Tag: bluegrass

WATCH: Yonder Mountain String Band, “Into the Fire”

Posted on by Editor

Artist: Yonder Mountain String Band
Hometown: Nederland, Colorado
Song: “The Fire”
Album: Get Yourself Outside
Release Date: February 25, 2022
Label: Frog Pad Records

In Their Words: “It started as do most of my ideas; a melody with only one specific lyric in mind. This song actually marked my very first collaborative effort as Adam, Ben, and Dave all weighed in on the lyrics as they took shape. I think if I have a favorite line it would be, ‘I’m a boy with a song, it’s barely a sound.’ I love this song’s energy on stage. The audience’s response makes me think that it comes across the way I had hoped!” –Nick Piccininni, Yonder Mountain String Band

Photo Credit: Jake Cudek

LISTEN: Breaking Grass, “Money Can’t Buy You”

Posted on by Editor

Artist: Breaking Grass
Hometown: Boonville, Mississippi
Song: “Money Can’t Buy You”
Album: Somewhere Beyond
Release Date: February 22, 2022
Label: Mountain Fever Records

In Their Words: “Your first kiss… those special times spent at Grandma’s… seeing your father coming up from the baptism waters… ‘Money Can’t Buy You’ is all about the things in life you can’t put a price tag on. It’s one you’ll want to sing along to and reminds you that the best things in life can’t be ordered online. We recorded this with our friends at Mountain Fever Records in Willis, Virginia. We’re proud of it and hope you’ll add it to your collection.” — Cody Farrar, Breaking Grass

Mountain Fever Music Group · Money Can’t Buy You

Photo Credit: Amanda Holt Photography

LISTEN: Mike Compton, “Orange Blossom Breakdown” (Bill Monroe Tribute)

Posted on by Editor

Artist: Mike Compton
Hometown: Meridian, Mississippi (same as Jimmie Rodgers)
Song: “Orange Blossom Breakdown”
Album: Rare & Fine: Uncommon Tunes of Bill Monroe
Release Date: March 5, 2022
Label: Taterbug Records

In Their Words: “In the late ’70s I was living in Nashville and really began to build up a collection of obscure Bill Monroe music. I had a bunch of cassette tapes full of tunes shared from like-minded enthusiasts I met on the music scene. By the time the internet came around in the 1990s, it was staggering the amount of Monroe music that was out there: rehearsal tapes, festival performances, jam sessions. My Monroe source material had accelerated into an incredible collection. After he passed in 1996, I knew I needed to put out this project at some point. ‘Orange Blossom Breakdown’ came from a tape an old friend from New England sent me. It sounded like a home recording off the radio. It was Bill Monroe on the Opry in the 1940s. The quality is poor. The signal is cutting in and out. I was drawn to it because I had never heard it before. I don’t think hardly anyone has. It’s a very unusual arrangement for Monroe, and I’ve never heard him do anything quite like it. I had to listen to it a few times to piece together the song because the recording was just fits and starts, but it was enough where I could get it. Never heard it again anywhere since.” — Mike Compton

Photo Credit: John Partipilo

BGS 5+5: The Pine Hearts

Posted on by Editor

Artist: The Pine Hearts
Hometown: Olympia, Washington
Latest Album: Lost Love Songs
Personal nicknames (or rejected band names): Bruce Springsteen of Bluegrass

Answers from Joey Capoccia

Which artist has influenced you the most, and how?

This is a tough one because about every six months I find someone new that I dive headfirst into. I love that feeling of discovering someone new and having their music brighten your day. Seeing them immediately influence your songwriting… it’s the best! Sometimes you are so inspired by a new song you hear, you start to learn it, and it winds up sending you down a path to write your own song. Possibly one of the best parts of music is how one song leads to another.

But, if I had to choose… I’d say Stuart Murdoch from Belle and Sebastian. That’s the biggest shift I’ve ever felt musically/songwriting. I can remember going through my friends’ music collections, absolutely devouring every bit of them I could find. It’s basically a marker in my life… pre- and post-Belle and Sebastian. At the height of my love for them, they came to The Capital Theater in Olympia. It was one of those magical moments where the band you’re in love with is suddenly playing in your town… I’ll never forget it!

What’s your favorite memory from being on stage?

This was fairly recently actually. September 2021 at Treefort Music Festival in Boise. The whole summer was pretty good, we had a bunch of really fun shows, with great audiences and hosts, but at Treefort, we had a full house of folks who really seemed into the whole vibe, and the entire environment of the festival was great! It was our last show in a string of gigs, which means we were warmed up, playing tight, and grooving off each other. That, mixed with the crowd, was a perfect combo! Plus we got to watch a bunch of our friends play, make new connections, and also just enjoy the city. My brother who is an architect out of Portland has a building project going on around the corner from where we played, so I got to check that out as well. Really great stuff!

What other art forms inform your music?

When I’m not playing music, I’m usually doing carpentry. I absolutely love working with wood. It’s not a perfect product. It has imperfections and abnormalities, and you have to learn to accept those. If the board is gonna crack, or splinter when you pound a nail through it, the best you can do is be prepared for that, and mitigate it the best you can. Maybe that prepares you for the flat tire you get on the way to the gig that you’re already late for?

Carpentry also helps when you don’t have the money for a setup job on your upright bass. I’ve definitely sanded down the fingerboard in my kitchen with decent results. Or glued the top of my guitar back together after it cracked from high altitude in a dry Montana winter. Another element of carpentry, when it comes to songwriting, are the people you meet on a job site… plumbers, electricians, equipment operators. Great working folks. People that I really identify with. To say it’s important to have connections like that in my life is an understatement. It’s the reason music/art exists…labor by day, art in the evening.

What rituals do you have, either in the studio, or before a show?

Rituals are very important to me, maybe most important. For instance, especially in songwriting, I can dabble here and there, and slowly turn out songs. But if I really want to get things done and finish up a batch of tunes, then I need to set times and days, and keep it consistent. 2 p.m. That’s what works for me. If I spend a few hours starting at 2 p.m. every day, by the fifth day the songs will be flowing.

Before a show, I usually go on a walk. There’s a lot of down time between arriving and playing. I find a casual stroll through the neighborhood is incredibly relaxing and keeps me from having too many beers before downbeat. For this last recording, I made running in the morning my ritual. I do often run, but not in the morning. We were in the tiny town of Enterprise, Oregon, so every morning, I’d wake up and run past farming equipment… down dirt roads… it wasn’t bad once I got going. But usually the last thing I want to do upon getting out of bed is start running down the road.

Since food and music go so well together, what is your dream pairing of a meal and a musician?

Well, my favorite food is pizza, so maybe Bruce and I will get a slice someday? It’s a great question though, because I find that one of the hardest parts about touring is finding the food you need that works for you. It’s basically disappointing gas station food most of the time. So when you play a venue that cares about food, and is excited about the music, amazing things happen! The Pine Hearts are all about good food. If we have a place for a night on tour, you know we’ll be cooking up a storm. Each of us has our own specialty, but we tend to combine it for some amazing dinners!

Photo credit: Jemual Gardner

LISTEN: Benson, “Conway”

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Artist: Benson (Kristin Scott Benson and Wayne Benson)
Hometown: Boiling Springs, South Carolina
Song: “Conway”
Release Date: February 18, 2022
Label: Mountain Home Music Company

In Their Words: Kristin: After 20 plus years of marriage, we’re finally getting around to recording some music together.

Wayne: Yep. I’ve played on Kristin’s solo projects and we’ve both played as session players on a lot of the same projects for other artists, but this is the first collaboration between us.

Kristin: One thing I love about doing this is that we get to record some of Wayne’s instrumentals. On my banjo records, I only recorded tunes I wrote that featured banjo, but I always hear what he’s writing and wish they were mine. (laughs)

Wayne: This is exciting for me because none of my original instrumental music has been recorded in a long while. I had the Instrumental Anthology album that was all-original and was largely compiled from the Bluegrass ’90s series. We added a few to make an entire record. I’ve recorded a few originals with Russell (of Russell Moore & IIIrd Tyme Out), but I’ve had a lot of songs just sitting there.

Kristin: And “Conway” is one of those! I like the groove on this one and I think that’s why the folks at Mountain Home liked it. It’s got a simple melody that anybody can hum, but then on the B part, it really grooves with electric bass.

Wayne: That’s mainly why I demoed it. I’m a closet electric bass player and it was a chance for me to have fun doing that. Paul Watson really did a great job and Tony Creasman added some nice, tasteful percussion.

Crossroads Label Group · Conway – Benson

Photo Credit: Sandlin Gaither

Carolina Calling, Shelby: Local Legends Breathe New Life Into Small Town

Posted on by Shelby Williamson

The image of bluegrass is mountain music played and heard at high altitudes and towns like Deep Gap and remote mountain hollers across the Appalachians. But the earliest form of the music originated at lower elevations, in textile towns across the North Carolina Piedmont. As far back as the 1920s, old-time string bands like Charlie Poole’s North Carolina Ramblers were playing an early form of the music in textile towns, like Gastonia, Spray, and Shelby – in Cleveland County west of Charlotte.

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In this second episode of Carolina Calling, a podcast exploring the history of North Carolina through its music and the musicians who made it, we visit the small town of Shelby: a seemingly quiet place, like most small Southern towns one might pass by in their travels. Until you see the signs for the likes of the Don Gibson Theatre and the Earl Scruggs Center, you wouldn’t guess that it was the town that raised two of the most influential musicians and songwriters in bluegrass and country music: Earl Scruggs, one of the most important musicians in the birth of bluegrass, whose banjo playing was so innovative that it still bears his name, “Scruggs style,” and Don Gibson, one of the greatest songwriters in the pop & country pantheon, who wrote “I Can’t Stop Loving You,” “Sweet Dreams,” and other songs you know by heart. For both Don Gibson and Earl Scruggs, Shelby is where it all began.

Subscribe to Carolina Calling on any and all podcast platforms to follow along as we journey across the Old North State, visiting towns like Greensboro, Durham, Wilmington, Asheville, and more.

Music featured in this episode:

Charlie Poole & The North Carolina Ramblers – “Take a Drink On Me”
Flatt & Scruggs – “Ground Speed”
Don Gibson – “I Can’t Stop Loving You”
Andrew Marlin – “Erie Fiddler” (Carolina Calling Theme)
Hedy West – “Cotton Mill Girl”
Blind Boy Fuller – “Rag Mama, Rag”
Don Gibson – “Sea Of Heartbreak”
Patsy Cline – “Sweet Dreams ”
Ray Charles – “I Can’t Stop Loving You”
Ronnie Milsap – “(I’d Be) A Legend In My Time”
Elvis Presley – “Crying In The Chapel”
Hank Snow – “Oh Lonesome Me”
Don Gibson – “Sweet Dreams”
Don Gibson – “Oh Lonesome Me”
Chet Atkins – “Oh Lonesome Me”
Johnny Cash – “Oh, Lonesome Me”
The Everly Brothers – “Oh Lonesome Me”
Neil Young – “Oh Lonesome Me”
Flatt & Scruggs – “Foggy Mountain Breakdown”
Bill Preston – “Holy, Holy, Holy”
Flat & Scruggs – “We’ll Meet Again Sweetheart”
Snuffy Jenkins – “Careless Love”
Bill Monroe – “Uncle Pen”
Bill Monroe – “It’s Mighty Dark To Travel”
The Earl Scruggs Revue – “I Shall Be Released”
The Band – “I Shall Be Released”
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band – “Will The Circle Be Unbroken”
The Country Gentlemen – “Fox On The Run”
Sonny Terry – “Whoopin’ The Blues”
Sonny Terry & Brownie McGee – “Born With The Blues (Live)”
Nina Simone – “I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free”

BGS is proud to produce Carolina Calling in partnership with Come Hear NC, a campaign from the North Carolina Department of Natural & Cultural Resources designed to celebrate North Carolinians’ contribution to the canon of American music.

BGS 5+5: Kristy Cox

Posted on by Editor

Artist: Kristy Cox
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee, by way of Mount Barker, South Australia
Latest album: Shades of Blue
Personal nicknames: Nil

Which artist has influenced you the most … and how?

This would have to be one of the hardest questions to answer. I grew up listening to a HUGE range of music styles. My parents are big ’70s rock fans, and my pop listened to old time Australian country music and bluegrass. I feel I have been influenced in a different way from all of the artists that shaped my childhood, from Meatloaf and Queen to Slim Dusty and Merle Haggard; they each have given me something. I would say my idol is Emmylou Harris. I love her rawness, her songs and her voice. She is fantastic!

What was the first moment that you knew you wanted to be a musician?

I was around 4 years old when I first told my mum and dad that I was going to be a singer when I grew up. From an even younger age there are photos of me playing the guitar. I think I always knew that it was what I wanted to do. I first performed on stage at the age of 11, and was completely hooked from that moment on. I have a law degree and studied to ensure I had a “backup plan” but I have never wanted to do anything else.

What’s the toughest time you ever had writing a song?

I am currently halfway through writing a song for my children, Adelaide and Ryman. I have been halfway through for two years now and just cannot think of enough words to describe what they mean to me, or how their little fingerprints will forever be on my heart. I think as a songwriter it is hard sometimes to find the words you want to say, no matter how hard you look. One day I know it will come to me and I will be able to finish it as a gift to them.

What has been the best advice you’ve received in your career so far?

I was extremely lucky to meet my idol Emmylou Harris at the IBMA convention in 2013. It was my first trip to the United States, and I was able to go backstage and meet her. At the time I thought I had to perform country pop music, as that was what all the girls my age were doing, even though I was not the biggest fan of it. Emmylou told me that if she could give me one piece of advice, it would be to play music that I enjoy, and if I ever stop enjoying it … that is the moment to stop. I left that day and decided to start recording bluegrass music, because bluegrass made me happy! I am so glad I listened to her. I am not sure I would still be going if it was not for that advice.

Which elements of nature do you spend the most time with and how do those impact your work?

I need sunshine and the beach in my life. Being an Australian and living landlocked in Tennessee has made me realize this. There is something about the sound of the ocean, I do not even have to get in, that settles me. I have begun to notice that if I do not get enough sunshine and don’t do at least four trips to an ocean each year, I become almost depressed and distracted. These elements ground me and help me concentrate on my goals and inspire me to do more.

Photo Credit: Katrina Burgoyne

LISTEN: Cedar Hill, “Smilin'”

Posted on by Editor

Artist: Cedar Hill
Hometown: Dexter, Missouri
Song: “Smilin’”
Album: New Chapter
Release Date: February 8, 2022
Label: Mountain Fever Records

In Their Words: “The first time I heard ‘Smilin’,’ I knew I wanted to record it. In fact, I thought it needed to be recorded because the message needed to be heard. Songs, especially in the bluegrass genre, quite often carry life lessons and or meaningful messages. Often a simple sincere gesture can be more effective than many words to change a person’s outlook or perspective. I can think of no better time to put the message this song delivers into practice. There are many times when a sincere smile is just what the doctor ordered. Or as the song says, just what the ‘Preacher’ ordered.” — Frank Ray, Cedar Hill

Mountain Fever Music Group · Smilin’

Photo Credit: Kady Carter

LISTEN: Lonesome River Band, “Mary Ann Is a Pistol”

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Artist: Lonesome River Band
Hometown: Floyd, Virginia
Song: “Mary Ann Is a Pistol”
Release Date: February 4, 2022
Label: Mountain Home Music Company

In Their Words: “The LRB has been doing the Jimmy Martin classic, ‘Mary Ann,’ since around 1985. And it’s been a mainstay in our live shows ever since. Last year, I was digging through a bunch of cassettes I had from the ’80s and ’90s — I still love the sound of them — and ran across one of my favorite records ever by Brother Phelps (check them out if you haven’t heard these albums) recorded in 1995. They did a rocking version of this Dennis Linde song, and the more I listened to it, the more it became a bluegrass song in my head and a perfect song to follow the Jimmy Martin ‘Mary Ann.’ We hope you enjoy our version of ‘Mary Ann Is a Pistol!’” — Sammy Shelor, Lonesome River Band

Crossroads Label Group · Mary Ann Is A Pistol – Lonesome River Band

Photo credit: Courtesy of Lonesome River Band

Carolina Calling, Asheville: A Retreat for the Creative Spirit

Posted on by Shelby Williamson

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Asheville, North Carolina’s history as a music center goes back to the 1920s and string-band troubadours like Lesley Riddle and Bascom Lamar Lunsford, and country-music pioneer Jimmie Rodgers. But there’s always been a lot more to this town than acoustic music and scenic mountain views. From the experimental Black Mountain College that drew a range of minds as diverse as German artist Josef Albers, composer John Cage, and Albert Einstein, Asheville was also the spiritual home for electronic-music pioneer Bob Moog, who invented the Moog synthesizer first popularized by experimental bands like Kraftwerk to giant disco hits like Donna Summer’s “I Feel Love.”

It’s also a town where busking culture ensures that music flows from every street corner, and it’s the adopted hometown of many modern musicians in a multitude of genres, including Pokey LaFarge, who spent his early career busking in Asheville, and Moses Sumney, a musician who’s sonic palette is so broad, it’s all but unclassifiable.

In this premiere episode of Carolina Calling, we wonder and explore what elements of this place of creative retreat have drawn individualist artists for over a century? Perhaps it’s the fact that whatever your style, Asheville is a place that allows creativity to grow and thrive.

Subscribe to Carolina Calling on any and all podcast platforms to follow along as we journey across the Old North State, visiting towns like Shelby, Greensboro, Durham, Wilmington, and more.

Music featured in this episode:

Bascom Lamar Lunsford – “Dry Bones”

Jimmie Rodgers – “My Carolina Sunshine Girl”

Kraftwerk – “Autobahn”

Donna Summer – “I Feel Love”

Pokey LaFarge – “End Of My Rope”

Moses Sumney – “Virile”

Andrew Marlin – “Erie Fiddler (Carolina Calling Theme)”

Moses Sumney – “Me In 20 Years”

Steep Canyon Rangers – “Honey on My Tongue”

Béla Bartók – “Romanian Folk Dances”

New Order – “Blue Monday”

Quindar – “Twin-Pole Sunshade for Rusty Schweickart”

Pokey LaFarge – “Fine To Me”

Bobby Hicks Feat. Del McCoury – “We’re Steppin’ Out”

Squirrel Nut Zippers – “Put A Lid On It”

Jimmie Rodgers – “Daddy and Home”

Lesley Riddle – “John Henry”

Steep Canyon Rangers – “Graveyard Fields”

BGS is proud to produce Carolina Calling in partnership with Come Hear NC, a campaign from the North Carolina Department of Natural & Cultural Resources designed to celebrate North Carolinians’ contribution to the canon of American music.