Tag: Craig Havighurst

The String – Amy Speace plus Marty Stuart

Posted on by Chris Jacobs

Songwriter Amy Speace was entirely absorbed in theater, studying to be a Shakespearian actress in NYC. Then some fates and muses intervened and she began leaning into folk music.

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Before long she was recruited and mentored by the great Judy Collins, cultivating a voice that stands out even in the crowded songwriter scene of today. Now in Nashville, her story took another turn recently when she had her first child, a son, at age 50. Her complex observations about the world and herself pour out of the speakers on her newest, Me And The Ghost of Charlemagne. Also, a short phoner with Marty Stuart teasing the new mega-documentary Country Music by Ken Burns.

The String – Molly Tuttle and Episode 100 Highlights

Posted on by Chris Jacobs

The String turns 100 Episodes old with a focus on Molly Tuttle, one of the most celebrated and dynamic young artists in Americana music, a singer/songwriter who has negotiated the bridge from bluegrass to mainstream popular music with amazing grace.


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Molly Tuttle is a two-time IBMA Guitar Player of the Year as well as a winner of prizes at Folk Alliance and Americana. But more significantly, her debut album When You’re Ready has launched her to appearances at the Grand Ole Opry, Telluride Bluegrass Festival and many other marquee stages. Also in the hour, we listen back to a few highlight moments from three years of The String, including Bela Fleck and Abigail Washburn, Bobby Rush, Gretchen Peters and The Secret Sisters.

The String – Charley Crockett

Posted on by Chris Jacobs

Charley Crockett has a story that’s difficult to imagine playing out in the 21st century – he’s hoboed around the country, lost loved ones, scuffled with the law, played on the streets for a decade.


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And recently he endured open-heart surgery. At 35, he’s lived several of our lifetimes. And the thing is, he’s poured it all into his remarkable country blues, and he’s finally getting the renown he deserves. It’s what roots music is all about. Get ready for his September 20th release of The Valley with this conversation, which took place backstage, hours before his Grand Ole Opry debut in the WSM Room. Also in the hour, Nashville’s Lillie Mae is back on the program to discuss making her second album for Third Man Records at Studio A with super-producer Dave Cobb. It’s part of a longer conversation that will be posted soon by our friends at WMOT.org.

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.


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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.


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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 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 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 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 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 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.