Tag: dolly parton

On ‘American Quilt,’ Paula Cole Wraps Herself in Music That Reflects Her Life

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Paula Cole has long explored the musical territories that inform her work, making it nearly impossible to define her. Singer-songwriter? Yes. Pop star? Yes. Interpreter of jazz standards? Yes. She’s collaborated with country legends, toured with internationally acclaimed artists, and occasionally dropped completely out of sight. Because she’s so hard to pin down creatively, Cole has managed to transcend her commercial zenith of the ’90s, when songs like “Where Have All the Cowboys Gone” and “I Don’t Want to Wait” were inescapable.

Twenty-five years later, Cole is in the spotlight again with American Quilt, which sets her impressive vocal range to standards like “Bye Bye Blackbird” and “You Don’t Know What Love Is.” It isn’t quite a jazz album, and although her writing skills are on display in “Steal Away/Hidden in Plain Sight,” it isn’t quite a folk record either. Instead it’s a reflection of the influences that shaped her musical direction early on.

“Even when I explore jazz, I like it to be a little more raggedy and raw and rootsy,” she says. “I just wanted the album to reflect all that I am, and I realized, gosh, all of these songs are different from another. How do I unify it? That’s when I remembered my mom, who is a visual artist and she’s a quilter. And I realized that the quilt is the perfect metaphor for the album, that they’re all patches of an American quilt. That’s how the title was born.”

The metaphor works for the spectrum of songs on the album, yet it’s also appropriate for the warmth and comfort it provides. Some songs are more familiar than others – and her rendition of “Shenandoah” is particularly exquisite – but it’s an album best enjoyed as a whole. By dismissing the expectations of how long a song should be, and by showing reverence without replicating what everybody else has already done, Cole has produced a sweeping and immersive listening experience. She called in to BGS from the music room in her Massachusetts home, with a photo of Dolly Parton smiling over her shoulder.

BGS: Your version of “Wayfaring Stranger” is beautiful. What made you want to record it for this album?

Paula Cole: I learned of it through listening to Emmylou Harris, and loving and adoring her. Her Roses in the Snow album was really important to me developmentally. We were on Lilith Fair together in the ‘90s and would sing on each other’s sets. And I’ve been on a few benefit concerts that she’s asked me to play. I love her so dearly. I think she’s an important American voice and we should all be talking about her much more. She kind of saves music because she brings it back to the traditional aspect of it. She keeps us whole and she keeps us real by bringing integrity back to the music.

The song came to me very intuitively and I thought, “A ha!” I can reveal some of my influences and also bow to someone who was important to me. Also I was so fed up and traumatized by the music business and it was Emmylou who told me, “Don’t quit.” You know, I took a seven-and-a-half year hiatus and thought about leaving the music business, but she was the one who said, “Hang in there.” It just happened too fast. She had this motherly wisdom for me and it made sense, and I’ve thought of her so much over my life. I love her very much.

Roses in the Snow is a familiar bluegrass album for a lot of our readers. Are you a bluegrass fan?

I just love music. So, if you asked me, “Do you like jazz?” I would say, “I love music.” [Laughs] My dad played bass in a polka band on weekends when I was little, then he would go home and play Duke Ellington on the piano or he would play obscure folk songs on banjo in my house growing up. It was always a mixture. I love all music. I love bluegrass. I love acoustic music. I love music where musicians are playing real instruments, so that’s one defining factor to me — real instruments! I’ve been touring with upright bass now for several years and I can’t go back.

Did your dad teach you how to play banjo?

No, darn it! [Laughs] I guess I could have picked it up. I mean, he played everything. He could do hambone and play nose flute and upright bass and guitar and banjo and piano. Just really a renaissance man. He exposed me to all music and there were no classifications. That was something more that non-musicians did. Musicians would fluidly move from music to music and just find the joy in all of it. He taught me that.

When I was listening to “Nobody Knows You (When You’re Down and Out),” I was curious, does that mirror your own experience to some degree? Like, you’re living the good life as a millionaire, then you find that your friends vanish when the circumstances change.

Oh sure, I’ve known that. False friends, false fans, false everybody comes to you when you’re successful. They’re flattering and they’re obsequious. They have ulterior motives, so it’s hard, and of course I’ve experienced that because I’ve been up and down and side to side…. [Laughs] All over the business! And I wanted to come back home and have a personal life and have truth and family and let the trappings fall, and to be honest.

So, I chose to walk away in a sense from that shiny pop world because it wasn’t me. I was introverted and shy. I didn’t feel like this big pop star. I was very much a musician of integrity that wanted to have a long career and a rich catalog. I had to walk away to reset and reinvent myself. So, yes, of course I relate to that song. Also I relate to Bessie Smith, and so many fantastic singers are coming from the river of Bessie Smith. You hear Billie Holiday and Janis Joplin — Bessie Smith was their favorite singer. She combines all of that beautiful roots music. And the songs from the Prohibition era speak to me, those hard times, they speak to me.

Sometimes I will ask musicians about their first guitar, but for you, I’m wondering, do you remember your first piano?

Yeah, I remember the first piano, oh my gosh. It was covered in chipped, baby blue paint. I grew up in Rockport, Massachusetts, and my dad was a teacher at a state college, and we did not have much money. I wore hand-me-downs and we got things at Goodwill. In New England — freezing cold New England — we would really skimp on the heat to save money, and they put the piano in what they called the cold room. It was like a mud room. You walk into that room and take off your coat, and the piano was in the back. And it was cold! It was cold-ass cold! And there’s my first piano.

I was quite dedicated to music, to be playing in a freezing cold room in New England. Literally, we had some fish at one point and they froze! That’s how cold our house was. We had a potbelly stove and it was just hard. We were looking for ways to save money. It wasn’t always that hard. My dad ended up changing jobs and doing better, but my childhood was formative for me. I started working at a really young age. I was waitressing at 14 and I’ve always worked. It’s not nice, struggling like that, but that piano is indelibly etched in my mind with the back of the cold room. The chipped blue piano, out of tune! [Laughs]

Did you grow up with a lot of songbooks around?

Yes, and one of my missions while my father is still alive on the planet is to comb through his fake books and real books, especially of his folk standards. He has some really interesting, cryptic and eclectic, folk books that I would love to go through. That’s on one of my do lists of life.

To me, “Good Morning Heartache” sounds like it could be a sad country song, but it was made famous by jazz singers. How did you learn that one?

It’s in the real book of standards. Those books were around, and I have a real book of standards on my piano now. Even when I was touring, or had hits, or didn’t have hits, or mothering and not being in music, I would go back to the real book just for comfort and learning. I’d let my hands go on the piano and the shapes of the chords and learn songs. I first learned “Good Morning Heartache” by reading it out of a book but then I heard Billie Holiday and even modern singers do it. A lot of people have done it. But I love it because it feels to me like one of those songs that crosses genre, just like you said. It feels to me like it could be a jazz ballad, a country ballad, a soul ballad – and often it’s recorded by R&B singers. I love that it’s universal, and I love sad music. I’m not very good at happy music. [Laughs]

You close this album with “What a Wonderful World,” which offers a lovely and optimistic message. Was that an intentional decision for you to wrap up the album with that song?

Sequence is extremely important to me, so I probably spent at least a month listening to heads and tails of the songs, and all the different possibilities and combinations. And yes, it is the perfect punctuation of the journey of an album format. I love albums – I think in albums. I don’t think I’ll ever be a singles releaser. I’ll always be an album writer and album producer. I love the art of sequence.

Again, this is a song that transpires over genre and it appeals to all audiences. It unifies people. And it was written specifically for Louis Armstrong because he unified Black and white audiences. He was a genius if ever there were one. His ability to improvise within chord changes was profound. He was joyful and elevating. I play it in a somber way, and I hear sadness in my voice, and I think it’s melancholic and ironic in a way, but yeah, we must hold on to hope. We must hold on to that thread of hope for our children and our grandchildren to make this world better.

Photo credit: Ebru Yildiz

Kishi Bashi Finds a New Comfort Zone in Folk Music on ‘Emigrant’

Posted on by Editor

There’s a particular knowledge that is born only from a road-worn trek, like literature’s hero’s journey, where a protagonist adventures in pursuit of higher knowledge or power, someone like Captain Ahab or Tom Joad.

Kaoru Ishibashi, the musician known as Kishi Bashi, packed a camper during the pandemic and left his home of Athens, Georgia, wandering northbound through the American frontier that’s woven throughout the Western narrative. With newfound time and his daughter in tow, this journey was a personal exploration of Ishibashi’s own identity through the sprawling American terrain.

His trip took him to places like Heart Mountain in Wyoming, a World War II Japanese internment camp — a location he has visited many times during research for his upcoming documentary, Omoiyari: A Songfilm by Kishi Bashi, where he visits similar sites throughout the United States searching for the history that still persists today. The journey also carried him through the Ozarks and the Dakotas, and to small Montana towns like Emigrant — population 271 — just north of Yellowstone, and ultimately across the great expanse of the States to Oregon.

BGS chatted with Kishi Bashi about how this trip is intrinsically tied to his new EP, Emigrant.

BGS: What was the concept behind creating Emigrant? What drew you to creating the theme around the EP?

Kishi Bashi: I’ve been spending a lot of time in Montana the last several years — especially this year, since I had so much time. I took the camper out, took my daughter out, and we did this huge trip cross-country all the way to Oregon; we spread it out over a period of months. I got to enjoy nature in a way that I hadn’t in the past, to kind of imagine what it was like back then. A lot of rural places are pretty much intact; it pretty much is what it was like 100, 200 years ago. In Montana, it’s really cold, so there’s a reason not many people live there — but that’s changing. Emigrant is a town in Montana north of Yellowstone where a friend of mine had a cabin. I borrowed it from her family, and I stayed there for a few days and fleshed out a lot of the EP.

How is the title tied to the name of the town?

To be an emigrant is to leave somewhere in search of a better place to live. I found myself really searching my own identity, my own place in this country — as a minority or even as a musician in these COVID times — trying to find what makes me happy or what makes me a person. The symbolism was really great. [Emigrant] was a frontier town for a lot of people. It was literally the frontier of this violent place, both naturally from the weather, and it was a really cutthroat environment. I was also watching a lot of Deadwood before that — it’s up around there. It may not be historically accurate, but the vibe is definitely accurate. It was that frontier, settler, colonialism type thing. It was a really harsh place to live.

How did you plan your route? What were some of the lessons taken from the road trip?

With my daughter, we started in Athens, so we went up north, and there was a lot of driving. It was a good history lesson for her because we went to the Black Hills in eastern Wyoming — actually, that’s where Deadwood takes place — and how it was Sioux territory. We went to Mount Rushmore, and it was pretty unimpressive. There’s a Crazy Horse Memorial they’re building, which looks interesting and amazing. I was getting her to understand that this is a very complicated, nuanced, but violent history that existed in these lands.

I had the realization that if you live in a city — a town that’s been modernized over and over and over — you don’t feel what it was like back then. That paved road you stand on was a dirt road at one point. Before that, it was just a trail. You don’t really get to see that unless you go out to Montana or some rural area. We basically went straight up through Tennessee, Arkansas, South Dakota, and then cut over through Wyoming.

It sounds like this road trip was an American history lesson. Did you purposefully choose locations around Indigenous or Asian American histories?

Heart Mountain [in Wyoming] — where the internment camp was — I had been there many times. And my daughter as well; she has been there a couple times in the summer, because we’re filming there a lot for this documentary I’m doing. You can’t avoid Native American spaces in this place. It was interesting to see that a lot of the reservations were closed to outside travelers because their health infrastructure was so shoddy, and that people around them were bringing in COVID irresponsibly. That was heartbreaking to see; they were really desperate to keep it out.

Tell me about “Town of Pray.” Was it inspired by the actual town of Pray, Montana?

More by the name; the town of Pray is such a stoic name. I was reading this book — do you know who Jeremiah Johnson is? He’s this folk hero [also called John “Liver-Eating” Johnson], I think a real person, pioneer, Montana mountain man. I don’t know if you know the legend, but it’s such a violent place to exist. He had a Flathead [now known as the Confederated Salish and Kootenai tribes] wife, and she was murdered by the Crows. Then he went on a murderous rampage against the Crows, and then they respected him, and he joined forces against a different tribe. We have a very narrow narrative of what history is. When you see this violent history, it just makes me grateful that I don’t have to, like, kill other people to thrive, which may have been the case if you lived around there back then. You’re always watching your back. You’re always susceptible to trauma.

What are some lessons you hope listeners take away from this EP? Or lessons you learned through making it?

If people have the opportunity to go out and visit nature, get outside of your comfort zone and explore this country. And even more social justice issues, if you wander into any of these small towns, like in Montana — Bozeman used to be like 20 percent Chinese. Now it’s like zero. There’s a reason a lot of towns are white. After they built the railroad, they drove everyone out of town. Wonder why this country is not being shared by everyone?

You included two covers on your EP, [Dolly Parton’s “Early Morning Breeze” and Regina Spektor’s “Laughing With”]. Why were those chosen, and how do they tie into the overall theme?

One of the reasons was I definitely wanted to showcase female songwriters, because I looked at the Rolling Stone top 100 songwriters, and there were like two women in there — like Madonna and Dolly Parton. And it’s embarrassing. So I made an effort to do that. Of course, I love Dolly Parton just like everybody else. I always liked that song, and I thought it fit the vibe. The Regina Spektor song — I used to play for her; I was in her band — I always thought she was underrated, especially amongst musicians and as a songwriter. Lyrically, she’s brilliant, and she’s a huge inspiration for me. For the next generation of people who may not know her music, I wanted to point out that I have the deepest respect for her songwriting by covering her song.

Why lean into the folk or bluegrass genre for this EP?

It’s something I always wanted to do. This is also a disclaimer: I’m not a bluegrass musician. I don’t have much of a bluegrass situation amongst me, but I’m bluegrass adjacent. I went to Berklee College of Music and I studied with Matt Glaser, who’s an Americana teacher. But I played jazz violin. Gypsy swing, that’s my thing. I always loved bluegrass music, but I never felt, culturally, it was something I could attach myself to. I had this whole stigma, like imposter syndrome, of not being from a rural place. I’m a city dweller. It took me a while to own up to a fiddle tune.

As I became more comfortable with my own identity of being an American musician — an Asian American musician — I was like, “What if I just want to play something folky?” It was something I always wanted to do. So there are a lot of fiddle elements, especially in “Town of Pray.” If you think about “What is American music?” There’s jazz, there’s blues. Fiddle tunes come from a lot of Irish and Scottish roots in the mountains. American music is this huge conflagration of all these different cultures melding into each other. I think that’s the beauty.

And where’s my place in that? I’m an Asian guy playing a European instrument — violin — playing jazz, which is from the South with African American contributions. I always felt like I didn’t have a real identity as an American, so that’s probably why I felt so comfortable singing bluesy stuff, or putting a fiddle tune in there — just because I want to.

Photo credit: Max Ritter

MIXTAPE: Jeffery Straker’s “How the Heck Did I Get Here?” Playlist

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It’s been a year and a month since I got back from my last tour in pre-pandemic times (as we now refer to it). I was winding through the Okanagan Valley in British Columbia, Canada, performing a run of seven shows. The month of March in the Okanagan usually has summer-like weather and the temperatures on this trip delivered and then some. Even though I was working, the mountains, valleys, and blue skies reflected in lakes made it feel like a vacation during those long drives with music humming along on the car stereo.

Working full-time as a touring musician is a really busy lifestyle. If you’re not writing new material you’re getting ready to release songs, you’re promoting songs, planning a tour, going on tour — the cycle is endless. As a result, some of the only time I have for my mind to rest somewhat idle is on the long drives between gigs. I see it as a bit of a gift. The music accompanying my travels helps me get a little lost for just a little while. Sometimes I arrive at the next place wondering “how the heck did I get here?” Here are some of the songs that I’ve enjoyed getting lost in. — Jeffery Straker

Jason Isbell – “Traveling Alone”

Often when I’m out on the road I’m traveling alone, or with a side-musician who is asleep in the passenger seat. Isbell sings about being a traveler missing someone he loves, and about reflections on some of the life decisions he’s made. “So high the street girls wouldn’t take my pay, they said come see me on a better day, she just danced away.” It’s perfect fodder for a freed up mind to wander within.

Joni Mitchell – “A Case of You”

Joni released this in 1971. When I first heard it I just loved that within the first few seconds of the song she sang “if you want me I’ll be in the bar”. Who writes like that? She does. I’ve never figured out the meaning of “I could drink a case of you and I would still be on my feet”. It’s perfectly vague. Does it mean “I could never get enough of you”, or does it mean “I’ll never be drunk on your love because it’s not enough”?

John Prine – “Egg & Daughter Nite, Lincoln Nebraska, 1967 (Crazy Bone)”

This is such a visual romp for me. Prine sings about how farmers would bring their daughters with them to town to sell eggs and the gals would head to the local roller rink. It’s so specific, but he delivers this great universal ponderance through chronicling this quirky event: “When you got hell to pay, put the truth on layaway, and blame it on that ol’ crazy bone.”

George Jones – “He Stopped Loving Her Today”

My grandma and grandpa loved this song and so many of the songs like this from the same era of country. It’s such a “story-song.” It’s so sad and the steel guitar with the string section accompanying it is such a perfect pairing. That ascending string line at the start of the chorus really heightens the emotions too; I hear it and wonder who thought of that line? George? The producer? George breaks into a spoken-word second verse and brings even more intimacy — you literally lean in closer to the speaker. Those feelings for the one he loves never go away until the day he dies. It just grabs you and doesn’t let go.

Brandi Carlile – “The Joke”

Stratospheric vocals, brooding piano, and a riveting story. It’s all here. Carlile is passing along some advice to young children who don’t quite fit in. They’re probably from the LGBTQ community, but certainly from any marginalized group. “Let ’em laugh while they can. Let ’em spin, let ’em scatter in the wind. I have been to the movies, I’ve seen how it ends, and the joke’s on them.” Riveting stuff and you want to hit repeat.

Lori McKenna – “The Lot Behind St. Mary’s”

In the wake of my mom passing away just over two years ago, I discovered Lori through her song, “A Mother Never Rests.” It’s perfect. And through that song I found this one that really struck me; it’s from the same album. She very fluidly goes back and forth between “younger days” and the present, both longing for the past and accepting the present.

Jeffery Straker – “Play That Song Again”

This is the latest single I released from my upcoming album; it’s a waltz. This song, like the album, is lyrically reflective. I figured that the waltz-time would add to that feeling — I find waltzes take me back in time. Lyrically the singer looks back at life’s ups and downs, but ultimately lands in a place of contentment with where he’s landed. I think that’s all we want to eventually be able to do — be comfortable with the path we’ve taken.

Leon Russell – “It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry”

This is a Dylan tune that Leon Russell recorded in 1971. Dylan recorded it in ’65. It’s the vibe that I love here, though I don’t actually know what it’s about. It’s got all sorts of sexual allusions in its swagger. Russell approaches it slower than Dylan and for me this tempo suits it perfectly.

Harry Nilsson – “Everybody’s Talkin’”

I moved to Belfast, Northern Ireland, for part of my university studies and lived in a house with some great singers. At late-night song and drink sessions this song was a favorite for two harmony-singing gals, Carol and Loraine. Every time I hear this I’m transported back to that old Georgian row house and I’m standing in the kitchen listening to them.

Dolly Parton – “My Tennessee Mountain Home”

There’s such beauty in the simplicity that Dolly conjures up with her words. In the very first verse you see her “Watch the kids a’ playin’ with June bugs on a string.” It’s lovely, and now I want to do that. It’s a different time and Dolly paints an idyllic picture of her roots. When I think back to my home, thankfully I have good memories of it too — and she sort of takes me there even though she grew up in a two-room log cabin and I did not. But that’s Dolly — taking something specific and making it wonderfully universal.


Gordon Lightfoot – “If You Could Read my Mind”

I wasn’t a huge Gordon Lightfoot fan in my teens and 20s, but once I hit my 30s I became rabidly into his poetry. This song is quite simply about the failure of a marriage but the language he uses to describe it just takes me somewhere else when I listen. All his talk of “ghosts from wishing wells,” “a paperback novel, the kind the drugstore sells,” and “a movie star getting burned in a three way script.” It just grabs me and doesn’t let go.

Paul Simon – “American Tune”

I once had the chance to sing this in a variety show in a big theatre in Toronto. I had to memorize the lyrics and chords for the performance so I got to know it really well. The chord progressions are just stunning and the melody sails along on top of it like the sun dancing across water. “I don’t know a dream that’s not been shattered or driven to its knees, but it’s all right, it’s all right, for we’ve lived so well so long.”

Madison Violet – “No Fool for Trying”

I’ve always loved these two gals from the first time I saw them in concert. Their chemistry is really magical through both their musicianship and their vocal harmonies. The arrangement on this song is really simple and the chug-chug-chug rhythm seems to pull me down the highway on long drives. It opens with the lyric: “There’s trouble on this road…” and you’re left curious as to what’s happened. It pulls you in like a good book.

David Francey – “Blue Sorrow and Then Some”

It’s a longing song and the title says it all. I really like the 6/8 feel. The tempo he’s chosen keeps it kind of light and almost cheerful, but with such a sad sentiment in the story being told. “…but sometimes I wonder, do you think of me?” His vocal performance helps you feel the fragility of it all.

Photo credit: Ali Lauren

MIXTAPE: The Wandering Hearts & The Golden Tonic

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Inspired by the reaction we received from our fans to our new single, “Gold,” The Golden Tonic is a selection of songs that have helped us through tough situations, inspired us, or take us back to a specific moment in time. The past year has been heavy and we hope The Golden Tonic works its magic on you. — The Wandering Hearts (Chess, Tara, and AJ)

Editor’s Note: See the video premiere of “Gold” below.

The Tallest Man on Earth – “The Gardener”

This song lifted my spirits at a very low point of my life. I’d just lost my cousin who I lived with and it made me feel like he was everywhere I went and with me in nature and in all of the beautiful things. I have no idea what the song was actually written about, but that’s what is so powerful about music — it will mean very different things to different people. – Chess

Willie Nelson – “On the Road Again”

The song that always accompanies long journeys. When the band is on the road a lot, it reminds me of how lucky we are to be doing what we do but also gets me hyped for whatever adventure awaits! – Chess

First Aid Kit – “My Silver Lining”

My uncle introduced me to a lot of music which has had a huge influence on me, including this song. I was blown away by the rawness and flawless harmonies. The band had just [gotten] together and this song really made me realize that Tara and I have something special when we sing together. I was working all the jobs under the sun at the time, but it gave me such hope that music was possible and that it was all worth it. – Chess

Sister Sledge – “We Are Family”

During the endless UK lockdowns over the past year, when we were feeling down, demotivated or just fed up, my sister and I would FaceTime each other, put disco music on and dance around our kitchens! It really did the trick of getting me out of a funk and also cheering her up with my silly dancing! This song has featured every time and I will, from now on, blast this song if I’m ever having bad day. – Chess

Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit – “If We Were Vampires”

A sad song, but one of those songs that makes me feel so grateful to have what I have in life. It reminds me to make the most of the time we’re given. – Tara

Cyndi Lauper – “Time After Time”

When you feel hard to love or unworthy, a song about not giving up on yourself. It’s about letting yourself be loved. Reminding you that you are enough. – Tara

Dolly Parton – “The Grass Is Blue”

A cathartic song for me. A sad song about survival and heartbreak but also about not allowing that ache to consume you. To find a way through, even if you have to lie to yourself to begin with. – Tara

Ella Fitzgerald – “Blue Skies”

Ella’s voice is a tonic for me. This song is restorative in her tone and phrasing as much as in the hopeful lyrics of a new beginning. – Tara

The Beatles – “Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight”

Technically two songs, but you really can’t listen to one and not the other and they run in like one track, so there!! Going through “Golden Slumbers” into “Carry That Weight” has a whole journey for me of going through the reflection associated with loss or sadness, transitioning into the self-realization that we only have ourselves, so it encourages me to suck up the pain and keep going. – AJ

Randy Crawford – “One Day I’ll Fly Away”

Randy Crawford’s performance on this song, as so many of her recordings, just has a perfect energy. She sounds so peacefully resolved despite this sad exhaustion in the lyrics. This resolve is so infectious and when I hear her singing through a smile it makes me want to fly away and leave all my troubles to yesterday too! – AJ

Stone Poneys – “Different Drum”

Maybe it’s just me, but I notice when I look for music to lift me out of a rut, it often ends up including songs that feature escapism or leaving. This is no exception and there’s something about the way this song just ploughs on and Linda Ronstadt sings like she’s sticking two fingers up to her problems while driving off into the horizon. I’d like that to be me. – AJ

Shakey Graves (feat. Esmé Patterson) – “Dearly Departed”

Such a tune. It has a really lairy way of facing down feelings of loneliness and subduing them into a kind of angry but empowering joyfulness. I always find this one picks me off the floor a bit and gets me doing the useful easy things, like getting up and making a cup of tea. Might not be the big push I need but just enough to get that movement going. It’s a start and that’s a lot sometimes! – AJ

Photo credit: Shane McCauly

Harmonics with Beth Behrs: Margo Price

Posted on by Shelby Williamson

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!

This episode of Harmonics is brought to you by BLUblox: blue light blocking glasses, backed by science. Reclaim your energy and block out the unhealthy effects of blue light on your mental and physical health. Take 15% off your order with code “HARMONICS”

BGS 5+5: Amanda Cook

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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

Posted on by Shelby Williamson

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

Posted on by Shelby Williamson

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

Posted on by Editor

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

Posted on by Amy Reitnouer

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