Harmonics with Beth Behrs: Margo Price

It’s Americana April here on Harmonics, and this week brings a conversation with one of host Beth Behr’s all-time favorite artists — Americana or otherwise — Nashville’s very own Margo Price.

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This past year may have temporarily pulled Price off the never-ending road of touring, but that doesn’t mean the pace has slowed down; being a mother is a never-ending rush of another kind. She and Beth talk about this time spent at home, from spending time with her children and attempting to instill in them a respect for the earth and for others, to navigating the complexities of a songwriting relationship with her husband, singer-songwriter Jeremy Ivey.

Price also shares her feelings on becoming the first female artist on the board of Farm Aid (a full-circle, bittersweet moment after her family lost their farm when she was young,) the advice she’s gleaned from the greats like Willie Nelson and Emmylou Harris, working with longtime friend Sturgill Simpson as the producer on her latest album That’s How Rumors Get Started, and so much more.

Hear our first installment of Americana April with last week’s episode featuring Fiona Prine, and stay tuned next week for a conversation with singer-songwriter and poet Courtney Marie Andrews.


Listen and subscribe to Harmonics through all podcast platforms and follow Harmonics and Beth Behrs on Instagram for series updates!

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BGS 5+5: Amanda Cook

Artist: Amanda Cook
Hometown: Laurel Fork, Virginia; Originally from Jay, Florida
Album: Narrowing the Gap
Nickname: My band members call me Mander

Which artist has influenced you the most … and how?

My dad is the biggest influence on my bluegrass career. Watching my dad over the years play banjo and sing absolutely influenced my love for bluegrass music. The first lesson he gave me was to hand me all the volumes of the Bluegrass Album Band and said, “Sing tenor with every single track.” I love to see him play and sing, he just gives it all he’s got and that inspired me to do the same.

What’s your favorite memory from being on stage?

An incredible moment on stage for me was our first time at the Milan Bluegrass Festival, so far away from my hometown in Florida. When we kicked off “Caleb Meyer” and the crowd just cheered in response, what an incredible feeling. Those folks so far up north had heard my version of that song and that was the moment that I realized that my music had went a lot further than I knew. I’ll never forget that.

If you had to write a mission statement for your career, what would it be?

When I started my career I was trying to find my place in the music world and now that I’ve been at it for a while my mantra is “stay true to yourself.” I want to make good music and just make my own place in the genre. I strive to be original and unique like other artists I admire.

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

I would absolutely love to sit down and eat some fried chicken with Dolly Parton. She is just such an incredible artist and human being.

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

Before a show a Diet Coke is an absolute must and you will often find me looking for my bag of Fishermen’s Friend cough drops. You’ll always find me on stage with one. It’s a long-running joke the number of times I’ve almost spit my cough drop out when I’m really getting into a song.


Photo credit: Andrew Mingus

Harmonics with Beth Behrs: Carol Burnett

For the second episode of Season 2, we bring you a conversation between host Beth Behrs and legendary comedian, actor, singer, and entertainer Carol Burnett.

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Beth is still pinching herself after this interview with her hero: Carol Burnett has been the object of her idolization since childhood and is the ultimate reason Behrs is now a physical comedian. Not only has Burnett’s infectious comedic style influenced Behrs in every which way, but the two have both worked with CBS — for decades between them — and during the episode they bond over their shared experiences of working in front of a studio audience.

Burnett has had a long relationship with country music — the Carol Burnett Show featured country and roots artists and figures from Glen Campbell to Minnie Pearl. One episode included a parody of the CMA Awards: the Rural Music Awards, featuring Vicki Lawrence as one country singer, “Donna Cargo,” performing “S-P-L-I-T,” a gut-busting parody of Tammy Wynette’s “D-I-V-O-R-C-E.” Burnett even had a variety television special with the patron saint of Harmonics, Dolly Parton, filmed at the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville in 1979.

In this amazing episode, Burnett tells her story of how not-so-random chance and divine intervention helped pave the way for her dreams of musical comedy that would become a lifelong career — one that would lead her to become the first woman to host a televised sketch comedy show.

She reminisces on friends and mentors — one in particular being Julie Andrews — who supported her on her way through show business and discusses the experience of being a woman in a “man’s game.”


Listen and subscribe to Harmonics through all podcast platforms and follow Harmonics and Beth Behrs on Instagram for series updates!

Harmonics with Beth Behrs: Jewel

Welcome to Season 2 of Harmonics! On episode 1 of our new season, we’re kicking things off with the incredible, four-time Grammy-nominated folk singer-songwriter, Jewel.

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Jewel joins host Beth Behrs for an insightful conversation about her experience with mindfulness throughout her life as a response to anxiety. She presents multiple tangible skills she has developed along the way that hopefully anyone can easily apply to their own lives to expand their mindfulness.

Throughout her career, Jewel has brought these skills to struggling children as well, having been an avid advocate for mental health awareness and using her platform to lift others up. Her work through her own Jewel Never Broken program, in conjunction with the Inspiring Children Foundation, has supported so many children with mental health support resources, mentoring, education, and equipping kids with important life skills and tools to earn college scholarships, becoming forces for good in the world.

Jewel’s honesty regarding her own struggles, and how it informs her creativity, her art, and her life, is incredibly inspiring.

In case we haven’t yet convinced you of the wealth of knowledge and wisdom present in this episode — Jewel also gives Beth a personal lesson on how to yodel!!


Listen and subscribe to Harmonics through all podcast platforms and follow Harmonics and Beth Behrs on Instagram for series updates!

Photo credit: Dana Trippe

BGS 5+5: Hardened and Tempered

Artist: Hardened and Tempered
Hometown: Austin, Texas
Latest album: Hold the Line
Personal nicknames (or rejected band names): Less of a nickname than a consequence of a band name for a duo that uses the conjunction “and” is that we are often asked, “which one are you?”

Answers provided by Kristin Davidson

Which artist has influenced you the most … and how?

I was 12 when I discovered a mixtape of the Indigo Girls in my older sister’s room. Their songs captured my ears, mind, and heart, and remained constant company for me growing up. I think it was the first time I felt transformed and transported by music. But the pantheon of my musical influences is full of powerful writers, and I can pair just about every childhood memory with songs by Indigo Girls, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Nanci Griffith, Tracy Chapman, Lucinda Williams, Patty Griffin, Emmylou Harris, Dolly Parton, Patti Smith, and Ani DiFranco.

What other art forms — literature, film, dance, painting, etc. — inform your music?

I love street photography and am drawn to the captured moments that expose the illusion of anonymity — that split second of absurdity or loneliness on a crowded street. I enjoy the process of finding words and sounds for the images that evoke emotion.

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

We love to laugh and try to bring a joyful lightness to the stage. We are big fans of Maria Bamford. In the second season of her show, Lady Dynamite, Ana Gasteyer’s character keeps shouting a particular line as a rallying cry that we think is hilarious. We usually say that line to each other, giggle, and then walk onto the stage.

If you had to write a mission statement for your career, what would it be?

Hard enough to hold an edge; soft enough not to break. The band name, Hardened and Tempered, sums up the dynamic and delicate balance we try to keep in our lives and our music. Both Carolyn and I have intense personalities, we are drawn to big adventures and hard challenges, and we work with a lot of suffering. Slowly but surely, we are learning the artful balance of easing up a little and looking for light in dark places.

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

I have dreamed about finding refuge from a cold, big city night in a basement bar room, only to discover Nina Simone playing an impromptu set on an intimate stage. I order my favorite bourbon, but don’t drink it. How could I?!


Photo credit: Norah Levine Photography

The BGS Radio Hour – Episode 195

Welcome to the BGS Radio Hour! Since 2017, the show has been a weekly recap of all the great music, new and old, featured on BGS. This week, we look forward to new releases coming in 2021 as we continue to celebrate roots Grammy nominations and as we bid farewell to our January Artist of the Month. Remember to check back every Monday for a new episode of the BGS Radio Hour!

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Sheryl Crow – “Woman in the White House”

One thing we can celebrate this January is the first ever presence of a woman in our nation’s second-highest office. So, what better way to begin our show this week than with this song from Sheryl Crow’s re-release of “Woman in the White House?”

The Burnt Pines – “Diamonds”

A collaborative effort between Boston and Lisbon, the Burnt Pines bring us this week a twist on the typical love song. “Love isn’t easy,” they told BGS, celebrating their just-released, self-titled album.

Colin Macleod – “The Long Road”

From the Isle of Lewis in Scotland, singer-songwriter Colin Macleod weaves in and out of regret with “The Long Road.” From his upcoming album, Hold Fast, this music video is one of our most recent features here at BGS.

Dolly Parton – “Shine”

Dolly Parton – queen of country music and COVID-vaccine backer – just celebrated 75 years! And what better to celebrate than with her classic bluegrass trilogy of albums (newly made digitally available) and this song, which earned itself a few 2001 Grammy noms, as well as Best Female Country Vocal Performance for Dolly herself!

Jimbo Mathus & Andrew Bird – “Sweet Oblivion”

Diving into 2021, we’re excited about all of the new releases heading our way. One that sticks out in particular is the collaborative This Thirteen coming in March from Jimbo Mathus and Andrew Bird, two musicians who call each other heroes. This week, we have a sneak peek with “Sweet Oblivion.”

Matt Urmy – “Lightning”

NYC-based Matt Urmy caught up with BGS this week on a recent 5+5 – that’s five questions, five songs. We talked all things Cowboy Jack Clement, weird rituals, the dream meal pairing of French food and Leonard Cohen – and, this song from his upcoming South of the Sky. 

The Bright Siders (Featuring Ed Helms) – “The Mad Day”

Nashville-based musician Kristin Andreassen (Uncle Earl) has teamed up with Brookyn’s Kari Groff, MD, child-psychiatrist and violinist for A Mind of Your Own. The album, which focuses on children’s mental health, features a wide range of guests, including the Punch Brothers, the War & Treaty, and none other than BGS co-founder Ed Helms!

Adam Klein – “Halfway to Heaven”

Not that long ago, we featured Athens GA-based singer and songwriter Adam Klein and his Low Flyin’ Planes release. Well, this song was meant to be there, but things never work out like we expect. Klein gives us the best of both worlds with his new EP, Little Tiger: Outtakes from Low Flyin’ Planes, out now!

Lizzie Weber – “Blue Wave Boom”

Lizzie Weber takes us from her St. Louis home to the California-coast for “Blue Wave Boom,” from her just release How Does It Feel EP. The song was inspired by the bright blue colors enveloping the black sea after the red tide, which served as a metaphor for the toxicity in one’s own mind, especially during the long shutdowns of 2020.

The Secret Sisters – “Cabin”

We revisit our March 2020 Artist of the Month, The Secret Sisters, in celebration of their Grammy nomination for Saturn Return, produced by Brandi Carlile and the Hanseroth twins. The sisters recently gave “Cabin,” which is also nominated for best American roots performance, an acoustic makeover.

Marty Stuart – “I’ve Been Around”

King of Country Cool, Marty Stuart brings us a previously unheard Johnny Cash song from the new collective tribute, Forever Words Explained. This song was lined up to be recorded before Johnny Cash’s death, but was never brought to light. When this tribute came around, well, who better than Marty Stuart?

Pony Bradshaw – “Foxfire”

From Chatsworth, Georgia, Pony Bradshaw wrote “Foxfire” out of 19th century historical inspiration after reading Down by the Riverside: a South Carolina Slave Community and Shared Traditions: Southern History and Folk Culture. Celebrating his new album Calico Jim, we’ve featured the song and Bradshaw on BGS this week!

The Stanley Brothers – “Angel Band”

There’s nothing quite better to wrap up our January Artist of the Month tribute to the soundtrack of O Brother, Where Art Thou? than end the show with the song that ends the movie. So from all of us here at BGS, we honor 20th anniversary of the momentous film and soundtrack with the Stanley Brothers “Angel Band.”


Photos: (L to R) The Stanley Brothers; Dolly Parton, ‘Little Sparrow’; The Secret Sisters by Alysse Gafkjen

Remember When Dolly Parton Took a Bluegrass “Shine” to This Rock Anthem?

The queen of country music is celebrating a milestone birthday on January 19. Her majesty, Dolly Parton, turns 75 this year, and to celebrate the music that has won awards and our hearts alike, we’re deep-diving back to the distant year of 2001. Like Dolly herself, “Shine” comes from a record that was born in mid-January — one that features a little bit of everything, from original compositions and old traditionals to cleverly reimagined cover tunes like this one. That diverse album, Little Sparrow, earned a pair of Grammy nominations and a win for her vocal performance on “Shine.”

Although this 1993 rock radio staple was originally recorded by Collective Soul and written by its lead singer Ed Roland, Dolly and the all-star backing band in the video give the song a fresh breath of bluegrass energy and acoustic attitude. It’s a seemingly unlikely cover, yet Parton pulls a unique bluegrass diamond out of what seems like a through-and-through rock and roll song. Upon Little Sparrow’s release in 2001, Parton stated, “I’ve been trying to think of how I can sing it without all the rock stuff; it sounds spiritual and all that, and the melody lent itself well to some bluegrass harmonies. I figured we’d kick it around and if it didn’t work, we wouldn’t put it on. But it worked out great.”

As unbelievable as it may be, here is the TL;DR: Dolly won a Grammy for a cover of a Collective Soul hit. Watch the music video below and enjoy our Essential Dolly Parton Playlist in honor of her 75th birthday!


 

LISTEN: Barry Gibb and Jason Isbell Share “Words of a Fool”

Legendary artist Sir Barry Gibb of Bee Gees fame has now fulfilled one of his greatest artistic visions. Gibb, the sole remnant of the pop music paradigm, is a self-avowed lifelong bluegrass and country music fan, and his new album bears testament to that affinity. The record, titled Greenfields: The Gibb Brothers Songbook, Vol. 1, offers twelve Gibb brothers classics reimagined with voices from across the bluegrass and country music realms. Guests include Brandi Carlile, Tommy Emmanuel, Jason Isbell, Alison Krauss, Dolly Parton, and Gillian Welch & David Rawlings, to name only a few.

The magnitude of creative power is manned by none other than Nashville producer Dave Cobb, whose expertise and track record ensure that the new album will be nothing short of magical. Remembering his late brothers, Gibb says the collection is something that “Maurice and Robin would have loved… for different reasons.” To promote the January 8 release, Gibb shared an insightful trailer for the album, in which he details the influences, goals, and parts of the recording process that created Greenfields. Watch the trailer and listen to “Words of a Fool” featuring Jason Isbell below.


Photo credit: Desiree Prieto

BGS Wraps: Nathaniel Rateliff with Elle King, “Xmas to Forget”

Artists: Nathaniel Rateliff with Elle King
Single: “Xmas to Forget”
Release Date: December 23, 2020

In Their Words: “Elle and I had been talking about working on a couple of tunes and doing a version of one of the Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers Christmas songs. But as we were working on it we decided it would be fun to write our own. Joseph (of the Night Sweats) said we should write a Christmas to forget in reference to how hard this year has been for everyone so we ran with the idea.” — Nathaniel Rateliff

“Well, considering it’s been a pretty tough year and the big ‘togetherness’ theme of the holidays is less than ideal, we thought the best way to communicate that was through song. And if we’re all ending out the year in flames, let’s do it laughing. Here’s to a Christmas to forget.” — Elle King

Editor’s Note: Proceeds generated by the single will benefit The Marigold Project, Rateliff’s foundation supporting community and nonprofit organizations working for economic and social justice. The Marigold Project is proud to support Food Research & Action Center, which is the leading national nonprofit organization working to eradicate poverty-related hunger and undernutrition in the United States.


Enjoy more BGS Wraps here.

Dolly Parton, Brandi Carlile, and the Women Who Wrote Our 2020 Soundtrack

There are a whole lot of ways you can tell the story of 2020, but for us here at BGS, it will be remembered as a year of especially remarkable songwriting from women in roots music.

We lead our playlist with the one and only Dolly Parton, who assured us that life will be good again. Parton’s songwriting is presented in an enticing new book, Songteller, and her ability to articulate complicated emotions — through lyrics that speak to all walks of life — is something that Brandi Carlile picked up on as a teenager. In this video interview from the 2020 BMI Country Awards (with a cameo from Dolly at the end), Carlile explains how Parton’s perspective on equality kept Carlile from divorcing country music completely.

Parton, who turns 75 next month, shares a number of important qualities with a new generation of singer-songwriters she’s inspired. In the case of Brandi Carlile, there’s a sense of belonging that is woven throughout their work, from Parton’s “Joshua” to Carlile’s “Carried Me With You.” Like Parton, Brennen Leigh is able to capture a sense of place and make it relatable, even for a listener who’s never been there. Kyshona Armstrong offers a sense of self-worth and self-awareness in her writing, as Parton does, allowing listeners to know them better. Likewise, Maya de Vitry and Parton share a sense of wonder and joy, portraying landscapes — internal and external — that are imagined, yet vivid.

On Prairie Love Letter, her full-length paean to her homeland on the Minnesota-North Dakota border, Brennen Leigh demonstrates a visceral, evocative grounding – just as Parton constantly speaks of her Tennessee mountain home: with a glint in her eye, and a sorrow in her heart for knowing she had no choice but to leave it. Leigh stakes her claim on both the wide, expansive plains and Nashville all at once, asking her audience “Don’t you know I’m from here?” As if to remind she’s as at home in bluegrass and country — and Music City — as Dolly herself.

“Backwoods Barbie,” “Dumb Blonde,” and “Just Because I’m a Woman” are all perfect examples of Parton’s lifelong radical self-possession. She expresses her agency boldly, confidently, without (visible) second guessing – from her wigs to her infamous tattoos to her nothing-special acknowledgement of her plastic surgeries, struggles with suicidal ideation, and so on, she is her fully realized, autonomous self. As Dolly told Jad Abumrad on Dolly Parton’s America, “Who we are is who we are… I would just bow out if I wasn’t allowed to be me…” Kyshona Armstrong‘s prescient album, Listen, holds similar space, as Armstrong doesn’t simply ask folks to listen; her presence, compassion, and radical honesty demand it. Because, first and foremost, she’s welcoming and non-judgmental in that aim, you will find yourself fully enveloped by her music before you realize the conviction within it.

Maya de Vitry made a gorgeous, poetic foray into heavier, rockier turf with How to Break a Fall, a gutsy, genre-bending set of songs. Their anger, release, and passion, expressed by the folk-rock production style, feels right out of Parton’s post-White Limozeen era, an effortless combination of seemingly disparate musical influences, distilled into something that, almost above all else, feels joyful. Where male-centered rock and roll finds itself often hung up on its endemic toxic masculinity, de Vitry and Parton stride into electrified sounds with their femininity forward, and the result is as charming as it is subversive.

It’s striking, among such an incredible volume of musical output from their Americana and country peers this year, that these women would stand out, above and beyond the still-common glass ceilings imposed upon them for decades. Dolly blazed a trail, but these dozens of writers — and singers and pickers and composers and front women and side musicians and authors and poets — would have crashed through inevitably on their own. With songs like Adia Victoria’s “South Gotta Change,” Sunny War’s “Can I Sit With You?,” “Troubled Times” from Laurie Lewis, the Secret Sisters’ “Cabin,” it’s obvious Dolly Parton’s songwriting legacy will be inherited by multiple generations worthy of carrying it on.

Throughout 2020, the BGS editorial team embraced this wealth of excellent music from women songwriters in roots music. It has been a privilege to share these original voices with our readers, too. Here are 50 of our favorite tracks from 2020:


Photo credit: Daniel Jackson for BGS, Newport Folk Fest 2019