Tag: BGS Podcast Network

The String – Nora Jane Struthers and The Mastersons

Posted on by Chris Jacobs

Nora Jane Struthers just released her fifth album, celebrating her full life, Bright Lights, Long Drives, First Words, and says it includes “Good Thing,” the best song she’s ever written.

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Living the road life makes for tight musical couples. And in this split episode, Craig speaks with a new mom who tours and duets with her husband and a couple that’s been touring for a decade on their own and as side musicians. Then it’s The Mastersons, both of them, as Chris and Elanor talk about meeting, becoming part of Steve Earle’s band and maintaining an identity as an Americana duo. Their new project is No Time For Love Songs.

The Breakdown – ‘O Brother, Where Art Thou?’

Posted on by Chris Jacobs

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This week, hosts Patrick M’Gonigle and Emma John dissect the bluegrass-centered soundtrack to the Coen Brothers’ film, O Brother, Where Art Thou?, with a little help from their friends Chris Thomas King and Dan Tyminski.

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O Brother, Where Art Thou? was the movie that brought bluegrass to a new generation, and sent dozens of musical careers into the stratosphere. Fake beards not required.

Season 2 of The Breakdown is sponsored by The Soundtrack of America: Made In Tennessee. Visit TNvacation.com to start planning your trip.

The Breakdown – ‘The High, Lonesome Sound of Bill Monroe’

Posted on by Chris Jacobs

It’s high, it’s lonesome – it’s The High, Lonesome Sound of Bill Monroe.

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Unpacking Bill Monroe’s bluegrass legacy through this 1966 compilation of Decca recordings is no small task – so Patrick and Emma have enlisted some high-profile help, including the legendary Sonny Osborne (a 14-year-old debutant on this album) and the wonderfully insightful Laurie Lewis.

Season 2 of The Breakdown is sponsored by The Soundtrack of America: Made In Tennessee. Visit TNvacation.com to start planning your trip.

The String – Music City Postcard: Asheville, NC

Posted on by Chris Jacobs

Episode 121 of The String is a field trip to Asheville, NC, which Rolling Stone last year touted as one of the best music scenes in the country.


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Those of us who visit Western North Carolina regularly already knew that fact, and this week’s show surveys the talent and the institutions making the region important in roots music and beyond. Features: Amanda Anne Platt of the Honeycutters, Echo Mountain Studio, WNCW radio, Crossroads Music, Sarah Siskind, Morgan Geer and more.

Photo credit: @CarShowShooter on Foter.com / CC BY-NC-SA

Del McCoury – Toy Heart: A Podcast About Bluegrass

Posted on by Chris Jacobs

In an interview backstage at the Grand Ole Opry host Tom Power talks to Bluegrass Hall of Famer and Grammy award-winner Del McCoury about how he started playing banjo, his (interesting) time in the military, joining Bill Monroe’s band, being replaced by Bill Keith, starting over, playing music with his sons, and how he found his way to becoming a legend of bluegrass music — and to some, defining the whole thing.


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Subscribe to TOY HEART: A Podcast About Bluegrass wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes drop every other Thursday through May.

 

The Breakdown – Alison Krauss & Union Station, ‘So Long, So Wrong’

Posted on by Chris Jacobs

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Episode 3 of The Breakdown’s second season explores Alison Krauss & Union Station’s 1997 album So Long, So Wrong.

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It was the album that nearly broke them – but instead, it made them. If you weren’t in love with Alison Krauss and Union Station by the end of their third album, So Long, So Wrong, you needed to check your pulse. Patrick and Emma find out the stressful story behind the second best creation of the ’90s (after Pop Tarts, of course).

Season 2 of The Breakdown is sponsored by The Soundtrack of America: Made In Tennessee. Visit TNvacation.com to start planning your trip.

The Breakdown – Jim & Jesse, ‘The Jim & Jesse Show’

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Season 2 of The Breakdown continues with an in-depth exploration of Jim & Jesse McReynolds’ 1975 live album, The Jim & Jesse Show.

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Bluegrass and Japan are like peanut butter & jelly – it might not seem the most obvious match up, but boy, does it work. Patrick and Emma talk to Jesse McReynolds, one of the oldest living Opry members, about Jim and Jesse’s 1972 trip to Tokyo – and the awesome live album it resulted in.

Season 2 of The Breakdown is sponsored by The Soundtrack of America: Made In Tennessee. Visit TNvacation.com to start planning your trip.

The String – Hawktail

Posted on by Chris Jacobs

Four virtuoso string band musicians well known for their work with other bands are taking instrumental acoustic music to new heights in the band Hawktail.

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They are fiddler Brittany Haas, bassist Paul Kowert, guitarist Jordan Tice and mandolinist Dominick Leslie. And they recently landed on the Grand Ole Opry on release weekend of their second album Formations. Also, the delightful and clever throwback country duo of Noel McKay and Brennan Leigh. They’ve moved from Austin to Nashville and put out a masterful album of timeless songwriting.

The Breakdown – Dolly Parton, ‘The Grass Is Blue’

Posted on by Chris Jacobs

Season 2 of The Breakdown has arrived! Fiddler Patrick M’Gonigle and music journalist Emma John uncover bluegrass music one iconic record at a time, premiering with an in-depth exploration of Dolly Parton’s Grammy and IBMA award-winning album, The Grass Is Blue.

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In the heart of the Smoky Mountains, Emma gets to interview Dolly herself, who explains that bluegrass is so important to her that she risked it all to release her groundbreaking 1999 record. Of course, we’re glad that she did – who else knew that Billy Joel would go great with banjo?

Season 2 of The Breakdown is sponsored by The Soundtrack of America: Made In Tennessee. Visit TNvacation.com to start planning your trip.

The Shift List – Arthurs Nosh Bar – Montreal

Posted on by Chris Jacobs

This week on The Shift List, our first of three episodes from the great and wintry city of Montreal with Arthurs Nosh Bar, a cozy breakfast and lunch spot serving Jewish classics, including menu standouts like crispy schnitzel served on thick-cut challah or a latke smorgasbord featuring organic gravlax, fluffy scrambled eggs, and caviar.

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Opened in 2016, Arthurs has garnered praise from Bon Appetit, Goop, and Canada’s Globe and Mail, and it all started with owners Raegan Steinberg and her husband, Alex Cohen.

The pair sat down with The Shift List amidst the hustle of Arthurs staff wrapping up service in the middle of a Tuesday afternoon to talk about everything from the playlist they prepared for the birth of their daughter Freia to the personal and professional journey that led them to open Arthurs Nosh Bar.