Tag: BGS Podcast Network

The Shift List – Chef Sheldon Simeon (Lineage Maui, Tin Roof) – Maui, Hawaii

Posted on by Chris Jacobs

Chef Sheldon Simeon is as passionate about music as he is about bringing Hawaiian food to a new generation. On the Season 2 premiere of The Shift List, Chef Sheldon revealed that if he could do anything other than be a chef, it would be a ukulele player.

LISTEN: APPLE PODCASTS • SPOTIFY • STITCHER • MP3

“My cooking’s heavily inspired by music, for sure,” Simeon said on the podcast. “Like a song, food can tell a story, and that’s what I’m trying to do. With my food, I’m just trying to tell the story of Hawai’i, on the level of Ka’au Crater Boys,” he adds, laughing. “The greatest (Hawaiian) band ever!”

Chef Sheldon Simeon’s Shift List:
Ka’au Crater Boys – “On Fire”
Ka’au Crater Boys – “Brown Eyed Girl”
Ka’au Crater Boys – “Are You Missing Me”
Ka’ikena Scanlan – “Smoke All Day”
Ka’ikena Scanlan – “Utu Bang Bang”
The Green – “Good One”
The Green – “All I Need”
Ledward Kaapana – “Radio Hula”
Cultura Profetica – “La Complicidad”
Three Plus – “Who the Cap Fit”

Content to jam on the ukulele with friends in his spare time, Sheldon came to prominence on the mainland when he competed in the 10th season of Top Chef: Seattle, making it to the finals, and winning Fan Favorite. He returned to the show again in 2017 for season 14 of Top Chef in Charleston, once again winning Fan Favorite.

In 2016, Sheldon opened his very first solo restaurant, Tin Roof, in Kahului, Maui, where he serves up local dishes in take-out bowls, and last summer he opened Lineage, a full-service concept for dinner that brings his interpretation of family-style dishes typical of a Hawaiian luau.

The Show On The Road – Smooth Hound Smith

Posted on by Chris Jacobs

This week Z. speaks with Smooth Hound Smith, the fiery folk-blues duo from East Nashville who’ve spread their infectious, honeyed harmonies and gritty, finger-picked, sonic essays all across the continent.


LISTEN: APPLE PODCASTS • MP3

Despite being two hilarious humans who got married and share nearly every waking moment together, Zack and Caitlin Smith have never stopped making each other laugh and have never stopped pushing their timeless songwriting to new heights.

With their fancy new record Dog in a Manger coming August 9, they shine a sharp light on the beautiful worn edges of our country.

The String – Odessa Settles

Posted on by Chris Jacobs

The lineage of Nashville’s Fairfield Four thrives and resonates in Odessa Settles, this week’s guest on The String.


LISTEN: APPLE PODCASTS

The daughter of singer Walter J. Settles (1928-1999), Odessa is an in-demand singer who values the full spectrum of sacred to secular music, especially the roots/Americana world where she’s amassed a long resume. She’s been a guest vocalist on projects by Darrell Scott, Kathy Mattea, Tim O’Brien and last year’s Rifles & Rosary Beads by Mary Gauthier. She works solo and in combination with her surviving brothers (she was the only girl of eight kids growing up) in the vocal group The Settles Connection. And she’s pulled all this off while maintaining an intense career as a nurse for premature babies at Vanderbilt Medical Center. Also in the hour, a visit with Trent Wagler and Jay Lapp, veterans of VA band The Steel Wheels, who’ve just released their seventh LP album.

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.


LISTEN: APPLE MUSIC

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.

LISTEN: APPLE PODCASTS • MP3

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.


LISTEN: APPLE PODCASTS

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.

LISTEN: APPLE PODCASTS • MP3


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.

LISTEN: APPLE PODCASTS

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.

LISTEN: APPLE PODCASTS • MP3

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.

LISTEN: APPLE PODCASTS • MP3

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.