Tag: Craig Havighurst

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 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.

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 String – Mindy Smith

Posted on by Chris Jacobs

Fifteen years ago, Mindy Smith rocketed from local sets in Nashville to the national stage in a matter of a few months on the strength of a duet on “Jolene” with Dolly Parton and the January 2004 release of her debut album One Moment More.

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She became the first winner of the Americana Music Association Emerging Artist award, and wide audiences embraced her empathic songs and translucent voice. The years since have seen periods of high profile touring and periods of quiet. She’s preparing to step back out and working on a new album. On the occasion of the 15th anniversary release of One Moment More on vinyl, we catch up about her life and path and a recent discovery.

The String – Bill Lloyd

Posted on by Chris Jacobs

This week, the long, diverse career of Nashville’s Bill Lloyd.

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From country hits as a writer and artist to collaborations with leading lights of rock and pop, Bill is a dynamo. And he’s got a fantastic new album out called Working The Long Game.   He met fellow writer Radney Foster and they shot to fame in 1987 as Foster & Lloyd, with a sound that swam upstream from the country radio mainstream. In more recent years, he’s led the band the Long Players, Nashville favorites that perform live cut-by-cut covers of full classic albums. He keeps up a steady run of solo albums that blend top-flight Nashville songcraft with the timeless sound of pop music.

The String – Ruthie Foster

Posted on by Chris Jacobs

If Americana values all American roots forms and the fusion thereof, then nobody’s more Americana than Austin singer/songwriter Ruthie Foster.

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She grew up singing in church in rural TX, developed a variety of skills in bands while serving in the US Navy, then became a folk troubadour who slips from country to soul to blues to gospel with ease. She has been one of if not the flagship artist for Austin’s excellent Blue Corn Music record label since 2002. She’s been featured on a guitar blues tour with Jorma Kaukonen and Robben Ford, and that’s just one fragment of a rich collaborative life. She’s won the Blues Foundation’s Koko Taylor award for best traditional blues female singer SIX times, and she’s nominated again this year. She’s also a charming person who radiates kindness.

The String – Missy Raines

Posted on by Chris Jacobs

Missy Raines grew up in rural west VA deeply immersed in bluegrass culture. And when she started playing professionally in her collegiate years, she went for it with no plan B but a life in the music she loved.

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Over a couple of decades as a side musician, she became a pioneer and a scene favorite, winning seven IBMA awards for her bass playing alone. In 2008, she made real a long-standing dream of starting her own band, which became a vehicle for her innovative fusion-minded composing and her mentorship of emerging young master musicians. In late 2018, Missy released her first album under her name alone, as it’s a songwriter’s project that adds to her musical world view.

The String – Rodney Crowell

Posted on by Chris Jacobs

The String launches a new year with a conversation with Rodney Crowell, one of the legit icons of Americana music.

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The Texas born, Nashville based songwriter was one of the artists around whom the format was created 20 years ago, and indeed he won the Americana Music Association’s lifetime achievement award for songwriting in 2006. He’s a valued collaborator, earning a Grammy Award for his recent work with his longtime friend and colleague Emmylou Harris. He became an acclaimed author with his memoir Chinaberry Sidewalks in 2011. Recently he’s released a first-ever Christmas album and a volume of stripped down “Acoustic Classics” from his extensive catalog. We cover a range of times and topics. Also in the hour, Maya de Vitry talks about her difficult but necessary departure from the beloved acoustic trio The Stray Birds. She’s set out on her own with the album Adaptations.