Emily talks about first solo album, Murmuration Nation. Released in 2017, it took a long time to come to fruition due to challenges and emotional hurdles she faced during its creation. Lyris Hung, longtime Indigo Girls friend, collaborator, and producer – including on that solo album – brought her expansive musical imagination and played a critical role in shaping the record. We also get into Emily’s love for hip-hop, specifically political hip-hop, and the profound impact the genre has had on her. Emily ends with talking about her other great love, food, by drawing parallels between the communal nature of music and cuisine, illustrating how both bring people together in meaningful ways.
On Saturday, July 26, BGS and Good Country will return to Newport Folk Festival for another very special benefit aftershow, The Good Country Goodtime, featuring actor-comedian-musician James Austin Johnson (of SNL) and special musical guests. Each year, in the evenings after the festival winds down at Fort Adams State Park, Newport Folk hosts a variety of aftershows at venues around Newport, Rhode Island, each benefitting the Newport Festivals Foundation. Tickets went on sale today at 1pm EDT / 10am PDT – and sold out immediately. Join the wait list and get more info here.
Last year, BGS and our co-founder Ed Helms hosted A Bluegrass Situation at the Jane Pickens Theater on Saturday night of the festival. The sold-out superjam styled show featured performances by Helms and his Lonesome Trio, Langhorne Slim, Tony Trischka, Billy Bragg, Rhiannon Giddens, Madison Cunningham, Andrew Bird, and many more.
This year, it’s a brand new show, an exciting reimagination of our recent creation, The Good Country Goodtime, a variety show in the style of iconic old-timey radio shows, jamborees, and barn dances that’s a modern celebration of country, comedy, and everything beyond, below, and in between.
Hosted by Saturday Night Live cast member – and burgeoning Music Row songwriter – James Austin Johnson and written by comedy, radio, and podcast writer Greg Hess, the Good Country Goodtime will build on the show’s format as debuted by BGS and Good Country at Dynasty Typewriter in Los Angeles in September 2024. (Watch a humorous house band performance of “Who’s Gonna Feed Them Hogs” from the Dynasty Typewriter edition of the show below.)
The Newport Folk Fest rendition of our variety show will feature a who’s who of musical and comedy guests from the festival lineup and beyond, with many a surprise and once-in-a-lifetime moment in store. Hilarious sketches, iconic collaborations, a stellar house band, classic songs from the country canon, and plenty of homages to Newport Folk Festival and its country legacy will be sure to charm the Jane Pickens Theater audience.
Tone: it’s the Holy Grail for musicians, and it’s the cornerstone of Sho-Bud, the iconic pedal steel guitar company founded in 1955 by Harold “Shot” Jackson and Buddy Emmons. When Emmons moved on, Jackson continued with sons Harry and David, handcrafting instruments integral to the sound of country music.
In the early 1980s, Sho-Bud was acquired by Fred Gretsch. In 2005, after twenty years away from the business, Harry and David Jackson, joined by David’s daughter, Dawn Jackson, resumed building instruments. As Jackson Steel Guitar Company, they introduced new pedal steel, lap steel, resonator, and slide guitars.
In December 2024, the third generation of Jacksons, siblings and co-CEOs Dawn and Will Jackson, reacquired the company name and family legacy. “We knew that the name carried a lot of weight,” says Dawn Jackson. “It’s our heritage, and we wanted to bring it back while Dad and Harry were still building.”
“I want to acknowledge Fred Gretsch, his wife Dinah, his family, and his team,” says Will Jackson. “A lot of people approached him to acquire the Sho-Bud name over the years, and he didn’t do it. He saved it for us. We very much appreciate what he did in terms of preserving the name, keeping it intact, and not selling it to someone else. We’ll be eternally grateful to him for that.”
Sho-Bud relaunched this year with new and classic gear, plus several projects across platforms and generations. The reach stretches from traditionalists devoted to the classic instruments they saw on the Opry stage, to young musicians incorporating steel in everything from country to metal.
Central to all of this, of course, are the instruments, which include the high-level, traditional, maple cabinet Pro V; bender-equipped, stand-up SlideKing LS lap steel; and best-selling Maverick II.
“It’s not the Maverick of old,” says Will Jackson of the Maverick II. “The original Maverick was designed to be a low-cost, entry-level, beginner guitar. With the Maverick II, our objective was to build one of the sweetest-sounding guitars. We developed a front and rear extruded aluminum panel that has a hard rock maple soundboard that sits between them. On top of that, the one-piece aluminum neck now binds the key head and tail plate together.
“When you sandwich all that together, this particular guitar, as Dawn describes it, cuts through all the other noise. It’s distinctive, it’s clear, it rings and resonates. It has that Nashville sound because we still utilize the exact same pickup design that Shot developed back in the ’50s. When you marry that to this modern design cabinet, it is incredible. The Maverick II definitely stands out in terms of its tonal qualities. It’s pretty much unmatched. It’s quite an advancement in terms of pedal steel guitar technology.”
Sho-Bud plans a reissue of the signature Lloyd Green model, the LDG, which the Jacksons describe as “a continuation of the original classic design,” and a limited-edition LDG, cut with modern components and updated mechanisms, each one signed by Lloyd Green, David Jackson, and Harry Jackson. Other reissues will follow, including Jimmy Day’s Blue Darlin’.
Sho-Bud co-CEOs and siblings Will Jackson and Dawn Jackson.
“Relaunch,” in Sho-Bud vernacular, is all about name recognition, product reputation, and upholding a decades-old legacy. “We built steels for the past twenty-five years under the name Jackson Steel Guitars,” says Dawn Jackson. “So the relaunch, for us, circles around the Sho-Bud name.
“What’s happened in the months since we secured the name again, the outpouring of support from the guitar industry in general has been overwhelming,” she says. “That lends itself to the weight this brand carried around the world, and how throughout the years of its ‘dormancy,’ it maintained a true following, and not only from older generations. Younger people love the brand too. When we mention Sho-Bud, every door is open. So that’s really the relaunch. We maintained building these amazing instruments during our Jackson Steel era, but the [Sho-Bud] brand itself has the leverage and momentum behind it.”
“A lot of people have asked, ‘Is this just a rebranding of Jackson Steel Guitars?’ Definitely not,” says Will Jackson. “We’ve been sitting on a few patents that we’ve obtained over the last couple of years. They’ve got about fifteen years or so left on them while we fine-tune these components.”
Those components include a tunable vibrato, on-the-fly D Drop, The EDGE® multi-bending system, and Core-Over™ strings, all of which they’ve introduced to Sho-Bud artists with positive response.
“When a traditional, fretted-instrument guitarist is, say, holding a chord, when they use an old-school vibrato — let’s say a Bigsby, for example — when they hit that thing, all those strings are falling out of tune,” says Will Jackson. “Our tunable vibrato doesn’t destroy the chord. When they’re holding a chord and they go down, all those strings fall in tune now.
“We’ve got a Drop D tuner that allows an artist, again on a fretted instrument, to simply roll their E down to a D while they’re playing. They don’t have to take their fretting hand off and adjust anything on the key head. They don’t have to stop and tinker around with their picking hand to adjust anything. They’re able to use the palm, the heel, of their hand, roll it right down to a D, and roll it right back up to an E. So it’s very novel, very easy to use.
“With our Core-Over strings, we take the winding off up to where it passes the bridge and on the pickup side of the nut, so it’s just the core of the string going across those two touch points. It creates incredible amounts of sustain. The sound profile of the string is much rounder, bigger, fuller. It’s amazing.”
(L to R) Kyle Ince, Bob Sheehan, Slash, Ted Stern, Andrea Whitt, Skunk Baxter, Dawn Jackson, Pavel, Hexx Henderson, Mark Tucker, Rocco DeLuca, and Will Jackson pose for a group photo at the Sho-Bud Showcase Live at the Desert 5 Spot in Los Angeles.
On April 24, in Hollywood, the company celebrated the return of Sho-Bud Showcase Live, national concerts spotlighting steel-centric artists in all genres. The series kickoff, Sho-Bud’s first live event in over forty years, included, among its many participants, Jeff “Skunk” Baxter, Robert Randolph, Andrea Whitt, Rocco DeLuca, Hexx Henderson, Hatfield Rain, Shooter Jennings, and Slash.
Sho-Bud Music is a record label and publishing company originally established by Dawn Jackson to release an album by her band, the aforementioned Hatfield Rain. “Around that time, I started working with Dad and Harry on Jackson Steel and never did anything with the [album] mixes,” she says. “It’s getting ready to come out after all this time, so I’m super-excited.” Along with that recording, Sho-Bud Music is promoting other Sho-Bud artists.
Coming soon is Shot Jackson’s Sho-Bud Showcase radio program, which will now become a podcast featuring music, interviews, and over 150 digitized reels from the original 1970s and early 1980s WSM broadcasts. “We have all the reels and we’re going to start releasing them,” says Dawn Jackson. “The podcast will also include interviews with today’s Sho-Bud artists and, of course, our dad and Harry.”
Harold “Shot” Jackson built Sho-Bud on a foundation of superior instruments, customer service, customer satisfaction, and customer loyalty. Those values remain at the core of Dawn and Will Jackson’s goals, whether putting instruments in the hands of internationally renowned musicians or newcomers learning their way around pedal steel.
Sho-Bud CEO Dawn Jackson poses with Slash and a Sho-Bud Steel Guitar.
“These instruments are not like traditional fretted instruments,” says Will Jackson. “Fretted instruments don’t have moving parts per se. But these do. Because they have those linkages and mechanical pulling mechanisms, as they’re used, they wear. Anytime you make a change to these instruments, you have to be careful, because in the interest of trying to maximize performance or life on one end, you can impact tone on the other end, and that is something we can’t sacrifice.
“Sho-Bud has always been known for that Nashville sound, the tone that we got. The story I recall as a kid was Shot sitting there on a pickup-winding machine, which was made out of an old sewing machine motor. He had apple bushels next to his workbench. He would wind a pickup, plug it in, and if it gave him the tone he was after, performed the way he wanted it to, it went in the keeper bushel. If it didn’t, it went into the discard bushel.
“That is how our family has built these things. There are no Rhodes Scholars over here or MIT graduates in engineering. These guys developed these instruments through pure trial and error and using their ears to develop that tone. Again, we can’t sacrifice mechanical advantages over tone. Some guitar companies do, but we cannot do that. For us, it is about tone, tone, tone. We live and die by that.”
“We’ve always maintained the tradition and look of our guitars — the beautiful cabinets, our certain inlays, the finishes,” says Dawn Jackson, “but aesthetics are second. Tone has always been number one for us.”
“These instruments require maintenance,” says Will Jackson. “If there is a nut, a screw, a bolt, it will get turned by someone. When these things leave the shop, they’re set perfectly. People will start adjusting things, and that’s what they’re for. You need to fine-tune things ergonomically to make it fit. But, because these things can be very sensitive, sometimes they overdo it, or they have trouble chasing the tuning back to where they wanted it.
“We are here to support them in terms of Zoom calls, where they can show us exactly what they’re doing, what the instrument is doing, or what it’s not doing that they would like it to do. We can help walk them through that, using a blend of modern technology to help them fine-tune some of these traditional instruments. We’re always looking for ways to make it easier for them to keep these guitars maintained.”
As a family-owned and operated company, versus a multi-department corporation, the Jacksons are front and center when phones ring, texts chime, and emails arrive – no call centers, AI assistants, or being transferred through a half-dozen departments and hold times. They field calls, walk customers through setups, stay active via social media, keep up with forums, provide instructional videos, and cherish human-to-human relationships.
Slash plays a Sho-Bud Steel Guitar.
“Will and I have been a team since we were kids playing football in the backyard,” says Dawn Jackson. “We really believe in team efforts, and that’s why we’re so big on using the words ‘Team Sho-Bud.’ The dynamics between us, our father, and our uncle – we’re all creators and passionate about the things we do.
“We have the same objective in mind, which is to maintain our family heritage,” she says. “I am so proud that Sho-Bud is still a family business, and that people love and respect that. We work together, play off of each other, and it just works and works well.”
“I’m proud of my family – our dad, our uncle – for the sacrifices they made over the years to build these instruments, and to deliver the tone and the sounds that everyone enjoys,” says Will Jackson. “I’m very proud of the work they put into this, and of Dawn for rolling up her sleeves and helping them. I’m proud of the way Sho-Bud has evolved. It’s fun to be a part of the rebirth of Sho-Bud. These instruments, these new components, are going to be total game changers. I’m very proud to represent these products and wear the old brand. It’s exciting times.”
All Photos: Ashley Marie Myers, courtesy of Sho-Bud. Lead and alternate images: Slash plays a Sho-Bud pedal steel guitar.
Artist:Caitlin Canty Hometown: Danby, Vermont Song: “Bird Dog” Featuring Matt Lorenz Album:Night Owl Envies the Mourning Dove Release Date: June 26, 2025 (single); October 2, 2025 (album)
In Their Words: “‘Bird Dog’ is the most recent single from my new record, Night Owl Envies the Mourning Dove, and features the intrepid Matt Lorenz as my duet partner. It is pure joy to sing with Matt (you likely know him best as The Suitcase Junket). Matt and I first met at Club Passim’s Campfire open mic years ago, and he sang backing vocals on my Reckless Skyline way back in 2015. We were long past due making music again, and his fiery vocals are an essential thread in my new record coming this October.
“Brian Carroll, who filmed and edited this video, has been such a steadfast creative partner behind the lens and microphone. I first got to know his work when he shot some gorgeous live videos in lightning fast sessions at Green Mountain Bluegrass and Roots and I’m thrilled to be working with him on some live video versions of songs from Night Owl Envies the Mourning Dove.
“I wrote the chorus of ‘Bird Dog’ a few years back when I lived in Nashville and then finished it at our new home in the mountains in Southern Vermont. Our dog Bell sparked the song with her barking and carried on through much of the writing process. I suppose that makes her my muse?” – Caitlin Canty
Video Credits: Caitlin Canty – Vocals, guitar Matt Lorenz – Vocals, guitar Filmed and edited by Brian Carroll. Mixed by Dave Sinko.
Photo Credit: Lead image by Brian Carroll; alternate image by Laura Partain.
Ismay travels to Anderson Fair in Houston, Texas, a famed music venue with a unique history that includes legends like Lyle Lovett and Nanci Griffith. Ismay tracked down a special character from Lucinda’s early career, who had largely been missing from the national music scene since the ’70s. There they discover how artists’ paths diverge and contemplate what we’re all looking for when we seek out careers in music.
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 slated for release in the fall. 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 and mixed by Avery Hellman for Neanderthal Records, LLC. Music by Ismay. Artwork by Avery Hellman. Houston Recordings: Recorded at Anderson Fair. Sound Recordist: Rodrigo Nino Producer: Liz McBee Director: Joel Fendelman Co-Director & Cinematographer: Rose Bush Special thanks to: Tim Leatherwood, Mick Hellman, Chuck Prophet, Don Fierro, Jacqueline Sabec, Rosemary Carroll, Lucinda Williams & Tom Overby
Find more information on Finding Lucinda here. Find our full Finding Lucinda episode archive here.
It’s Friday, so we’ve got a passel of new songs and videos just for you. You Gotta Hear This!
Kicking us off, Nashville-based Americana duo Haunted Like Human bring their new single, “Married in Savannah,” about change, growth, and vowing to break generational cycles. It’s a thoughtful track with a beat and vibe that lean forward expectantly – or, perhaps, still hopefully. Meanwhile, Lauren Lovelle shares a song that she released earlier this week, “Anxiously Attached,” a two-steppin’ honky-tonk number about repeated disappointments in love and relationships that’s perfectly lonesome and self-deprecating.
Aptly timed for our current heat wave, Hawaii-born country artist Maoli drops his new album Last Sip of Summer today, and you can hear “Better Off on a Beach” below. While you sweat through these high temps, hit play and lean into his mainstream island-drenched country sounds while you imagine the sand between your toes. Plus, keeping the summer mood going, roots rockers Little Feat have released a brand new video for “4 Days of Heaven 3 Days of Work,” the groovin’ opening track from their new album, Strike Up The Band, which was released last month.
Mandolinist Danny Roberts shares a new instrumental tune below, too. “Leitchfield” is a pulsing, acrobatic original mandolin composition that pays homage to Leitchfield, Kentucky, a place Roberts calls “the fiddling capital of Kentucky.” (He should know, too, as he holds a Key to the City!) His labelmate and fellow mandolinist Darren Nicholson also has a new single today, “I’ve Got No Tears Left to Cry.” It’s a lonesome fast waltz that follows Marty Stuart’s sage advice to always trust a simple song.
To wrap us up, check out singer-songwriter Jackson Scribner’s “Depression Kids,” the title track for his just-announced album that was unveiled earlier this week. “…Although [depression is] looked at in a negative manner most of the time,” Jackson says, “it’s something that can bring us all together.” Packaged in vibey steel guitar and equal dashes of Americana and indie folk, the song ends up where our collection this week started, finding traces of hope in perhaps unlikely sentiments.
Of course we think this is a lovely round-up of new music, but you ought to decide for yourself. After all, You Gotta Hear This!
Haunted Like Human, “Married in Savannah”
Artist:Haunted Like Human Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee; originally Fayetteville, Georgia (Dale Chapman) and Milton-Freewater, Oregon (Cody Clark) Song: “Married In Savannah” Album:American Mythology Release Date: June 27, 2025 (single); October 17, 2025 (album)
In Their Words: “‘Married in Savannah’ is a song about growing up and realizing that you’ve grown into someone very different than the people that you thought that you knew. The song unfolds as the narrator looks at their relationship with an old and dear friend that they’ve drifted apart from. She was fiery and passionate and felt stifled by the expectations of the posh Southern family that she came from. The two spent their younger years vowing to break cycles and craft lives of their own, but the narrator now finds that their friend has seemingly become all of the things that she used to hate. Our narrator has to sit with the questions that they won’t ever get answers to, like whether the friend’s spirit was broken or if it was all just youthful naiveté that she set aside as she matured. They mourn the loss of the friend that they knew and the future that she could have had.” – Haunted Like Human
Track Credits: Byron House – Bass Paul Eckberg – Percussion Charlie Lowell – Keys Eleonore Denig – Violin Cody Clark – Guitar, vocals Dale Chapman – Vocals Engineered and mixed by Mitch Dane. Mastered by Veronica Conners.
Little Feat, “4 Days of Heaven 3 Days of Work”
Artist:Little Feat Hometown: Bill Payne – Emigrant, Montana; Kenny Grandy – Los Angeles, California; Sam Clayton – Fallbrook, California; Fred Tackett – Los Angeles, California; Scott Sharrard – New York, New York; Tony Leone – New York, New York Song: “4 Days of Heaven 3 Days of Work” Album:Strike Up The Band Release Date: May 9, 2025 Label: Hot Tomato
In Their Words: “‘4 Days of Heaven 3 Days of Work’ is the opening track on our new album. The ‘Gonzo Funk’ in the song’s lyrics and groove exemplify our lineup’s take on the classic Feat boogie. It is also the only tune on the album that was co-written by Bill, Tony, and I. All the riffs and lyrical imagery could only have come out of the three of us throwing ideas around together. Once the band got a hold of it, it went to a whole other level. This one was a true collaboration in service of the song.” – Scott Sharrard
Lauren Lovelle, “Anxiously Attached”
Artist:Lauren Lovelle Hometown: Newton, Kansas Song: “Anxiously Attached” Album:Other Dreams EP Release Date: June 25, 2025 (single); September 9, 2025 (EP)
In Their Words: “[‘Anxiously Attached’ is] about begging for the bare minimum, putting your partner on a pedestal, and in turn, repeatedly disappointing yourself. I find myself laughing during that ‘dammit I gotta work the dinner shift’ line, because I often am playing a gig right after working a dinner shift.” – Lauren Lovelle
Maoli, “Better Off on a Beach”
Artist:Maoli Hometown: Maui, Hawaii Song: “Better Off on a Beach” Album:Last Sip of Summer Release Date: June 27, 2025
In Their Words: “‘Better off on a Beach’ is such a vibe. There’s something magical about the beach – it’s like time slows down, and everything just clicks into place. Honestly, I don’t know a single person who isn’t better off with their toes in the sand. Being from Hawai‘i, I’ve always felt a deep connection to the ocean. The sound of waves rolling in, the warm sand beneath your feet – it takes you to a different place mentally. This song brings all of that home for me. It’s about letting go of your worries, surrounding yourself with good friends, and soaking up the good times. It’s about leaving your troubles behind… back where the pavement ends.” – Maoli
Darren Nicholson, “I’ve Got No Tears Left to Cry”
Artist:Darren Nicholson Hometown: Canton, North Carolina Song: “I’ve Got No Tears Left To Cry” Release Date: June 27, 2025 Label: Mountain Home Music Company
In Their Words: “I heard Marty Stuart say once that you should always trust a simple song. That stuck with me. So, ‘I’ve Got No Tears Left To Cry’ is just that. It’s a blunt goodbye letter from a jaded lover who is completely over being burned one too many times. It’s a ‘moving on’ song. Musically, it’s a traditional sounding piece that is reminiscent of classic bluegrass and honky-tonk music. It’s written to sing with big harmonies and Kevin and Avery nailed those. I am very proud of this cut and think bluegrass fans will enjoy it!” – Darren Nicholson
Track Credits: Darren Nicholson – Mandolin, lead vocal Mark Fain – Upright bass David Johnson – Acoustic guitar Deanie Richardson – Fiddle Avery Welter – Harmony vocal Kevin Sluder – Harmony vocal
Danny Roberts, “Leitchfield”
Artist:Danny Roberts Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee Song: “Leitchfield” Release Date: June 27, 2025 Label: Mountain Home Music Company
In Their Words: “When I wrote this tune, I didn’t have a title in mind and needed to come up with something to call it. While listening to the song and pondering on a name, I got thinking about the fact that my lifelong friend, Jimmy Mattingly, played fiddle on it. That led me down the path of recalling us growing up on adjacent farms, going to school and playing music together which gave me the idea that it would be cool to have a song named after our hometown of Leitchfield, Kentucky. Leitchfield/Grayson County is the fiddling capital of Kentucky and has produced many fiddlers and other musicians over the years and I’m very proud to call it home. I was honored to receive the Key to the City from Mayor Harold Miller at last year’s Twin Lakes National Fiddler Championship and I’m dedicating ‘Leitchfield’ to all the wonderful folks there.
“It was so much fun getting to record this with some of the greatest musicians I’ve ever picked with – Jimmy Mattingly, Tony Wray, and Andrea Roberts, and I appreciate them helping me bring this tune to life. I hope everyone enjoys it!” – Danny Roberts
Track Credits: Danny Roberts – Mandolin Andrea Roberts – Bass Tony Wray – Acoustic guitar, banjo Jimmy Mattingly – Fiddle
Jackson Scribner, “Depression Kids”
Artist:Jackson Scribner Hometown: Melissa, Texas Song: Depression Kids Album:Depression Kids Release Date: June 25, 2025 (single); September 19, 2025 (album) Label: State Fair Records
In Their Words: “I wrote this song on a bunch of sticky notes on my bedroom floor, thinking about the different ways I feel depression. It occurred to me that no matter what sort of depression people are dealing with, everyone deals with it. Everyone’s in the same giant boat. In a way, although it’s looked at in a negative manner most of the time, it’s something that can bring us all together.” – Jackson Scribner
Photo Credit: Darren Nicholson by Jeff Smith; Jackson Scribner by Brendan Blaney.
We are in a moment of extreme distress. Especially, but not limited to, the formal politics of America’s dying empire. Living in its wake, it’s easy to collapse into hopelessness. Hopelessness seems reasonable, considering the criminalization of trans voices, or ICE raids, or the tariffs that wipe out hard earned income, or climate change, or any of the other myriad disasters we are in the middle of. There has to be some way forward – a full understanding of how bad the situation currently is, but also that there might be a small amount of hope; that it has been worse than this, but it has also been better.
Willi Carlisle released an album of traditional songs, called TheMagnolia Sessions, in December 2024 and will release Winged Victory June 27 via Signature Sounds. Winged Victory includes original songs and covers of Utah Phillips, Richard Thompson, and Patrick Haggerty, among others. These songs are about the delicate negotiation between historical understandings, current realities, and the possibility of a progressive future; about carving out small moments of pleasure against melancholy; of building a small paradise against these impending crises.
I reached Willi Carlisle by phone on Good Friday, the saddest day of the Christian calendar. On the first Good Friday, no one thought Christ would return. I have not been a believer for a while, but I remember sermons in college which warned against racing through Friday to get to the hope of Sunday. So when I call this album a hopeful one, it is hopeful with a full acknowledgement that it might not get better. The work needs to be done with the assumption that there is no intervention, divine or otherwise.
When asking Carlisle about optimism, or about hope, he makes his choices sound purposeful, mentioning that he had been wanting to make this kind of album for more than a decade and that these two albums are “more just like musical moments that continue to say the things I want to say, as opposed to saying the things that I want to get off my chest.” This is not a manifesting energy, or an optimism despite all odds, but one which is well earned after decades of performing.
Those decades of performance tile with decades of listening, each working together mutually. Winged Victory has several moments which cross cosmic time – decades or centuries – looking backwards or seeing what is possible in the futures of our children’s children’s generations. The collection begins, for example, with the Utah Phillips standard, “We Have Fed You All for 1000 Years.” Its chorus states baldly:
Go reckon our dead by the forges red And the factories where we spin. If blood be the price of your cursed wealth, Good God! We have paid it in!
This album is one of reckoning, of refusing the standard moments. In the original song, “The Cottonwood Tree,” a slow waltz, Carlisle talks about a “place where nobody lives, and everyone is free.” He is singing in first person while he plays a concertina, mentioning how he is part of nature now and how he will be part of nature in his own rotting. He is happy to die trusting people, but even after dies, even when he is buried under “the cottonwood trees,” he will be heard.
He concludes the song, believing that he will meet his friends six feet under the cottonwood tree. In a subtle moment, his friends are “the tall grasses rustling between his ears,” or the forget-me-nots in a parking lot, and maybe even other humans. Here time collapses, between the immediacy of the moment and the length it takes a body to absorb fully into those cottonwood trees.
Carlisle’s album of traditional songs, TheMagnolia Sessions, has moments of this cosmic time as well – a much eerier version of “Leatherwing Bat” than the one made famous on Peter, Paul and Mary’s children’s album, as well as the last song, a version of “Jubilee,” a moment which reminds us again that the joy will come, after working and waiting.
Conversation between original tracks and new work is central to Carlisle’s practice. His reckoning, which occurs over and over again, is also about the complex matrix of listening and performing other people’s songs. When asked about the covers, he talks about working together – that he had a “strong relationship to the material…”
“I see my whole project in folk music is hearing history with all of its interpretations, its historicity, back to the lives of actual human beings. It’s time to take off the cowboy hat and put on the work gloves.”
The strength of the relationships between material, is partly due to how the original songs on this album work in conjunction with the old songs. For example, how the waltz of “The Cottonwood Tree” leads into the harder, faster waltz of the Patrick Haggerty-penned “Cryin’ These Cocksucking Tears.” That Carlisle includes a Patrick Haggerty song at all is remarkable, even more so that he makes it full of joy and he considers it as part of the tradition of folk and country music. It’s a cult song in queer folk circles – the mainstreaming of this work is a foregrounding of queer desire, another tradition and another culture. Carlisle sings it with horns and an accordion which sounds like a circus calliope (between this and Lucy Dacus’ “Calliope Prelude,” the instrument is having a moment).
Collapsing of time can again be seen in his version of Richard Thompson’s “Beeswing.” Also running a little quicker than the original, it’s a song about lovers who cannot be kept and immediacy about “the price you pay for the chains you refuse.” But the next song, “Big Butt Billy” – a comic riff on possibly hooking up with a non-binary server at a diner in the midwest – makes other arguments, models other kinds of hope (for an immediate pleasure).
Other versions of “Beeswing,” meanwhile, take the side of the narrator and have a misogynist tinge against the person who roams. Having these two songs back to back argues in favor of roaming and typifies desire as a kind of roaming – Haggerty wants, the Romany wants, the server wants, and at the risk of thinking he might be a little autobiographical, Willi wants. Throughout these two albums, the hunger is palpable.
Roaming is central to Carlisle’s music, not only on this album, but as a theme. Roaming through time and space, through the cosmos, and on the very real roads of California, Texas, or Wisconsin. The first thing that Carlisle and I talked about was BBQ and about Kansas City, where he is staying on Good Friday when we connect. That could be seen as a kind of metaphor – having strong feelings about a very local meat & three and about the history of a song that is brand new; having thoughts about the place where he is landing and a song that is centuries old.
Roaming is a way through this mess, through catastrophe and disaster as a way of finding community, against despair while not naively thinking things will get better without labor. This pattern of Carlisle’s interpretive skill is top notch throughout both of these albums, because of that curious hunger, that roaming, and that possibility of a way forward, even in the darkest era.
The last question I asked Carlisle was about theater – he had worked at Fringe shows in his 20s. He said that he wanted to direct or act again, especially Brecht. I keep returning to Brecht’s “Motto,” which reads in its entirety:
In the dark times, will there also be singing? Yes, there will also be singing. About the dark times.
This poem was the epigraph to a book written when Brecht had moved to Denmark, escaping German fascism.
Winged Victory reveals there is great beauty in darkness, that singing itself is an act of optimism, and that exile creates its own narratives. Therein, Carlisle has found a way of singing through dark times.
Artist:My Brother’s Keeper Hometown: Cincinnati, Ohio Latest Album:Wartime Cartoons Personal Nicknames (or rejected band names): Most of the band goes by our given names. Titus, Joshua, Adam, and Benj(amin), but our bass player “Wyatt” has been holding strong to the nickname “Sawmill” and has a “Sawmill” vanity license plate on his Ford Focus to prove it.
Answers provided by Benj Luckhaupt.
Which artist has influenced you the most – and how?
I’m sure any artist would say “it’s hard to choose” and I’m going to say the same. Brian Wilson, Chris Thile, Alison Krauss, Tony Rice are all so formative to us, but as a songwriter I would say Bruce Springsteen has inspired me above all. His melodies are insanely catchy, his lyrics are gritty and literary. I appreciate his ability to be both subtle and straightforward, sometimes in the same sentence. He tells you the facts and then makes you think about the implications. Bruce also covers such a wide range of the human experience. His music is a great blueprint for the “song first” approach and I really try to incorporate that into my writing, even in the bluegrass medium. I want to write simple songs that make you think. There’s also such a variance in sound (think between Nebraska and Born in the USA) and yet it all works. I could nerd out about this forever.
What other art forms – literature, film, dance, painting, etc. – inform your music?
Definitely film and literature. We look to film often to inspire our visuals. We have a music video that is very Wes Anderson-esque, and the visuals for the album cover of Wartime Cartoons were inspired by the starkness of show Severance. There are certainly a few songs inspired by movies. A song called “The Banshees” on our last album was inspired by the landscape and darkness of a movie called The Banshees of Inisherin.
Literature, song and poetry are all so closely related. Leonard Cohen was a great author outside of songs. Spending a lot of time in books has had major influence on my writing, directly and indirectly. I love to start my day with a book about religion or history and end my day with a book about music or musicians. Sometimes I try to do an audiobook in between. Just taking in all those beautiful words is such a wonderful way to increase your vocabulary and worldview.
Titus and Wyatt are both photographers, and I think that art form opens up creative pathways as well, and of course contributes to the visuals of the band.
What has been the best advice you’ve received in your career so far?
This kid told me to think about what I’m thankful for and write about that. That was great advice. He was like 5 or 6 years old and I do think about thankfulness every time I write. Out of the mouth of babes.
What is a genre, album, artist, musician, or song that you adore that would surprise people?
Most people are pretty surprised when they find out that we love hip-hop and mainstream pop. They’re even more surprised when we tell them that our music is inspired by those genres. I’ve even had people say things to me like, “I like all music except for that rap crap” and I’m always like, “Oh, really? Because I love it!” Some people are even surprised when they hear how much we love The Beach Boys.
Since food and music go so well together, what is your dream pairing of a meal and a musician?
I’d like to sit down with Tony Rice and eat whatever fish he just caught and fried up. I’m sure we wouldn’t talk much, but we’d probably listen to Miles Davis and I’m sure I would learn a lot.
All Photos: Tasha Moehlman
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Sho-Bud co-CEOs and siblings Will Jackson and Dawn Jackson.
(L to R) Kyle Ince, Bob Sheehan, Slash, Ted Stern, Andrea Whitt, Skunk Baxter, Dawn Jackson, Pavel, Hexx Henderson, Mark Tucker, Rocco DeLuca, and Will Jackson pose for a group photo at the Sho-Bud Showcase Live at the Desert 5 Spot in Los Angeles.
Sho-Bud CEO Dawn Jackson poses with Slash and a Sho-Bud Steel Guitar.
Slash plays a Sho-Bud Steel Guitar.
