Folk Archives - Page 38 of 157 - The Bluegrass Situation

Three Chords and… Authenticity?

Posted on February 9, 2024June 20, 2025 by Justin Hiltner

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In country and roots music, authenticity is treated like the most valuable currency of all. Maybe that’s because the genre has always been caught between the fiction that this music is frozen in amber and the reality that it has always borrowed liberally from current musical trends in order to have commercial value. The earliest popular country music was an amalgamation of regional music from rural white artists, music stolen wholesale from Black and Indigenous artists, and plenty of nods to prevailing pop (i.e., urban or non-rural) trends – looking back at the places young laborers and listeners that had been drawn to cities came from, and the exciting present and future they found themselves in once they arrived.

Can anyone or anything truly be considered “authentic” in America, a country whose identity is built on masking fundamental historical truths?

While artists like Zach Bryan are hailed for their “authenticity,” the vast majority of the current class of mainstream country and Americana artists grew up in suburbs, in postmodern America, in the internet age, and are graduates of major colleges – like Nashville’s Belmont University or Boston’s Berklee College of Music. Their experiences are also authentic, of course, to each individual artist – just as Bryan’s initial motel room demos are electrifying for the soul he brought to them. But these origins bring up questions around how country and Americana construct “authentic” narratives, especially to market roots music.

Still, it’s noticeable that certain types of creators are automatically considered “authentic” country artists – and they often match the complexion of the first generations of country singers, when “race records” and “hillbilly music” were originally split and whose most famous individuals wore cowboy cosplay on stage.

We want to tip you off to some real Good Country music: Music that portrays life in its complexity and a deep appreciation for one’s roots, whether they lie in the Bronx, rural Arkansas, or anywhere else on this rich blue marble we live on. Because authenticity in country doesn’t necessarily equate to rurality, to back roads and red dirt and farm trucks; real country music is real not because it’s built to be “authentic,” but because it’s honest.

Hurray For the Riff Raff

Hurray For the Riff Raff’s Alynda Segarra is from a little bit of everywhere, but the Bronx is where they grew up and the punk houses of the Lower East Side raised them. Between their jazz artist father and picking up a guitar as they rode the rails, Segarra’s approach to folk music began with a traditional bent and has since exhaled into an expansive approach, as with their astonishing 2022 album Life on Earth. Their upcoming album The Past Is Still Alive finds Segarra focusing more on twang, but their philosophical core has always remained the same: breathing life into unspoken pain and empowering people that society would like us to forget.

Amythyst Kiah

Amythyst Kiah’s music is a powerful force. Inspired by the blues and old time music, Kiah uses her art to prop the furnace doors open to make way for blasts of grief and abandonment. Kiah grew up in Chattanooga, Tennessee and picked up the guitar while attending an arts magnet school. She fell in love with old time music at East Tennessee State University and never looked back.

I first saw Kiah in 2016 at Karen Pittelman’s Queer Country Quarterly, her first show in NYC. Karen introduced her by remarking, “trust me, she’s going to be famous.” When Kiah belted her powerful alto, we all knew we were in the midst of greatness. Kiah’s most recent work on Wary + Strange (2021) takes us in a more experimental direction, but her exploration of alienation – like a toy in her hands – informs her music no matter what she’s plugging into her pedalboard. Kiah’s “Black Myself,” originally recorded with supergroup Our Native Daughters, fiercely proclaims her love for herself and her ancestors.

Willi Carlisle

Willi Carlisle has seen a thing or two in his travels across the lower 48. Carlisle cut his teeth musically in DIY and punk rock, but his search for queer role models and love for poetry drew him to New York City. With disgust for the elitism of the poetry scene there – and their mockery of his roots in the Midwest – Carlisle went searching for a life of words in folk music.

Carlisle has a knack for painting complex portraits of down-and-out characters, refusing to be drawn into simple narratives of left and right, red and blue. His stunning “When the Pills Wear Off” from the upcoming Critterland demonstrates Carlisle’s ability to turn the personal into the political – and back into the personal again. This is not the blind invective of JD Vance, but the realization that only empathy can build bridges between people who think they have nothing in common.

(Editor’s Note: Willi Carlisle is BGS’s February 2024 Artist of the Month.)

ISMAY

ISMAY (née Avery Hellman) has spent their whole life around folk and bluegrass music – their grandfather is one of the founders of the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival. As a contestant on Apple TV+’s short-lived My Kind of Country competition series, ISMAY is very much a representative of roots music’s vanguard. With their sparse arrangements and winsome vocals, ISMAY’s music feels like deconstructed folk music. They understand the core elements of the sound thanks to a lifetime immersed in it, and they create something wholly unique from its constituent parts, as we hear on “Point Reyes.” There, ISMAY’s contemplative vocals are orbited by a gauzy cloud of pedal steel and gentle finger-picking. ISMAY’s upcoming album Desert Pavement speaks to their sense of place: all of their music is enamored by nature. “Golden Palomino” illustrates ISMAY’s love for their rural California upbringing, guiding us to realize how much our natural and inner worlds inform each other.

Buffalo Nichols

You’d be hard-pressed to find a more devastating songwriter or guitar player than Buffalo Nichols. Nichols, like many teenagers before him, picked up a guitar and played his way through the hip-hop and hardcore scenes in his Milwaukee hometown. He found himself drawn to blues music as he began to dig into his mother’s collection and connect with Cream City’s West African community. Nichols and musical partner Joanna Rose made a mark on the Americana scene with their duo Nickel and Rose, shining a harsh light on the ignorance on full display in the community’s supposedly liberal refuge on the song “Americana.”

With his most recent solo album The Fatalist, Nichols brings all of his experience to bear on a remarkable collection of songs that combine elements of all of his musical loves. On his rendition of the classic “You’re Gonna Need Somebody On Your Bond,” Nichols’ guitar becomes an extension of his own body with lightning-fast licks. Buttressed by electronic drum samples and a haze of synths, Nichols shows that music is at its most vital when it is rooted in the past and embraces the future.

Ally Free

Ally Free is one to keep your eye on in 2024. They write in their bio that they see music as the universal language that can bring people together, and that’s clear on their versatile 2019 album Rise. From the nu metal-inspired chugging of “Fool’s Gold” to the craftsman’s approach to “Fast Train,” Free isn’t embarrassed to draw from any inspiration to make a damn good song. Free’s rich alto gives their music depth: from their performances, it’s clear that this is someone who has lived a lot of life. Free is one of the newest members of the Black Opry and has taken a few steps out of their Huntsville, AL hometown to playing more shows around Nashville. Here’s hoping that means the rest of us get to hear more from this remarkable performer soon.

William Prince

William Prince’s voice carries a warm, earthy timbre that is wholly unique. Prince grew up on Peguis First Nation (in what is now Canada) and is well-versed in the travails of people living under oppression. But that experience is translated into patience and warmth, a gentle perseverance that can only come from a keen observer. Prince’s stark breakout album Reliever (2020) has given way to the warm Stand in the Joy (2023), which details the travails and victories we most often find in daily life. “Tanqueray” is a gorgeous example of Prince’s dynamic, a story of two improbable lovers finally coming together to make it work.

Sabine McCalla

Sabine McCalla is readying for a breakout 2024. McCalla’s music is steeped in the sounds of New Orleans, which she has made her home. McCalla has performed with others, but her performance on Offbeat Magazine’s OnBeat Session from September 2023 shows us she’s ready to step out on her own. For now, we have her 2018 EP Folk, which sports arresting songs that feel timeless. Maybe it’s the gentle groove in her music that feels like the stately flow of the Mississippi River – discordant with the immediacy of her lyrics that protest violence and oppression, as demonstrated by “I Went to the Levee.”

Margo Cilker

Look – Margo Cilker is literally a cowboy, okay?? Isn’t that what you imagine when someone mentions “country music” and “authenticity” in the same breath? But Cilker’s music glorifies a life of searching, not a mythologized America of white picket fences, so you can also picture the quintessential Nashville executive saying, “We like cowboys, but no, not like that.”

Cilker’s latest album, critical darling Valley of Heart’s Delight, is nostalgic for her family orchard in California’s Santa Clara Valley – but not without a heavy dose of reality. “Mother Told Her Mother Told Me” caution the listener not to become too attached to any one place – and the cost of leaving it behind. Cilker’s impassioned “With The Middle” cuts to the core of her work – a weighing of the contrasts between pleasure and pain and yearning to find common ground between the two.

Brittany Howard

Brittany Howard transcends pretty much everything – except the act of exploration with wild abandon. Having gained notoriety as the lead singer of the retro soul band the Alabama Shakes, Howard seemingly will not rest until she’s drawn with every musical crayon in the box. In her recent interview with NPR’s Jewly Hight, Howard cracks that she grew up in a trailer and would still be perfectly content to be working the land somewhere. But her music has led her elsewhere, perhaps everywhere. Howard has teased a few songs off her upcoming album, What Now, with the title track featuring hooky grooves and propulsive energy, but it’s “Red Flags” that astounds with its jarring drum loop, woozy vocals, and disorienting production that demonstrates how much mastery Howard has gained in her craft as an artist and storyteller.

Samantha Crain

Few artists in the last decade have shown the same growth and versatility as Samantha Crain. A part of the rich Tulsa music scene that has given us John Moreland, John Calvin Abney, and M Lockwood Porter, Crain follows a road all her own. Under Branch & Thorn & Tree (2015) found Crain exploring the pride and trauma of her Choctaw heritage through folk-inspired music. In 2017, Crain broke her own mold with the quirky indie-pop album You Had Me at Goodbye (2017.) Since her 2020 album, A Small Death, Crain has been playing in the spaces in between, utilizing woodwinds, pedal steel, pianos, and guitar to create a woozy soundscape as her spacious, gravelly voice helps us stay anchored in the real.

Nick Shoulders

Nick Shoulders rounds up the list with his commanding All Bad. While Shoulders’ music leans traditional sonically, it’s anything but. The Fayetteville, Arkansas singer begins his album with phaser blasts and a menacing invitation to a “conversation,” and that conversation is explicitly about all the “country” stylings that deserve to be thrown in the trash heap – and the many, many qualities we need to hold on to and claim for ourselves: grit, honesty, love, and togetherness. “Won’t Fence Us In” and “Appreciate’cha” speak to this theme most clearly, but the way Shoulders approaches the classic country canon with loving irreverence reminds us that we never have to be weighed down by tradition.

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Photo Credit: Margo Cilker by Jen Borst.

Ed’s Picks: Country From All Corners

Posted on February 9, 2024June 20, 2025 by Justin Hiltner

(Editor’s note: Each issue of Good Country, our co-founder Ed Helms will share a handful of good country artists, albums, and songs direct from his own earphones in Ed’s Picks.

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You’re Looking At (Feminine) Country

Posted on February 9, 2024June 20, 2025 by Justin Hiltner

(Editor’s Note: Sign up here to receive Good Country issues when they launch, direct to your email inbox via Substack.)

Eight years ago, in 2016, the harp-playing half of Brooklyn-based folk duo Devil & the Deep Blue Sea, found herself filing away songs for a solo project.

“There were certain songs… [that] would tell me who Lizzie No was going to be,” she explained in a recent phone interview.
“There were songs that felt very personal, very femme, and a little more country and a little more pop than would be appropriate in my band. Those songs started getting categorized into the ‘new solo project’ category. And then, I just had to come up with a name, you know. Like, I needed my Sasha Fierce alter ego, to be able to stand in myself.”

The name she landed on, Lizzie No, was a doozy. Considering the femininity she noticed her new songs projecting, the decision to include the word “No” in her name was no small thing. Women, especially feminine women – especially Black feminine women – have a special relationship with the word. It was important to No that her solo singer-songwriter persona reflect the energy she wanted to project, the space she wanted to carve for herself and her songs.

“I think there’s a real difference between singing songs that you wrote in the context of a band versus being a solo artist and having people literally look at you, in your physical body, and associate the songs with you and yourself. So I needed an identity, a performer identity, that would be able to encapsulate the confidence and the directness, and yes the femininity, that I wanted to present with these songs that I was writing.”

The idea of mindfully presenting femininity is nothing new, of course. Women in all professions must decide how they’d like to present; how many minutes or hours they will spend before each workday putting on their face and dressing to impress. But, there is a special place in the history of country music for artists taking the stage while female.

It was far less than a century ago that female country singers were expected to travel with a husband, brother, or other male family member as their escort. Women country singers were expected to eschew ambition and to primarily be a pretty face with a pretty voice.

All that started to shift when Mother Maybelle and the Carter Sisters made their Grand Ole Opry debut in 1950 – the first all-female band on that storied stage. In fact, well aware of how women were perceived and received by the country music establishment, Mother Maybelle nonetheless insisted her daughters become masterful on their instruments, develop independent business acumen, and forge a career on the stage.

For the 74 years hence, women who can and do shred have been of great interest to country music critics and fans alike.
Author and critic Marissa A. Moss dove deep into this subject with her 2023 book, Her Country: How the Women of Country Music Busted Up the Old Boys Club. Meanwhile, on social media, fans and artists alike routinely return to the evergreen topic of how much airplay women get (or, rather, don’t) on country radio.

To consider what it means to show up wholly oneself while feminine in country music can feel like engaging with a Groundhog Day loop through tired, generations-old expectations. Granted, the options for women have broadened a bit since the Carter Sisters showed up in their gingham checks and transcended what one might have expected from pretty women who sing and play. (A new documentary by Kristen Vaurio on Paramount+ about the youngest Carter Sister, JUNE, is well worth a stream.)

The modern answer to the Carters’ quietly subversive embodiment is a cadre of demonstrably feminine women like Allison Russell, Margo Price, and Amanda Shires. Recent Grammy winner Russell comes off like a clarinet-wielding, angel-voiced supermodel, self-made from equal parts awful trauma and infectious joy. Price appears as a cross between Willie Nelson and Cher, riding her biting narrative lyricism on the vehicles of magic mushrooms and low-cut, glittery fringe. Shires saunters about in spiked heels and leotards, a finer fiddler/poet than you’ll find anywhere else on God’s green earth.

That each of these women is stunningly talented as a lyricist, multi-instrumentalist, and performer, is inarguably the most important thing. But the messages they convey by leaning hard into how they wear their gender, remind us that women in country music no longer need to amplify the pretty and take the brilliance behind the scenes. There’s more than enough space for both/and.

It wouldn’t be a leap to suggest this is thanks in part to a rising tide of queer country artists. Lizzie No, Russell, and others – Jaimee Harris, Brandy Clark, Jaime Wyatt – prioritize songcraft as equivalent to crafting persona. Other queer artists like Paisley Fields subvert the masculine/feminine binary with candid expressions of personhood that transcend traditional femininity while remaining sonically adherent to traditional country music.

All of this raises numerous questions, including: What does 21st century femininity bring to the cis-het boys’ club of country music? Shouldn’t women get country airplay while also being free to show up as the full human they are?

Lizzie No is a good example of a walking answer to both questions.

A rising country singer whose music lands warmly – a stew of Dolly and Emmylou, a twinge of Kris, just a pinch of Sleater Kinney – her new album, Halfsies, is a mostly-country and occasionally rock and roll rumination on the intersections of love, identity, and freedom. While it may resonate for plenty of men and folks who don’t identify as feminine, it is, in other words, about the numerous conundrums and longing-for-transcendence of womanhood.

“There’s a patriarchal anxiety around performance and illusion, and we associate that with femininity,” No says. “[I’m] actually leaning into that and saying, ‘It’s all a mask. Gender is a mask for me and for you.’ That’s a big part of how I’ve constructed my identity as Lizzie No. I am one thousand different things and [you shouldn’t] try to narrow it down musically, or in terms of gender.”

She goes on to affirm that the way she constructed her performer persona is similar to drag. Considering country music is most often associated with Nashville (where No recently relocated from New York City), it’s worth considering that this new wave of feminine people in country music has risen at the same time as a push-back against drag performers in the same state and across the country. The tension between these two phenomena is mostly political and definitely charged.

When indie band Yo La Tengo played a show in Nashville shortly after the state passed its anti-drag bill, their decision to wear dresses onstage was a funny, tongue-in-cheek protest. An overt resistance, an assertion of allyship. This is different from when someone like nonbinary country singer Paisley Fields steps out in a sheer top and jewelry, or a dress. The former is clowning on politicians; the latter is throwing on something comfortable to engage in vulnerable, intensely personal creative expression. The former is playing to its indie rock audience, replete with left-leaning, ironic hipsters; the latter is forging a path of their own in the country music world, where femininity is a little more… complicated.

“The first thing that comes to mind when it comes to femininity in country music is just how misogynistic of a genre it is,” Fields said in a recent interview.

For example, they added, “The first time I wore a dress [onstage], I noticed the way people treat me is very different. Even if I’m just in a more, like, sort of flamboyant or more feminine look—maybe hot pink pants or something – I’m treated very differently. If I’m wearing a dress, it’s almost a little scary.”

Over the past couple of years, since coming out as nonbinary, Fields has been exploring what it means for a person assigned male at birth to express authentic femininity on a country stage. Indeed, they are just as likely to appear in the jeans-boots-hat costume of a country man as they are in a sparkly net top and purple chaps – an outfit nobody would look twice at, were it donned by Margo Price or Lizzie No. In the process, they’ve firmed up their own convictions around country music’s relationship with femininity.

“It would be better for a woman to be masculine [in country music] than for a man to be feminine,” they say. To clarify: “Some of the most successful women in country music are obviously very feminine and embrace their femininity, like Dolly Parton and [Shania] Twain. But there is this sort of like, tough as nails [persona], which I guess is perceived a lot of times as masculine.”
Granted, this tough-as-nails persona is often an outcropping of the mountains these women have needed to climb in order to make it onto the big stage.

In her 2022 memoir, Maybe We’ll Make It, Price detailed a few shady encounters with Nashville songwriters and executives who saw her as a young, hopeful girl who deserved to be exploited. That she survived these instances and earned success with her music on her own terms, in the end, perhaps lends itself to a tough-as-nails persona. But it is one that comes from being a woman with well-marked boundaries in a misogynistic boys club. When she rode into the 2022 Stagecoach Festival in a crop top and glitter skirt, on horseback, she knew she’d earned the right.

This balance of toughness and femininity (often used in a context where it’s synonymous with “weak” or “fragile” or “naïve”) is indeed not a stretch, but rather the innate characteristic of a woman with a strong moral center and the desire to get hers.

Lizzie No explains perhaps better than this writer can.

“I feel my most feminine when I am in some way using my physical body to achieve political ends,” she says. “To me, that’s my ideal of femininity. It’s like the women who lured Nazis to their death by being hot. When I want to post about taking down the government, you know, I will always use a bikini pic. … Because it’s like, hey, look over here, you’re going see my midriff and you’re going to learn about how capitalism has alienated us from ourselves.”

Photos of Lizzie No by Cole Nielsen.

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Moving & Returning

Posted on February 9, 2024June 20, 2025 by Justin Hiltner

(Editor’s Note: Sign up here to receive Good Country issues when they launch, direct to your email inbox via Substack.)

I bet in the next few years, an expert taxonomist will come by and tell us exactly what country music is – and that this definition will create endless arguments. In the last few months, this argument about what exactly country music is has been growing louder. Jason Isbell has been fucking around with Nashville for decades, playing the field between rock, country, southern rock, country rock, and classic country. (He has recently said that he considers himself a rock singer). Adeem the Artist, the infamous cast iron pansexual, says that they are a folk singer. Willi Carlisle, a folk up-and-comer, has released Critterland, a certainly country album. On the other hand, Maren Morris released two singles last fall which were about burning Nashville to the ground, yet they’re perhaps the most country songs of her career – in terms of how she tells stories, how the bridges work, her vocal tones, and even some of the instrumentation. It seems lately, country is both everything and nothing.

Amanda Fields’ 2023 project deepens this ongoing problem. The album, What, When and Without, is a complex artifact of her own wrestling with genre, history, and biography. It slides into that complex sorting of genre and feeling that is key to Nashville right now. Fields calls this a country album – lushly produced, thick with strings, and dense with vocals, reminding one of an updated countrypolitan record – but sorting out what that means comes with a history of playing and listening.

Fields has a reputation on the bluegrass circuit, often an insular genre with an insistence on a certain kind of purity. She recognized how those questions of purity often don’t pay the bills, and her first major recordings were on a series of bluegrass cover records, called Pickin’ On – recorded by prominent bluegrass studio musicians, there are dozens of them, the artists covered include the expected (Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash), the unusual (Blink 182), to the fully flummoxing (Modest Mouse). Though Fields did not play on all of these records, she talks about them as an integral understanding of herself as part of a musical team: “When I look back on my experience within the ‘genres’ I’ve taken part in, I think about the groups of people I worked with… When I worked on Pickin’ On, I got that gig because of who I was hanging out with and playing music with at the time. I sang ‘gospel’ when I was growing up, because that was the community within my proximity.”

Proximity is a complex question for Fields. She has close ties to the bluegrass community, and there is something intriguing about the idea that genre is a social category – one about who one is near, or what the audience and the performer agrees to participate in. Yet there is a kind of roving that occurs here too; for Fields, roving is both a history of moving around geographically and, as she says here, moving from music that she considers bluegrass or gospel or country.

Fields moved around a lot as a child. Though she was born in Appalachia and currently lives in suburban Nashville (right next to Loretta Lynn’s old house), the line between these two legendary destinations was not direct.

Asking Fields about these roots – expecting a standard line in response – she honestly describes the complexity of her raising: “I’m originally from the mountains and it was my anchor growing up, but my dad moved us around a lot. He was one of those people who felt there was more to life than what was available to us living in that area, so he took job opportunities that carried us away from the mountains. I didn’t like that, because I was always longing to be ‘home’ with the rest of our family. I lived for summers and holidays when I got to be in Virginia and East Tennessee. Playing and listening to country and bluegrass music was my way to experience home when I couldn’t be there physically.”

This moving and returning is a common note for country musicians. Listening to her talk about the juxtaposition of moving, returning, being forced to leave, and finally finding home in an idea more than a place, I am reminded of Tanya Tucker or Merle Haggard. Tucker’s early childhood had a father who moved her from Arizona to Las Vegas to finally Nashville, chasing an acting and singing career. She broke out as a singer who fused a desire for rock and for country. It is similar to Haggard’s talk of moving – to California with his family as a consequence of economic disenfranchisement – and spending the rest of his career chasing economic stability. That idea was perhaps best written about in his tragic ballad “Kern River,” with its opening line, “I grew up in an oil town, but my gusher never came in.” (A Fields original from well before What, When and Without, “Brandywine,” strikes a similar note.)

This connection to Tucker, Haggard, and other classic country singers suggests that Fields landed not necessarily in a place, but as she says, in a music which has tight connections to place. What, When and Without, a classic country album, is infused with this kind of nostalgic listening.

Asked about her relationship to figures like Loretta Lynn or Haggard, she answers carefully: “Most of the music that really stirs my soul is older. I listen to all my friends’ new music and I’m always hunting something fresh to connect with, but on a day-to-day basis, I’m usually listening to the same stuff I’ve always loved. I’m talking Tammy Wynette, Loretta Lynn, Conway Twitty just about everyday. Classic country is what excites me (especially when I discover something I haven’t heard) and those familiar sounds and voices help me regulate my body’s nervous system.”

The album, rooted in those sounds, contains a deep knowledge of genre. Its ability to move between old school country, bluegrass chops, and deep, modern desire is one of its strengths. Figuring out how to sound both modern and historical is something Fields achieves with some skill. If her commitment to genre has a loose, rootless quality – or at least one which floats and lands depending on aesthetic or social need – then how she considers time has a similar quality.

Maybe her early commitment to bluegrass, a genre who remembers more than it forgets, and faces backwards as much as it faces forwards, and which was complicated by how hungry those covers were, suggests one way of bridging eras. But, her recent work, crafting contemporary studio craft with the careful polish of Studio A aesthetics is another. Asking her about memory and nostalgia, she again answers carefully: “One thing that was very intentional with the album was the pace. I think that going slowly is nostalgic in a way, because society and industry move so fast nowadays. I usually walk slowly and I talk slowly compared to most of my peers. My body responds to tempo and dynamics and I wanted to invite the album’s listeners to slow down with me.”

The slowness of the album can be heard in how she starts many of the tracks. There is often an instrumental intro where one waits a significant time for the vocals to be introduced and on occasion there are gaps, where her vocals recede and the band takes over – though the band itself is also quiet. There is a quality, listening to the work, of a kind of courtly two-step, the band asking Fields to dance, and vice versa.

The very first song, “What A Fool,” begins with brushed drums, and has a quite lovely open-ended moment where the pedal steel becomes central. On “I Love You Today,” the old-fashioned cheating song, heartbreak is introduced via an elegant, western swing sound, not outside of Lovett at his best. The last song, “Without You,” plays drums as solid and regular as a heartbeat. It’s another heartbreak song.

The pedal steel is crafted by Russ Pahl, who has been playing for decades. He has been nominated by the Academy of Country Music for his work on the steel guitar three times and for specialty instrument once, between 2004 and 2021. Before that, aside from being an in-demand studio musician, he was part of legendary Great Plains, another band who was excellent at moving between genres, across time, and throughout modes.

Talking to Fields about Pahl, she noted how good he was at not only playing, but matching vibes in the studio: “He came across very quiet and contemplative in the studio and I think he ‘got’ the vibe right away. After a song or two, he said, ‘…this ain’t Zip A dee Doo Dah.’ And it wasn’t. It was an album created in the midst of global pandemic [and] a time of great suffering for society and for myself personally.”

What, When and Without sounds like Fields has had some rough times, even outside of the lockdowns (regardless of how dense the record sounds, there is a yearning in the vocals that have a certain lockdown edge); but there is also an irony in this loneliness. Megan McCormick, who co-wrote on and produced the record and plays in Fields’ band, shows great intimacy throughout the project – there is a reason for this, McCormick and Fields are personal as well as professional partners. They sound good together, and the track where McCormick sings backing vocals, “Moving Mountains,” is the highest energy, most open of the entire record. It’s a great love song – but it’s a love song which calls to Mother Maybelle Carter as an avatar of country music, as a figure outside of space and time, which can tell the narrator how to love after years of heartbreak.

When asked about McCormick, Fields is still a little coy, but her commitment to their lives and sounds is made clear: “She really has a special gift and believing in her as a producer, as well as trusting her intuitions and abilities, has allowed me to grow as an artist. She’s my toughest critic, because that’s what I’ve asked of her. She’s also my constant cheerleader. We thrive when we get to travel together and both enjoy that feeling of being untethered that you get when you’re on the road.”

One can hear some of the untethered quality in Fields’ work, the road as untethering as much as time or genre, but the closeness that she has with McCormick is another kind of tethering, be it a consensual one.

Throughout the album, there is a quality of choosing which traditions are valuable, which are worth keeping, and which ones might have outlived their usefulness. When she talks about her childhood as a Pentecostal, she says: “I am very spiritual, still, and that energy I saw in church growing up is no different than the energy I feel when I’m composing music or playing music with other people with whom I am ‘tuned in.’”

She is definitely tuned with McCormick, their close contribution seen in how they work together – the harmonies without necessarily the negative consequences of some of that church life. She continues: “Those are universal aspects of the human experience that transcend dogma, class, and denomination and that’s what I carry on and value from my experience in church.”

One can see the universal quality in Fields’ work, and it contains interesting juxtapositions. A rootlessness across genre or time, which lands on something contemporary sounding; or a heartbreak record which rests on multiple commitments to one person; or even a religious tradition which widens and deepens.

Maybe we don’t need that taxonomy. An audience knows what a country record is.

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Photo Credit: John Brown

You Gotta Hear This: New Music From LULLANAS, Ethan Sherman, and More

Posted on February 9, 2024June 20, 2025 by Justin Hiltner

New music Friday might just be the best day of the week, right? This week, BGS readers enjoyed an exclusive premiere from Gangstagrass featuring Jerry Douglas and a brand new Rootsy Summer Session with Emily Scott Robinson joined by Violet Bell.

In this week’s edition of You Gotta Hear This, you can check out the new Gangstagrass single, “The Only Way Out Is Through,” and Robinson’s two performances from Falkenberg, Sweden. Plus, don’t miss exclusive premieres from artists and musicians like LULLANAS, Ethan Sherman, Jake Byrne, Bri Bagwell, and Mia Dyson. Also, Angus & Julia Stone at long last release a studio version of “The Wedding Song” – a fan-favorite track and a frequent wedding ceremony and reception playlist choice – for the first time.

It’s all right here on BGS and… You Gotta Hear This!

LULLANAS, “Pretty Lies and Time Machines”

Artist: LULLANAS
Hometown: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Song: “Pretty Lies and Time Machines”
Album: Pretty Lies and Time Machines
Release Date: February 9, 2024 (single); June 14, 2024 (album)
Label: Nettwerk Music Group

In Their Words: “Throughout our writing process, Nishita and I almost always envision visuals or a music video concept for each song. If we can’t visualize it, the song isn’t complete yet. ‘Pretty Lies and Time Machines,’ co-written with Jake Etheridge, explores the thoughts that keep us up at night. After finishing the song, we envisioned strolling through a whimsical ghost town, surrounded only by our thoughts. Collaborating closely with our friend and producer, Keith Goodwin (Good Old War), every element added to the track helped tell that story, bringing our vision to life.” – Atisha Lulla

Ethan Sherman, “Lake Aire”

Artist: Ethan Sherman
Hometown: Los Angeles, California
Song: “Lake Aire”
Album: Passages
Release Date: March 8, 2024
Label: Indoor Recordings, distributed by Free Dirt

In Their Words: “This is a new-fangled old-time-adjacent slow-jam-rager of an instrumental. When I first wrote it, it was a lot faster and had a few extra parts. My producer extraordinaire, Wes Corbett, suggested we take out all the filler and slow the tempo down to really make it sing. Like all of the music on Passages, the thing that makes this tune ‘work’ is the way this stellar band played it – with deep interaction and lots of in-the-moment interplay. My favorite parts are Rob Ickes’s beautiful phrasing of the melody on the Dobro and the collective improvised build in the middle of the tune. It was so fun to work this up with these guys.” – Ethan Sherman

Track Credits: Ethan Sherman – guitar
Rob Ickes – Dobro
Wes Corbett – banjo
Thomas Cassell – mandolin
Avery Merritt – fiddle
Ethan Jodziewicz – bass

Jake Byrne, “Robbed A Giving Tree”

Artist: Jake Byrne
Hometown: Lake Ozark, Missouri
Song: “Robbed a Giving Tree”
Release Date: February 9, 2024

In Their Words: “I wrote ‘Robbed a Giving Tree’ when I was transitioning from a very purpose driven career to one working from home that just paid the bills. To emotionally compensate, I became overly generous with my time, talents, and resources with near strangers. I grew symbiotic relationships with some people that have flourished into beautiful friendships, but I also created toxic relationships that, to me, equate to being nothing more than ‘their giving tree.’ I unfortunately learned the difference between being useful versus being used. Ultimately for the sake of self preservation, I had cut off a bit of my generous side that was supposed to bring me a sense of purpose.” – Jake Byrne

Angus & Julia Stone, “The Wedding Song”

Artist: Angus & Julia Stone
Hometown: Sydney, Australia
Song: “The Wedding Song”
Album: Cape Forestier
Release Date: February 9, 2024 (single); May 10, 2024 (album)
Label: Nettwerk Music Group

In Their Words:“We’ve received so many requests from fans for a proper recording to use on their special day, so we decided to make that happen. ‘The Wedding Song’ was originally written for a friend’s wedding years ago. Since then, we’ve been honored to play it at several friends’ and family’s weddings, including our mum’s… We chose it as our first single from our upcoming record because it’s all about love. The song is a celebration of love and human connection. In a world that can feel disconnected and frightening, we want to share something that reflects the beauty of how humans choose to treat each other, love each other, and make promises to build something beautiful together.” – Julia Stone

Video Credits: Directed by Jarrad Seng.

Animation by Johanna Gousset.

Bri Bagwell, “The Rescue”

Artist: Bri Bagwell
Hometown: Grew up in Las Cruces, New Mexico; now New Braunfels, Texas
Song: “The Rescue”
Release Date: February 9, 2024
Label: New Texican Records

In Their Words: “I found my chihuahua, who I named Whiskey, in February of 2019 in the middle of the road, southeast of Austin, Texas. I have always heard the phrase ‘who rescued who,’ but I know in my heart that she rescued me more than I rescued her! I stopped traffic when I saw her in the middle of the road and chased her until she eventually gave in and let me catch her. She was heartworm positive, cold, and dirty; I was in a toxic relationship, sad, and tired. We’ve been inseparable ever since! The only artistic license in the song is finding her at night, when it was actually midday. The rest is our true story!

“I enlisted the help of one of my absolute favorite songwriters and friends, Helene Cronin, to help me write the tune. She is very careful with lyrics and melodies, and I trust her deeply with my important ideas. This one happened rather quickly, but Helene had to sing it for the worktape, because I was sobbing like a baby. The first few times performing it live, I couldn’t get through it… Someone even apologized to me about my dog passing away, which made me laugh with embarrassment. She’s fine and healthy, and my love for her just overflows to tears sometimes.” – Bri Bagwell

Mia Dyson, “Sunny Hills”

Artist: Mia Dyson
Hometown: Torquay, Australia
Song: “Sunny Hills”
Album: Tender Heart
Release Date: February 23, 2024

In Their Words:“My husband and I wrote this song together, thinking of the eternal Sunny Hills that all who have loved before us have played in. When we love, all the lovers from the past are with us. If we listen quietly we can hear them guiding us. Extending this love out to those we disagree with or don’t like is a radical and rebellious thing to try. Hatred and cynicism are easy. Love is difficult. My job is not to get brought down by my fear and hatred and greed. Everything changes when I look through the lens of knowing I have the company of all who have gone before.” – Mia Dyson

Gangstagrass, “The Only Way Out Is Through”

Artist: Gangstagrass
Hometown: All over the USA! Rench: Brooklyn with Oklahoma roots; Dolio the Sleuth: Pensacola, Florida; R-SON the Voice of Reason: Philly; Danjo: Washington, D.C.; Farrow: Omaha; Sleevs: Baltimore.
Song: “The Only Way Out Is Through”
Release Date: February 7, 2024 (video); February 2, 2024 (single)
Label: Rench Audio

In Their Words: “I’m really into how much we played with tension and energy to craft this track, the dynamics came out so powerfully. Especially with the horns! (Provided by Lowdown Brass Band.) We were stunned by the quick ‘yes’ from the one and only Jerry Douglas, who put in a blisteringly intense Dobro solo. I dare you to tell me you’ve heard anything like this before. I feel like this will be a great song for psyching yourself up to kick ass at whatever you are about to do.” – Rench

Radio Waves to Musical Bliss: Talia Schlanger’s Harmonious Journey

Posted on February 8, 2024June 20, 2025 by Shelby Williamson

Canada’s Talia Schlanger is best known for her work in broadcasting, guest-hosting Q with Tom Power on CBC and Alec Baldwin’s “Here’s the Thing” podcast, as well as having taken over for David Dye on NPR Music’s World Cafe from WXPN in Philadelphia. Before all that, Schlanger was an actor and singer in many theater productions including Mamma Mia, Queen’s We Will Rock You, and Green Day’s American Idiot. While she has found much success in her two previous careers, something has been pulling on Talia for years. She wanted to write, record, and perform her own music. She had something to say and made the brave leap into the unknown, leaving her coveted role at World Cafe in order to say it. This culmination of events has led Talia to her debut album, Grace for Going.

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In our conversation, Schlanger shares insights into her upbringing in Thornhill, Ontario within a Jewish family deeply rooted in faith and family heritage. She reflects on the impact of her grandparents, Holocaust survivors whose stories shaped her childhood. Talia also talks about her unique journey from performing eight shows a week in theater productions to becoming a distinguished radio host. Her evolution as a singer, her bravery and some important boundaries have allowed her to find her authentic voice while maintaining a crucial work-life balance. Throughout the interview, she touches on themes of personal growth, acts of kindness, and her commitment to learning and curiosity, offering a fascinating glimpse into the life and career of this remarkable person.

Photo Credit: Katherine Holland

Open Mic: Tommy Prine Finds Artistic Acceptance at the Grand Ole Opry

Posted on February 7, 2024June 20, 2025 by Justin Hiltner

(Editor’s Note: Open Mic is a new series from BGS with a simple premise – to remove all the filters between artist and audience and give musicians and creatives an Open Mic. With each installment, we’ll hold space for musicians to say whatever they’d like on any topic they like in any format that moves them most. It’s about facilitating real conversations and genuine insight with our roots music community.)

For our first edition of our new series, we set up an Open Mic for Americana newcomer Tommy Prine, an emerging singer-songwriter who walks a unique tightrope. The son of folk legend John Prine and an artist with a creative vision all his own, his work both builds on an established tradition and breaks free from the past – a contrast in full view at his December 2023 Grand Ole Opry debut.

Here, Prine reflects on his winding and not-at-all anticipated path into the artistic world – and into the ability to stand on his own creative feet.

Tommy Prine: “I have learned many things over the last few years, but the most important lesson I have learned is that no one gets anywhere without a lot of support.

“My wife, Savannah, is the embodiment of support. We decided in 2020 that we were going to give this music thing a shot, and by ‘shot’ I mean throwing every ounce of our hearts and spirit into making it work. She has taken on so many roles and worn a thousand hats (still does) during this music journey and it amazes me everyday how graceful and effortlessly she navigates the strange world that we operate in.

“My mom, Fiona, has been the guiding hand through so many new and scary events ultimately enabling me to gain the needed self-confidence to be an artist. She also played that role in raising me, and I owe a whole lot to her for any and all success in my life.

“My dad, John, set a standard of manhood that I will always strive to attain; gentleness, respect, and a lot of listening. As I walk the path that he walked, I learn more about him each day and his lessons unfold time and time again. Thank you for a lifetime of love and teachings, Dad.

“My brothers, Jody and Jack, have seen me in every shape and form I have ever taken on and been nothing but loving and understanding. They both have taught me so much about patience, wisdom and any and all cool music/movies. Without them I would be an entirely different person with different interests, and I couldn’t be prouder to be their little brother.

“My friends, who have been there with me since I was just a kid who played guitar by himself with the doors closed, all of you have influenced me to be a better and smarter man, and have never missed an opportunity to support me. For these reasons, I consider myself the luckiest man alive, and I feel undeserved of such incredible and loving company.

“When I reflect on my Opry debut, the word that comes to mind is acceptance. Acceptance into the community of artists that I admire so much, and acceptance of the life path that I chose which led me to the Grand Ole Opry. Growing up in Nashville, the Grand Ole Opry stage is the stage that you tell yourself, ‘One day, I’ll get there.’ When those thoughts crossed my mind as a teen, all it ever felt like was a dream. An unattainable dream barricaded by years of the most vulnerable and terrifying work I could imagine.

“Part of me knew who I had to be in order to get there, and the other part of me found that to be impossible. My journey in music has provided the personal growth I always wanted – and if all else fails, at least I found out who I really am. When an artist gets the opportunity to step into that circle, they light their own torch. On December 8th, 2023 I lit my own torch, and I intend to carry it to the end of my road.”

Photo Credit: Courtesy of the Grand Ole Opry, shot by Chris Hollo

BGS 5+5: Frontier Ruckus

Posted on February 6, 2024June 20, 2025 by Justin Hiltner

Artist: Frontier Ruckus
Hometown: Detroit, Michigan
Latest Album: On the Northline (out February 16)

(Editor’s Note: All answers provided by Matthew Milia.)

If you had to write a mission statement for your career, what would it be?

“Celebrate the minutiae.” It’s no secret that that’s what my lyrics are all about. Specificity, specificity, specificity. I truly believe that the universal resides in the particular. And, that by singing about things in extreme detail, enormous truths are unlocked. Hence my apparent mission to name every landmark of my local universe/my personal mythology: The mall where my mom worked when I was a kid, my Catholic grade school, the soccer field where I first experienced the holy human emotion of humiliation.

On the Northline is a continuation of that ongoing catalog of catharsis. Me constantly digging deeper in the junk drawer of memory. You’d think that approach would be an almost unlistenably niche experience for the audience – but I’ve found it to be the opposite. I was so stunned the first time we played in London and kids in the front row were singing lyrics back to me about obscure Michigan towns and situations. They told me after the show that I might as well have been singing about their own towns, that the truths were universal. That was one of the best feelings ever.

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

We once opened for blues harmonica legend Charlie Musselwhite in Houston and his parting words for us were: “Remember, the only chords you need are I, IV, and V.” Anyone who’s listened to Frontier Ruckus knows I definitely did not heed that advice, as I’m constantly trying to insert labyrinthine chord progressions and every melodic trick I’ve absorbed from 38 years of listening to pop radio.

Advice that we’ve found more apt came from our first manager, Dolphus Ramseur – an old-school North Carolinian known for discovering the Avett Brothers. He would always say, “Matthew, a career’s not a rocket ship, it’s a balloon ride.” And though we’d often laugh at the down-home, fortune cookie flavor of that mantra, it proved truthful time and again. The little career peaks came and went – playing Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza, whatever. But the thing that really allowed us to build anything of lasting value was the very gradual “one fan at a time” approach. Back-alley performances of the song someone wanted to hear, who drove from another state, sending out lyrics that someone wants tattooed in your handwriting, favoring intimate living room shows over bar gigs. I’m sure my bandmates Davey and Zach would agree, those are the things that have made Frontier Ruckus a glorious balloon ride.

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

Constantly. People think the majority of my songs addressed to a “you” are to a love interest or even an enemy, depending on the song. It’s almost always me speaking to me. Sometimes encouraging myself; sometimes beating myself up. Internal monologues, at least mine, are mercurial and neurotic. Putting them into song really helps me work through some stuff, psychologically. That bit of distance allows me healthy perspective. A chance to pep myself up to fight another day. To quote myself singing to myself: “If only you knew what you are.”

Which artist has influenced you the most – and how?

It’s no doubt cliched, but it has to be Dylan. My dad raised me on him and it’s what activated my love for language. The potential playfulness of words. Their athleticism and malleability. The infinitude of connotation. The element of surprise packed into unexpected metaphor. How a line can be drop-dead-serious and winking at the same time. I also think Dylan is an underrated melodist and chordal architect. Look at all the non-12-bar-blues songs on Blonde on Blonde. The energy is propellent, continually cascading in an amphetamine avalanche. And it’s not just the words, it’s the chords providing the lyrics a perfect vehicle to ride in. The erosion of really intentional chord progressions in modern music is something that worries me quite a bit.

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

I studied poetry in college under an incredible poet named Diane Wakoski who came out of the New York beat scene. She really informed my fondness for striking images, unexpected metaphor, and surprise revelations. Other than my bandmate David Jones, she was one of the earliest champions of my writing who helped me hone my voice and style.

Sometimes I wanna write songs that feel like a David Lynch film: A shiny Americana veneer on the surface, a severed ear of fractured emotion buried in the grass. I love quaint things with a shady underbelly. I’m obsessed with ’90s sitcoms set in New York, but with obvious LA studio back-lot sunlight. Any art form where sharply antithetical images are juxtaposed in magnetic conflict inspires me. On the Northline hopefully portrays a similar landscape: An insular world where the darkness and light necessitate one another.

Photo Credit: John Mark Hanson

See All of the Roots Music Winners from the 2024 GRAMMY Awards

Posted on February 5, 2024June 20, 2025 by Justin Hiltner

On Sunday night, the music industry gathered in Los Angeles at the Crypto.com Arena for the 66th Grammy Awards. While Miley Cyrus and Taylor Swift took home the evening’s biggest honors, the primetime broadcast and pre-awards telecast saw many roots musicians honored for their musical achievements.

This year’s Best Bluegrass Album nominees were a stout collection of records including Radio John: Songs of John Hartford by Sam Bush, Lovin’ Of The Game by Michael Cleveland, Mighty Poplar by Mighty Poplar, Bluegrass by Willie Nelson, Me/And/Dad by Billy Strings, and City Of Gold by Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway, who took home the trophy for the second year in a row.

In other categories, Allison Russell took home her first Grammy Award after eight nominations – for Best American Roots Performance for “Eve Was Black.” Lainey Wilson won Best Country Album for Bell Bottom Country, Bobby Rush took home the trophy for Best Traditional Blues Album (his third Grammy), and Joni Mitchell won her tenth Grammy for Best Folk Album. Meanwhile, the number one country song for now more than 17 weeks, “I Remember Everything” by Zach Bryan and featuring Kacey Musgraves, was awarded Best Country Duo/Group Performance.

Below, find a full list of this year’s Grammy Award nominees and winners in the Country & American Roots Music fields, as well as selected categories from the greater nominations list featuring roots musicians within and adjacent to our BGS family.

Record Of The Year

“Worship”
Jon Batiste

“Not Strong Enough”
boygenius

“Flowers”
Miley Cyrus

“What Was I Made For?” [from the motion picture Barbie]
Billie Eilish

“On My Mama”
Victoria Monét

“Vampire”
Olivia Rodrigo

“Anti-Hero”
Taylor Swift

“Kill Bill”
SZA

Album of the Year

World Music Radio
Jon Batiste

the record
boygenius

Endless Summer Vacation
Miley Cyrus

Did You Know That There’s A Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd
Lana Del Rey

The Age Of Pleasure
Janelle Monáe

GUTS
Olivia Rodrigo

Midnights
Taylor Swift

SOS
SZA

Best New Artist

Gracie Abrams
Fred again..
Ice Spice
Jelly Roll
Coco Jones
Noah Kahan
Victoria Monét
The War & Treaty

Best Rock Performance

“Sculptures Of Anything Goes”
Arctic Monkeys

“More Than A Love Song”
Black Pumas

“Not Strong Enough”
boygenius

“Rescued”
Foo Fighters

“Lux Æterna”
Metallica

Best Country Solo Performance

“In Your Love”
Tyler Childers

“Buried”
Brandy Clark

“Fast Car”
Luke Combs

“The Last Thing On My Mind”
Dolly Parton

“White Horse”
Chris Stapleton

Best Country Duo/Group Performance

“High Note”
Dierks Bentley featuring Billy Strings

“Nobody’s Nobody”
Brothers Osborne

“I Remember Everything”
Zach Bryan featuring Kacey Musgraves

“Kissing Your Picture (Is So Cold)”
Vince Gill & Paul Franklin

“Save Me”
Jelly Roll With Lainey Wilson

“We Don’t Fight Anymore”
Carly Pearce featuring Chris Stapleton

Best Country Song

“Buried”
Brandy Clark & Jessie Jo Dillon, songwriters (Brandy Clark)

“I Remember Everything”
Zach Bryan & Kacey Musgraves, songwriters (Zach Bryan featuring Kacey Musgraves)

“In Your Love”
Tyler Childers & Geno Seale, songwriters (Tyler Childers)

“Last Night”
John Byron, Ashley Gorley, Jacob Kasher Hindlin & Ryan Vojtesak, songwriters (Morgan Wallen)

“White Horse”
Chris Stapleton & Dan Wilson, songwriters (Chris Stapleton)

Best Country Album

Rolling Up The Welcome Mat
Kelsea Ballerini

Brothers Osborne
Brothers Osborne

Zach Bryan
Zach Bryan

Rustin’ In The Rain
Tyler Childers

Bell Bottom Country
Lainey Wilson

Best American Roots Performance

“Butterfly”
Jon Batiste

“Heaven Help Us All”
The Blind Boys Of Alabama

“Inventing The Wheel”
Madison Cunningham

“You Louisiana Man”
Rhiannon Giddens

“Eve Was Black”
Allison Russell

Best Americana Performance

“Friendship”
The Blind Boys Of Alabama

“Help Me Make It Through The Night”
Tyler Childers

“Dear Insecurity”
Brandy Clark featuring Brandi Carlile

“King Of Oklahoma”
Jason Isbell And The 400 Unit

“The Returner”
Allison Russell

Best American Roots Song

“Blank Page”
Michael Trotter Jr. & Tanya Trotter, songwriters (The War & Treaty)

“California Sober”
Aaron Allen, William Apostol & Jon Weisberger, songwriters (Billy Strings featuring Willie Nelson)

“Cast Iron Skillet”
Jason Isbell, songwriter (Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit)

“Dear Insecurity”
Brandy Clark & Michael Pollack, songwriters (Brandy Clark featuring Brandi Carlile)

“The Returner”
Drew Lindsay, JT Nero & Allison Russell, songwriters (Allison Russell)

Best Americana Album

Brandy Clark
Brandy Clark

The Chicago Sessions
Rodney Crowell

You’re The One
Rhiannon Giddens

Weathervanes
Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit

The Returner
Allison Russell

Best Bluegrass Album

Radio John: Songs of John Hartford
Sam Bush

Lovin’ Of The Game
Michael Cleveland

Mighty Poplar
Mighty Poplar

Bluegrass
Willie Nelson

Me/And/Dad
Billy Strings

City Of Gold
Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway

Best Traditional Blues Album

Ridin’
Eric Bibb

The Soul Side Of Sipp
Mr. Sipp

Life Don’t Miss Nobody
Tracy Nelson

Teardrops For Magic Slim Live At Rosa’s Lounge
John Primer

All My Love For You
Bobby Rush

Best Contemporary Blues Album

Death Wish Blues
Samantha Fish And Jesse Dayton

Healing Time
Ruthie Foster

Live In London
Christone “Kingfish” Ingram

Blood Harmony
Larkin Poe

LaVette!
Bettye LaVette

Best Folk Album

Traveling Wildfire
Dom Flemons

I Only See The Moon
The Milk Carton Kids

Joni Mitchell At Newport [Live]
Joni Mitchell

Celebrants
Nickel Creek

Jubilee
Old Crow Medicine Show

Seven Psalms
Paul Simon

Folkocracy
Rufus Wainwright

Best Regional Roots Music Album

New Beginnings
Buckwheat Zydeco Jr. & The Legendary Ils Sont Partis Band

Live At The 2023 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival
Dwayne Dopsie & The Zydeco Hellraisers

Live: Orpheum Theater Nola
Lost Bayou Ramblers & Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra

Made In New Orleans
New Breed Brass Band

Too Much To Hold
New Orleans Nightcrawlers

Live At The Maple Leaf
The Rumble Featuring Chief Joseph Boudreaux Jr.

Best Roots Gospel Album

Tribute To The King
The Blackwood Brothers Quartet

Echoes Of The South
Blind Boys Of Alabama

Songs That Pulled Me Through The Tough Times
Becky Isaacs Bowman

Meet Me At The Cross
Brian Free & Assurance

Shine: The Darker The Night The Brighter The Light
Gaither Vocal Band

Best Global Music Performance

“Shadow Forces”
Arooj Aftab, Vijay Iyer & Shahzad Ismaily

“Alone”
Burna Boy

“FEEL”
Davido

“Milagro Y Disastre”
Silvana Estrada

“Abundance In Millets”
Falu & Gaurav Shah (featuring PM Narendra Modi)

“Pashto”
Béla Fleck, Edgar Meyer & Zakir Hussain Featuring Rakesh Chaurasia

“Todo Colores”
Ibrahim Maalouf Featuring Cimafunk & Tank And The Bangas

Best Music Video

“I’m Only Sleeping”
(The Beatles)

“In Your Love”
Tyler Childers

“What Was I Made For”
Billie Eilish

“Count Me Out”
Kendrick Lamar

“Rush”
Troye Sivan

Best Instrumental Composition

“Amerikkan Skin”
Lakecia Benjamin, composer (Lakecia Benjamin featuring Angela Davis)

“Can You Hear The Music”
Ludwig Göransson, composer (Ludwig Göransson)

“Cutey And The Dragon”
Gordon Goodwin & Raymond Scott, composers (Quartet San Francisco featuring Gordon Goodwin’s Big Phat Band)

“Helena’s Theme”
John Williams, composer (John Williams)

“Motion”
Edgar Meyer, composer (Béla Fleck, Edgar Meyer & Zakir Hussain featuring Rakesh Chaurasia)

Best Arrangement, Instrumental or A Cappella

“Angels We Have Heard On High”
Nkosilathi Emmanuel Sibanda, arranger (Just 6)

“Can You Hear The Music”
Ludwig Göransson, arranger (Ludwig Göransson)

“Folsom Prison Blues”
John Carter Cash, Tommy Emmanuel, Markus Illko, Janet Robin & Roberto Luis Rodriguez, arrangers (The String Revolution featuring Tommy Emmanuel)

“I Remember Mingus”
Hilario Duran, arranger (Hilario Duran And His Latin Jazz Big Band featuring Paquito D’Rivera)

“Paint It Black”
Esin Aydingoz, Chris Bacon & Alana Da Fonseca, arrangers (Wednesday Addams)

Photo: Molly Tuttle & Bronwyn Keith-Hynes via the Recording Academy

You Gotta Hear This: New Music from Caleb Caudle, Zoe Boekbinder, and More

Posted on February 2, 2024June 20, 2025 by Justin Hiltner

This week, BGS readers enjoyed two brand new, original sessions – one from Jesper Lindell at Rootsy Summer Fest ’23 and the other featuring bluegrass singer-songwriter Theo MacMillan for our latest Yamaha Session.

Now, to wrap up the week, we’re celebrating new releases from a host of roots musicians like Caleb Caudle, Zoe Boekbinder, Eddie Sanders, Denmark-based string band Twang, and fiddler Andy Leftwich.

Of all the new music released this week, you gotta hear this!

Caleb Caudle, “Monte Carlo”

Artist: Caleb Caudle
Hometown: Germanton, North Carolina
Song: “Monte Carlo”
Album: Live From Cash Cabin
Release Date: January 31, 2024 (single); February 29, 2024 (EP)

In Their Words: “We recorded these songs live at Cash Cabin in the spring of 2022 and had such a great time. It was one of my last memories of playing music with my friend, Alex McKinney, who recently passed away after a battle with cancer. His untimely death hit me like a ton of bricks and I wanted to release this now to showcase what an amazing musician he was. I’m so thankful for these recordings that keep his spirit alive.” – Caleb Caudle

Video Credit: Joseph Cash

Zoe Boekbinder, “Hold My Hand”

Artist: Zoe Boekbinder
Hometown: New Orleans, Louisiana
Song: “Hold My Hand”
Album: Wildflower
Release Date: February 2, 2024 (single); April 26, 2024 (album)
Label: Are and Be Recordings

In Their Words: “‘Hold My Hand’ was written on a farm of rescue horses in the mountains in northern Spain. I was there doing a music residency in the summer of 2017. Myself and another songwriter, Dustin Hamman, co-wrote a collection of songs and recorded them all in one week. We also each wrote one song independent of each other. ‘Hold My Hand’ was mine. We slept in the attic of the horse barn, directly above the horse stalls. One of the horses had digestive issues that caused it to fart very loudly and constantly. It was an interesting soundtrack for sleeping. Somehow in that silliness, I wrote this very painful song about my confused heart.” – Zoe Boekbinder

Twang, “Crowdpleaser”

Artist: Twang
Hometown: Copenhagen, Denmark
Song: “Crowdpleaser”
Release Date: February 2, 2024

In Their Words: “The song talks about a musician’s encounter with the audience and the fear that things could go terribly wrong. Despite this fear, the message is to be honest and give everything you have, in order to receive the same honesty and love in return. The chorus goes: ‘Love is honesty, honesty, respect / What you give is what you get.'” – Twang

Video Credit: Hidayet C

Eddie Sanders, “Chasing That Midnight Moon”

Artist: Eddie Sanders
Hometown: McAlester, Oklahoma
Song: “Chasing That Midnight Moon”
Album: Born to Fly
Label: True Lonesome Records

In Their Words: “I really love this new single, ‘Chasing That Midnight Moon,’ a song I co-wrote with my producer and good friend, Glen Duncan. Glen, along with an all-star cast of pickers, found a dynamic studio groove on this one right away. Then, when the great John Cowan added his signature harmony, it immediately became one of my favorites on the forthcoming album and locked it in as the debut single. I can’t wait for everyone to check it out on the new True Lonesome Records label!” – Eddie Sanders

“What a pleasure and pleasant surprise to get to participate on Eddie’s ‘Chasing That Midnight Moon.’ Eddie possesses one of the finest voices and songwriting gifts in contemporary bluegrass music.” – John Cowan

Andy Leftwich, “Behind the 8 Ball”

Artist: Andy Leftwich
Hometown: Carthage, Tennessee
Song: “Behind the 8 Ball”
Release Date: February 2, 2024
Label: Mountain Home Music Company

In Their Words: “The idea of this song was to have an upbeat ‘barn burner’ that could lend itself to some really creative soloing, and I feel like we captured that here. I have to give the credit of the title to my wife, Rachel, who heard me mention this phrase while in the studio recording it. We were moving along, but not at the pace I was hoping, so we were behind on time. At the end of the day, she mentioned naming this song, ‘Behind the 8 Ball.’ I thought it was perfect! It certainly has that anxious spirit we all have from time to time when we get in tough spots, but it’s a fun tune that has great energy and a different sound than you normally hear in bluegrass ‘barn burner’ instrumentals.” – Andy Leftwich

Jesper Lindell, “It Ain’t Easy”

Last summer, on the banks of the Ätran beside Tryckhallen – Rootsy Summer & Winter Fests’ home venue – in Falkenberg, Sweden, Jesper Lindell offered two songs in simple, stripped down, acoustic performances for his Rootsy Summer Session. On a balcony overlooking the rushing water and festival stage, he sings “It Ain’t Easy,” a song of long-suffering and devotion from his 2023 EP, Windows Vol. 1.

Theo MacMillan, “The One That’s Broken”

For our second original session this week, Theo MacMillan (of Theo & Brenna) and his band performed for an exclusive Yamaha Session at Solar Cabin last fall. MacMillan, who brought along Jed Clark (bass), Harry Clark (mandolin), and Cory Walker (banjo), pulled his Yamaha acoustic guitar out of the case and performed two original numbers. The first, “The One That’s Broken,” leans forward at a breakneck pace, channeling the frustration of a messy relationship’s end with cattywampus stops artfully executed by the band, tight and together.

Watch more here.

Photo Credit: Caleb Caudle by Joseph Cash; Zoe Boekbinder by Justin Nunnink.