Tag: hangin’ & sangin’

Hangin’ & Sangin’: The Lone Bellow

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From the Bluegrass Situation and WMOT Roots Radio, it’s Hangin’ & Sangin’ with your host, BGS editor Kelly McCartney. Every week Hangin’ & Sangin’ offers up casual conversation and acoustic performances by some of your favorite roots artists. From bluegrass to folk, country, blues, and Americana, we stand at the intersection of modern roots music and old time traditions bringing you roots culture — redefined.

With me today at Hillbilly Central, the Lone Bellow!

All: Hello! Hi!

Brian, Zach, Kanene … welcome. So glad to have you guys here. New album, Walk Into a Storm … so good, so good!

Zach Williams: We made it right down the street!

Did you make it at Studio A?

All: Yeah.

Okay. I didn’t know if you’d done it at Studio A or Low Country. So you made it with Dave Cobb? Good job, kind of hard to go wrong with that guy.

Brian Elmquist: Good Cobb.

Kanene Pipkin: The Cobbster.

Yeah, yeah, good stuff.

…

Here’s something I was thinking about as I listened to the record today. I got to “May You Be Well,” which you [Zach] wrote for your daughter, Loretta. But it obviously has a broader call, a broader wish, and it kind of got me wondering … in this particular time that we find ourselves in … how do you guys process things like Vegas or Paris, those shootings, or the singer who was killed last year, or the Manchester bombing? Because I kind of hear it coming through that song, because all of those things are the antithesis of what we’re trying to do with the music, right? So how do you process it and how do you see your role?

KP: Well there’s an Allen Toussaint quote … so we played a show in New York six hours after the Paris attack. I remember, because there was NYPD and law enforcement everywhere, all over the venue. It was the exact same capacity, so it was really bizarre. I remember a bunch of my family members, my siblings, were coming that night, and just thinking about, “What if that happened to us?” And Allen Toussaint had just passed away, and I came across an Allen Toussaint quote that I quoted that night, and it said, “Music also has a role to lift you up. Not to be escapist, but to pull you out of misery.” And to me, that was just the best way you could say it. Because it’s not made to just escape and forget everything, but to me, this is what helps you endure and helps you be lifted out of misery just enough to where you can handle it and you can also address it and not have to wallow, but you can move forward. And I think that’s a really important thing to be able to do with songwriting or with just being someone who likes to listen to music. It’s a really important processing tool.

Because you’re either providing that stability, as the writer, or you’re reaching for it, as the listener. But either way, you’re making a connection with someone else, if not a number [of people]. I go through this, it’s like, every time something like that happens, I turn to music to lift me up, but then there are the days where it’s just like, “Ugh — it just feels so pointless!” You know? It’s like “Ugh, I’m just doing music!” but then I’m like, “No, I’m doing music. It has its role.”

BE: We were in Toronto the day we were all dealing with Vegas and, to add to what you were saying, you also turn to humanity. Like we told [our crowd], “Today sucks.” I think we started the concert off like that. And they lifted us out of it, and we were with each other, and it just really shows you that it happens to everybody. All of humanity is trying to come around each other. They want the best for each other.

ZW: I would even venture to say, like when you were saying there are the listeners who are reaching for it and then us that are providing it, in my particular case, I would say that I’m reaching for it. Because, when we write a song, we don’t know how it’s gonna be received in a year when it’s released or when we start playing it. We don’t know what stories those songs are going to connect with with strangers that we’ve never met.

Or what’s gonna be happening in the world when it does come out.

BE: I don’t think we have the ego to say that we could write a song and save the world. [Laughs]

KP: [Sings] “We are the wooorld” …

ZW: So, that night, we started singing “May You Be Well,” and they started singing it, kind of to each other, and then we were all singing it together. And we were all very much aware of everything that was going on. We don’t have the answers, and they don’t have the answers, but we can all sit in that space together and just be like, you know, this is a stop sign. Writing music or making art is a stop sign because it makes you just pause and think, and also listening to or looking at art is also a stop sign. So, I’ve really been grateful to be a part of those experiences. I was worried the night of Toronto, like what is this gonna be like?

Watch all the episodes on YouTube, or download and subscribe to the Hangin’ & Sangin’ podcast and other BGS programs every week via iTunes, Podbean, or your favorite podcast platform.

Photo credit: Joshua Black Wilkins

Hangin’ & Sangin’: Travis Meadows

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From the Bluegrass Situation and WMOT Roots Radio, it’s Hangin’ & Sangin’ with your host, BGS editor Kelly McCartney. Every week Hangin’ & Sangin’ offers up casual conversation and acoustic performances by some of your favorite roots artists. From bluegrass to folk, country, blues, and Americana, we stand at the intersection of modern roots music and old time traditions bringing you roots culture — redefined.

With me today at Hillbilly Central, Travis Meadows. Welcome.

Glad to be here.

So happy you’re here. You have a new record, First Cigarette.

Yes, ma’am.

It’s a beauty, man. It really is.

I’m pretty excited about it!
…

I feel like … “if onlys” are a big part of this record, or the disposing thereof — the discarding of excuses of not being right here, right now. That’s in the title track and in a bunch of the other songs. So, the balancing act between accepting where you are and who you are, and still striving to be better — how do you see that and how do you achieve that?

Oh, man! I didn’t realize it was gonna get so deep in this interview.

Oh, yeah, man. [Laughs]

You know, I don’t know. My whole life these days is kind of in 24-hour increments. I can’t get too locked into the past because I can’t do anything about that, and I can’t do anything about tomorrow, so my whole life is just kind of centering around “right now.” And that kind of reflects itself in my writing, you know what I mean?

Trying to give your best to this moment.

To this moment, yeah! And I will say that, on this record, I did something that I had not done on the previous records, and that was taking into consideration the audience listening. It’s such an unusual thing that is happening in my life, but I didn’t know that people were gonna gravitate to these songs and that I was actually gonna get invited to play places … But then I started [thinking], you know, “If I were in the audience and I was listening to one wrist-slitter after another, I wouldn’t like this! It’s a little depressing.”

And so, on this record, I was very adamant about putting some breathers in there, some levity, just a chance to enjoy music and not have to think as much as you were on the previous songs. You know what I mean? Which, in some ways, is, I feel like, a little bit of a sign of personal growth, because the first two records were just completely self-absorbent, self-indulgent records. I was just writing songs for me. And I still write songs for me, but I was thinking, “If I were in the audience, I would want something fast every now and then. I’d want a little breathing time.”

But I think, even if you are writing for you, if you’re writing with truth, it’s gonna resonate with people.

I think so.

And I think about, on this record, a song like “Better Boat.” That’s a song that I resonate with and I think probably a lot of people would — anyone who’s trying to better themselves by going deeper into their relationships. That’s what that is to me, you know?

Yeah, absolutely.

But that wasn’t always how you looked at life was it? Through that lens?

No, and regrettably I can still be quite pessimistic. You know, I’m just a dark son of a gun! But I’m getting better about it, and I’m embracing the moment more and more. I’ve actually — I cannot believe I’m about to say this — but I’ve actually, even in the past week with the reaction to the record where I ought to be jumping up and down and just beside myself, I’m kind of freaking out. People cannot like this this much! That’s my brain. And I have to [think], “They keep showing up to the shows.” So it’s humbling and it’s challenging and, heck, if they’re gonna keep showing up, I’m gonna keep showing up. And that’s kind of where I’m at.

Sometimes, I think, for those of us who have had troubled or dark or broken lives — which, technically, is everybody …

Pretty much.

Some more than others. But I think joy is one of the hardest things to embrace, right?

I went through a preacher phase for a while. It’s so funny because I’ve gone through these little chapters of my life. I almost completely change. I look at those chapters like it was somebody else. … One or two [of my long-time friends] said, “I don’t know what you were doing in the preaching days, but you’re preaching now.” And that was way too much responsibility for me. … I’m just singing my songs. That’s enough for me.

But it did make me look at, “What is it that I am doing?” And I think what it is, with me being this vulnerable and telling this much truth about myself, I think I’m giving people permission to be okay with themselves — who they are, where they are, scars and all. I think we have this kind of messed up idea, “Well, if I could marry this person, or if I had this much money, or if I was doing this job instead of this one, things would be better.” And I think the secret is, if I’ve stumbled onto anything in these few years that I’ve been kickin’ around, is that the idea of contentment comes from being okay where you’re at right now, which is hard. It’s like a bird that lands on your shoulder and as soon as you look, it’s gone! But those moments where you have that serenity, that calm, that peace.
…

But I think the other thing that you do through your songs is, by digging into your truth and laying it out there for the whole world to see, in all its ragged vulnerability and rawness, you’re giving people the permission to look at their stuff, too. And they’ll be like, “Oh, well, he’s doing that, so maybe it’s okay if I kind of turn the lens inward a little bit.”

Absolutely.

Watch all the episodes on YouTube, or download and subscribe to the Hangin’ & Sangin’ podcast and other BGS programs every week via iTunes, Podbean, or your favorite podcast platform.

Photo credit: Joshua Black Wilkins

Hangin’ & Sangin’: Lee Ann Womack

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From the Bluegrass Situation and WMOT Roots Radio, it’s Hangin’ & Sangin’ with your host, BGS editor Kelly McCartney. Every week Hangin’ & Sangin’ offers up casual conversation and acoustic performances by some of your favorite roots artists. From bluegrass to folk, country, blues, and Americana, we stand at the intersection of modern roots music and old time traditions bringing you roots culture — redefined.

With me today at 21c Museum Hotel in Nashville … Lee Ann Womack!

Yay!

What?! And Lex Price on guitar. Welcome, you guys! Lee Ann Womack in a penthouse suite is the stuff dreams are made of, just generally, but I’m going to melt into a puddle, at some point, when you start singing.

[Laughs] Well, I’m happy to be here.

You have a new record coming out October 27 — The Lonely, the Lonesome, & the Gone. It is 54 minutes of pure flawlessness, and it’s all I want to listen to right now. I’m so glad that I have it ahead of everybody, and I won’t get sick of it. So, congratulations, it’s wonderful.

[Laughs] Thank you! I had fun making it. I’m glad you like it.

…

The first time I listened to this record, my immediate reaction was that it felt like you felt more confident and more comfortable than ever. Not that you sounded in any way bad before, it just felt like … I don’t want to say “you found your voice” because I think that’s always been there. But you’re stepping into it when you want to, you’re hanging back when you need to. Is that because you wrote some of the songs or is it something else, do you think?

I think it’s probably age, I mean experience … not being so worried about what people think. And hopefully the more you do something, the better you get at it, so if you’re singing for years and years and years, hopefully you get better at it. But also, this is probably the first time I made a record where I just really wasn’t worried about a staff of people at a label “getting it” or anything like that. I just did what I wanted to do.

…

Someone called this record your Wrecking Ball.

Ooh, I didn’t know that! I like that.

I’ll tell you who later. But I kind of took that to mean that you have hit your stride now, at this point. You’ve kind of found your sound, which was always in there, but you’ve moved all the other stuff away.

That’s fair. Yeah, that’s good. I mean I recorded all those records for a major label, you know, and they have things that they expect. Also, as the artist, when you sign a contract, you agree to make a certain kind of music, and so without having those constraints, I really have been able to just enjoy myself. Whereas before, I enjoyed little bits and pieces, now I enjoy the entire thing, and it’s nice.

Do you pick and write songs that you know you’re gonna enjoy singing live and will enjoy singing live for years to come, is that part of it?

Yes, definitely. And songs that move me for one reason or another. I don’t worry so much about, “Okay is this gonna move six million people?” Or, “Is this gonna move the promotion staff?” Or, whatever. I just worry that it moves me. And if it moves me, I’m a music lover, then it’s gonna move somebody else.

…

Now, you are absolute royalty within the Americana community.

Aww.

But I also love that the Grammys and the actual country music — the CMAs and stuff like that — are also still recognizing you and still nodding in your direction. So do you feel like that’s kind of the best of all possible scenarios, to be straddling it all and not just one or the other?

I mean it’s nice, very nice, but I have had my hand in each of these areas from the beginning, you know? My very first single was “Never Again, Again” and it had Ricky Skaggs and Sharon White singing the harmony on it. And I’ve been working with Buddy Miller for however long — years and years — and Jim Lauderdale. And, as far as the bluegrass world goes, I love my bluegrass friends.

I know you do.

Yeah, and love the music, love the lifestyle and everything. So yeah, I’ve kind of had my hand in a lot of different places over the years, and that’s kind of just who I am.

But it’s weird that you haven’t always been perceived that way, right? People perceived you in a different way.

And that was frustrating for me because, I mean, you can tell by the way I talk and sing, you know that I’m country. [Laughs]

[Laughs] No way around that!

My favorite singer is George Jones. To me, George Jones is a country singer, but he’s a soul singer, you know? And Ralph Stanley’s a soul singer! If it’s born out of something that’s real rootsy, then I’m gonna love it. And that’s who I am, that’s how I was born I guess.

And that’s the thread running through this record too, you burn down all the walls. It’s hardly strictly country and hardly strictly anything … But that soulfulness and you just pouring yourself into it, that’s the thread, and it’s amazing that, after all these records, that it’s clear that you’re a fan first. That’s coming [through], your love of music and your enjoyment singing. Is that something you have to work at or is that just naturally coming?

No, I don’t have to work at it. If I didn’t sing, I feel like I’d die or something, like it keeps my heart beating or something. I don’t know. But you know what? I don’t have to sing on stage in front of thousands and thousands of people. I can sit down in my living room at home with my guitar and sing, and it still feeds whatever that is. I sing and hum to myself all the time and my daughters are like, “Would you stop doing that?” I’ll be grocery shopping or whatever.

While all the rest of us are like, “Can we come over?”

[Laughs] It’s funny because it’s like I don’t even know I’m doing it.

Watch all the episodes on YouTube, or download and subscribe to the Hangin’ & Sangin’ podcast and other BGS programs every week via iTunes, Podbean, or your favorite podcast platform.

Photo credit: Ebru Yildiz

ANNOUNCING: Two New Ways to Hang & Sang

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Last summer, Team BGS noticed that Facebook was really pushing their Live videos. We also saw that our friends Ann Powers and Jewly Hight were doing some casual sessions on Ann’s porch here in Nashville for NPR Music using that medium. So we decided we should give it a whirl. Ani DiFranco was coming to town, and we asked if she’d be our first. We didn’t have a name for it or much of a plan at all, but Ani said yes and City Winery said we could use their lounge. On June 30, 2016, what would become Hangin’ & Sangin’ was born.

Since then, we’ve had Sam Bush, Lori McKenna, Uncle Earl, Indigo Girls, Chely Wright, Colin Hay, Natalie Hemby, Ruby Amanfu, Special Consensus, the Revivalists, Marc Broussard, the McCrary Sisters, Whiskey Myers, Glen Phillips, Mary Gauthier, and a slew of other fantastic artists on the show.

And we’re just getting started.

In the weeks ahead, we’ll be hangin’ with Johnnyswim, Angaleena Presley, Drew Holcomb, John Paul White, Rodney Crowell, Sunny Sweeney, Keb’ Mo’, Gaby Moreno, and so many more of your favorite artists at Hillbilly Central, right off Music Row, in the heart of Nashville. Join us every Friday at 2:30 pm CT on Facebook Live, catch us every Sunday at 6:30 am and Tuesday at 9 pm on WMOT Roots Radio, or listen to the podcast via iTunes any time you like. We’d love to have you hang with us.

 

Special thanks to Alison Brown, Garry West, Gordon Hammond, and everyone at Compass Records for lending us their historic studio. Additional thanks to Jessie Scott, Val Hoeppner, John Walker, Craig Havighurst, and the whole team at WMOT Roots Radio for giving us some air time. And an extra shout out to Josephine Wood for helping get this thing off the ground to begin with. We couldn’t be happier to partner with all of you.