Tag: Karen Dalton

MIXTAPE: Paper Wings’ Folk Rebels Playlist

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

While we could easily be mistaken for “a pair of demure young ladies playing in a mid-19th century parlor” as thoughtfully observed by Bluegrass Today some years ago, we are in fact drawn to folk music not for its wholesomeness, but for its realness and its capacity to have you at the edge, staring down the rocky cliffs of life into the depths of your humanity. The songs that endure and have been carried into the future often tend to have a lot of darkness balanced with beauty (reverence and irreverence), because that’s what resonates with folks. It’s what we’re made of. And anyone who dares to sing complex truths and carry stories around in their heads can be a folk rebel.

On our new album, Listen to the World Spin, we stopped worrying about how traditional we sound or “should” sound and just made the music we wanted to make. These songs tend to have themes of the contrast between connection, solitude, our personal struggles, and how we relate to the greater world around us. We ask a lot of questions on this album, the answers to which could be complicated, but ultimately are simple because there is no answer. Sometimes the best thing one can do in life is just listen.

This playlist of songs features friends, heroes, and legends; inspiratoria from our pasts and present. As we refuse to put ourselves into a musical box, so too do the artists on this playlist. Best enjoyed on a long walk or drive, preferably alone or with someone who gives you company without robbing you of your sense of solitude. Much love, – W & E, Paper Wings

“Same Old Man” – Karen Dalton

I love this combination of rough old-time banjo and electric guitar. What a voice. – EM

“Nine Hundred Miles” – Barbara Dane

I remember hearing this track for the first time on Democracy Now and it hit me as being so so cool… a feeling I only really get from punk music and raw, gritty folk. If you haven’t heard of Barbara Dane, you must look her up. She was a very involved activist during the civil rights movement and also wrote some very sharp political songs. – WF

“Sunlight” – Rushad Eggleston

I am a huge fan of the cello goblin’s love song era. – EM

“I don’t love nobody” – Elizabeth Cotten

Nobody plays guitar this good. Elizabeth Cotten is a legend, not much else to say. – WF

“I’ll Wash Your Love From My Heart” – Hazel Dickens & Alice Gerrard

Hazel & Alice are such heroes of ours! Independent, fierce, deeply committed humanists and musicians who have shone light on the path of living a life that is true to those values. – EM

“What Will We Do?” – Foghorn Stringband

Reeb Willms and Nadine Landry are true modern badasses. This track features them singing a capella on this foghorn record, and somehow it’s just as energetic and captivating as when the whole band is playing. They are incredible instrumentalists, but they don’t even need their instruments to make really good music. – WF

“No Reason” – Sunny War

I first heard Sunny play this song live in Nashville and the guitar part instantly stuck in my head. It’s so satisfying, my brain craves it. – EM

“Bad Repetation” – Woody Guthrie

From the spelling of the title, to the pronunciation of “window,” to the fact that the timing changes on every refrain and I still haven’t worked it out, Woody is the epitome of bad-boy-American-folk-singer-fun-rebel-friend. – WF

“Say Darlin’ Say” – Laura Veirs

It was bold to do this song this way with electric guitar. The hook at the end gets stuck in my head from time to time. There are so many poorly reimagined/re-harmonized trad songs, and to me, this one works because it is sparse, it is catchy, and it isn’t perfect. – WF

“Lopin’ Along Through the Cosmos” – Judee Sill

Our friend John Mailander turned me onto Judee Sill in 2019 and I listened to nothing but her for months, absolutely obsessed. The words to this song mean so much to me, “However we are is ok.” Nobody writes a melody like Judee. – EM

“Cumberland Gap” – Spencer & Rains

I remember hearing Howard and Tricia practicing this version of “Cumberland Gap” at Clifftop as they were camped next to me and being totally obsessed. I don’t know where they dug up this version, but it’s so fun and a good reminder that even when you think you know the coolest version of a song, there is probably a cooler one still out there. Also, this whole album is fun and you can even hear Emily play bowed bass on it, watch out. – WF

“Chewing Gum” – The Carter Family

I dare you to jump rope with your best friend to this song and try not to laugh when you sing the words, “I wouldn’t have a doctor, I’ll tell you the reason why/ He rides all over the country and makes the people die.” – WF

“Left Hand Lane” – Paper Wings

We wrote this song on a night drive home to Berkeley, talking about doing our taxes and being afraid of accidentally doing them wrong. We had borrowed a car from our friend Vynce. I somehow managed to live in the San Francisco Bay Area for 7 years and never had a Fastrak beeper (the toll taking company for bridges, express lanes, IYKYK) but we got to live that Fastrak life on this particular trip and it made it into the song. Thanks Vynce!! – EM

“Pretty Bird” – Laurie Lewis & Linda Ronstadt

I listened to Laurie’s albums growing up and long before I even played music. I am lucky now to call her a dear friend. I love her writing and her taste in covers. To some this might be a song about a little bird but it takes next to no imagination to hear it cautioning a young woman “he would only clip your wings.” – EM

Photo Credit: Kale Chesney

BGS 5+5: Erisy Watt

Posted on by Editor

Artist: Erisy Watt
Hometown: Portland, Oregon
Album: Eyes Like the Ocean

What’s your favorite memory from being on stage?

Ok, there is this one time that stands out, back in 2013, to make a long story short, I wound up on stage with two of my best friends, two members of Blues Traveler, belly equal parts full of butterflies and burritos, at BottleRock Music Festival where we were meant to be volunteering, but things panned out differently.

It was my sophomore year in college. I had just formed my first band, and we had just played our first show ever “headlining” the open mic (can you headline an open mic?) at this nightclub in Santa Barbara. A couple of weeks later we’re at BottleRock volunteering at an artist afterparty at this fancy theatre downtown. Several wine tastings and trips to the burrito bar later, and pretty soon my friend Scott is telling us that we’re going to go on stage in a few minutes and play a couple of songs with some friends he’s just made. It comes to light soon that they’re members of Blues Traveler. If you know my friend Scott, then this is perfectly in character for him. He once was hitchhiking with his guitar in Australia and was picked up by Christopher Hemsworth in a helicopter.

So sure enough, we end up on stage, still in our volunteer shirts. The bright lights, the monitors, the sound guy, the band – it was a Cinderella moment for sure, and enough to solidify the already planted seed that doing the music thing would be like the best job ever. Yes, there are other more serious moments on stage that are meaningful to me, but this one always upwells. It perfectly exemplifies the wacky shit the universe throws at you when you sign up to be a traveling musician. This was one of my first tastes of that, and it definitely lit a fire.

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

Creativity, for me, does not exist in a vacuum. I 100% rely on the absorption of and engagement in other art forms to inform my music. Reading is a huge part of my songwriting process. It’s one of my antidotes to narrow-mindedness, a way to break any tendencies towards cyclical thinking. Reading replenishes the word box, among other things. Everything from poetry to scientific papers, in some way or another, sparks little ideas here and there. Typically, if I’m not writing enough, it’s because I’m not reading enough. As for other art forms I engage in, I grew up dancing and drawing and toggled between those two worlds for many years. My closet was cluttered with colored pencil shavings and dance costumes, and it wasn’t until a series of injuries and desire to explore something new, along with some teenage trauma, that I found the guitar and a journal.

Which elements of nature do you spend the most time with and how do those impact your work?

I make a real effort to divide my time between the elements, and it’s that combination of mountain, forest, river, coast, and ocean that informs my songwriting and my sound. The interplay between it all, that’s the source. I am lucky (and sometimes unlucky) that my other job besides music has me interacting with the elements in an intimate way. For part of my year, my job is to help lead ecological field courses for university students in the various wilder places of the planet. I have pitched my tent in the swamps of Florida on the heels of a hurricane and rice paddy terraces in the Himalayas. It’s in these moments, in this more stripped-down context away from the grind of home life, that many of my songs first introduce themselves.

What’s the toughest time you ever had writing a song?

One of the songs on my new album titled “Nowhere Fast” gave me a particularly hard time. It began on a napkin at a trailhead in the foothills of the Santa Ynez Mountains in 2017, but when I tried to pick it back up when I got home, it just didn’t go anywhere. It went through many phases — different chords, new melodies, choruses became verses, bridges became choruses. It was a puzzle of a song I kept trying to piece together until I decided to set it down for a few years. Then two things happened — open D tuning and vocal surgery. Both introduced me to new colors and breathed life into my songwriting. Come to think of it, so many of the songs on the record were born from the discovery of new sounds after my surgery and new tunings on the guitar.

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

Love this question. It reminds me of, this is kind of off-topic, but that short series Pretend It’s a City on Netflix with Fran
Lebowitz. I was folding laundry watching it not too long ago when something she said stuck with me. She says, “I really think that musicians, probably musicians and cooks, are responsible for the most pleasure in human life.” I heard that, looked up from my pile of socks, and thought, hell yes, that is very on point. When I think back on some of my fondest experiences, so many have involved one or the other, and often, both.

Anyhow, there was this one time in Nepal where I met this teenage Tibetan Buddhist monk that had dreams of becoming a rapper. It was a really cold day and I wound up with an invite inside his house and he and his friends made us boiled potatoes with the best spicy dipping sauce I’ve ever had in my life and then he rapped for us. I don’t know if it was the altitude or what, but that’s one of the more memorable music and meal pairings I can recall. So, if I were to have to dream up something, I would like it to be something very unexpected, because a lot of times the cards fall in a way more interesting form than you may have thought to deal them in the first place.

Photo Credit: Hannah Garrett

BGS 5+5: Charlie Parr

Posted on by Editor

Artist: Charlie Parr
Hometown: Duluth, Minnesota
Latest album: Charlie Parr
Personal nicknames: Jeff, my actual first name. My mom calls me Jeff.

Which artist has influenced you the most … and how?

Koerner, Ray & Glover have probably had the biggest impact on me as a musician, and it’s hard to put into words exactly how. When I moved to Minneapolis in the ’80s there was so much amazing music everywhere you looked and each scene had a certain vibe to it, from jazz, funk, the beginning of whatever they were calling alt-country then, punk, hardcore to the incredibly unique West Bank folk/blues scene. I loved it all, but I lived on the West Bank and that sound that K,R&G made either together or in their parts (K and/or R and/or G) changed my life.

What’s your favorite memory from being on stage?

I’ve been lucky to have had mostly good and great experiences performing; there are so many nights that stand out it’s hard to say I have a favorite. This summer an audience in Bozeman, Montana, threw flowers on stage after my set and it really made me happy. Normally I just want to play and that’s the primary mover, but when I feel like an audience likes what I’ve done and responds with that kind of love it’s just about the most amazing thing I’ve ever felt.

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

I read a lot, mostly novels and short stories, some history and biographies, a little philosophy, and that all goes into the pot. I go to galleries when I can, and occasionally see a film, but not as often as I’d like. Everything tends to influence the music.

What rituals do you have, either in the studio or before a show?

I drink a little coffee, walk a little if there’s time and room, or at least pace. I like to warm up on the guitar if there’s a place to do that. I also really like spending time in the venue, I like to see who else is playing and meet some folks who came to the show.

Which elements of nature do you spend the most time with and how do those impact your work?

I live near Lake Superior, which is a powerful force up here for everyone, and I really like getting to go walking near the lake. When I’m on the road and there’s time I like to walk wherever there’s water; it grounds me and gives me a sense of balance.

BGS 5+5: Kendl Winter

Posted on by Editor

Artist: Kendl Winter
Hometown: Olympia, Washington
Latest album: Stumbler’s Business
Personal nicknames (or rejected band names): Cub, Tindl

Which artist has influenced you the most … and how?

Probably Gillian Welch most honestly. She’s a current songwriter that writes these tunes that feel ageless and they have wings and legs that draw other songwriters to sing them and they end up around campfires and get passed around outside of just the recordings. I love the harmonies that Dave Rawlings brings to the sound and the beautiful dissonance that his solos bring. She’s definitely inspired me to try to write songs that have that kind of agelessness to them. But then again I did mention Two-Buck Chuck and taco trucks in my last record so it’s not a rule, just kind of a wishing…

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

I think it was singing my torah portion at my bat mitzvah in Arkansas and seeing my great uncle cry and thinking, whoa, music is powerful. I want to do that!

What’s the toughest time you ever had writing a song?

Probably now, it’s almost like writing songs is harder now that I’ve written ones that I like or that people have responded to. I think having too much of an expectation about how a song should be makes it much more difficult to try to write one. I like the child’s mind way of trying to approach songwriting, but it’s definitely harder having already written a bunch and trying not to write the same songs over and over.

What rituals do you have, either in the studio or before a show?

Usually I try to do a handstand or something before the show and get some blood to my head. That and a little whiskey…

Which elements of nature do you spend the most time with and how do those impact your work?

I love being in the woods or up and over mountains or by water, any water. I spend a lot of time trail running, or backpacking and foraging for berries or edible mushrooms and camping with my friends. I feel like the solitude of nature or just the sounds away from the cities is necessary for reflection. I feel the most myself out there.

Photo credit: Erica Keeling

7 Americana Covers That Are Better Than the Originals

Posted on by Editor

In response to our own Michael Verity's 7 Americana Songs That Should Never Be Covered by Anyone (Even Bob Dylan) list, here are 7 Americana Covers That Are Better Than the Originals. (Bob Dylan was excluded altogether because, really, almost every Dylan song is made better by someone else's voice). Also excluded were a few too-obvious, non-Dylan choices including Jeff Buckley's seminal take on Leonard Cohen's “Hallelujah,” Johnny Cash's powerful reworking of Nine Inch Nails' “Hurt,” and Gary Jules haunting rendition of Tears for Fears' “Mad World.”

Generally, artists shouldn't take on a song unless they can make it better and make it their own, in some way. These picks — and so many others — fit that bill. What would you add?

“Angel from Montgomery” — Bonnie Raitt

Many sing this John Prine classic, but no one sings it like Bonnie Raitt.

“Georgia on My Mind” — Ray Charles

Ray Charles and “Georgia on My Mind” go together like peas and carrots, so some might be surprised to learn that it was written (and originally performed by) Hoagy Carmichael (with lyrics by Stuart Gorrell) about Hoagy's sister Georgia.

“How Sweet It Is” — Joan Osborne and Karen Dalton


There was some staff debate about which cover of the Holland-Dozier-Holland composition would make the list. Marvin Gaye first made it famous, with Junior Walker & the All Stars and James Taylor taking their turns. In these lesser-known versions, Joan Osborne put on a soulful slink while Karen Dalton folked it up.

“Wonderwall” — Ryan Adams

This astounding and sparse re-imagining of “Wonderwall” shows the true craftsmanship underneath the Oasis pop sheen. It's just so, so good.

“If I Needed You” — Lyle Lovett

Like “Angel from Montgomery,” this Townes Van Zandt standard has been offered up by almost every folkie on the scene. But none of them come close to Lyle Lovett. You can hear his deep respect for the song and its writer in this version.

“Willin'” — Linda Ronstadt

Almost every song Linda Ronstadt ever sang was better than the original by sheer virtue of her presence. That's the mark of a great singer. Her take on Little Feat's “Willin'” is no exception to that rule.

“Two of Us" — Michael Penn and Aimee Mann

Many would say that no one does the Beatles better than the Beatles, but this little ditty from the I Am Sam soundtrack is awfully wonderful.