Tag: BGS 5+5

BGS 5+5: Laura Cortese & The Dance Cards

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Artist: Laura Cortese & The Dance Cards
Hometown: Ghent, Belgium, by way of Boston and San Francisco
Latest album: BITTER BETTER
Personal nicknames (or rejected band names): Taysee, Cortez, Laur, Cortese

Which artist has influenced you the most … and how?

It’s such a hard question! But I’m going to say Leslie Feist. I still remember driving on Memorial Drive in Boston and hearing “Mushaboom” on The River 92.9 for the first time and thinking that pop music was about to become a lot more interesting than it had been in the previous 10 years. To me, her songs always seem to be about her own artistic endeavor, as opposed to what she thinks people will like. I find it inspiring and invigorating to try to be more committed to communicating your unique ideas and becoming more yourself, without being too concerned about what genre you’re fitting into.

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

For this album, in particular, I have no specific links to other art forms, but I find that if I don’t live a balanced life — reading books and articles that inspire me, going to modern art museums, watching intriguing films, reading poetry — I begin to feel less inspired and have no well to tap into to write. So I can’t point to a specific poem or piece of art that I experienced in the last three years that led to a song, but I try to engage with other art forms regularly to stay inspired.

What’s the toughest time you ever had writing a song?

I wouldn’t use the word “tough”, because it was enjoyable, but “Treat You Better” took a lot of work to get it right. I had the first verse and felt like it was an idea about the struggle that goes into a longterm relationship, but also had an infectious rhythm and symmetry to the words that were used, and it was a challenge to keep that symmetry in the words and also tell the emotional story that I wanted to tell. In the end, there are a lot of co-writers and there was a lot of discussion and a lot of drafts to come to what is “Treat You Better.” The final words were decided at the moment I was singing them in the studio.

What rituals do you have, either in the studio or before a show?

In the studio, one of our rituals is having really good meal times, and making sure the moments of rest are extremely enjoyable. I do occasionally do push-ups before a show because I find that when you walk onto a cold stage, it takes a minute to shake out the cobwebs, get rid of the nerves, and start to really transmit energy. But if you’ve done pushups ahead of time, you’ve already begun that energetic flow before you walk onstage.

Since food and music go so well together, what is your dream pairing of a meal and a musician?

Maybe I’ve just had enough of quarantine and wish I could travel, but Marina Satti is a Greek-Sudanese singer I’ve learned about recently. The video for her song “Kούπες” is particularly engaging. I want to hang with her in Greece and eat at her favorite restaurant, she can order.

Photo credit: Beth Chalmers

BGS 5+5: Bill Kirchen

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Artist: Bill Kirchen
Hometown: Austin, Texas
Latest album: The Proper Years (July 24, 2020)
Personal nicknames (or rejected band names): First band name, 1965: The Who Knows Pickers, an acoustic jug band. One gig only, we shared stage with The Iguanas, Jim “Iggy” Osterberg on drums.

Which artist has influenced you the most… and how?

I have to go all the way back to Pete Seeger. I learned my first string instrument, the 5-string banjo, from his instructional book and record, and had lots of his recordings from the ’40s, ’50s, and ’60s. He was an ecstatic singer, very successful and influential songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. Soft-spoken on stage, he was most definitely outspoken politically his entire career, always for racial equality, workers rights, and freedom of speech. In the early 1950s McCarthy era, he went up against the powerful but later utterly disgraced House Un-American Activity Committee. He earned himself a career-hijacking blacklist that lasted years by asserting his constitutional rights and refusing to name names and implicate others. He never backed down. His performing career spanned nearly 70 years. I saw him in the mid-’60s many times, then again in the ’90s.

What was the first moment that you knew you wanted to be a musician?

I wanted to be a musician as soon as I figured I could sing a song. I have early memories of being a toddler lumbering around, singing along with my cardboard record (yep, they existed!) of “Teddy Bears’ Picnic.” At 8 I learned trombone, then played it in orchestras and bands until the mid-’60s folk scare lured me away. As for wanting to be a professional musician, I guess getting my first paying gig in ’64 or ’65 cemented that desire. I certainly never thought, “I’ll just do this for a bit then quit and get a job.”

If you had to write a mission statement for your career, what would it be?

Not clear on the concept here, but it sounds interesting and I’ll give it a try. I certainly never had a mission statement, rather I just got in the canoe and now here I am and where I’ll be next, I don’t know. So here are my suggestions to the young me: Bill! You know you love listening to, singing, whistling music all the time. That’s super important, don’t let go. Learn to play an instrument as soon as they’ll let you, then learn some others. Play with folks, preferably better than you. Take any opportunity you can to go hear live music. Now don’t blow this one: you liked the 1963 Blues at Newport record and Mississippi John Hurt. Well, you are within hitchhiking distance of the ’64 Newport Folk Festival, he’s gonna be there, Dylan too, go do it. Sleep on the beach, whatever, it’ll all work out. Then do the same in ’65, trust me. Many of the extraordinary people you will see will be gone less than 10 years later. Then before the ’60s are over, move away from your Ann Arbor hometown. Try San Francisco. Travel everywhere and play as much you can. Pull up roots and move across country a couple more times, find more kindred spirits and play with them. Just get in the canoe. You’ll be surprised.

What’s the toughest time you ever had writing a song?

The toughest time I always have writing is making myself sit down and do it. I love the process when I get rolling, but I don’t have a burning desire to bare my soul in verse and melody, then buttonhole folks and make ‘em listen. But I enjoy making up my own songs, lots of perspiration plus a little inspiration. Then again I wouldn’t mind just singing Haggard and Dylan songs all day. Couldn’t really ask people to pay for that, I know. As the great Roger Miller said writing a hit song is just like taking candy from a gorilla.

How often do you hide behind a character in a song or use “you” when it’s actually “me”?

I hid behind characters a lot early on. Wrote a lot of truck-driving songs, though I’m not and don’t want to be a truck driver. It was a legitimate sub-genre when I discovered country music, and I do come by a love of the road and travel honestly. As for finger-pointing songs, I’m usually not a big fan. And you know what they say, when I point my finger there are three more pointing back at me. Oops.

I didn’t let myself write songs that were more personal and closer to the bone until I started making records under my own name in the ’90s. When I went to England to record my first record for Proper, Hammer of The Honky-Tonk Gods, it was with Nick Lowe and the band with which we’d recorded and toured the world several years before. Nick is one of my favorite songwriters and I remember thinking, dang, I can’t just show up with a bunch of I’m A Burly Truck Driver songs. I’ve got to get closer to the bone and try a little harder.

Photo credit: Valerie Fremin

BGS 5+5: Carolina Blue

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Artist: Carolina Blue
Hometown: Brevard, North Carolina
Latest album: Take Me Back (August 7, 2020)

What was the first moment that you knew you wanted to be a musician?

I was in my senior year of high school. The bluegrass bug had bitten me a couple of years before and it was what I was listening to predominantly. The year was winding down and we didn’t have that much going on, class-wise, so a few of my classmates who played guitar were bringing their instruments to school almost daily and jamming whenever and wherever they could. I couldn’t play a lick at the time, but I loved it so much that I found myself wherever the music was being made. I decided then that I wanted a guitar and I wanted to learn to play it, so when graduation rolled around, I took all the monetary gifts I received and bought a Yamaha (with a neck like a 2×4!) and a chord book and the rest is history. — Bobby Powell

Which elements of nature do you spend the most time with and how do those impact your work?

When we aren’t on the road, I spend 90 percent of every day outside. Farming has always been my other passion. The past couple of years, I’ve had to drastically scale back my operation because of the amount of time we’ve been on the road. I have a cow and calf operation, I put up my own feed as well as contract fields out for other folks, I grow a very large garden to eat fresh and can our vegetables for the winter, I raise farm fresh eggs, pork and chicken, and I spend every spare minute on the back of a horse. I have a lot of time in the quiet and stillness of nature, as well as to myself with the farm and animals. It allows me to appreciate the hard work of my forefathers and to appreciate what the land gives us. I live just the way my granddaddies before me did. It also inspires me to write music about those things that I love the most. It’s evident in my songwriting that I’m passionate about the land, our heritage, and knowing that every blessing is from God. I am Southern Appalachia. — Timmy Jones

What’s your favorite memory from being on stage?

My favorite memory from the stage had to be PreddyFest 2016, in Franklinton, North Carolina. We were singing one of our original songs, “Detroit City,” written by Tim. I’m looking out in the audience and could see people singing along. What a feeling, knowing that you’re teaching folks with your music. Knowing that they’re listening enough to know it by heart gives you such a feeling of accomplishment. It was incredible! — Bobby Powell

Which artist has influenced you the most… and how?

Anyone who has listened to my style for about five seconds can tell that I’m heavily influenced by Bill Monroe. Bill was the first real bluegrass that I ever heard. His high tenor voice and unique technique… I was completely enamored. Still am. I strive every time that I take my mandolin out of the case to honor what he started, but to include some of my own style in order to keep it fresh. It goes hand in hand that I would also be influenced by Mike Compton. Mike is a prodigy of Monroe. I was never fortunate enough to meet Bill in person, but I feel like Mike is without a doubt the next closest thing to Bill himself. He has been so kind to encourage my playing and to teach me on great levels! I feel like it would be a great injustice to not also mention Ronnie McCoury here. I appreciate these three mightily. — Timmy Jones

What’s the toughest time you ever had writing a song?

The toughest song I’ve ever written has got to be “Number 73987,” a co-write with Tim that’s on our forthcoming Billy Blue Records album. There have been tons of songs written and recorded about Bill Monroe (our hero) since his death in 1996. We wanted to honor him with this song and we wanted a totally different approach, something that had never been done before. I brought the idea to Tim about writing a song about Mr. Monroe’s famous mandolin, telling the story from the perspective of the instrument. Man, it was tough to write! We wrestled with it for a while, really wanting to do the song (and mandolin) justice, and finally got it finished. The recorded result is better than I could have ever hoped for. Tim really sang the fire out of it! I can’t wait for everyone to hear it! — Bobby Powell

Photo credit: Corey Johnson

BGS 5+5: Ondara

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Artist: Ondara
Hometown: Nairobi, Kenya
Latest Album: Folk n’ Roll Vol. 1: Tales of Isolation

Which artist has influenced you the most … and how?

I accidentally discovered Bob Dylan’s music after losing a bet about the authorship of the song “Knocking on Heaven’s Door.” I was 17 years old at the time, a confused and troubled teenager, uncertain about his future. I enjoyed writing stories, but I didn’t know how to turn any of that into a career. The pressures from everyone I knew, to pursue a more traditional career such as law or medicine were mounting; but I felt an itch for something else. Something I was unable to name, unable to imagine, and with no guidance or encouragement I had no way of discovering what it was.

Finding Dylan was like a scratch to that itch. After listening to records such as Freewheelin’, Highway 61, and Blonde on Blonde, and being completely taken by the writing, I was hit by a burst of inspiration. I had this very wild thought that perhaps I could turn the stories I’d been writing into songs, then I could travel the world and play those songs, and perhaps I could turn that into some kind of a career. It was a crazy and impractical thought since there was no path from where I was to anything like that, but it was something to dream about. Whether the dream came true or not was irrelevant, sometimes as a boy you just need a dream, and finding Dylan is what showed me that dream. “A boy’s devices will always create mayhem, therefore a boy needs a dream, because without a dream the boy is left to his devices.”

What’s your favorite memory from being on stage?

I played a show in Paris last year at a venue called Élysée Montmartre. It was a very memorable show for a few reasons. At the time, I was touring Europe playing shows solo with my guitar, but for that Paris show I wanted to do something different since it was going to be a bigger concert than the rest. I decided I would put together a band. I asked my team to contact some musicians and we assembled a last-minute band just a few days before the show. None of the musicians knew the songs prior, and we only had time for one short rehearsal.

Despite being entirely unprepared it ended up being one of my favorite shows. There was a magical feeling that we were all speaking the same language. The musicians and I understood the language as we played the songs as though we had been playing them for years; the audience understood it as well as they listened to us play. By only communicating in this universal language of music we all had a communion of spirit. This communion is what I miss the most, now that concerts have become rare.

At that same concert, the lights went out towards the end of the show; for about 15 minutes of black out the audience lit the room with their phones and took over the show by singing a new song I had taught them. A memorable night it was. It always is in Paris.

If you had to write a mission statement for your career, what would it be?

We go through most of life on autopilot. The piloting mechanism being cultures, trends, upbringing, education, trauma, and many other things that define us yet we have no control over them. Stories and other forms of art are a mirror to this subconscious state of the society, a way for us, the participants of life, to view ourselves. In a way it is how we watch ourselves sleep. And as we view ourselves, we see our folly.

We have a better chance of fixing our faults if we can see them. If we can’t see them, then we’re not consciously aware of them, and if we’re not aware, then there is nothing to fix. So then people remain oppressed because we have become hateful and uncaring but we can’t see it. Stories are a conduit to compassion, and I am of the mind that compassion is the medicine, so if I had a mission statement, it would be to tell many stories and to tell them far and wide.

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

Gazing at paintings is one of the things that bring my ever-racing mind a few moments of quiet. I get lost in them in a meditative way. When I was younger I thought paintings spoke to me; not in a figurative way, but in a literal fashion. They would tell me the sorrows and joys of the world, and I would write them down in the form of stories. Now in my adulthood, I still hear them, I’m just more aware that it’s my mind being slightly insane.

What was the first moment that you knew you wanted to be a musician?

I accidentally found a song called “Forget Her” by Jeff Buckley when I was about 9 years old. It was the early 2000s and back home in Nairobi, pirated music was as prevalent as the ubiquitous roasted maize, sold on the streets. Music vendors would set up shop in markets or by the streets; they would go online and download random songs, put them on a CD and sell them. Oftentimes, nobody knew the songs they were selling, not even the vendors knew them. They just downloaded random songs online, an attempt at finding something interesting to sell to increase their income at a time of economic difficulty. In the streets, they would advertise the music by playing it loudly to invite customers, sometimes they would call you as you walk past and ask you to listen to some of their new downloads. If you liked a song you would then buy the CD. It was like wine tasting but for music.

I found many bands that I fell in love with that way: Jeff Buckley, Death Cab for Cutie, Radiohead, among others. Finding that song “Forget Her” was a pivotal moment for me. I was so fascinated by Jeff’s singing that I would lock myself in my room and try to imitate him. I was always fascinated by words, but around this time is when my interest in singing began. Since then, I always knew I wanted to be a musician but because there was no path towards a career of that kind, that desire remained stifled until much later when I couldn’t ignore it anymore, and when the universe conspired to send me to America.

Photo credit: Ian Flomer

BGS 5+5: Joshua Radin

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Artist: Joshua Radin
Hometown: Cleveland, Ohio
Latest albums: Here, Right Now (LP) and Acoustic From Sunset Sound (EP)

Which artist has influenced you the most … and how?

I have no idea how to answer that. There are way too many to choose, and not just musicians. But to name a few, Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, Tom Petty, Elliott Smith, Nick Drake, Paul Cezanne, Henry Miller, J.D. Salinger, Dostoyevsky, Hesse, Picasso, Tolstoy …

What’s your favorite memory from being on stage?

The first time I headlined and sold out the Bowery Ballroom in New York City. I had lived in NY for years and that was my favorite spot to see music. So when I finally decided, later in life, to start playing and writing music, being on the other side of that stage was magical.

What’s the toughest time you ever had writing a song?

Hmm, that’s a good question. I’d have to say that this happens very frequently. And nine times out of ten, I’ll end up scrapping the song because if it seems like too much effort, I always feel like it wasn’t meant to be written.

What rituals do you have, either in the studio or before a show?

I have so many on tour. And at home. But on tour, I wake up on the bus, Google “best coffee near me” and start my day from there. Then I’ll usually walk around the city snapping photos, stumbling down streets without a plan. Everything on tour is planned out once I’m at soundcheck that day, so before that, I like to experience as much spontaneity as I can.

Since food and music go so well together, what is your dream pairing of a meal and a musician?

Another great question! Especially because when I’m out on the road, ninety percent of what I think about is where I’m going to eat my next meal… tough to decide but maybe — eating Prince St. Pizza in New York on a stoop, while Bob Dylan busks on the street for change with an open guitar case on the sidewalk.

Photo credit: Shervin Lainez

BGS 5+5: The Dead Tongues

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Artist: The Dead Tongues
Hometown: Asheville, North Carolina
Latest album: Transmigration Blues

Answers by Ryan Gustafson

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

All of the above. Seems like that’s really a conversation about inspiration. A big part of my writing process is about connecting to moments that have moved me and letting those feelings resurface and become a shape of some sort. For instance last year I went up to NYC to go to Hilma af Klint show and was standing in front of her painting “The Dove, No. 1.” I was teary-eyed and moved to the core. In that moment something about love and regeneration made emotional sense to me. I found myself saying out loud “the world doesn’t make sense, but this does.” I don’t think I’ve ever tried to directly write about that experience but it surely has worked its way into my music because it’s something that lives in me.

What was the first moment that you knew you wanted to be a musician?

Since I can remember I’ve wanted to be a musician. Some of my earliest memories are ones of making noise and gaining an awareness of how to play with sound. I remember making rhythms and resonant sounds on kitchenware probably before I could really talk. It’s always been fascinating and endless to me. At some point in my childhood I started daydreaming of music and sounds and tones and could hear it all in my head. I think that was the moment I started to become a songwriter.

What rituals do you have, either in the studio or before a show?

When I’m in the studio I have a pretty tight routine and ritual practice. I’m usually up around sunrise, do yoga right away, meditate, then go for a run. I like to spend some time alone in the studio, even if it’s just like 5 or 10 minutes to sit in the space while it’s silent. While in the studio I’m usually working 15 hour days deeply immersed in production, performance and emotion. Really it’s those intentional moments that make it possible for me to stay present and make decisions during the making of an album.

Which elements of nature do you spend the most time with and how do those impact your work?

Currently I live in a cabin pretty deep into the Blue Ridge Mountains. I’m more immersed in nature than I’ve ever been. It’s stunning and dynamic with big sunsets, old growth trees and wild storms, bears and coyote packs, but the more time I spend out here, the more apparent the subtle changes in environment become. It’s always in transition and conversation. I feel like my music and writing is entirely affected by the environment I’m in and trying to understand my experience within it. Sometimes that comes out in story, imagery or just a sound. Without a doubt there’s a magic and spirit out here I’m reaching out to.

Since food and music go so well together, what is your dream pairing of a meal and a musician?

Ohhh, I would love to eat an artichoke with Alabaster DePlume. Artichokes are such a transformative food; it’s primal but as you get closer to the heart it’s like opening a lotus flower and becomes surprising and complex. There’s so much room for conversation with an artichoke, so who knows what would come up. I’ve been playing the album To Cy & Lee a bunch through the quarantine times, just a truly beautiful record.

Photo credit: Hunter Savoy Jaffe

BGS 5+5: Scroggins & Rose

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Artist: Scroggins & Rose
Hometown: Oakland, California
Latest Album: Curios
Release Date: June 26, 2020
Personal nicknames (or rejected band names): We’re not really the nickname types. haha I think for a while we thought of calling ourselves Spiral or something like that, but we landed on Scroggins & Rose pretty quickly.

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

Alisa Rose: I believe any art that I experience influences what I create. I love the floaty mysticism of Chagall’s paintings, the elegant structure in Martha Graham’s dances, the lyricism of Morrison’s books, and the beautiful details of Proulx’s stories. I hope a bit of all of these seep into what I create.

Tristan Scroggins: I’ve always loved paintings and have been inspired by how they can convey so much meaning and emotion through things other than the picture itself. The brush strokes and colors and style all tell their own story without necessarily being the center of attention and I try to incorporate that idea into my playing as much as I can. With composition I/we draw inspiration from a lot of different sources. One of my favorite writing games we did while writing the tunes on this album was listening to an album of tongue twisters and trying to write tunes based on the rhythm of certain ones.

What was the first moment that you knew you wanted to be a musician?

AR: When I was 6, I read a story about Paganini and how he played the violin so beautifully that he made people cry. I was really struck by the power of music, and from then on I thought I would like to be a violinist.

TS: I grew up listening to my dad play the banjo but it had never crossed my mind to play music until I was 8 years old. I was watching my dad perform and was overcome with a sense of pride and I asked him to teach me to play. It was never a conscious decision after that to be a musician. I always just assumed that I was going to do that.

What rituals do you have, either in the studio or before a show?

AR: Before a big show I like to have a few hours of relaxed practice with some slow work on intonation, basics, and the pieces I’m going to perform. I also try to eat well (I like lots of protein before a performance) and go on a walk or a run in nature if possible. With Scroggins & Rose performances it’s important for us to improvise and warm up together as well to make sure we are both attuned to each other and able to connect well on stage.

TS: For a long time I would do confidence exercises/meditations. I’m pretty shy in everyday life so I had to consciously embody the persona of someone who wanted to be the center of attention. For Scroggins & Rose shows we usually warm up together and will do some improvisation games so that we can get in the mindset of reading body language and musical cues on stage.

Which elements of nature do you spend the most time with and how do those impact your work?

AR: I spend as much time as I can walking through redwoods and exploring the rocky dramatic Californian coastline near my home in the Bay Area. For me, music is deeply associated with my experiences in the natural world and many of my tunes are inspired by the feeling of specific places I’ve been to. For instance, “Wisconsin Wayside” is about driving through beautiful green rolling hills and cornfields on winding country roads in Dane County where I grew up. I also spend a lot of time thinking about melodies I’m working on while I hike; the melodies often find their own path while I’m walking on one.

TS: I spend a lot of time looking at nature but not really being a part of it. I’ve gotten to see lots of really beautiful things but usually through a car windshield. Those sceneries and landscapes are often used as inspiration for textures and moods in composition (such as the “wide-open” feeling of tunes like “the French Cowboy” or “Wyoming”). I also find myself writing about birds a lot. I wouldn’t call myself a “bird watcher,” but I do spend a lot of time watching birds and I have written a number of tunes about birds.

How often do you hide behind a character in a song or use “you” when it’s actually “me”?

AR: Although the music I write has no words, to me the tunes are often about a character or story that is not my own. I feel music is a powerful way for people to connect to each other around the shared experience of listening, even if what each of us hears is unique. To perform a tune, like an actor, I find I need to experience the story and emotions as my own, even if they were not originally conceived that way.

TS: I think this is a really interesting question as someone who mostly writes instrumental music, because I think the answer is “always.” Or at least almost always. Whenever I write a tune about a personal event or feeling I don’t feel the need for any restraint because, ultimately, people are going to interpret the tune in their own way. That’s the nature of instrumental music. It’s like a magic trick where the interesting part of the performance is only happening in the viewer’s mind. Of course I can lead the audience’s interpretation by telling them what I wrote it about before it’s played, but even then what each note means to me will be different from what it means to them.

Photo credit: Lenny Gonzales

BGS 5+5: Joshua Ray Walker

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Artist: Joshua Ray Walker
Hometown: Dallas, Texas
Latest album: Glad You Made It (July 10, 2020)
Personal nickname: High Wide and Handsome

What was the first moment that you knew you wanted to be a musician?

I started playing tenor banjo when I was three years old, and guitar when I was five. My grandfather brought a large record collection with him to Texas from Union County, Tennessee, decades before I was born. Every day after school I used to listen to those records in his workshop and try to play along on yard sale instruments he’d find. The first time it really clicked and I could keep up with one of those bluegrass records, I was obviously too young to know then, but I’ve been chasing that feeling ever since.

How often do you hide behind a character in a song or use “you” when it’s actually “me”?

Often. I build characters based on people I know, have met, or parts of my own personality and experiences. It took me a long time to realize that last part, but now that I know, I use it as a way to explore parts of myself I otherwise wouldn’t be brave enough to write about.

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

I would say film has the largest impact on my music. I think of my songs kind of like short stories and they play out in my head like movie scenes. Certain directors have informed the way some of these scenes play out, and the filters and angles by which I view them. Martin Scorsese, The Coen brothers, Quentin Tarantino, Wes Anderson to name a few.

Since food and music go so well together, what is your dream pairing of a meal and a musician?

One of my favorite parts of touring is trying the local dishes in all the places I visit. Nashville is a great food town and I have a whole itinerary of favorite spots I try to hit up every time I’m there. Fourteen-year-old me would be disappointed if I didn’t pick Jack White. He lives in Nashville, I hear we agree on where to get hot chicken in the town that invented it, and I’ve had countless near-miss encounters with him. So I pick the hot chicken basket with fries and coleslaw, extra pickles and a lukewarm Sprite with Jack White at Bolton’s Spicy Chicken & Fish!


What’s your favorite memory from being on stage?

It was December 2018 and I had just released “Working Girl” and “Canyon” in anticipation of my debut record, Wish You Were Here. I had played to fairly large crowds as a lead guitarist for other bands, but I had never played my songs live to more than about 150 people at a time and I definitely had never experienced the type of “buzz” surrounding my career prior to that point. I had a string of four preternatural shows booked that, in short, made me believe all the hard work of the previous decade was going to pay off, and instilled a confidence in me that I hadn’t had previously.

The first show was my first time playing a theater at the Kessler Theater in my hometown of Dallas, Texas. The second show was my first time opening for Colter Wall, and my first time playing solo at the Granada Theater. The third show was my first time playing the Tower Theater in OKC, opening for Colter. The last show was my first time opening for American Aquarium, and my first time at Cain’s Ballroom. Each show escalated rapidly in magnitude and capacity, and I’ll never forget how amazing and surreal it all felt.

I’m going to focus on the second show briefly. At that time, I had seen close to 100 shows at the Granada Theater, and it had been a staple in my East Dallas community for years. Spotify had just reminded me that Colter Wall and Paul Cauthen were my most listened to artists of 2018, and when I looked out into the crowd that night it seemed like I saw the face of every person who ever cared about me all in one place, singing along to my songs.

My favorite memory of being on stage actually happened right after I walked off it. I pushed my way through the heavy curtain, and what was in the tunnel waiting for me was truly unbelievable: Colter Wall, Paul Cauthen, Vincent Neil Emerson, Matt Hillyer (Eleven Hundred Springs), Summer Dean, Simon Flory, Jacob Metcalf, and others filled the hallway. They had all been watching me close the set through the curtain, and were there to congratulate me when I was done. That was one of the most heartwarming, and reassuring moments of my career and life.

Photo credit: Chad Windham

BGS 5+5: Will Hoge

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Artist: Will Hoge
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
Latest Album: Tiny Little Movies (June 26, 2020)

Which artist has influenced you the most … and how?

My dad. He was a musician before I was born and that carried over into an incredible album collection. Every great album from 1964-1978 was at my disposal.

What’s your favorite memory from being on stage?

Shit, at this point, I’ll repeat a worst memory just to be back on stage. Also any time I get to play at the Ryman.

What was the first moment that you knew you wanted to be a musician?

My dad and my uncle snuck me into a bar to see Bo Diddley when I was about 13. My mind was totally blown. Hard to focus on much else after that.

What’s the toughest time you ever had writing a song?

“Jesus Came to Tennessee.” It had about 15 more verses. Editing that one was a journey.

Since food and music go so well together, what is your dream pairing of a meal and a musician?

Ice cream and Brandi Carlile

Photo credit: Katie Krauss

BGS 5+5: Crary, Evans & Barnick

Posted on by Editor

Artist: Crary, Evans & Barnick
Hometown: Placerville, California
Latest Album: Prime Time
Personal nicknames (or rejected band names): Three Old White Guys in a Folk Trio

What was the first moment that you knew you wanted to be a musician?

Mark Twain said the two most important days in your life are the day you’re born and the day you discover why. For me it was the day in 1952 (I was 12) when I turned on the radio and accidentally heard Don Sullivan, a Kansas City hillbilly country singer on his noon hour live radio show sing twangy songs and play the steel-string guitar. The sound of the guitar that day struck me like something straight from God. I didn’t even know what it was, but I knew I wanted to play one, to hear more of that beautiful noise. — Dan Crary

My life’s direction pretty much came into focus on February 9, 1964, when I was seven years old. After watching the Beatles’ first live U.S. television appearance, the world wasn’t the same for me after that moment. I went to school on that Monday morning knowing that I would be a musician someday. — Bill Evans

During my year spent with the Mobile Riverine Resources/USN/9th Infantry Division Mekong Delta ’68-69, I met a fellow who had purchased a Hi-Fidelity component stereo system from the PX. He set it up in his hootch. He had pals stateside who were mailing him “care packages” containing the latest vinyl LPs by the boxful. Buffalo Springfield, Jeff Beck, Cream, the Doors, etc. When we thought the coast was clear, we’d load up a “bowl” and then listen to those great sounds coming out of those three-way speakers and the music would take us to another place. I did not play any instrument at that time, but I knew right then that I wanted to figure out how to play. All I had to do was get home in one piece. I did, and once stateside I latched on to the bass guitar and have not ever let it go… over 50 years now. — Wally Barnick

Which artist has influenced you the most – and how?

Musicians who were influential: 1) Fritz Kreisler: When I was 5 years old, about 1945 (!) my mom and grandma took me to a concert in the Kansas City Music Hall of violinist Fritz Kreisler. I never forgot it, it’s like yesterday. 2) Bud Hunt, old-time banjo and guitar guy on The Brush Creek Follies, a ’50s Kansas City country music show. My old Webcor wire recorder caught him one night playing “Wildwood Flower.” I had never heard anything like that, changed my life forever. 3) Sabicas, Segovia, Doc Watson: Their brilliant performances made me want to get serious. 4) The Stanley Brothers: Sheer, stunning beauty for the ages. — Dan

I’ve been playing professionally now for over forty years and the people who have had the most influence on me are those who I’ve gotten to know through playing and touring with them in bands or getting to know them as personal friends: folks like Ron Thomason of Dry Branch Fire Squad, Tony Trischka, Alan Munde, Jim Nunally in California and, most of all, Sonny Osborne. And I’ll count Dan and Wally in this group too — I admire what they have both accomplished in their lives and my respect and love for the both of them knows no limits. — Bill

How often do you hide behind a character in song or use “you” when it’s actually “me”?

Seems like they’re all about me, at least the ones about trying to get it right and loving my lady. — Dan

I’m a composer of instrumental tunes, not songs with lyrics. Often, I set out an assignment for myself in order to get the process started, such as composing a melody over a particularly challenging chord progression or modulation, or something that has an Irish flavor, such as “Winston’s Jig” on Prime Time. In this way, I’m assuming a kind of another identity, most definitely. I feel that way about it, at any rate. — Bill

It is typical that I select and attempt singing songs that mean something to me, even when they are written by someone else. So the short answer is… I sing every song like I mean it, as if it’s mine and as if I’m telling my story. — Wally

What’s your favorite memory from being on stage?

In the ’80s a French festival promoter told me on the phone that Byron Berline and John Hickman and I were, because we worked as a trio, “not real bluegrass.” Then, about three days later we three were onstage playing “Gold Rush” to a few thousand fans at the KFC festival in Louisville. Suddenly, with no advance notice, Bill Monroe himself walked on stage with a big smile, sat down with us and we all played the rest of the set together. At one point Bill announced to that audience that, except for his own Blue Grass Boys, we were his #1 favorite bluegrass band! If I live to be a thousand…. — Dan

That’s tough to narrow down to just one memory. Perhaps the most musically revelatory moment for me on stage was hosting an evening in Berkeley at the Freight & Salvage Coffeehouse around the year 2000 with J. D. Crowe, David Grisman, Ron Block, Ron Stewart, Alan Senauke, and Missy Raines. It was an amazing thing to hear Crowe and Grisman experience the groove they created together on stage. Ron Block, who played guitar that night, commented to me after our show had ended that he had never felt such intense rhythm and awareness of musical space on any stage before. Musicians talk about how powerful a player J. D. is and I was lucky to actually experience it very intensely by being on stage with him. — Bill

Probably the first time that I performed a Cream song (“Sunshine of Your Love”) and I discovered that I could sing and play it, remembering all the lyrics and changes, and the (bar) crowd loved it! — Wally

If you had to write a mission statement for your career, what would it be?

Today I will try to be worthy of the guitar. — Dan

Giving back what’s been given to me and giving more, in whatever way that I can. — Bill

If it ain’t fun, skip it. — Wally

Photo credit: Nola Barnick