Tag: Essentials

Artist of the Month: Brittany Howard

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Brittany Howard embarked on a road trip to recalibrate after stepping away from Alabama Shakes, the Grammy award-winning band known for anthems like “Hold On.” Those relentless highway miles gave her time to rest before roaring back with Jaime, one of the year’s most compelling new albums — and her first as a solo artist.

The acclaimed project is named for Howard’s late sister, who died as a teenager from a rare cancer, but these songs are all about Brittany Howard, and namely her experiences with racism, sexuality, religion, and other touchy topics that are rarely addressed by artists at the peak of their mainstream popularity.

Not to say it’s all heavy — for example, the breathtaking “Stay High” may be the album’s sweetest moment. The production, which is also credited to Howard, is especially remarkable, as Jaime feels like a unified statement, even as the inspirations run the musical gamut. And of course her electric guitar prowess is ceaselessly stunning.

In her first tour dates behind the record, the Alabama native skipped the Shakes catalog in favor of material on Jaime, along with tracks from her other bands. But for our BGS Essentials, we put ’em all in there. Enjoy this hand-picked playlist from our BGS Artist of the Month, Brittany Howard.

Illustration: Zachary Johnson

Artist of the Month: Old Crow Medicine Show

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From their earliest days of busking and playing to capacity crowds at the Station Inn, Old Crow Medicine Show has shown they know how to pull in a crowd. Now they’ve captured that raucous, captivating energy in their newest release, Live From the Ryman, recorded during the group’s numerous headlining performances at the landmark Nashville venue.

The band has seen its share of setbacks and lineup changes over the years, but their catalog is surprisingly limber. In other words, the songs from Eutaw and O.C.M.S. blend seamlessly with tracks from newer releases like Remedy and Volunteer.

It’s a testament to the vision of band founder Ketch Secor, who tells BGS, “If they had tried to stop us a long time ago, they probably would have been able to, but they never tried. We were never curtailed. We were asked to be quiet and to clean up, but nobody ever said ‘no’ enough times for us to pay attention.”

Look for a two-part interview with Old Crow Medicine Show coming up on BGS this month, and enjoy our Essentials playlist.

Photo credit: Crackerfarm; (L-R): Charlie Worsham, Cory Younts, Critter Fuqua, Ketch Secor, Joe Andrews, Morgan Jahnig

Kitty Wells at 100: Still the Queen of Country

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Kitty Wells, who shall always remain the Queen of Country Music to its most traditional fans, would have marked her 100th birthday today. Her legacy is secure, due to the 1952 smash, “It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels.”

Wells lived to be 92 years old, long enough to enjoy an exceptional exhibit about her life and career at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in 2008. The hometown salute — she was born in Nashville — brought her back into a much-deserved spotlight one last time before her death in 2012.

And to think, she just about quit the music industry altogether after initial dismal response to her early records. Even though she recorded it with a $125 paycheck foremost on her mind, according to the Los Angeles Times, “It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels” turned things around in a big way.

Beloved by fans and her peers, Wells was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1976, while her singles were still charting. In all, Wells placed 81 singles on the Billboard chart, including classics like “Making Believe,” “Heartbreak U.S.A.,” and “I Can’t Stop Loving You.” Here are some of her finest moments on record.

Artist of the Month: Tanya Tucker

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Tanya Tucker is just as surprised as you are that she’s made a brand new record, While I’m Livin’. In an upcoming two-part interview with the enduring country artist, she talks about working with her producers — and new best friends — Shooter Jennings and Brandi Carlile, her friendship with icons like Tom T. Hall and Loretta Lynn, and the shock at seeing the overwhelmingly positive response so far to the new music.

From signing to a major label as a teenager, to rebounding with an award-winning career in her 30s, Tucker placed milestone singles at country radio throughout the ‘70s, ‘80s, and ‘90s, and she’s earned her reputation as one of the most important female country artists of her generation. Enjoy some of her most significant musical achievements in our Essentials playlist.

Photo credit: Danny Clinch

Artist of the Month: Buddy & Julie Miller

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Buddy & Julie Miller have assembled one of Nashville’s most satisfying songwriting catalogs — and although their songs have been covered by a multitude of artists, there is something undeniably ethereal about hearing them sing together. As our Artist of the Month in July, Buddy and Julie continue to prove they’ve still got it. Don’t miss “I’m Gonna Make You Love Me” and “Secret” from their latest album, Breakdown on 20th Avenue South, in the playlist below. And check back later this month for much more content, including our in-depth BGS interview.

Illustration: Zachary Johnson

Artist of the Month: Josh Ritter

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Our June Artist of the Month is Josh Ritter, whose songwriting ambition has led him to stages around the world. It’s been 20 years since he first set out as a solo artist with a self-titled debut album, first performing in local clubs, then securing international gigs in Ireland and beyond. Now he’s touring behind his brand new album, Fever Breaks. As one surveys his catalog, it’s easy to put Fever Breaks alongside 2006’s Animal Years and find some comparisons between the topical songwriting, the cover illustrations, and the passion he brings to both.

Ritter opted to enlist Jason Isbell as a producer on Fever Breaks and even used Isbell’s band, The 400 Unit. It proved to be an interesting move, especially given that Amanda Shires happens to be a huge fan. Working as… well, a unit, the ensemble captured something special in these Nashville sessions — a vibe that Ritter is carrying out on the road with his own Royal City Band. Throughout the month BGS will be featuring music from throughout Ritter’s career, as well as a two-part interview conducted before a spring concert in Tennessee.

For now, as we anticipate the month ahead, spend some time with a collection of some of our Artist of the Month’s best work in our new Essential Josh Ritter playlist on Spotify.

Illustration: Zachary Johnson

ARTIST OF THE MONTH: Andrew Bird

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Our April Artist of the Month is Andrew Bird, and the fascinating thing about him — besides the fact that he’s both indie music star and violin / whistle prodigy close to the level of Chris Thile — is if you really dig into his 20+ year career (his first album was released in 1992!) he often incorporates and records Irish / Scottish fiddle reels, traditional country (“Richmond Woman” “If I Needed You”), and string arrangements that would be just as fitting on a Punch Brothers record as they would be among his adventurous electronic looping, poppy hooks, and deeply layered tracks (and whistling, so much whistling.)

Later this month, we’ll have an exclusive interview with Bird, who stopped short of nothing — well, almost nothing — in order to recreate a classic painting for the cover of his newest album, My Finest Work Yet. Amid the historical references, he’s approaching modern political topics, too: extremism on both sides, self-sacrifice for the public good, and the way in which we engage with our enemies

He explains, “The trick of writing a message song in 2019 is finding a way not to turn off a jaded populace. That’s the real challenge. After the election in 2016, people were saying we have this sacred duty as artists, but it’s not quite that simple. If you’re too on the nose, you lose people. I had to figure out what the vocabulary was going to be for these songs, how history might play into them. If you start naming places and people ad current events, you lose people.”

For now, get primed for the month ahead with a collection of some of his best work in our new Essential Andrew Bird playlist on Spotify:

Photo illustration: Zachary Johnson

The Essential Linda Ronstadt Playlist

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Linda Ronstadt is one of our most beloved artists here at the BGS, a timeless talent who defied genres and broke barriers throughout her 44-year career. Born in Tucson, Arizona in 1946, Ronstadt came from a long line of prominent Southwestern figures, growing up on a ranch with her parents and three siblings. She began her music career in the mid-1960s, fronting the Stone Poneys before striking out after a solo career of her own.

It didn’t take long for Ronstadt to find fame, earning Rolling Stone covers and Grammy Awards in the mid-’70s following the release of landmark albums like Heart Like a Wheel and Simple Dreams. She would go on to collaborate with a who’s-who of popular music across a number of genres, including Neil Young, Phillip Glass, and, as part of their “Trio” project, Emmylou Harris and Dolly Parton.

Ronstadt continued touring and releasing new music well into the 2000s, eventually announcing her retirement in 2011. In 2013, Ronstadt shared she had been living with Parkinson’s disease and was no longer able to sing or perform.

In advance of our December 11 BGS Presents show “A TRIBUTE TO THE MUSIC OF LINDA RONSTADT,” which features performances from Grace Potter, Dawes, Jackson Browne and more, we’ve put together a playlist of 20 songs from Ronstadt’s catalog we consider to be essential listening. If you haven’t purchased tickets for the show yet, act quickly as tickets — which benefit the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research — are going fast. Get them here, and, in the meantime, enjoy some of our favorite Ronstadt songs below.