Some of more commonly associated marvels of the Badger State are salty cheese curds, verdant farmsteads, and acrimoniously freezing winters – as well as a whole bunch of simple roadside attractions and signature small-town revelries. It’s the adopted home of Harry Houdini and John Muir and the birthplace of a memorable host of charming eccentrics, including Orson Welles and Thornton Wilder.
Soren Staff, lead vocalist of Wisconsin’s homegrown and free-range Them Coulee Boys, was born in the rolling hills of the country. He has spent ample time explaining the sort of commonsensical people and curiously provincial patois that make the state endearing.
“A coulee is a valley with a river in it,” said Staff. “We’ve had to clear up that name every single step of the way.”
Staff hails from just outside of Taylor, Wisconsin, population 400, and he attended high school in Milwaukee. He and his four bandmates now call Eau Claire home, a small city typifying and sharing their Midwest values and sensibilities: an industrious, approachable, and self-effacing kind of existence.
“People in Eau Claire care about art and music and there is a neighborly goodness to life here,” said Staff. “Wisconsin is not a state that people associate with a lot of luminaries coming from, but I like to think we are doing our part, pulling our weight.”
Them Coulee Boys – who are readying a brand new album, their fifth, No Fun in the Chrysalis (set for release February 28 via Some Fun Records), produced by Grammy winner Brian Joseph – are a bunch of small town Wisconsinites who have found a common place to live, where locals have embraced them with joviality and applause. Banjo player Beau Janke comes from Trempealeau, a beautiful village on the Mississippi River. Soren and his brother, Jens Staff, a mandolin player, come from the Taylor area. Bass player Neil Krause was born and raised in Chippewa Falls. Drummer Stas Hable is a native of Eau Claire and a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire’s music studies program.
Staff and Janke met at Camp Chetek, a Christian camping ministry in northwestern Wisconsin. The two camp counselors played music all day long, from the time of morning prayer, through the daily worship services in the afternoon, to evenings spent entertaining teenagers around the campfire. The following year, Jens joined Soren and Beau.
“That’s where we cut our teeth and cultivated our chemistry with each other,” said Soren. “We met at that camp and it has blossomed into a whole career.”
A few years later, Them Coulee Boys formed and the forceful folk-Americana band has lasted 11 years, which could be lauded as an eternity in the seemingly short-lived music business. Indeed, the music of Them Coulee Boys is grounded in their friendship and rooted in their desire to express a walloping good time. Such closeness, conviviality, and simple gratitude elevate the music to higher stages.
“We care about each other,” said Staff. “I trust and love these guys, personally and musically. Still, it took me time to trust in bringing an unfinished song to the others and to realize that their influences and skills and personalities will serve the song best.”
Staff was exposed to a wide variety of music in his youth, from classic rock to ’70s disco and pop, but it was the unaffected, everyday-man songs that he heard on COW97 (a Western Wisconsin country channel and his grandfather’s favorite) that created the largest impression. He was struck by the simple yet deep songs of Roger Miller and Tom T. Hall and songwriting prowess of granite and stone immortals such as Johnny Cash and Merle Haggard.
Staff, who works part-time at a local print shop, has a fondness for the contemplative capacities of the singer-songwriter experience. With mirth in his eyes, he still attends open mic night at The Plus in Eau Claire on Tuesdays, which he has done for about 10 years. But one of the most special things about Them Coulee Boys is that within the group there exists a worship of many varieties of music. Janke was raised on the thunder of Led Zeppelin, which pushes the band’s sound to an altogether different space, allowing them to turn it up to the heights of exuberance, to blaze the woods on fire.
“Finding the balance between introspective songwriting and the energy, bombast, and power of a rock and roll band, there is a good tension there. Striking a balance in that tension carves out a sound that we want to make.”
Them Coulee Boys started in a basement and, quite honestly, they never expected to be out of that basement. They played their first gig at a ski lodge in northern Wisconsin, the only ones seated and listening their parents and girlfriends. Then they signed up for the 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. spell at as many bars in the state as possible. Once, the guys played four hours of music in four separate bars in four small towns, for four nights in a row. The total haul was $1,000, split between four musicians. At that time, Staff considered their take a grand success. In 2016, the group started taking its energetic, impulsive brand of Wisconsin-Americana outside the state in earnest.
Virtually all of the group’s songs begin with lyrics, melodies, and chord structures that first arise in Staff’s head. He comes up with something rough and ready, presents it to the others, and they turn it into something utilizable, a playable song.
“My biggest job as a songwriter is to be a gatherer and be open to ideas,” said Staff. “I let images run through my head throughout the day, waiting for the words that make me want to keep writing. I’m seeking a line to build off of. If it is a good line it will stick around. If you are looking all of the time, it becomes easier to draw from that when you sit down to write something.”
Staff is pleased with the results of No Fun in the Chrysalis, the band’s fifth album. Rambunctious, playful, and wonderfully inspired, the recording is submerged in the mystery of transformation; the relentless blitz of change the most dominant theme of the songs.
“There has been massive change in my life and the other guys,” said Staff. “Kids. Marriage. Switching jobs. There is tension in change and eventually there has to be acceptance. … The first song, change is a question. But by the last song, there is an answer to it.”
The album reflects a few of those inner and interpersonal changes within the band, an encapsulation of their growth spurts and plodding development.
“Musically, we’ve embraced that we are not a string band,” Staff continued. “We have drums, electric instruments, banjos, mandolins. We’ve pushed our sound forward into different spaces, but we’ve also accepted that we come from a string band background, and could harken back to older records. There are contemplative jams. But there is also a stomping song about making out.”
No Fun in the Chrysalis reveals not only a tumultuous, change-filled time in the individual and collective lives of the musicians, but it serves as a lively expression from a band somewhere in the middle phase of their journey.
“On one hand, we are still trying to prove ourselves,” said Staff. “Though on the other hand, we have a decade worth of experience, and it shows. We’ve come a long way from the basement and hope to have many miles ahead.”
Two of the world’s preeminent experts on folk, old-time, and string band traditions (and on Black folks’ seminal contributions to these art forms), Rhiannon Giddens and Justin Robinson have announced they are reuniting on a brand new album, What Did the Blackbird Say to the Crow (set for release April 18 on Nonesuch Records). The project will feature 18 traditional North Carolina fiddle and banjo tunes tracked live and in remarkably simple settings, captured entirely outdoors and accompanied only by the wind, the rustle of the foliage, and the singing of nearby birds.
With the announcement, the pair have released a live performance video of “Hook and Line” (watch above) that was recorded at the home of Joe Thompson, their late mentor and a vital roots music forebear in the Black string band tradition’s modern iteration. What Did the Blackbird Say to the Crow was tracked in meaningful locations such as this, tying this body of music directly back to the land, the locales, and the people that birthed it.
Giddens, a MacArthur “Genius” and two-time GRAMMY Award winner and 11-time nominee, and Robinson, a fellow GRAMMY winner, thought leader, botanist, and ethnomusicologist, were both founding members of the incredibly important supergroup the Carolina Chocolate Drops. The string band would end up defining the early 2000s era of old-time music, making a huge mark in Americana circles and spawning multiple generations of Black roots-and-folk musicians after them.
What Did the Blackbird Say to the Crow, even from just this first glimpse, promises to be a natural extension of the many ways Giddens & Robinson continue to expand our roots music discourses, broaden our understandings of the people and places that birthed these sounds, and will do so in a format that’s charming, passionate, warm, and ultimately endlessly danceable.
Catch Giddens & Robinson on tour with Dirk Powell and more beginning in April 2025 and continuing through the summer. And, don’t miss Giddens’ inaugural Biscuits & Banjos festival to be held in Durham, North Carolina, at the end of April.
You’ve reached the end of the week! For a little treat, how about a few brand new songs and music videos? You Gotta Hear This!
If you’re looking for bluegrass, we’ve certainly got it this week– Chris Jones & The Night Drivers share their first recording of a Tom T. Hall original, “Mama Bake a Pie (Daddy Kill a Chicken),” since their dear friend and Bluegrass Hall of Famer passed away a few years ago. Plus, bluegrass legends Seldom Scene preview their upcoming album, Remains to Be Scene, with a new single, “Last of the Steam-Powered Trains.” And, wrapping up our bluegrass trifecta, banjo player Max Wareham pays tribute to NHL team the Boston Bruins with an excellent shredding instrumental tune, “The Black & Gold.”
From elsewhere across the roots music landscape, duo Swearingen & Kelli offer “Break Me Down,” a powerful acoustic number with plenty of grit, slide guitar, and blues influence. Plus, don’t miss Justin Wells’ new music video for “Sad, Tomorrow,” a contemplative slow burn of a song that focuses on mental health, melancholy, and forging ahead.
It’s a lovely collection of new roots music to take you into the weekend, and you know what we think – You Gotta Hear This!
Chris Jones & the Night Drivers, “Mama Bake a Pie (Daddy Kill a Chicken)”
Artist:Chris Jones & The Night Drivers Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee Song: “Mama Bake a Pie (Daddy Kill a Chicken)” Release Date: January 17, 2025 Label: Mountain Home Music Company
In Their Words: “This is an old and lesser-known Vietnam War-era song of Tom T. Hall’s and the first song of his I’ve recorded since his passing a few years ago. I think I didn’t feel ready to until now. He had a unique ability to incorporate bits of humor into a sad story, and this is definitely one of those. This song is vivid and poignant in a way that is vintage Tom T. I was going to record this several years ago, but when I brought it up to Tom T. and Dixie, they wrote ‘Hero in Harlan’ that very day to give me something new to do instead.” – Chris Jones
Seldom Scene, “Last of the Steam-Powered Trains”
Artist:The Seldom Scene Hometown: Bethesda, Maryland Song: “Last of the Steam-Powered Train” Album:Remains to Be Scene Release Date: January 14, 2025 (single); March 14, 2025 (album) Label: Smithsonian Folkways
In Their Words: “This song was written by Ray Douglas Davies and recorded by the rock group The Kinks in the 1960s. The Scene has always looked outside the box for material, and we thought this one fit the bill.” – Lou Reid
Swearingen & Kelli, “Break Me Down”
Artist:Swearingen & Kelli Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee Song: “Break Me Down” Release Date: January 24, 2025 Label: Gone Rogue Music
In Their Words: “I wrote this song a few years back, but it never really got its due. I was also really obsessed with slide guitar at that time. It’s a little gritty, and when Jayne added her vocals on top, I thought, ‘Ok, this is exactly what this song needs.’ I love the discovery process of writing and recording. Sometimes it takes a while to find the exact combination of sounds with an arrangement to tell the story the way you really want to.” – AJ Swearingen
Track Credits: AJ Swearingen – Guitars, drums, percussion, bass, vocals Jayne Kelli – Vocals, organ
Max Wareham, “The Black & Gold”
Artist:Max Wareham Hometown: Boston, Massachusetts Song: “The Black & Gold” Album:DAGGOMIT! Release Date: January 17, 2025 (single); February 21, 2025 (album)
In Their Words: “Sports and music might have more in common than we think – this tune is a tribute to the Boston Bruins’ legendary ’22-’23 season, during which they broke most NHL records. Musically, the A part was inspired by Bill Emerson and the B part is a nod to the style of banjo legend, Rudy Lyle.” – Max Wareham
Track Credits: Max Wareham – Banjo Laura Orshaw – Fiddle Chris Henry – Mandolin Chris Eldridge – Guitar Mike Bub – Bass Larry Atamanuik – Snare
Justin Wells, “Sad, Tomorrow”
Artist:Justin Wells Hometown: Lexington, Kentucky Song: “Sad, Tomorrow” Album:Cynthiana Release Date: January 15, 2025 (single); February 20, 2025 (album)
In Their Words: “The title of the song comes from a story Nicole Kidman told Marc Maron on Maron’s podcast, WTF. Kidman talked about how she often took her characters home with her, acting in front of a mirror. Her young child had grown accustomed to seeing and hearing her mother work on these roles. A day or so after Kidman’s father died, she was grieving at home, and her kid heard this. Her kid asked ‘Mom, why are you crying?’
“‘Well, I’m crying because I’m sad, because Papaw died.’
“Her child, accustomed to seeing her Mom go in and out of emotions while working on her acting, replied, ‘Well, are you gonna be sad tomorrow?’
“I wanted to write this song about that feeling of helplessness you have when a friend is struggling with depression, when the only thing you can do sometimes is just be there. I ended up asking my dear friend Adam Lee to help me finish it, which was considerably apropos, because we’d both been each other’s therapist through lockdown, when we were kinda losing our minds. Considering all of the above, the song carries an even bigger weight because it’s one of the last songs that my friend Robby Cosenza played on before he passed. Robby was a Lexington icon, playing on hundreds of albums including a Ringo Starr record as well as my debut album, Dawn in the Distance, and he was instrumental in helping me get my legs under me when I started my solo career.” – Justin Wells
Photo Credit: Seldom Scene by Jeromie Stephens; Swearingen & Kelli by Daniel Shippy.
While Boston may claim its title as the bluegrass capital of the Northeast, acoustic quartet On the Trail is living proof that the Connecticut bluegrass scene is not only alive and well, it is thriving. Composed of four impeccable musicians who each attended Western Connecticut State University to earn vastly varying degrees, On the Trail weaves together an uncommon collection of backgrounds to deliver a unique sound.
Drawing inspiration from opera to the Beatles to jazz, these four achieve a sonic richness that will leave listeners edified and enamored. True to their band’s name, they trailblaze full force with the release of their first full-length album, Where Do We Go from Here.
BGS recently had the pleasure of sitting down with Tom Polizzi (mandolin, guitar, vocals), Matt Curley (bass, vocals), Charlie Widmer (guitar, vocals), and Austin Scelzo (fiddle, vocals) to discuss all things On the Trail.
Congrats on the new album! Will you tell me a little bit about how you all ended up in a bluegrass band together?
Tom Polizzi: Well for me, I was a really, really serious jazz guitar player for a number of years – it was my whole life. Then around the end of high school I started to get a little more disillusioned with what jazz was about and where that could take me in life. I knew about Chris Thile, though weirdly I didn’t know about mandolin’s association with bluegrass, but I knew I was really interested in mandolin, the tone and potential of the instrument. I got a little $400 scholarship from the music department at my high school and bought myself a mandolin as a graduation gift for myself.
I learned to play walking around a camp that I worked at that summer with the thing on my back, playing while I walked anywhere around the camp. I remember standing somewhere at that camp with the mandolin and someone asked, “Do you want to play a bluegrass tune?” I was like, “A what?” And then they taught me “Cherokee Shuffle.” From there, I just started learning fiddle tunes and while in college I pretty much gave up on jazz aspirations. Even though I got my scholarship to school with jazz, I just kind of started playing Doc Watson and bluegrass tunes and the rest is history.
Austin Scelzo: My background was in classical violin. I learned to read [music] growing up in school orchestra and then went on to study it in college. But in the summers of my later high school years, I got sent to those iconic fiddle camps that get so many people in the door and that opened up my whole world to non-classical playing, which eventually propelled me into spending my summers in college exploring different music camps and festivals. My freshman year of college I went to Grey Fox, my first bluegrass festival. And throughout college, I started playing in a bluegrass country group locally. I would play classical music in school systems and then spend summers floating from festival to festival, living out of my car and really digging into the bluegrass stuff, which over time grew to become my primary musical expressive tool. So between the classical/arranging mindset and my investment in traditional bluegrass, that’s kind of where my musical tastes lend themselves to this group.
Charlie Widmer: Austin and I met when I was 19 years old – he’s actually the one that married my wife and me; he got ordained for it. We’ve known each other for such a long time. I had auditioned on a whim for a musical at 16. Didn’t know I could sing. They were doing Grease and I had a crush on a girl at the time. I went into that room and I met my now-wife, that same day at the audition, and I ended up getting the lead role. And then that kind of spiraled into more musical theater and trying to get into music school.
When Austin and I met, I was in school for classical singing and we were both interns at a church in Ridgefield [Connecticut], where we were both paid section leaders in the choir. After about a year of working together, somehow we ended up sitting next to each other. You know, we were in an a cappella group together, lots of different choirs, all these classes, but we just hadn’t connected. But as soon as we sat next to each other it was clear that we were getting along.
And so, fast forward five years, I was in the middle of a gig with my hip-hop soul band. I’d been doing stuff as a front man for a hip-hop soul group and it was awesome. I’m drenched in sweat, and Austin and I are talking in the break and I say to him, “Hey, man, I’ve been listening to Chris Thile and his group, Punch Brothers, and they’re sick, man. If that’s, like, a possibility in bluegrass, I’d love to do something where I’m playing guitar – let me know if a gig pops up.” We kind of agreed that he needed another year to finish school and get settled into being a teacher and everything. And a year later, almost to the day, he said, “I got us something if you want to drive.” It was perfect timing. My other group was falling apart. When this started, it just kept working and going. I don’t think any of us ever thought at that point, six years later we’d be here with an album.
Matt Curley: I was the last member to join On the Trail and I’ve been in the group for about three-and-a-half, four years now. I started playing guitar when I was in middle school and in early high school, I was playing in punk rock bands. When I got to high school, I really wanted to play in the jazz band playing guitar, but the guitarist was very good, So I thought, “I’ll play bass. It’s easy, it’s four strings.” Then the band director points to the upright bass. I remember thinking, “No, no, not that one!” So during that rehearsal it was the first time I ever played upright, and I eventually came back to the bass.
I’m the kind of guy who’s switched instruments several times. I switched to percussion, joining the drum line. I ended up marching drum corps for a few years, which led me to majoring in percussion at WestConn and then to get my master’s degree in Tennessee, right outside of Nashville, in classical percussion performance. For a while I thought I was going to be in professional orchestras, as I was training and practicing to take auditions for triangles and cymbals. Glad I didn’t do that. Then I started teaching band down there in Tennessee and I ended up moving back up here. I was teaching and Austin was the orchestra teacher in the same school, so we started jamming. Up to this point, I knew nothing about bluegrass. Even living in Nashville for a while, I knew nothing about bluegrass. Then I just happened to own a bass, so that led to me showing up to an On the Trail rehearsal. Here we are, three and a half years later.
CW: We also had a banjo player with us for the first three years, Chet, who was from Mississippi and originally grew up in Nashville. Chet lent a hand on some of the songs, even on the album. He got a doctoral offer to go down to Florida and get his doctorate in philosophy. He’s a genius, really such a smart guy – we always hope that Chet will join us again. We just always have a lot of fun together. I think that can be rare in groups.
Absolutely. Y’all have amazing chemistry and it’s evident. You recently released the band’s first full length album, Where Do We Go from Here. What are you each proudest of on the album?
TP: I think the fact that I actually wrote songs with lyrics and they made it somewhere. After I finished school with an audio engineering degree, I did our whole first EP – all of the editing, mixing, mastering – myself. And with this record, I felt like that kind of stuff culminated in a different way, where I knew how to be on the other side of the booth, so to speak, in a way that was productive. I think I was able to help us keep the sessions thoughtful and productive throughout, from a perspective of final product.
I also love that I’ve got a couple of very sad or introspective songs on the album, one of which my fiancée didn’t know I had written. We were on the phone with her mom and she was talking about “Help Me” on the album. She said something along the lines of, “This is so devastating. Tom, you really wrote something beautiful.” And Claire goes, “You wrote that devastating song about heartbreak and loss?!” I had all these things written years ago after I broke up with my ex-girlfriend. Claire had never heard it because I don’t sing it – Charlie sings it on the record and we don’t play it at shows very much. She didn’t know I was capable of even having such sad words in my brain.
AS: I love that this album captures three or four original songs from each of us. My three songs all have a really different feel than anything else I’ve put out and they all mean something really powerful to me. They each capture a timestamp of a part of my life. The title track, “Where Do We Go from Here,” was one of the last songs we recorded, and one of the last songs that we even talked about putting together. It almost didn’t make the album at all. But we’re so proud of that track. That’s the song I’m by far the most pleased with. I also really like the way that “Trouble in My Soul” captured a different side of my voice that I’ve never captured on a record. It’s a lot more gritty, which is kind of cool, and then “Can’t Get You Out of My Mind” has some really nice moments too.
CW: For me, honestly I think the whole album is the pride point. When we did our first record, we had no clue what we were doing. I was really green to bluegrass in so many ways. Those first couple years were trial by fire, where I had no clue about any artists or vernacular and I was constantly terrified of every gig and jam. It felt like everyone was speaking a language. This record feels very full circle – we’d been talking about it forever. It really captures who On the Trail is. As songwriters, I think all of us have gained some confidence, though so much of that has come from just performing these pieces and getting positive feedback from the audience the last six years. When we started we didn’t know we had something, but our friends and family and even strangers told us to keep going. It just kept fueling us, you know? So, yeah, when I think about the proudest thing, it’s that we have this collection.
Given the diversity of musical backgrounds you each come from, where do you feel like your aligned priorities are? Do you have through lines about what you all prioritize and value musically?
TP: I would say one of the biggest factors that held us together is just that joy of making music. One of our biggest frictions, probably, is that diversity of background – even now, in the background of this interview, I’m just wrapping up my marketing job, my day gig, Matt’s driving home from teaching school, and Charlie and Austin both freelance more and do more things that are full-time music. A lot of it has been about finding that balance that brings us all joy and keeps us believing in what we’re doing. But you know, on our toughest days, what drives us ahead is that we love making music together, we love making music on our own and sharing it with one another.
CW: Yeah, as any musician knows, we’re always just chasing that incredible moment. We all share a true appreciation of music, and we are all deeply aligned regarding what exciting music feels like. When something’s hot, we all can agree immediately – it’s not even so much of a discussion.
AS: We’re all also pretty consistent with the vocal harmony, regardless of the song. No matter the arrangement, we value strong vocal harmony and strong vocal presence. So a big part of this group is understanding harmony to a point where we can get really good three-part and other types of arrangements.
TP: For probably the first year and a half, I didn’t sing a note in the band. Vocals have become such a big thing. I learned from these guys, who are and always will be better singers than I, but they coaxed it out of me.
MC: Same for me. I’ve never taken a voice lesson or anything and now I’m singing four or five songs. It’s incredible.
For our final question – you’re our One to Watch, but who are you watching right now? Any creatives, musical artists, or otherwise that are inspiring you right now? Could even be a TV show or a Tik Tok creator.
TP: I’m sure they’ve been featured here a lot, but someone who’s been talked about a lot in our band is AJ Lee & Blue Summit. We love them. We’ve played with them. We’re inspired by them. Lots of our friends just around here, you know, keep us moving. The Ruta Beggars are doing fantastic things. Cahaba Roots, High Horse – all of those guys have so much going on. And if you’re looking for a good TV show to watch, watch Shrinking, because it’ll just rip your heart out. Oh, and one sleeper album – if you love all the music that we’ve talked about, this is an album I’ve heard no one else talk about. Maybe I’m just not talking to the right people, but it’s an album called Passages by Ethan Sherman. It’s got Wes Corbett on the banjo, and Thomas Cassell plays amazing mandolin on that album. I found it very inspiring.
CW: For me, a constant, big influence in songwriting and sticking to your vision and making it work has been Theo Katzman, who’s one of the guys from Vulfpeck. His last record especially resonated incredibly. All of his records have, but that one was during the process of making my album, as well as On the Trail’s album, and it empowered just feeling brave enough to do what we felt was right for the music. He was a big inspiration.
Allen Stone is also a huge inspiration for me as a singer and as a songwriter and he just dropped a new project. I always come back to Nickel Creek and Punch Brothers. Nickel Creek’s last album, I thought, was stunningly brilliant and beautiful.
MC: It’s really a great time for bluegrass, country, and folk music, even in the Northeast, not just down south [or] in Nashville. There are a lot of groups that are getting really big here. I mean, we have a Connecticut group, North County Band, that is doing some good things. Another group that I played with this summer, Raquel and the Wildflowers, from the Poughkeepsie area, are also doing great things. Shout out to the Rock Hearts, the other group Austin fiddles with. They’re great too.
AS: I mean, I would definitely have to reiterate the bands that Tom mentioned. We’re so steeped in the New England scene, we play so many shows, and my best friends are in so many of these bands. We’ve been friends with the Ruta Beggars forever. I mean, they were my earliest experience seeing young people play bluegrass music at Grey Fox. I just love those guys – they are so hardworking. They just got signed this year and are doing awesome stuff.
I go to IBMA every year with the Rock Hearts and I see some of the upcoming bands, and every once in a while one will really strike me, and the one that struck me this year was Never Come Down. I got to hang out with them in Colorado and I was hanging with the Stillhouse Junkies, who have a new player from New England that just joined them this year, so they’re a quartet now. They’re doing some really cool new stuff. Another band is Della Mae, and they’ve been around for a really long time, but they’re still producing amazing new songs. I mean, some of the songwriting that comes out of the group has absolutely made me weep, multiple times. Some of the songs are unrecorded—they’re still building a repertoire that’s really meaningful and really powerful.
I think we always have an eye on Twisted Pine, too, who just came out with a new album, and they have all these really fun videos, too. They’re doing something that I think we hope to do as well, which is kind of keep a foot in the bluegrass door, but also step into spaces that bluegrass music hasn’t been to. I think our music is suited for that, to get it outside of the traditional festival circuit, the traditional concert series, and preserve the tradition we’re so grateful for while also being innovative.
We’re not always promised earnestness and raw talent from musical guests who show up on late night talk shows, but Julien Baker and TORRES brought both during their energizing joint television debut on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon last week.
Donning brightly colored western suits embroidered with flowers and wielding an eclectic mix of acoustic and electric instruments, Baker, TORRES, and their sprawling backing band are vital and promising in their four-and-a-half minutes on stage. It feels like stepping into a slightly altered version of reality, one where past and future bleed into one another.
Together, the seasoned songwriters blend elements of ’90s-era alt-country, western, and indie-rock; their energizing harmonies feel so riddled with life they couldn’t possibly be defined by genre. Baker and TORRES are returning to the root of something honest, vulnerable and nostalgic with their sound. But they’re also acting as alchemists, creating a secret third space, almost inexplicably, using familiar, common elements. There’s just something about this performance that words can’t quite capture.
“Sugar in the Tank” starts out slightly subdued. Baker sings in a characteristic restrained-yet-emotive voice as she plucks the banjo. TORRES starts a twangy conversation between their Fender Telecaster, the fiddle and the pedal steel. But as the song builds, the energy of the performance becomes electric and infectious. When TORRES first comes in with their rich vocal harmonies and the band kicks into full gear, the song becomes bigger than the sum of its parts. But even as it becomes raucous and expansive, the performance still manages to feel tender, personal and heartfelt.
At one point, Baker sings, “I love you now, already and not yet,” and this trepidation, this confusion matched by conviction, feels deeply fitting for the energy the musicians bring to this performance.
Baker is best known as the founder of indie/folk-pop supergroup boygenius, while TORRES has been trodding a steady path as a solo artist for over a decade. The two just recently started recording and performing together, and it looks like there’s plenty more to come. While “Sugar in the Tank” is the only single Baker and TORRES have released so far, rumor has it they have a full-length country album in the works. The two will be performing in select cities throughout the U.S. this coming spring and summer, and you can check out their full list of tour dates on their website.
On Tuesday, December 17, actor, comedian, and banjoist Steve Martin and the board of his Steve Martin Banjo Prize – now in its fourteenth year – announced this year’s winners of the $25,000 prize. Founded in 2010, the Steve Martin Banjo Prize for Excellence in Banjo has since awarded more than $500,000 in unrestricted prize funds to banjo players across the genre and style spectrum. The inaugural awardee in 2010 was modern banjo luminary Noam Pikelny; in successive years the list of recipients has grown rapidly, including such players, leaders, and composers as Rhiannon Giddens, Terry Baucom, Don Vappie, Jake Blount, Victor Furtado, Eddie Adcock, and many more.
This year, the prize’s two recipients are banjo pickers on the cutting edge of the instrument’s bright future in two distinct styles, Allison de Groot (one of the foremost old-time, clawhammer/frailing banjo players of her generation) and Tray Wellington (a Scruggs-style picker with a striking postmodern, newgrass approach.)
“Exploring had always been part of my personality since I was a kid,” Wellington explained via press release. “Music is the same way for me. Since I started playing banjo at 14, I had ideas for how I could constantly expand my musical vision and make my personality shine through banjo. Every day I am still on that journey and cannot wait to continue this pursuit.”
And exploration is certainly a hallmark of Wellington’s approach to the instrument. His right-hand approach is decidedly traditional, it’s powerful and assertive with limitless drive. While his left hand is mind-bending in its virtuosity, combining influences and textures from envelope pushers like Pikelny and Béla Fleck, he pulls an equal measure of inspiration from outside of bluegrass and roots music, as well.
Take for instance his rendition of Kid Cudi’s “Pursuit of Happiness.” A layperson or bluegrass passerby might not ever expect a Kid Cudi cover performed at a roots music festival, let alone a straight-ahead bluegrass festival, but in almost every instance and context this writer has heard Wellington and band perform the number, the reaction from his audiences is electric. A buzzing excitement ripples through the crowd, murmuring recognition spreading like the most virulent contagion known to man (banjo) always does.
His live performances and through-composed instrumental pieces are out of this world, like his original “Moon in Motion 1” and “Spiral Staircase” from his most recent EP, Detour to the Moon. His 2022 full-length debut, Black Banjo, was critically acclaimed and well-received in bluegrass and beyond, combining new acoustic, jazz, Americana, and ‘grass together in his own particular blend. The project was something of a statement of perspective for Wellington, but that point of view has been anything but static since Black Banjo.
A nominee for multiple IBMA Awards – and 2019 winner of their Momentum Instrumentalist Award – Wellington is certainly right at home on bluegrass festival stages, but his music is expansive, broad, and fully-realized no matter the context. It’s clear he makes his musical and repertoire choices for himself first and foremost and following that, for a forward-thinking, equally broad audience to whom he’s directly bringing his songs and story.
This is the power of a picker like Wellington, to energize and electrify an audience – whether diehard banjo fans or new initiates – with a sound totally his own. It’s exactly how Earl Scruggs became the legendary figure of American music that he is today, by causing thousands of “What the hell is this magic?!” reactions from his listeners and bringing countless scores into the music with that inimitable sound alone.
For her part, de Groot is also a committed borderless musical explorer: “It still feels just as exciting as it did the first day I picked it up,” she relays in a press release. “I feel like I could live 100 lifetimes and explore the banjo.”
Meanwhile, her voice on the instrument would already seem to indicate multiple lifetimes lived on the banjo. A veteran of groups such as Bruce Molsky’s Mountain Drifters, the Goodbye Girls (with Lena Jonsson, Molly Tuttle, and Brittany Karlson), and duo outfits with folks like Nic Gareiss and Tatiana Hargreaves, de Groot has an absolutely idiosyncratic approach to old-time, clawhammer, and frailing styles.
Perhaps her most jaw-dropping achievement – to this banjo player, at least – is how melodic, intricate, and grounded her playing is. De Groot plays with the precision of a three-finger player and with a very similar rhythmic foundation, making it particularly compelling when she leans into melodic intricacies usually left to bluegrass strains of banjo playing. Her execution of Irish tunes on old-time banjo, too, are fantastic and baffling. How does she do it??
There may not be a more lyrical clawhammer banjo player around today, though de Groot has excellent company (Cathy Fink, Brad Kolodner, Victor Furtado, Nick Hornbuckle) in this rarest of niches she inhabits. Don’t get it twisted, though, this is a picker with grit; this frailing has teeth. At the same time, her playing never strays toward iconoclastic banjo pitfalls like showing off or territorialism or horse-measuring contests.
Her style is incisive, deliberate, and bold, and at the same time liberated by her commitment to listening and making music in partnership with her collaborators, whoever they may be and whatever styles they may dabble in. While the prize and the visibility it lends are beyond well-deserved, it’s clear that de Groot’s reputation as a superlative banjo technician is already well known across musical communities – take, for example, her and Hargreaves’ recent collaboration with guitarist and composer Yasmin Williams on “Hummingbird.”
As evidenced by this short primer on each of these fine banjo pickers, Wellington and de Groot are excellent choices to receive the Steve Martin Banjo Prize as selected by the award’s board – which currently includes Steve Martin, Alison Brown, Béla Fleck, Noam Pikelny, Anne Stringfield, Tony Trischka, Pete Wernick, Johnny Baier, Kristin Scott Benson, Roger Brown, Jaime Deering, Dom Flemons, Paul Schiminger, Chris Wadsworth, and Garry West.
Both Wellington and de Groot are young players poised to open minds and open up the instrument in exciting, engaging, and innovative ways – because that’s what the banjo has always been about.
Today, December 17, at 5:30pm ET / 2:30pm PT, viewers can tune into Deering Live to enjoy a livestream celebrating the two winners featuring Alison Brown as co-host and including interviews and performances. Tune in here.
Photo Credit: Allison de Groot by Phil Cook; Tray Wellington courtesy of the Steve Martin Banjo Prize.
Who needs Black Friday when you have New Music Friday? We’ve got your doorbusters right here, in our weekly premiere roundup!
This week, from the bluegrass realm, we have two new tracks from labelmates Benson and Jaelee Roberts. Check out “Down That Road” from husband-and-wife-duo Benson, featuring bluegrass veterans Kristin Scott Benson and Wayne Benson – with vocals by Keith Garrett. Plus, Jaelee Roberts pays tribute to ’80s and ’90s bluegrass with a loving homage to the Lonesome River Band with her cover of “Looking For Yourself.”
Also in our premiere collection, we have a brand new lyric video for “Go to the Sun,” a new single from Swedish folk-pop singer-songwriter Sarah Klang all about going from a dark place to one of hope. To wrap us up this week – and this month! – don’t miss our exclusive two-song Tønder Session with Ugandan-Texan roots artist Jon Muq.
It’s all right here on BGS and You Gotta Hear This!
Benson, “Down That Road”
Artist:Benson Hometown: Boiling Springs, South Carolina Song: “Down That Road” Release Date: November 29, 2024 Label: Mountain Home Music Company
In Their Words: “‘Down That Road’ is a great song. I love to play banjo on tunes with this lilting groove. Wayne and I are both huge Keith Garrett fans and we love his vocal delivery on this one. The song conveys a vulnerability and he did a great job capturing that.” – Kristin Scott Benson
Track Credits: Kristin Scott Benson – Banjo Wayne Benson – Mandolin Cody Kilby – Guitar Kevin McKinnon – Bass Tony Creasman – Drums Dustin Pyrtle – Harmony vocal
Sarah Klang, “Go To The Sun”
Artist:Sarah Klang Hometown: Gothenburg, Sweden Song: “Go to the Sun” Album:Beautiful Woman Release Date: November 29, 2024 (single); February 7, 2025 (album) Label: Nettwerk Music Group
In Their Words: “‘Go to the Sun’ is one of the most personal songs I’ve ever written. This song represents going to better places, be it in your mind or physically traveling to those places. It’s about a person’s mental state going from a dark place to one of hope. It’s about escaping from the day-to-day and finding your way.” – Sarah Klang
JaeleeRoberts, “Looking For Yourself”
Artist:Jaelee Roberts Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee Song: “Looking For Yourself” Release Date: November 29, 2024 Label: Mountain Home Music Company
In Their Words: “I absolutely love the ’80s and ’90s eras of bluegrass music and ‘Looking For Yourself’ (originally recorded by the Lonesome River Band) completely embodies that vibe. I’ve been a LRB fan my entire life and this song has always jumped out at me while listening to that classic album, so I decided that ‘Looking For Yourself’ should be the first bluegrass cover song that I’d record. Andy Leftwich, Cody Kilby, Ron Block, Byron House, John Gardner, and Grayson Lane are absolutely awesome and made this track go from dream to reality for me! Speaking of Grayson Lane, I just have to say how happy I am to have him singing harmony with me on this. We have known each other since we were born (literally) and he is one of my favorite singers and his voice on ‘Looking For Yourself’ was the icing on the cake. I hope y’all will enjoy my spin of one of my favorite bluegrass songs and that you’ll listen to it loud and sing along at the top of your lungs!” – Jaelee Roberts
Track Credits: Jaelee Roberts – Vocals, harmony vocals Byron House – Bass Cody Kilby – Acoustic guitar Andy Leftwitch – Mandolin, fiddle John Gardner – Drums Ron Block – Banjo Grayson Lane – Harmony vocals
Tønder Session, Jon Muq
Earlier this year, during the waning days of summer, our videographer friends at I Know We Should traveled to Denmark to capture a handful of special sessions with Americana and roots artists performing at Scandinavian music festivals. For our next installment in this mini-series, we’re excited to feature singer-songwriter Jon Muq performing during his time at premier Danish music event, Tønder Festival.
Born and raised in Uganda, Jon Muq has made waves since relocating to Austin, Texas, and leaving his mark on the American roots music scene. Earlier this year he released his debut full-length album, Flying Away, on Dan Auerbach’s Easy Eye Sound. That’s the project from which Muq’s first selection is pulled. On a waterside boardwalk with a marshy backdrop, Muq offers “Bend,” a song about resiliency, flexibility, and connection, and “Hello Sunshine,” another track from Flying Away – one just perfect for August in Denmark.
It’s a wall-to-wall picture show this week in our premiere round-up! Pop some popcorn, grab some Mike & Ikes, sit back, and enjoy our quintuple feature of new music videos and live sessions from bluegrass, country, and string band artists and groups.
First, the Burnett Sisters Band showcase a lonesome and heart-wrenching number, “Sorrow, Grief and Pain,” with familial harmonies and songwriting by guitarist Geary Allen. Then, we have Caleb Klauder & Reeb Willms performing “Most Lonely Day,” a track from their brand new album, Gold in Your Pocket, that keeps our lonesome, introspective, and emotive video trend going. That vibe is artfully maintained next by bluegrass outfit Wilson Banjo Co., who bring their music video for “Black Wedding Dress” featuring a brand new singer for the group, Brandi Colt.
To cap this week’s collection, we have two final installments for two video series we’ve been running for the last few weeks here on BGS. Our partner series of AEA Sessions with our friends at AEA Ribbon Mics concludes with a handful of songs by singer-songwriter Zach Meadows, and Rachel Sumner wraps up her Traveling Light Sessions with a performance of “Radium Girls (Curie Eleison),” the standout track from her recent album, Heartless Things.
Sit back, relax, and enjoy the show right here on BGS! You gotta see this – and of course, You Gotta Hear this!
The Burnett Sisters Band, “Sorrow, Grief and Pain”
Artist:The Burnett Sisters Band Hometown: Johnson City, Tennessee Song: “Sorrow, Grief and Pain” Release Date: October 10, 2024 Label: Pinecastle Records
In Their Words: “You get ‘Sorrow, Grief and Pain’ when you combine hard-driving traditional bluegrass with Marty Robbins-style country music. When folks would ask us what we were working on, we simply called it a ‘Bluegrass Western.’ Written by our very own guitar player Geary Allen and born at lightning speed, the song tells a story of lost love with a perilous end. The triple fiddles carry the protagonist through a whirlwind of emotions as Anneli Burnett’s piercing lead vocal strikes at the heart of anybody with ears to listen. We loved working with Rebecca Jones on the making of this music video and she did a fantastic job at bringing the song’s emotion alive in her work. We hope our listeners enjoy hearing and watching ‘Sorrow, Grief and Pain’ as much as we enjoyed making it.” – Geary Allen, songwriter, guitar
Track Credits: Geary Allen – Guitar, banjo, harmony vocals Anissa Burnett – Fiddle, harmony vocals Anneli Burnett – Fiddle, mandolin, lead vocals Sophia Burnett – Bass Dan Boner – Fiddle
Video Credit: Rebecca Jones
Caleb Klauder & Reeb Willms, “Most Lonely Day”
Artist:Caleb Klauder & Reeb Willms Hometown: Orcas Island, Washington Song: “Most Lonely Day” Album:Gold in Your Pocket Release Date: November 15, 2024 Label: Free Dirt Records
In Their Words: “Have you ever had one? This song is written as a cautionary tale and is reflective on how things could be bad. Some of these experiences I’ve had, some of them I don’t want to have, as I have already watched my friends go through them. Be thankful for the good things that you have in your life and for the things that are working well.” – Caleb Klauder
Track Credits: Caleb Klauder – Vocals, mandolin, acoustic guitar Reeb Willms – Vocals, acoustic guitar Joel Savoy – Fiddle Chris Scruggs – Tic tac bass Walter Hartman – Drums Dirk Powell – Piano
Video Credits: Filmed by Beehive Productions at the Floyd Country Store in Floyd, Virginia. Recorded live by Joe Dejarnette.
Wilson Banjo Co., “Black Wedding Dress”
Artist:Wilson Banjo Co. Hometown: Westminster, South Carolina Song: “Black Wedding Dress” Release Date: October 22, 2024 Label: Pinecastle Records
In Their Words: “‘Black Wedding Dress’ was a great lead single for the new lineup of Wilson Banjo Co. and for the EP releasing in January. The storyline maintains the dark, edgy undertone that our unique brand of bluegrass has had for the last ten years, while also providing a wide open platform for our fresh new vocalist to the band, Brandi Colt, to show off her range.
“Avrim Topel wrote such a compelling story song and the band had a blast recording and performing it for the video. I couldn’t be happier with the way the band members have dialed in to each other, the music and show just feel next level. We really hope y’all will enjoy it as much as we do!” – Steve Wilson
Track Credits: Steve Wilson – Banjo Jaime Carter – Bass, harmony Brandi Colt – Vocal Andrew Crawford – Guitar Adam Bachman – Resonator guitar Darren Nicholson – Mandolin
Video Credits: Bonfire Recording Studio
AEA Sessions: Zach Meadows, Live at Americanafest 2024
Artist:Zach Meadows Hometown: From Orlando, Florida; currently residing in Nashville, Tennessee Songs: “Three White Crosses,” “Cardinal Song,” “Marianne,” “Texas Two Step”
In Their Words: “Since moving to Nashville, I’ve had the opportunity to collaborate with some incredibly talented folks. Having just put out my debut record, Road to Nowhere, getting the chance to share some of my journey through music with AEA and play a bit of the album live with Brandon Bell in the room, who was absolutely so instrumental in helping to bring this record to life, was truly a one-of-a-kind experience.” – Zach Meadows
Artist:Rachel Sumner & Traveling Light Hometown: Boston, Massachusetts Song: “Radium Girls (Curie Eleison)” (Traveling Light Sessions) Album:Heartless Things Release Date: November 21, 2024 (video); May 10, 2024 (album)
In Their Words: “‘Radium Girls (Curie Eleison)’ is based on a true, terrible piece of United States history – one that I didn’t learn about in any history book. It tells the story of the Radium Girls, young factory workers poisoned by the very material they were told was safe, and their courageous fight for justice. The title juxtaposes scientific progress with a plea for mercy, tying the legacy of Marie Curie to the tragic consequences of her discoveries.
“Performing this song with Traveling Light keeps the arrangement stark and intimate to let the haunting resonance of the story come through. This video is particularly special to me, because I had the chance to play a guitar that one of my songwriting heroes, Josh Ritter, has used to record many of his own epic story songs. It felt like a beautiful connection to the power of storytelling.” – Rachel Sumner
The music, sparse and spooky, sounds at the same time strangely universal and possibly from the last century, but as Jerron Paxton notes in his album title, Things Done Changed. The major difference on Paxton’s fifth album (including his 2021 duet set with Dennis Lichtman) is a big one. He wrote the songs.
“It wasn’t a very difficult decision,” Paxton said. “I had always had a list of tunes to record of my own compositions. I had to get enough cogent tunes to be an album, because you can’t have something that’s all over the place.
“You can’t have overtures with your hoedowns.”
The material on Things Done Changed is evidence that Paxton is no novice songwriter. These are words infused with hard living, what he calls “a good album full of blues tunes.”
In the standout track, “So Much Weed,” Paxton weaves amusement and a little resentment that there are Black people still serving time for minor drug offenses in an era when legal marijuana stores are in many states.
“Things done changed from the ’90s until now/ Lend me your ear and I’ll sure tell you how/ We got so much weed/ And the law don’t care/ My poor uncles used to have to run and hide/ Now they sit on their front porch with pride.”
A telephone call with Paxton is an adventure. He doesn’t back down and enjoys putting you on the spot if you’re susceptible to that.
A lot of your work is in vintage music styles. Why not a more contemporary sound?
Jerron Paxton: I play a diverse array of styles. I started off playing the banjo and the fiddle. As a matter of fact, I’m one of the few professional Black five-string banjo players in the world.
You have roots in Los Angeles and your family is from Louisiana. How did each of those places affect your music?
Well, I play the music of that culture, so it affected it in totality. It’s like being Irish and playing Irish music.
Could you give me a sense of how you evolved as a musician?
I started off with the fiddle and moved to the banjo and the guitar and piano and things like that. It was just a natural evolution, getting interested in one and that leading to another and to another, growing up in the house that was full of the blues. That’s mostly what my family listened to. [My aunt] almost listened to strictly the blues, while my grandma was kind of eclectic like me, and listened to everything. She liked Hank Williams and all sorts of country music and jazz and everything like that.
… I grew up in, first of all, a family full of Black people. So I got exposed to all sorts of Black folk music and Black popular music of every generation. You were just as liable to hear [Mississippi] John Hurt and Son House and Bukka White in my house as to hear Marvin Gaye, Michael Jackson, and Sam Cooke. If you heard bluegrass, that was mostly me. I was the one blasting Flatt & Scruggs and people like that.
You didn’t grow up in Louisiana, yet your music seems to be tied to music from the South.
My grandparents grew up there. My family migrated to Los Angeles with the death of Emmett Till and they brought their culture with them. But that doesn’t say much, because the majority of the culture in South Central [Los Angeles] is from Louisiana, so it’s not like we went someplace completely foreign. We went someplace where we were surrounded by people who were from where we were from.
I love the song “So Much Weed.” It’s a funny song about a serious thing, that there are many Black people in prison for marijuana convictions on charges that are now legal. Do people laugh when you play it?
I don’t play it live. Well, I don’t play it on stage. I usually play it in small gatherings for close friends.
Would you tell me more about your grandmother and how she influenced your music?
She was a fun, loving lady from northwestern Louisiana. My mother had to work, so I spent most of my time with [my grandmother] and grew up gardening and fishing, and getting the culture that you get when you’re raised in the house with your grandmother. Her mother was across the street. So I had four generations of family on one street.
So some of the songs on Things Done Changed were written some time ago. Why sit on them?
Some of the tunes were kind of personal and I just sort of kept them for myself and my friends. Other ones I had been singing on stage for a little while and said, “Maybe I should record this song first chance I get.” And other ones I had been singing since I was little, since my grandma helped find some words to them. So it’s all kinds of processes. Some of them take a lot of labor.
Do you mostly like to work alone live, or do you like to mix it up with other musicians sometimes?
It depends on the context. If I’m being hired as a soloist, that’s what you do, and that seems to be the most in demand. There’s not too many people who can go on the stage by themselves and hold the audience for 45 or 90 minutes or two hours with just the instrument. So people tend to hire me for that and there’s a lot of solo material unexplored because of that. But I play jazz music, so that’s a collective art. I play country music, which is also a collective art. I play blues music, which is a collective art. So you know, they’re all collective, but the solo is what people ask for. It travels easy.
So how would you like your career to develop? Do you have a plan?
I’d like to be filthy rich, just grotesquely rich and have a mansion with a lake. [Laughs] … But to be honest, I’m kind of enjoying building what I have, and I haven’t really seen any end to it. That might be a good thing. It just seems to be getting better. So I don’t see a need to worry about the end as much as how to make the best parts of what’s happening now last longer.
What kind of rooms are you working? Are you doing clubs for the most part?
I play festivals and basically any place that’ll have it, theaters and places like that. Any place that wants good music, I try to be there to supply.
For New Music Friday, we’ve got a healthy handful of new videos, tracks, and releases from your favorites artists in folk, country, bluegrass, old-time, and beyond.
Don’t miss new songs like Penny & Sparrow’s single “Jeopardy” and Helene Cronin’s take on mortality and togetherness, “Visitors.” Also, bluegrass outfit Seth Mulder & Midnight Run bring a Yellowstone-inspired cowboy number, “Looking Past the Pain (The Cowboy Song).” LA-based singer-songwriter Leeann Skoda debuts “Easy” in our round-up, as well, a new track with plenty of grit – and ’90s rock influences.
Plus, we’ve got a bevy of new music videos! Andy Leftwich performs an instrumental rendition of the gospel classic, “Talk About Suffering,” with an excellent trio. Check out the Hannah Connolly-crafted special live performance for “Worth the Wait,” a song from her most recent album, Shadowboxing. And old-time multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Evie Ladin picks “Walking Up Georgia Row” with fiddler Kieran Towers, celebrating her upcoming project, Ride the Rooster 2.
That’s not all, either! Earlier in the week, the second-to-last installments of the AEA Sessions (featuring Tony Arata this time) and Rachel Sumner’s Traveling Light Sessions (featuring her original “3000 Miles”) premiered on BGS. So you can check out those great performances below, too, and watch for the final edition in each series next week.
All of that musical goodness is right here on BGS – and You’ve Gotta Hear This!
Hannah Connolly, “Worth the Wait” (Live)
Artist:Hannah Connolly Hometown: Eau Claire, Wisconsin Song: “Worth The Wait” (Live Performance) Album:Shadowboxing Release Date: November 8, 2025
In Their Words: “‘Worth the Wait’ is a song about time, distance, and love. This video was captured last fall in Vienna, when my husband Eric and I were able to be on tour together. I was opening a few shows for his band Young the Giant’s tour and our friend and the band’s photographer, Lupe Bustos, filmed it when we had the afternoon off at the hotel. This song came out of missing Eric while he was on tour, so it was special to be able to capture it while we were traveling together. I’m grateful we were able to record a version of it in such a natural, unplugged form.” – Hannah Connolly
Video Credit: Filmed by Guadalupe Bustos.
Helene Cronin, “Visitors”
Artist:Helene Cronin Hometown: Dallas, Texas / Nashville, Tennessee Song: “Visitors” Album:Maybe New Mexico Release Date: November 29, 2024 (single); March 7, 2025 (album)
In Their Words: “I got together to write with Cameron Havens and Ben Roberts last year. Ben had the idea of ‘Visitors.’ I immediately loved it, because I like songs that tell the truth. That truth being, we all got here the same way, we’re all leaving the same way, and it’s what we do with the time in between those events that’s most important. How do we treat each other? How do we care for this ‘place made of stardust and gold’ where we’ve landed? What really matters: possessions, time, relationships?
“But the song avoids being preachy, speaking from a level playing field. No one is above anyone else. ‘We all got a seat at the table, pull up a chair, there’s room for plenty more.’ I like the inclusiveness of that; it’s an invitation I want to be part of.
“When I sing this song, I envision a huge, ever-expanding supper table where all are welcome, none are left out in the cold. Shouldn’t we just remember our manners? Wipe your feet and c’mon in!” – Helene Cronin
Track Credits: Helene Cronin – Lead vocal Bobby Terry – Acoustic guitar, pedal steel Paul Eckberg – Drums, percussion Matt Pierson – Bass Charlie Lowell – Mellotron, keys Caitlin Anselmo & Matt Singleton – Background vocals Mitch Dane – Production, engineering, mixing David Diel – Production assistant Sputnik Sound, Nashville – Studio Mastered by Kim Rosen, Knack Mastering.
Evie Ladin & Kieran Towers, “Walking Up Georgia Row”
Artist:Evie Ladin featuring Kieran Towers Hometown: Baltimore, Maryland to Oakland, California Song: “Walking Up Georgia Row” Album:Riding the Rooster 2 Release Date: November 19, 2024 Label: Evil Diane Records
In Their Words: “Six years and one pandemic to the day since Riding the Rooster came out – my popular first edition of clawhammer banjo/fiddle duets with 17 different fiddlers around the country. Riding the Rooster 2 features 17 new and different fiddlers, from old-time stars like Bruce Molsky and George Jackson to bluegrass maven Laurie Lewis, Cajun master David Greely, and excellent fiddlers known deeply in their old-time subcultures around the world.
“Having released many records of my original songs, this project sits firmly in the wheelhouse of my upbringing and ongoing community. My favorite thing in this milieu is to sit down with a fiddler and launch fast into some crooked tune I’ve never heard. Every cell kicks in and the experience is much like I imagine riding a rooster to be – visceral, in the moment, somewhat off-the-chain. ‘Walking Up Georgia Row’ is a raging duet with London fiddler Kieran Towers, recorded in a cow pasture at the Crossover Festival in England. Kieran and I met at Clifftop in West Virginia, playing in the very early morning hours before he had to head back to the UK, and it was a joy to reconnect a few years later, and invite him to be a part of this record. Also, this tune and the album are being released while I’m on a packed two-week tour of the UK, with only one fiddler, Sophie Wellington.” – Evie Ladin
Andy Leftwich, “Talk About Suffering”
Artist:Andy Leftwich Hometown: Carthage, Tennessee Song: “Talk About Suffering” Release Date: November 15, 2024 Label: Mountain Home Music Company
In Their Words: “Life can deliver some hard blows and no one is exempt from troubles and trials. We read in Matthew 11:28 where Jesus said, ‘Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.’ He offers us peace in the middle of our storm and a confidence knowing we don’t have to walk through it alone. As bad as it can seem sometimes, there is always something to hold onto. We talk about suffering here below, but let’s keep following Jesus.” – Andy Leftwich
Track Credits: Andy Leftwich – Fiddle, mandolin Byron House – Upright bass Cody Kilby – Acoustic guitar
Seth Mulder & Midnight Run, “Looking Past the Pain (The Cowboy Song)”
Artist:Seth Mulder & Midnight Run Hometown: Sevierville, Tennessee Song: “Looking Past the Pain (The Cowboy Song)”” Album:Coming On Strong Release Date: November 15, 2024 (single); Spring 2025 (album) Label: Rebel Records
In Their Words: “I had just finished binge-watching Yellowstone and felt inspired to write a cowboy song. However, I wanted the song to feel personal and unique and the best way to do that was to draw from my own experiences with a touch of imagination. Growing up in North Dakota, I spent a lot of time around horses, training with my grandfather, competing in 4H and horse shows. After college, I moved back to North Dakota and worked at a camp as a horse trainer and ranch hand. That experience rekindled my passion for working with horses – a passion that almost became my career instead of music. So, it only made sense that I would eventually write about that lifestyle. Once I had a solid foundation for the song, I knew it had potential but I wanted it to be perfect. I reached out to my good friend Seth Waddington from The Waddington Brothers. He helped me refine it, giving the lyrics that old-school cowboy feel I was after.” – Seth Mulder
Artist:Penny & Sparrow Hometown: Florence, Alabama / Waco, Texas Song: “Jeopardy” Album: Lefty Release Date: November 15, 2024 Label: I Love You / Thirty Tigers
In Their Words: “‘Jeopardy’ is about knowing someone perfectly. It goes beyond tracking their needs & preferences & peccadillos. It grows into a kind of loving memorization where you can almost see the future. Whether it’s romantic, friendly, or familial, there’s something gorgeous about that kind of ‘knowing someone.'” – Penny & Sparrow
Leeann Skoda, “Easy”
Artist:Leeann Skoda Hometown: Los Angeles, California / Phoenix, Arizona Song: “Easy” Album:Now I See Everything Release Date: November 15, 2024
In Their Words: “I channeled some anger into this song. When I wrote it, I was feeling resentful of the time and energy I’ve spent trying to be easygoing because I thought it was the only acceptable way for me to be in the world. It’s how so many women feel or have felt. There’s this dichotomy because the song feels “easy” and almost light to me. I think it came out that way because it’s cathartic and freeing to put these feelings into music. Like a lot of my songs, there is plenty of ’90s rock influence in this one.” – Leeann Skoda
Track Credits: Leeann Skoda – Vocals, guitar Brad Lindsay – Guitar Nick Bearden – Bass Ed Benrock – Drums Brian Whelan – Background vocals Produced, Recorded and Mixed by Andy Freeman at Studio Punchup! in Nashville. Background vocals recorded by Aaron Stern at Verdugo Sound. Mastered by Gentry Studer.
AEA Sessions: Tony Arata, Live at Americanafest 2024
Artist:Tony Arata Hometown: Savannah, Georgia Songs: “When I Remember You,” “Here I Am,” “The Dance,” “Getting Older”
In Their Words: “My hometown is Savannah, Georgia, but I grew up on nearby Tybee Island, which I always claim as my hometown. Jaymi and I have been in Nashville since 1986.
“The shoot was done in one of my favorite places I’ve ever worked – Bell Tone Studios in Berry Hill (Nashville, Tennessee), and could not have been easier nor more relaxed. I know I met you, Julie, for the first time that day, but you made me feel like an old friend. And though I’m not a gear-head, the mics were super cool! Thank you for making and representing great stuff. And I love Roger Nichols, my only hope is that he never realizes how talented he is, because he might be hard to live with! He is a truly brilliant musician/engineer/producer/human.” – Tony Arata
Artist:Rachel Sumner & Traveling Light Hometown: Boston, Massachusetts Song: “3000 Miles” (Traveling Light Sessions) Album:Heartless Things Release Date: November 14, 2024 (video); May 10, 2024 (album)
In Their Words: “‘3000 Miles’ is an autobiographical song that traces my journey from the deserts of California to Boston, the place I now call home. Growing up, the Mojave felt confining to me and I always sensed that I’d need to leave to find myself. This song is a rambler’s road song, shaped by years of searching. However, it took the stillness of lockdown to finally finish it – when I couldn’t travel anywhere. That pause gave me the chance to look back and make sense of all the miles I’d put behind me.” – Rachel Sumner
Photo Credit: Andy Leftwich by Erick Anderson; Leeann Skoda by Anna Rochelle Imagery.
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