Tag: Edward Lee

BGS Returns to Louisville for Sixth Consecutive Bourbon & Beyond

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

BGS is excited to announce the full lineup and schedule for our Bluegrass Situation Stage at Louisville, Kentucky’s Bourbon & Beyond – for our sixth year in a row! Since 2017, BGS has curated a bluegrass-forward roster for the premier bourbon, food, and music festival’s only music stage outside of their main stages, Oak and Barrel. The 2023 edition of Bourbon & Beyond will be held September 14 through 17 at the Highland Festival Grounds at the Kentucky Expo Center. Tickets are still available.

Each evening of the event, the BGS Stage will culminate with performances by Kelsey Waldon (Thursday), The Lil’ Smokies (Friday), Town Mountain (Saturday) and Dan Tyminski (Sunday). The full schedule includes performances by Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper, Lindsay Lou, The Arcadian Wild, Della Mae, Sunny War, Twisted Pine and more. See daily BGS Stage schedules below.

This year, as in the past, there are acts and bands all across the Bourbon & Beyond schedule that feel like they were pulled directly from the pages and stories of BGS. On the Oak and Barrel stage roots music fans can hear artists like Jon Batiste, Billy Strings, Midland, Brandi Carlile, Brittany Howard, Joy Oladokun, Darrell Scott Band, Fantastic Negrito, Hailey Whitters, Brandy Clark, Mavis Staples, the Avett Brothers, Old Crow Medicine Show, and so many more.

But that’s not all! For the foodies and bourbon hounds alike, there will be wall-to-wall culinary demonstrations, bourbon experiences, and more featuring celebrity chefs such as Edward Lee, Amanda Freitag, Chris Santos, Sara Bradley, bourbon expert Fred Minnick, and many others. If you’re curious which Kentucky straight bourbon whiskeys will be available for sipping and guzzling at the Big Bourbon Bar, it’s pretty much every distiller you could ever crave: Angel’s Envy, Bardstown, Brother’s Bond, Bulleit, Doc Swinson’s Whiskey Collection, Elijah Craig, Four Roses, George Dickel, Green River, Heaven’s Door, Jack Daniel’s, Jefferson’s, Kentucky Peerless, Larceny, Legent, Maker’s 46, Michter’s, Middle West Spirits, Monk’s Road, Old Forester, Rabbit Hole, Resilient Bottled in Bond, Starlight Distillery, Wilderness Trail and Willett Distillery.

Bourbon and bluegrass and beyond – what more do you need? We hope you will make plans to join us in Louisville for the 2023 edition of Bourbon & Beyond!

 

The Bluegrass Situation Stage – Daily Schedule

Thursday, September 14

5:45 p.m. – Kelsey Waldon
4:15 p.m. – Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper
3 p.m. – Two Runner
1:45 p.m. – Clay Street Unit
12:30 p.m. – Myron Elkins

Friday, September 15

5:45 p.m. – The Lil’ Smokies
4:15 p.m. – The Cleverlys
3 p.m. – Twisted Pine
1:45 p.m. – Lola Kirke
12:30 p.m. – Armchair Boogie

Saturday, September 16

5:45 p.m. – Town Mountain
4:15 p.m. – Della Mae
3 p.m. – Lindsay Lou
1:45 p.m. – Sunny War
12:30 p.m. – Armchair Boogie

Sunday, September 17

5:45 p.m. – Dan Tyminski
4:15 p.m. – Frank Solivan & Dirty Kitchen
3 p.m. – The Arcadian Wild
1:45 p.m.- Lindsay Lou
12:30 p.m. – Pixie & The Partygrass Boys

 

Photos L-R: Dan Tyminski by Scott Simontacchi; Kelsey Waldon courtesy of the artist; Michael Cleveland by Amy Richmond

The Shift List – A Final Course

Posted on by Chris Jacobs

“Food, like a concert, is never the same experience twice,” Chef Edward Lee told me during our interview back in October 2018. “You can’t remove the human element from either.” 

Back at the end of March of this year, about two weeks into the nationwide shutdown, we re-released Chef Lee’s episode to highlight the work he has been doing through the Restaurant Workers Relief Program and the Lee Initiative to feed and raise funds for out-of-work restaurant workers all over the country. The human element was removed from both the restaurant and concert industry in a way that no one could have predicted just three weeks earlier. 

The Shift List was created to explore the creative relationship that chefs have with music, and to that end, the unique experience and vibe they provide to diners at their restaurants. Over two seasons as host and producer of the show, I’ve been fortunate to speak to thirty chefs in four countries and a dozen world-class cities, including London, Copenhagen, Montreal, and my hometown of Los Angeles. It was a privilege to eat their food in the restaurants that they built. 

There’s a lot of uncertainty around when we’ll all be able to eat out at restaurants freely, the way we used to, so for now, The Shift List will conclude its 30-episode run and serve as a time capsule for an experience that we never knew we were taking for granted. 

To commemorate this, I’ve selected five episodes to help inspire your own cooking playlists, and have included a few of my personal favorite discoveries from the show that always set a great tone when I want to focus on cooking at home. A special ‘Best of The Shift List’ playlist is up now over on our BGS Spotify page. — Chris Jacobs, host

Ashleigh Shanti (Benne On Eagle) – Asheville, NC 


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If Chef Ashleigh Shanti weren’t running the kitchen at Benne On Eagle, a restaurant that pays homage to the rich African American culinary traditions that once thrived in an Asheville neighborhood known as The Block, she’d like to try her hand at being a rapper. Her Shift List included A Tribe Called Quest, Kendrick Lamar, and plenty of Pharrell Williams.

Favorite tracks: 

  • A Tribe Called Quest – “Check The Rhime” 
  • Nina Simone – “My Baby Just Cares For Me” 
  • Kendrick Lamar – “DNA” 
  • The Neptunes – “Frontin’ (Feat. Jay Z)”

Tom Harris (The Marksman Pub, St John) – London 


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Chef Tom Harris explained what a proper English pub is, threw down some amazing jazz/funk/Afrobeat playlists (including Fela Kuti, Roy Ayers, and James Brown), and explained why recipes should be described in musical terms.

Favorite tracks:

  • Fela Kuti – “Mr. Follow Follow” 
  • Johnny “Hammond” Smith – “Shifting Gears” 
  • Moses Boyd – “Rye Lane Shuffle” 
  • The English Beat – “Mirror In The Bathroom” 

Jessica Largey (formerly Manresa, Providence, Simone) – Los Angeles 


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Chef Jessica Largey’s Shift List included The Clash, David Bowie, and Neko Case. In her episode she reveals why Nina Simone was the namesake of the DTLA restaurant she helmed for a year in 2018.

Favorite tracks:

  • Shakey Graves – “Dearly Departed” 
  • Ben Sollee – “Mechanical Advantage” 
  • David Bowie – “Golden Years” 
  • Gap Band – “Outstanding” 

Miles Thompson (formerly Michael’s Santa Monica) – Santa Monica 


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When Chef Miles Thompson describes food, it sounds like jazz – “salt, umami, acid, sugar, spice, crunch!” His Shift List included the trippy guitar stylings of Bill Frisell, the rootsy wanderings of Jason Isbell, and classical suites from the likes of Debussy and Isaac Albéniz.

Favorite tracks:

  • Bill Frisell – “Telstar” 
  • Bill Frisell – “Del Close” 
  • Agustiín Barrios Mangoré – “Julia Florida”
  • The Beatles – “Savoy Truffle” 

Matt Orlando (Amass, noma, Per Se) – Copenhagen 


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Chef Matt Orlando’s Amass restaurant in Copenhagen is a fine dining establishment located in a sprawling industrial warehouse that is covered in graffiti and proudly blasts obscure and “sometimes aggressive” hip hop. His Shift List included Bay Area legends Hieroglyphics, plenty of Wu Tang Clan, and some obscure Scottish reggae music to round it all out.

Favorite Tracks: 

  • Hieroglyphics – 3rd Eye Vision (Note: this is the entire album. Just let it run. There is no better music to cook to!)

 

Stay On Your Ass: BGS Picks to Get You to April 30 (or At Least Through the Week)

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

In the past, we’ve been pretty much adamant in our command to GET. OFF. YOUR. ASS. Supporting musicians, writers, and creators means going out to shows, buying drinks at venues, volunteering at festivals, and so much more — except… not right now.

So here’s what you can do to help the music business — and all of your favorite hard-working, paycheck-to-paycheck artists. Just stay on your ass! Each week, we’ll round up a few of our favorite events, livestreams, and COVID-19 coping resources that we’ve scrolled by on our feeds or found in our inboxes.

Did we miss something? (We probably did.) Let us know in the comments or on social media!

Julian Lage and Margaret Glaspy Live From Home

Julian Lage and Margaret Glaspy grace the camera in this very special performance for the updated and socially distant “Live From Home,” Live From Here with Chris Thile’s response to the COVID-19 crisis.

The sincerity and sweetness of the performance jumps through the screen as the two gifted artists shine together, singing an original song called “Katonah.” A song for the times, it’s sung from the point of view of a person who is fixed at home in deep thought, wondering about another — who is by no means bound to the narrator. Just as the lyrics lead the listener to wonder, Lage echoes with melodies that are equally comforting and ponderous.

Perhaps a highlight in the video comes when the two are finished performing; listening as the final notes ring, they look to one another and share a satisfied, slightly surprised smile. It’s moments like these that can surpass the space between camera and screen and connect music to audiences anywhere.

See more artists perform “Live From Home” here.

What the $2 Trillion Coronavirus Stimulus Bill Means for Musicians

Pitchfork walks musicians and music industry folks through one of several economic relief packages and the specific ways by which it attempts to aid freelancers and those in the gig economy — but record stores, labels, venues, and other types of businesses in these spaces as well. Read more here.

On Monday, April 6, the Recording Academy will host a webinar that will provide facts and resources for those navigating this relief package — the CARES Act — as well.

UnCancelled Music Festival

Our friends at storied Los Angeles roots music venue the Hotel Cafe will have a dedicated stage as part of the UnCancelled Music Festival through April 9. Hosted on StageIt, the event will bolster Hotel Cafe as they support their staff, their community of artists, and the music community at large through gifts to MusiCares’ COVID-19 relief fund.

You can support our friends at the Hotel Cafe directly here.

Artist Rights Alliance Resource List

Another excellent collection of resources, the Artist Rights Alliance is an artist-run non-profit advocating for musicians, performers, and songwriters in the digital landscape. Arts and music-based organizations are especially important in this time, as they often have a more holistic understanding of the particular needs of these communities; on their list you can find resources for addiction recovery and care, tips for keeping busy, a guide for ethical gig cancellations, and so much more.

Station Inn TV

After more than 46 years, the plucky, resolute bluegrass venue that refused to fall to development, condominium complexes, and boutique hotels has “turned the lock” because of the novel coronavirus. After a couple of weeks of ongoing broadcasts on their new Station Inn TV platform, with the proceeds going toward the working musicians on each show, the team at the little stone building in Nashville’s Gulch neighborhood has decided to shut it down. Good news, though! Given their backlog of Station Inn TV content, they will continue rebroadcasting past shows online — on their website and Facebook page. In a time when we need bluegrass more than ever, we hope you’ll tune in and support this iconic home for bluegrass and the bands who make it.

Chef Edward Lee’s Restaurant Workers Relief Program

We returned to the archives of our podcast, The Shift List, for a conversation with Chef Edward Lee, who is now leading the charge across the country to support our food service and hospitality workers — who have been disproportionately impacted by COVID-19 restrictions and closures. Listen to the episode and find out more about how to help here.

Art is Alive

Created by artist Rhiannon Giddens, and in collaboration with Amanda Palmer and Neil Gaiman, Art is Alive connects fans to artists in a stay-at-home climate. Described on their website, “Art is Alive is a solidarity effort aimed at providing resources, spreading awareness, and building connectedness within the artistic and creative freelance communities impacted by the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic.”

We’ve all seen, in just a few short weeks, how frenetic, disorganized, and piecemeal the response has been to this crisis and its ripple effects, especially in the music industry. Art is Alive attempts to put as much of these puzzle pieces together in one place, a sort of leave-a-penny, take-a-penny hub for those interested in navigating all of this uncertainty together. Find resources, find artists, and find music streaming right here.

Justin Hiltner and Jonny Therrien contributed to this article.

 

The Shift List – Restaurant Workers Relief Program

Posted on by Chris Jacobs

This week on The Shift List, a replay of our conversation with Chef Edward Lee, recorded back in 2018.

Chef Lee is helping to lead the way in bringing restaurant workers relief with his Restaurant Workers Relief Program through The Lee Initiative. Due to the closure of so many restaurants and bars across America in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, thousands of workers have an urgent need for assistance, and they need our help now more than ever.

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In partnership with Maker’s Mark Bourbon, Chef Lee is transforming restaurants across the country into relief centers for any restaurant worker who has been laid off or has had a significant reduction in hours and/or pay. The Lee Initiative, in conjunction with local chefs in every majorly affected community across the country, is offering help for those in need of food and supplies, and each night, they’re packing hundreds of to-go meals.

Restaurateurs like Nancy Silverton in Los Angeles, Jose Salazar in Cincinnati, and Lee’s own Succotash and 610 Magnolia teams in D.C. and Louisville are doing so much good right now, along with so many others across the country. The BGS Podcast Network team wants to do what we can to spread the word and shine a spotlight on this important work.

For more information and to donate, visit leeinitiative.org, and in the meantime, while we’re all trapped indoors, continue to support your local community by ordering takeout and pickup (if your local guidelines and recommendations permit it).

Festival Founder Danny Wimmer Infuses Bourbon & Beyond with Bluegrass

Posted on by Editor

This month, Bourbon & Beyond will descend upon Louisville, Kentucky, for its third annual event, attracting tens of thousands for a weekend of music, food, and brown liquor. Alison Krauss, Greensky Bluegrass, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, and more top-notch talent are slated to grace the stages over a newly-expanded three-day stretch, but the bourbon and food lineups are just as impressive.

Bourbon aficionados can sample tastings from more than forty labels, as well as partake in workshops that range from cocktail-making to history lessons. Meanwhile, culinarians can spend an evening at supper club with acclaimed chef Edward Lee or sample local fare across the grounds.

To prepare for the weekend, BGS caught up with festival founder Danny Wimmer, whose namesake production company puts on more than a dozen annual festivals throughout North America. We spoke about how Bourbon & Beyond got its start, what makes it a must-attend event, and why he thinks the Louisville festival is here to stay.

Editor’s Note: Be sure to check out the Bluegrass Situation Stage at Bourbon & Beyond

How did Bourbon and Beyond come together in the beginning?

My love for bourbon is really where it started. About eight or nine years ago, we had the idea to start our own bourbon [label], and started meeting with master distillers. I spent a year in Louisville and I fell in love with the city — well, really, I fell in love with the community. So we put the bourbon on hold and we launched Louder Than Life, a hard rock festival. Through that, we saw an opportunity for something that centered around craft — music, culinary, spirits.

Making bourbon isn’t just something you can do overnight. It takes about four to seven years before you can even drink any of the product. It’s a true art form and it’s something that takes patience. Kentucky produces 95 percent of all bourbon, and we saw an opportunity to further connect the dots between the bourbon industry and the state. When you say “Napa Valley,” you think of wine. When you say “Kentucky” or “Louisville,” you should be instantly thinking bourbon. We wanted to create an event that incorporated bourbon, food, music, and this beautiful state.

You worked with two people who are really in touch with the bourbon and culinary scenes in Louisville — bourbon writer Fred Minnick and acclaimed chef Edward Lee, respectively. What made it important to have their involvement?

We really wanted to have a five-year festival in year one, from the way it operated to the way the community was to engage in it. When you’re talking about launching a bourbon festival in the heart of bourbon country, there’s going to be a lot of skepticism. These guys from LA. Why are they doing it?

It wasn’t like we had an idea and [Bourbon & Beyond] just happened. It took a lot of different players to bring this together and make it happen — the mayor’s office, the bourbon community. Bringing [Minnick and Lee] in as partners gave the festival the credibility it needed. They’re really our gatekeepers, between the city and the state and the bourbon and the culinary worlds.

Music-wise, what are your priorities when booking Bourbon & Beyond, and how does bluegrass fit in?

The soul of Kentucky is bluegrass, and it was very important to have the genre be a centerpiece of this festival. We wanted the respect of the [bluegrass] community, but also to put these acts in front of a whole new crowd. One of the things we hope for is that artists can use our festivals as a way to really grow their awareness — as a vehicle to come back and headline a bigger room. Bluegrass, specifically, is something I’ve fallen in love with. It’s a genre that we’re going to stay very focused on, and focused on growing. Don’t be surprised if soon we’re doing bluegrass events in other places in the country.

You said you fell in love with Louisville as a city. Of course, a bourbon event there feels like a no-brainer, but what made you think this festival, with the music and culinary elements intertwined, would work there?

The people. Listen, I’m from Jacksonville, Florida. I’m a Southern boy. Louisville is a gateway to the South. Ever since we got here, the city, the mayor’s office, and now the governor’s office, has opened their arms. There are not a lot of communities that are so welcoming to the arts. The reason we now have three festivals here is really the community.

But Louisville also sits in an area that has five or ten major cities around it. We have Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Nashville. We have St. Louis that’s six hours away, we have Chicago that’s five hours away. We’ve got some major markets that are really close by. With the explosion of the bourbon industry, a lot of people really want to come experience Louisville — we believe it’s where Austin, Texas was ten to fifteen years ago; where Nashville was ten years ago. Both of those cities started with music. And I think we have the right recipe to help this city become the next [big music and food destination].

Are there any unique advantages to producing festivals independently?

I’m in a place where I can follow my heart fast. I don’t have to get approval. Sure, I have to run a business — me and my partner have a really great relationship between business and art — but I’m in a place where I can make a decision [based on what I’m aiming for] five years from now or ten years from now. I love independent companies. They’re usually great at creating niches; they’re specialists in certain genres. I think independent promoters are very crucial to the food chain of our industry.

[For example,] I don’t like that there are three radio stations that really control the listening and the programming of our country. One of the major downfalls is that we lost localization in markets. Before the [consolidation], I loved the local aspect that radio would bring to certain markets. [On the label side,] I loved that you had records signing certain genres — they were specialists. Right now, we’re missing that, but there will be a day when you see indies rising again.

Photo credit: Sam Shapiro

BGS Podcast ‘The Shift List’ Joins Osiris Network

Posted on by Editor

The Bluegrass Situation is proud to announce that season 2 of The Shift List is now hosted on the Osiris podcast network.

The Shift List goes inside the kitchens of leading chefs to find out what kind of music fuels their shifts in the kitchen, influences their food and touches their lives. Partnering with BGS, the leading online source for roots culture, The Shift List offers a unique perspective on music through the eyes of the culinary world’s driving forces.

Host Chris Jacobs has talked to innovative chefs from around the world about the music that plays in their kitchens during a shift, including Copenhagen’s Rosio Sanchez (NOMA, Netflix’s Ugly Delicious), Kentucky’s Edward Lee (610 Magnolia, Top Chef), and Oklahoma City’s Colin Stiringer and Jeremy Wolfe (Nonesuch, Bon Appetit’s #1 Best New Restaurant 2018).

“The Shift List is a unique look into music through the culinary world, providing an intimate and authentic view of music from some of the world’s leading chefs,” said RJ Bee, CEO of Osiris. “The launch of The Shift List, in partnership with BGS, represents our expansion into more musical and cultural genres. Look for much more roots music and culture content from BGS and Osiris.”

Season 2 will include innovative chefs sharing the music they love from places like Hawaii, San Francisco, Austin, Montreal and more. Catch up on every episode of Season 1.

Subscribe to The Shift List wherever you get your podcasts — Apple Music, Spotify, and Stitcher.

The Shift List – Edward Lee (610 Magnolia, MilkWood) Louisville

Posted on by Chris Jacobs

Edward Lee is the chef and owner of three restaurants with unique identities in Louisville, Kentucky – 610 Magnolia, MilkWood, and Whiskey Dry – and is the author of two books. Smoke & Pickles – his first – is a cookbook that chronicles the story of how he was raised in Brooklyn in a family of Korean immigrants to his arrival in Louisville, and Buttermilk Graffiti, a uniquely inspiring read that is part food essay, part travel book, part memoir and part cookbook.

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Released in the Spring of 2018, Buttermilk Graffiti finds Lee traveling across America to learn how immigrants arrive, thrive, and influence the cuisine of communities all over the country, from the Cambodian community of Lowell Massachusetts to the predominantly Muslim neighborhoods of Dearborn Michigan.

In addition to his appearances on award winning shows like Mind of a Chef and writing and producing the Feature Documentary Fermented, Lee participates in the annual Bourbon and Beyond festival held in Louisville at the end of each September for the past two years.

Equal parts bourbon, music, and food, the festival shines a spotlight on the things that make Kentucky and Louisville a great place to visit and live.

chefedwardlee.com