Artist:Will Orchard Hometown: Boston, Massachusetts Song: “Rita” Album:I Reached My Hand Out Release Date: March 18, 2021 Label: Better Company
In Their Words: “‘Rita’ is a song about the blurred lines between attraction that’s real and long-lasting, and attraction that’s intense and fleeting. To me, it’s about lacking trust in my own impulses, and constantly questioning if those feelings are valid. I wrote this song while on tour on two separate occasions about a year apart, and the distance between those two moments really helped me put what I was feeling in perspective. The contributions of Allen, Jess, James, and Miles really helped bring this song to life and create the dark and the anxious landscape of those emotions.” — Will Orchard
Artist:Jackson Scribner Hometown: Melissa, Texas Song: “County Rd 497” Album:Jackson Scribner Release Date: March 26, 2021 Label: State Fair Records / We Know Better Records
In Their Words: “I wrote the first verse of this song in the front yard of my grandparents’ house on County Rd 497. That’s the place ya go when ya feel unstable. The song is about the things you have when you’re younger that you don’t expect will ever go away, the ‘it’ll be like this forever’ mentality. Then you grow up and life changes, people and places come and go, and you can really only guess what might stay in your life, you’re never really sure.” — Jackson Scribner
Artist:Samantha Crain Hometown: Shawnee, Oklahoma Single: “Bloomsday” Album:I Guess We Live Here Now EP Release Date: April 9, 2021 Label: Real Kind/Communion
In Their Words: “‘Bloomsday’ is the kind of song I never thought I’d be able to write. There is a certain peacefulness and stillness that I’d never thought I’d be able to write about, let alone experience personally. That old traditional gospel song ‘This Little Light of Mine,’ it feels so childlike and so ancient and wise at the same time and it has such a calming effect on me. I wanted to incorporate that feeling of hope and lightness in with my lyrical explorations of mindfulness and fortitude in my own life. With the video, I wanted to expand on that idea and show how easily those good and kind characteristics are passed on to others if we practice them in our own lives.” — Samantha Crain
Artist:Ariel Posen Hometown: Winnipeg, Manitoba Song: “Now I See” Album:Headway Release Date: March 5, 2021
In Their Words: “This song was inspired by my own personal growth over time but more specifically by a friend that had once told me that ‘now they could see’ that everything was left behind them. They were struggling with some relationships and some severe personal issues and it took time, but they finally found acceptance in themselves and were able to move past it. Just because they weren’t the type of person that they thought they would be, and just because someone isn’t perfect, doesn’t mean that they don’t belong. Sometimes the smallest realizations and changes lead to gigantic breakthroughs and in the theme of the album, make significant ‘Headway.'” — Ariel Posen
Artist:Lauren Spring Hometown: Port St. Joe, Florida Song: “I Remember You” Album:I Remember You EP Release Date: February 26, 2021
In Their Words: “‘I Remember You’ is about choosing to remember someone in a kinder light than what the relationship may have been in reality. If you chose pain, you feel pain when you remember it. If you choose love, then you’re flooded with love and nostalgia. I’ve had plenty of opportunities to learn that lesson and chose the more immature road for longer than I’d like to admit but I’m choosing love more and more and feel it coming back to me all the time now. I love the message of this song and am so glad to put it out in to the universe. It felt weird to celebrate the nostalgia of a past relationship and not honor the glorious human I love who puts up with my shit today. This line was for him: ‘Cracks in the story we learned to fill with something real.’ He’s my real. Here’s to ‘real’!
“My co-writer Scott (Feldman, Darkbloom Productions) wrote a lyric so ridiculously dope that it took me two months and 8.5 billion rewrites to feel like I had written the rest of the song anywhere close to the bar he set. (Jackass) ‘Ain’t nostalgia a funny thing, it paints a picture so carelessly. Prettier than it’s ‘sposed to be, that’s how I remember you.’ It became the chorus and I love it. That TikTok video of the guy skateboarding to ‘Dreams’ was everywhere when we were writing ‘I Remember You’ and when I listen back I definitely hear a Fleetwood Mac influence in there. Probably more Christine than Stevie, but still there. Crazy what you don’t even know what you’re absorbing sometimes!” — Lauren Spring
Artist:Ryan Dugré Hometown: Holyoke, Massachusetts Song: “Powder Rains” Album:Three Rivers Release Date: Feb 19, 2021 Label: 11A Records
In Their Words: “‘Powder Rains’ was written for a potential film placement which did not pan out. It started with the image of being on a train sitting opposite of the train’s direction, slowly gaining speed. I tried to create this feeling in the recording by adding parts in slowly throughout the song, and by increasing the tempo halfway through. Mixer Leo Abrahams added to this by accentuating the swirling, circular sounds, building to a feeling of arrival at the very end.” — Ryan Dugré
Artist:The Wild West* Hometown: Los Angeles, California Song: “Better Way” Release Date: February 26, 2021 Label: Blackbird Record Label
In Their Words: “When the idea of ‘Better Way’ formed, society was and still is struggling with the differences that divide us. If one does not take the time and compassion to honor differences and look at the commonality that unites us, it’s blinding and tears us apart. Lyrically the idea of being born with love and born without hate is at the root of ‘Better Way.’ Finding the way back to that innocence, compassion and understanding brings a hopeful lens for the future if we can hold onto it and lift each other up. This group of women does exactly that for each other.” — Manda Mosher
*The Wild West: Tawny Ellis (vocals, lap steel, omnichord); Amilia K Spicer (vocals, guitar, mandolin, keys); Pi Jacobs (vocals, guitar); Manda Mosher (vocals, guitar, harmonica); Heather Anne Lomax (vocals, guitar); Deb Morrison (vocals, bass guitar)
This week, host Z. Lupetin talks to one of the founding members of beloved folk-rock hitmakers, The Lumineers, drummer and pianist Jeremiah Fraites. After following his heart to Italy, Jeremiah dialed into the podcast from Turin, his wife’s hometown. Alongside juggling duties as co-songwriter and performer in one of the most successful acoustic groups of the last twenty years and raising his two-year-old son, Fraites released a gorgeous instrumental record called Piano Piano this January.
Nearly fifteen years in the making, Piano Piano was created at Fraites’ former home in Denver during the height of the early COVID-19 lockdowns. His two favorite pianos lead the way, as main characters in a story that seemed to unfurl, as his wife would say in Italian, “step by step” — delicately, but with passion. First, he used a newer Steinway for the brighter, more forceful tones, and then a warmly creaky creature, that his piano teacher sarcastically named “Firewood,” for the most personal moments. Really, it’s the tiny imperfections that make this solo work shine: when you can hear the bench swaying slightly; his wife making dinner in the next room as the sustain pedal is pressed into the wood floor; when the aged instrument struggles to hammer out the final notes, but finally does; and when Fraites and the instrument seem to breathe and speak and cry out, together.
While certain smaller songs like “Departure” and “Chilly” are as intimate as fateful field recordings, other standouts like “Tokyo” and “Arrival” are more polished pieces, blooming from that same small space, but growing into masterful, orchestral, widescreen soundscapes with the help of violinist Lauren Jacobson (who often plays with The Lumineers), cellists Rubin Kodheli and Alex Waterman, and the 40-piece FAME’s Orchestra from Macedonia.
Fraites was born in New Jersey, where he grew up with Lumineers frontman Wesley Schultz. When they self-released their confessional and warm-hearted self-titled record in 2012, the two friends never imagined that they would have a chart-topping hit on their hands. Playing the scruffy bars around Denver before their fanbase expanded exponentially and their first record went triple-platinum, The Lumineers soon found themselves headlining international pop festivals, opening for U2 and Tom Petty, placing songs in The Hunger Games and Game Of Thrones, selling out Madison Square Garden (twice) and finally filling their favorite hallowed Colorado venues like Red Rocks. Before the pandemic slowed them down, The Lumineers were bringing their same acoustic spirit to a full-on arena tour coast to coast, showcasing their newest album III. If you’re reading this right now, you’ve probably found yourself singing along to their romantic, stomping ear-worms “Ho Hey” or “Ophelia” or heard them accidentally a thousand times in the last decade (both tracks have been streamed over 500 million times and counting), but all of that is paused for now.
What a perfect time for a peaceful piano record to clear our heads. As Jeremiah Fraites has gained confidence as a sought-after composer, songwriter, and unlikely pop performer, he’s given himself the space to finally create the deeply personal record he’s been hoping to share for decades.
About four years ago in Austin, Texas, Eric Burton and Adrian Quesada were recommended to one another through a mutual friend — someone who could imagine the inevitable magic of pairing Burton’s magnificent singing to Quesada’s cool, pulsating productions. Although these two musicians didn’t know each other, they somehow needed each other. As a songwriter inspired by folk music and soul music alike, Burton sought a vehicle to carry him from busking to the bigger stage, while Quesada — already a Grammy winner for his work with Grupo Fantasma — sought that voice to flesh out the instrumental tracks he’d crafted in his studio, Electric Deluxe Recorders.
Nobody could accuse them of rushing it, as phone calls turned into studio collaborations, and ultimately a few gigs at the South Austin venue, C-Boy’s, just to show their friends what they were working on. However, once the secret was out, the lines to see them perform stretched around the block and Black Pumas promptly landed a recording contract, with a self-titled debut album landing in 2019. Since then, their partnership has led to four Grammy nominations, a trophy for Emerging Act of the Year from the Americana Music Association, an invitation to perform a song for the Biden-Harris inauguration, and even a Super Bowl commercial. In conversation, they are quick to credit each other with the sonic touches that have turned this intriguing duo into an international draw.
For the first part of our two-part Artist of the Month interview with Black Pumas, Burton and Quesada chatted with BGS about the roots of “Colors,” their first show together, and what the Austin music community is really like.
BGS: Finding the acoustic version of “Colors” was such a nice surprise. What kind of vibe were you going for when you recorded that version?
Eric: I think that the first time Adrian heard “Colors” was when I brought the guitar to the studio. I had been trying to record that song with different engineers and producers, and a lot of my friends would reflect that, “Man, the acoustic version has always been my favorite!” When I finally met Adrian, who was equally moved by the song, we were able to not necessarily think about it, really. Adrian started with a palette of sound that went hand in hand with the way that I write music as well. We just did it together and it came out how it did. We have amazing band members and we were able to just press record and do the thing.
Adrian: We recorded quite a few acoustic things, and as much as “Colors” is a Black Pumas performance, at the core it’s something that Eric wrote on acoustic guitar. So whenever you get to hear it like that, it’s more from the source.
I love the acoustic version of “Fast Car,” too. What was going through your mind when you heard that on playback for the first time?
Eric: You know, any time I play that song, a tear comes to my eye because it is one of a few covers that I knew when I was busking. It was a song that would move people to stick around, or tip, or want to engage after the song. So, it was an interesting feeling listening back to that song as a Black Puma, with Adrian Quesada, because I could feel how far I’d come from busking on the Santa Monica Pier to recording at Electric Deluxe.
Is there a lyric in that song that still tugs at your heart when you sing it?
Eric: The lyric that I really attach to is “You’ve got a fast car and I want a ticket to anywhere.” The first lyric is one of the most powerful lyrics. It sets the emotional canvas for the rest of the song. It’s just reflective of the strong desire in many people who start off in the troubadour style of playing and performing, a presentation to passersby.
Adrian, how did you approach that session, being a classic song that everybody knows?
Adrian: Oh man, I just tried to stay out of the way, honestly. Eric’s played it for so long and so well. We were going to work up an arrangement for the band to start playing it at our shows, but we didn’t get it together in time, so he just did it himself as an encore one night. All of us were watching from the side of the stage. It was like, man, why would we try to reinvent the wheel? I just try to complement the song, and the way that Eric emotes it is something that doesn’t need a lot. You don’t need to overthink it.
I love the falsetto on songs like “OCT 33.” It’s effective because you don’t use it all the time. Did you have to figure that out naturally? Or was there ever a conversation like, “Whoa, too much falsetto”? Or, “I think we need more”?
Eric: Honestly I come from playing folk music. I love Neil Young and Bob Dylan and dig on the Beatles — so when I first started playing music, I was playing acoustic folk soul music. When I got Adrian some tracks, I was living with a roommate and he was saying, “Hey man, I think you’re singing a little bit soft on these songs.” I said, “What do you mean?” And he’s like, “Just go back and listen to Wilson Pickett and Marvin Gaye and Otis Redding,” and when I did that, I was able to kind of integrate the way Marvin Gaye did that head voice, like, “Oooh!” That’s kind of his move. So, I was able to borrow some of the razor-sharp vocal sounds that you hear in these individuals to make some better paints for the canvas that was Adrian’s awesome production.
Adrian, you have a great vocal range to work with. What is that like for you as a producer, knowing you could take these arrangements anywhere?
Adrian: Yeah, I’m a big fan of the falsetto, but I was digging everything he was throwing out. So, when he goes falsetto, I go for it. When it’s not falsetto, unless I feel like it doesn’t work, I just let Eric’s instincts guide him, and what he feels like singing.
What do you remember about the first show you played together?
Eric: It was amazing, right? It was rad.
Adrian: We didn’t even rehearse a lot. We threw it together in a couple of days and we didn’t know what we were getting into. I remember thinking, like, “All right, this should be fun. Worst case scenario, we could drink some liquid courage before the show and have fun. But it completely surpassed my expectations and it was a blast, man. Those early shows we did at C-Boys still live in my memory as some of the best times.
Why did C-Boys seem like a good place to kick this off?
Adrian: It feels like a cool, downhome, neighborhood bar that has amazing music. Steve Wertheimer, who’s the owner, really believed in myself and Eric early on. It’s a competitive town for live music and he’s always been a huge supporter. We just sent him a song and he dug it, and gave us a residency. It was pretty amazing that he took a chance on it. Eric did a solo residency for a while at one of his other venues. He was always a big supporter.
Tell me what you mean when you say that the Austin music scene is competitive.
Adrian: I would say “competitive” in the way that there’s a lot of talented people, but not “competitive” in a way that’s cutthroat, you know what I mean? I feel like there’s a good support system, where everybody’s supportive of people. It’s not competitive in that way. It’s like, you better bring something to the table because there are a lot of people that play and are very talented.
So when this was all happening, were you thinking of a record deal and management and all that? Or was it more about just getting together to play?
Eric: I think we were just both stoked to get on a stage. At that point, we had spent a few months together in the studio. Adrian presented some instrumentals that he was working on, for me to then write songs over. And then I was introducing myself to Adrian through my songwriting and sharing some of the music that I came up with, for him to arrange around. We were having so much fun that we were saying, “Well, we should take this to the stage, just to see what our friends think about it. I don’t think either of us invited too many people to the show, or promoted it, or anything big like that. We were just curious about how it would go over with the people that we know.
Adrian: We just played and we weren’t thinking industry. We were just going to have fun. Originally we thought we would maybe play for a month or two. We didn’t have a big plan other than to play music. We didn’t think that far into the future. We thought, “We’ll do this until it’s not fun.” There wasn’t a detailed, long-term plan for anything. One thing was just leading to another.
In Their Words: “My hometown of Ste. Genevieve, Missouri, is a four-and-a-half hour drive from Nashville. My pilgrimages there were always made more romantic by snaking alone in a car down the country roads along the Mississippi. A winter or two ago, I had the radio off listening to the wind rush around with my left hand hanging out of my open window like a wing and this song came to me. I fumbled between the seats and found a broken pen and a crumbled gas receipt. I pressed both firm to my steering wheel and wrote the bulk of this song at 55 mph nearing Paducah.” — Ian Fisher
Photo credit: Andreas Jakwerth
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