Tag: Kentucky

LISTEN: The Watson Twins, “Two-Timin'” (Ft. Butch Walker)

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Artist: The Watson Twins
Hometown: Louisville, Kentucky
Song: “Two Timin'”
Release Date: May 20, 2022

In Their Words: “We wrote this song while living in Los Angeles. Being out on the West Coast away from our family and Kentucky roots, there were times we would get homesick. Writing songs that had that familiar old-school country sound were comforting and indulgent in the best way! ‘Two Timin” never made it on a previous album as the vibe just didn’t seem to fit on our earlier records. After the release of DUO (2018, The Orchard), which leaned a little further into our Americana sound, we started playing this song as part of our live set. When recording ‘Two Timin” it was important to capture the energy we felt on tour, so we decided to head into our friend Butch Walker’s new studio in Nashville and play it down live. Butch jumped in on background vocals and acoustic guitar and the outcome is a high-energy honky-tonk toe-tapper! We’re excited to record more songs this summer for a full-length release.” — The Watson Twins

Photo Credit: Elizabeth O. Baker

Basic Folk – S.G. Goodman

Posted on by Shelby Williamson

S.G. Goodman’s Kentucky upbringing is front and center in a lot of her songwriting. She is an artist concerned not just with her roots, but also with what it means to stay and invest in community even when it is hard. We started our conversation digging into the DIY music scene that inspired S.G.’s Jim James-produced debut album, Old Time Feeling.

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Goodman’s new record, Teeth Marks, portrays the scars of love and grief. It is a complex, rock-inflected album rooted in relationship. Whether telling a story of romantic love, playfully establishing a connection between the artist and audience, or interrogating a community’s attitude toward the “other,” these songs made me think long and hard about what we are really doing when we talk to each other.

S.G. was also down to talk religion and politics, addressing which issues she wishes more artists would discuss in their works. She is a serious person, a singular artist, and a fascinating person to talk with.

Photo Credit: BK Portraits

Ian Noe’s Musical Inspiration Begins With the Sounds and Characters of Kentucky

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Kentucky musician Ian Noe is a writer of experience and an experienced writer. An appreciation for the people, places, and moods in his hometown of Beattyville – first introduced with striking emotional depth on Noe’s 2019 debut, Between the Country – remains a narrative cornerstone on River Fools and Mountain Saints. Yet this new collection reveals more self-assuredness around his artistic decisions.

Not limiting himself to the acoustic folk framework leaned upon for Between the Country, Noe (pronounced “NOH”) and producer Andrija Tokic broadened the scope of which instruments would best support Noe’s stories this time around. One of the most notable shifts in tonal prominence comes via the electric guitar. Heard in the latter halves of songs like “Burning Down the Prairie” and “P.O.W. Blues,” the electric guitar is more than just present. It holds a central role, giving Noe’s songwriting a sonic swagger and a heavier musical temperament. Additional coloration and emotional influence atypical of his rootsy musicality comes by way of a French horn solo and the surprising flash of reverse-phased piano heard on “One More Night.”

All this being said, for Noe, the foundation for a song doesn’t start with an instrument, or even a memorable personal story. Instead, his songwriting fire often ignites with a hook and a particular set of chords. While the stories shared on River Fools and Mountain Saints present an intriguing peek into the human condition, what gives this album its most unexpected and fascinating layer of substance is Noe’s approach to composition and production. It’s one thing to verbally recount a directly lived or socially common experience. It’s another matter entirely to determine the path a melody takes – or how that melody ought to be transformed in size, space, dynamics, or sonic shape – based on the pursuit of reflecting one’s own perceptions of an experience.

The very sounds and sonic character of River Fools and Mountain Saints were chosen in such a way that they too can serve as a window into how Noe sees the world, giving the album a whole new autobiographical quality.

BGS: What kind of awareness did you have of bluegrass when you were young and getting into music? What do you remember about the impression that style made on you at the time?

Noe: I got my bluegrass fix from my grandma. I took a lot of road trips with her and it was Ralph Stanley. It was Bill Monroe. It was mainly those two. But she was a huge Ralph Stanley fan. I’d say it definitely made up a good 40 percent of what I was hearing when I was first coming up. I mean, the first thing that made me want to really play was Chuck Berry, specifically “Johnny B. Goode” – it’s the first song I ever learned how to play. Hank Williams’ “I Saw the Light” was number two, and with “The Wildwood Flower” I learned how to pick.

I was on that for a long, long time, until I got into John Prine. You want to talk about a song that has definitely been captured by the bluegrass world, it’s definitely his song “Paradise,” which has an amazing bluegrass feel to it. So I’d say after I figured out that I wasn’t going to be able to play like Chuck Berry, which was my first big letdown around the age of 6 or 7 – my fingers just wasn’t big enough to play that those famous leads, those famous licks … that’s when I started getting into Bob Dylan’s Bringing It All Back Home, which was the first album I ever bought and I ever owned. I just started getting really into people who could write their own songs and move me in that way.

Much of River Fools and Mountain Saints conveys its stories through character narratives. How did you create and subsequently shape the characters in these songs?

With each song, I was really trying to make it so when you took any one of these songs off this album and set it aside, that it could stand on its own. I definitely use “river” and “mountain” a lot on this whole thing, obviously. But I did want to make it to where they stood alone. Some of the songs just came, and some of them I had to work on for a second. But the very first thing that I had was the album title itself, before I even had a song like “River Fool” or “Mountain Saint.” That was a blessing because if I can get a good title, then I can see something in it, you know? I can see a vision in it, to where I’m able to put it together.

And I like character songs anyways. I found it pretty fun to work on. It was fun to work on a song like “Ballad of a Retired Man.” And as much as I wanted to make the characters of each song stand alone, I did the same thing with the music. “P.O.W. Blues” is a lot different from “River Fool” or “Ballad of a Retired Man.” So, I didn’t concern myself too much with, “Well, is this going to be too rockin’ to go with ‘River Fool’?” I just wanted to make sure that each song stood alone.

That’s quite the fine line to walk. On one hand, any track can thrive on its own, but they fit together so seamlessly that you have this cohesive flow, both narratively and musically.

Yeah, and you might have just a short little melody – not even a bridge, not a chorus, nothing – and you remember that. It’s not always easy. I mean, this album originally wasn’t even gonna be called River Fools and Mountain Saints. I had a whole completely different album recorded and shelved – it just wasn’t doing it for me. It wasn’t any of these songs; it was a whole bunch of different stuff. But this title just came to me and I was like, “That’s good enough to stick on the front of the cover. So, I think I can do something.” And that’s the little formula that I’ve made up. Even if nobody else gets it, and even if it’s not a real thing, it helps me finish the [music].

How did you and/or Andrija Tokic discern some of the production decisions to reflect your vision of life in Kentucky?

It’s whatever I thought those characters or those places sounded like. … A song like “River Fool” is gonna sound like that because that’s what somebody sitting around a river sounds like to me. If I had to guess what that sounded like, that’s what it would be. The real openness of a song like “Ballad of a Retired Man” leaves you enough space to when you produce it like that, that you can really feel something about it, and the lyrics connect with that type of production because you want it to have air to breathe. And especially in a song like that where the lyrics suit that mood.

The music is just however I think it’s supposed to sound and that’s just how I’m going to do it. Like, even though the little drone-ness of a song like “Appalachia Haze” – that’s, to me, what a rainy day in Kentucky sounds like. That’s the way I hear it. So that’s why I produced it that way.

On “’The Road May Flood,” I was trying to capture a sound like when you see old cars, like maybe mid ‘70s, at a grocery store. Pictures of those older days – especially in Eastern Kentucky or any place like that. That’s what I thought something like that would sound like. I just take the picture of whatever the song is, and I have to look at the picture, and I think, “What does that sound like?” I try to get as close to that as I can. Luckily, I enjoy sound effects. I didn’t get to use as many on this album as I did on Between the Country but sound effects are important. Like in the beginning of “Strip Job Blues,” you hear that truck going. I always knew that song was going to be closer to a bluegrass style – the same with “River Fool.” I stick the character in my head and I have to figure out what he, or she, or they sound like.

What would you say makes the spirit of Kentucky unique from other rural, community-driven places in the U.S.?

I’m not so sure if it is as unique as what you might think as far as lived experience, you know? I can only speak for me growing up there, and loving growing up in Eastern Kentucky, and just honestly always having a life full of music and loving where you grow up and come from, and the people you live around. It’s not that hard to write about when it’s like that. But I’m not so sure that wouldn’t be that different from any other rural place.

As you were talking about being transported to somewhere you’ve never been, I felt the exact same way the first time I heard Neil Young sing “Helpless.” “There’s a town in North Ontario …” I’ve never been to North Ontario. Still haven’t. But it sounded like someplace that I was familiar with and he made you feel like you do. So, it was important for me to get a feeling like that, specifically out of the song “River Fool,” which I’m pretty sure is my favorite song on this album.

But you know, struggles are struggles. They really are, no matter where you’re at. I just try to put the happiness and the bad times in the literal geography of where I’m from, which is the mountains. That’s kind of how I think about it. Let’s take these day-to-day lives, and the stuff that you know, and let’s stick it around all this geography and let’s weave all this stuff together because it goes hand in hand as far as I’m concerned.

Photo Credit: David McClister

BGS 5+5: The Wooks

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Artist: The Wooks
Hometown: Lexington, Kentucky, and Nashville, Tennessee
Latest Album: Flyin’ High

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

I fish and kayak a lot, both here in Kentucky and elsewhere. Fishing and the time spent with friends doing so has certainly inspired me to write. Sometimes being outside and on the water helps me clear my mind for creativity, and sometimes the inspiration is more direct. “Mudfish Momma” is inspired by one of my favorite places to fish in Florida. Mudfish are also known as bowfin and are toothy creatures that often cut your line with their teeth, leaving you wondering if it was the one that got away or just another mudfish. My friend Ray Smith and I wrote the song together, and after telling Ray about this cool fishing spot and the mudfish that sometimes come to visit, he came up with the idea to make the Mudfish Momma a swampy Florida version of a mermaid. — CJ Cain

What is your favorite memory of being on stage?

Probably the first time I was ever on a “stage.” I had been playing mandolin for a couple of months and was really starting to get into it. A family friend called my mom to tell her that there was a fall bluegrass festival in a little rural community about 20 miles from where we lived. My mom took me and my brother to the park/fire station in Letona, Arkansas, where there was a flatbed gooseneck trailer set up with a bunch of what I’d assume were Shure SM57s (the international microphone of bluegrass). There was an open mic style jam and a group of pickers we had just met invited us to come up and play some tunes with them. That was the first time I’d ever heard myself back through a microphone and monitors and it was enough to get me hooked. That memory still stands out very vividly. — Harry Clark

What other art forms influence your music

I’m a huge fan of movies, and have been as long as I can remember. I love movies for the same reasons that everyone loves movies; it’s the thrill of being taken to another place and living a life other than our own for a brief moment, and perhaps returning to reality with some new perspective, knowledge, empathy, etc. I think a great song or composition can do that, too. When I write a song or instrumental piece, I want it to take the listener to another place, in a similar way that a movie would. Sometimes when I’m stuck writing a song or composition, I try to imagine a scene in a movie that might go along with the piece I’m writing. It usually helps to spark new ideas and make the music more evocative. Both “Virgil’s Prayer” and “Madison Chimes” came from this approach. I wrote “Virgil” one night after watching a few episodes of the Netflix show Ozark. The somber cinematography and dark subject matter were fresh in my mind and that song just kind of appeared as a result. I wrote “Madison Chimes” while driving around on a dark and spooky summer night in Madison, Tennessee, and that tune is basically just the soundtrack I imagined for that evening. — George Guthrie

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

I have been fortunate to spend a good deal of time around my friend Tyler Childers, and have learned a great deal from him. He never said this directly but I have learned from writing with him and listening to his songs — that you not only can, but you should write about the people you have in your life that are inspiring to you. Their life story or simple daily life circumstances can make for wonderful storytelling songs. You can invoke a philosophy or thought through those stories in a more effective way than just spewing out lyrics that sound like you got something figured out. A good example of one of Tyler’s songs that does this is “Matthew,” a song about his brother-in-law and friend, and one that informed my creativity when I wrote “Flyin’ High.” — CJ Cain

Which artist has influenced you the most and how?

One of my favorites is Del McCoury. I’ve been listening to him and his band since I was an adolescent learning about bluegrass. Del keeps his core sound rooted in traditional bluegrass with both his vocal style and band dynamics while having the ability to reach new audiences with songs that aren’t inside the box of traditional bluegrass. A few examples of this are Tom Petty’s “Love Is a Long Road,” Robert Cray’s “Smoking Gun,” or the Richard Thompson ballad “1952 Vincent Black Lightning.” All three songs are from very different artists with contrasting styles. This has given Del different reaches in the music world and why it’s not uncommon to go to a Del McCoury Band show and see an audience of diehard traditionalists standing next to deadheads. His ability to bridge that gap between fans is outstanding. — Harry Clark

Photo Credit: Carrie Wilson/CW Photography

LISTEN: Rhyan Sinclair, “Gasoline in the Morning”

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Artist: Rhyan Sinclair
Hometown: Lexington, Kentucky
Song: “Gasoline in the Morning”
Album: Letters to Aliens
Release Date: March 4, 2022
Label: Little Haunted Girl Records

In Their Words: “During the writing of this album, I was working through past trauma in therapy. That experience strongly informed my writing for this album, and I think that’s especially present on ‘Gasoline in the Morning.’ The song, for me, is about mental health, its upkeep, and ultimately, reevaluating what you allow to propel you forward…what you use as ‘fuel.’ It’s easy to get caught up in the speed of life, sometimes to the point where you’re running on fumes, leaning on old habits. I think there’s a hesitant hope within the song. It’s that universal feeling of trying to attain some sort of balance within life, and just not quite knowing what steps to take to get there. Some days that balance feels more elusive than others.” — Rhyan Sinclair

Rhyan Sinclair · Gasoline In The Morning

Photo Credit: Julian Karpinski

Lost Dog Street Band’s Benjamin Tod Examines What ‘Glory’ Means to Him

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In conversation, as in his songs, Benjamin Tod is an open book. As lead singer-guitarist for the Lost Dog Street Band, he’s not afraid to speak honestly and candidly about his struggles with heroin addiction, a debilitating mental state or a rough childhood that led to most of his adult life being out on the road and in search of something, anything to take the pain away.

Whether consciously or subconsciously, the endless wandering perpetuated his restless urge to play music, either on a street corner, subway platform or wherever someone might drop a dollar in the bucket so he could afford to eat that night. Tod, 31, is an old soul who has traveled as many miles as someone twice or three times his age, with his formative years spent hopping trains, hitchhiking or just walking endlessly toward the unknown horizon with guitar in hand.

He survived the darkness, the trials and tribulations of simply being human, by having a well-earned chip on his shoulder, this defense mechanism of sorts to keep the wolves at bay. And it’s that chip he’s trying to eliminate moving forward, where the once dreaded notion of showing vulnerability to others is no longer seen as a weakness, but now something to be embraced.

That sense of reflection and self-discovery resides at the core of the Lost Dog Street Band’s latest album, Glory. Alongside Tod’s life partner and violinist Ashley Mae and bassist Jeff Loops, the trio’s latest offering is a rollicking adventure seeking truth and redemption through sorrowful melodies and lyrics aimed at practicing patience and gratitude — another chapter in the journey of one of today’s most revered and intriguing folk acts.

BGS: There’s been a lot going on, not only in the world these last few years, but also in your personal life. Where’s your head at these days?

Tod: Well, when we’re not on the road, I’m very much a homebody now. I own 200 acres in Muhlenberg County, Kentucky. Ashley and I built a cabin and live off the grid. It’s an incredible amount of work. I’ve established a lot of roots there in Muhlenberg County. We’ve started a nonprofit organization that helps disenfranchised kids get instruments and music lessons. So, I’m pretty well entrenched there and it’s certainly a lot harder to get back on the road now. I’ve been on the road since I was 16, basically. It certainly doesn’t have to glamour that it used to.

Even before the shutdown, I know a lot of people were starting to feel that burned out vibe of having to tour, because you couldn’t rely on other avenues of revenue as a performer.

Yeah. I have established myself with royalties and publishing, things of that nature. So, I can always float by without the performance side of things. It’s not necessary financially for me to tour any longer. But it is nice, for bigger projects on the land [in Kentucky], to be able to get that one-two punch [of revenue]. And it’s also good to continue to keep your name in the general public’s recent memory. You know, I think that’s the biggest fear with any artist. If you haven’t been touring for six months or however long, you’re always watching what other people are doing. You’re like, “I need to get back out there.”

It’s a hard thing to do, to not compare yourself to others, even if you don’t want to.

Well, I keep a flip phone, so I don’t generally keep the types of apps and stay as connected as most people my age do, or most people in the general industry, or people in general nowadays. But, no matter how you slice it, it affects you psychologically if you start to keep up with what other people are doing. It’s also hard in the situation of how we have built our fan base and our career. We have been clawing for every single inch for over a decade — without PR, without management, without a booking agent for most of it.

That also shows that you’re looking at things in the long run. Is that something that’s in the back of your mind?

I certainly imagine my legacy a lot. I think the younger that you start envisioning your life through the lens of your legacy, the better off you are. It makes you a better person, in general. It has nothing even to do with art. But there are so many things working against me, personally, right now with my body. My arms give me a lot of trouble. I’ve got nerve damage in them and it’s getting harder and harder to be on the road and play guitar.

How is your mental health right now?

My mental health has been better the last year than it ever has been. It’s a continuous struggle. I’m a little bit later in my recovery now. I don’t even know how to explain it, but every stage matures, like any other thing in your life. With guitar playing, it’s like compared to when I started at 15, I’m a much more mature guitar player. [Nowadays], I can pick it up and I can set it down for a month, and pick up right where I left off, as opposed to when you first begin. This last year, it’s been rebuilding the patterns in my mind that I had destroyed for so many years — all of the unconscious patterns you build, the way you react to things, the way your defense mechanisms spike. I’ve been really working at rebuilding all of that. The key for me is patience and gratitude. Those two things are the most important thing for anyone. But, especially for me as an individual going through recovery, it’s constantly coming back to patience and gratitude.

So, does that mean that you subscribe to the idea of “the now”?

Yes, absolutely. I mean, there’s always a constant balance and fight between taking advantage of the opportunity or just the vision of now, and the feeling of now, and also preparing yourself for the future.

When you talk about rewiring your thought process, I would surmise that one of those defense mechanism is that vulnerability is weakness. But, to rewire your mind, you realize that to show vulnerability is to show growth, of being aware of your emotions and not running away from them.

Yes. “Stand up tall and learn to fight in the face of all you writhe.” That’s a line from my new solo album I just finished recording — just finalized the master today actually.

How does the title of your new album, Glory, play into your life right now?

Well, the first and last songs [on the album] are two different perspectives of glory that exist in my own psychology. One that’s a really angry, passionate fight for life, a fight for something great than yourself. And the other being something much more gentle, appreciative. Like, we’re here and it is a miracle that you and I can sit here on a telephone and talk to each other. And it took so much human suffering and turmoil, and just one right decision made a generation [or more] ago. You know, you think about how drastic the condition of the entire world could have been just in a couple of bad decisions from the people in power in the past. Somehow, democracy and freedom have triumphed here on this tiny little continent, on this planet, and we’re able to enjoy it.

It’s all one thing, this ripple effect within all of us.

Yes. Metaphysics. I think on that a lot in life, and especially intuition. Learning to really trust your intuition the older that you get. Do you get a bad feeling about someone or a situation? Listen to that. There’s something there.

On the new album, only busker friends of yours were used on the recordings. I’m curious about that, and the idea of the busker in a world of digital technology and distraction. These are incredible performers who learned how attract an audience when no one was there to be an audience.

Yeah, you can hear ’em from a mile away. People will talk about how the decibels you sing at are crazy. Well, I learned to sing and perform on Lower Broadway in Nashville. I’ve busked in every single market in this country. So, if you wanted to make money, if you wanted to eat, you were competing with the bars, with their windows open. We know how to get people’s attention. Busking is not just playing music on the street; it’s its own type of theater. There’s certainly an element of theater to it. Vaudeville, this kind of showmanship that doesn’t really exist on a broader scale. Now you see people pretending to do it and it’s really bad. But when it’s authentic, you can taste it.

And I’ll be honest, as far as I see it, [busking] is dead. COVID did a big hit on it. There’s not the street culture there used to be. I walk in these downtown areas and I don’t see crusty kids. I don’t see a lot of like transient panhandlers. I don’t see a lot of artists on the streets anymore. I don’t see it anywhere. The way that artists used to move in this country — as far as the way that they traveled, the way that they lived, the entire aura of it — it doesn’t exist in the same capacity as when I grew up.

And that scares me, because when I was growing up, we were all friends back in the day. I know hundreds of people from that era, if not thousands, that are established artists now. Where is this next generation of artists going to come from that’s organic, and that is going to create real art? Folk music comes from that very special part of the lower class. It comes from that very special part of the poor — that’s where it originates from. Berklee College students can play folk music, but who gives a shit? Have they ever lived? Where is this next generation of real folk music and real culture going to come from?

And then you have yourself, being a longtime busker, a transient trying to survive on the streets, now in demand on big stage in front of large audiences.

To see it manifest over the past few years with the general public has been incredible from the perspective of knowing that the reason people connect with my music is because I am succeeding in my intention — to take dark feelings and perfectly ascribe them into a song, into words, into melody. My intention with music is to help people be better at being themselves. For me, my music is a prescription for my own madness, and it happens to be the prescription for some other people. It’s not a cure, but it helps. It helps me. And I’m ecstatic that it helps other people. Now, the struggle is just getting the notoriety from the industry. I’m a competitor. So, I want to hear from the gatekeepers.

It’s a constant challenge of calibrating how much it affects me and doesn’t. I always relate back to Guy Clark’s legacy, who is my absolute idol. The way that he handled business. The character that he showed throughout his entire career of not being willing to compromise the most important things to him, you know? I’m always going to hold that. And I’ve come to terms with knowing that I might end up like Guy. I might end up being every other artist’s favorite songwriter, but not respected by the gatekeepers or the industry elite because I won’t play their game, and I’m not going to. I’m reconciled with that. I’m okay if that happens, but I’m going fight like hell to get in that door.

Photo Credit: Cass Blair (top); Melissa Payne (insert)

LISTEN: Eric Bolander, “I Wonder”

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Artist: Eric Bolander
Hometown: Lexington, Kentucky
Song: “I Wonder”
Album: Can’t Get There From Here
Release Date: February 18, 2022

In Their Words: “I drew inspiration for the song ‘I Wonder’ from the life of my best friend. He, along with his younger brother, had some very difficult times when they were young growing up in the same county in northeastern Kentucky as myself. Financial and domestic struggles plagued his household. He has two beautiful daughters now and is an amazing father to them in spite of some of the traumatic issues he faced as a youth and younger man. I wanted to write this song as a dedication to his rising up and how important his friendship is to me. Ultimately, the song is about avoiding running away from your problems and facing them, as well as forcing those that hurt you to face their own issues — whether they listen or not.” — Eric Bolander

Eric Bolander · 10 I Wonder

Photo Credit: Kayvilla Blevins

LISTEN: Wolfpen Branch, “Burning the Midnight Oil”

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Artist: Wolfpen Branch
Hometown: Kentucky
Song: “Burning the Midnight Oil”
Release Date: January 14, 2022

In Their Words: “During a cold winter weekend of recording with the band, I spent a couple nights in the Red River Gorge of Eastern Kentucky, camping out in the snow. Working during the days in the studio, tracking the first three singles from Wolfpen Branch, and spending the evenings writing new material while trying to stay warm. Armed with only my banjo and a small propane heater, I set out to try and write a new song that reflected some of my own life experiences, and also felt like a straight-up-the-middle bluegrass standard.

“Juggling my own day job, along with various music ventures on the road and in the studio, can often feel like a massive struggle to strike a balance between work, creative passions, and valuable time with family. ‘Burning the Midnight Oil’ places a sort of exclamation point on that struggle for me. The message is certainly one that many folks can relate to, feeling overworked and scrambling to make time to show our loved ones how much they mean to us. It felt like such a great fit for this band, especially when we worked out the three-part harmony and hard-driving solo sections. We’re pumped up to share this song with the world and get cranking on the bright road ahead in 2022.” — Aaron Bibelhauser, Wolfpen Branch

Photo Credit: Chris Witzke

WATCH: Meg McRee, Adam Chaffins, Brit Taylor, Ben Chapman, “Gone as It Gets”

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Artists: Meg McRee, Adam Chaffins, Brit Taylor, Ben Chapman
Hometowns: Sugar Hill, Ga. (McRee); Louisa, Ky. (Chaffins); Knotts Co., Ky. (Taylor); Lafayette, Ga. (Chapman)
Song: “Gone as It Gets”
Release date: January 12, 2022

In Their Words: “I can hear each and every one of us in it which can be very hard to accomplish when writing a song with four people. We all listened back the next day and felt that we had created something pretty special.” — Meg McRee

“Sometimes in songwriting you can tell a good song is about to come just by the company in the room. Once the groove got started when we all sat down together this song just appeared, then we got together to record it and and the same thing happened and the track came to life.” — Adam Chaffins

“‘Gone as It Gets’ is a melodic journey taken by four friends who got together just to make music. There was no hidden agenda — just a shared commitment to enjoying each other’s company and talents while having a good time and making good music. ‘Gone as It Gets’ is confirmation that when the music business becomes more music and less business, the really good stuff happens.” — Brit Taylor

“We found that when you put four songwriters in a room with homemade cornbread, whiskey, and a mutual respect for the ones that came before, you can end up with something pretty special. Organic, classic, timeless. We’re releasing this song in honor of the first Peach Jam of the year with Adam Chaffins and Brit Taylor as the special guests. I started doing my Peach Jam show in 2021 with the intention of bringing friends and music folk together to turn on, tune in, and drop out. This year I’ll be hosting my Peach Jam residency at The Basement in Nashville on the second Wednesday of every month for all of 2022. Can’t think of a better way to kick it off.” — Ben Chapman

Photo Credit: Fernando Garcia

BGS Wraps: Ben Sollee and Jordon Ellis, “Breaking Up Christmas” (Live)

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Artist: Ben Sollee and Jordon Ellis
Hometown: Louisville, Kentucky
Song: “Breaking Up Christmas” (Live)

Editor’s Note: Kentuckians Ben Sollee and Daniel Martin Moore teamed up to rally an all-star cast of authors, musicians, and storytellers for a 50+ track album to raise funds for Kentucky tornado relief. With contributions from internationally known artists to local treasures, the compilation is packed with new releases, b-sides, live recordings, and bedroom demos that will delight music fans and collectors. Happy Hollerdays 2021 is available exclusively on Bandcamp for purchase as a digital download with all proceeds benefiting the Team Western Kentucky Tornado Relief Fund.

In Their Words: “Happy Hollerdays 2021 was meant to be a few shows to begin an annual concert series celebrating and incorporating the very best of Kentucky’s and Appalachia’s music, literature, and dance, all while raising funds and awareness for important causes. This year, the beneficiary was set to be Kentucky Natural Lands Trust. But things changed on the night of the first show, December 10th. Horrific storms swept across the state and the region. Many lives were lost, communities devastated. We weren’t sure whether to go on or not. The lands trust, to their enormous credit, was first to suggest that we divert the funds from the shows to storm relief efforts. The idea grew from there. By the 15th we’d decided to release recordings from the shows as a further fundraiser. Then we started sending messages out to friends asking if they’d like to contribute. Within 48 hours we had a staggering 52 tracks ranging from home recordings to live performances to phone demos to studio records.” — Ben Sollee and Daniel Martin Moore

 

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