Tag: BGS Podcast Network

The String – Nick Lowe plus Dylan LeBlanc

Posted on by Chris Jacobs

In the 1970s Nick Lowe carved out a place on the thoughtful side of punk and pop in England, landing “Cruel To Be Kind” on the charts with his band Rockpile, but doing so much more besides.

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He produced Elvis Costello’s first five albums and wrote the anthem “(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding?” In the late 90s, he reinvented himself with a new focus on his mellifluous voice, starting a run of songwriting that’s up there with anybody’s. And it was all based in a passion for American roots, from Tin Pan Alley to country to rock and roll. Lowe has recently released another EP in a stretch of work with the band Los Straitjackets. Also this hour, the emotionally charged and luxurious roots pop of Dylan LeBlanc.

The Show On The Road – The War and Treaty

Posted on by Chris Jacobs

This week, Z. shares a conversation with The War and Treaty.

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In just a few short years, the rapidly rising folk-soul duo has gone from playing high school auditoriums to opening for Al Green at Radio City Music Hall, singing with Mumford & Sons in Nashville, and recording with Emmylou Harris. In the process, they have put together one of the hottest touring bands tearing through the US.

The String – Byron Berline and Andy Statman

Posted on by Chris Jacobs

This week’s show is split between two string instrument masters who have little in common save for a lifelong commitment to nurturing traditional music while allowing it to grow and adapt to the times.

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Byron Berline is an Oklahoma-based fiddler who’s a hero in bluegrass music, but who also led the way in the country-rock movement out of Los Angeles for 25 years. He recently had a setback when his famous and beloved Double Stop Fiddle Shop in Guthrie, OK burned down and with it a huge loss of valuable instruments. Also in the show, Andy Statman talks about how and why he mastered the bluegrass mandolin and the Klezmer clarinet. He’s released more than 30 exceptional albums, his latest being Monroe Bus, a tribute to Bill Monroe instrumentals that took on unexpected range and dimension.

The Show On The Road – Chris Shiflett

Posted on by Chris Jacobs

This week, Z. speaks with Chris Shiflett, a renegade guitar slinger who has spent 20 years prowling stages around the world with the Foo Fighters and has become a soulful songwriter in his own right.

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His new record, Hard Lessons, is coming out June 14, and he talked with Z. about the vulnerability of striking out on his own, the whiplash jump from rocking Madison Square Garden one night and a rowdy bar the next, and how growing up with three brothers in Santa Barbara helped him navigate becoming a dad to three young sons of his own.

For those about rock, we advise you listen to this man. He’s been to the mountaintop and has had to start over more than once, but most of all, he can write rock ‘n’ roll songs that make you roll the window down and sing at the top of your lungs.

The String – Ricky Skaggs

Posted on by Chris Jacobs

Only five artists or acts have been inducted into both the Country Music and Bluegrass Music halls of fame, and only one is actively touring and shaping the dialogue around roots music generally. And that’s 64-year-old Ricky Skaggs.

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As a fiddler, mandolinist, singer, and band leader he’s bridged the country/bluegrass divide more deftly than any artist alive, and he still does it with sets that split the difference as his band can shift gears on a dime. In a full-hour feature interview, Skaggs reflects on two key periods of his career – the 1970s when as a twentysomething he worked with epic bands like the Country Gentlemen, J.D. Crowe and the New South, and Boone Creek, which he started with a young Jerry Douglas. And we talk about the 2000s, when he turned his full attention back to bluegrass and quickly dominated the industry with awards and era-shaping records.

The Show On The Road – Hot Club Of Cowtown

Posted on by Chris Jacobs

Z. speaks to Hot Club Of Cowtown — the genre-defining Western swing trio that has quietly crafted over thirteen records, and has traveled a quarter of a century on the road together.

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On this episode, Z. was lucky enough to record two live performances from Hot Club Of Cowtown, and is there anything better than guitar, fiddle, and bass going full tilt around one mic? Both tunes are included, as well as an enlightening discussion about the scariest hotel room they’ve ever stayed in, playing together for over twenty years, and what it was like to tour with Willie Nelson and Bob Dylan…on the same tour.

The String – Dale Watson and John Smith

Posted on by Chris Jacobs

Honky tonk maestro Dale Watson grew up in Pasadena, TX, just on the Galveston Bay side of Houston. With a father and brother who played country music, he was playing professionally by his early teens. In 1988, alt-country pioneer Rosie Flores convinced him to move to Los Angeles, where he became integral to the scene at the Palomino Club. Then it was on to Austin, a debut album on Hightone Records and a long run of critical and popular acclaim as one of the proudest, silkiest voices carrying the torch for country music. Now he’s putting down new roots in Memphis TN. He’s the new owner of a legendary south Memphis road house called Hernando’s Hideaway, which he’ll reopen after renovations this summer. He’s taken his concept of Ameripolitan music to new heights with a growing Memphis festival and an awards show that just wrapped its sixth edition. And he made his new album there – his 32nd release. So there’s a lot to talk about.

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Also, getting to know English folk singer and master guitarist John Smith, whose new album Hummingbird blends a few originals with a collection of age-old English ballads.

The String – Will Kimbrough and Steve Earle

Posted on by Chris Jacobs

Will Kimbrough, 30-year veteran of Nashville TN is up to so many musical projects, it took a whole segment to cover them all. He’s in three bands and an acoustic duo. He writes with and for Jimmy Buffett. He’s been on the road over recent years with Rodney Crowell and Emmylou Harris, two of his heroes. He produces great records. And, lest we forget, he’s a dynamic performing songwriter and guitarist, steaming ahead with a busy year of touring and a new album, the grooving and highly thought provoking I Like It Down Here.

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Also in the hour, an excerpt from a recent catch up with the mighty Steve Earle, who’s just released his long awaited tribute to his late great friend Guy Clark. Full conversation is at WMOT.org.

The Show On The Road – Dom Flemons

Posted on by Chris Jacobs

This week on the show,  Z’s two-part conversation with Dom Flemons, the Grammy award-winning American songster who has made it his mission to reclaim and rejuvenate the lost acoustic music of the past and bring it whistling brightly into the future.

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Born in Phoenix, Arizona to parents of African American and Mexican heritage, the ever-curious young Dominique Flemons went from playing drums in his school band and busking on the streets of Flagstaff with his fingerpicked guitar and neck rack harmonica to taking a chance that would change his life completely. He scrounged enough money to make it to the Black Banjo gathering in North Carolina, where he would meet Rhiannon Giddens and Justin Robinson and begin a seven year run with their groundbreaking African American string band, The Carolina Chocolate Drops. They would go on win a Grammy for Best Traditional Folk Album, headline festivals and theaters around the world, open for Bob Dylan, play the Grand Ole Opry, and burst into the collective consciousness of young acoustic music hopefuls all around the world who were tired of the same stoic, hillbilly bluegrass and white-washed old-time songs played over and over around the festival campfire.

The String – Music City Postcard: Tulsa, OK

Posted on by Chris Jacobs

This special field trip edition of The String tours the exciting music scene in Tulsa with visits to Cain’s Ballroom, Russell’s Church Studio, currently under renovation, the Woody Guthrie Center, the Bob Dylan Archive and iconic honky tonk The Colony.

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Tulsa, OK has an important musical past but also a dynamic present built on the legacies and impact of Bob Wills, Leon Russell, J.J. Cale, Woody Guthrie and more. We meet locals who are championing the next wave of Tulsa music, including singer/songwriter and producer Jared Tyler. See WMOT.org for photos, a playlist and more resources.