Tag: Folk

Out Now: Ally Westover

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Ally Westover is a Nashville-based artist known for a blend of lullaby-like sounds and groovy indie-folk tunes, stitched together with warmth, imagery, and honesty. Her new single, “Rotten Milk” (available September 6), is an exploration of queer identity. The lyrics circle relatable themes like love gone sour and compulsory heterosexuality – a term coined by Adrienne Rich to describe societal expectations queer women face around conforming to heterosexual norms. The concept resonates with many queer women who struggle to navigate their identities.

It’s exciting to feature an artist who is opening a discussion around these ideas. Ally’s EP, Changing Room, dives further into these themes and is to be released in January 2025. In our Out Now interview, she shares her current state of mind, what it means to her to be an LGBTQ+ artist, and how she balances the business and creative aspects of being an artist.

You are releasing an EP in 2025 titled Changing Room. What was the process of creating this project? And, what do you hope listeners will take away from this collection of songs?

I created this project with my friend and musical mentor, Oliver Hopkins. He is one of the people that inspires me most in this world and to make a record with him is an absolute dream come true. I came to him with a few songs that I loved and believed in, but wanted him to help me make them sound more focussed and sonically interesting.

We wrote “Rotten Milk” in his backyard in the height of the summer heat after I had just gotten out of a relationship with a man that felt like a stranger. The track that follows is “Waterbug,” which is my absolute favorite. It encompasses queer desire and yearning. The last song is called “Digital Body” and it’s all about decompressing and slowing things down. I hope that listeners enjoy the songs and feel maybe a little more understood in their own lives. More than anything I am just happy to have the songs in the world!

Why do you create music? What’s more satisfying to you, the process or the outcome?

Songwriting itself is pure magic. The energy present during the process is what propels me to dig for more songs. I create music because I have to! It is the way that I work through my emotions and thoughts and fears. It is the time capsule for my life. It is the way that I cope with being human.

Do you create music primarily for yourself or for others?

Initially, I create music for myself. And when it is done, I look forward to sharing the songs with other people so that they may feel less alone as I believe we all have similar struggles. It’s my hope that through sharing music, we all feel more connected to each other at a soul level.

Who are your favorite LGBTQ+ artists and bands?

Courtney Barnett, MUNA, Big Thief, Chappell Roan, Katy Kirby, Arlo Parks, Tash Sultana, Cassidy Maude, Ab Lag, Molly Martin, Erin Rae, Liv Greene, Purser, Jobi Riccio, and Saltwater Baby are some of my favorites. Wow! There are so many! I am so grateful for queer visibility!

For anyone reading this who might not be out of the closet, were there any specific people, musicians, or resources that helped you find yourself as a queer individual?

The band MUNA saved me! Chanting songs about being gay and worthy of love really helped me feel empowered. I have an incredible sister, friends, and therapist who have stood by me through the hardest moments. The queer community in Nashville is amazing. Shout out to Jonda, the owner of Lipstick Lounge, for creating a safe haven for queer people. It was only when I realized that it is not my job to make other people comfortable, was I set free.

What does it mean to you to be an LGBTQ+ musician?

I would not be openly making music as a queer person had it not been for the Black lesbians and trans people of color that fought back during Stonewall riots. Thank you to Marsha P. Johnson, Sylvia Rivera, and Stormé DeLarverie for fighting for my right to exist and to love who I love. Being an LGBTQ+ musician means that “no one is free until everyone is free.” It means liberation, justice and resistance.

We’ve had a conversation before about how you left the music industry for a few years and decided you needed to return. What was that like for you? Could you share what drew you back and the importance of creating and sharing your music?

In the time that I was away from music, it was still plaguing my every thought. I tried to study fashion to explore a different creative outlet and that brought me to sustainability, as I learned about the horrors of the fast fashion industry. Because of this, I make all of my merch on thrifted clothes in hopes to be as eco-conscious as possible. Sustainability led me to an existential crisis so I switched majors to philosophy, which only dug me a deeper hole. It was during my philosophy class that I realized I must pursue my bliss – music! Coming back to music as my career focus felt like coming home.

What’s your ideal vision for your future?

When I think of “future me” I imagine myself traveling and playing shows with a small band, throwing killer dinner parties, and tending to a sprawling garden. The ideal vision of my future has much to do with “present me” leaning deeper into the things that I already do.

What is your greatest fear?

I have realized that I am the person who will ultimately affect the outcome of my life – so I would say that I am most afraid of the part of myself that harbors doubt.

What is your current state of mind?

My current state of mind is a collage of gratitude and helplessness; of joy and sorrow; of yearning and grieving. I grieve the genocide in Palestine amongst the many other humanitarian crises in the Congo, Sudan, and in the United States. I find it really challenging some days to be hopeful, but I try to find joy in the small moments and do everything I can to uplift marginalized voices.

I am hopeful about creating and sharing the project that I have been working on for over a year now. Entering into the fall season, I am looking forward to slowing down, going inward, and continuing to lean into my cozy home and my community.

How do you balance being on social media, promoting your music, playing shows, and looking after your mental health?

I tell myself that I want to do this for the rest of my life, so if it takes the rest of my life to do it then so be it. I remind myself that the long game is what matters and that slowly chipping away making good art is what counts. I lean on my community and try my best. I’ve also been trying to intentionally rest without guilt and to say yes to fun experiences that do not center around music. I have found that I create the best and most interesting art when I am living my life for myself. My partner is very organized and business focussed and they gave me some killer advice. They said, “Why don’t you focus strictly on music business for 2 hours a day, in the morning, so that you don’t have to spiral about it for the next 22 hours?” They created the term “Ally’s Office Hours” and it has helped tremendously.

What would a “perfect day” look like for you?

Soft sunlight and fresh air seep through my window. I indulge in light roast pour over coffee and fresh fruit for breakfast. I sit at the kitchen table with my journal and my mini Yamaha as ideas for songs flood my mind like a heavy summer rain. Once the rain has cleared, I walk to the grocery store and grab some fresh seafood, sharp cheeses, and Castelvetrano olives. The rest of the dinner setup will be a harvest from my garden. I pop by the local wine shop for a floral Spanish white wine and perhaps a juicy beaujolais. Friends will arrive at golden hour to a home full of fresh flowers and candle light. We eat and drink and enjoy rich conversation over a delicious meal. I fall asleep beside my lover as we count our blessings.

What’s the best advice you’ve ever gotten?

“If it is urgent, then it is not God.” I can be so impulsive about my decision making, and when a friend told me this, it blew my mind. A sense of urgency is likely never a good sign that something is right.

What are your release and touring plans for the next year?

I am releasing my second EP, Changing Room, in January and could not be more excited. The first single, “Rotten Milk,” comes out today, September 6!

Changing Room encapsulates self exploration, and more specifically queer exploration. The project begins with “Rotten Milk.” It’s about the last man that I ever dated. We were together for a few short months in the summer and much like the milk at the restaurant, the love, too, had gone sour. It was as if I was playing dress up. I couldn’t get access to my true self until I freed myself of compulsory heterosexuality.

I am opening for Louisa Stancioff, Molly Parden, and Eliza Edens in Portland, Maine on October 4 and again in Washtington, D.C. on October 15. The plan is to go on a sweet little tour in early spring to share the songs on Changing Room and then get back to creating more tunes.

Photo courtesy of the artist.

Jeffrey Foucault Remembers Billy Conway with The Universal Fire

Posted on by Shelby Williamson

In our episode with Wisconsin-born, New England-based Jeffrey Foucault, we had a handful of questions for the singer-songwriter about his background: coffee, the Midwest, and Mark Twain wisdom. Then, we talked about Billy Conway for more than an hour. Conway was Foucault’s long-time partner in music, his drummer, and best friend who died from cancer in 2021. He was a roots rock and roll legend in Boston with his tenure in Morphine and Treat Her Right. Conway was like a holy man, known for his creative, curious, and infectious spirit where even people who met him only one time (myself included) were quite taken and inspired by his presence. His loss hit the music community hard. In 2023, a tribute album showcasing the songwriting of Conway recorded by some of his closest friends (including Chris Smither, Foucault, Kris Delmhorst, and Billy’s wife Laurie Sargent) was released. And now, with his latest album release, Jeff’s given us a working wake for his friend Billy, The Universal Fire.

LISTEN: APPLE • SPOTIFY • AMAZON • MP3

Elsewhere in the episode, we talked about what was going on with Jeff when he met and started working with Billy in 2013. What state of mind made this spectacular friendship and collaboration completely click? Jeff has also been conscious about his reaction to Conway’s death and processing grief, when it comes to being an example for his teenage daughter (who is also getting into folk music and live performance, too – hi, Hazel!)

We also dig into the new album. Jeffrey paralleled the loss of Billy Conway with a different type of loss, the 2008 fire at the Universal Studios lot in California that destroyed master tapes of hugely influential American recordings. And finally, we check in on how Jeffrey’s human-ness is faring in the high-tech world in the year 2024.

Photo Credit: Joe Navas

Artist of the Month: Gillian Welch & David Rawlings

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Gillian Welch & David Rawlings are ubiquitous in American roots music. The life and musical partners have spent nearly 30 years defining and redefining what it means to be prolific bluegrass, old-time, and Americana inhabiters and masters. Now, with the release of Woodland, their first studio album in four years, it seems they’re entering a new phase of their illustrious and storied careers – one where their pace and positioning have changed, somewhat. Or perhaps, solidified.

Since 2020’s All the Good Times, Welch & Rawlings have not exactly receded into hermitage. They appear regularly as track features on others’ recordings, they released dozens and dozens and dozens of demos on several Boots No. 2: The Lost Songs albums, they perform regularly and make appearances on all star lineups, at ceremonies, and on tribute shows in and outside of Nashville. Yet, as with many artists responding to a post-COVID world, their artistry seems to be taking an intentional shift toward slowing down, acting with renewed purpose, and focusing on storytelling, canon-crafting, and legacy-building. But certainly not for ambition’s sake alone.

It makes perfect sense, then, that Woodland chooses the pair’s East Nashville studio as its focal point, the fertile soil from which this verdant collection of songs has been cultivated and through which they’ve been channeled. It’s a thread easily traceable across all of their work together, and separately as solo artists: To ground their music in reality and in their own everyday. For a pair of musicians who have inspired countless emulators and acolytes, it’s remarkable to watch them both remain committed to truth and simplicity, and to authenticity not as social currency, but as demonstration of selfhood and agency.

Welch & Rawlings are legends, roots superstars. At this point in their careers, we are viewing their brand identity’s realtime shift toward longevity, striding confidently into their nascent roles as Americana elders. Who could possibly be better poised for this new era? Woodland, as nearly all of Welch & Rawlings’ outings over the past decade, seems to say these two global stars would really, truly be okay if the music industry shuttered once more or if they never stepped foot onto a stage in a 3,000-seat theatre again. These are creators in this business for themselves – though never self-serving. The tableaus and dioramas on Woodland, iconoclastic and archetypical Welch & Rawlings, are never small, but they are often minute. Nuanced. Detailed.

This is Gillian Welch & David Rawlings, after all. Surrounded throughout their long-running heyday by roots-infused, vest-wearing celebrities and bands like Mumford & Sons, Punch Brothers, Old Crow Medicine Show, and many more, they’ve time and time again refused to allow their own art to be enveloped or eclipsed by Americana-as-costume, or to devolve into millennial “shabby chic” as an aesthetic, or to revert to Pinterest-style, cottagecore performances of wholesome, American values to make a living. They even rose above the reflexive pigeon-holing following the massive success of O Brother, Where Art Thou?, using the soundtrack and tour’s enormous gravity for a slingshot assist into the stratosphere, rather than finding themselves in a limiting though profitable niche.

They started their careers as many folk, bluegrass, and old-time singers do – putting on “poverty drag” to signal their commitment to these songs and sounds, slumming it and road dogging while building their business bit by bit, paying their dues, worshipping at the feet of bluegrass and Americana forebears. Over time, Welch & Rawlings shifted from being simply performers of these aesthetics to being residents and artisans within these traditions. Apprentices become masters, pupils become professors. And, now, they themselves are the forebears building standards and models for new, oncoming generations just as Ralph Stanley, John Hartford, and so many more did for them.

Woodland isn’t exactly a turning point, but Gillian Welch & David Rawlings are certainly entering a new era. While so much of what we know and love about this duo remains remarkably consistent across their music and releases over time (even going all the way back to Revival in 1996), this project reveals that only now, 30-some years since they began their journey in music, could Welch & Rawlings actually become the authentic Americana stalwarts that they’ve always strived to be. They’ve been dressing for the job they want the whole time, gradually becoming one with the characters that first stepped on stage those decades ago. Their catalog is a gradient, a line graph of growing and becoming, rising above theater and performance to a place of intimate self expression and respectful, expert mastery. However forest-for-the-trees it feels to state, these are no longer just the traditions they love, these are their traditions.

Below, enjoy our Essential Gillian Welch & David Rawlings Playlist. And, if you want more, you can return to 2017, when Welch was our Artist of the Month at the time of her Boots No. 1: The Official Revival Bootleg release – and  revisit our Essentials Playlist from that time. Later in September, we’ll have an exclusive AOTM interview feature with both Gillian and Dave, so stay tuned as we celebrate Woodland all month long.

Photo Credit: Alysse Gafkjen

Andrew Combs’ Rootsy Refuge From the Modern World

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Forget the information age, we live in the age of hyper-stimulation. There seems to be less space to think – or to feel – than at any other point in human history, and music is not immune to that more-of-everything-all-at-once trap. But Andrew Combs’ sixth album Dream Pictures is your chance to take a break.

An acclaimed singer-songwriter with over a decade of work bridging country, folk, and pop songcraft, Combs is all too familiar with life on the run. He spent years trading his health and sanity for the precarious life of a traveling musician, but lately he’s been on a different program.

Born from quiet evenings of creative refuge, secluded in his garage after the kids went to bed, Dream Pictures finds Combs getting off the artistic treadmill and focusing on a sustainable life – one that includes a family and creative outlets not tied to a marketing calendar.

The result is a calming, relaxed fusion of roots pop and electronic folk, full of confessional character sketches and golden-hour contemplations that may require some slowing down to appreciate – but are well worth the effort. Basically, it’s the opposite of TikTok, and Combs spent one peaceful morning chatting with BGS about where it all came from.

It’s been about a dozen years since your debut album – how are you feeling about creativity as a job these days?

Andrew Combs: I feel more at ease and more creative and productive than I really ever have and I think that probably has a lot to do with just my schedule and having kids. I have no time to just sit around, so I don’t get caught in these periods of writer’s block or anything. I just don’t have time to do that.

Ok, that sounds pretty good!

Yeah, and I feel good. But I mean, the music industry is so fucked – especially for an artist at a lower level like myself. It’s just really hard. I’ve given up in a lot of ways trying to make a full money-making career out of it. I work a part-time job and I paint as well and I’ve decided that I want to do stuff that I want to do. That’s kept me going, and I’m actually happier than ever not being on the road all the time. I’m just doing things when they make sense and not looking at it as I have to go out on the road to make money.

That’s interesting. A lot of artists say that they do their best songwriting in periods of turmoil, but Dream Pictures feels very peaceful.

Yeah, I’d say the overall thesis statement about what the record is about is being content. And not to sound too “woo woo,” but just live in the moment and appreciate what is there around you. A year or two ago, I could easily fall into looking at Instagram and thinking “I should be doing that.” But for this record, I wrote all these songs in the evening after the kids went to bed in that sort of wind-down [stage]. … I kind of liken it to the golden hour of a summer night, just that quiet and calm time when my wife and I can interact as humans and adults and I can go to the garage and do my thing.

It is peaceful, but also patient. I was thinking like, “This is the opposite of TikTok,” and I mean that in a good way.

[Laughs] I actually chose this record to sign up on TikTok and try and put stuff on there and I’m just so lost. It’s so overwhelming when you open the thing, just like, “Bam!”

Likewise, back when you first started putting out records, Americana seemed like it was really exploding and growing, with a lot of new artists coming out. I’m just wondering, do you feel like the roots music scene has evolved in the last decade or so?

I don’t know if it’s evolved or de-volved. It seems like it’s just sort of an all-encompassing net for stuff that doesn’t work other places – which is great, and the cream of the crop is still amazing, but I do feel like there’s a lot of “genericana” going on. It’s just like I got a little bored with it and my origin into making music was electronic music, and then I drifted towards songwriting and Guy Clark, Joni Mitchell, Jackson Browne, and Townes Van Zandt, that kind of stuff. I still really think songs are important and words are important, but I’m also more interested in exploring different melodic things and the sonic quality of recording. I guess for a selfish reason, it’s just to keep me interested.

I can hear that mix of electronica and songwriting on Dream Pictures. You recorded everything with your friend Dom [Billett], what do you like most about how it came out?

We didn’t know we were starting a record. Dom – who has played with me live a lot and done a lot of recording with me, but never produced something with me – over COVID he built out his studio and got a tape machine, and he was like, “I’m just trying to figure this thing out. Do you have any songs that we can try?” The first song that I brought was “Your Eyes and Me,” and that ends up being one of my favorites. You can really hear the progression of him learning the tape machine … because by the end, it just sounds like a good recording. So I like that. I also feel like Dom’s friendship shows, at least to me. We also had our friend Spencer Cullum record some pedal steel, and it’s just us three. I like collaborating – but I really like collaborating when it’s a core group.

I read that “Eventide” was dedicated to your wife. Are you writing a lot of songs about family these days? What are you feeling inspired by?

Mostly right now, it’s about that contentment and mindfulness. I think it’s important for me to get out as well as I think it’s a worthwhile message to be spreading. There are also songs on the new record that another journalist I talked to – and he meant it in a really a nice way – he said they’re “low-stakes songwriting.” Songs that are about love, or heartbreak. Those kind of songs I’ve been writing for a long time. And I’m still able to harken back to my 20s and go through those feelings. I can still feel them like they were yesterday. But it probably helps to not be in despair and look back with a clear head.

Tell me a little bit about “Mary Gold.” It has a nice, delightful little bounce to it, and I love that lo-fi pop feel. What’s that one about?

That’s just a love song, kind of a “low-stakes songwriting” song. Just a feeling of this girl who doesn’t know how special she is, but in the eyes of the beholder is special. Lyrically, I think there’s some good stuff in there, but I was really focusing on that bounce you’re talking about. That ’70s pop feel, I felt like the record could use something like that. A lot of the songs are really subtle and soft and serious.

I dig the premise of “I’m Fine” – and the falsetto hook. Is that about trying to convince yourself you’re fine? Or is that more of that feeling when somebody asks “Hey, what’s wrong with you?”

I mean, I think it’s the latter. That’s the only song I co-wrote on this record and I’ve had it for a long time. The guy I wrote it with, Burton Collins is his name, we wrote again around when I was making the record and that song was good, but it just didn’t quite fit. So I just went back through stuff we had done in the past and was like, “Let me fiddle around with that one for a bit.” It ended up being fun.

What do you like about Dream Pictures as a title? Is that a central theme for the record, or just a cool title?

Well, I originally wanted to call it Eventide, but there’s a guitar-pedal company called Eventide and all my friends were like, “Oh, the pedal?” And I was like, “No, the time of evening.” [Laughs] They were like, “I didn’t know that’s what that meant.” So then Dream Pictures stood out, and the idea of that golden hour, in-between time of chaos and peace, which can also be associated with sleep. I feel like a lot of my song ideas and painting ideas come from that time period of just falling asleep or just waking up.

Big picture, what do you hope folks take away from this one? What are you looking for in the next 10 years?

Well, I hope people find a bit of peace and quiet with the record, and I hope it’s enjoyable. It’s sort of selfish, but I’m just happy to put it out there and get a piece of me out there. I don’t know what the future holds. I could say I’m going to make a synth pop record right now, but it could turn out to be something totally different, so I really don’t know. I’m just going to keep writing and being creative and enjoying my time here on earth.

Photo Credit: Austin Leih

BGS 5+5: Evan Honer

Posted on by socials

Artist: Evan Honer
Hometown: Surprise, Arizona
Latest Album: Fighting For

Which artist has influenced you the most – and how?

It’s hard to pick just one, but the artist that I bring up most consistently is Tyler Childers. He was the first person where I realized how much lyrics mean to people and how much they meant to me. His way with words and how often he pushes his sound to be sonically different with each new project.

What has been the best advice you’ve received in your career so far?

The best career advice I have received so far is to not compare yourself to any other artist and to realize that everyone is on their own timeline. No need to stress about the things you cannot control.

What’s your favorite memory from being on stage?

My favorite memory currently was the last show of my first headline tour. I was so sick during the show and felt so many different emotions, but I was mainly relieved that I had made it through my my first tour. Tour has so many highs and lows, so I was just grateful to get through it.

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

Stroopwafels and Jim Croce

What is a genre, album, artist, musician, or song that you adore that would surprise people?

I love Olivia Rodrigo, I think she is the greatest.

Photo Credit: Harrison Hargrave

GC 5+5: Ken Pomeroy

Posted on by Shelby Williamson

Artist: Ken Pomeroy
Hometown: Moore, Oklahoma / Tulsa, Oklahoma
Latest Music: “Cicadas” (Single)

Which artist has influenced you the most – and how?

John Denver is the reason I started playing music. When I was 6 years old, I heard “Leaving on a Jet Plane” for the first time. The feeling that the song gave me as a kid changed my life. I think that was the first time I became conscious of how music made me feel. I loved the song so much that I had my mom, Wendy, burn a CD with it 18 times in a row, and I would listen to it every single night for years to fall asleep.

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

This moment is closely associated with the story of John Denver. As I mentioned, after hearing “Leaving on a Jet Plane” for the first time, I was inspired to find a way to evoke the same emotions in others as I felt when I heard his song. My dad has been in a band since I was a kid and he really introduced me to music. Both my parents have always been very supportive of my music career. Sometimes, I joke that I didn’t choose to be a musician and that this life chose me, but I couldn’t imagine doing anything else. I have a strong desire to express deep emotions through writing. My only goal in music is to evoke emotions in someone through my writing; anything.

Genre is dead (long live genre!), but how would you describe the genres and styles your music inhabits?

I truly appreciate and enjoy the concept of music genres. Personally, I feel like I gravitate towards being a folk singer, but I draw inspiration from a variety of influences. Gillian Welch and David Rawlings have had a significant impact on the way my partner and I, who is also the producer of our upcoming album, approach our music. We were mainly inspired by Gillian and David, as well as Jake Xerxes Fussell. We often joke that we could tour with a very traditional country band or with a highly indie group and still fit right in, bringing a touch of twang to the mix.

What’s one question you wish interviewers would stop asking you?

I often get asked about my songwriting process, and to be honest, I find it difficult to explain. While I love discussing my approach to songwriting, including lyricism, phrasing, and the darker themes I explore, the actual process is quite messy. Sometimes I don’t even understand my own process. I also struggle with the question of whether I start with chords or lyrics first because, truthfully, I have no idea.

What would a perfect day as an artist and creator look like to you?

I envision myself camping by the lake on a sunny day, with guitars in hand. Nature is a big inspiration for my writing.

Sign up on Substack to receive even more Good Country content direct to your email inbox!

Photo Credit: Cassidy Mandel

Amos Lee on Friends, Femininity and Folk Roots

Posted on by Shelby Williamson

Throughout his music career, singer-songwriter Amos Lee has cultivated a large female fanbase and also owes a lot of his early start to Norah Jones (a female!). He’s about to hit the road co-headlining with folk music and queer icons the Indigo Girls. In our conversation, he talks about the atmosphere he’s going for in concert, and it’s not a very bro-centered vibe. His latest album Transmissions further proves his case with a gorgeous sonic palette that includes country music, indie folk, folk rock and acoustic music sounds. Recorded with his longtime band in a studio in rural Marlboro, New York, the songs came out as warm as the reclaimed church wood it was built out of.

LISTEN: APPLE • SPOTIFY • AMAZON • MP3

Amos dives into topics like how he feels about kids, to his work with cancer patients, to the benefits of caring for your mental health and music. He touches on anxiety and overstimulation (a topic mostly prompted by my anxiety!) and overcoming adversity. He also talks about being a mentor for the Black Opry residency at WXPN in his town of Philadelphia, and explains what a Hoagiemouth is. Amaze and delight at the wonderful Amos Lee.

Photo Credit: Anthony Mulcahy

One to Watch: Boston-Based Alt Folk Duo Sweet Petunia

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

From the crosshairs of the Boston folk community and punk/DIY scene emerges Sweet Petunia, an innovative duo consisting of multi-instrumentalist songwriters Maddy Simpson and Mairead Guy. A synthesis of banjos, queerness, emotive lyricism, and life-affirming harmonies, the pair’s music explores the fluidity of futurity, even when anchored in centuries of tradition.

With two EPs and several singles under their belt, Sweet Petunia graces the ears of multitudes with an active touring schedule and their vigorous participation in the Boston music scene. The queer alt folk duo’s commitment to community and uplifting overlooked histories only deepen the resounding impact that their music inspires.

So, to start things off, how did the two of you first meet?

Maddy Simpson: We both went to Berklee College of Music and we got placed into the same ensemble, 21st Century String Band, taught by Greg Liszt, who is an incredible banjo player. One day we were supposed to have an additional rehearsal with another guy that was in the ensemble, but he stood us up (shoutout Rob with your Legends of Zelda beanie with a brim!) The two of us showed up for the rehearsal and he never came. So we just had 45 minutes to talk to each other. We ended up talking about our goals, the music we liked, and found out that we had a lot of similar likes and plans for the future. So we decided to get together and play some music. When we did, immediately we were like, “Okay, let’s be in a band.”

What does your musical chemistry with one another feel like?

MS: Well, we always joke that we’re related. I mean, we do sound very similar when we sing together. So it kind of feels like we’re like a family band even though we’re not related.

Mairead Guy: Yeah, I mean it just works – really well. Obviously we put in a lot of work into what we do. But a lot of it feels very easy when we’re playing and arranging together. We have similar intuitions about the way things should go, and that makes it really fun and special to play together.

What is your process like when you songwrite and arrange together? And what’s it like arranging with two banjos?

MG: Most of the time we come to each other with an almost-completed song. Sometimes we write together, but usually we come together once the song is pretty much finished and arrange it from there. And that’s just a lot of playing it over and over and over and over, trying different things and seeing what sticks and what pops out.

That works! How did each of you come to the genre and/or the banjo?

MS: I came to folk music through the folk revival of the ’60s. I listened to a lot of Simon & Garfunkel growing up and then when I was a little bit older, I got into the folk revival revival, so like Mumford & Sons, The Head and the Heart, The Lumineers, and that kind of stuff. I had no idea that was just the tip of a really big iceberg – I didn’t really discover true traditional music until college, when I got really into old-time music and ’50s country blues and that kind of thing.

The reason I started playing banjo is that obviously it was pretty present in the music that I was listening to like all throughout high school and my childhood, but when I got to college I had a dorm-mate who played banjo. He was a banjo principal and he would play banjo in the lounge and the laundry room – just everywhere. One day I told him that I was interested and he said, “If you buy a banjo, I’ll give you lessons.” So over Thanksgiving break I went home, bought a banjo, came back, and started taking lessons with him. And then I started taking lessons with other people at Berklee and that was it for me – it became my primary instrument.

MG: So, I grew up in Virginia. There’s a lot of traditional, old-time bluegrass around in that area and a lot of my family is pretty musical – my uncle and aunt and my great uncle and his longtime partner. We’re are all professional musicians and my great uncle was a phenomenal clawhammer banjo player. My brother plays the banjo and I’d always wanted to play it, because it’s such a beautiful instrument. When Maddy and I first started playing together, we had a lot of songs where we would trade our instruments around. When she switched to banjo I thought it was the perfect time to finally sink my teeth in and do it. Similarly to her, once I picked one up I was like, “Oh my God, why haven’t I been doing this the whole time?” Yeah, it’s an addictive instrument to play.

I noticed that the stylization of a lot of your lyrics is super unique and you have several songs with strong narratives. Can you talk a bit about the song “Quilt Too Big to Fold”? I’ve had it on repeat for weeks.

MS: Thank you. Yeah, I wrote that song for a class. We were given this assignment to write a story song. And I was thinking a lot and sort of had this refrain in my head, “All you do is sit all day and sew.” So I did some journaling about all of the things that you can sit and sew. Fiber arts are really important to me and at the time of writing that song I was really into embroidery and I was getting really into visible mending – dabbling in this world of fiber arts.

I started thinking about all of the different fiber mediums you can have. And I started to think about quotes. And then, obviously, I’m also gay. I had already seen the AIDS Memorial Quilt, so I began to look into it more deeply. The quilt was started by a lesbian and was just one of the many forms of activism that came out of the AIDS crisis. The song sort of formed around that pretty quickly. It was easy to write given the fact that I’m queer and then just creating this work of fiction where I did a lot of thinking about what it would be like to go through that, taking my own passions and interests in sort of like translating them into a historical lens. And it was really an interesting process.

Really, really amazing stuff. I also saw that you both played an integral part in Club Passim’s inaugural Pride show? Can you talk a little bit about that and what that was like?

MG: Oh it was all Maddie! Well, we played it together, but it was all Maddie.

MS: Mairead kept me sane – I was freaking out the whole time. I was given the opportunity to curate Club Passim’s first ever truly Pride-themed show. We’ve done Pride open mics and once we had a queer festival, but that was during COVID, so it was all online. So we’ve had some queer-centered events before, but this was the first ever show specifically dedicated to Pride Month.

I was given this opportunity through The Folk Collective, which is an initiative that Passim is spearheading right now. Basically, it’s a cohort of 12 artists and cultural thought leaders that live in and around Boston. Passim has invited them into the club to synthesize what the future of folk music could be like, since folk music has, in the cultural narrative, been seen as a really white-washed and male-centric genre. So it’s 12 people of varying marginalized identities and people of all ages and races and gender identities and sexual identities coming together to talk about what the future of folk music could look like.

I was given an opportunity through the Folk Collective to bring together six queer acts who are making music either directly inspired by or within the traditional genre. We had several performers who played super traditional instruments – I mean, we both played banjo and we had somebody who plays the mountain dulcimer, which was really cool. We had somebody else who did country blues and talked about gender non-conforming people in the genre. And we also had some incredible singer-songwriters as well. It ended up being a crazy night of celebrating queer identities and also celebrating the traditional music that everybody at Club Passim loves so much. It was very, very awesome.

MG: Hell yeah. Beautiful night – Maddie put so much time and effort and care into curating all of these artists and making this happen in such an important and cognitive way, and it was just such an incredible thing to ride along the coattails of.

Hopefully there are many more! In general, what does the community feel like in Boston, within the folk scene, and how do you see Sweet Petunia fitting into it?

MG: I think that Maddie and I have a particular perspective on it just because we work at Club Passim, so we see all the musicians that pass through. But I mean, as is evidenced by the event that we just had, there is a pretty wide community of queer and trans folk musicians who are drawing inspiration from traditional roots music. And even beyond tradition, things like the pedal or lap steel are becoming super popular in different genres of music. Even the banjo people are using electric banjo to get a super sick like electric guitar tone and that sort of thing.

MS: Yeah, I was just gonna say that we sit in a really weird intersection, because we’re not quite in the traditional folk scene. We’re also really established within the DIY scene as well, which is primarily indie rock and hardcore music in Boston. But because we exist in both circles we get the best of both worlds. Sometimes we get asked to play punk shows, but we also can play listening room venues like Passim.

Outside of the folk and Americana scene, what are your biggest influences right now?

MS: I love slowcore and also the huge bootgaze thing that’s happening right now. I feel like I exist in the perfect time to be 25 and into DIY music, because most of the music being made around here at this point has some bootgaze element.

Could you define bootgaze?

MS: It’s like shoegaze-inspired country music. Or country-inspired shoegaze music. Some blur into indie rock, some are just shoegaze bands that use country instrumentation or come from a place where country music is the main genre. The band Wednesday is probably the biggest right now. They sort of pioneered the genre. MJ Lenderman, Florry – there’s lots to explore if you look up bootgaze or countrygaze.

What about you, Mariead?

MG: I mean, definitely same. I’ve also really been loving a lot of hyperpop and pop music recently. Just like the energy in songs like that is so interesting. I’ve been thinking a lot about the banjo as a similar percussion to a drum machine in a super fast hyperpop song. I’ve been trying to think about ways to incorporate that because most of the songs that I write make you feel kind of bad, but I think it’d be kind of fun to write songs that made you feel kinda good.

I think you’re onto something! Do you two have any fun projects coming up?

MG: We’re working on a Dolly Parton cover EP. Every year for Halloween since 2019 (except for 2020 because of COVID) we have done a Dolly Parton cover set. And so this will be our fifth year of Dolly Parton cover sets. So we wanted to do a little something to commemorate it.

MS: Yeah, it’s gonna be really fun. That’s coming in October. There will be a bill for a cover show. So if people are local to Boston, they can come to that.

That is so exciting! So you’re our One to Watch, but who are you watching? Are there any artists, creatives, musicians, etc. that you’re appreciating especially right now?

MS: I think that my one to watch is Roman Barten-Sherman, the person from Passim’s Pride show who does traditional country blues. She’s incredible. She’s so good. She is so smart. And so well-read and knowledgeable about early American country blues. During her shows she’ll introduce every song with so much knowledge about the genre and people who play it. She knows so much about gender-nonconforming and trans individuals and Black women who have contributed to the genre. She knows everything – it’s crazy. And then she’ll play the song and it’s the best fucking thing you’ve ever heard. She’s just so good. I think she’s going to take over the world. She’s my one to watch.

MD: I definitely second that – she’s one of the people I was thinking of. I would also say Jarsch. Just absolutely incredible, visceral songwriting. Beautiful lyricism relating to both the pain and joy of queerness and gender and life itself – religious trauma, all sorts of things. Everytime I see her play I literally just cry and cry. It’s so beautiful. She’s the only person I’ve seen able to yield a guitjo in an appropriate manner, and she just has so much love for what she’s doing and the community she’s in. I feel very lucky to know her. Definitely a one to watch.

Photo Credit: Barry Schneier

The Avett Brothers’ Musical, ‘Swept Away,’ Heads to Broadway

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

It has been two decades since the Avett Brothers released their shipwreck-themed concept album Mignonette. This fall, the musical Swept Away, based on the album’s story, will premiere on Broadway as the latest in a bevy of roots-based musicals lighting up those storied theaters.

Swept Away is presented in 90 minutes without intermission. During previews in San Francisco and Washington, D.C., the cast and creative team received high praise from theater critics and Avett Brothers fans alike.

The Avetts’ original song cycle was based on the story of a shipwreck near the Cape of Good Hope that left four survivors in a lifeboat. To survive, three of them killed the fourth and ate him for sustenance. When they were finally rescued, the three stood trial, breaking a tradition of maritime law that up to that point had carried the spirit of, “What happens at sea remains at sea.”

It’s quite a story for a band of brothers who have become known for their stirring sincerity. But, Scott Avett told Broadway.com, “We were driving around to places that seemed unknown, in a van. We seemed to have nothing but this belief that we were doing something that was true. … It was easy to see that van as our vessel.”

“It was scary,” adds Seth. “We felt very driven to survive.”

Adrian Blake Enscoe and the Company of the Washington, D.C. Arena Stage production of ‘Swept Away.’ Photo by Julieta Cervantes.

The Avetts discovered the story via their father, Jim Avett, who had a special affection for stories of shipwrecks and handed them a book about its history, The Custom of the Sea: A Shocking True Tale of Shipwreck, Murder, and the Last Taboo. When they wrote Mignonette, the brothers Seth and Scott were 23 and 27, respectively, and just beginning to rise from the clubs. But the disc pointed the way toward a bright future for the Avetts, which then included only the brothers with bassist Bob Crawford.

It was that trio which caught the eyes, ears, and imagination of a young John Gallagher, Jr. Gallagher spent a summer day in 2005 at the Philadelphia Folk Festival, aimlessly checking out bands he’d never heard of before.

Folk audiences were a handful of years out from the release of O Brother, Where Art Thou? – the film that ignited a wildfire of interest in bluegrass and old-time music for a new generation. Plenty of bands in their 20s were throwing their flat caps into the ring. But, Gallagher recalled recently over Zoom, “The thing that struck me … about the Avetts is that they were feeling it, you know. You can’t fake that. You can’t deny that. When you see someone bring that to the stage or put that on a record, it’s totally undeniable.”

That night, while driving back to Delaware with his sister and friends in their mom’s minivan, Gallagher commandeered the discman attached to the cassette adapter that fit into the car’s tape deck to insist everyone listen to the CD he bought after the Avett Brothers’ set.

Mignonette was the only one they had on offer that summer. They’d released it a year earlier on Ramseur Records. Gallagher played its first two tracks – “Swept Away” and “Nothing Short of Thankful” – before moving on to Green Day’s American Idiot, which had also just released.

Fast forward a handful of years and Gallagher was developing a new musical for Broadway based on the very same Green Day album. In his dressing room at the St. James Theater, he’d hung a small poster that showed Seth Avett handing his guitar off to a tech at a live show.

Mignonette had long since turned the young actor into a self-described “fanboy.” Even as he sang eight shows a week of Green Day tunes, he couldn’t have possibly known he’d eventually be cast for another Broadway show, this time based on the Avett Brothers album he’d played in that minivan back in Philly.

John Gallagher, Jr. in the Washington, D.C. Arena Stage production of ‘Swept Away.’ Photo by Julieta Cervantes.

When it dropped in 2004, Mignonette was lauded by the roots music press of the day. Paste extolled the band’s “James Brown precision (in a bluegrass context of course).” No Depression, then still in its original print run, applauded tracks from the album that harnessed “palpable yearning and hope.”

The playwright and filmmaker John Logan (Moulin Rouge) recalls how, in 2017, he received an email from producer Matthew Masten, asking if he’d ever heard Mignonette. After listening to the album for a day, Logan was sold.

He flew to North Carolina, where he pitched his vision for the musical to the Avett Brothers, asking them to open their entire catalog and to write a new song only for the stage. Once they agreed, Swept Away was set in motion. Michael Mayer, who was directing Gallagher in American Idiot at the time – a very different show with a score written by a very different band – was tapped to direct.

The show these men and their team would create would be titled after the album’s opening song, “Swept Away.” It would be somewhat of a jukebox musical, but not really. Somewhere between Jagged Little Pill (which told a new story with Alanis Morisette’s breakthrough album) and Hadestown (whose Tony-winning set designer Rachael Hauck joined Swept Away’s creative team). Plus maybe a little Come From Away. On a ship. In the 1880s.

In recent years, Broadway producers have been more and more interested in revivals (Merrily We Roll Along, Cabaret) and movies-turned-musicals (The Notebook, Moulin Rouge). True originality is more rare on the Broadway stage. Swept Away may be adapted from a 20-year-old folk album, but its songs pull from across the Avetts’ catalog and its book is entirely new.

Like Gallagher, Adrian Blake Enscoe, who is originating the Little Brother character, is a musician away from Broadway. His band, Bandits on the Run, has the scrappy busking energy of early Avetts and he especially appreciates the way the show incorporates the “rough and spontaneous” elements of the Avetts’ music into a score that can resonate with the theater crowd.

“It’s really hard to capture the magic of the little things [about folk music] and translate it to other people,” he acknowledges. Then adds that the music supervisors and arrangers, Chris Miller and Brian Usifer, “did an incredible job of recreating the magic.”

Swept Away is set to open on Broadway October 29, 2024, at the Longacre Theatre on 48th Street.

All production photos courtesy of DKC/O&M. Shot at the Washington, D.C. Arena Stage production of Swept Away by Julieta Cervantes.

Lead Image: Stark Sands, John Gallagher, Jr., Wayne Duvall, and Adrian Blake Enscoe in the Washington, D.C. Arena Stage production of ‘Swept Away.’ Photo by Julieta Cervantes.

BGS 5+5: Kate Prascher

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Artist: Kate Prascher
Hometown: Hudson Valley, New York
Latest Album: Shake The Dust (out August 30, 2024)
Personal Nicknames (or Rejected Band Names): Kate or Katie. I go by my middle name, which I have always thought of as a Southern thing. Growing up in Tennessee, it was not uncommon to go by a middle name or even a family nickname and it has taken some explaining over the years. Especially when I moved to New York.

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

I like to move some way or other, I will often practice yoga and try to get out of my head a little bit. I also warm up my voice and hands, drink tea, and run through whichever songs are new or have parts that need attention. I try to practice the week before a show and avoid day-of practicing whenever that’s possible, especially when there is new material. I have also started working with visualization this year. It is a thing I’m trying, so that I can see the audience in my mind before I meet them and give my brain a roadmap for how the next performance will go.

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

Books are a huge part of my life and a big part of my songwriting practice. I read all the time, all different kinds of things. I think of reading as stuffing my brain with words that are then (hopefully) at my fingertips when I sit down to write. Reading so much has given me a clearer picture of what good storytelling can be, the moves a writer can make to hide, to expose, and to captivate. And it has taught me about characters. I do the same kind of gathering with music, I pack my mind with good songwriting – or bad – and try to name the things that work or don’t work, things that I find interesting, and ideas or themes I would like to filter through my own voice. Also, I find myself asking: What’s fun and intriguing? Why do I love this song so much?

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

I am lucky to live in the Hudson Valley now. This after years of city living. I see the mountains every day; a privilege that I do not take for granted. There is something about this area, the Shawangunk Ridge and the Catskills, that cradles a person and whispers of things I’ve never known. I go walking or for a hike and usually return with a more rounded perspective. These old beings, these mountains, offer some kind of magic to us who live around here. They have seen things that they keep secret, but maybe also transmit in some silent way. I know at least one song of mine has come from a walk through the mountains, over a railroad trestle near my house.

What is a genre, album, artist, musician, or song you adore that would surprise people?

I love the Cranberries. Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can’t We? was on heavy rotation in my preteen years. I love Dolores O’Riordan’s voice and the intensity that she could hammer across, but then release to tenderness. Love and love. Also, who doesn’t adore Snoop Dogg? Watching him at the Super Bowl in 2022, the charisma he threw out in that giant arena, surrounded by other huge stars, reached past the fireworks and through the screen. He. Is. So. Good. But you didn’t need me to tell you this.

If I didn’t work in music, what would you do instead?

I would very likely be a writer. I am word nerd at heart and not sure I could ever really let go of that part of myself. Maybe an actor? I thought I was going to be an actor for a while, even majored in theater. I am sure the actors and writers who have worked tirelessly and sacrificed daily to master their craft just love hearing this casual statement from me!

I do have a day job, as an elementary school teacher, love the kids, love the work, I learn something every day from teaching. It is a part of my life I am very proud of.

Photo Credit: Shervin Lainez