Tag: Basic Folk

Basic Folk: Jenny Owen Youngs

Posted on by Shelby Williamson

Podcaster, Number One hit songwriter, human and dog mother, gay icon Jenny Owen Youngs returns with her first full length album since 2012! In the last decade plus, Jenny has experienced a wild ride of changes like divorce, extreme grief, moving across the country, remarrying, etc. Her main project — while not writing, recording and touring — is hosting podcasts like the very successful Buffering The Vampire Slayer alongside her ex-wife, Kristin Russo (a Buffy The Vampire Slayer rewatch pod, which is now an X-Files rewatch show called The Ex-Files). She also has songwriting credits for Panic! At the Disco, Pitbull, Ingrid Michaelson and Brett Dennen, thanks to her deal with Dan Wilson (Semisonic and epic co-writer) and his publishing company.

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JOY’s new album Avalanche covers a lot of hard topics (see earlier: divorce, grief, moving, remarrying) and was produced by angel human Josh Kaufman (Taylor Swift, The National, The Hold Steady, Josh Ritter, and so on). Jenny has always been an artist who is not afraid to show her whole self: good and the bad. Case in point: She described the inspiration for her very first breakthrough song, “Fuck Was I,” as “horrible, horrible, horrible decision making,” adding it was “just your classic love gone wrong hell.” Never one to back down from a fight, Jenny’s approaching these songs with honesty, bravery and her biting sense of humor. It’s cliché to say that talking to Jenny is a JOY, but it’s a cliché for a reason. Thanks Jenny!

Photo Credit: Lisa Czech

Basic Folk: Buffalo Nichols

Posted on by Shelby Williamson

Milwaukee singer-songwriter Buffalo Nichols returns to Basic Folk today to talk about his new album, The Fatalist, out this September from Fat Possum Records. We picked up where Nichols’ debut album left off, traveling the world hot on the heels of the blues. Following a profound tradition can be just as frustrating as it is romantic. In his years on the road promoting his self-titled debut album, Carl aka Buffalo has witnessed how the blues can be a home base for listeners’ nostalgic, back-in-the-good-old days, artistically stagnant, patriarchal tendencies. He wants none of it. The Fatalist is an offering to the gods of change, of self-awareness, of integrity.

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One of the major achievements of this collection of eight songs is the seemingly effortless sonic collage that comes second nature to hip hop but is less discussed in roots and Americana. From a Charley Patton sample to “Ali Farka” Touré-influenced fingerpicking to tasty 808s to contemporary songwriting that wrestles with what it means to be a good man in 2023, The Fatalist tells a story about the present, while keeping the past close and eschewing sentimentality. This sense of being in conversation with storytellers of the past is a pillar of what I would call the Black Art Tradition, and it is part of what makes Buffalo Nichols one of the most exciting artists in blues music right now.

Photo Credit: Samer Ghani

Basic Folk: Rising Appalachia

Posted on by Shelby Williamson

Sisters Leah Song & Chloe Smith grew up in urban Atlanta, they also lived in New Orleans and outside of Asheville. The pair are deeply rooted in their Southern identities as evidenced in their band, Rising Appalachia. Although their parents are not professional musicians, music was a constant part of the family. Their parents were dedicated students of early Appalachian music. The sisters played music everyday, were classically trained, and attended fiddle camps and music festivals among other musical activities. The sisters developed their own taste in Atlanta’s ’90s rap underground scene. There was a time when the two didn’t want anything to do with their parents’ music — however, eventually they came back to it and decided to pursue Appalachian music thanks to some time spent away living in Mexico.

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Aside from music, activism and purpose remain very important to Rising Appalachia. Leah’s idea for “The Slow Music Movement” came out of the desire to sustain the troubadour lifestyle over participating in the traditional touring musician industrial complex. While touring, the band requests local food in their rider, invite tabling from non-profits, and work to create relationships with the local community. They also will seek out alternative methods of transportation: trains or smaller vehicles that use non-fossil fuels. Rising Appalachia has been known to do hub shows where they stay for a few days and create relationships with the community. This past July, they hosted Catalyst, their first annual music, art and education festival in Asheville. Leah and I dug into how being musicians helped them create a space where artists felt welcome and taken care of. We also talk about Chloe’s new baby and how touring might be looking different this fall. Check them out and their latest album, Live At Preservation Hall.

Photo Credit: Syd Woodward

Basic Folk: Nina de Vitry

Posted on by Shelby Williamson

Lancaster-born, Nashville-based Nina de Vitry’s debut album, What You Feel is Real, shines while showcasing her passion for jazz and folk music. de Vitry’s name may sound familiar, as she comes from a musical family and is the youngest sister of folk superstar Maya de Vitry (formerly of The Stray Birds). She grew up fiddling around the campfire, while being classically trained on the violin and (her true love) the piano. She started writing songs very young, became enchanted with foreign languages and found herself studying at Temple University. Part-way through her freshman year, something felt wrong and she decided to take a gap year in order to operate outside of a system and find out what she wanted to do. After attending the beloved Miles of Music camp in New Hampshire, Nina was inspired to fully lean into her musicality. She recorded an EP in 2017 and started dabbling in music as a profession.

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During the pandemic, she was in the creating process of What You Feel is Real. At the time, Nina experienced a return to self in several ways including reconnecting with the piano. A theme of the record is the making the choice believing yourself: “What we feel is real. What we love is real. And I think the more we all trust these inner voices, the closer we will get to both knowing ourselves and knowing a more loving and peaceful society.” Her new record is a fabulously strong debut that feels like a classic songwriter album playing with different styles of jazz. It is a pure delight to talk to Nina!

Photo Credit: Joseph Ross Photography

Basic Folk: Ben Harper

Posted on by Shelby Williamson

Ben Harper has this deep connection to music through his family, who own a beautiful music store in the Inland Empire of California. The legacy of the store is founded on ensuring its community always has access to music. That legacy has deeply impacted the type of person Ben Harper continues to be throughout his artistic life. He’s been a musician who has given so many artists their start (very notably Jack Johnson), and has been a gateway into roots music for many of his listeners.

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In our conversation, we really dig into Ben’s new album Wide Open Light, which takes him back to his acoustic and slide-heavy roots. It walks that beautiful line between singer-songwriter, country and soul that his fans have loved for decades. The record shows him being vulnerable, talking about spirituality and, of course, flexing his impressive guitar chops and his intimate vocal delivery. We also got to talk about Harry Styles, who Harper has recently gone on tour with and where he’s met a whole new generation of fans. It was very cool to discuss not only his beginnings, but where he is now as an artist and how he’s shaping his legacy with the next generation of musical listeners.

Photo Credit: Michael Halsband

Basic Folk: Taylor Ashton

Posted on by Shelby Williamson

Canadian-born, New-York based banjo person Taylor Ashton’s second solo album, Stranger to the Feeling, was recorded on a coast-to-coast road trip in 2021. These were the two weeks post-vaccine where we thought everything was A-OK, so Ashton and producer Jacob Blumberg set out on a recording adventure that included collaborations with friends new and old.

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Ashton, who’s since become a new parent with wife Rachael Price (Lake Street Dive), wanted to create an album that “meditates on the meaning of closeness and connection in an age of increasing isolation.” The energy of the new album is just that and it is palpable alongside its use of space and natural sound (gotta love those birds and room noise).

In our conversation, Taylor expands on the making of the album while addressing questions on the difficulty of reconnecting after the pandemic and how the music helped break that barrier of social isolation. We also go through a lot of the album’s songs and get to topics like crying while playing your own song, struggling with expressing feelings, and both being and not being cool. Taylor also graciously shares their thoughts on gender expression and walking the line of benefiting from the patriarchy and not feeling exactly like they embody the male gender all of the time. Being 6’2 and crying while listening to your own song maybe sums it all up? Or maybe you can’t summarize Taylor Ashton? I’m very grateful to welcome him back to Basic Folk!

Photo Credit: Shervin Lainez

Basic Folk: Raye Zaragoza

Posted on by Shelby Williamson

The headline for Los Angeles-based Raye Zaragoza’s new album Hold That Spirit is that after she broke off her engagement, she used her wedding budget to fund the recording. She wrote the songs the year she turned 30 while she was thinking of the expectations placed on women in society to have everything together at a certain age: marriage, kids, career, etc. She’s decided to let those expectations go and live in the joy that life offers, and explores her newfound freedom and indigenous identity in these new songs. She’s moving forward as a role model in Los Angeles’ indigenous community, which she has been a part of since she was 14 years old.

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We go through the album track by track covering topics of social justice, eating disorders and perfectionism. She worked exclusively with female collaborators on Hold That Spirit, which allowed Raye a vulnerability in her writing sessions and studio time that she had yet to experience. She found co-writing with other women an easy space to feel emotionally safe. Working with like-minded feminists and activists fueled this album, which has allowed Raye to begin to break through those unfair expectations society places on women. In our conversation, Raye is thoughtful and serious, yet fun and playful even with such heavy topics addressed. Thank you, Raye!

Photo Credit: Bolora Munkhbold

Basic Folk: Meg Hutchinson

Posted on by Shelby Williamson

It’s been 10 years since Boston-area Meg Hutchinson has released an album … and she did it super quietly, so no shade if you didn’t realize that your favorite middle sister is back with some seriously devastating songs. Meg grew up just outside of Great Barrington, Massachusetts, where she had an idyllic childhood surrounded by woods and framed by her desire to become a folk singer. That dream was realized after she graduated college, quit her organic-lettuce-farm job and moved to Boston in the early 2000s. There, she wove herself into its vibrant folk community gigging around New England, performing in the subway and getting signed to the prestigious Red House Records, where she released three albums.

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Throughout her life she has suffered from severe mental illness, experiencing her first major bout of depression at age 19. Not understanding, she felt ashamed and hid her illness for nine years. After a huge whirlwind 2006 tour in England where she experienced a high never felt before, Meg came home and felt mania and severe depression all at once. She called her family to help and it was her younger sister, Tessa, who eventually got Meg professional help. After a long road stabilizing and healing, Meg has a grasp on her bipolar disorder, which she calls by its former name: manic depression. She’s discovered her calling as a palliative care hospital chaplain and hospice worker. She’s no longer working music. She’s playing music and that’s how she approached this new album, All The Wonder All The Beauty, an album she says “is about things we don’t want to talk about.” She writes about her mental illness, midlife and death. This is an intense discussion with one of my favorite people! I’m so happy she’s released this album and excited for you to get to know Meg Hutchinson.

Photo Credit: Stephan Hoglund

Basic Folk – Molly Tuttle Returns to the Podcast

Posted on by Shelby Williamson

Basic Folk is thrilled to interview The Bluegrass Situation’s July 2023 Artist of the Month: Molly Tuttle! Quickly becoming the Bluegrass American Idol, Molly Tuttle’s new album City of Gold is hot off the heels of her Grammy-award winning 2022 record, Crooked Tree, which also got her a nomination in one of the coveted “Big Four” categories: Best New Artist. Aaaaand we know that WE ALL have had eyes on Molly for years, BUT since she’s fully embraced the bluegrass genre on these last new albums, Best New Artist makes a lot of sense. Bluegrass was the music she grew up with in Palo Alto, California, with her guitar-teacher father helping her soak in the vibrant scene. She’s also learning how to take control of the bluegrass narrative by telling her story and sharing her perspective through her new songs.

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That rings so true with the new record, City of Gold, co-produced by Tuttle and Dobro-master Jerry Douglas (of Alison Krauss & Union Station fame), mostly co-written with her partner Ketch Secor (of Old Crow Medicine Show) and featuring her crack backing band, Golden Highway. She’s writing bluegrass songs that are fun and insightful at the same time. We get a bluegrass version of Alice In Wonderland, the story of a woman fighting for her bodily autonomy and not to mention that time she married Dave Matthews on a road trip (LOL J/K, but that is a real new song with the real Dave). She digs into her new album as well as finding her own way in the patriarchal world of bluegrass and leveling up about her alopecia, an autoimmune skin disease, causing hair loss. Molly Tuttle is a great hang, an inspiration for us all and has made a fabulous new album, City of Gold. LYLAS, Molly!

Photo Credit: Chelsea Rochelle

Basic Folk – Kara Jackson

Posted on by Shelby Williamson

Kara Jackson has a mind like a diamond and a voice like maple syrup. She has always been drawn to music as a medium, but you probably first heard of her as the National Youth Poet Laureate. Cutting her teeth as a performing poet gave Jackson a huge public platform as well as a sense of how form can be a foundation for expression.

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Now, at the ripe age of 23, Jackson has released her stunning debut album, Why Does The Earth Give Us People To Love. As the title suggests, this album reflects on love and loss. Kara has some fantastic insights about how embracing grief, and sharing it with others, can lead us to a healthier culture. She also shares about how her parents’ political convictions have influenced her concept of an artist’s role in the world.

One of my favorite moments in my conversation is where Kara articulates how she sees her work in conversation with Black artists who came before her. What a gift, to hear a brilliant young artist speak so clearly about how their creativity fits into a bigger tradition. We cannot wait to see what she does next.

Editor’s Note: Lizzie and Kara talked about Kara’s poem “anthem for my belly after eating too much” at the top of the interview. Read it here.

Photo Credit: Lawrence Agyei