You Gotta Hear This: The Infamous Stringdusters, Courtney Hartman, and More

Happy Friday! There’s plenty of new music to enjoy this week in our latest edition of You Gotta Hear This, our regular roundup of upcoming and just-released tracks and videos.

Kicking us off, innovative banjoist Wes Corbett (who currently tours with Sam Bush) shares the second single from his upcoming album, Drift. “Eagle Harbor” was inspired by the vibe and structure of Jackson Browne’s music and the picturesque ferry ride to Bainbridge Island in Washington state, where Corbett grew up. Guitarist, poet, and singer-songwriter Courtney Hartman is returning with new music as well; this time it’s a lush and whimsical neo-folk song co-written with Ana Egge about how being a mother and raising a child transformed the way she saw everything around her. It’s set to an intimate and cozy new music video you’ll love to watch.

New Mexico-based artist and songwriter Michael Rudd will release a new track, “Not Today,” next week and below you can find a preview of the number. It contemplates war, history, loss and their legacies; Rudd was spurred to write “Not Today” by the many wars ongoing today, especially in Gaza, and by his recent travel to Germany, Poland, and to visit monuments of the Holocaust.

Lauren Morse is ready to get you dancing with her new track and music video. “Let that Fiddler Fiddle” is a message we can certainly get behind. Inspired by Nashville’s ever-popular Honky Tonk Tuesday, it’s a two-stepping song sonically found where country and bluegrass meet – and perfect for toe-tapping or hip-swaying (or both). Trey Hedrick brings us a very enjoyable bluegrass track as well; “Passing Through” began to come together while Hedrick was out west and longing for the hills of home. With a talented roster of pickers and musicians on the song, Hedrick says it’s “a self reminder to go, to try, and to not leave the important things undone.”

Rounding us out, a group we’ve loved and collaborated with for a very long time, The Infamous Stringdusters, have a brand new single and a video to go with it. “Dead Man Walking” was written by Jeremy Garrett and Larry Keel. Don’t be fooled by the title, this is a song of uplift and positivity, set to the grooving and gritty style of bluegrass we all know and love from the Dusters.

It’s another stellar collection this week, if we do say so ourselves, and You Gotta Hear This!

Wes Corbett, “Eagle Harbor”

Artist: Wes Corbett
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
Song: “Eagle Harbor”
Album: Drift
Release Date: September 15, 2025 (single); October 3, 2025 (album)
Label: Adhyâropa Records

In Their Words: “As a kid, Jackson Browne was playing around the house a lot so that music has always filled me with a sense of warm nostalgia. As an adult I’ve realized how gorgeous his music is and how profound of an impact I think it’s had on me as a musician. ‘Eagle Harbor’ is a reflection of this both in vibe and in structure – wide warm sounds, open space, and what I hope is a strong melody. It’s named after the main harbor on Bainbridge Island where I grew up, which looks particularly beautiful during golden hour as you approach on the ferry with the Olympic Mountains as the backdrop. This group of musicians is an absolute dream to make music with! With so much emotional depth and their masterful touches as a bedrock it has become one of my favorites on Drift. I feel so lucky and honored to have the chance to cut this track with them.” – Wes Corbett


Courtney Hartman, “Bright Eye”

Artist: Courtney Hartman
Hometown: Eau Claire, Wisconsin
Song: “Bright Eye”
Album: With You
Release Date: September 17, 2025 (video); August 27, 2025 (single); November 14, 2025 (album)

In Their Words: “I began writing ‘Bright Eye’ the first summer after my daughter was born. Loving her transformed the way I saw everything around me and I found myself surprised by the joy of seeing our life through her eyes. I believe that this is what love does: love of any kind changes how and what we see. It lets the light in.

“Ana Egge is a favorite songwriter of mine, she has a wonderful way of articulating melodies. I sent her an early version of the song and we finished it together. ‘Bright Eye’ also features harmonies from my dear friend and fellow Eau Claire artist and mother, Sarah Elstran (The Nunnery).

“I wanted the video for the song to give a real sense of the spirit behind With You – the community, the care, and the laughter. The album came about during a season of heaviness, but the women who co-wrote the songs with me, along with the friends who recorded them, truly helped to carry me through.” – Courtney Hartman

Track Credits:
Courtney Hartman – Voice, guitars, songwriter
Ana Egge – songwriter
The Nunnery – Harmony vocals
Ben Lester – Synth, pedal steel
S. Carey – Drums, piano, synth
Shane Leonard – Percussion
Zoe Guigueno – Electric bass

Video Credits: Filmed by Kyle Lehman, edited by Erik Elstran.


Trey Hedrick, “Passing Through”

Artist: Trey Hedrick
Hometown: Wilkesville, Ohio
Song: “Passing Through”
Album: Sing, Appalachia
Release Date: September 19, 2025

In Their Words: “‘Passing Through’ started with my time living out West. I went out there looking for adventure, and I found it – mountains, open skies, and a pace to life that felt more open. But even then there was always a pull toward home, toward the hills. The song is about moving through places and seasons, chasing what you need to see while you can. It’s also about how all of us are just passing through in life, and how easy it is to get stuck only talking about the things we want to do. I’ve never wanted to live that way. That’s where the line ‘I ain’t afraid of dying, just the things I never did’ comes from. It’s a self reminder to go, to try, and to not leave the important things undone.” – Trey Hedrick

Track Credits:
Trey Hedrick – Lead vocal, acoustic guitar, songwriter
John Mailander – Fiddle
Ethan Ballinger – Mandolin
Frank Evans – Banjo
Phillipe Bronchtein – Piano
Jamie Dick – Drums
Rhees Williams – Bass
Maya De Vitry – Harmony vocals


The Infamous Stringdusters, “Dead Man Walking”

Artist: The Infamous Stringdusters
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee and Colorado
Song: “Dead Man Walking”
Album: 20/20
Release Date: September 19, 2025 (single); January 2026 (album)
Label: Americana Vibes

In Their Words: “I had this idea about a pitiful character that needed to snap out of their life and take a bigger view of everything before it was too late. I kept having Larry Keel’s voice in my mind as I worked through the melody of the song a bit, so I sent him a verse or two and he sent me back some. His lyrics were awesome, uplifting, and on the positive side. In a few sessions, we came up with what feels like a powerful chorus and a cool hook. It felt so natural for Dusters to make this one as country as we could and I just hope it resonates with everyone who listens, as it did with Larry and me as the songwriters.” – Jeremy Garrett

Video Credits: Directed and edited by Jack Gould at Ninja Video Production.
Craig Babineau – Second camera


Lauren Morse, “Let That Fiddler Fiddle”

Artist: Lauren Morse
Hometown: Jackson, Michigan
Song: “Let that Fiddler Fiddle”
Album: The Sweetest Sound (EP)
Release Date: September 12, 2025 (video/single); January 2026 (EP)

In Their Words: “I wrote this song after a Nashville Honky Tonk Tuesday. I was being spun around by a man old enough to be my grandpa at the American Legion and I thought, ‘This is so much more fun than my date was the previous night.’ I immediately wanted to write a song folks could two-step to and that’s what I set out to do. Playing it out around Music City, I was always getting compliments on how it felt like nostalgic country music. It is the best feeling in the world to see the intention for the song to be played out in a music video with the same people who inspired it! I think it’s a real special song people get excited about and can’t help but clap or dance along.” – Lauren Morse

Video Credits: Directed by William Gawley.
Produced by Michelle Robertson, Charlotte Avenue Pictures.
Director of Photography – Wayne Taylor with Giovanni Gotay
Drone pilot – Wayne Taylor
Edited/color – Color Synch Visuals


Michael Rudd, “Not Today”

Artist: Michael Rudd
Hometown: Albuquerque, New Mexico
Song: “Not Today”
Album: Ways of the World
Release Date: September 26, 2025 (single), February 27, 2026 (album)
Label: Invisible Road Records

In Their Words: “‘Not Today’ is about the legacy of war, both for the vanquished and the ‘victor.’ In a time when wars seem to be everywhere, the song considers not just the impact on those fighting now, but also on generations to come. ‘Not Today’ is from the perspective of a man who has lost everything – his family, his home, his land – but not the knowledge of who he is. It was most directly inspired by the war in Gaza and settler violence in the West Bank, as well as my visit last year to Berlin, Warsaw, Krakow, and Auschwitz. As an American Jew who grew up with the cornerstones of Israel, Jewish ethics, a knowledge of historical antisemitism, and the specter of the Holocaust, I wonder how future generations will process the current war and the influence it may have on how they see themselves and the world.” – Michael Rudd

Track Credits:
Michael Rudd – Vocals, electric guitar
Pat Malone – Electric guitar
Mark Clark – Drums
Brant Leeper – Hammond organ
Asher Barreras – Electric bass
Kelly Kuhn – Backing vocals


Photo Credit: The Infamous Stringdusters by Daniel Milchev; Courtney Hartman by Michelle Bennett.

On Her Debut Solo Album, MUNA’s Katie Gavin Searches for Connection and Finds It

On the album cover for singer-songwriter Katie Gavin’s solo debut album, What A Relief, she sits half-dressed in the middle of her shiny, sage-green bedspread with various clothes and possessions strewn around her and the floor; even the cat stands awkwardly mid-sit or stand, it’s hard to tell. The immediacy of this messy in-between moment conveys the intimacy Gavin reaches to again and again on the album.

I want you to see me
When you’re not looking
I want you to fuck me
When we’re not touching

The album’s opening track, “I Want It All,” exhumes a lust for connection so all-consuming she knows already, “I’m gonna lose my mind / I’m gonna lose…” But it’s also Gavin’s thirst for and attention to these acutely relatable moments of humanity that render the album enticing.

“I’m really hungry for connection. And I think that in putting out songs that express that, or putting out images that express that, and having it met with understanding gives me that experience of like ‘we’re all humans having a human experience,’” Gavin says. “I want to push myself in terms of what I allow other people to see.”

Much of Gavin’s career has been with pop band MUNA (who opened for Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour earlier this year). Solo, Gavin sheds her dazzling pop-star persona and the trappings of MUNA’s spectacular auditory and stage presence, retaining their honesty and emotional precision. What A Relief, which was produced by Tony Berg, is a collection of 12 songs Gavin wrote on the side over the past seven years. With them, and a clarity born of self-assurance and yearning for connection, Gavin pulls up a chair to settle in for a heart-to-heart with her audience.

“Some days you do your best / Some days you do what gets you out of bed…” Gavin sings on “Casual Drug Use,” possessing an inscrutable ability to pinpoint reality neatly and poignantly. That realism remains throughout the album, which unfolds as a masterful look at the human condition through the micro view of Gavin’s relationships with the world, herself, and others. Many times, she sounds so thrillingly close to the microphone it’s as if she’s singing right into your ear.

As she winnows down her experiences to a few kernels of truth, Gavin deliberately and deftly seeks accessibility and relatability without catering to weirdness or discomfort simply to make a point. “I am pleased with the same chords, over and over, as long as there’s a story and someone is saying something compelling,” she explains.

Her lack of pretense serves as shorthand for her palpably raw portraits of life: “But I think this is as good as it gets, my love/ I think this is as good as it gets/ Pray to god that you think that it is enough…” she sings in “As Good As It Gets” – which features guest vocals by Mitski – about a relationship that is not always a fairy tale. It’s an acknowledgement that you can both love someone and be underwhelmed by them, at least some of the time.

“‘As Good As It Gets’ reflects this big question that I’ve had for a long time, and I still have about what is reasonable to expect from a romantic relationship. And how good is it supposed to feel?” she says.

Elsewhere on the album, in “Sanitized,” Gavin carefully takes a wet washcloth to the bottoms of her dirty feet, afraid to stain her lover’s clean bed (“I lie perfectly still so I don’t mess up my hair/ I’m a sanitized girl, I clean up for you my dear”); or promises not to stalk her ex online, except “once in a while I’ll wanna know if you’ve died,” as she muses in “Keep Walking.”

Growing up in Illinois, Gavin’s parents gave her free reign to explore music and she gravitated unsurprisingly to pop music, entertaining preteen love for the Spice Girls and Samantha Mumba, and teen obsessions with Riot Grrrl, Gravy Train, and the Weepies’ “Gotta Have You.” She also gravitated toward queer, explicit music (Gavin is queer, but was in the closet at the time). When she started writing her own music as a teenager, her mother introduced her to Imogen Heap and her father stoked her folkie music interests with Jackson Browne and Jim Croce.

Gavin’s broad musical tastes inform her writing of course. In the case of What A Relief, she draws particularly on her love for John Prine’s flawed, human characters, and perverse, weirdo songster Loudon Wainwright III whose Attempted Mustache remains one of Gavin’s favorite albums.

“It’s the same magic that’s in a lot of John Prine songs, where these people aren’t afraid to talk about what real people experience in their real lives, even if it’s really silly, and then really mixing that with the profound.”

Silly mixed with the profound is perhaps the best possible description of Gavin’s own music. In the middle of the album, Gavin drops the bluegrass-folk portrait “Inconsolable,” about generational baggage’s impact on our well-being. Wrapped around a divinely-gratifying fiddle melody (she brought in Nickel Creek’s Sara and Sean Watkins to add a little extra bluegrass cred to the track) the song is first and foremost a reflection on learning to be vulnerable while falling in love.

It’s an experience that feels every bit as familiar as Gavin’s messy bed, but in a way that seems to make sense for the very first time – the gift of a stellar songwriter. More than that though, “Inconsolable” is a study in the way tiny moments elevate Gavin’s songs through her allegiance to the balance between silly and unvarnished experiences. We’ve all curled up on the couch hesitant to show how we’re really feeling.

But I’ve seen baby lizards running in the river
When they open their eyes
Even though no one taught them how or why
So maybe when you kiss me I can let you
See me cry
And if we keep going by the feeling
We can get by

Mid-verse, Gavin pivots from the endearing image of baby lizards learning to swim to emotional vulnerability in a fledgling relationship with the blockbuster realization that salvation and connection again might just come from that blind leap of trust.

Gavin’s quest for an honest examination of emotional intelligence stems in part from time spent with her grandparents, two of whom she lost in the last few years. Soaking up their stories, she thought about how much they endured and how many times older generations weren’t afforded a chance to be heard, or to feel their feelings.

Elders teach both by omission and by passing the torch. In “The Baton,” What A Relief’s anthemic third track, dedicated to the lineage of socially and generationally inherited womanhood, Gavin outlines her understanding of resilience as it passes from mother to daughter. Imagining what she’d say to her own daughter, Gavin also reaches to the wisdom from generations before her:

I’d pass her the baton and
I’d say you better run
‘Cause this thing has been going
For many generations
But there is so much healing
That still needs to be done

Not for rebellious reasons, but rather to instill a deep love of self, by the end of the song, Gavin’s come out the other side as her own mother.

“It’s a sense of learning, a sense of ownership and agency and learning to really listen to myself and trust myself, like if I’m going into a situation that I’m nervous about,” she explains. That’s a transformation not unlike her experiences writing the album, which she started when she was 24 and concluded at the age of 31: “You’re kind of moving from this archetype of maiden to mother.”

“I’m aware of a younger part of me that might be nervous and might have needs,” she says. “I often talk to her and say, ‘I got you, you’re coming home with me.’ And, ‘You don’t need to worry that I’m gonna forget about you or give you away to somebody else, or make you tap dance for somebody else.’”

Part of mothering yourself is finding your pitfalls and learning to prevent them. For Gavin, that includes thinking about addiction a lot, well beyond drug use.

“I can get addicted to a lot of different things; I can get addicted to different processes; I can get addicted to people; and I can get addicted to looking at furniture on Facebook marketplace,” she says. “I was thinking about this idea that when we as humans get stuck in the process of addiction, the things that make us feel good, and our actual relationship with the world gets smaller and smaller.”

That idea became the song “Sketches,” wherein Gavin distills addiction into a two-dimensional study of self reduction. In a simple acoustic guitar and cello-accompanied track, she imagines her character reduced to a sketch by an overbearing relationship: “That the deeper I’d go/ The smaller I’d get…” until she takes back control, painting herself back to size.

“The process of recovery has been really one of expansion, learning that I can feel intimacy and connection and pleasure and joy from so many different experiences in life and from so many different people,” Gavin says. “And there’s something that just feels very profound about that for me in this time.”

Even when it comes to writing about climate change, Gavin filters her stories through our relationships to one another. It feels more effective than shaming people for not recycling, she says. In “Sparrow,” she ruminates on the dangers of the quick fix, hoping in vain for the song of a sparrow in spring, only to discover that the tree it would perch on has died of a cure applied rashly and without thinking.

But perhaps Gavin’s most profound relationship moment on the album comes when she eulogizes her dog in “Sweet Abby Girl.”

“She’s taking up most of the mattress/ Can’t imagine being so un-self conscious/ She’s pushing her back up against my legs…” Abby becomes a foil for Gavin’s insecurities, as throughout the song she considers the vulnerability within unqualified love for another being.

Buried late in the album, “Keep Walking,” its penultimate track, reveals Gavin’s raison d’être: “What a relief / To know that some of this was my fault.” Superficially, it’s a breakup song. But it’s also a relief for Gavin’s to put these songs into the world, to share another side of herself, and forge new connections with listeners.

Fundamentally, we get through hard times by laughing with our friends, Gavin says. As she’s matured as a songwriter, she’s been drawn to including those moments of levity in her songs. Invariably, they feel like the best of conversations with friends and lend themselves well to What A Relief’s stripped-down, singer-songwriter format.

“There was just something funny about this idea of putting out this part of me that had up until this point been unexpressed; it does feel like a relief to just let it out,” Gavin says. “I like the sentiment in the song … ‘what a relief to know that some of this was my fault,’ which is just agency. I haven’t behaved perfectly, and that gives me some space to have compassion and forgiveness for you.”

“Real life” is such a tired phrase. Gavin’s version, though, feels scintillatingly, comfortingly relatable, and like her messy bedroom, gives the listener agency to let go and just be, too. What a relief.


Photo Credit: Alexa Viscius

BGS 5+5: Fortunate Ones

Artist: Fortunate Ones
Personal Nicknames: Angie/Cathy
Rejected band names: Barb Dylan, The Rollings Tones, The Whom

Which artist has influenced you the most … and how?

Jackson Browne looms large in my musical journey. His work has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. When I was a kid, my mother and aunt would take my brother and me on road trips and we’d spend hours listening and re-listening to a mixed tape that included “Running on Empty,” “The Load Out,” “These Days,” “Rosie,” “Somebody’s Baby” … long before I was listening critically, his music resonated with me in a deep and lasting way. Beautiful melodies, smooth voice, fantastic piano and guitar playing. I was hooked. Later he became a significant influence for me as a songwriter. His unashamed approach to mining the human condition is courageous and nuanced and I admire how deep he’s willing to go into his own lived experience to explore what it is to be flawed and fallible as a complex human being. He’s got a beautiful sense of imagery but is still able to maintain an every-person perspective that allows the listener to be gifted his insights rather than having to work for guts of the song. — Andrew James O’Brien

What’s your favorite memory from being on stage?

Getting to open for Alan Doyle at Massey Hall was a real trip for us. Massey was number one on our bucket list, so when Alan asked us to join him in February 2018, we were so excited. Massey is the Carnegie Hall or Ryman of the North. It’s sacred and hallowed ground where many of the world’s greatest have performed. Some family flew up to Toronto for the show and on the day of, got to come and tour the space, get pictures on stage and soak it all in. It was incredible. At the end of our set we got a thunderous standing ovation which, we were told, was quite rare for an opening act in that room. We were absolutely over the moon.

What was the first moment that you knew you wanted to be a musician?

When I was in grade nine, I got a keyboard and set it up in my room. I started quietly playing covers — Bonnie Raitt, The Beatles. At the time, I was too nervous to sing in front of anyone but tucked away in my room, I realized that nothing gave me the feeling of joy that singing did. Back then it never occurred to me for a second that singing could or would become a career option but years later, in 2012, Amelia Curran asked me to join her on tour supporting her Spectators record. I saw for the first time what a career as a touring musician looked like, got to feel the positive response from large crowds, and learned what it was to live that life. This realization was the catalyst that gave me the confidence to invest in and pursue my own career. — Catherine Allan

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

We’ve been fortunate to have many wonderful mentors and friends over the years and have been the benefactors of countless words of wisdom. A piece of advice that always rings true and transcends career is to live life with a grateful heart. No one is obligated to like what we put into the world and in that way it’s an absolute privilege that it’s resonating with people. In the tough moments, it’s grounding to come back to the thought that we get to make a life writing and performing music.

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

I’ve always admired the songwriters who can create a world or character outside of their own. My favourite example is the unofficial poet laureate of Newfoundland, Ron Hynes. Ron had an unparalleled ability to create incredibly complex characters and situations that felt so immensely personal, you felt as though you were looking into worlds as a voyeur who shouldn’t be in on the secret. We, however, are not that kind of writer. The songs we create are autobiographical and serve as an outlet to find place, meaning, comfort, solace, understanding and purpose in our lives. If our songs are relatable it’s because they’re written about true to form, lived experience. — Andrew James O’Brien


Photo Credit: Adam Hefferman

BGS Top 50 Moments: The LA Bluegrass Situation at Largo

It was 2010 when the true origins of “The Sitch” first materialized.  For five days in May, BGS founder Ed Helms congregated a lauded lineup of roots artists at the storied Largo at the Coronet Theatre in Los Angeles.  That first annual LA Bluegrass Situation festival included the likes of Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers, The Watkins Family Hour, Gillian Welch, Will Ferrell, Jackson Browne, The Infamous Stringdusters, and Ed’s Whiskey Sour Radio Hour variety showcase.

In the festivals that followed, LABS brought in the likes of Nickel Creek, John C. Reilly, the Punch Brothers, Willie Watson, and many others before broadening to bigger venues across Los Angeles.  The online iteration of “The Bluegrass Sitch” wouldn’t come to fruition for another two years, but the heart of it was all there, on stage at Largo, from the very start.


Photo Credit: Lincoln Andrew Defour

Grammy Nominations 2022: See the American Roots Music Nominees

The Grammy Awards have revealed their nominees, and the American Roots Music ballot is especially diverse this year. Take a look at nominations for the 2022 show, which will air January 31 from Los Angeles on CBS. (See the full list.)

Best American Roots Performance

Jon Batiste – “Cry”
Billy Strings – “Love and Regret”
The Blind Boys of Alabama and Béla Fleck – “I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to be Free”
Brandy Clark Featuring Brandi Carlile – “Same Devil”
Allison Russell – “Nightflyer”

Best American Roots Song

Rhiannon Giddens, Francesco Turrisi – “Avalon”
Valerie June Featuring Carla Thomas – “Call Me a Fool”
Jon Batiste – “Cry”
Yola – “Diamond Studded Shoes”
Allison Russell – Nightflyer

Best Americana Album

Jackson Browne – Downhill From Everywhere
John Hiatt with the Jerry Douglas Band – Leftover Feelings
Los Lobos – Native Sons
Allison Russell – Outside Child
Yola – Stand for Myself

Best Bluegrass Album

Billy Strings – Renewal
Béla Fleck – My Bluegrass Heart
The Infamous Stringdusters – A Tribute to Bill Monroe
Sturgill Simpson – Cuttin’ Grass Vol. 1 (Butcher Shoppe Sessions)
Rhonda Vincent – Music Is What I See

Best Traditional Blues Album

Elvin Bishop and Charlie Musselwhite – 100 Years of Blues
Blues Traveler – Traveler’s Blues
Cedric Burnside – I Be Trying
Guy Davis – Be Ready When I Call You
Kim Wilson – Take Me Back

Best Contemporary Blues Album

The Black Keys Featuring Eric Deaton and Kenny Brown – Delta Kream
Joe Bonamassa – Royal Tea
Shemekia Copeland – Uncivil War
Steve Cropper – Fire It Up
Christone “Kingfish” Ingram – 662

Best Folk Album

Mary Chapin Carpenter – One Night Lonely (Live)
Tyler Childers – Long Violent History
Madison Cunningham – Wednesday (Extended Edition)
Rhiannon Giddens with Francesco Turrisi – They’re Calling Me Home
Sarah Jarosz – Blue Heron Suite

Best Regional Roots Music Album

Sean Ardoin and Kreole Rock and Soul – Live in New Orleans!
Big Chief Monk Boudreaux – Bloodstains and Teardrops
Cha Wa – My People
Corey Ledet Zydaco – Corey Ledet Zydaco
Kalani Pe’a – Kau Ka Pe’a


Photo of Allison Russell: Marc Baptiste
Photo of Tyler Childers: David McClister
Photo of Rhiannon Giddens and Francesco Turrisi: Karen Cox

MIXTAPE: Jesse Terry’s Pure Seventies Troubadour Gold

I’m not sure what it is about this era that has permanently ensnared my soul. Perhaps the raw, confessional nature of the troubadour has always reassured me that I am not alone. These are the songs that made me abandon my fine art career at the age of 18 and embark on a lifelong quest to appease the songwriting gods. The fact that all of these songs can be fully delivered with one instrument and one voice has always amazed and inspired me. It was wonderful to record a few of these classics on my current EP, Seventies Roots, part of a double album of covers that I’m releasing in February 2022 called Forget-Me-Nots. — Jesse Terry

Joni Mitchell – “A Case of You”

Was there any doubt it would start with Joni and a song off her masterpiece, Blue? I put Joni in a Jimi Hendrix-type category, where it feels like the artist was transported from outer space, in perfect revolutionary form. Her songs, chord progressions, lyrics and vocals have always been otherworldly to me. It was thrilling to record this song on my Seventies Roots EP. Actually it was intimidating, but in the end I love the song too much not to do it.

James Taylor – “Fire and Rain”

The blueprint for confessional, honest songwriting. It’s awesome to hear JT tell the story behind the song and know that he put every last personal detail into his lyrics. This inspired me to be vulnerable and completely open in my writing. Nobody sings or plays like JT. And to this day, if I’m having a rough go of it, I blast his records and let that warm voice console me.

Jackson Browne – “For a Dancer”

Another true original with an unmatched voice and sense of melody. I think Jackson is without a doubt one of the best lyricists of all time. His lyrics and melodies flow effortlessly off the tongue and never tire.

Bruce Springsteen – “Growin’ Up”

Springsteen is a legendary rocker and performer. But what really impresses me about the Boss is his songwriting. All of his anthems can be stripped down to an acoustic guitar and still deliver with the same emotion. There aren’t many songwriters that can paint pictures like Springsteen. With him, you’re not just listening to the song, you’re IN the song or maybe even one of the characters.

Carole King – “Will You Love Me Tomorrow”?

Like all of the truly great songwriters, her songs transcend and feel universal and timeless. This song feels perfect, whether you’re listening to Carole’s version or The Shirelles.

Tom Waits – “Shiver Me Timbers”

A truly masterful and utterly unique songwriter. Waits writes about characters and tells stories better than anyone. His lyrics and penchant for perfect timing are well-known, but I also adore Tom Waits’ gift for melody and harmony. His melodies break my heart and are married flawlessly to the lyrics.

Paul Simon – “American Tune”

If you created a singer-songwriter in a lab it would be Paul Simon. Some of the most endearing lyrics and melodies of all time. His songs are so perfect, it’s easy to overlook his guitar playing and singing, which are equally remarkable. Music schools often try to dissect his songs to display the craft of songwriting, but I get the sense that this magic simply flowed out of him.

Elton John – “Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters”

Over the years, some very talented folks have sent me lyrics and poetry to set to music and I’ve always been disappointed with my results. That makes me even more knocked out by Elton John’s ability to marry Bernie Taupin’s lyrics to the most perfect melodies, tempos and chord progressions. I recorded “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” on my Seventies Roots EP, but I easily could have chosen “Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters,” or any number of tunes. Way too many great options to choose from.

Neil Young – “Comes a Time”

What songwriter list would be complete without Neil Young? Neil is raw unfiltered emotion, live to analog tape with no rewriting or editing. That makes him so special. I can’t think of another songwriter that can cover so much ground with such authenticity.

Randy Newman – “Marie”

Randy Newman is a genius. His character-based songs are on the same level as Tom Waits and his lyrics are just as evocative, biting and unique. It’s impossibly rare to find Newman’s talents as an orchestrator and arranger in the body of a singer-songwriter. “Marie” especially breaks my heart. I believe every word Randy Newman sings.

Townes Van Zandt – “No Place to Fall”

A mythical figure in songwriting, Townes wrote some of the most beautiful and enduring songs of all time. “No Place to Fall” has always spoken to me and broken my heart. Was an honor to record this one.

Bob Dylan – “Simple Twist of Fate”

I admit, as a young kid I was more seduced by the “singers” in this group — artists like Joni, James and Jackson that could sing the phone book. But eventually I became spellbound by Dylan and my affection for him has never waned since. And as I listened more in my life, I realized what an amazing singer and communicator he was. His phrasing, his lyrics, his melodies and his hooks convey the lyrics perfectly. There will never be another Dylan.

Loggins & Messina – “Danny’s Song”

Kenny Loggins went on to have a huge solo career, but the music that he released in the ‘70s with Jim Messina in Loggins & Messina will always be my favorite work. My father used to sing this song to me when I was a kid and it felt like he wrote it for me.

Stevie Wonder – “Love’s in Need of Love Today”

Admittedly my playlist is Laurel Canyon-heavy and that’s what inspired me the most. But I also remember Stevie blaring through speakers as I was growing up. Again, one of the classic singer-songwriters that will never be replaced nor imitated. One in a billion. And on top of that, one of the best, most flexible voices of all time.

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young – “Our House”

I’ll end my playlist with this classic song that transports you to another time and place. You can almost smell the flowers blooming in this song.


Photo Credit: Alex Berger

From the Scrap Pile, James McMurtry Crafts a Frank (and Fictional) Album

Holding a conversation with James McMurtry is similar to experiencing his music. He is frank, eloquent, and gets to the heart of the matter with few words. On The Horses and the Hounds, his first album of new material in nearly seven years, he tells sometimes complicated emotional stories through his fictional characters, crafted within the limits of rhyme and meter. His deft chronicling of human nature woven with descriptions of place and scene give the listener context beyond the experience, almost like each song is the essence of a short story or novel. In “Fort Walton”, he describes a knotty internal conflict in three lines as his grumpy narrator admonishes himself for losing his temper at his hotel:

The internet’s down and they don’t know why
And I damn near made the desk clerk cry
And there wasn’t any reason for that

McMurtry dialed in to Zoom for this conversation with BGS.

BGS: You recorded this album in L.A. at Jackson Browne’s studio. When you went to do that, did you have a precise amount of songs ready? Do you overcut or undercut?

McMurtry: It depends on the record. I’ve never really overcut by much. This time it was the way I used to do it when I was in my 20s. I sort of metaphorically do my homework on the school bus. The way this one worked out is Ross Hogarth, the producer, knew Jackson and he found a window when we could get into his studio to track, but he said, “You gotta finish the songs by this date.” Most of the songs were finished within the last month before tracking. Some of them I actually finished in a Rodeway Inn in Culver City the night before we tracked it. Sometimes that works. That adrenaline rush of having a deadline will get you through. Very few of the songs were started and finished from scratch for this record. Mostly I work from a scrap pile. I have a laptop. I scroll through my notes app. I scroll through my writing programs and look for lyrics that go together or something that I want to work on right then. But there were a couple like “If It Don’t Bleed” that I wrote specifically for this record.

How often do you write?

Not very often at all. I write when it is time to make a record usually. And that depends on when my tour draw falls off. When I started making records thirty years ago the strategy was to tour to support record sales. The business model was that you were supposed to sell enough records to make royalties and to live off them. That never happened. My records were very expensive to make when I was on Columbia. They never came near recouping their production expense and so I wound up learning how to tour cheap. That came in handy much later when Napster and Spotify turned the whole business on its head. Everybody had to figure out how to do what I and some of my contemporaries were already doing. Which was just drive around in a van and keep everything cheap and profit on the tour.

I’ve read that you don’t consider your songs to be autobiographical. Where do you find your characters? How do you bring them to life?

I am a fiction writer. There will be a little bit of my life in a song but it is gonna get rearranged for the sake of a better story. Usually, I’ll hear a couple of lines and a melody in my head and I ask myself, “Who said that?” I try to envision the character who would have said those lines then I work backward to the story.

Speaking of melody, when you are writing, rhyme and meter are clearly important to you and you are masterful at both. But do you consider melody as you are crafting lines from the get-go?

Definitely. I’ve put words to music a few times. I have had jams with my band that I did off the cuff and years later I’d put lyrics in them, like “Saint Mary of the Woods,” which was the title track to one of my records. That came out of a jam that we recorded just for the fun of it. But it is very hard to put words to music. I don’t think I have ever tried to start with just words and then tried to put music to that. I usually have to get a little bit of melodic sense.

In terms of the song “Operation Never Mind,” you hone in on the lack of information we have about what war and conflict are really like these days. Can you talk about your inspiration for that song?

When I was a kid, Vietnam was still going on in full force. We only had three or four television networks and everyone listened to Walter Cronkite. He was the voice of the center and everyone right left and center listened to him. That war did not end because kids were marching in the streets. We pulled out because Walter Cronkite got enough of it. His generation decided it was a stalemate and we were never going to get out of it so we left. … One of the things that has struck me over the years is that we no longer have actual war coverage. Back in Cronkite’s day, we’d watch the 6 o’clock news and we’d see actual footage from battles and shots of the troops walking along and looking bored and lonesome on a hot dusty day. We got more of a feel for what that war was actually like. Whereas now, we get nothing.

Now they say there are embeds out there with the troops, some of whom are doing very good journalism but it is not front page, because there is no front page. Everyone has their own channel to go to hear their own opinions shot back at them. We just don’t have coverage. We don’t have any idea of what the actual war is like. Or what it is about or why we are there, really. War is big money. I think there are a lot of powerful people who would have just as soon stayed in. That’s kind of what I tried to do in the song. Just remind people, “Hey, we got people in harm’s way over there. As citizens, we are supposed to question why and we are not doing it. Nobody is pointing the way.

In lieu of being able to tour, you’ve been streaming performances, right? How has it been connecting to fans online?

It is a different skill. I have yet to really elevate it to an art form. But it needs to be done. People need to do more of this. A lot of people looked at streaming as a stopgap measure. I’ve gone into it thinking, this might be what I’m doing. I might have to be this twisted Mr. Rogers guy for the rest of my life. I better figure out how to have fun with it. And I have. I can sit here with six or seven acoustic guitars, all of them tuned and capoed for whatever song I’m going to do. It is easy. I don’t have to move a lot of stuff. I’d never carry that many acoustics on the road. They’d take up half the van.

You have a dedicated page to COVID-19 on your website and you’ve been vocal about the pandemic. Have you had any revelations about how the music industry works or things you would like to see changed?

I’ve never had a firm handle on the music industry. I work my little corner of it. I really can’t predict what is going to happen but I do think that Jason Isbell’s mindset will prevail in the concert industry. I’m trying to impose that myself. I don’t play indoors unless you’ve got a vaccination card and a mask. Outdoors I’ll be a little laxer. We can’t have big indoor gatherings with the delta variant going on.

Austin is just rife with breakthrough cases now, especially amongst musicians. Seems like the drummers and the singers get it first because they are breathing down to their toenails. Drumming is an extremely aerobic activity and the same with singing. If there is some viral load hanging in the air, a singer is going to get it probably. It’d take two hands to count the cases — fully vaccinated COVID cases — among Austin musicians. And that’s just this morning.

I’ve played a couple of outdoor shows and I’m going to New Mexico and Arizona in early September. I had to cancel a show in Phoenix because they wouldn’t agree to my safety protocol but it turns out another venue in Phoenix was fine with it. Jason Isbell has really taken a big stand and he’s had to move a lot of big shows. Overall the trend is going to be towards his state of mind. If we are going to have a concert business in the future, it is going to be mask and vax. It will take a little while for people to flip over or else nobody is going to play.


Photo credit: Mary Keating-Bruton

BGS 5+5: The Delevantes

Artist: The Delevantes
Hometown: Rutherford, NJ… then Hoboken, NJ… and now Nashville
Latest Album: A Thousand Turns
Rejected band names: “The band was originally named Who’s Your Daddy. The name came from the Zombies song, ‘Time of the Season.’ The lyric reads: ‘What’s your name? Who’s your daddy?’ but very few people ever got it. In fact I think maybe one person did. And it eventually made a list of top ten bad band names. Eventually Mike and I decided to go with our last name. It was easy and simple (for us) to remember. But it’s hard to count how many times it was misspelled in ads or on marquees. One of our faves was ‘The Deldinkos’! Probably should’ve gone with that.” — Bob

What was the first moment that you knew you wanted to be a musician?

I had played guitar since I was about 4 years old and I enjoyed it. Our family was very musical. But I don’t think I understood its full potential until I was a teenager and got together with friends and played as a group. Even just in casual circles. That’s when I saw what it can do and how it can bring people together. Our music began in friendships and it grew out from there. — Mike

In high school after lunch my friend Matt and I would pull out our acoustic guitars and play some songs in the auditorium. A little Simon & Garfunkel, Jackson Browne, or maybe something from Will the Circle Be Unbroken. As we played some of the football players’ girlfriends came over and sat down to listen. We realized guitars and harmonies, not helmets and shoulder pads, was the way to go for us. — Bob

Which artist has influenced you the most… and how?

There are so many, but I would probably choose Bob Dylan. Lyrics, folk music, rock ‘n’ roll — there are so many layers and I love that. And he just turned 80 and has released what I think as some of his best work! – Bob

Probably the Beatles. The combination of both amazing lyrics and some of the most incredible melodic lines. I don’t think anyone has come close. — Mike

What’s your favorite memory from being on stage?

Being asked the day of the show to back up Levon Helm at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame show in Cleveland. Rehearsing for about an hour that day and performing “Rag Mama Rag” and “Atlantic City.” — Mike

There are quite a few but two really stick in my mind: The first, we were playing an outdoor festival in Holland and it started to rain. There was large crowd on the hillside. I think the attendance was around 10,000 people and when it started to drizzle all these different colored umbrellas opened up. It looked like a field blooming. The second is the first time we opened up for John Prine and he asked us to sing on the encore, “Paradise.” Won’t forget that one. — Bob

Since food and music go so well together, what is your dream pairing of a meal and a musician?

Sitting down for a dinner of baked ziti and a beer with Frank Sinatra at Ricco’s in Hoboken, NJ, around 1941, just as his career was taking off. — Bob

Hearing the E Street Band play on the boardwalk in Asbury Park with a slice of NJ pizza. — Mike

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

I’m a designer, photographer, and illustrator as well as a songwriter. All these different disciplines feed each other. They’re all ways of telling stories and I work in all of them. My favorites are probably looking at other artists’ photographs and watching films. They probably affect me the most and inspire my work. — Bob

Going to art school in NYC opened my eyes to how a particular time and place with different art forms can be combined to create a story. The act of creating art alongside other artists — and being fully immersed in galleries and seeing bands in clubs at a certain time — created a story in my head that I can still see. A film with a soundtrack. That time inspires me to find similar moments in how you can imagine a song or say a painting can take on meaning for other people. Part of it is freeing in a way… you don’t have to control every aspect because they will put their story into your art and make it their own. — Mike


Photo credit: Emma Delevante

The BGS Radio Hour – Episode 216

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, David Crosby and Sarah Jarosz join up for a Joni Mitchell number, husband-and-wife duo Darin and Brooke Aldridge bring us some beautiful bluegrass harmonies, LA’s own Los Lobos share their rendition of a favorite Jackson Browne tune, and much more.

APPLE PODCASTS, SPOTIFY

The Wallflowers – “Maybe Your Heart’s Not In It Anymore”

25 years after their breakout hit and almost a decade after their most recent release, The Wallflowers are back with a new album, Exit Wounds. In our interview with Jakob Dylan we talk about the project, singing with Shelby Lynne, the documentary Dylan executive produced, Echo in the Canyon, and more.

Ric Robertson – “Carolina Child”

We spoke with Ric Robertson about playing a popcorn kernel in a musical as a kid, his kite surfing aspirations, his new album Carolina Child, and more in a recent edition of 5+5.

Amy Ray Band – “Chuck Will’s Widow”

Amy Ray of The Indigo Girls finds herself often haunted by the song of the nocturnal songbird, the Chuck-will’s-widow: “I find that I witness the most profound moments in the midst of their songs, when everyone else is asleep. While I am often in need of rest, the respite I find in being awake under a miraculous and melodic night sky is too tempting for me to sleep. It’s a conundrum that inspires me, but also leaves me bleary-eyed.”

Darin and Brooke Aldridge – “Once In A While”

Bluegrass husband-and-wife duo Darin & Brooke Aldridge hope that every aspect of their music makes you smile — even more than “Once in a While!”

Matt the Electrician – “Home Again”

Folk singer-songwriter Matt The Electrician will return with a new album called We Imagined an Ending in November. A new track, “Home Again,” takes inspiration from the point of view of his teenage daughter. “The conundrum of parenthood, that as you finally start to figure some things out, and try to pass along some of that hard won wisdom, you’re greeted with your own teenage face staring balefully back at you.”

Tobacco City – “AA Blues”

Says Chris Coleslaw of Tobacco City’s latest single, “The character in the song is trapped between working in a brewery and staring at beers all day and trying to walk a sober line. I think regardless of your sobriety status we can all relate to those kind of blues.”

Jesse Daniel – “Clayton Was A Cowboy”

Jesse Daniel spoke with us about his new album, Beyond These Walls, about growing up catching crawdads and fishing, the chills-inducing feeling when a crowd sings along with his lyrics, and more in a recent 5+5.

Joy Oladokun – “Judas”

Joy Oladokun is able to do more with just an acoustic guitar and her voice than many artists can in an entire discography of work. And going from Arizona to L.A. then across country to Nashville with a new outlook and perspective, her music stands on a plane with a unique vantage point.

Luke LeBlanc – “Same Blues”

A new video for Luke LeBlanc’s co-written tune with Roy August, “Same Blues,” attempts to capture what the song is about: the tug of war between the status quo and what you’re currently doing versus that thing you really want to do.

Midnight North – “Silent Lonely Drifter”

“Silent Lonely Drifter” is an original folk melody reminiscent of timeless Appalachian string band music. Each verse references a different full moon, speaking to the natural balance that exists in the universe.

Los Lobos – “Jamaica Say You Will”

The Jackson Browne tune “Jamaica Say You Will” always resonated for the fellas of Los Lobos and the narrative and storytelling were attractive, too. So, they recorded their own rendition of the track on their latest project, Native Sons.

Aoife O’Donovan ft. Milk Carton Kids – “More Than We Know”

New music from Aoife O’Donovan is here and we’re loving it! Hear tracks created with Joe Henry and the Milk Carton Kids — one inspired by the modern classic re-telling of Peter Pan, the movie Hook.

John R. Miller – “Shenandoah Shakedown”

Depreciated, the new Rounder Records release from singer-songwriter John R. Miller, combines many of his string band and bluegrass influences with a satisfyingly melancholy and dark mood — plus plenty of fiddle.

David Crosby ft. Sarah Jarosz – “For Free”

Legendary singer, guitar picker, and songwriter David Crosby keeps his love for collaboration alive on his new album, For Free, which features guests and co-writers such as Sarah Jarosz, Michael McDonald, his son James Raymond, and more.


Photos: (L to R) Joy Oladokun by Nolan Knight; Aoife O’Donovan courtesy of Shorefire Media; David Crosby by Anna Webber

LISTEN: Los Lobos, “Jamaica Say You Will”

Artist: Los Lobos (David Hidalgo, Louie Pérez Jr., Cesar Rosas, Conrad Lozano, and Steve Berlin)
Hometown: East Los Angeles, California
Song: “Jamaica Say You Will” (Jackson Browne cover)
Album: Native Sons
Release Date: July 30, 2021
Label: New West Records

In Their Words: “I used to go over to David’s house after school and listen to records with him, and this song always resonated for me — such a beautiful melody. And the narrative was something I was attracted to. The storytelling. This song in particular inspired me to write from introspection — and I saw that my songs could be personal, but I could still write them to be universal. To this day, that’s been the template.” — Louie Perez Jr.

“A very delicate track. I know it’s a big favorite of Dave’s and he brought it in, but I was surprised — I mean, that’s kind of a heavy lift! Dave knocked it out of the park. Everybody did great work on it. I think we did it justice.” — Steve Berlin

“Another old favorite. Great song. Louie introduced me to Jackson. We’ve worked together on projects and become friends.” — David Hidalgo

(Artist quotes from Native Sons‘ album liner notes.)


Photo credit: Piero F. Giunti