Kacey Musgraves, ‘Oh What a World’

In these tense and fraught political times, the desire for country artists to become more outspoken and opinionated has started to reach a fever pitch: After Route 91, will they speak out about gun control? Will they respond when Trump stokes hate on Twitter or refuses to condemn white supremacy? Will they support equal rights and reinforce that love is love, no matter the gender of the lovers?

Kacey Musgraves has always been one of the few outliers who existed on Music Row without having to play by the rulebook of being politically neutral — particularly in the arena of human rights (and, of course, marijuana use). She praised equality on “Follow Your Arrow,” from her debut LP, Same Trailer, Different Park. The line that gets the most attention is “kiss lots of boys, or kiss lots of girls,” but the more simple phrase of “love who you love” is equally poignant. Inclusion has always been part of who she is and her process — a bit ironic, considering that her attitude toward inclusion is exactly what’s had her excluded from country radio.

Her third album, Golden Hour, has been discussed and deconstructed as being less inherently political or mischievous (though, overall, she’s rarely been explicitly partisan in terms of left or right) and more about love … specifically, her relationship with her husband Ruston Kelly. It’s filled with meditations on kindness and romance and self-worth, and what it means to be alive, and on what it might mean to die, too, and the infinitely depressing and unstoppable passage of time — particularly the difficulties in enjoying a moment while knowing that its about to inherently be gone forever.

But in 2018, under a Trump presidency, Golden Hour is actually new kind of political, and, along with the songs of May Your Kindness Remain, the new LP from Courtney Marie Andrews, presents a different breed of protest song: one where there’s protest in kindness, in the appreciation of beauty and a sense of being grateful about the world. “Oh What a World,” a superb work of gauzy modernist folk-pop that balances both vocoder and traditional country orchestration in uncanny ways, is perhaps the album’s best example. “Oh what a world, don’t want to leave,” she sings, “There’s all kinds of magic, it’s hard to believe.” They’re simple words, really, but they sting.

Musgraves proceeds to lists some various wonders, from neon fish to magic mushrooms, and then moves on to a simple reminder: “These are real things,” she sings softly. “These are real things.” Fake news, Twitter wars, social media profiles don’t actually reflect who we are at all. Here, Musgraves is doing something just as mischievous and political as she’s always done, but in different clothes. She’s reminding us all that life is short and the world is beautiful. It a simple idea, but one too often forgotten.

Love, beauty, kindness, appreciation … these are real things. And, these days, they’re resistance.

BGS Class of 2018: Preview

At only 11 days old, this year already looks to be a stellar one for roots music. From Marlon Williams to John Prine, Sunny War to Bettye LaVette, artists young and old are making some of the best records of their careers, and it is a thrilling thing to behold. Here are some of the releases that our writers are most excited about you hearing.

Brandi Carlile: By the Way, I Forgive You

Marlon Williams: Make Way for Love

Anderson East: Encore

HC McEntire: Lionheart

Courtney Marie Andrews: May Your Kindness Remain

John Prine: TBD

Gretchen Peters: Dancing with the Beast

Sunny War: With the Sun

Lindi Ortega: Liberty

— Kelly McCartney

* * * * *

Stick in the Wheel: Follow Them True

Belle Adair: Tuscumbia

Julian Lage: Modern Lore

Red River Dialect: Broken Stay Open Sky 

Jerry David DeCicca: Time the Teacher 

Ed Romanoff: The Orphan King

Haley Heynderickx: I Need to Start a Garden

Various: The Ballad of Shirley Collins OST

Bettye Lavette: Things Have Changed

— Stephen Deusner

* * * * *

Brandi Carlile: By the Way, I Forgive You

First Aid Kit: Ruins

Lucy Dacus: Historian

Anderson East: Encore

Kacey Musgraves: Golden Hour

Jack White: Boarding House Reach

Darlingside: Extralife

I’m With Her: See You Around

Calexico: The Thread That Keeps Us

Sunflower Bean: TBD

— Desiré Moses

* * * * *

Anderson East: Encore

Marlon Williams: Make Way for Love

First Aid Kit: Ruins

Loma: Loma

Femi Kuti: One People One World

Joan Baez: Whistle Down the Wind

S. Carey: Hundred Acres

They Might Be Giants: I Like Fun

— Amanda Wicks

* * * * *

Jack White: Boarding House Reach

Brandi Carlile: By the Way, I Forgive You

Ashley McBryde: TBD

Brothers Osborne: TBD

Joshua Hedley: TBD

Traveller: TBD

Bruce Springsteen: TBD

Courtney Marie Andrews: May Your Kindness Remain

John Prine: TBD

Kacey Musgraves: Golden Hour

— Marissa Moss

* * * * *

High Fidelity: TBD

I’m With Her: See You Around

Ms. Adventure: TBD

Hawktail: TBD

Missy Raines: TBD

Jeff Scroggins & Colorado: TBD

— Justin Hiltner

* * * * *

Sunny War: With the Sun

I’m With Her: See You Around

David Byrne: American Utopia

Hawktail: TBD

Jamie Drake: TBD

Bahamas: Earthtones

Fruition: Watching It All Fall Apart

Darlingside: Extralife

— Amy Reitnouer

The 6 Best New Holiday Albums of 2016

If you're like me, you've already been listening to holiday music for a solid month now, and your annual playlist, to which you gleefully add each year, has already gained another hour or two worth of music since this year's holiday releases began rolling out in October. If you aren't obsessed with all things festive and aren't sure where to begin with this year's holiday releases, breathe easy. We've rounded up six of the best roots-related holiday releases of the year.

Kacey Musgraves, A Very Kacey Christmas

This holiday album from Kacey Musgraves is pure joy — well, mostly, but we'll get to that in a minute. With cameos from Leon Bridges, Willie Nelson, and the Quebe Sisters, there's a little something for everyone in this collection of classics and original songs, and Musgraves' trademark charm shines through in every tune. The album's high point, though, is also its lowest — the tear-jerking "Christmas Makes Me Cry," a beautiful tune Musgraves penned with Shane McAnally and Brandy Clark.

She & Him, Christmas Party

The duo of M. Ward and Zooey Deschanel returns with a second holiday release, the follow-up to 2011's A Very She & Him Christmas. The cuts get a little deeper the second time around the tree, although you'll still find standards like "Let It Snow" and "Winter Wonderland."

Loretta Lynn, White Christmas Blue

Believe it or not, it's been 50 years since Loretta Lynn last released a holiday album. (In 1966, she put out Country Christmas.) This year, she has gifted us with White Christmas Blue, and it includes re-recorded versions of Country Christmas favorites, holiday classics, and a new song, the album's title track.

Various Artists, Christmas on the Lam and Other Songs from the Season

Red House Records ventures into holiday album territory for the first time with this collection of songs, featuring artists like Charlie Parr, the Wailin' Jennys, and Larry Campbell with Teresa Williams. Look for a good mix of new songs and old favorites in this bunch.

David Bazan, Dark Sacred Night

If you didn't collect all of the holiday singles David Bazan began releasing with Suicide Squeeze Records in 2002 (or if you'd enjoy the convenience of having most of them on one disc), you're in luck, as Bazan has compiled 10 of those 14 songs for this remastered collection.

Katie Melua, In Winter

Katie Melua is better known across the pond, but this stirring collection of holiday songs, featuring the Gori Women's Choir from Melua's native Georgia, should earn her some well-deserved recognition here in the States, too.

SaveSave

Get Off Your Ass: December’s Halls Need Deckin’

Gary Clark, Jr. // The Theatre At Ace Hotel // December 1

Corb Lund // Resident  // December 7

The Wild Reeds // Echoplex // December 8

Lee Ann Womack // The Canyon // December 9

The Steel Wheels // Genghis Cohen // December 10

Tribute to Linda Ronstadt // The Theatre At Ace Hotel // December 11

Michael Kiwanuka // The Fonda // December 12

Sara Watkins // The Troubadour // December 14

Brothers Osborne // The Belasco Theater // December 15

The Dustbowl Revival // The Hi Hat // December 15

Cody Jinks // 3rd & Lindsley // December 2-3

Ruby Amanfu & Friends // 3rd & Lindsley // December 4

Billy Strings // The 5 Spot // December 7

Birds of Chicago & Michaela Anne // The Basement // December 7

Mary Gauthier // Bluebird Café // December 8

Shawn Colvin // City Winery // December 14

Brent Cobb // The Basement East // December 15

Luke Bell // Exit/In // December 15

Gillian Welch // Ryman Auditorium // December 27

Robert Earl Keen // Ryman Auditorium // December 28

Jason Isbell, John Prine, & Kacey Musgraves // Grand Ole Opry House // December 31

Old Crow Medicine Show & Dom Flemons // Ryman Auditorium // December 31

Andra Day // PlayStation Theater  // December 1

Donovan // Symphony Space // December 2

Chris Thile // Town Hall // December 3

Steve Earle // City Winery // December 5

Kacey Musgraves // Town Hall // December 8

Cris Jacobs // Brooklyn Bowl // December 9

Steep Canyon Rangers // Town Hall // December 10

The Stray Birds // Rockwood Music Hall // December 15

Albatross // Rockwood Music Hall // December 16

Anais Mitchell // Rubin Museum of Art  // December 23

Tony Trischka // Joe's Pub // December 24

Nathan Bowles // Terminal 5 // December 28

Kacey Musgraves, ‘Christmas Makes Me Cry’

Sure, music's supposed to be universal, but there's probably one genre, in particular, that I really have no right to love: Christmas songs. As a Jew, my holiday schedule usually involves Chinese food, not church visits. But, for as long as I can remember, I've always treasured those sonic odes to Rudolf like they were speaking to my own human experience, even if they really weren’t at all. Maybe for that reason, it was always the saddest holiday songs that rung the most true: because that sense of not properly belonging always felt more palpable during December, when no one exactly marketed menorah pajamas and "Secret Chanukah Present-Giver" didn't quite have the same ring to it as Secret Santa. It's all makes for a blue, blue Christmas indeed, with stockings on my feet, not the fireplace.

This year has been overloaded with Christmas albums of all shapes and sizes, perfect for my interloper ears and even better for a momentary escape from the impending political doom, but Kacey Musgraves' A Very Kacey Christmas is the only one to capture that special breed of holiday sadness on "Christmas Makes Me Cry." Written with Shane McAnally and Brandy Clark, it's a delicate, mournful ode to the bitter and sweet that so often exist where joy is supposed to reign. "And they always say, 'Have a happy holiday,'" Musgraves sings in one of her softest, most perfectly fragile vocal deliveries. "And every year, I sincerely try. Oh, but Christmas, it always makes me cry." It doesn't have to be but once a year: This is about anyone who feels sorrow in their heart, when they're supposed to be smiling. I suppose that's what makes it not just a Christmas record, but a country one, too — nothing is just red and green … or black and white. Because behind every jingle bell is a Jewish girl with a carton of takeout, just looking for a soft and snowy place to land and song to understand.

Kacy & Clayton, ‘Brunswick Stew’

There's something happening north of the border these days. From Corb Lund's dreary Albertan cowboy to the serene melodies of Toronto's Doug Paisley, Canadians are currently pumping out some of our strongest, most mood-evocative roots music — which is rather humorous, being that the genre we're really talking about here is "Americana." Turns out, you don't have to be American at all to have a master grasp on the folk tradition. Actually, if you look at Lund, Paisley, Lindi Ortega, Whitehorse, Daniel Romano, and now, Kacy & Clayton, it's almost better if you're not.

A duo of second cousins from a remote region in Saskatchewan, Kacy Anderson and Clayton Linthicum grew up five hours away from the nearest record store — but that didn't stop them from becoming students of the great blues and country storytellers like the Carter Family and Lead Belly, even if it required prying copies from their neighbors or enduring numerous long drives. Strange Country, their first release for New West, is a set of murder ballads, eerie exploits, and haunting snippets in time, driven by Kacy's high, pristine quiver and Clayton's fast and fertile plucks which render the need for bigger orchestration utterly useless. Like Simon & Garfunkel's "Sounds of Silence," their folk songs always hover on the line of beauty and unease, a lullaby to the dawn of one day but a precursor to an uncertain future lingering right on the horizon.

One of their most compelling tracks is "Brunswick Stew," a jauntier version of their melodic palate, which is not the least bit jaunty in subject matter: It's about a girl who hid her pregnancy from her parents and dumps the resulting newborn in the river. Cautionary tales of small-town scandal have made a bit of a comeback lately, thanks to the likes of Kacey Musgraves or Brandy Clark's brilliant "Big Day in a Small Town" (a song which, coincidentally, also tells of a growing belly that turned out not to be a bunch of donuts, but a baby). Many new interpreters of folk get caught up in the urge to confess — the intimacy of voice and guitar bends well to that, and it's a tempting place to land. But Kacy & Clayton aren’t interested in making a musical diary; they prefer to dig deep into their imaginations, not their memories, for material. The result is Americana magic, regardless of their passport.

New Book Pulls Back the Curtain on Nashville

Nashville has had a rich cultural legacy for decades now, one deeply rooted in country music and Southern tradition. In more recent years, however, Music City's lesser known, non-country creative community — which boasts talent from all genres of music, as well as fields as varied as the culinary and visual arts — has gained national attention, earning praise from the New York Times, inspiring the televison show Nashville, and drawing an average of 1,500 new residents per month. In short, Nashville has been having a moment. Photographers Sonya Jasinski and Kate York sought to capture Nashville during that moment in their newly released book, Nashville: Behind the Curtain.

"Almost three years ago, Sonya was traveling back and forth, shooting artists here and we met through a mutual friend, Lucie Silvas, in town. Once I saw her photography — and I had just started taking photos myself — we both realized we had similar eyes," York says. "We started talking about what was happening in Nashville right now and how it’s such an incredible place that everyone seems to be wanting to move to, and it’s not just about country music anymore. I’m a songwriter and I was finding myself in a lot of interesting spots, as far as people I was collaborating with and moments that I really wanted to capture. So we decided to put this project together about all of the different creatives in Nashville, from songwriting process to the artists and producers and the whole collaborative part."

The book — which features a foreword from Kacey Musgraves, an introduction by Kings of Leon's Nathan Followill, and an afterword by Holly Williams — highlights Jasinksi's and York's insider's view of the city, with a stunning collection of portraits of Nashville figures, ranging from country legend Emmylou Harris to Nashville actress Connie Britton to super producer Jay Joyce. A songwriter herself — she's responsible for several of those Nashville tunes you know and love — York counts many of these figures as friends, giving the book itself that same feeling of community for which Nashville has come to be known. 

"I’ve been writing in town for over a decade, so a lot of the people in the book were already friends of mine," she explains. "Through the show Nashville, as well. Everybody just seemed really on board with it. We pitched the idea, and then our publisher wanted us to incorporate stories, as well. Originally, it was just going to be photography and it sort of morphed as we were putting the project together and it turned into us getting artist contributions and stories, asking everybody a few questions like, ‘What’s your favorite Nashville moment? What do you love about this town?’ As the stories started coming in, that’s what solidified it for me as a project. It made it feel real, and not just photography. "

Those stories, which show a deep affection for the city from both old and new residents, paint Nashville as a haven for creativity, making it no wonder so much talent and so many people have flocked here in the last few years.

"Reading people’s stories that are newer in town and seeing their outlook on how everybody has embraced them was really special, I thought," York says. "Mary Steenburgen … her contribution is one of my favorites in the book. We were writing together a few years back and that’s how I got to know her, because she’s become a songwriter later in life. She comes from the whole Hollywood scene, obviously, and once she moved to Nashville, she could not believe how many friends she had overnight. Whereas in L.A., she’s been there for probably 30 years and she said she can count on two hands how many close friends she had. When she moved to Nashville, she felt like she had a hundred immediately. I think people that move here from other cities, that seems to be kind of the overall feeling of Nashville. It’s very welcoming and not competitive. There’s a very strong community here, and you can feel that."

Get your own copy of Nashville: Behind the Curtain here.

The Producers: Buddy Miller

Even if you weren’t already aware that Cayamo Sessions at Sea was recorded on a cruise ship, even if the title didn’t spell out the circumstances of the album’s creation, you could probably guess as much. Featuring several generations of roots artists covering old country songs, the record sounds sunny and breezy, light but not lightweight. Buddy Miller and Lee Ann Womack make “After the Fire Is Gone” sound more about the make-up than the break-up, and Elizabeth Cook emphasizes the buying rather than the crying on “If Teardrops Were Pennies.” Even Kris Kristofferson’s new take on “Sunday Morning Coming Down” sounds like nothing so serious as having to disembark at the end of a week at sea.

It’s to Miller’s considerable credit that none of that is a bad thing. A producer and central performer, he keeps things light, as though you’re flipping through vacation photos, but that strategy showcases the amiable dynamic between performers and singers more than the ocean-bound environs. It sounds like it would have been a blast to make, even if they held the sessions in an outhouse or a bank vault.

For nearly a decade, Miller has been a prominent figure on the Cayamo Cruise, which sails from Miami to St. Maarten and Tortola and features a who’s who of roots and country artists. In that time, he’s only missed one boat, and that’s only because he was recovering from a heart attack. It struck him onstage but, professional that he is, he finished the song.

Over the last 40 years, Miller has emerged as one of the most imaginative musicians in Nashville, both on the stage and in the studio. A former Deadhead turned sideman turned producer, he has helmed albums for a mind-boggling range of artists: Shawn Colvin, Emmylou Harris, the Carolina Chocolate Drops, the Devil Makes Three, the McCrary Sisters, Dr. Ralph Stanley, and Robert Plant. When Patty Griffin wanted to make a gospel record, he had her sing at the pulpit of the Downtown Presbyterian Church in Nashville, with the band on the floor playing up to her.

“Every record has a story to tell,” he says. “Every record is a whole different world. I don’t come into anything with a preconceived nothing. I might hear things before we go in, but I won’t impose that on an artist. I just hire the players I love and see what’s going to happen.”

Why did you want to make an album on the Cayamo Cruise?

I grew up loving music, in general. I loved blues. I loved rock. I loved folk. I was a Deadhead at the age of 14. When their first record came out, I bought it pretty much for the cover. And then I started going to every show I could make it to, until around ’72 when Porter Waggoner, Tammy Wynette, and Ralph Stanley won that war. I stayed in that country music camp and gradually drifted away from the Dead. But I remember, from that very first show, there was a sense of one big family coming to those Dead shows. Now, it’s legendary and they make movies about it, but even at those first shows, you’d see the same people. They were immediate friends — an extended family. Everybody loved each other and everybody was there for the same reason.

I guess that’s a long way of saying that there’s a similar feeling on the boat, although it’s a different … I hate to use the word “demographic.” Is that what the politicians are using these days? It’s a different set of people, but all with the same heart. They’re all there for the music. It’s not a party boat. It’s a lot of people — 2,000 or 2,500 people — and I just want to hang out with them all. They’re all great. And I thought it would be interesting for them to have the veil pulled back on the process of recording. That’s why I did it. I don’t think people have any idea how records are made. I don’t even know how magical records are made. How does that magic happen? So we’re showing them the nuts and bolts — what musicians do, how they play together in a room, pick a track, fix it up, do all that stuff. I thought that would be of interest to these people that I love. That, and I worked on this television show called Nashville. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen it …

Definitely.

I worked on the pilot for Callie [Khouri, who created the show], and then, when the first season got picked up, I worked with T Bone Burnett producing [the music for] it. Most of the things we produced together, I would say. I continued with it, but I think it drove him crazy. I have a higher tolerance for bullshit, I guess. But now I love it and I love the people — especially these two little girls, the Stella Sisters. John Prine was going to be on the cruise, and what I wanted to hear was those two little girls, the Stella Sisters, singing, “Daddy, won’t you take me back to Muhlenberg County?” And then John would come in singing the verses to “Paradise.” It seemed like a good thing to document. It’ll make the sweetest record. Unfortunately, John got sick and couldn’t make it.

But that was where the idea came from. What I do is, I try to engineer collaborations. That’s just how I think: Let’s pair this with that. I think in collaborative terms. I don’t know if it’s because I’m lazy and don’t want to do all the work by myself. But I think it’s because I just want to hear certain things. Shawn Colvin asked me to do a record of hers a while back, and I thought, "You know what? Brian Blade and Bill Frisell. I would love to hear her voice framed by those two musicians." That’s what I’m talking about. It’s all about coming up with your dream teams.

Tell me about setting up a studio on the boat.

I asked one of the engineers I work with, Gordon Hammond, if he wanted to go on this cruise. We bought a bunch of microphones, a lot of gear, and set up in what was a bowling alley on the ship. We managed to turn it into this vibey … I hate that word, “vibey.” It’s very homey and warm, with all our gear set up and the band set up in a circle. There are about 100 chairs, because we couldn’t fit more than that in there and I didn’t want the sound of more than 100 people breathing on the same time to work its way onto the record.

What are some of the challenges that come with recording on a boat?

I guess I don’t look at it that way. There are certainly challenges, like when somebody turned on the wrong light switch. Boats just have a lot of switches on them. We couldn’t always tell what they were for, so somebody turned on the disco ball accidentally and it started blasting some dance song. That was actually a fun moment. And an easy problem to fix. You just don’t want to stop if there’s a flow going. It’s as much about the lighting in the room, the air in the room, how it feels. All of that affects the music. Outside of that, there aren’t really any challenges that are any different from recording on land.

The one and only cruise ship I’ve been on felt very institutional to me. Aside from the scenery and the sun, it didn’t feel like it would be especially conducive to making music.

That could be anywhere. That could be any recording studio. It’s all about … I don’t want to use the word “staging.” I’ve been working on television too long. But it’s about the feel of the room, how close people are together. I like people to be right on each other. You can bring in nice-looking rugs, even on a cruise ship. You can drape things on the wall, turn the lights down. You can make any room feel nice. That’s what we did in that bowling alley, which actually felt pretty nice to begin with. And it felt great when we had it set up and started recording. I think everyone enjoyed themselves — the artists and the audience. They loved to see that recording process, even though this isn’t really the process. The vocals went down with the track, and the track went down fairly complete. Maybe a couple of tracks have two or three overdubs and a few vocal fixes, so it’s not really like making a record. It’s a little more honest than that, but it still gives people a view into that world.

So there’s an instructive or an educational element to this project.

Exactly. I thought, if people love music enough to get on the boat, then they might love to see that process and see how artists say, "You try singing that part. Let’s flip on the chorus, and you take the harmony while I take lead. Let’s leave that line out. Hold the drum till the chorus. Don’t have the bass come in until the fourth bar." All of that stuff is worked out long before the audience gets involved, so they don’t know what goes into it. This is a very, very simplified version, but it’s still something I think they find fascinating.

There’s a nice range of artists on this album. You have younger artists like Kacey Musgraves alongside older singers like Kris Kristofferson. Was that something you were thinking about, that generational exchange?

Yeah. It’s a funny thing: My name is on the record, so I have to be involved somehow, playing or singing or just having a presence on it. My part is very minimal, but I had to be there. If it was just me doing whatever I wanted to do, I probably wouldn’t even be on half of those tracks. I would have put Kacey singing with Kris or someone else, not me. But it’s my record company and my name goes on the album, so I have to do something. I think it’s a good record. I like it. Maybe because I don’t hear myself is why I like it so much. That’s what makes my records so hard to listen to.

Nashville is like no other place in the world for songwriting. People come here from all over the world — songwriters, young singers, all these young women. In addition to the cruise and the television series, I do a radio show on Sirius XM. Usually it’s weekly, or just whenever I can get it done. I have a guest come over every week, and lately I’ve had some of these younger writers that I run into. I find it amazing that they’ve been doing this since the age of 13 or 14. That’s when I knew I was going to be making music for the rest of my life, but some of these kids have already started writing songs. A lot of them have their parents’ support, too. That was something that wasn’t really around, when I was a kid. My parents wanted me to do anything but music, maybe because there was this whole other subculture that was tied to the music. I think there’s less money in it now than there was when I got started. I think. I don’t really know much about that end of it, but it does seem like the music business has dried up. You might know more about that than I do.

I hear conflicting reports. Some people say it’s still possible and there’s great music being made, and others are very pessimistic. I guess it all depends on who I’m talking to.

There’s always great music. Sometimes you just have to look a little harder for it. I think with downloads and iTunes and everything, it’s more about singles than it is about albums. That’s the part I miss. You would make a record. The Grateful Dead made Anthem of the Sun in 1968, and you wouldn’t think about chopping it up into 10 little songs. Ralph Stanley made Something Old Something New back in the early ‘70s and, even though I’m sure there was no intention of it being a themed record, it just flowed together so well that you had to listen to it in that sequence. You wouldn’t want to download just one song. Or Porter Wagoner. He was doing concept records before the Beatles. So I’m glad vinyl’s making a comeback.

I think that’s something that’s overlooked in country music, especially. There are so many incredible singles, but there are a lot of amazing albums, too. Making a good record is a very different process than making a great song.

I don’t know a whole lot of big country artists. Well, I know some, I guess, and I think they still look at it as as making a record. And gosh, when I was growing up — and I’m old! — it was about the single. That’s what got played on the radio, in mono. It was all about the mono mix. So, maybe, in a way it’s not so different; but I would make a point to buy the albums and listen to side one all the way through, then side two. There might be a stinker in the middle of side two, but that was all part of the package.

When you start working with an artist, is that what you’re thinking about as a producer? Are you looking at these projects as albums rather than songs?

Completely. It’s funny you ask that, because I’ve never thought about it. I think that’s because I don’t produce anything that is going to end up where people are going to care about singles. In my mind, the audience is buying an album, so we’re making an album. I just finished a record with Steve Earle and Shawn Colvin — a duets record. They’ve made some incredible records, and all they cared about with this one was the vinyl. Steve, in particular, was very concerned with sequencing for vinyl. We cut a lot of songs together, but we just put enough songs on there that would fit and sound great on vinyl. I’m happy to be thinking along those lines.

That’s one thing I actually went to school for as a kid, was to learn to use a Scully lathe. For most of my life, that was a great skill to have. Then it became pretty useless. I don’t actually have a lathe. I have enough useless stuff in my house that weighs 500 pounds. But I like being around all that old equipment with all of its old smells.

I do think the weight of that equipment — the tactile quality of it, the smell, and look of it — does add to the way you experience music.

I’ve got so many old, heavy microphones. I guess the heaviest one I have is an RCA 44-BX, that big … I don’t know what you call that shape. Not the big egg, but the one with the angles on it. You see Frank Sinatra singing into it all the time. It weighs a ton. It’ll take down any mic stand. It’s a warm mic, a beautiful-sounding mic, so it’s difficult to record with. But I’ll put that up or my old Neumann U47 because they take the singer someplace. You look into that thing; you get up close to it and you can smell it. You look into that thing and you start singing and you think about who has sung into it for decades. That’s part of creating the world that you record in, and it affects the music. There are great new microphones, of course. I keep buying new ones that sound really good, but when it comes to the singer trying to tell a story, you have to give them a mic that’s really been down the road.


Photo credit: CJ Hicks

Kacey Musgraves and Miguel Go Dolly and Porter on Surprising Duet

2016 is the Year of the Wave. Towards the beginning of his torrential outpouring of tweets, Kanye West got into a Twitter spat with Wiz Khalifa over, among other things, his choice of Waves as an album title for what eventually became The Life of Pablo (if you care enough about the fight, it's explained in detail here). It was silly and the Internet laughed. Today, though, there's a new wave in town, and it sounds a lot better than Kanye West angrily typing into his phone.

Odd couple Kacey Musgraves and Miguel reimagined the latter's track "waves," off his excellent 2015 album Wildheart, and it's pretty damn fantastic. For the uninitiated, Miguel is an R&B artist frequently cited as this generation's Prince, thanks in equal parts to his stellar falsetto and his seemingly insatiable sexual appetite. The track in question is part of Rogue Waves, a just released 5-song EP that remixes Miguel's original tune via artists like Tame Impala, Travi$ Scott and, most notably, Musgraves.

Most of the remixes sound like facsimiles of the original, but Musgraves' version finds the song slowed down considerably, the funky beat of the original replaced with twangy guitar licks and an interplay between and Musgraves and Miguel that would make Dolly and Porter proud. That slower tempo, combined with the addition of a female voice and the ensuing back-and-forth between the two artists, makes for, somehow, an even sexier song than the original, and an important new entry into the country crossover canon (Case in point: about two minutes in when Musgraves sings “until I hit the peak,” the music drops out, and a guitarist we can assume to be Misa Arriaga comes in with some spaghetti western twang. Damn). 

Country is no stranger to crossover. The last few years, especially, have seen a near meteoric rise in the popularity of country that sounds less like itself and more like pop or hip-hop, with artists like Florida Georgia Line and Sam Hunt borrowing from Top 40 radio to six-figure results. In some cases, it works. In others, not so much. "waves" definitely falls into that first category, proving that a little mutual respect between genres can yield surprisingly good crossovers. Now, let's all cross our fingers for a Kacey Musgraves R&B album.


Lede photo via Instagram

Stephen Colbert Is Late Night’s Roots Music Champion

Getting a coveted performance slot on a late-night TV show is no easy task. Unless you have a Billboard hit or the last name Bieber, odds are you won't make it onto what's become some of television's most prime musical real estate. For roots musicians, that means fewer shots at late-night stardom and fewer chances to reach the wide audiences such performances award. But luckily, The Late Show's Stephen Colbert is changing the game, championing up-andcoming roots musicians and introducing their music to his legions of loyal fans. 

We've rounded up some of our favorite roots performances from The Late Show below. Check 'em out!

Kacey Musgraves, "Late to the Party"

Kacey Musgraves is no small star, so it's not as much of a surprise that Colbert would invite her to the stage to perform "Late to the Party," one of the standout tracks from her sophomore album Pageant Material.

John Moreland, "Break My Heart Sweetly"

John Moreland, however, is a surprise — Colbert gave the talented Oklahoma singer/songwriter his network television debut when he invited him to perform this track from 2013's In the Throes (despite Moreland releasing High on Tulsa Heat last year) earlier this month.

Lake Street Dive, "Call Off Your Dogs"

Lake Street Dive is a big name in the roots community, but their reach doesn't extend far beyond the genre's boundaries. Colbert had them over anyway, and the Brooklyn quartet got to wow the audience with this tune from Side Pony.

Margo Price, "Hurtin' (On the Bottle)"

The first country signee to Jack White's famed Third Man Records, Margo Price may not be a household name yet, but it's only a matter of time before she is. This performance of her debut single on The Late Show is sure to be part of what seals that deal.

Aubrie Sellers, "Light of Day"

Daughter of Lee Ann Womack, Aubrie Sellers is no stranger to the late-night circuit, although this performance on Colbert was the first time she was the one gracing the stage, performing a cut from her debut album New City Blues.

Wilco, "Random Name Generator"

Okay, so maybe a band as big as Wilco doesn't exactly need a television champion, but it's great to see them hit the stage to perform this tune from 2015's Star Wars nonetheless.

Lucinda Williams, "Dust"

Finally, don't miss this stunning performance from Lucinda Williams of a poem by her father (the late poet Miller Williams) that she reinterpeted and set to music to serve as the opening track for her stellar new album The Ghosts of Highway 20.