MIXTAPE: Bridget Kearney’s Photographic Memories

From my early days of being photo editor of my high school newspaper to my current tour hobby of photographing bizarre regional potato chip flavors in their native lands for @chipscapes, I have long held a fascination for photography. As life rushes by us at a mile a minute a camera has the ability to freeze the frame for a second, capture a moment in time, and provide photographic evidence that the moment actually existed. Though the waves may have crashed into your impossibly magnificent sand castle, you can keep it standing forever in a photo. And though time may have drowned out a love that once burned impossibly bright, a security camera may have accidentally captured the most blissful moments of that love and if you can track down the footage and find those moments, you could potentially kick back on the couch and watch those moments on infinite loop forever.

This is the premise of my song, “Security Camera,” from my new album Comeback Kid. Beyond that song, the subject of photos, memories, and trying to hold on to a moment for what it was, to love that moment forever in spite of its ephemeral nature, weaves its way through the album as a common thread. I put together a playlist of songs on the theme of cameras and memory and it turns out a lot of my favorite songwriters and biggest influences have also been fascinated by this subject. Recorded music is basically the audio version of a photo/video, so it makes sense. Hope you enjoy these songs as much as I do. – Bridget Kearney

“Kamera” – Wilco

Jeff Tweedy seems to be using the camera as a self-revealing truth teller in this song. He’s lost his grip on reality and only a camera can tell him “which lies that I been hiding.” I have loved Wilco for a long time and have a very specific visual memory of listening to them on headphones in college: I was on a semester abroad in Morocco and I was going for a run along the beach in Essaouira and came upon these big sand dunes. I spontaneously decided to run up to the top of the dunes and then bound down them into the water. This joyous discovery of dune jumping on a perfect sunny day will always be soundtracked to Wilco’s song “Theologians” in my mind.

“Kodachrome” – Paul Simon

Paul Simon was always playing around the house when I was growing up and this song has a particular significance to the origin story of my band, Lake Street Dive: We were on one of our first tours and we were driving my parent’s minivan around the Midwest. The only way to listen to music in the van was through the CD player. It was in the pre-streaming era where we all would have had a big library of digital music on our laptops (probably illegally downloaded from Napster or the like). So we decided to co-create a mystery mix CD by passing around someone’s laptop and letting each of us put in songs one-by-one, not telling each other what we’d put it in. Then we burned out the mystery mix CD and listened to it together.

As four students studying jazz at a conservatory we had mostly listened to Charles Mingus and The Bad Plus together thus far, but the mystery mix exposed all four of us pop music fiends. Song after song kept coming on and we’d go, “Oh my god, you like Lauryn Hill too?!” and “You also know every lyric to David Bowie’s ‘Life on Mars’?!” This culminated in the moment when the mystery mix played Paul Simon’s “Kodachrome” THREE TIMES IN A ROW! That was when we knew we should be a band forever. The groove on this song is also part of the inspiration for the song “If You’re Driving” from Comeback Kid.

“Hey Ya” – Outkast

Not actually a song about photos and you’re not actually supposed to shake Polaroid pictures, but Andre 3000 is one of the greatest musicians of our time and I’ve learned so much from him about music and language and spirit! Also this song is a total jam.

“Security Camera” – Bridget Kearney

I live in Brooklyn and there are security cameras everywhere here – at the bodegas, at the clubs, on the rooftops. Their purpose is to capture criminals in the act of committing a crime, but they are also capturing so many other things. Everyday things and extraordinary things. Moments of extreme beauty and moments of extreme pain. The idea behind this song is to track down security camera footage of the very best moments of your life so you can watch them on repeat.

“Pictures Of Me” – Elliott Smith

I went through a huge Elliott Smith phase in college and had an instrumental Elliott Smith cover band. His harmonies and melodies are so good that you don’t even need the lyrics, but adding them in, of course, makes it all the better. This one seems to say that pictures can lie to you, too.

“Picture In a Frame” – Tom Waits

This is one of those songs that seems like it has existed forever. “Ever since I put your picture in a frame” sounds to me like he is saying, “Ever since I decided to love you.”

“Body” – Julia Jacklin

My friend Michael Leviton (a great photographer and musician!) told me about this song and its passing but gutting reference to a photo. We were talking about how I had realized that a lot of my songs are about cameras and photography and how funny it is to look back at your own songs and see patterns and discover what you’ve been obsessed with the whole time. Michael said his thing is “curtains,” which appear over and over again in his songs.

“Bad Self Portraits” – Lake Street Dive

A song I wrote for Lake Street Dive years ago about what happens when the person you want to take a picture of steps out of the frame. What you’re left with and how to make the most of it.

“Videotape” – Radiohead

I always thought this song was about when you die and you are at the pearly gates of heaven, they are deciding whether you get in or not and watch back videotapes of your life to see if you were good or bad. I don’t know if that’s what Radiohead meant, but that’s my interpretation! The production is so cool, the way the drum loop is slightly off tempo and moves around the phrase slowly as it cycles around. Damn, Radiohead is so cool!!

There are a few songs on Comeback Kid that are directly Radiohead influenced. “Sleep In” is like Radiohead meets Ravel (or that’s what I was going for!) When I graduated from Iowa City West High School, I arranged a version of “Paranoid Android” that some friends and I played instrumentally at the graduation ceremony. In retrospect, that is a really weird song for us to have played at graduation! But I think it’s cool that they let us be brooding teenagers and go for it.

“When the Lights Go Out” – Sarah Jarosz

The song that gave Sarah’s brilliant new record its title, Polaroid Lovers. I feel so inspired by the music that my friends make, and Sarah’s songs from this album really knocked me off my feet when I heard the album and even more so when I heard them live!

“People Take Pictures of Each Other” – The Kinks

A festive little song about taking photos of things to prove that they existed.

“I Bet Ur” – Bridget Kearney

This is a song from the album I put out last year, Snakes of Paradise. The narrative is built around seeing a picture of something that you don’t want to see, letting your imagination fill in the details, and learning to accept it as truth.

“I Turn My Camera On” – Spoon

Groove goals. The camera here puts a bit of distance between you and the world.

“Photograph” – Ringo Starr

A song about photographs by my favorite Beatle? Yes, please!

“My Funny Valentine” – Chet Baker

I love Chet Baker’s singing, his pure, dry, affectless delivery, his deadpan panache. And I love the way this song manages to rhyme “laughable” and “un-photographable” and stick the landing.

“Camera Roll” – Kacey Musgraves

Photography has been around for a long time now but carrying thousands of photos of our lives organized in chronological order in our pockets at all times is relatively new. And both wonderful and terrible.

“Come Down” – Anderson .Paak

Just a passing reference to pictures in this song, but I had to get Anderson .Paak on the playlist because he’s the best!

“Obsessed” – Bridget Kearney

A song about falling quickly, unexpectedly, insanely in love with someone and trying to understand how it happened. You look back at the pictures as evidence trying to gather clues, see the train of events that led to this madness.


Photo Credit: Rodneri

BGS 5+5: Lee DeWyze

Artist: Lee DeWyze
Hometown: Mount Prospect, Illinois
Latest Album: Ghost Stories

Which artist has influenced you the most … and how?

I would have to say two artists: Paul Simon and Cat Stevens. I always believed everything Paul Simon was saying in his songs, which to me always spoke to the honesty in music — I find that very important for me in my writing. And the emotionality and vulnerability that Cat Stevens put in not only his live performances, but his recordings as well. I was so hooked on them from a young age it was quite literally what inspired me to start writing and playing.

What was the first moment that you knew you wanted to be a musician?

I was about 10 years old and I was reading along the back cover of the Tea for the Tillerman as my dad played it (we always had records playing). I can remember being amazed that these stories were being told through music and I was so moved — it was almost a calling for me. It was like a mental picture book.

How often do you hide behind a character in a song or use “you” when it’s actually “me”?

I would say I do like to have the listener feel like they’re part of the story. I would like to think over the years I’ve become more open to being vulnerable in my writing. I do like to write from my point of view — that said I’m not always writing from my experience. Sometimes it’s just understanding someone else’s experience and trying to convey that from my perspective.

What’s the toughest time you ever had writing a song?

I would say probably during this past year, plus there was a stretch of about eight months that I just could not find the inspiration to write. Which seems ironic considering all the time I had. It was definitely a test for myself, but after a while the writing kind of swept me up and it was like the flood gates were open, allowing me to finish my new record, Ghost Stories.

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

I would definitely say that film/visual media has found its way into my music. I’ve had quite a few songs in TV and movies and I suppose I’ve always loved that marriage. Whether it be a song of mine that finds its way in, or I’m brought on to write specifically for something. From Harold and Maude to the Disney classics, I always loved the music and movies from a young age. I remember seeing Fantasia for the first time and it blew my mind.


Photo credit: JDubs Photography

The BGS Radio Hour – Episode 201

Welcome to the BGS Radio Hour! Since 2017, the Radio Hour has been a weekly recap of all the great music, new and old, featured on BGS. This week, we’ve got music from Ani DiFranco, Andrew Marlin, and a Whiskey Sour Happy Hour appearance from Chris Eldridge! Remember to check back every Monday for a new episode of the BGS Radio Hour.

APPLE PODCASTS, SPOTIFY

Ani DiFranco – “Simultaneously”

Longtime voice of social change and activism through her music, Ani DiFranco brings us a new album, Revolutionary Love, at a time where we so much need it — a time marked by social and political unrest, racial equity, and the COVID-19 pandemic. While DiFranco usually has a busy tour schedule, the past year has been an opportunity to spend time at home with family, write a children’s book, start a free radio station, and write a musical about restorative justice. All of that in ONE year.

Melissa Carper – “Makin’ Memories”

Coming March 19, this Texas-based artist brings us Daddy’s Country Gold. BGS caught up with Carper on a recent 5+5 to talk about influences, memories, nature, songwriting, and the first moment she knew she was going to be a musician.

Elise Davis – “Empty Rooms”

Although the pandemic has been hard on everyone, musicians have a unique experience – most were accustomed to singing in bars and halls every night, for different crowds, in different cities. Even the empty rooms are missed, suggests Elise Davis in this new single from her upcoming project, Anxious. Happy. Chill. 

Mando Saenz – “Shadow Boxing”

From Corpus Christi, TX, singer and songwriter Mando Saenz – AKA ‘Mando Calrissian’ – graces the show this week with with a song from his newest album, All My Shame. His mission statement? To create music true to his heart and inspirations. It doesn’t get much truer than that.

Andrew Marlin – “Oxcart Man”

In 2018, Andrew Marlin (of Mandolin Orange) released his first solo album – a collection of mandolin-based old-time instrumentals entitled Buried in a Cape. Now after nearly 3 years, Marlin returns to the medium with twin albums of a similar aesthetic – Fable & Fire, Witching Hour. 

Six-String Soldiers & The SteelDrivers – “Long Way Down”

The United States Army Field Band teams up with bluegrass favorite The SteelDrivers for a new collaborative video of “Long Way Down.” From Alabama to their home in D.C., the Six-String Soldiers have been able to collaborate with the SteelDrivers a few times now.

Vivian Leva & Riley Calcagno – “Will You”

A couple of grown-up old-time festival kids, Vivian Leva and Riley Calcagno bring us a mixtape of their “old-time deep cuts” this week. From Roscoe Holcomb to Foghorn Stringband to Hazel & Alice, the duet offers their playlist in celebration of a newly released self-titled album.

Valerie June – “Why the Bright Stars Glow”

Tennessee-born and Brooklyn-based Valerie June is our March Artist of the Month here at BGS! Stay tuned all month long for exclusive interviews and content regarding her new album, The Moon and the Stars: Prescriptions for Dreamers.

Melody Duncan – “Over the Hill”

Aging is something that none of us escape. Melody Duncan relishes in the life lessons that we’re given from unavoidable challenges and growth opportunities, in exchange for more time here on Earth. Like a journal entry, “It’s a dedication for all of those willing to invest in a good today,” says Duncan, “even if our bones ache in the morning.”

Nathan Vincent – “Blue Ridge State”

It’s hard to end something, even when we know we have to. For Texas-based Nathan Vincent, the title is a physical place and an emotional one – and like the mountains, the relationship in the song rises and falls. Vincent and his crew journeyed to Asheville, NC to shoot the video, a “visual motif” that accompanies the sentiment and progression of the song.

Emily Moment – “Master of One”

From her upcoming The Party’s Over, London-based Emily moment brings us a song this week about our hurtful behaviors. We’re drawn to the things that hurt us so much, suggests Moment – like the Fugu fish in Japan, whose tastiest part is closest to its poison.

Chris Eldridge – “Angeles”

It’s hard to believe that it’s been a year since COVID changed all of our lives. We’re looking back at some of our virtual series from last year, highlighting the many performances which deserve to be seen more than once. This week, we’ve got Chris Eldridge (of the Punch Brothers) with a cover of Elliot Smith’s “Angeles” – a tribute to the city where BGS was born.

Ariel Posen – “Now I See”

Sometimes the smallest realizations can lead to the biggest breakthroughs, suggests Ariel Posen. From his new album Headway, this song is about self acceptance, and finding belonging among our imperfections.

Adam Douglas – “Joyous We’ll Be”

By taking a stand against the political and social challenges that we face, Adam Douglas offers this song for a brighter future. From watching his home country since 2016, seeing everything that was hidden rise to the top, Douglas was troubled by the viewpoints of so many. “It’s not an anti-45 song though,” he says. “It is an ‘anti-idiot’ song.”


Photos: (L to R) Andrew Marlin by Lindsey Rome; Chris Eldridge; Valerie June by Renata Raksha

The Show on the Road – Sarah Shook

This week on The Show On The Road, we catch up with acclaimed roots-rocker Sarah Shook. For most of the last decade, Shook has been making cut-to-the-bone country music of her own outlaw variety — first with her early band The Devil and now with her seasoned group of sensitive twang-rock shitkickers, The Disarmers.


LISTEN: APPLE PODCASTSSTITCHERSPOTIFYMP3

Homeschooled in deeply religious seclusion in upstate New York and North Carolina, Shook largely only heard classical composers growing up. As a loner, creative teenager trying to process her hidden bisexuality, she described hearing Elliott Smith and Belle & Sebastian as revelatory — finally someone felt like her and found a way to share it with the world. But it was after encountering the raw honesty in the songs of Johnny Cash that she found a purpose and a place for her achy-voiced folk songs.

With a little encouragement from her longtime lead guitarist, who saw how powerful her presence (and her songs) could be on stage, an openly reticent Shook took the leap and started playing professionally in 2013. She gained national attention with her stellar back-to-back albums Sidelong and Years, which caught the attention of famed alt-/outlaw country label Bloodshot Records (they signed her) and sent her on a relentless round of touring.

With confessional, lived-in songs like “Fuck Up” and “New Ways To Fail” Shook is a master of getting to the point, processing her tough transition to sobriety with grace, humor and wit. Much like her hero Johnny Cash, she suffers no fools when it comes to love and its tricky late-night detours. With her signature half-smile/half-grimace candor Shook sings about another love affair gone wrong: “I need this shit like I need another hole in my head.”

Stick around to the end of the episode to hear a live-from-home acoustic rendition of her deliciously twangy kiss-off, “Gold As Gold.”


Photo credit: Derek Ketchum

Fingerstyle Guitarist Sunny War Wants Punk’s Honesty Back in Music

Guitarist and singer/songwriter Sunny War doesn’t necessarily miss performing live, in-person shows — she’s not even sure she ever really liked playing shows that much in the “before COVID-19” times at all. But, as she connects with BGS over the phone in preparation for another pandemic-tailored event, her Shout & Shine livestream show on Wednesday, September 16 (live on BGS, Facebook, and YouTube at 7pm ET / 4pm PT) her general feelings regarding the pandemic and its far-reaching impact on the music industry are very clear: It’s all just really weird.

She, like many creators in the March-and-April maelstrom that swallowed up any/all meaningful work for an interminable period of time, became depressed, distant, and took some time to work her way back into a creative mode that feels respondent to our harsh everyday without being bogged down in it. A punk-influenced and inflected lyricist, she’s once again turning to her songwriting pen as an outlet. 

While her peers turn to that same outlet to process many of the myriad daily tragedies and injustices we’re all so attuned to in this global moment, War instead pauses. “I kinda don’t like protest songs from people who didn’t do it before,” she explains, calling to task the frantic and frenzied rush to pivot records, releases, and pressers into more “appropriate,” digestible bits for a newly awakened, activist reality — and consumer. 

(Watch Sunny War’s complete Shout & Shine performance above.)

But War’s identity, her selfhood, as evidenced through every note of her idiosyncratically finger-plucked songs and through her carefully chosen words in her lyrical poetry and our conversation, calls upon her to challenge that propriety. “[Democracy] actually is working” she explains, noting hypocrisy and/or tone deafness in our roots music communities. “It’s working, it’s always been working. It just hasn’t ever been in our favor.” 

BGS: I’m a banjo player, I came up through bluegrass, and there’s something about your right hand in your guitar playing that’s really entrancing and relatable to me. It conjures bluegrass and fingerstyle, but it is so unique to you, it’s idiosyncratic. Where did your style come from? What influenced your right hand technique, how did it develop? 

SW: I think it came from mimicking banjo, actually. My stepdad’s friend played banjo, so I was around a banjo player sometimes growing up. The first fingerpicking thing I learned was “Blackbird” by the Beatles and that was the first time I thought I sounded kinda good. When I was a kid, I thought, “Wow! This [fingerpicking] sounds way better than just strumming a chord.” I never really learned a lot of chords, I still just play a lot of chords in first position. I was just playing C and G and D open and I thought, “Well now I sound like I’m really playing something.” 

I didn’t listen to blues until I was in high school and then I was kind of imitating country, blues, and my stepdad’s friend on banjo. Later, I was trying to be like Mississippi John Hurt; and I kinda wanted to be like Chet Atkins. But I couldn’t ever figure that out. 

I see plenty of folks in the scene who idolize Derek Trucks or Joe Bonamassa or even Molly Tuttle and Billy Strings who are coming up. There are these guitar fans that just idolize and adore them. Have you seen guitar fans trying to capture what you’re doing with your playing?

Not really? I don’t know. There are some people on Facebook and Instagram who message [me] and want to talk about my guitar style, but they’re usually just into old-timey blues stuff. Then we just talk about that. Sometimes they ask who I listen to. But I think [the implication is], “You’re really close to maybe being like this person I know of.” 

I can think of a lot of shredders out there, but I do the same kind of riffs in every key that I play in. I feel like I can say I really do fingerpick well, but I know people that really do it and can play as well with their left hand as their right. I’m not quite there. [Laughs]

It’s hard to talk about music and performing right now without acknowledging the giant, COVID-19 elephant in the room. It’s interesting to me that this moment of pausing, of stopping everything, especially in the music industry, has given artists a chance to refocus or realign their priorities – have you been thinking about the future? Thinking about the present? How has the pandemic felt to you? 

The first three months I was just depressed and drinking a lot and not doing anything. Then recently, I’ve been trying to write. I’ve been jamming with my friend Milo, who plays a lot of lead guitar on two of my albums, and we’re going to make some demos together. I’ve also been thinking about going to school, trying to get into some kind of two-year program. Since music might not [come back], there might not be live music for two more years. I’m thinking about getting a job. [Laughs] 

It’s daunting to wake up every day like, “I’m going to keep doing this now, because I believe — I think — it’s going to happen in the future.” It’s a lot! 

Yeah, it’s like, “Maybe music is just not essential…” You know? [Sad chuckle] 

Then, with the whole Zoom thing and the livestream thing, I’m just not really into it. I’m not enjoying it at all, it feels weird. It’s just like, sitting in a room by yourself, trying to make a video, and then you think, “Should I look into the camera? Should there be talking in between?” You’re trying to imitate a set at a venue, but you’re just sitting by yourself. It just feels weird! I would rather just play by myself, without a camera. 

I liked playing shows [before] kind of, but I almost didn’t even like that. At least it felt like there was a reason for doing it. I was talking to my mom and we both realized we used to watch concerts before, too. Just then it was an actual concert on film. Even that would be better! If there were somehow an audience in the livestream… I guess that can’t be, but it’s just awkward [without them.] Seeing a band play off of the energy of the room is more what it’s about.

Well, for your Shout & Shine livestream performance we’ll have to ask our audience to be “loud” in the comments! Use that clapping hands emoji! [Laughs] Who would you like to see as a guest on Shout & Shine? Whose music is inspiring you right now and getting you through the day-to-day?

I like Tré Burt! Amythyst Kiah, too. 

Have you heard of Yes Ma’am? They’re from New Orleans – the singer sometimes plays solo, but also has a band. They used to busk on the street in New Orleans. It’s just really good, a great kinda folky string band. 

I like the new Run The Jewels album. I listen to Elliott Smith still, and a lot of ‘90s music. I like Black Pumas a lot.

What would you like to see from the music community, as far as a response to this moment in our culture’s history — not only the racial injustice and righteous rebellions against police brutality, but also how divided and polarized our musical community is now. It’s like half people who want music to “remain apolitical” and half folks who are like, “Music has always been political, where the fuck have you been all along?” What do you see as the urgent need of our community to reconcile all of this? I know that’s a huge question.

I think it just needs to become about honesty again. That’s something I would like to see. I’m not really that into “Americana” music, but even so I feel like [Americana] musicians are going to be faced with not being able to let these issues go unaddressed anymore. I think that’s interesting. At this point, you can’t just put out your weird corny love song that’s not even about anything that happened in your life, but is actually just something that makes sense pop-wise and hit-wise. You should have to really be honest. People don’t necessarily have to be “political,” they can just write about all the emotions they’re going through. We’re all dealing with the pandemic and with Trump and with police brutality — it’s a lot. Even if people don’t want to write a song about why we should get rid of the police, they could at least write about how scared they are. I don’t know, there’s a different, new kind of folk that could happen about just being freaked out and unsure of your future. I love shit like that. 

I kinda don’t like protest songs from people who didn’t do it before. It’s just not hitting right. I don’t want your protest music if you weren’t writing it before. Whatever issue is being highlighted, it’s always like, “Yeah, we’ve BEEN talking about that.” [Expectant pause] This has been the conversation. I’m into punk, I’ve always liked protest music. As far as folk, I do like its protest music, but I mostly like punk or really politically-charged hip-hop. It’s kind of annoying when say, a really poppy country person who’s never said anything about anything is writing a protest song. It’s just cashing in. It’s corny. It’s weird. 

And another thing, a lot of people who are going out to these Black Lives Matter protests and stuff, I still don’t feel like they would treat me any differently than they normally would. I saw people posing and taking pictures. This is a weird thing to just be a trend. 

Like Breonna Taylor now being a meme.

Yeah. It’s offensive, it’s too much. 

And how many times they show those videos [of Black people being murdered by police]. There’s a lot of murder porn going around! People are saying one thing, but showing someone die every day. I was kind of like, “You know, I don’t think they would show a video of a white person being killed, over and over again.” A lot of things happening right now are really dehumanizing and I don’t think people can see it unless they really, really think about it. Or maybe put themselves in that position. It’s murder porn.

I know what happened. I don’t want to see this over and over again. I don’t need to physically see it to be angry about it. Think of all the bad this is doing to our psyches on top of everything else, seeing people murdered every day. 

But, a lot of musicians are “activists” now, I guess. I just… don’t really know what that means. They were going to put out a song anyway. That’s what they do for a living. Obviously they can’t just put out the typical love song — that’s what people always write about, love. That would be “offensive.” Or, it wouldn’t be “appropriate.” So they all have to change and pretend to be “activists.” It’s just a reflection of what’s trending right now. 

I just want to know: Are they actually going to change in a year? I’m curious to know how long the Black Lives Matter profile pictures are going to stay up. 


Photo credit: Randi Steinberger

BGS 5+5: Joshua Radin

Artist: Joshua Radin
Hometown: Cleveland, Ohio
Latest albums: Here, Right Now (LP) and Acoustic From Sunset Sound (EP)

Which artist has influenced you the most … and how?

I have no idea how to answer that. There are way too many to choose, and not just musicians. But to name a few, Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, Tom Petty, Elliott Smith, Nick Drake, Paul Cezanne, Henry Miller, J.D. Salinger, Dostoyevsky, Hesse, Picasso, Tolstoy …

What’s your favorite memory from being on stage?

The first time I headlined and sold out the Bowery Ballroom in New York City. I had lived in NY for years and that was my favorite spot to see music. So when I finally decided, later in life, to start playing and writing music, being on the other side of that stage was magical.

What’s the toughest time you ever had writing a song?

Hmm, that’s a good question. I’d have to say that this happens very frequently. And nine times out of ten, I’ll end up scrapping the song because if it seems like too much effort, I always feel like it wasn’t meant to be written.

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

I have so many on tour. And at home. But on tour, I wake up on the bus, Google “best coffee near me” and start my day from there. Then I’ll usually walk around the city snapping photos, stumbling down streets without a plan. Everything on tour is planned out once I’m at soundcheck that day, so before that, I like to experience as much spontaneity as I can.

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

Another great question! Especially because when I’m out on the road, ninety percent of what I think about is where I’m going to eat my next meal… tough to decide but maybe — eating Prince St. Pizza in New York on a stoop, while Bob Dylan busks on the street for change with an open guitar case on the sidewalk.


Photo credit: Shervin Lainez

MIXTAPE: Lily Kershaw’s Songs That Made Her Want to Write Music

“I decided to make a mixtape of the songs that inspired me to write music. It is always good to return to the reason you started something, especially if you find yourself lost in the middle or far from the start and you need to anchor back to where you began. It’s like going home to reground, rejuvenate, and revitalize! Luckily music is a portable home on our phones these days so I can always dive back in whenever I need to. I hope you enjoy my Mixtape!” — Lily Kershaw

Simon & Garfunkel – “The Sound of Silence”

I chose this song to begin with because it was the first song I heard that made me want to write music. I remember the first time I heard it the world felt like it stopped and an immediate desire to create a song arose in me.

Joni Mitchell – “Cactus Tree”

I’ve been listening to Joni since I was a kid, and this song of her’s in particular made me want to write. I love that she is talking about a woman who would be deemed as “complicated” just because of her desire to be untethered and free, but Joni made her seem so alive and well and glamorous. I remember wanting to be like the woman she sang of.

“He can think her there beside him
He can miss her just the same”

How brilliant is that lyric?!

Leonard Cohen – “Chelsea Hotel #2”

I have covered this song at the majority of shows I’ve ever played live. Cohen wrote this about Janis Joplin. These particular lyrics break my heart:

“Ah but you got away didn’t you babe
You just turned your back on the crowd
You got away I never once heard you say
I need you, I don’t need you”

Crosby, Stills & Nash – “Helplessly Hoping”

I went through a very dark season in my life and the first thing I would do when I woke up in the morning during that time was listen to this song. It would make me feel better even if only for a fleeting moment. I always hope that the music I write can bring comfort to anyone who needs it.

Bob Dylan – “A Simple Twist of Fate”

People tell me it’s a sin
To know and feel too much within

I deeply relate to these lyrics.

Joan Baez – “Diamonds And Rust”

Joan actually wrote this song about Bob Dylan. The poetry is next level!

“Well you burst on the scene already a legend
the unwashed phenomenon
The original vagabond
You strayed into my arms
And there you stayed temporarily lost at sea
The Madonna was yours for free
Yes the girl on the half shelf could keep you unharmed”

Cat Stevens – “The Wind”

This song always re-grounds me and connects me back to my heart and my goal to write music and tell stories from my heart.

Elliott Smith – “Between the Bars”

This is another song I love to cover live and have done so often. I love and relate to this passage of lyrics in particular:

“People you’ve been before that you don’t want around anymore
That push and shove and won’t bend to your will
I’ll keep them still”

Nico – “These Days”

I love a woman simply speaking about where she is at in that moment of her life. It is honest, poetic, simple, and profound.

“I’ve been out walking
I don’t do too much talking these days
These days
These days I seem to think a lot
about the things I forgot to do”

Sufjan Stevens – “Chicago”

This song brings me life. I feel so many things when I listen to this song. It definitely connects me back to my heart and to the place in me that wants to write music.

Now comes the part of my mixtape that is solely a Simon & Garfunkel appreciation section. Here are some of the lyrics that have most inspired me to write!

Simon & Garfunkel – “The Boxer”

“I am leaving I am leaving
but the fighter still remains”

Simon & Garfunkel – “The Dangling Conversation”

“In the dangling conversation
and the superficial sighs
The borders of our lives

And you read your Emily Dickinson
and I my Robert Frost
and we note our place with book markers
that measure what we’ve lost

Simon & Garfunkel – “The Only Living Boy in New York”

“Half of the time we’re gone
but we don’t know where
And we don’t know where”

Now these next two songs are ones I have written. They show the side of what the inspiration from the songs thus far have lead me to create!

Lily Kershaw – “Now & Then”

This is a simple honest folk song about the complicated nature of love and how it changes over time.

“Remember the rooftop parties
Remember the friends
Remember the way I love you now
and the way that I loved you then”

Lily Kershaw – “Darker Things”

This is another of my more acoustic, stripped songs. In it I worry about someone I love very much and how they are hurting and in return hurting themself.

“And you say you hate the way your
mind makes you feel about
all the darker things in your life
I feel you now
I can feel you”

I hope you have enjoyed my mixtape of the songs that inspired me to write music!


Photo credit: Lindsey Byrnes

BGS 5+5: Simon Patrick Kerr

Artist: Simon Patrick Kerr
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
Latest album: Doldrums
Personal nicknames (or rejected band names): The Potato King. I love all potato dishes. Mainly french fries. My friend’s always give me a hard time over my love for potatoes. It’s an Irish thing I guess?

Which artist has influenced you the most … and how?

Neil Young. I’ve always loved how diverse his music was. He could go from cranking up his Fender tweeds until they’re about to blow or he could bring it down to just him & an acoustic. Harvest was my first introduction to Neil. My 14-year-old mind was blown when I heard The Needle and the Damage Done. That record made me want to write songs.

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

I’ve always loved literature. Dylan Thomas, Oscar Wilde, Seamus Heaney. More recently, I’ve started diving into a lot of American authors. In particular, Charles Bukowski. His one-liners are incredible, but the thing I love about his style is that it’s so conversational. I’ve always tried to approach my songwriting in a conversational manor. Sometimes I achieve it. Sometimes I don’t. That’s writing for ya! You never know what you’re going to get when you sit down to write. I used to wait for inspiration, but I’ve quickly realized that it’s more dedication than inspiration. You’ve gotta be dedicated to your craft & put the time in. It’s a grind, man.

What was the first moment that you knew you wanted to be a musician?

I’d have to say watching my Dad open a run of show’s for John Prine in Ireland. I was only 6 or 7, but I still remember it vividly. The music bug definitely rubbed off on me since I’ve been around it my entire life. Once you catch the music bug it never let’s go.

Which elements of nature do you spend the most time with and how do those impact your work?

There’s a park in Nashville called Radnor Lake that I like to go to, and it’s walking distance from my house. Usually when I’m stuck on a song I’ll walk around Radnor to clear my mind. It seems to help most of the time. It’s an oasis in the middle of a congested city. My dog, Dylan, loves it too.

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

I would have loved to have eaten lunch with Elliott Smith at Taj, which is my favorite Indian restaurant in Nashville. I like to think of him as the modern Neil Young. His songs were so well-crafted. Lyrically dark & beautiful. In my eyes (and ears), Elliott’s album XO is the perfect record. Also, the Bhindi Masala at Taj will blow your socks off.

I’m going to break the rules here a little & choose a second musician. I’d like to share a plate of Prince’s Hot Chicken with Alex Turner of the Arctic Monkeys. He is one of the sharpest lyricists in the game at the moment & I’ll defend that statement until the cows come home. Listen to how clean the lyrics are on the newest record, Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino. In particular, the title track. If you’re reading this Alex – let’s write a song!


Photo by Laura E. Partain

Caitlin Canty, ‘Take Me For a Ride’

Onomatopoeia: a word that resembles the sound that it describes. “Boom,” for example. “Pow!” Or the ominous “his-s-s-s-ssing” of a snake. In poetry, it’s a useful tool to give those stanzas a bit of a visceral punch. Perhaps we learn about the term in middle school over a copy of Shakespeare. Maybe we write songs with it, maybe we never think about it again until a snake actually hisses by. Onomatopoeia. It’s a good word, indeed.

“Take Me for a Ride,” the newest release from Caitlin Canty, is a sort of sonic onomatopoeia: Coupling her lush, relaxed delivery with soft arrangements that flash by like images of the dusty Southwest as seen from a car window, it just feels like being taken for a cinematic ride. Canty’s version of folk travels, too — through the complex yet sparse delivery of Elliott Smith, to the singer/songwriters of the 1960s, to the hills of modern Tennessee, building her sound through bits of each but not quite adhering to one thing, in particular, at all. “There are no starts tonight, just a string of lights,” she sings on the track from her upcoming album, Motel Bouquet, out March 30. She hits the notes with a gentle touch, not unlike the flickering of those very lights. You hear what she’s talking about but, somehow, you see it, too; you feel it. Onomatopoeia … it’s a good word. It’s even better when it transforms into a song.

3X3: Diego Davidenko on Loving Ice Cream, Hating Kombucha, and Reliving Life

Artist: Diego Davidenko
Hometown: All over. Currently L.A.
Latest Album: In an Empty House
Personal Nicknames: Deegs, Double-D

What song do you wish you had written?

“The Stars of Track and Field” by Belle and Sebastian

Who would be in your dream songwriter round?

Woody Guthrie, Elliott Smith, Lisa Germano

If you could only listen to one artist’s discography for the rest of your life, whose would you choose?

Conor Oberst

 

Playing here at 7 — come on down folks. #scarfweather

A post shared by diego (@diegodavidenko) on

How often do you do laundry?

When I’m out of clean underpants.

What was the last movie that you really loved?

Sweet Bean

If you could re-live one year of your life, which would it be and why?

This one. It’s so full of adventure and love.

What’s your go-to comfort food?

Ice cream with Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups.

Kombucha — love it or hate it?

Hate it

Mustard or mayo?

Mustard. Pretty much anything over mayo.