Tag: BGS Podcast Network

The Show On The Road – Adrian Quesada

Posted on by Shelby Williamson

This week, we head down to Austin, Texas where we talk to multi-instrumentalist and renowned producer Adrian Quesada.

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Many know him as half of ground-breaking deep soul duo Black Pumas, where songs like “Colors” rose up the charts, taking them from tiny Austin clubs to the biggest festivals in the world, garnering Grammy nods, playing as the theme for the Major League Baseball playoffs and even featuring at Joe Biden’s inauguration. But on his own, Quesada has had a remarkably fruitful 2022, first releasing his Spanish-language debut Boleros Psicodélicos with some heavy collaborators, and in November he brought forth Jaguar Sound, a cinematic instrumental opus that’s one part Daptone R&B groove, one part hip-hop sample jam and one part Morricone vintage score mystery.

Growing up on the border town of Laredo, Texas as a MTV-loving, hip-hop and hair-metal obsessed only-child, Quesada discusses how he used the isolation of the pandemic lockdowns (and a pause in his relentless Black Pumas touring) to begin creating the music that had been living in his head for decades, but never had a chance to be heard. Gems like “Noble Metals” feel like a cross-section between an early dreamy Santana cut and something that could be found in a trippy Japanese animation.

A self-professed “studio rat,” Quesada teases at the end of the talk that he’s only just scratched the surface of what he hopes to create. One can only hope that a Black Pumas reunion with charismatic vocalist Eric Burton is in the cards, too.

Photo Credit: Jackie Lee Young and Victoria Villasana

Basic Folk – Melissa Carper

Posted on by Shelby Williamson

Upright bassist, singer and songwriter Melissa Carper has been playing in bands since she took up the position of bass in her family band at the age of 12. She grew up with a reverence for country music in her small town Nebraska family. The original Carper Family band toured regionally on the weekends at Elks Lodges, VFWs and small bars. Little Melissa made $50 a gig, which allowed her to take her friends out for dinner and gave her an early sense of what it was like to be a paid musician. She attended school for music, but ended up leaving two and a half years in and began her rambling.

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Melissa has lived in Nebraska, New York, Alaska, New Orleans, Arkansas and Austin, to name only a few. She usually has stayed around a place for a couple years until she moves on. Along the way, she’s formed many bands like a new version of The Carper Family, Sad Daddy and Buffalo Gals. In recent years, she’s been releasing albums under her own name, which is strange because she doesn’t like being the center of attention. Her writing is filled with humorous quips, even though she claims to have a “slow wit.” Her classic country sound is unique in that her writing is sharp, her delivery is relaxed and her voice is unreal. She spent a lot of time studying the voices of Hank Williams and Leadbelly to develop that honeyed, yet raw sound. Melissa Carper is the real deal! Go check out her new album Ramblin’ Soul and enjoy our conversation.

Editor’s Note: Basic Folk is currently running their annual fall fundraiser! Visit basicfolk.com/donate for a message from hosts Cindy Howes and Lizzie No, and to support this listener-funded podcast.

Photo Credit: Lyza Renee

The Show On The Road – Ondara

Posted on by Shelby Williamson

This week, we talk with Kenyan singer-songwriter Ondara, who came to Minneapolis in search of his voice as a young musician, and found a new creative persona which he now embodies called The Spanish Villager. He has since taken audiences by storm, garnering a Grammy-nomination and now returning with a stunning, politically-charged new LP.

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Spanish Villager No: 3 is produced by Ondara and Mike Viola (Jenny Lewis, Dan Wilson) with collaborations from Taylor Goldsmith and Griffin Goldsmith of Dawes, Sebastian Steinberg, Tim Kuhl and Jeremy Stacey. While he would still call himself a folk singer like his Minneapolis hero Bob Dylan, Ondara (like Dylan) has gone a bit electric on the new offering, harnessing his massive vocal power with a full band around him.

Ondara’s immigrant journey is truly one for the storybooks, and while he has dutifully paid homage to American folk protest singers in his previous work, the newest Spanish Villager work shows him really finding his own sound, at once sharply modern and steeped in a dark history he can’t wait to mine.

The Show On The Road – Trampled by Turtles

Posted on by Shelby Williamson

This week, we call into Minnesota to talk to frontman and lead-songwriter Dave Simonett of the innovative jamgrass pioneers Trampled by Turtles.

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Celebrating a new record, Alpenglow, produced by Jeff Tweedy of Wilco, the six-piece band has gone from storming shaggy local bars in Duluth to playing their famously fast roots-n-roll in the biggest venues and festivals in the world.

Twenty years in, Simonett is keeping it fresh by letting masters like Tweedy bring his punky minor chord sensibility to the band’s warm acoustic camaraderie (bassist Tim Saxhaug, banjo player Dave Carroll, mandolinist Erik Berry, fiddle player Ryan Young, and cellist Eamonn McLain round out the group) with standout songs like “Starting Over” not shying away from the expectations that come from recognition and giving your art to the world — with the brightness of the banjo always leading the way.

Editor’s note: Trampled by Turtles is the BGS Artist of the Month for November. Check out our Essential Trampled by Turtles playlist and keep an eye out for more exclusive interviews and content throughout the month.

Photo Credit: Zoe Prinds

Basic Folk – Patrick Haggerty of Lavender Country

Posted on by Shelby Williamson

A note: our guest on this episode, Patrick Haggerty of Lavender Country, passed away on October 31 at the age of 78, several weeks after he’d had a stroke. This episode was produced before his death. We are grateful to be able to share this conversation with Patrick and we hope our listeners will take some time to learn about Patrick’s remarkable life, especially his pro-LGBTQ+ and pro-working class activism. We are sending love to his many fans, friends, and especially his family at this difficult time.

Patrick Haggerty, the frontperson of Lavender Country, is considered a legend of queer country music. He made history when he released the first openly gay country album in 1973. In a lot of ways, Nashville still isn’t ready for queer folks to be our outspoken selves, but in 1973 it was almost unthinkable. Patrick walked into the cultural storm consciously, knowing that his story needed to be told even though few were ready to hear it.

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After being shunned from the music industry, Patrick continued to do important work in the communities he cared about. He worked for decades as a social worker, community organizer, gay rights activist, and anti-racism activist. He got married and raised children. Then, a wild twist of internet fate took place. One of Lavender Country’s songs got posted to YouTube and Patrick found himself signed to a record label, and creating his second album. He re-emerged into a world that was more gay-friendly, and to a new legion of fans who had found his music on the internet.

It was a special honor to speak with Patrick and his husband, JB, after spending time on the road with them this past spring during the “Roundup” queer country tour. Their steadfast relationship, humor, activism, and dedication to building a better world have taught me so much about what it means to make a life in music as a queer person. We at Basic Folk are honored to share this conversation with you.

Content Warning: this episode contains mentions of self-harm, suicide, and homophobia.

Editor’s Note: Basic Folk is currently running their annual fall fundraiser! Visit basicfolk.com/donate for a message from hosts Cindy Howes and Lizzie No, and to support this listener-funded podcast.

Photo Credit: Marie Tamanova

The Show On The Road – Jim Lauderdale

Posted on by Shelby Williamson

This week, we call on an Americana pioneer and a beloved fixture of the Nashville roots-country scene, the always affable Grammy-winner Jim Lauderdale. This year he celebrated the release of his thirty-fifth record, Game Changer.

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Growing up in both North and South Carolina, as a young man Lauderdale fell in love with country music but took an unconventional path to becoming a sought-after songwriter, harmonist and writer in Music City. He toured in New York theatre productions when he was starting out, and ended up in LA. Even today you can hear the drama in his aching harmony-soaked songs like “Lightning Love” off Game Changer.

While sales and national recognition haven’t always aligned, the “stylistically restless” Lauderdale has played the Opry over 200 times, collaborated on albums with his heroes like the late bluegrass legend Ralph Stanley, written tracks for artists as diverse as George Strait and Elvis Costello, and has accidentally become one of the leading elder-statesman of the Americana movement.

What is Americana exactly? Even Jim impishly won’t say. But it’s that earthy genre-bending sound that has kept his longtime fans coming back for more nearly four decades into his storied run.

Photo Credit: Scott Simontacchi

Basic Folk – Ondara

Posted on by Shelby Williamson

When Ondara was a little boy growing up in Nairobi, Kenya, music was both everywhere and just out of reach. He walked around the market listening to vendors playing music from stereos, stopping to listen when he heard something that caught his attention. His family couldn’t afford musical instruments, and the household radio was constantly in demand so he would wait until everyone was asleep so that he could listen to music by himself. He began writing poems, and eventually a cappella songs. He figured that if Bob Dylan could create a legacy setting insightful poems to music, so could he.

 

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In 2013, Ondara won the green card lottery and moved to Minneapolis, because a) he had a family member there, and b) his hero Bob Dylan came from there. Ondara quickly discovered that Minnesota was a little different than he had dreamed. He was working temp jobs to buy his first guitar, writing dozens of songs that would eventually become his debut album, Tales of America, and getting his foot in the door in the Minneapolis open mic scene. But he found that it was difficult to put a band together, that the life of a songwriter was lonely, and that, in America, the color of his skin came with a whole set of expectations about how he should behave (and even about what kind of music he should create).

Ondara has worked to understand these expectations without bowing to them. He shared during our conversation that being Black in America means joining a tradition of art and resistance, and that helping The Cause matters to him. And his ability to contribute to the cause has grown exponentially, since Ondara hit the road in support of his hit debut album, and opening for artists like Neil Young, Lindsey Buckingham, and the Lumineers.

Since then, Ondara has looked outward for subject matter, releasing a pandemic-inspired album in 2020 based on his friends’ stories of quarantine dating and struggling to pay the rent. He has also undertaken a significant spiritual journey as he struggles to reconcile fame and the demands of capitalism with his desire to become a grounded, useful, wise, grown-up adult. His solution, for now, comes in the form of the Spanish Villager, the hyper-performative character at the center of his new album.

Editor’s Note: Basic Folk is currently running their annual fall fundraiser! Visit basicfolk.com/donate for a message from hosts Cindy Howes and Lizzie No, and to support this listener-funded podcast.

Photo Credit: Nate Ryan

Basic Folk – Mali Obomsawin

Posted on by Shelby Williamson

Y’all ready for a crossover? Basic Folk listeners will remember Mali Obomsawin from their work as a bassist, singer, and songwriter with folk trio Lula Wiles, but today we are celebrating Mali’s debut as a jazz bandleader/composer. Mali’s new album, Sweet Tooth, was inspired by field recordings of elders from Mali’s Wabanaki community.

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Mali’s improvisational approach to creating music results in a remarkable living piece of music that not only illustrates hundreds of years of their people’s history, but also illuminates their hopes for the rematriation of Native lands. One of the most insidious lies about Native people in the Americas is that they are relics of the past, not constantly-evolving communities. Through their music and activism, Mali refutes this claim. The record weaves field recordings with intense instrumentals and Mali’s stunning voice. They even co-wrote a Penobscot language chant to close the album. Sweet Tooth confronts heartbreaking history while insisting upon a path forward. It is at turns heartbreaking, jarring, tender, and fun.

Those who are interested in learning more about the concept of intersectionality will find this episode of Basic Folk fascinating. Mali and I dig deep into what it looks like to embrace gender freedom while remaining loyal to the bonds shared by women of color within a hostile colonial culture.

Editor’s Note: Basic Folk is currently running their annual fall fundraiser! Visit basicfolk.com/donate for a message from hosts Cindy Howes and Lizzie No, and to support this listener-funded podcast.

Photo Credit: Abby and Jared Lank

Basic Folk – Caroline Spence

Posted on by Shelby Williamson

Originally from Charlottesville, Virginia, Caroline Spence came from this cool family that always seemed to be messing around with music: both listening and playing music. She’s recently been discovering and sharing home movies from when she was a kid: scooting around in diapers on a guitar case, singing with her grandfather and mother. The clips, which she used in the video for “Clean Getaway,” were a gift in which she was able to see her personality and genuine love of music from a young age. She was emboldened to perform and write by her musical aunt, who invited Caroline to open for her as a teenager.

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She came to Nashville for a job in the music industry and slowly started putting herself out there as a songwriter for other musicians. Her writing is based in honesty and she opens up about her relationship to the truth in our conversation. We also get into how she had to develop ego, why it matters and how she let herself have access to it. We discuss her love of flowers and how she relates the songs on her new album True North to different flowers. Caroline is an avid reader of Mary Oliver and even has a song named after her as the poet feels devotional and spiritual. Enjoy Caroline Spence!

Editor’s Note: Basic Folk is currently running their annual fall fundraiser! Visit basicfolk.com/donate for a message from hosts Cindy Howes and Lizzie No, and to support this listener-funded podcast.

Photo Credit: Kaitlyn Raitz

Basic Folk – Will Sheff

Posted on by Shelby Williamson

When Will Sheff was a baby, he had a life-threatening illness that required him to have a tracheotomy. From that moment, he was always aware of being fragile and somewhat out of place in his body. He never quite fit in with the New England prep school culture he grew up in. His childhood was full of magic, however. He spent a lot of time in the woods, and when he looked up at the sky he felt the presence of the divine more deeply than he ever did in church.

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A lot of people dream of forming a band with their high school buddies and making it big. Will and his friends actually did it. Folk rock outfit Okkervil River released nine critically acclaimed albums and traveled the world together. You can read all about them elsewhere. I was most interested in how being the frontman of Okkervil River made Will into the performer and writer he is today.

One of the most interesting questions that Will explores on his new solo album, Nothing Special, is how to remove ego from the album-making process, even as he puts his own name front and center for the first time. This question led us down paths of meditation and consciousness, drugs and religion, power and acceptance. This record creates impressionistic scenes as much as it tells stories. It is an expression of Will’s higher self, tempered with humility. Nothing Special is bound to be a blessing.

Editor’s Note: Basic Folk is currently running their annual fall fundraiser! Visit basicfolk.com/donate for a message from hosts Cindy Howes and Lizzie No, and to support this listener-funded podcast.

Photo Credit: Bret Curry