The BGS Radio Hour – Bluegrass Duets, New & Old

Every week for the past few years, we’ve brought you a radio show, and now podcast, revisiting all the great music recently featured on the pages of BGS. This week, we bring you a special episode for our Duos of Summer series — a musical recap of our 2019 collection of the 22 Best Bluegrass Duos.

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We’re listening to some of these classic duos, and exploring bluegrass’ longstanding and continuing tradition of wonderful duet harmony, be it sibling or otherwise. And while most fans of the genre may recognize names like Flatt & Scruggs or the Monroe Brothers, here you’ll also find newer acts that are following the path laid by those hall-of-famers.

Head to the original story to explore the full list while you listen!

The BGS Radio Hour – Episode 209

Welcome to the BGS Radio Hour! Since 2017, this weekly radio show and podcast has been a recap of all the great music, new and old, featured on the digital pages of BGS. This week, we bring you new music off of the beautiful new album Outside Child from Allison Russell, as well as bluegrass songs to celebrate springtime, and much more! Remember to check back every week for a new episode of the BGS Radio Hour.

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Kishi Bashi – “Waiting For Springtime”

To start off this week’s roundup, we visit our conversation with Athens, Georgia-based Kaoru Ishibashi, better known as Kishi Bashi, about his new EP Emigrant. When COVID hit, he and his daughter packed into a camper and hit the road, from the southeastern U.S. all the way to Oregon, over a period of several months. Along the way, he fleshed out the songs that became Emigrant through visiting places like the Ozarks, the Dakotas, and Montana, including Heart Mountain: a World War II Japanese internment camp he visited many times during the production of his documentary Omoiyari: A Songfilm by Kishi Bashi.


Reid Zoe – “When I Go”

This new track from singer-songwriter Reid Zoé is, on the surface, a song about dying, but really it’s about all of the questions that come with being a human on earth.

Full Cord – “Right In Step”

With a catchy melodic hook and low-tuned banjo, “Right in Step” is a lovely bluegrass tune full of love, hope, and togetherness – hopefully a respite from the uncertainty of the pandemic.

Sean McConnell – “Price of Love”

It’s been said that everything in this world comes with a price. For Nashville’s Sean McConnell, that price is reflected in loving someone — be it family, friend, or significant other — and the eventuality and certainty of you losing them. Yet still, he suggests, most of us are willing to take that risk for love, to give up our hearts completely. It’s the price that our heart pays for love in return.

The Deep Dark Woods – “How Could I Ever Be Single Again?”

A new song from pan-Atlantic singer-songwriter The Deep Dark Woods was inspired by English folk band Steeleye Span. Featuring Kacy Anderson on fiddle, the tune asks the titular question, “How Could I Ever Be Single Again?”

Sam Robbins – “Raining Sideways”

“Raining Sideways” is one of Sam Robbins’ most-requested songs, a stream of consciousness lyric that’s one of the most raw and authentic he’s ever written.

Lera Lynn – “A Light Comes Through”

A recent episode of The Show on the Road featured a deep dive with silky-voiced, southern gothic-folk songwriter Lera Lynn. Stick around to the end of the episode to hear Lynn introduce her favorite broken-romance number, “So Far.”

Graham Sharp – “Truer Picture of Me”

BGS recently caught up with Steep Canyon Rangers’ banjo player and songwriter Graham Sharp about the release of his new solo record, Truer Picture. We talked about Steve Martin’s influence on the Rangers and Sharp himself, as well as his approach to songwriting, nature inspirations, and the way literature and music coincide.

Our Native Daughters – “Quasheba, Quasheba”

Our Artist of the Month for May, Allison Russell, wrote this song for her many-times-great-great-grandmother Quasheba, who survived being enslaved, being ripped away from everything she knew, the horrible Middle Passage, having her children taken, and more. Russell says her art and a loving community have inspired her to connect with her ancestors and find connection through intergenerational strength, resilience, and transcendence, despite intergenerational trauma and abuse.

Grace Pettis – “Paper Boat”

Singer-songwriter Grace Pettis literally dreamed up “Paper Boat,” a song about coming of age, trying to fit in, and losing our innocence. She’s joined by her producer, Mary Bragg, on tender harmony vocals.

Allison Russell – “The Runner”

We spoke with our May Artist of the Month, Allison Russell, about the inspiration behind and creation of her honest and stunning album Outside Child, including this track “The Runner.” Read our two-part interview here.

Lost & Found – “Wild Mountain Flowers for Mary”

We hope, wherever you’re reading this from, that snow, frost, and the cold are truly retreating, giving way to longer days, warmer weather, and the gorgeous, humid, cicada-soundtracked days of summer. But, before we get to full-blown bluegrass season – and, hopefully, our first live music forays since COVID-19 shut the industry down in early 2020 – let’s take a moment to intentionally enjoy spring with 12 bluegrass songs perfect for collecting a wildflower bouquet, romping and frolicking in the meadow, and pickin’ on the back porch while the evenings are still cool.

Accidentals – “Wildfire”

The Accidentals spoke with BGS on loving and learning from Brandi Carlile, singing on stage with Joan Baez, the magic in meeting strangers and finding common ground, and much more in this edition of 5+5.


Photos: (L to R) Lera Lynn by Alysse Gafkjen; Allison Russell by Marc Baptiste; Kishi Bashi by Max Ritter

The Show on the Road – Cake (John McCrea)

This week on The Show On The Road, a rare career-spanning interview with the ever-curious frontman, activist, and rock hitmaker John McCrea, who founded Cake, one of the most beloved and yet misunderstood bands of our time in Sacramento in 1992.

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Despite putting out unlikely ubiquitous radio hits like “The Distance,” “Short Skirt/Long Jacket,” and “Never There” featuring the signature combo of dry speak-singing, spaghetti western brass, muscular guitars, and spacey synths, and becoming one of the best selling groups of the 1990s and early 2000s, McCrea and an ever-changing group of collaborators have always operated more like a DIY garage band. They produce and record everything themselves and exist outside the music industry spotlight — only putting out their oddball, genre-defying work when it’s ready.

While you may have forgotten some of their danceable favorites that burned through college and indie-rock radio — with further study, songs like “No Phone,” which tackled our toxic relationship to technology (even before smartphones came out), now seem both deeply of (and way ahead of) their time.

Critics were often confused by Cake’s lyrically dense, subversively political records like Motorcade Of Generosity, Prolonging The Magic, and Comfort Eagle. And with their obtuse album art, strange homemade videos, McCrea’s conspiratorial slam-poet frontman delivery, and his shaggy Sacramento-based bandmates, it was all quite atypical in the era of shiny studio-created MTV and radio-ready rock. And yet their legions of fans, including our host Z. Lupetin, ate it up and continue to anxiously wait for what’s coming next from the group. After a decade of home recording and environmental activism (with a recent emphasis on combating deforestation) McCrea hints that a new album and a return to playing may finally be in the works.


 

The BGS Radio Hour – Episode 208

Welcome to the BGS Radio Hour! Since 2017, this weekly radio show and podcast has been a recap of all the great music, new and old, featured on the digital pages of BGS. This week, we bring you new music from both our Artist of the Month, Allison Russell, off of her brand new album Outside Child, and from the late Tony Joe White, too — plus much more! Remember to check back every week for a new episode of the BGS Radio Hour.

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Maia Sharp – “Things to Fix”

Moving across the country is stressful enough on its own. At the end of a 21-year marriage, Maia Sharp put her energy directly into working on her new Nashville home — painting one room, then another, and another. She took the idea to her co-writer on “Things to Fix,” relating the things that could have been fixed in her relationship to what she was fixing in the house.

Last Year’s Man – “Still Be Here”

Singer-songwriter Last Year’s Man (Tyler Fortier) explained his new track “Still Be Here” to BGS, relating, “I think we’re all eager for life to get back to what it was in some way or another and this is a love song built out of the idea that it will.”

Casey Driessen featuring Taro Inoue – “Little Cabin Home on the Hill”

Casey Driessen’s recent project Otherlands: A Global Music Exploration, is a self-produced travelogue of on-location recordings, short films, and essays that documents collaborations with masters of regional music in Spain, Ireland, Scotland, India, Finland, and Japan, where he recorded this bluegrass standard with his friend and mandolinist Taro Inoue.

Tony Joe White – “Smoke From the Chimney”

Legendary country singer and songwriter Tony Joe White, who penned hits like “Polk Salad Annie” and “Rainy Night in Georgia,” passed away in 2018, leaving behind quite a legacy of music. However, the material didn’t quite stop after he died. His new posthumous record, Smoke From the Chimney, was recorded a year later in 2019, as producer Dan Auerbach built the music around voice and guitar demos that White had left behind.

Carsie Blanton – “Mercy”

Carsie Blanton wrote “Mercy” for her husband Jon, who helped her find out that love can be a gentle force that allows us to become more ourselves: “Once I discovered that, I was able to envision a whole world of love; a world that’s less about control and more about compassion.”

Angela Autumn – “Sowin’ Seeds”

“Sowin’ Seeds,” the latest track from Americana singer-songwriter Angela Autumn, explores the could-be life of a musician, one of imagined ease and free from sacrifice.

Danny Paisley and the Southern Grass – “Date With an Angel”

Up next is Baltimore bluegrass royalty Danny Paisley with a track off of his newest record, Bluegrass Troubadour. Paisley started out performing in the Southern Mountain Boys with his father, Bob Paisley, and Ted Lundy. Years later, Danny formed the Southern Grass and performs with his own son as well as the sons of Ted Lundy. They’re a two-family, three generation band! Paisley is the most recent IBMA Male Vocalist of the Year, an award he’s received more than once. Listening to Bluegrass Troubadour, you can see why.

Beth Whitney – “I Go”

Singer-songwriter Beth Whitney wrote “I Go” inspired by her family’s tradition of taking backpacking trips and her favorite Wendell Berry poem, “The Peace of the Wild Things.” While she’ll be the first to admit that she doesn’t backpack gracefully, though as blisters and bug bites take hold, “as the wilderness takes me in, it starts to heal me somehow and I come into focus.”

Amy Helm – “Sweet Mama”

“Sweet Mama” is a rock and roll track made with love in Woodstock, NY by Amy Helm with one and only Phil Cook on harmonica!

Allison Russell – “Montreal”

Our current Artist of the Month, Allison Russell, has just released her stunning solo debut, Outside Child, an album that delves deeply into the extreme trauma she experienced in her youth spent in Montreal. We recently spoke with Russell about her experience making the record and the relief that songwriting, music and art can bring.

Mike Barnett featuring Alex Hargreaves – “Piece O’Shrimp”

Mike Barnett, a Nashville-based fiddle player who recently released +1, an album of duets with friends and heroes, had originally slated the album for release in late summer 2020, but was delayed when he suffered a cerebral hemorrhage, putting his career and life on hold. Undergoing extensive rehabilitation, he posted a welcome update in February on his GoFundMe (support here) that a full recovery is still possible and likely! While we’re wishing Mike the best, and supporting his recovery through his GoFundMe, we’re also enjoying a “Piece O’ Shrimp” from his new album, featuring Alex Hargreaves.

Christina Alden & Alex Patterson – “Hunter”

UK-based folk duo Christina Alden & Alex Patterson wrote “Hunter” inspired by an unlikely friendship between a grey wolf and a brown bear, as captured by Finnish photographer Lassi Rautiainen.

Charlie Marie – “El Paso”

Country singer-songwriter Charlie Marie recently joined BGS for a 5+5, that is 5 questions and 5 songs. She talks growing up listening to Patsy Cline, meditating before “big” shows, listening to Frank Sinatra at old school Italian restaurants, and more.


Photos: (L to R) Amy Helm by Ebru Yildiz; Allison Russell by Marc Baptiste; Tony Joe White by Leann White

Harmonics with Beth Behrs: Abby Wambach

For our final episode of Harmonics season 2, we bring you a conversation with two-time Olympic gold medalist and FIFA Women’s World Cup champion, Abby Wambach.

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Wambach and host Beth Behrs have an honest and open conversation about sobriety, religion, and Abby’s youth in the Catholic church — and her relationship to it as she accepted her sexuality at a young age. She explains the importance of sports for all kids to develop an ability to take care of themselves, discusses the necessity of exercise and movement for maintaining her mental health, and the disparity between men and women’s earnings and treatment in professional sports. Plus, she relates a huge realization she had while standing onstage between Kobe Bryant and Peyton Manning as they were all three honored upon their retirements.


Listen and subscribe to Harmonics through all podcast platforms and follow Harmonics and Beth Behrs on Instagram for series updates!

The Show on the Road – Samantha Fish

This week on The Show On The Road, we jump in our podcast time machine for a face-to-face interview (remember those?) with acclaimed blues and roots guitarist and singer-songwriter Samantha Fish.

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Now based in New Orleans, the SOTR caught up with Samantha Fish at the Sugar Magnolia Music Fest in Mississippi before the world shut down — and to be real, until recently, the very idea of airing this interview seemed inappropriate. Two songwriters speaking into one mic at close range? With everyone crammed into a little trailer? No sanitizer in sight? Indeed.

And yet, as in-person interviews are set to recommence and venues are reopening at last, it felt good to remind ourselves what a real Show On The Road conversation feels like. There are no Zoom glitches or quick edits needed here. We talk about favorite restaurants in New Orleans, dream festival lineups, and guitar solo self-esteem pep talks. We question if Elvis’s ghost is watching over us as we record — and you’ll notice the sound is not pristine, but maybe that’s the best part. You can hear the squeak of the seats, the grit in the voices before they are warmed up for an upcoming set. There’s a band warming up in the background and you can hear Samantha tuning her acoustic guitar just off mic before playing her favorite forlorn love-song, “I Need You More,” near the end.

For folks who are not familiar with Fish’s work, she’s been one of the hardest touring bandleaders on the blues and Americana circuit since she started recording out of her hometown of Kansas City a decade ago. She was still slinging and delivering pizzas then, but now she’s an award-winning veteran of various music scenes and a headliner at music fests from the Crescent City (where she played her first Jazz Fest) to jazz and blues gatherings across Europe and beyond. With seven albums and counting under her belt, including her Memphis brass-embellished latest, Kill Or Be Kind, and her standout rocker, Belle Of The West, (created with Luther Luther Dickinson, which we discuss at length here) Fish is proving again and again that she is in it for the long haul.

One of the more moving moments of the episode centers on Fish’s memories of growing up playing the drums and jamming with her musical family. Even then she didn’t see many girls like her taking the lead guitar as their destiny. She had to believe in herself before anyone else would, and here she is. Representation matters and Fish is showing a whole generation of young players that despite Rolling Stone barely mentioning women in their ongoing “greatest guitarists of all time” lists there are new people who walk and talk and look a little different taking up the mantle of guitar god (or goddess).


Photo credit: Alysse Gafkjen

The BGS Radio Hour – Episode 207

Welcome to the BGS Radio Hour! Since 2017, this weekly radio show and podcast has been a recap of all the great music, new and old, featured on the digital pages of BGS. This week, we bring you new music from our Artist of the Month, Allison Russell, an exclusive live performance by Madison Cunningham from BGS’ Whiskey Sour Happy Hour, and much more. Remember to check back every week for a new episode of the BGS Radio Hour.

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Sunny War – “Losing Hand”

Coming out of COVID isolation with fingers crossed and masks on, many artists are releasing new and exciting music. We’re particularly thrilled about Sunny War’s latest release, Simple Syrup. We caught up with the LA-based guitarist and singer for an edition of 5+5 and talked everything — from Elizabeth Cotten’s guitar playing to eating black-eyed peas with Nina Simone.

Ted Russell Kamp – “Lightning Strikes Twice”

Singer-songwriter Ted Russell Kamp originally wrote “Lightning Strikes Twice” in the style of Billy Joe Shaver, as a honky tonk number. But, for his upcoming album Solitaire, he decided to rework the track, bluegrass style.

No-No Boy – “Gimme Chills”

A student of singer-songwriter, multimedia artist, and scholar No-No Boy (AKA Julian Saporiti) once called his song “Gimme Chills” a “fucked up love letter to the Philippines.” No-No Boy agreed. The track is part history lesson and part tribute.

Yola – “Diamond Studded Shoes”

Yola’s roots-pop outing “Diamond Studded Shoes” is a song that explores the divides created to distract us from those few who are in charge of the majority of the world’s wealth. It calls on all of us to unite and turn our focus to those with a stranglehold on humanity.

Dale Ann Bradley – “Yellow Creek”

BGS recently caught up with Kentucky’s own Dale Ann Bradley, discussing her recent album, Things She Couldn’t Get Over — her first release since departing group Sister Sadie. Each of the songs on the project deal with hard times, and finding the courage that gets us through. “Yellow Creek,” a song about the forced removal of Native Americans from their land, finds Bradley giving us a reminder to walk with empathy.

Josephine Johnson – “Where I Belong”

“Where I Belong” by singer-songwriter Josephine Johnson was inspired by characters from British Navy novels set during the Napoleonic wars. Love and high seas adventure, to be sure!

The Wandering Hearts – “Gold”

Inspired by their song “Gold,” The Wandering Hearts created a Mixtape for BGS, entitled The Golden Tonic, it’s a selection of songs that have helped them through tough situations, inspired them, and take them back to specific moments in time. They hope that the Golden Tonic will work its magic on the listener after this heavy and hard year.

Eli West – “Brick in the Road”

In a recent 5+5, multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter Eli West discusses the influence of Paul Brady and Irish folk music, understated chaos in visual art, and drunk BBQ with Sting and Mark Knopfler.

Allison Russell – “Nightflyer”

Our Artist of the Month Allison Russell has already made a mark on the modern roots scene through various powerhouse groups, like Birds of Chicago and supergroup Our Native Daughters. Now, she’s stepping out with her first solo record, Outside Child. Stick around all month long for exclusive content from Russell.

Bhi Bhiman – “Magic Carpet Ride”

Bhi Bhiman reimagines iconic rock song “Magic Carpet Ride” in the style of old country blues players – artists like Mississippi John Hurt, Lightnin’ Hopkins, and others who’ve played a huge role in Bhiman’s evolution as a guitarist.

Parker Millsap – “Vulnerable”

Parker Millsap, one of our recent guests on The Show On The Road, is a gifted singer-songwriter who grew up in a Pentecostal church and creates a fiery gospel backdrop for his tender (then window-rattling) rock ‘n’ roll voice.

Madison Cunningham – “L.A. (Looking Alive)”

Last spring, on our debut episode of Whiskey Sour Happy Hour, Los Angeles-based, Grammy-nominated guitarist and singer-songwriter Madison Cunningham kicked off the entire series with an acoustic rendition of “L.A. (Looking Alive).”

Stash Wyslouch – “Lord Protect My Soul”

From bluegrass mad scientist Stash Wyslouch, formerly of progressive string band the Deadly Gentlemen, here’s a traditional number turned upside down, taking a Bill Monroe tune and contrasting it with polytonal backup. Wyslouch told BGS that while he gravitates towards gospel standards in the bluegrass world, his own style drifts to the absurd and unexpected. Like a bluegrass Frank Zappa!

Bob Malone – “The River Gives”

Singer-songwriter and pianist Bob Malone wrote “The River Gives” after the devastating 2016 flooding in West Virginia, but he never had a chance to produce the track like he wanted to – until now!

Marty Stuart – “One In A Row”

Marty Stuart’s new project, Songs I Sing In The Dark, is a collection of twenty songs that he curated that helped him through the tough times that we all saw in 2020. Stuart says this Willie Nelson song has followed him around since he first heard it over twenty years ago. “I think of it as an old friend, same as Willie. It’s a friend for the ages, and an excellent song to sing in the dark.


Photos: (L to R) Madison Cunningham by Claire Marie Vogel; Yola by Joseph Ross Smith; Allison Russell by Marc Baptiste

Harmonics with Beth Behrs: Kristin Chenoweth

This week on Harmonics, in honor of Mental Health Awareness Month, we bring you an emotional conversation with Tony- and Emmy-winning actress and singer Kristin Chenoweth.

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Having recently lost a lifelong voice teacher and dear friend to COVID-19 at the time of this interview, Kristin Chenoweth brings a very open conversation about grief and mental health, talking with host Beth Behrs about her struggles with depression and anxiety during the pandemic, and throughout her life — accepting that she does need to acknowledge her mental health struggles, even though due to her public persona, most people expect her to be “rainbows and glitter” 24/7.


Listen and subscribe to Harmonics through all podcast platforms and follow Harmonics and Beth Behrs on Instagram for series updates!

The Show on the Road – Lera Lynn

This week on The Show On The Road, we bring you a deep dive with silky-voiced, southern gothic-folk songwriter Lera Lynn. Lynn has recently gained notoriety for her mysterious and lushly cinematic sound, as heard on her haunting 2020 LP, On My Own (on which she writes, produces and plays every instrument on each song) and in the music of HBO’s True Detective (produced by T-Bone Burnett) — she became a cast member in Season 2.

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We’ve all had our dark moments during this last year. For Lera Lynn it was figuring out how to put out a new album, which she had painstakingly made herself in isolation (see also: Springsteen’s moody and homemade Nebraska), right as her first baby was on the way without any family being allowed to help shoulder the load. At times, the burden seemed too much to bear, but what emerged was a touchstone set of songs that unintentionally seemed to pinpoint the exact center of our collective dread — and the flickers of hope of a new beginning that can come out of a such a societal time-quake. Searching, reverb-y rock standouts like “Are You Listening?” seem to be calling out into a void that we never knew we had, perhaps reminding us again how much we need human touch, friendship, family warmth, and true soul connection.

While we are currently emerging into the light-filled end of this COVID-19 tunnel, it’s important to note that this interview was conducted back in 2020 in the thick of the harshest lockdowns (the taping footage was lost, then finally found). Songs like “Isolation” hit the exact pain point for many artists like Lynn, who once thrived on bringing live-music’s unique sweaty joy to strangers in a new town each night. Her rising calls of “Is anybody out there?” ring like echoes from a very recent bad dream. A dream, of course, that is still very much a painful reality across this country and around the world.

Coming out of the fertile roots rock scene of Athens, GA, Lynn’s earlier records — like the intimate and country-inflected Have You Met Lera Lynn? from 2011 and its pop-forward follow ups The Avenues (2016) and Resistor (2017) — focused mostly on her endlessly warm and rich voice and the fury and frustration she was processing having grown up an only child of an alcoholic dad. But it was her guest-star-laden LP, Plays Well With Others (2018), where Lynn began to realize the extent of her gifted arranging and vocal powers together. Teaming up with a murderer’s row of Americana artists like Shovels & Rope, John Paul White of the Civil Wars, and Rodney Crowell, the album may be the most high-spirited of her works — like a basement party jam session going off the rails in all the best ways.

The tough year at home did make Lynn come to appreciate how far she’s come since those early days — maybe it took a decade of hard-won acceptance and practice to be able to create On My Own without any help from other musicians or producers. The result is a wonder to hear. Now if she could just play it for an actual live audience. Stick around to the end of the episode to hear Lynn introduce her favorite broken-romance number, “So Far.”


Photo credit: Alysse Gafkjen

Harmonics with Beth Behrs: May is for Mental Health

This week on Harmonics, host Beth Behrs slows things down and checks in with a dear friend: our very own BGS co-founder and Harmonics executive producer Amy Reitnouer Jacobs!

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While the pandemic is beginning to subside here in the U.S. — and what a wonderful thing it is — let’s be real: it’s a weird time right now. Folks are getting vaccinated (on so many different timelines, might we add) and some are immediately diving head-first back into society and socialization, six feet be damned. With everyone at varying levels of anxiety, with differing expectations on what “comfortable speeds” of fully returning to the ways of the “before” times means, and after a year-plus of having our mental health challenged from every possible direction, we think it’s important to take this month of May, Mental Health Awareness Month, to give ourselves and others some grace and set some boundaries. Our mental health is worth it.


Listen and subscribe to Harmonics through all podcast platforms and follow Harmonics and Beth Behrs on Instagram for series updates!