Tag: Instrumental

The BGS Radio Hour – Episode 205

Posted on by Shelby Williamson

Welcome to the BGS Radio Hour! Since 2017, this weekly radio show and podcast has been a recap of all the great music, new and old, featured on the digital pages of BGS. This week, we bring you new music from Sara Watkins featuring her old bandmates from Nickel Creek, newly released tracks from Shakey Graves’ archive, and so much more! Remember to check back every Tuesday for a new episode of the BGS Radio Hour.

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Sara Watkins (feat. Nickel Creek) – “Blue Shadows on the Trail”

Sara Watkins recently sat down with BGS to talk about the set of film classics that defined her childhood, and are featured on her new album. With songs like “Pure Imagination” and “Moon River,” this album isn’t just for kids, even if it was first imagined as a collection of lullabies. Instead, it’s a meditative look at these songs which have impacted more than just one generation. And who could forget this classic from the 1980s classic comedy Three Amigos?

The Ladles – “Pages”

Here’s a song about the experience of reading through an old journal and being confronted with your past self — not a particularly comfortable experience. However, for Katie Martucci of The Ladles, it’s a reminder that at any given moment, we only know what we know, and we’re all doing the best we can.

The Antlers – “Porchlight”

“Porchlight” is about a powerful partnership, “knowing somebody so well as to recognize when they’re lost, and helping them find their way back home.”

Andrew Adkins – “This Old Knife”

When asked to be a part of a tribute album to singer-songwriter John Lilly, Andrew Adkins knew exactly what song he wanted to sing: one that he’d had a remarkably personal connection to the first time he heard it.

Shakey Graves – “Roll the Bones”

It’s hard to believe that Shakey Graves’ debut album Roll the Bones came out 10 years ago. Since the album’s quiet 2011 release, he’s emerged from the shadows, releasing multiple albums and garnering a substantial following. In celebration of the decade since, Shakey brings us Roll the Bones 10, a deluxe edition which also features 15 unheard songs from the same era as the original album.

Bridget Rian – “Trailer Park Cemetery”

Inspired by a trailer park cemetery seen while driving through Florida, this song is more a commentary on life than it is death. Bridget Rian says she has a “fear of being forgotten, of not making a difference” with her life – and this song was a mode of expressing this fear.

Jason Davis (feat. Dan Tyminski) – “Modern Day Jezebel”

Dan Tyminski sings lead and plays guitar on this tasty modern bluegrass tune from Jason Davis.

Peggy Seeger – “Gotta Get Home By Midnight”

Folk legend Peggy Seeger is our Artist of the Month for April here at BGS, and we’re so grateful to have been able to speak with her on her new album First Farewell, her lifelong career in folk music, her hopes for social justice and peace, and much more.

Garrison, Gordy, Hargreaves, Walsh – “Sports”

Bluegrass instrumental supergroup Garrison, Gordy, Hargreaves, Walsh have set their fun, rollicking instrumental tune “Sports” to a zany, hand-drawn music video by banjoist Danny Barnes.

Donovan Woods – “Whatever Keeps You Going”

Canadian singer-songwriter Donovan Woods recently joined BGS for 5+5 on reading lots of fiction, a memorable London show, writing with Lori McKenna, and more.

The Sweet Lillies – “My Brother’s Hill”

Boulder’s The Sweet Lillies bring us their version of a tune originally released by The Stray Birds, a song they chose because they were deeply inspired by its stunning vocal harmonies, its beautiful and meaningful lyrics, and its old-timey structure.

Giri Peters – “Fallin'”

Those who frequent bluegrass festivals in the south may already be familiar with the young savant Giri Peters. Giri and his sister Uma quickly gained popularity in the last number of years for their impeccable musical skills, not to mention at such a young age. Giri, originally known as an up-and-coming mandolinist, has continued to grow as a songwriter and solo artist. His most recent single is a testament to his musical and artistic growth, and brings much promise of an exciting career ahead.

June Star – “I Don’t Wanna Know”

“Human beings are messy emotional creatures,” says June Star’s Andrew Grimm. “Sometimes when we struggle to communicate in relationships it’s because there’s the voice we speak with and that voice in our head. ‘I Don’t Wanna Know’ bounces between a professed love to another person and a confessed loneliness on the inside.”

Miles Gannett – “Thunder River, Tumbling Down”

Miles Gannett heard the melody and some lyrics of this song, including the lines “Thunder River, tumbling down; catch your babes before they drown” in a dream — and it kind of creeped him out. He sat with it for a couple of years before it all came together in this final semi-apocalyptic song.

Photos: (L to R) Shakey Graves by Magen Buse; Sara Watkins by Jacob Boll; Peggy Seeger by Vicki Sharp

WATCH: John Mailander’s Forecast, “Returning”

Posted on by Editor

Artist: John Mailander’s Forecast
Hometown: San Diego, California
Song: “Returning”
Album: Look Closer
Release Date: May 7, 2021
Label: 9 Athens Music

In Their Words: “‘Returning’, the first track on our new album, came together on the first day of our session. To me, the track reflects some of what we were collectively feeling, playing in the same room together after so many months of isolation. We were all masked and spaced out the whole time, but the rediscovery of that connection and joy shined through. This track is kind of loosely a continuation of where our last album, Forecast, left off, but it also feels like a new beginning as each musician’s voice enters one at a time and joins together again. The animation was made by Anna Jane Lester. I think it’s a perfect visual accompaniment to the song, the way it moves forward with persistence through the changing seasons.” — John Mailander

Photo credit: Jake Faivre

WATCH: Garrison, Gordy, Hargreaves, Walsh, “Sports”

Posted on by Editor

Artist: Garrison, Gordy, Hargreaves, Walsh
Hometown: Brooklyn, New York/Denver, Colorado/Portland, Maine
Song: “Sports”
Album: Bluegrass and the Abstract Truth
Release Date: April 16, 2021

In Their Words: “Instrumental tunes are wonderfully subjective, like little movies whose narratives and meanings can transform and reflect the places they’ve seen. ‘Sports’ started as a little tune in my head riding the D train home from Manhattan to Brooklyn, and had its first public appearance on a local jazz gig. It followed me around, enjoyed some unveilings in the UK under a few different titles — I think I even took a fruitless audience survey to come up with a fitting appellation. When we went into the studio to record this group, its true title came to light and Joe, Alex, and Greg expressed its shifts of mood and character masterfully. We were so delighted to see our friend Danny Barnes’ take on what ‘Sports’ was communicating, and the video he made couldn’t have been a better fit for the mood of the piece.” — Grant Gordy

Photo credit: Dan Cardinal

LISTEN: Ryan Dugré, “Powder Rains”

Posted on by Editor

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

Photo credit: Annette Wong

The Show on the Road – Jeremiah Fraites (The Lumineers)

Posted on by Shelby Williamson

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.

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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.

Photo credit: Roberto Graziano Mora

LISTEN: Deutsch & Thorn, “Scorpio Sun”

Posted on by Editor

Artist: Deutsch & Thorn (Erik Deutsch and Andy Thorn)
Hometown: Mexico City, Mexico and Boulder, Colorado
Song: “Scorpio Sun”
Release Date: December 4, 2020
Label: Thornpipe Music

In Their Words: “When I first wrote this tune, I recorded it with the Colorado Playboys (Travis Book, Jon Stickley, and John Frazier), and called it ‘Sicks Ate.’ (We thought we were very clever.) Over a decade later, playing it with pianist Erik Deutsch, it took on a whole new life. As fellow Scorpios, Erik and I retitled it ‘Scorpio Sun.’ We recorded this EP in Erik’s beautiful Mexico City apartment, between playing shows at Zinco Jazz Club in the city’s vibrant Centro neighborhood. I never thought I’d bring my banjo to Mexico City, to mingle with Erik’s jazz influences and the sights and sounds of a dazzling culture. But that’s kind of what it’s like playing with Erik — you never know what might happen next.” — Andy Thorn

Photo credit: Josh Timmermans

Justin Moses, “Taxland”

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Multi-instrumentalist, sideman extraordinaire, podcast host, composer, and IBMA Award winner Justin Moses’ presence in bluegrass is as ubiquitous as it is unassuming — that is, in every way except when his picks meet the strings. Moses won Resophonic Guitar Player of the Year from the International Bluegrass Music Association in 2018 and 2020; he’s also recorded on countless sessions and albums, played on the Grand Ole Opry, and has toured with Dan Tyminski, Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder, and for more than a decade he’s been touring and recording music with his wife of three years, Sierra Hull.

A new track, “Taxland,” which features double mandolins played by Moses and Hull, marries his quiet, often humble virtuosity and his confidence on the mandolin. Moses can command any/all of bluegrass’s staple instruments, resulting in a melody that is all at once careening wildly towards its end and impossibly, impeccably clean. An unfamiliar listener might find it difficult to pick out which instrument belongs to Moses and which to Hull, a testament to their seamless musical gelling after years and years of collaborating. Inspired, loosely, by David “Dawg” Grisman’s new acoustic, post- jazz and swing bluegrass, the tune is housed in a cheerful minor key, as Dawg tunes often are, and Michael Cleveland’s wonky, edge-of-your-seat fiddle solo recalls Vassar Clements’ forays in new acoustic, but not without Cleveland’s own brand of idiosyncratic, bombastic bowing and double-stops peppered throughout. 

That a song could feel so improvisational, melodious, and frenetic while retaining its impossible polish once again points back to Moses’ lifelong career in bluegrass and his endless professionalism not only as a creator, but as a technician of each instrument he commands. With Barry Bales and Bryan Sutton — two more lifelong friends and fellow music makers — rounding out the fivesome, “Taxland” will stick with you for longer than just its nearly three minutes and thirty seconds. If you’re a musician like Moses, it just might last you from April ‘til your extension deadline.

Photo credit: Kady Carter

Maeve Gilchrist, “The Storm” and “The Calm”

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

If you aren’t already aware, you should know that the harp is having something of “a moment.” Between pop- and mainstream-adjacent singer-songwriters like Joanna Newsom and Lizzie No who write on harp to traditionalist, Irish and old-time pickers like Alannah Thornburgh, there’s no shortage of non-classical entry points to this often esoteric instrument. Viral TikTok sensations @hannah_harpist and @olivia_harpist (Hannah Stater and Olivia Ter Berg, respectively), whose harp-centered “sounds” have been liked, shared, and reshared by hundreds of thousands of users, are true harp influencers, capitalizing on the growing visibility of the instrument.

Lifelong harpist, singer, composer, and virtuoso Maeve Gilchrist — whose own journey on the instrument began as a child at the feet of her two harpist aunts — knows that this global harp moment is no flash in the pan. She’s performed around the world with DuoDuo, the Silkroad Ensemble, notable instrumentalists such as Yo-Yo Ma, Darol Anger, and Esperanza Spalding, and she was even a featured soloist on the How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World soundtrack.  

Gilchrist’s just-released album of harp compositions, The Harpweaver — named for and inspired by the eponymous work by poet Edna St. Vincent Millay — includes two compositions written for a community school of 107 young harp students in County Laois, Ireland. “The Storm” and “The Calm” were written as part of a suite entitled “White Horses,” which Gilchrist wrote for a harp orchestra of young County Laois girls ages 5 to 18. A native of Scotland and now based in Brooklyn, New York, Gilchrist teaches often in Ireland and the British Isles, building upon the instrument’s deep roots in the folk and Celtic musics of the region. 

“Back in the days,” Gilchrist explains via email, “when a lot of Irish music and culture was being oppressed, the harp was outlawed because of its ability to so powerfully stir the spirit.” In teaching these young girls the harp, Gilchrist is handing down the legacy of its evocative ability to subvert these sorts of moral expectations – especially those projected upon women. “I loved the image of white horses (the waves of the sea) as a metaphor for these girls,” she continues. “So strong and elegant, wielding their harps as modern day peaceful warriors!”

On The Harpweaver, “The Calm” comes after the storm, turning the age-old cliché on its head, further subverting our expectations for an instrument and a genre aesthetic that has too long been relegated to quiet background music in elevators and office spaces. The harp is a tool for so much more, and on The Harpweaver, Gilchrist’s compositions, as well as her efforts to spread the harp to new pupils, acolytes, and fans, demonstrate this clearly, stunningly, and captivatingly. 

Photo credit: J. Goodman

Alex Sturbaum, “Radish in Spring”

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

There’s an immediately whimsical, transatlantic quality to Alex Sturbaum’s original tune, “Radish in Spring” that feels intuitive, like a long-forgotten melody on a medieval video game’s pause menu or the perfect backing track to a montage scene in a sepia-toned, independent film. The cheerily wonky descending chromaticism feels like a wry, knowing smile, teasing listeners’ ears for expecting the predictable.

A genderfluid musician, educator, composer, and multi-instrumentalist, Sturbaum is full of delightful turns such as this on their new release, Loomings, purposefully and pointedly queering a musical aesthetic that hearkens far back, beyond Appalachia, American shores, and across the sea. The title, a serendipitous reference in a pandemic that has forced many a backyard gardener to embrace homegrown brassicas of all varieties, is a reference to Sturbaum’s partner, Rae, whose pet name is “Radish.” 

“I had to include ‘Radish in Spring’ [on Loomings];” Sturbaum explains via email, “Not just because I love playing the tune, but to honor the person whose love and support has been integral to my journey as a musician and as a person.”

Knowing, sensing this tender tribute allows listeners to untangle even more of the song’s subtly captivating themes — including that prerequisite spiciness we all know, love, and expect from a crisp, icy cold, earthy radish. Sturbaum’s Irish-style button accordion combined with fiddle supplied by Brian Lindsay and bass by Loomings producer Alicia Healey are together a textbook less-is-more approach to instrumental tune-crafting. And, whether metaphorically or literally, they’re a reminder of the beautiful simplicity of a just-after frost, freshly-tended garden bed full of bright, new, homegrown radishes in spring.

Photo credit: Brian Lindsay

Bronwyn Keith-Hynes, “Fiddler’s Pastime”

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

A handful of pages into her book, How To Do Nothing, artist, scientist, and researcher Jenny Odell makes the point that, under capitalism and the Protestant work ethic somewhere along the way modern human understanding of time transformed from being something that “passes” to being something that’s “spent.” Time is money. Where, in the not too distant rearview, time was not always considered a scarce resource or commodity. Instead of passing the time, we now spend it. 

Mid-pandemic, the distinction between these two perspectives feels even more important. To musicians — especially the working, middle-class set whose income hinges almost entirely on performing and creating constantly — the enforced global pausing of COVID-19 has allowed many the ability to refocus their priorities, retooling creativity to be something by which we all pass time, once again, instead of ravenously spending it. 

Any listener familiar with the bowstrokes of fiddler Bronwyn Keith-Hynes (Mile Twelve) will know this particular fiddler’s favorite pastime is… well, fiddle. The most tangible hallmark of her playing style may be her practice regimen, a preponderance of thought and intention evident in every last note. On her debut solo album, Fiddler’s Pastime, and especially its titular number, the oft-trod licks and turns of phrase she pulls on from those hours of study and rehearsal don’t feel canned or stilted, shoehorned into contexts to impress or beguile. They feel like simple outgrowths of Keith-Hynes’ tender-while-precise playing (and practice).

The musical backdrop of “Fiddler’s Pastime,” provided by Harry Clark (mandolin), Jeff Picker (bass), Jake Stargel (guitar), and producer Wes Corbett (banjo), acts as a cozy base layer of security and support for Keith-Hynes’ sometimes languid or teasingly lazy melodic interplay. But the cherry-on-top of this exquisite Bill Monroe via Kenny Baker cover is Laura Orshaw’s immaculate, identical-level twin fiddle. Awarded Fiddle Performer of the Year from the trad-facing Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass Music of America (SPGBMA) in 2019, Orshaw’s fiddling remains dismally underrated on the national and international scenes. She shines here with her longtime friend and collaborator. 

The dots are seamlessly connected; between Keith-Hynes, Orshaw, and this superlative crackerjack band, Fiddler’s Pastime is one album well-suited for inclusion in our quiver of pastimes to take us through this pandemic isolation.

Photo credit: Scott Simontacchi