After two decades in The Infamous Stringdusters, the Grammy-award winning neo-bluegrass band, Travis Book releases his rock Americana debut: Love and Other Strange Emotions. That’s not to say that Book, who thrives on collaboration, got here on his own. The Colorado musician (now residing in Western North Carolina), was raised by parents who went out their way to ensure that young Travis respected music and had access to instruments. His mother bought him his first bass guitar and his dad allowed him to buy Red Hot Chilli Peppers’ Blood Sugar Sex Magik (even though it had a parental advisory sticker on the cover). As Travis went off to college in Durango, Colorado, he found a supportive and vibrant bluegrass scene where he encountered future members of Greensky Bluegrass (Anders Beck), Leftover Salmon (Andy Thorn) and the Jon Stickley Trio. Those musicians would form their first bluegrass band Broke Mountain Bluegrass Band, which has just reissued a remastered version of their album Cabin in the Hills.
In our conversation, Travis talks about his brief time in Nashville, after he auditioned for The Stringdusters and got the gig as their upright bass player and vocalist. Spoiler alert: he felt very intimidated. We get into why he loves collaborations so much and has chosen to create his variety show turned podcast, The Travis Book Happy Hour, into an engine for unique performances with guests like Lindsay Lou, Jim Lauderdale, Sierra Hull and many more. The Happy Hour, which started in Spring 2020, was first set without an audience, which made Travis let go of his attachment to their reaction using wisdom borrowed from Eastern philosophy. He also explains how he is romantic, yet practical in everything he works to accomplish. Travis is a literal ray of positivity, so if you’re having a bad day, I promise that this conversation’s gonna lift you up in a seriously not-cornball way. TRAVIS!
Former trumpet player and anxious adventurer Caroline Cotter had been constantly on the move performing hundreds of live shows since 2015. At the dawn of the pandemic she had a full album in the can and ready to go. When the world shut down, so did she. She set her songs to the side and didn’t pick up her guitar for a long while. She left her city of Portland, Maine and headed even farther north to the Acadia region and reconnected with nature: i.e. hugging as many trees and rocks and one woman can. Also during that time, she had the opportunity to sit with her shelved album. She discovered something amazing in that stillness: She, along with co-producer Alec Spiegelman, had made a fucking bomb record. She went forward with release plans, blew up her Kickstarter goal and finally gave us her third album, Gently as I Go, this past August.
In our conversation, Caroline talks about what she’s like to work with in the studio (hint: she is not a relaxed and calm dreamboat) as well as her relationship to rest. As someone who has struggled with anxiety, she did not take to rest naturally, however, she’s cultivated a yoga and meditation practice in order to maintain calm. We also dig into her history: talking about how the ocean has remained a constant in her relationship to home. Growing up in Rhode Island, she and her siblings all took piano lessons. Heading to college, she majored in art with a minor in Spanish. She has a reputation for being a globe-trotter, which began in her travels to Thailand, Spain and Portugal as an international educator. She quit her day-job in 2015 to pursue music with a basically nonexistent fanbase. These days, Caroline’s fans are many and they are dedicated. You don’t find many independent musicians with such a devoted crowd as Caroline: they buy her music, they attend her shows, they put her up when she’s in town. So hello all you Cotter-Kickers, hope this conversation does your favorite songwriter justice.
Jobi Riccio has only begun to scratch the surface of what they have to offer on their debut album, Whiplash. The songwriting is centered around self-discovery and mourning past lives, laid alongside super smart country and pop melodies. Our hero grew up an outdoor kid amongst the woods of Red Rocks Parks and Amphitheatre in Colorado. A strong bluegrass community encircled her playing from a very young age, in a way that encouraged her to pursue music as a career. She spent time in Boston attending Berklee College of Music nestled in the folk community centered around the historic venue, Club Passim. Then March 2020 hit.
Jobi left her new community and found herself back in her childhood bedroom. She was “wrestling with all the complications of finding herself and her place in the world while letting go of her childhood and the sense of grounding that came with it.” Eventually, they made their way to Asheville, North Carolina to work on Whiplash. In the studio, she took her time making the album and discovered that, indeed, she had a strong sense of vision for the music. The trust of her collaborators allowed her to trust in herself and create an album that is turning heads and making Jobi Riccio one of the most exciting young songwriters of 2023. I loved talking to them about their origin, time in Boston and their continuing musical journey. Can’t wait for you to hear her new album!
Curiosity, luck, and drive are three words that revolve around singer-songwriter Billy Keane. He was born with all three traits and they are the hallmark of his music, especially his new album Oh, These Days. The seven song cycle was written during the pandemic and right after some very big life changes: He got divorced, quit alcohol and split with his band, The Whiskey Treaty Roadshow. Billy approached his healing process with an extreme curiosity and a need for simple living. For the last several years, he’s been cultivating a simple space to ignite creativity in the Western Massachusetts town of Lenox, where he owns land and a small cottage.
In our conversation, Billy talks about his roots in spirituality and his early devotion to music. Keane was born in Australia while his father was working as a minister there. The family moved to Connecticut when he was two years old. He left his hometown at 18 for college, but then left for Seattle to work in commercial deep-sea diving. From there, he made his way to Western Mass, where he found himself working at James Taylor’s studio. James and his wife Kim quickly realized that Billy was a talented musician and turned into key figures and big-time supporters. Oh, These Days, Billy’s second album, is truly a meditation on the human experience met with an insatiable love for life and rebirth.
Bluegrass hero and former weird kid Alice Gerrard strongly believes that traditional music is connected to everyday life. She has said: “When you listen to traditional music you have such a sense of this connectedness of this person’s life. It comes out of the earth.” She was first exposed to folk music while attending Antioch College. Jeremy Foster (her boyfriend at the time, who would become her first husband) introduced her to The Harry Smith Anthology of American Folk Music. Upon listening, she became hooked and more drawn to lonesome and rough folk songs versus pristine vocalists. That mentality of keeping her performance untarnished and imperfect has followed her ever since.
After she and Jeremy moved to Washington D.C., she became acquainted with Hazel Dickens. She considered Hazel a mentor figure and studied her musicality. The two would record four albums together as the seminal duo Hazel Dickens and Alice Gerrard. The two did not speak for many years after they split in the late ’70s. The breakup was messy and hard for both, particularly Hazel. Years later, they reconciled and would perform and were close until Hazel’s death in 2011. Nowadays, Alice, who lives in Durham, North Carolina, has begun digitizing her huge photo archive for a book as well as performing with younger generations of traditional musicians. People like Tatiana Hargreaves, Reed Stutz and Phil Cook are regulars on her stage. They also contribute to her new album, Sun to Sun. Alice digs in talking about her unorthodox parenting style (which is no secret), imperfectionism, appreciating memory and the fantastic new record.
This week we have a Basic Folk hero returning to the pod! Tré Burt is back today, going track by track through his new album, Traffic Fiction. I am a longtime fan of Tré’s music, and this new release on Oh Boy Records is my favorite of his records so far. It combines what fans have come to love about Tré’s writing and unmistakable vocal performances with a new infusion of soul and Motown-inspired styles. The soulful grooves of Traffic Fiction are souvenirs of Tré’s close relationship with his grandfather, who recently passed away. Tré recalls listening to his pops’ favorite records and invites us into his family’s musical lineage.
The heart of the album are field recordings that Tré made of his grandfather while he was still alive. Just two people, talking about music, talking about life, encouraging one another. The simple moments that mean the most when somebody is gone. And they give us insight into one of the greatest triumphs of Traffic Fiction, which is the transformation of melancholy into dancing. You can’t help but move your body when you hear this music, even as Tré deals with profound loss. He reminds us that being an Important Artist is not incompatible with having fun. And isn’t that what great Black artists do? Tell you the story of a tragedy in a way that somehow makes you feel joyful?
Antje Duvekot confronts trauma with a newfound wisdom and fierceness on her new record, My New Wild West, her best in her 20-plus year career produced by her friend, Mark Erelli. To put it plainly, Antje, who moved to America from Germany at age 13, had a really rough time as a teenager. She was transplanted to a totally new universe with a new language she barely understood with unsupportive and abusive parents. She soothed herself with music, her first love. She sang and played guitar very quietly, which has translated to the musician she has become. Her voice can be soft, childlike and playful, but it can also be strong and deep. The control is incredible. Not to mention, this woman’s observation of the world is profound. In each song, she creates worlds that come to life with her poignant lyricism. It’s arresting and always unexpected.
This interview was different for me in that Antje and I have known each other for over two decades. That’s happened before on Basic Folk, but it feels like our careers started on the exact same day and we’ve grown together in this messy business. The story is that we met at Club Passim (maybe it was a Gillian Welch tribute night, and thanks to Matt Smith) in Cambridge, Massachusetts, around 2002. It took one song and I was floored. She gave me her CD, I took it, and played it over and over on the WERS Coffeehouse (the morning folk show). Every Coffeehouse DJ knew how to spell her name and would expect to field calls every time we played her music. That just doesn’t happen anymore; it was right at the end of an era when radio could do that. From there, Antje’s career took shape. I’ll be forever grateful to her for that experience. It really felt like radio at its best: connecting a community with something really needed in an organic way. It’s good to get back together in our conversation. Please excuse me if I’m a little too casual in this one!
Welcome to Folk Debate Club, our occasional crossover series with fellow folk-pod Why We Write! Today, to discuss Your Career vs. Your Soul, we welcome our panel of guests: music journalist and Why We Write host, Kim Ruehl, Isa Burke (Lula Wiles, Aoife O’Donovan), musician and Basic Folk guest host Lizzie No, yours truly, Cindy Howes, boss of Basic Folk and a very warm welcome to Kenneth Pattengale and Joey Ryan of The Milk Carton Kids.
I’d like to think that the act of “selling out” ebbs and flows with the passing of time. As the earning power of the folk musician changes, so does the allowance of what is perceived as abandoning your principles for the almighty dollar. That doesn’t mean that it always feels great. Choices musicians have to make to further their careers can be exhausting and detrimental to their art. How do you strike that balance at the intersection of art and commerce in the folk music world?
Photo Credit: Sam Kassirer (Isa Burke); John Gillespie (Lizzie No); Rich Amory (Kim Ruehl); David McClister (The Milk Carton Kids)
The biggest week in bluegrass has arrived. The International Bluegrass Music Association’s annual business conference and festival begins tomorrow, September 26, and continues through Saturday, September 30, in Raleigh, North Carolina. It’s the 10th year the event has been hosted in the music-rich state of North Carolina.
From Tuesday to Thursday, industry professionals, artists, musicians, songwriters, lawyers and more will participate in panels and professional development during Wide Open Bluegrass, the conference portion of the week’s programming. Highlights will include a keynote address by Matt Glaser of Berklee College of Music (Tuesday), the Momentum Awards Luncheon (Wednesday) and Industry Awards Luncheon (Thursday) — plus a BGS-presented panel on podcasts, An Essential Guide To Podcasting (Wednesday), which will be moderated by Keith Billik of Picky Fingers and will feature Basic Folk hosts Cindy Howes and Lizzie No, among others. During the evenings, when conference events have concluded, attendees and fans will enjoy the Bluegrass Ramble, IBMA’s roster of more than thirty showcasing acts and bands at venues peppered throughout downtown Raleigh.
On Thursday evening, it’s the so-called “Bluegrass Prom,” the 34th Annual IBMA Bluegrass Music Awards, held at the Martin Marietta Center for the Performing Arts just steps away from the conference center and host hotel. Hosted by Ketch Secor and Molly Tuttle, the biggest night of the biggest week in bluegrass will see artists and bands like Billy Strings, Sister Sadie, Tray Wellington, Del McCoury Band and many more vie for awards like Entertainer of the Year, Vocal Group of the Year, Best New Artist and beyond. The Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame & Museum will also induct three new members during the ceremony, mandolinist Sam Bush, innovator and stylist David Grisman and the legendary and chart-topping Wilma Lee Cooper.
The awards show marks the week’s transition from conference to festival, as Bluegrass Live! takes over the Red Hat Amphitheater and all of downtown Raleigh on Friday and Saturday. On the main stage, enjoy headliners like Mighty Poplar, Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway, AJ Lee & Blue Summit, Missy Raines & Allegheny and an all-star banjo collaboration of Tray Wellington, Jake Blount and Kaïa Kater. Vendors, artisans, food trucks and more will line the streets of downtown, where dozens more bands will perform for the second-largest bluegrass festival audience in the world – nearly 200,000 bluegrass and roots music fans will make Raleigh their destination this weekend.
Below, find our short list of events, bands, panels, showcases, presentations and shows not-to-be-missed at IBMA’s World of Bluegrass and Bluegrass Live!
Panels & Conference Events
The World of Bluegrass business conference gets going bright and early tomorrow morning, with a New Attendee Orientation at Raleigh Convention Center room 304 at 9 a.m. Once you have the lay of the land, check out these conference programs and panels throughout the week. Don’t miss your IBMA professional member constituency meeting – they’re held throughout the week for the various constituencies – and don’t miss the exhibit hall, full of vendors, organizations, festivals and more. It opens Wednesday at 1 p.m.
IBMA KEYNOTE ADDRESS & RECEPTION BY MATT GLASER TUESDAY 4PM – 5:30PM | RCC BALLROOM
Matt Glaser, who served as chair of Berklee College of Music’s String Department for 28 years and has pioneered its American Roots Music Program, will give a “dynamic” presentation for this year’s keynote entitled, Hidden Threads: Bluegrass in the American Musical Tapestry.” Glaser will explore the many styles, genres and formats that influenced and informed the creation of bluegrass – jazz, blues, gospel, old-time and so much more.
SUPERSESSION – WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS OF BLUEGRASS WEDNESDAY 9AM – 9:50AM | RCC 306
An absolutely star-studded panel will explore how women and femme folks continue to carve out spaces for themselves, professionally, in these roots music communities. Panelists include: Deering Banjos chief executive Jamie Deering, event planner and promoter Claire Armbruster (Planning Stages), the owner/operator of Elderly Instruments, Lillian Werbin, broadcaster and radio host Michelle Lee, BGS contributor and collaborator Brandi Waller-Pace, a non-profit founder, organizer and educator (Fort Worth African American Roots Music Festival & Decolonizing the Music Room), Rounder Records co-founder Marian Leighton Levy, Mary Beth Martin of the Earl Scruggs Center and Carly Smith of the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame & Museum.
Each year during World of Bluegrass the Wednesday luncheon is devoted to awarding up-and-comers in the bluegrass industry, from bands and instrumentalists to industry involved professionals and mentors. You can see the full list of Momentum Awards nominees here. Plus, hear luncheon showcases by a fine selection of Bluegrass Ramble bands.
SUPERSESSION – OH, DIDN’T THEY RAMBLE: THE BLUEGRASS SIDE OF ROUNDER RECORDS WEDNESDAY 1PM – 1:50PM | RCC 306
BGS contributor and Carolina Calling host David Menconi will release his new book, Oh, Didn’t They Ramble: Rounder Records and the Transformation of American Roots Music, next month, so it’s perfect timing for this panel examining the historical significance of this record label. The lineup will feature Rounder founders and IBMA Hall of Fame members Ken Irwin, Marian Leighton Levy and Bill Nowlin along with broadcaster Daniel Mullins and, of course, Menconi himself.
AN ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO PODCASTING WEDNESDAY 2PM – 2:50PM | RCC 304
We are so excited to convene Keith Billik of Picky Fingers Podcast, Lizzie No and Cindy Howes of Basic Folk, and more BGS team members from our Podcast Network to talk about the essentials of bluegrass and roots music podcasting. If you’re interested in learning about distribution, sponsorships, syndication, editing, production, pre-production and so much more, this conversation is for you.
On Thursday, the Industry Awards luncheon will recognize achievements and contributions of the industry’s sound engineers, broadcasters, writers and more. Plus, IBMA will hand out their second-highest honor, the Distinguished Achievement Award, to a small handful of honorees – of which we’re one! BGS is so humbled and honored to be one recipient of this year’s Distinguished Achievement Awards. Watch for a feature on BGS and the award presentation later this week.
Plus, a few more panels and programs starred on our calendar include:
AVOIDING TOKENISM IN TRAD MUSIC WEDNESDAY 2PM – 2:50PM | RCC 306
DIVERSITY, EQUITY, & INCLUSION (DEI) TOWN HALL WEDNESDAY 4PM – 5PM | RCC 306
IBMA TOWN HALL MEETING THURSDAY 9AM – 10:30AM | RCC 306
YOUTUBE: FINDING YOUR COMMUNITY, GROWING YOUR AUDIENCE THURSDAY 1:30PM – 2:20PM | RCC 305
30+ bluegrass, old-time, and roots music bands will showcase throughout downtown Raleigh during IBMA’s World of Bluegrass. These shows are open to both conference attendees and the general public. Find out more about ticketing and admission here.
Not sure where to begin? Here are a few bands worth your attention – and perhaps a hasty jog down Fayetteville Street!
ALEX LEACH
Multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and Clinch Mountain Boys alumnus Alex Leach brings a delightful ’60s and ’70s flair to his brand of central Appalachian bluegrass. We recently premiered his latest single, “Summer Haven,” and look forward to catching him live this week during the Bluegrass Ramble.
GOLDEN SHOALS
Golden Shoals are Nashville-based duo Amy Alvey and Mark Kilianski, another group we were fortunate enough to recently feature in a video premiere for “Bitter,” a song co-written by Alvey and Rachel Baiman.
RACHEL SUMNER & TRAVELING LIGHT
You may recognize Rachel Sumner from her time in zany, jazz-inflected string band Twisted Pine. She’s since ventured out on her own as a solo artist with her music centered on her New England-influenced songwriting and chambergrass aesthetics – though she originally hails from the Southwest U.S.
SEQUOIA ROSE
“Bluegrass is for everyone,” after all, and we’re so glad to see Sequoia Rose on the official showcase lineup for IBMA! We were first introduced to her jamgrassy music via submission earlier this year and have been itching for a chance to hear it live.
THOMAS CASSELL
Mandolinist, writer and songwriter Thomas Cassell – who, you may know, is a BGS contributor as well – makes his home in Nashville, Tennessee, though he was raised in the bluegrass-steeped mountains of Southwestern Virginia. His brand of bluegrass is all at once timeless and forward looking with its keystone being his honeyed voice, like a youthful Dan Tyminski with a dash of Russell Moore.
VIOLET BELL
North Carolina string duo Violet Bell are both ethereal and grounded. Their latest album, Shapeshifter, is a stunning conceptual work that is never burdened by the nuanced stories it tells. (Read our feature on the record here.) Omar Ruiz-Lopez and Lizzy Ross subtly and deftly complicate the roots music forms that infuse their music. A must-see at IBMA.
WYATT ELLIS
Our readers, followers and fans can’t get enough of mandolin prodigy Wyatt Ellis, who gracefully and virtuosically continues the now generations-old tradition of fleet-fingered youngsters shredding the mando. Like Ricky Skaggs, Marty Stuart, Chris Thile, Sierra Hull and many more before him, Wyatt enjoys cross-generational collaboration and has his sights set on a lifelong career in this music. Catch him showcasing at IBMA and tell folks thirty years from now you “saw him when.”
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.
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
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