Tag: folk music

WATCH: Lauren Balthrop, “Thank You” (Featuring Maya de Vitry)

Posted on by Editor

Artist: Lauren Balthrop
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
Song: “Thank You” (featuring Maya de Vitry)
Album: Things Will Be Different
Release Date: August 12, 2022
Label: Olivia Records

In Their Words: “I co-wrote this song one December morning in 2019 (the before times) with Maya de Vitry. When she got to my house, I started telling her about this deeply painful day the previous week during Thanksgiving. Without going into too much detail, that day brought closure to a relationship that was incredibly hard to leave behind. I had pinned a lot of hopes and dreams on that relationship. She had gone through something similar and what felt like a therapy session turned into this song about different stages of grief around past relationships. ‘Someday I’ll thank you when I’m ready to.’ Now having lived with this song and its recording, a new meaning has taken shape. The lyrics have come to be a conversation with myself and learning to love and let go of my own disappointments.” — Lauren Balthrop

Photo Credit: James Paul Mitchell

Basic Folk – S.G. Goodman

Posted on by Shelby Williamson

S.G. Goodman’s Kentucky upbringing is front and center in a lot of her songwriting. She is an artist concerned not just with her roots, but also with what it means to stay and invest in community even when it is hard. We started our conversation digging into the DIY music scene that inspired S.G.’s Jim James-produced debut album, Old Time Feeling.

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Goodman’s new record, Teeth Marks, portrays the scars of love and grief. It is a complex, rock-inflected album rooted in relationship. Whether telling a story of romantic love, playfully establishing a connection between the artist and audience, or interrogating a community’s attitude toward the “other,” these songs made me think long and hard about what we are really doing when we talk to each other.

S.G. was also down to talk religion and politics, addressing which issues she wishes more artists would discuss in their works. She is a serious person, a singular artist, and a fascinating person to talk with.

Photo Credit: BK Portraits

Basic Folk – Richard Thompson

Posted on by Shelby Williamson

Richard Thompson’s memoir, Beeswing: Losing My Way and Finding My Voice 1967 – 1975 (now out in paperback) is a page-turner of a read about a legend at the dawn of British folk rock. Thompson details his early days with Fairport Convention, one of the most influential folk bands of all time. He writes how they strived to be different and sought out then-unknown songwriters like Joni Mitchell and Leonard Cohen while adapting a modern sound for traditional British folk songs, some that were over 500 years old. He recounts tragedy when the band suffered a huge loss: the 1969 car accident that killed their drummer, Martin Lamble and Richard Thompson’s girlfriend of just two weeks, Jeannie Franklyn. He writes about their first experiences in America: rolling around Los Angeles with the likes of John Bonham and Janis Joplin and their triumphant debut at The Philadelphia Folk Festival.

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RT was game to get into anything I threw at him: talk about experiencing such excruciating grief at a young age, what British fortitude means to him, did he ever really get to know his parents, being outwardly calm and inwardly chaotic. There’s a chapter in the book where he details some session work he did in between the time he left Fairport Convention in 1971 and his solo work and work with his then-wife, Linda Thompson. I had a blast looking up all these albums on YouTube, especially Lal and Mike Waterson’s Bright Phoebus from 1972. Very fun music and fun that RT is playing on it! I highly recommend his memoir and hold out my hopes that there may be a part two in his future. I think there is much left to write: his days after the very public breakup with Linda, establishing himself as a solo act and then coming back to work with his extended family in the group Thompson in 2014 on the album Family. Richard’s got a busy summer ahead of him with a couple of cruises and the tenth anniversary of his writing camp, Frets and Refrains. I’m grateful he was able to make some time for us on Basic Folk!

Photo Credit: David Kaptein

LISTEN: Adia Victoria, “In the Pines”

Posted on by Editor

Artist: Adia Victoria
Hometown: Mauldin, South Carolina; now Nashville
Song: “In the Pines”
Release Date: May 17, 2022

In Their Words: “In 2019, I spent an afternoon poring over the journal I kept during my junior year of high school in Mauldin, SC. Revisiting the frustrations and observations of my 16-year-old self would lead to the creation of ‘In the Pines’ — a song that tells the story of a teenage girl from a small conservative town whose slow slide towards self-destruction is recounted by her best friend. It is the all-too-familiar story of how young women desperately search in vain for escape from totalizing ideologies that define their lives and the lives around them. It is a young girl’s quest for autonomy via rebellion over her life. Failing that, she will ultimately have autonomy over her own death. The song centers the stories of those who fall victim to the ideologies of emotionally stunted men. I dedicate ‘In the Pines’ to every teenage girl who is desperately scratching at the walls of ideological imprisonment. It is a song that I hope reminds them that they are not alone in their hunt for freedom.” — Adia Victoria

Photo Credit: Huy Nguyen

Basic Folk – Lily Henley

Posted on by Shelby Williamson

Fiddler and singer-songwriter Lily Henley’s latest album, Oras Dezaoradas, is a full-on celebration of her Sephardic Jewish Heritage. The lineage of Sephardic people can be traced back to the Iberian Jews expelled from Spain and Portugal in 1492. For Jewish people, there are many diasporas and lots of different ethnic heritages and practices that have been adopted and blended from many other groups along the way. Lily’s heritage is different from the Ashkenazi Jewish people, which is the most represented Jewish sect in the United States, who can be traced back to Eastern Europeans. Lily graciously gives a very brief overview of the diaspora (which is pretty amazing to take in) and the geographical and cultural differences.

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Lily grew up moving around a lot and talks about how that act of moving from place to place impacted her as a young person and how it still affects her. She found a sense of belonging and home at the fiddle camps she attended alongside other musicians her own age. At camp, she learned to play Celtic, old-time and Cape Breton style tunes. While at home, she played traditional Sephardic tunes sung in the Ladino language, also called Judeo-Spanish, which is a combination of Spanish with Hebrew, Arabic, and Turkish elements spoken by less than 100,000 people. As an adult, she was inspired by living in Tel Aviv for three years and immersed in Sephardic culture. She was awarded a Fulbright research grant and is currently an artist residency at the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris. She recorded her latest album in Paris: on a label run by a Sephardic community leader while being embraced by and collaborating with the Sephardic community there. OH! Lily has another new non-Ladino album on the way: Imperfect By Design coming January 2023. It’s an Indie-Folk anthology about love, belonging, independence, and change. Look out for that and enjoy this deeply educational conversation!

Photo Credit: Ally Schmaling

WATCH: Hannah Sanders & Ben Savage, “Polly O Polly”

Posted on by Editor

Artist: Hannah Sanders & Ben Savage
Hometown: Cambridge, England
Song: “Polly O Polly”
Album: Ink of the Rosy Morning
Label: Topic Records

In Their Words: “Many moons ago I travelled to a storytelling festival in Wenlock Edge and David Holt dropped into the bus for tea and stories and sang this song with his banjo. I was immediately struck by the economy of the storytelling and the dark, menacing melody. He gave me a cassette which I played to death. Some years later I heard him and Doc Watson play this at Newport Folk Festival. I never ‘played it out,’ but Ben immediately knew how to bring it to air.” — Hannah Sanders

Photo Credit: Rosie Hardy

Basic Folk – Grace Givertz

Posted on by Shelby Williamson

Grace Givertz, born and raised in South Florida, began writing and performing at age eleven when she got a guitar and learned to play off of YouTube videos. Grace is a survivor in many ways: She manages and confronts several chronic illnesses, she survived having her Berklee scholarship rescinded due to a systematic error and lived through being struck by a city bus in 2015.

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The accident left her unable to play her instruments for several months. During that idle time, she reflected on how being a musician defines who she is. Her writing changed and became more open and honest about chronic illnesses. In her most recent single, “Papa,” she writes about the traumatic murder of her grandfather and how he lives on in Grace.

I first came across Grace working at Club Passim in the Boston area, where she currently lives. Grace’s visual appearance, sense of humor and sparkling personality are undeniable. In addition to music, she’s super crafty and her reputation for cute outfits, cute earrings (which she sells on Etsy) and her cute apartment (which I’ve seen a lot of thanks to Zoom concerts and social media) proceeds her. She surrounds herself with her adorable pets that pop up frequently on her social media. One time, my mom (unprovoked – she doesn’t know Grace!) sent me a video of Grace’s bearded dragon, Baby Pancake, being cuddled by her peachy cat Persimmon. Yes, I know most of her pets’ names and have a Grace Givertz t-shirt with a sweet Baby Pancake design on it. I am a fan all around.

Photo Credit: Omari Spears

Basic Folk – Amy Correia

Posted on by Shelby Williamson

LA-based singer-songwriter Amy Correia will tell you that she is not a prolific writer, which… okay maybe she doesn’t write a million songs in one year, but holy crap, those songs and that voice will wallop you. Originally from Lakeville, Massachusetts, Amy’s musical roots lay in New York City’s Lower East Side in a scene that produced Jeff Buckley, Richard Julian and Jesse Harris.

 

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She discovered her musical voice while recovering from a back injury her junior year of college. She was actually a big fan of laying in bed and doing nothing but writing songs and playing around on her guitar. After college, she was playing around and got offered a major label deal, recorded an album with seven different producers and countless musicians, left her label and signed another deal, which would eventually become the place where she released her debut, Carnival Love, in the year 2000. Another album followed in 2004 (fan funded) and another in 2010 (also fan funded). She opened for big acts like Chrissie Hynde, John Hiatt, Richard Thompson and Marc Cohn. She started living in Boston, fully embraced by “a collective of musicians who uplifted her with their creative camaraderie,” which included Kimon Kirk who turned out to be one of her most important friends and collaborators.

Kimon encouraged Amy to record this new batch of songs on her latest release, the EP As We Are, which just came out in March 2022. During our conversation, Amy revealed that the recording session took place in 2015, but she wasn’t ready to release the music until now. Kimon had persuaded her to revisit the songs during the pandemic and the plan was set in motion for the EP. We also discussed Amy’s connection to spirituality, her affinity and experience in the theater world and letting go of control. She also opens up about her relationship to her singing voice, which is so special and always digs deep in me every time I hear it. I hope you enjoy this wonderful and vulnerable conversation with Amy Correia!

Photo Credit: Chris Strother

Basic Folk – Mason Jennings

Posted on by Shelby Williamson

Mason Jennings has the most interesting songwriting process I’ve come across. Since he was around 13 years old, the Minneapolis songwriter has had songs just come to him while randomly playing guitar and singing. He gets in touch with his subconscious and discovers his songs there very naturally. He also never writes the songs down. That’s right, he commits each song to memory and only writes them down for liner notes.

 

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Born in Honolulu and raised in Pittsburgh, he chose Minneapolis to settle into his music career. There, he found lots of success and managed to avoid the ever-tempting major label record contracts, which were being offered as high as $1 million. Wanting to remain in control of his creativity, he opted to stay independent until he signed with Glacial Pace, a subsidiary of Sony’s Epic Records headed by Isaac Brock of Modest Mouse. He released Boneclouds in 2006 and gained much acclaim. An album with Jack Johnson’s label and an appearance on the soundtrack to Todd Haynes’ Bob Dylan film I’m Not There, solidified his presence in the folk mainstream.

Fast forward to his latest album (his 14th studio record), Real Heart, co-produced by Pearl Jam guitarist Stone Gossard, is an ode to the acoustic guitar and a love letter to songwriting. Lately, Mason’s been working on himself through therapy and self-reflection. In the last few years, he’s been working on conquering and controlling depression, agoraphobia and living a sober life. He’s also gotten married again to Josie Jennings and the couple just recently welcomed their son Western in March 2022. A lot of these themes appear on Real Heart. We dig into those as well as his painting, the lake he lives on and Painted Shield, his synth-based rock and roll band with Stone Gossard and Matt Chamberlain. Mason’s a very special person and I’m grateful for this conversation!

Photo Credit: Benson Ramsey

Basic Folk – Tatiana Hargreaves

Posted on by Shelby Williamson

When Tatiana Hargreaves was younger, she was a shit-hot fiddle player; recording her debut album at age 14, a first prize winner at the Clifftop Appalachian Stringband Festival Fiddle Contest that same year and gaining all sorts of accolades before even graduating high school. After some thought, she went after a degree in ethnomusicology and performance at Hampshire College in Amherst, MA, where she continued to play fiddle like a maniac. Her time in college allowed her to reconnect with her friend, the equally impressive banjo player, Allison de Groot. She reflects on one summer where she and Allison kept finding each other and jamming at various events and festivals. They decided to record their debut album and tour. The duo are back again with the new record Hurricane Clarice, using traditional stringband music as a way to interpret our uncertain times.

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Our conversation leads into topics like the negative impact of music as competition. Tati has spoken before of her experience competing on the Texas Fiddle circuit that’s pretty popular on the West Coast. Also, after college, she moved to Durham, NC, to be closer to and work with old-time legend Alice Gerrard. Since 2017, she’s been soaking up Alice’s influence and knowledge through being her fiddle player and digitizing her old photos. This has led to a vast amount of inspiration, from recording songs on the new record that Alice had introduced to her to going back to school to study library science. I am fascinated by this person and her work. Tatiana keeps it close to the chest, but I’m grateful for what she shared in conversation.

Photo Credit: Tasha Miller