Even without continuing to tour the world, Black Pumas have lost very little momentum since the arrival of breakout singles like “Black Moon Rising,” “Fire,” and “Colors.” The duo of Eric Burton and Adrian Quesada were shocked to land on the 2019 Grammy ballot as a contender for Best New Artist, and in 2020, they picked up nominations in three more categories: Best American Roots Performance and Record of the Year for the irresistible “Colors,” and overall Album of the Year for Black Pumas (Deluxe Edition). That expanded edition collects several new tracks, a few live versions of familiar favorites, and a must-hear cover of Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car” — a favorite song of Burton’s to sing while he was busking on the Santa Monica Pier, and later in Austin, Texas.
Drawing on folk songwriting as much as soul groove, both men agree that the term American Roots fits their sound well. The Americana Music Association seconds that notion, as Black Pumas picked up that organization’s Emerging Act of the Year in late 2020. And in January, the band performed a dazzling and powerful rendition of “Colors” on the soundstage of Austin City Limits in recognition of the historic win of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.
“The first thing people think of when they say ‘Americana’ is not always music that’s influenced by soul music, but it’s great to be recognized by people that are open-minded music fans,” Quesada tells BGS. “This is every bit as much American music as country music, you know?” Burton adds, “Soul music is just as a part of American music as folk music and country music. This country is a massive melting pot of the different cultures… so we’re honored to be a part of the conversation as we make music in America.”
The two musicians met through a mutual friend as Quesada sought an exceptional singer to add lyrics and a voice to the instrumental tracks he was creating. Little did he know that Burton was around the corner, literally, where Sixth Street meets Congress Avenue. In our two-part interview (Read part one here. Read part two here.), they shared their influences, their first impressions of each other’s talent, and their hopes for the year ahead as our Artist of the Month. Meanwhile, enjoy our BGS Essentials playlist below.
Artist:Karen Matheson Hometown: Oban, Argyll, Scotland Song: “Glory Demon” Album:Still Time Release Date: February 12, 2021 Label: Compass Records
In Their Words: “‘The Glory Demon’ is a phrase taken from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. It means war. It’s essentially an anti-war song, about how we never seem to learn and how it just goes on and on (life and afterlife) endlessly repeating itself. I thought also about how the phrase might fit the hubris, megalomania and idiocy of certain politicians.” — Karen Matheson
BGS has partnered with the Philadelphia Folksong Society, presenters of the oldest continuously run music festival in North America – the Philadelphia Folk Festival – on a special, winter digital music event, Cabin Fever Fest, to place February 20 & 21, 2021! Pandemic or not, this winter, everyone will have a cozy front row seat as PFS and BGS present this fully digital, interactive musical experience complete with multiple streaming stages and featuring performances by Avi Kaplan, Keb’ Mo’, Béla Fleck & Abigail Washburn, Valerie June, Larkin Poe, The Secret Sisters, and many more. (See full lineup below.)
Tickets to Cabin Fever Fest are available now, including early bird pricing valid until end of day tomorrow, January 30. Details and tickets are available at folkfest.org. Early Bird weekend passes to Cabin Fever Fest are available for just $35 for PFS Members and $40 for Not-Yet-Members. Your ticket gives you full access to the event from February 20 until February 28, to watch at your leisure and convenience.
Building on what they’ve learned from their virtual festival forays last summer, PFS & BGS will once again bring a vibrant, online music festival experience directly to music enthusiasts’ homes to mark only six months left in the long wait until the 60th Annual Philadelphia Folk Festival in August of this year. Like the festival, Cabin Fever Fest will feature unforgettable original performances from national headliners, international stars, and local talent. Branching out from past Folk Festival programming, Cabin Fever Fest will also feature an emphasis on music workshops and performance that digitally bring us closer together during these difficult winter months of isolation.
Whether you’re a seasoned performer wanting to strengthen your skills, curious about an instrument or style, want your children to participate in a music lesson, or just want to sing along, ALL attendees will be able to watch these amazing workshops, while VIP attendees will be able to participate in all of the workshops they choose.
Cabin Fever Fest will include performances by: Avi Kaplan, Keb’ Mo’, Béla Fleck & Abigail Washburn, Valerie June, Larkin Poe, The Secret Sisters, James McMurtry, Jake Shimabukuro, Sierra Hull, Mwenso & the Shakes, Gangstagrass, AJ Lee and Blue Summit, Jontavious Willis, Midnight Skyracer, Bella White, Wesli, OKAN, and more to be announced.
All ticket purchasers will be able to watch Cabin Fever Fest on demand until February 28, 2021. FAQ here.
Photo credit: Avi Kaplan by Bree Marie Fish; Keb’ Mo’ by Ryan Case.
This week, host Z. Lupetin talks with Laura and Lydia Rodgers, Grammy-nominated songwriters and preeminent harmonizers from Muscle Shoals, AL, who for the last decade have recorded as The Secret Sisters.
First breaking through with their warmly-vintage, vocally-entwined self-titled record in 2010, the Secret Sisters have toured the world relentlessly, while recording with a who’s who of Americana royalty like Dave Cobb and T Bone Burnett. If you’ve ever seen them live, Laura and Lydia are known for their sharp-tongued and story-filled live shows — which, even over Zoom, made them particularly rip-roaring interviewees.
After breaking free of a major label hell which sidelined and nearly bankrupted them for a time, the sisters regrouped and created their most personal and pop-forward work yet, the heart-string pulling You Don’t Own Me Anymore (2017) and 2020’s fiery Saturn Return. Both were made with friend and producer Brandi Carlile, and both were nominated for a Grammy.
While the last year plus was hard — they lost both grandmothers — there was quite a silver lining: Lydia and Laura each become moms, and have begun to sing their own lead pieces, courageously facing uncomfortable truths about their southern upbringing, calling out the double standards and sexual politics of the music industry, and showcasing their very different experiences as young mothers.
With Carlile pushing them to find their own voices, Laura wrote the tender “Hold You Dear” while Lydia penned the more yearning and sardonic “Late Bloomer,” two favorites that stick out after repeated listens to the album. Still, the true beauty of Saturn Return — which they recorded with Carlile’s beloved band — may be how Laura and Lydia can split off into new territory and then return together in chills-inducing harmony, as only sisters could.
Stick around to the end of episode for an intimate acoustic performance of “Nowhere, Baby.”
Artist:The Horsenecks Hometown: Astoria, Oregon Song: “Six Foot Under” Album:Started Out in Town Release Date: January 29, 2021 Label: Tiki Parlour Recordings
In Their Words: “We got this song from an early sixties recording of an obscure country singer named Bob Fryfogle. A man jilted at the altar, walking around the church graveyard wanting to bury his heart. The melody and lyrics are so lonesome, as soon as we heard it we knew we’d have to learn it. It’s a departure from the rest of the songs on the album in that it’s the only song with electric guitar and drums, while the rest of the album is acoustic. This song represents a broader scope of the music we love to play at live shows or sitting around kitchen tables.” — The Horsenecks
“The idea of a road trip Mixtape really appealed to me after so many months off the road. While I truly enjoy playing in front of an audience, there is easily as much anticipation around just ‘getting on the road’ in this business. Most of my travels have been in a small motorhome over the past five years. The whole process of loading the gear, packing up merch, and stocking the fridge is something I really miss during this prolonged pandemic pause. Music is always an integral part of that process. One of my favorite memories from a road trip into Utah was listening to Bruce Springsteen’s Western Stars album as the desert road stretched out before us. Something truly American about the whole experience.” — David Starr
Jackson Browne – “These Days”
This Jackson Browne classic has always been a favorite of mine. He wrote it when he was only 16 years old and it shows a maturity and depth rarely expressed so well by a young songwriter. It speaks of self-reflection, looking back and moving forward all at the same time.
Bruce Springsteen – “Western Stars”
The title cut from Bruce Springsteen’s recent record is an epic road trip song. I loved the song when I first heard it. But when I listened to it while cruising across the Utah desert in our motorhome, the song really moved me. The whole album passes that same test, by the way.
Don Henley – “Boys of Summer”
Don Henley and Mike Campbell really captured the essence of lost romance and the change of seasons in this one. I can’t help turning the radio way up when this one comes on!
The Cars – “Drive”
My favorite Cars song. Ben Orr’s vocal is so moving here. And the music video released for it at the time, directed by Timothy Hutton, added context to the meaning of the song.
Joni Mitchell – “Coyote”
Joni Mitchell is always road trip favorite. Plenty of time to absorb the intricacies of the songs. “Coyote” physically moves us down the road with a cast of characters. This song from her 1976 album Hejira rocks along with a killer Jaco Pastorius bass line fueling the ride.
The Rolling Stones – “Brown Sugar”
Stones? Of course! I played this song a couple hundred times as a singing cover band drummer in my youth. Always fun to watch the dance floor fill up immediately upon kicking it off. Something about that intro and the feel just propels a road trip playlist!
The Tubes – “Talk To Ya Later”
This classic Tubes song is another one with a power intro that just cannot be denied. Fee Waybill wails and Toto’s Steve Lukather kills it on guitar. Watch your right foot on this one; you might just pick up speed!
Melissa Etheridge – “You Can Sleep While I Drive”
Melissa Etheridge sings of true love and tenderness on a true road trip. This one works especially well as the sun sets on a long Texas straightaway at about 55 mile per hour. Slow down and soak it in.
Daryl Hall and John Oates – “You Make My Dreams (Come True)”
This Daryl Hall and John Oates classic hit is good for the star of any road trip! Full of energy and another intro that simply cannot be denied. Great background vocal parts for that front seat sing-along, too!
Little Feat – “Dixie Chicken/Tripe Face Boogie”
It’s gotta be Little Feat’s live Waiting for Columbus version with this one. It literally chugs along in the funky slow lane until the pace picks up and takes off into the second tune. Good for getting you through Waco traffic and back out onto the four-lane!
Toto – “Running Out of Time”
The opening track from Toto XIV will put the pedal to the metal without fail. I put this song on coming out of LA into the desert headed for Vegas and was stunned at my speedometer reading. A slamming good road song!
Jackson Browne – “Running on Empty”
Another Jackson Browne classic that simply has to be on a road trip playlist. The whole record was recorded on the road and the immediacy can be felt on the song. David Lindley’s lap steel soars on this one. Highly recommended!
Eagles – “Take It Easy”
The Eagles version of the Glenn Frey/Jackson Browne hit is a must. This one has launched a thousand road trips. And the chorus and outro are top-down, Ray-Ban naturals for a summer sing-along!
Joni Mitchell – “Help Me”
Joni Mitchell nostalgia pick here. This song was on the radio every morning when I worked a grueling summer construction job back in the day. We’d rise up after a long night gigging in the bars and this song would set us on our way for the 30-minute drive to the site. Help me indeed!
The Band – “The Weight”
No playlist is complete without a Band song on it. Having known Levon personally, it’s always bittersweet to hear “The Weight.” This song is all about a pilgrim’s journey and seeking something; isn’t that what all road trips are about in some way? Enjoy the ride.
Artist:Wolf van Elfmand Hometown: Edwards, Colorado Song: “Sweet Regret” Album:All Blue Release Date: January 29, 2021 (single), February 12, 2021 (album)
In Their Words: “‘Sweet Regret’ is a song that grew out of loss and its lessons. We all lose things and likely sometimes we flail about in anger or get lost in lonesomeness that follows. This song is about the long road towards discovering the only other option: acceptance. Learning to live with the darker parts in the journey and recognizing that old feelings sometimes live with us forever is a strangely beautiful lesson from losing.” — Wolf van Elfmand
Over the last several years, it’s been fun watching the rapid creative growth happening at sister labels Mountain Home Music Company and Organic Records. Their rosters are musically diverse — a reflection of the music-rich mountains of Western North Carolina where the label group is based — thanks to the effort they’ve put into signing adventurous bands that redraw musical boundaries on stage every night, along with artists that are able to sound like themselves while keeping tradition’s torches shining. The prevailing attitude in the building, among staff and artists alike, is decidedly forward-looking; the music these groups and artists create is mutually influential, and the territory between them fertile ground for collaboration.
Mountain Home’s new series of releases, Bluegrass at the Crossroads, takes advantage of this by putting these artists together in unique and intriguing combinations to record mostly new music. The label’s team gets that this homegrown stylistic breadth is a great asset, and they aren’t shy in their commitment to the highly cooperative, big-tent view of bluegrass that’s proudly on display in the series.
Bluegrass styles cover a remarkable amount of ground — from Red, White, and Bluegrass to Red Rocks, if you will — while still remaining totally recognizable as the genuine article. As a result, there’s enough range within the genre that a gap exists to be filled by an ongoing project of this kind. And, since touring has been largely benched for the time being, this is the moment to gather these threads together, invite great players into the studio for new creative partnerships, and press “record.”
Music in general has become so cross-pollinated that you never know what you’ll find on another musician’s playlist or turntable, and as more musicians and producers jump their creative tracks to explore different genres, bringing their tastes and vocabularies along with them, they’re invariably influenced by the new sounds and ideas they encounter, and they exert their own influence in return.
Bluegrass is good at absorbing new ideas while holding on to its identity — the sometimes regrettable, sometimes successful, move of giving the bluegrass treatment to rock and pop hits is a perfect example – and so, as the music grows, bluegrass musicians of all kinds freely pull new ideas from all directions, incorporate them into their own expressions of the style, and wind up with something that is still absolutely bluegrass.
It’s easy to pick out classical music, jazz, indie rock, folk, metal, even electronic music, in the sounds of some of today’s bands. Other bands choose reach into the past to create new interpretations of Celtic music, old-time, classic country, and Tin Pan Alley. Turn your ear to a record from any performer on Bluegrass at the Crossroads and you’ll hear these influences effortlessly knit into the songs and arrangements.
It’s not surprising, then, that Bluegrass at the Crossroads is good, but it is striking how much fun it is to listen to. One-off bands like these can be like wrapped presents: lots of promise on the outside, but what’s inside might or might not meet expectations. Happily, there’s nothing to be disappointed about on these tracks; they’re full of life, maybe given a boost by a collective sense of cabin fever.
It also likely helps that most of the material is new. A few tunes from the standard repertoire appear, but few of the songs have been heard before. This keeps a lot of baggage out of a performer’s approach to a tune — each one is a blank slate, with no so-called “definitive” version to consult, and that extra space leaves room for a kind of subtle magic to happen.
Bluegrass may have a restless heart, but it also tends to hew close to tradition where it can be found (if you don’t believe me, listen to five different bands kick off “Steam Powered Aereo Plane,” you’ll see what I mean), and songs with unwritten histories don’t have conventions that must be attended to. So players are more free to search for new ideas, calling on their wide-ranging taste and experience, to create statements that seem more personal, the best of which sound as if they had always been there — just like the best songs.
These sorts of moments are everywhere in this series, and even though the players are all going for it, they’re also paying close attention to each other. The level of ensemble play is high, there are moments that have the intensity of a live performance, and a feeling that everyone involved was making themselves fully present for the project. That sense of life can be hard to come by in studio recordings, and the energy that’s captured is a refreshing reminder of what playing music is really about. It comes at a time when I know a lot of us could use something like this, and I’m excited for more!
A socially-distanced Bluegrass at the Crossroads session. (L to R: Joe Cicero, Sammy Shelor, Travis Book, Jon Weisberger, Carley Arrowood, Wayne Benson)
SPONSORED CONTENT: Occasionally, BGS brings you content curated by featured partners and sponsors. Photo and graphics courtesy Crossroads Label Group
The Secret Sisters’ Saturn Return is a beautiful record marked by stripes of maturity, grief, and resilience, reflecting the significant life experiences the sisters were sharing at the time of the album’s creation. From the hope and promise of “Late Bloomer” to the anger and passion of “Cabin,” the duo’s full range is on display, mixing incisive lyrics and truly pure arrangements to create their unique brand of roots music. In a statement, they noted, “With Saturn Return, our hope is that women can feel less alone in their journey through the modern world. We need each other more than we ever have; the less competition and the more inclusiveness and understanding, the better. We are southern women in the 21st century, convicted by our beliefs.”
Our BGS Artist of the Month in March 2020, the Secret Sisters return this year with two Grammy Award nominations. Saturn Return, produced by a roots music trinity of Brandi Carlile and the Hanseroth twins, will compete for Best Folk Album (the group’s second appearance in this category) while “Cabin” is a nominee for Best American Roots Song. To commemorate the pair of nominations, the siblings recorded an up close and personal performance of “Cabin.” Read our one-on-one interviews with Lydia and Laura, and enjoy their acoustic video below.
Artist: Colin Macleod Hometown: Isle of Lewis, Scotland Song: “The Long Road” Album:Hold Fast Release Date: June 18, 2021 Label: So Recordings
In Their Words: “‘The Long Road’ is a song about the ins-and-outs of regret. The times when you can’t help but think you could have tried a little harder, maybe reached out a little further. It’s also about the redemptive powers of a good friend and some strong words.” — Colin Macleod
Photo credit: Jack Johns
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