Tag: BGS Podcast Network

The Show On The Road – Gaby Moreno

Posted on by Chris Jacobs

This week, a folk-pop shapeshifter who effervescently sings in four languages and has rocked stages on four continents, Gaby Moreno.

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Born María Gabriela Moreno Bonilla in Guatemala City, she knew she wanted more as a teenager and journeyed to the USA with that big voice and an even bigger dream. She has since lived several lives inside the dark heart of the LA music business, getting signed to Warner Brothers at 18 and then dropped and signed by Epic Records, only to be dropped again by age 20.

Why didn’t she give up and go home? Because the dream was a bit bigger than that. Over the last decade and a half, Gaby has put out a series of sonically adventurous and politically fearless English and Spanish language albums that have created an international fanbase which takes her around the world each year. Hopscotching from early jazz to introspective folk to Dap-King-assisted soul, Gaby has been filling concert halls from Berlin to Sydney, winning her a Latin Grammy in the process, setting up a dream collaboration on a new album with Van Dyke Parks, and getting her weekly appearances on NPR’s Live From Here as Chris Thile’s secret weapon. She even helped write the theme song to the beloved NBC sitcom Parks and Recreation!

While she may be multi-talented, she is also among the kindest, sweetest souls to be featured on The Show On The Road. Make sure you stick around for a new song she plays at the end and a short story she wrote on the spot about UFO’s and time travel.

The Show On The Road – Rayland Baxter

Posted on by Chris Jacobs

This week on the show, Z. meets up with songwriter and rock ‘n’ roller Rayland Baxter on the road in Las Vegas.


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Beyond Rayland Baxter’s mellow, easy going demeanor lies a deeply perceptive and sharp-as-a-knife craftsman who takes his songwriting deadly serious. His newest record, Wide Awake, deepens his focus and finds him questioning the very existence of the American dream being bought and sold all around us. 

The Show On The Road – Rachel Baiman

Posted on by Chris Jacobs

Fiddler and banjo picker Rachel Baiman calls her mom on this week’s episode of The Show On The Road with Z. Lupetin.

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A Chicago native, Rachel became an Illinois state fiddling champion as a teenager and later went on to form 10 String Symphony with fellow fiddler Christian Sedelmyer.

Z talks with her about the gift and sacrifice of making music your life, and how her organization Folk Fights Back has given her and her fellow Nashville songwriters a way to directly challenge the policies of the current Presidential administration.

The String – The Managers Episode

Posted on by Chris Jacobs

In this special hour, a roundtable talk with two outstanding artist managers from the world of roots and Americana music.

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Denise Stiff went from college event booking to working for agencies and through that world took on management – first of Irish singer Maura O’Connell and then Alison Krauss, Gillian Welch, and Sarah Jarosz – among others. It’s a kind of defining list of magnificent talent to emerge from bluegrass and roots. Michelle Concesion came from advertising, but eventually her love of music drew her to helping artists and it seemed destiny that she’d take them on as clients and start her own firm, Nashville-based Market Monkeys. She has worked with the multi-dimensional songwriter Susan Werner and Canadian folk star Rose Cousins. Her current roster includes prog-bluegrass band Della Mae, NC songwriter Sarah Siskind, and English folk singer John Smith.

The String – Seth Walker and Steve Conn

Posted on by Chris Jacobs

Two gentlemen of Americana who share a soulful feel and a chill vibe while writing songs that cut to the bone.

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Seth Walker talks about his years in Austin, New Orleans and Nashville and some of the new approaches to recording that made his new album Are You Open so special. Louisiana native Steve Conn shares his story as a keyboardist, accordion player and songwriter, culminating in the candid, funky and wonderful Flesh And Bone, out now.

The Show On The Road – Bobby Rush

Posted on by Chris Jacobs

At 85 years old, Bobby Rush has been playing his brand of lovably raunchy, acoustically crunchy, and soulfully rowdy blues for over six decades.

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Starting from his days as part of the Southern migration from his hometown of Homer, Louisiana, to the South Side of Chicago — where he used to have Muddy Waters himself sub for him when he couldn’t do a gig — Bobby Rush, who won his first Grammy at the humble age of 83, has no plans of slowing down.

The String – Michael Cleveland and Nefesh Mountain

Posted on by Chris Jacobs

Michael Cleveland is the record-setting, 11-time winner of the IBMA Fiddle Player of the Year award. He’s a traditionally grounded player who’s reaching into new terrain as a 38-year-old phenomenon.

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He’s also been blind since birth and he’s overcome a lot, a story told in the new documentary Flamekeeper. Rounding out the hour, the married duo bandleaders Eric and Doni of Nefesh Mountain, a New York-based band that boldly and brilliantly fuses bluegrass and Jewish music. They sing in Hebrew and English. The melodies are beguiling and ancient-feeling. The musicianship is excellent. They talk about their four-year adventure together as the first band of their kind.

The String – Yola

Posted on by Chris Jacobs

The British singer songwriter known as Yola made her first significant stateside impression at the 2016 AmericanaFest in Nashville. She returned the following year and won the Artist of the Year honor at the AMA’s UK counterpart awards.

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Her charisma, her intelligent update of country soul and her astonishing voice made her an instant favorite of music fans and critics. Soon offers to record began flowing in, but the one that seemed to have the greatest potential for reaching a new level was Dan Auerbach and his Easy Eye studio and label in Nashville. The resulting debut LP Walk Through Fire is an exquisite album with classic textures and an unmistakable esthetic. We first spoke with Yola as part of a round-up review of AmericanaFest 2017, so with this in-depth conversation, she becomes the first-ever repeat visitor to The String! Also this hour, a talk with Erika Wollam Nichols, general manager of The Bluebird Cafe and instigator of a new documentary about the famous venue that premieres this week at SXSW.

The String – Colin Linden

Posted on by Chris Jacobs

Colin Linden – guitarist, singer, songwriter and producer – is one of Nashville’s most interesting musicians. You may have seen him in the Americana Awards house band, or as a key live musician on the TV series Nashville or in the dynamic Canadian country rock band Blackie and the Rodeo Kings.

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He wasn’t born into the blues but he sure found the music early and made it his own, through a very early meeting with Howlin Wolf and a pilgrimage through the Deep South in his teens. He’s also been a long-time band leader and producer for Bruce Cockburn. We talk about all that, as well as the project he’s just completed with fellow blues musician Luther Dickinson and others, a suite of vintage love songs called Amour. Plus, a visit with the new owner and proprietor of a revived historic studio in Nashville, the former home of Cowboy Jack Clement.

The Show On The Road – Celeigh Cardinal

Posted on by Chris Jacobs

This week host Z. Lupetin speaks with the high priestess of Canadiana soul, Celeigh Cardinal.

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Growing up without having much connection to her Indigenous heritage, Celeigh recently reconnected to the vibrant native community in Edmonton and has become a role model for young singers who may never have had the courage to make a name for themselves in Canada’s rich festival and concert circuits. In 2018 she was named the Indigenous Artist of the Year in Western Canada, and she just became the first Indigenous DJ to get her own show on CKUA radio, which reaches far across the Canadian prairies.