Tag: BGS Podcast Network

The String – Chuck Mead

Posted on by Chris Jacobs

The decade-plus since the conclusion of his era-shifting band BR549 have been a case study in creative evolution for Chuck Mead.


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He’s still a stalwart of classic country music and an original songwriter, but he’s found new ways to express his expertise. Most significantly has been supervising the music for the Tony Award-winning musical The Million Dollar Quartet and the CMT series Sun Records. Those deep dives into Memphis music culture led to his most recent album Close To Home, which was made at Sam Phillips Recording. Also in the hour, the fresh new direction of songwriter/guitarist Courtney Hartman. Her life after string band Della Mae has been introspective and exploratory, culminating in a 500-mile pilgrimage in Spain and a solo debut album, Ready Reckoner.

The Show On The Road – Jamie Drake

Posted on by Chris Jacobs

This week, Jamie Drake: a Southern California-based singer/songwriter who transports listeners into a vibrant, technicolor world with her deeply vulnerable fingerpicked ballads and thorny, theatrical story songs.

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Have you ever wondered what would have happened if Carole King wrote epic musicals on the moon? Listening to LA’s magical songstress Jamie Drake will provide a clue as to what that would sound like. She writes songs with a certain old Hollywood glamour to them, and after a decade of helping other people write and sing, she got signed — and has an insanely lush record, Everything’s Fine, coming out in September.

Her new single, “Redwood Tree,” is out on Friday.

The String – Keb’ Mo’

Posted on by Chris Jacobs

Launching a career in the blues in the mid 1990s seems in retrospect a bit audacious and foolhardy, but when LA songwriter and studio musician Kevin Moore became Keb’ Mo’, his blend of reverence for tradition and his contemporary flair proved hugely successful.


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For 25 years he’s been a beacon of consistency, delivering strong songs that feel fresh and timeless. He’s followed up his Grammy winning 2017 duo with Taj Mahal with the album Oklahoma. And since that title track was co-written with Nashville’s eclectic and under-rated singer/songwriter Dara Tucker, we pulled her in to this episode as well. The hour represents two very different journeys that intersected in Music City.

The Show On The Road – Steve Earle

Posted on by Chris Jacobs

This week, Z. speaks with Steve Earle. The three-time Grammy Award-winning roots ‘n’ roll poet and revered performer has been releasing fearless, roguish records for nearly four decades, accidentally becoming one of the founding fathers of the thriving Americana movement along the way.

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Growing up a baseball-crazy son of an air traffic controller in San Antonio, Steve Earle has never quite checked any cliché box or stayed in any lane on the way to his almost mainstream success.

Host Z. Lupetin caught up with Steve on his tour bus before hitting the stage at ROMP Fest in Kentucky this past June. Steve has been on the road in support of his recent release, GUY — a tribute to one of his songwriting colleagues and heroes, the late Guy Clark, out now on New West Records.

The String – Caroline Spence plus Lee Roy Parnell

Posted on by Chris Jacobs

Caroline Spence moved to Nashville eight years ago fresh out of college with a “vague dream” of writing songs — probably, she thought, for other artists. But as her network and her confidence grew, it became clear she needed to be out front.

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Spence has released two solo indie albums and a duo project with Robby Hecht. She also won a Kerville New Folk award, capturing attention with her coursing country melodies and incisive observations. Now she’s been signed to Rounder Records, who’ve released her latest, Mint Condition. Also in the hour, a catch-up with Texas-reared, Nashville-based country bluesman Lee Roy Parnell.

The Show On The Road – Freddy & Francine

Posted on by Chris Jacobs

This week, host Z Lupetin’s conversation is with Freddy & Francine (aka Lee Ferris and Bianca Caruso), a deeply soulful duo who have been lifting up audiences around the world with their gather-round-one-mic harmonies and been-through-hell-and-back love songs.

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Z. talks about Lee singing on Broadway and snaking through the gauntlet of substance abuse and Bianca finding her voice after too many years of dead-end jobs and giving herself the permission to let her voice lead her as an artist.

The Show On The Road – Greg Holden

Posted on by Chris Jacobs

This week, our guest is Greg Holden — a Scottish-born singer-songwriter and pop hitmaker with a series of increasingly personal, poetically powerful, and politically charged albums.

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Greg Holden finds himself in an interesting spot. He’s a former major label artist who has taken himself off all social media and openly questions the need for the toxic digital society in which we’ve trapped ourselves. His songs “Boys in the Street” and “Hold on Tight” have been streamed nearly 26 million times. “Home,” the acoustic pop blockbuster he co-wrote for American Idol wunderkind Phillip Phillips, has been listened to more than 120 million times, but when you listen to these songs a little deeper, you discover a depth and introspection that is rarely found in mainstream pop music today.

The Show On The Road – Richard Thompson

Posted on by Chris Jacobs

This week, Z. Lupetin speaks with British-born folk-rock rebel and underground guitar icon, Richard Thompson.

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With his signature grimace, that seems to dare you to look at his album covers, his salty slam poet vocal delivery, his slashing fingerpicked guitar style, and imposing black beret — which makes him look more like a hardened revolutionary than a kindly grandpa who just turned 70 — Richard Thompson is a true icon of rock and folk music.

The String – Buddy and Julie Miller

Posted on by Chris Jacobs

They’ve each had distinguished careers as songwriters and musicians in American roots music, but together they’re especially sublime.

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Buddy and Julie Miller met in Austin in the 70s and pursued careers in New York and Los Angeles before moving to Nashville almost 30 years ago. Both of their prior duo albums were deemed best of the by the Americana Music Association. Now, following a remarkably busy period for Buddy, the two found their way back to working together, and the result is the new Breakdown On 20th Ave. South from New West Records. It will be one of the landmarks of 2019, and Craig sat down at the Millers’ home to talk about two magical, interwoven lives in music.

The Show On The Road – Peter Rowan

Posted on by Chris Jacobs

In this episode, host Z. Lupetin speaks with Peter Rowan, the affable elder-statesman of roots music, who was there at the crucible beginnings of bluegrass and has joyfully jaunted across a plethora of folk music styles over the course of his five decade-long career.

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These days, despite it getting harder for him to get around, he’s still on the road constantly, and you can see him at Telluride Bluegrass Festival, Red Wing Roots, Rockygrass, and wherever young folks and old folks are still gathering around whatever stew folk music is cooking these days. Stick around to the end of the episode to hear Peter set up outside in the sun with his Free Mexican Airforce Band to perform a sweet Tejano tune under the trees.