Tag: Laura Veirs

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

MIXTAPE: Wila Frank’s Cinematic Folk

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Ever since I started making music, it’s been in this sort of folk-infused soundtrack sort of style. When I was little, I would imagine that I was in a film constantly. I would hear music in my head supporting the emotions I may be feeling. It sort of helped me express my feelings to myself and figure out what sort of character I want to be in this life. My brother is famous for his excellent mixtapes and he introduced me to most of my favorite contemporary artists, many of whom make music in this way; fusing together modern attitudes and techniques with personal impressions of roots music.

There’s something about traditional sounds that really resonate with me. I grew up in a rural place and spent my childhood playing the fiddle. Folk music has always been connected to nature and the sounds that go along with it. Nature is where I do my best self-reflection. The hypnotic rhythm of an acoustic guitar line repeated. The rich, molasses drones of the violin. 

On my debut album Black Cloud, I intentionally challenged myself to produce in a more edgy, alt-rock style. However, I could not escape many of the musical sensibilities I grew up with. You can hear undertones of trad music in my guitar playing, in the song forms, vocal inflections, and choice of vocabulary. This playlist starts off with the first track on my new record and ends with a song from my folk duo with Emily Mann, Paper Wings. Both are songs I wrote and feel very close to my heart. The songs in between have all been inspirations to me over the years and demonstrate of the cinematic quality realized when folk techniques are fused into modern creations and vice-versa. Hope you enjoy. – Wila Frank

“Tonight” – Wila Frank

I wrote Tonight over a rolling guitar line inspired by traditional banjo techniques. While the rest of the production is quite contemporary, you can hear elements of folk influence in my singing. Especially in the line “It’s a long and lonesome road” — a reference to lyrics you would hear in a bluegrass song.

“Fire Snakes” – Laura Veirs 

This has been a favorite song of mine forever. I love the beautiful and unusual contradiction of the acoustic guitar line with the artificial beat. To me, it makes the song feel more emotionally vital and critical. The strings at the end are a luscious bonus.

“Desert Island Disk” – Radiohead

This song reminds me of the trance-like quality of a lot of traditional Malian guitar playing such as Ali Farke Toure who I’m also obsessed with. The simplicity of the production on this song is essential and perfectly supports the beautiful message of the lyrics.

“Walkin’ Boss” – Sam Amidon

This is the only trad American folk song on the playlist. Sam Amidon has a really neat way of taking old Appalachian songs and bringing them into a new contemporary light. The rhythm of the banjo and drums together make you wanna groove and bring out the power of the lyrics.

“Psyche” – Massive Attack

I included this one because the repeating artificial guitar line reminds me of the banjo and is a cool example of the magic achieved when electronic artists sample natural sounds. This particular song was an essential inspiration for me in coming up with the guitar line on my song “Tonight.” When it comes to cinematic music and transporting the listener to a new world, you can’t get any better than Massive Attack. 

“Imitosis” – Andrew Bird

I was obsessed with Andrew Bird when I was a kid for his witty lyrical style, use of the violin as a support instrument for his songs, and the unapologetic quirkiness of his music. On this album, he fuses all kinds of music and makes something completely unique.

“Ecstasy” – Crooked Still

I grew up going to a lot of music camps and owe much of my musical development to various members of Crooked Still. Aoife was one of the first singers I learned from and I was lucky enough to spend a lot of time around this music. I love this album in particular and how this song fuses Appalachian fiddle tones with classical string parts.

“The Weekend” – Dave Rawlings Machine

This song features pop chords, but has Dave Rawlings signature guitar style all over it. It’s a fun Americana-style story of a song. I like how the violin parts sound almost like they’re imitating synthetic strings. A cool example of folk music imitating pop music. 

“Dog Walkers of the New Age” – Breathe Owl Breathe

One of my favorite albums ever. Completely unique and vibey. The lyrics are quirky and witty, and somehow get at an essential emotion of feeling less alone. 

“Grizzly Man” – Rockettothesky

The shimmering acoustic guitar in this track brings this beautiful and spooky song to life. This is the only song I really know from this band, but the haunting, witchy vocal style in this song has stuck with me through the years and has an essence of woodsy appeal.

“Dyin Day” – Anaïs Mitchell

Anaïs Mitchell does a really nice job of innovating within the structure of a song itself. There are elements of traditional call and response in this song, religious references and images of nature, but somehow it still feels relevant and potent.

“Carrie & Lowell” – Sufjan Stevens

This was an incredibly influential album for a lot of people I think. Stevens’ swirling guitar style paired with the vocal effects and simplistic percussive elements make it feel like a pop song without any overly artificial elements. There’s even banjo on this song, but used almost like you would use an arpeggiated synth.

“Middle Distance Runner” – Sea Wolf

To me, this is a perfect pop song with a folk song structure. I love the natural guitar tones and the use of real sounds as percussion. 

“The History of a Cheating Heart” – Damon Albarn

One of my favorite artists, producers, and songwriters of all time. Damon Albarn released this solo record in 2014 upon which he plays this song paired down with acoustic guitar. There’s very minimal production featuring dry and stark strings along with a chorus of harmonies on the bridge. It’s rare to hear such a minimal song recorded at such a high level and the result is beautiful.

“Clementine” – Paper Wings

I wrote Clementine on a writing retreat we went on in Big Sur. Emily and I spent the week sitting in the sun amongst the trees and flowers overlooking the ocean. This is really a simple pop love song, but we paired it down and sang it in harmony over fiddle drones. Arranged this way, it became stark and vulnerable and the essence of the song revealed itself. The imagery of nature became more vivid, and the emotions came across as more sincere.

Photo Credit: David Piñeros

If You Love Boygenius, You’ll Love These 18 Folk Bands

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Can’t get enough of the record by boygenius? We understand and empathize. Did your ears perk up immediately when you heard the twinkle of the banjo on “Cool About It?” Do you rewatch the video of Julien Baker, Lucy Dacus, and Phoebe Bridgers performing The Chicks’ “Cowboy, Take Me Away” over and over and over again? If so, this list is for you. 

It’s not hard to place boygenius within the universe of folk music and its endless variations, with their perfectly blended, nearly familial harmonies, their lyrics and song structures that are so singable, cyclical, and relatable, and the way, together, they exceed the sum of their individual parts by leaps and bound. Comparisons to other iconic supergroups – Dolly, Linda, and Emmylou’s Trio, or Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young – illustrate further that boygenius are often a string band and always a folk group. 

We’ve collected songs from 18 other folk groups that also center female and femme friendship, slippery harmonies, and egalitarian ensemble arrangements in their music. If you adore boygenius, these acoustic bands are for you. 

(Editor’s Note: Scroll for the playlist version of this collection.)

JOSEPH

The band JOSEPH’s latest release, The Sun, is perhaps their furthest foray into pop- and indie-folk, with a sound that’s not just adjacent to “the boys” of boygenius, but often parallels the genre and aesthetic territories explored by the latter trio. These songs are rich and fully realized, from the tender and contemplative to full-bore rock and roll. Remind you of anyone? 

Rainbow Girls

We’ve loved watching this California-based group grow and expand their listenership across the country and around the world, from the Bay Area to Cayamo and beyond. Like boygenius, Rainbow Girls have quite a few joyous, smile-inducing cover videos that are wildly popular on the internet, but the group really shines while singing sad, introspective songs that still make you feel so good. 

The Wailin’ Jennys

Since their first studio album in 2004, the Wailin’ Jennys have become one of the most beloved vocal trios in bluegrass, old-time, and folk music, with a robust, devoted international fan base. Perhaps best known for their appearances on public radio, the Juno Award-winning ensemble is in a phase of part-time, infrequent touring while balancing motherhood and solo projects, too. Their cover of “Wildflowers” remains one of the most popular BGS posts in the history of the site. 

The Chicks

An important addition to this list – the aforementioned “Cowboy, Take Me Away” cover by the boys notwithstanding – the similarities between the Chicks and boygenius are many. Righteous anger, agency, and collective rebellion, flouting gender roles, “tradition,” and industry norms – the list could go on and on. But perhaps the most striking throughline between both trios are their evident prowess as instrumentalists, whether guitar, fiddle, banjo, or voice. And there’s a tambour to Phoebe and Julien’s vocals that certainly conjures the crystalline, one of a kind singing of Natalie Maines. 

Mountain Man

What would boygenius be, together or separately, without longing? Without lost or waning or fading or burning or lustful or ethereal love? Love that’s sexual and romantic and hungry, but love that’s tender, platonic, and eternal, too. Mountain Man, who describe themselves as a “trio of devoted friends,” conjure all of the above within their catalog and certainly on “Baby Where You Are,” with a vocal arrangement that could have been pulled right from the record. 

Plains

Country-folk duo Plains, a duo made up of Katie Crutchfield (Waxahatchee) and Jess Williamson, could be described, in a boygenius-centric way, as sounding like that band dragged through… well, the plains. There’s an agnostic, informal country aesthetic here that sounds just like the prairie of which they sing on “Abilene.” And, their origin story matches the boys’, as well, with Crutchfield and Williamson first admiring each other’s music before joining forces. There are far worse impetuses to start a band than mutual admiration.

I’m With Her

Does the transitive property apply to trio supergroups? Because, if I’m With Her is a band of bona fide bluegrassers playing delicious indie-folk and folk-rock, then that makes boygenius, a delicious indie-folk and folk-rock band that much closer to being bluegrass, right? Right? Okay, it’s nonsense, but genre is dead. (Long live genre!) We love how our friends in I’m With Her, Sarah Jarosz, Aoife O’Donovan, and Sara Watkins have colored outside the genre lines across their entire careers, not just in their collaborations together. Now, for a collaboration between I’m With Her and boygenius. Please.

 Trio 

While Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris, and Linda Ronstadt collaborated on Trio and Trio II at the heights of their careers, boygenius came together as a supergroup when each of its members were on steep ascents, launching into the stratosphere. Somehow, as with Trio, the collective art boygenius has created supersedes even their heightening fame, not just as artists and musicians but as celebrities, too. These are just some of the reasons Trio comes to mind in the same train of musical thought as boygenius. Another is the “True Blue” friendships underpinning both groups.

case/lang/veirs

Our hearts, be still, because a few short days ago kd lang shared a photo on Instagram with Laura Veirs captioned: “Waiting on Mr. @nekocaseofficial to bring the love…” Whatever they’re working on, it will be must-listen and anxiously awaited! There are so many connection points between this incredible assemblage of musicians and the boys. Queerness; ethereal production; poetic lyrics; swapped lead vocals; oh-so-much text painting. If you’ve never given case/lang/veirs’ 2016 self-titled album an in-depth listen, there’s no better time. But the lead track, “Atomic Number” is an excellent audio swatch for the entire record.

Lula Wiles

Though on indefinite hiatus, Lula Wiles remains one of BGS’ favorite folk groups to emerge from the New England / northeast string band scene in the 2010s. Like boygenius, Isa Burke, Eleanor Buckland, and Mali Obamsawin each have vibrant and widely variable (while interconnected) solo careers, so despite their music making as a group being on pause, there’s a wealth of music in their combined and individual catalogs to binge your way through. We suggest starting with “Hometown,” a track that’s stuck with us since its release on What Will We Do in 2019. 

Lucius

One in the solidly pop/pop-rock category, Lucius still have dabbled often and intentionally in Americana, folk, and country, as demonstrated by this track from their latest album, Second Nature, which features their friend and tourmate Brandi Carlile and country star Sheryl Crow. It listens more similar to Phoebe Bridgers’ or Lucy Dacus’ genre aesthetics overall, but still calls on two roots musicians and vocalists, highlighting the mainstream success such cross pollinations attract.

Kate & Anna McGarrigle

Known for their iconic, self-titled 1975 album Kate & Anna McGarrigle, often referred to as the McGarrigles or the McGarrigle Sisters, epitomized the post-folk revival appetite for sincerity, authenticity, and literature in song, but their music never felt trope-ish, cheesy, or painfully earnest at the same time. Instead, its impact comes from its vulnerability and raw emotion, as in “Go Leave,” a song written by Kate for her unfaithful husband (Loudon Wainwright III). The lyrics drip with an indelible pain, reminding of Lucy, Julien, and Phoebe all, who for ours and hopefully their own benefit, often bare their entire souls in song.

Our Native Daughters

There’s a quality to boygenius’ music that reminds of church, of songs intentionally crafted for group singing and raising our voices up together. Perhaps it’s their bond as friends or their love of seamlessly blended harmonies and unisons, perhaps it’s their own histories with and upbringings in/around the church, perhaps it’s the relatability of their lyrics, but whatever it is their music begs to be joined. The same is true for Songs of Our Native Daughters, by roots music allstars Rhiannon Giddens, Leyla McCalla, Amythyst Kiah, and Allison Russell. You can hear their voices twining not only in sound, but in message and mission, and listeners can’t help but feel the urge to sing along. Music by community and for community, that centers and celebrates the friendships of those creating it. 

The Secret Sisters

 The Secret Sisters have a penchant for the macabre, the spooky, the longest shadows and the darkest nights, often sung to a gritty minor key. They highlight the classic Southern Gothic aesthetics of their Alabama homeland with a groundedness and hair-raising realism. It’s not difficult to picture them, say, wearing rhinestoned skeleton suits. This collaboration with their friend and (sometimes) producer Brandi Carlile soars, highlighting the similarities between Laura Rogers’ and Lydia (Rogers) Slagle’s and Lucy Dacus’ voices. 

Larkin Poe

Now, from which folk and acoustic group can you get the rock and roll, shredding guitar solo, writhing on the ground, leaping into the crowd, pyrotechnic, Julien Baker-sprinting-across-the-stage, grand finale level energy for which boygenius is becoming known as they tour the record? It’s that caricature of a caricature of rockism that boygenius do so well. Look no further than blues duo Larkin Poe, made up of sisters Rebecca and Megan Lovell (who, the diehard fans will remember, began their careers as a family bluegrass band). Every song on their albums or in their live sets is dialed to eleven on the face-melting meter. They skewer the performative masculinity of the genres they inhabit – just like boygenius – not by mocking, but by doing it better. And we love the genderfuckery and queerness they bring performing a lyric like “She’s a Self Made Man.” Again, just like boygenius.

The Roches

What could be more archetypically boygenius than exploring familial trauma? A gutting hook standalone, taken in this context sung by sisters Maggie, Terre, and Suzzy Roche, “Runs in the Family” is jaw-dropping. Another group lauded and adored for their releases in ‘70s and into the ‘80s. Their music runs in the family, too, with Lucy Wainwright Roche (daughter of Suzzy), who is an accomplished singer-songwriter. Keep Dacus’ “Thumbs” and the record’s “Without You Without Them” in mind as you listen.

The Burney Sisters

Fuzzy, full, and angry guitar is the sound bed for this, the title track from The Burney Sisters’ latest album, Then We’ll Talk. One of the hallmarks of boygenius’ generation of women and femme rockers is that their expressions of anger, justice, agency, and self advocacy feel real, not just like costuming for a genre that prides itself on counterculture and middle fingers literal and proverbial. When you hear women express anger in rock and roll, it doesn’t feel affected or constructed, and that’s one of the main reasons why women continue to lead – and revive – the genre.

Shook Twins

Part of the appeal of a group like boygenius, and Shook Twins as well, is the beauty in lyrics simply stating exactly what they mean. These songs are accessible, listenable, resonant, and thereby incredibly impactful. “Safe” by Portland, Oregon-based twin sisters Katelyn Shook and Laurie Shook is one of their most popular numbers – especially their acoustic version. The singer cries out to be seen, heard, and loved. A common refrain for Phoebe, Lucy, and Julien as well. 

Photo Credit: Matt Grubb

Embracing Many Firsts In a Long Career, Laura Veirs Finds Her Own Light

Posted on by Editor

Laura Veirs has been carving her path forward. Found Light, her latest album, is packaged a bit differently than much of her discography. For one, it’s recorded live, flaws and all; she also stepped into a producer role for the very first time.

The latter is in part due to her divorce from former producer and collaborater Tucker Martine. In his stead she collaborated with Death Cab for Cutie’s Dave Depper and producer Shahzad Ismaily. Across 30 years of experience songwriting — “if you go from the start to now” — Veirs has released 12 albums, one EP, and a collaborative album with k.d. lang and Neko Case, appropriately named case/lang/veirs.

She’s homed in on playing music that sounds live, and even a little bit imperfect, and boasts a spate of influences, from riot grrl to Ethiopian jazz. Veirs spoke about her newfound independence, as well as her overarching career.

BGS: Could you tell me a little bit about what was going on in your life before and while you were recording the record?

Veirs: I was dating and mourning the loss of this long relationship, and trying to figure out how I was going to move forward as an individual because I’d become, I think, overly dependent on my ex’s opinion of everything that I was doing artistically. I reached out to a friend named Shahzad Ismaily, from New York, who ended up co-producing the record with me … I had found my sea legs in terms of being a single mom, and found a great collaborator in him in terms of feeling like we could co-produce as equals: there was no tension, there was no battling for dominance or anything like that. It was just very free and fun.

And we recorded live, which I hadn’t done much of at all: guitar, vocals, with him playing drums. The end result is a really fresh-sounding record — fresh for me because it’s number 12, but it’s very new. First time co-producing, first time curating all the songs myself. I overwrite, that’s something I’m working on now, is not writing too many songs … My goal is to not write more than 50 to get the 10 or 12 to record. I don’t even know if I’m going to make another record, honestly; I don’t feel drawn to it. I probably will, but I never want to make art or do creative things if I feel resistance to it.

Why did you decide to co-produce the album?

I didn’t feel the confidence yet to totally produce it myself. Also, I wanted a friend; I wanted to have another set of ears. And Shahzad was perfect for that. He’s very wide-ranging in his music tastes and his music experience, and he’s very skilled on many instruments … having a friend who I trusted was really nice because I was so used to trusting Tucker with everything and then just focusing on my parts, which were writing and playing in the studio.

I took more ownership of my music, or ownership of the sound. I tried to figure out more about what my taste is, and that was illuminating. I didn’t really do that before, even though I’ve been doing this for 22 years — 30 years, actually. I just hadn’t really, I guess, cared? I don’t know if it’s cared or been in a relationship with someone where I felt like I wanted to talk about that stuff and think about that stuff. If I make another record, I will want to produce again … I’d be curious to see how changing up my crew each time changes the sound of the record.

When you look back to your previous albums, what do you feel is a core difference in terms of your hand in production here?

It’s more sparse, which I like in general. … I can hear the difference. I don’t know whether other people would be able to, but I like that and I will go forward with [the live] approach. And more [leaving] a couple flat notes in there because that’s how I sang it. You know, don’t make it all sound perfect.

Can you tell me a little bit about your early interest in guitar?

I started off playing casually for fun at home at 18; my brother showed me some chords. I was listening to Joni Mitchell … and the pop music of that time, which was the early ‘90s. And when I went to college at Carleton College in Minnesota, I learned about the riot grrrl scene. I wrote [a letter] to Bikini Kill … and I asked, “How do you start a band?” And Tobi Vail, the drummer, wrote back, and she was like, “Play with as many people as you can, and have fun,” which was a really great way of saying, “Get out there and just do it.” And so I made an all-girl punk band.

I moved to Seattle and I was interested in punk music at that time: electric guitar, loud stuff. Then I got influenced by Gillian Welch, more of a country sound, slash I got interested in the roots of American folk music like Elizabeth Cotten, Mississippi John Hurt, Mance Lipscomb, all those people doing really complicated fingerstyle. I learned a bunch of that, and that really influenced the way that I played and wrote. It was a mix of those two things throughout, the older folk stuff and the more edgy punk stuff, and penduluming back between those things the whole time.

It’s funny you mentioned that, because I’ve been reading a book about riot grrrl.

Certainly the DIY ethos around that, like Ani DiFranco’s ethos of doing it yourself, still is a big part of the way I run my business, being my own record label, owning all my own music, being strongly involved in my management team — and they run my label, but they also run my career … I think that me being that involved comes from wanting to have control over my music, from the riot grrrl thing. From DIY punks.

As you were making this album, were there specific artists who inspired you?

In the writing, I was influenced by Adrianne Lenker, who I love. Her approach to her new album songs impacted me in terms of how she’s singing it, playing it live — there’s so much richness in a guitar and a voice and very few overdubs. … I’ve aspired to that for a long time, but I haven’t really done it. African music is an influence, like Oumou Sangaré and the way she uses polyrhythms and shakers, and also Alice Coltrane — she’s a harpist — you can hear her influence on some of the jazzier stuff … Pharoah Sanders from the Alice Coltrane stuff, we referenced him [for “Naked Hymn”].

This is quite a personal album. I think about this a lot in art: how much we share and don’t share about our lives and ourselves; what we warp and what we change and how honest we are. When you’re writing something, how do you decide how much you want to share?

That has also been a pendulum. I veered towards the more vulnerable, open, honest side on this one, and I’ve also pendulumed over to the more obscure, abstract or impressionistic lyrics, and I think both are valid and both are great. But I felt that it was important to get more into the nitty-gritty on this one because I had gone through such a raw, difficult experience: I didn’t want to sugar-coat it.

I would say there were songs like “Time Will Show You,” where I’m talking about Airbnb sex. That was a new thing, for me, to be that open. And initially I tossed that song in the bin … I think I was scared of sharing that much. I teach songwriting, and I teach writing workshops, and I’m always encouraging people to be vulnerable, because I feel like that’s where the connection point is. But then when I was actually doing it, I felt like maybe this is too much. I did have my kids in mind, and my ex: he did some awful stuff but … I didn’t throw him under any buses, which I could have done. But I didn’t want to do that, for my kids’ sake, and because I don’t want to live in that place. I don’t want to have to sing songs that way. I don’t want to have to relive it over and over again; I already have to relive it during interviews.

Of course, and you want to protect yourself too, how you feel; it’s hard to perform things that are so emotionally wrought.

Exactly. I don’t play certain songs. I won’t play “Eucalyptus”: I don’t feel like playing it. It’s the one about how he crushed me. And that’s the truth.

We’ve spoken a lot about having control over the process, so I’m wondering what you’ve discovered about yourself while making the album.

I have a public persona of being very confident, but when I went into this album, I did not feel confident at all. I feel a lot more confidence now in myself as a writer, without needing Tucker to say, “You’re okay.” I feel much more confident as a live player in the studio, a performance bass player, and I feel more confident as a producer: someone who could produce someone else’s record or produce my own record on my own without a co-producer, and those are big changes. That’s liberating for sure.

Outside of the album itself, are there any hobbies you’ve picked up that have fed into that independence or that sense of identity?

I started long-distance cycling … I started painting [too], because I moved to my new house about a year ago, and I didn’t have any art because I’d purged all our old art, slash didn’t have any art because Tucker was always decorating. I was like: Well, I don’t have a big budget. I just spent tons of money on my divorce. Let me start painting because I’ll put something on the wall myself. And then one thing led to the next and I was going into my obsessive mode where I was always painting … It’s been something that I felt has helped me claim my own self as an artist and not have any associations with my ex or pressure to collaborate.

It’s very freeing to pick up a new art form that feels practical in the sense that I can decorate my own home and other people’s homes. I still have that beginner’s mind, [but] I’m starting to feel a little bit of weirdness around it. That’s something I’m looking at: why do we start to get neurotic about art as we get more involved in it? Why can’t we keep that childlike wonder and that lack of attachment that you feel in the beginning? But still, it’s still fun for me and it’s not pressurized, whereas music is my career, it is how I make a living, it is how I feed my family, so there is pressure there that isn’t there with the visual arts yet.

Photo Credit: Shelby Brakken

8 of Our Favorite Underrated Sitch Sessions

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Since our first excursion to Bonnaroo in 2013 BGS has been filming, crafting, and releasing Sitch Sessions with the absolute best and brightest musicians and artists in roots music. We’ve been so fortunate to work with new and old friends, freshly discovered and up-and-coming artists, and legendary performers with enormous legacies. After nearly eight years, we’ve amassed quite an archive of sessions, and within that archive more than a few stellar songs and performances have seemingly fallen to the wayside. 

These 8 Sitch Sessions from the BGS archives are a few of our most favorite, underrated moments from our years of shooting sessions. We hope you’ll enjoy a few of these “reruns” — and take a deep dive into our past featured videos yourself!

Nathan Bowles – “Burnt Ends Rag”

One of our favorite shooting locations is a rooftop in downtown Los Angeles, where countless BGS Friends & Neighbors have taped their Sitch Sessions over the years. One of our favorites is this clawhammer banjo performance by Nathan Bowles, which demonstrates that old-time music and its trappings can be perfectly at home in modernity — and in urban settings, too. More banjos in DTLA, please and thank you!

Andrew Combs – “Firestarter”

One fine AmericanaFest week in Nashville in September a few years back we partnered with Crowell Floral, Jacob Blumberg, and Dan Knobler on The Silverstreak Sessions, a series of Sitch Sessions set in a vintage Airstream and flanked by gorgeous flowers and verdant foliage. At the time, “Firestarter” had not yet been released — now you can hear it on Combs’ 2019 release, Ideal Man. For this session all Combs needed was his guitar, this heartfelt song, and that honey sweet, aching voice. 

Alice Gerrard – “Maybe This Time” 

Every opportunity we’ve had to collaborate or speak with Bluegrass Hall of Famer and living legend Alice Gerrard, we’ve taken it! This session is two of a pair we shot with Gerrard, the other a stark, awe-inspiring a capella number that was quite popular on our channels. This Alice original, “Maybe This Time,” is cheerier, lighter, and has that charming old-time bounce in its bluegrass bones. 

With a new documentary film available, You Gave Me a Song, perhaps it’s about time for another session with this hero of ours!

Ben Sollee – “Pretend”

Maybe you’ve seen Mark O’Connor play fiddle while skateboarding, or Rushad Eggleston performing all manner of acrobatics and avant garde silliness with his cello, but do you remember when Ben Sollee toured America by bicycle? In this 2016 session, Sollee demonstrates his cello-while-pedaling chops. 

We’re firm believers that the world needs more bluegrass, old-time, and Americana cello and we’re happy to return to this archived Sitch Session for that reminder!

Caroline Spence – “Mint Condition”

Another session filmed on our home turf in Los Angeles, Nashville-based singer-songwriter Caroline Spence brought “Mint Condition” to her taping fresh off her debut, eponymous release on Rounder Records in 2019. “Mint Condition” displays Spence’s unique skill for writing strong, unassailable hooks that on almost any other songwriter’s page might trend cheesy or trite. Spence instead displays the simple profundity in her lyrics, a skill evidenced plainly in this session.

Laura Veirs – “July Flame”

Over the years, we’ve partnered with festivals, companies, and brands on tailor-made sessions — like our Portland series, where we partnered with our friends at Ear Trumpet Labs on some of our most popular, most viral Sitch Sessions ever! This beautiful, sunny, summery rendition of “July Flame” by Laura Veirs certainly deserves a re-up. 

In 2016, after this session was published, Veirs went on to release case/lang/veirs with Neko Case and k.d. lang. Remember that!? 

Kelsey Waldon – “Powderfinger”

We first filmed a Sitch Session with Kentuckian country singer and songwriter Kelsey Waldon in 2015 — after the release of her debut album, The Goldmine, in 2014. In the time that’s elapsed since, Waldon has followed her golden debut with two more impeccable studio albums, the latest being White Noise / White Lines, which was released on the late John Prine’s Oh Boy Records in 2019. On the tail of White Noise / White Lines, Waldon gave us this gorgeous cover of Neil Young’s “Powderfinger” displaying her talent for cover song interpretations as well as original song sculpting.

Sunny War – “He Is My Cell”

Guitarist and singer-songwriter Sunny War has just released a brand new album, Simple Syrup, as charming and entrancing as ever and built firmly, yet again, upon her unique and idiosyncratic guitar picking style. In 2018 she released With the Sun, an album that included “He Is My Cell,” which ended up featured in a Sitch Session in early 2019 on BGS. 

War recently appeared as a guest on our Shout & Shine series – read our interview here. 

 

MIXTAPE: Music to Drive Your Kids Around (Without Driving Yourself Crazy)

Posted on by Editor

Among the many writer’s hats I wear is one of children’s music reviewer. When my daughter was in grade school, it was fun playing various kids CDs for her. She’s in college now, so those days are gone. I did keep her in mind, however, when putting together this playlist, thinking about songs that she would tolerate listening to now.

A lot of people associate children’s music merely with those simple, preschool music-time tunes about numbers, letters, and other lessons for toddlers. And there certainly a lot of those songs. But, as in any genre, there is a lot of interesting children’s music being made too.

This mixtape is a “mix” in a several ways. It mixes together songs by “adult” musicians who have ventured nicely into the family music world as well as children’s musicians with what some might call “crossover potential.” There are originals and covers. Fast songs and slow ones. And hopefully it’s a mix that Bluegrass Situation families can enjoy on an hour-long drive, whether it’s a fast drive or a slow one.

To create some parameters, I chose recordings released since 2000, only recordings made for children, and, yes, only recordings found on Spotify (I couldn’t find Jessie Baylin’s Strawberry Wind or I Love: Tom T. Hall’s Songs of Fox Hollow or else they might have been represented here). Also, I also stayed away from songs that seem to appear on every fourth children’s album (sorry, “Rainbow Connection”). — Michael Berick

The Okee Dokee Brothers – “Hope Machine”

These “brothers,” Joe Mailander and Justin Lansing, have put out a handful of excellent, old-school, folk-inspired albums that mix originals with traditional tunes. You can hear the Woody Guthrie influence in this cheery, gently philosophical original from their 2020 album, Songs for Singing. Here, as in all their music, there’s a wonderful, easy-going approach that doesn’t dumb down to kids.

Elizabeth Mitchell – “Blue Sky (Little Martha Intro)”

This Elizabeth Mitchell isn’t the actress from Lost, but the singer/guitarist from ’80s indie rockers Ida. Over the past 20 years, she has also made many terrific children’s albums, mainly for Smithsonian Folkways. Featuring nifty guitar playing from her husband and longtime collaborator Daniel Littlefield, Mitchell’s acoustic cover of this Allman Brothers classic hails from her Blue Clouds album, where she also reconceives Bowie, Hendrix, and Van Morrison songs.

Randy Kaplan – “In a Timeout Now”

On his album Mr. Diddie Wah Diddie, Randy Kaplan has great fun taking “poetic license” with old blues tunes and, in this case, the Jimmie Rodgers hit “In the Jailhouse Now.” Kids will love the comical lyrics and parents will appreciate Kaplan’s inventive, child-friendly renovations on roots music nuggets.

Laura Veirs – “Soldier’s Joy”

I read somewhere that “Soldier’s Joy” is one of the most played fiddle tunes of all time — and that it was a slang term for morphine during the Civil War. Veirs, who hails from the Northwest indie rock scene, keeps her version on the toe-tapping PG side. This duet with The Decemberists’ Colin Meloy comes from her highly recommendable, and only, children’s album, Tumble Bee.

Wee Hairy Beasties – “Animal Crackers”

This kooky side project by alt-country all-stars features Jon Langford (Waco Brothers/The Mekons), Sally Timms (The Mekons), Kelly Hogan, and Devil in the Woodpile. Pun lovers of all ages will revel in the wild wordplay running through the title track to this decidedly goofy 2006 album.

Little Mo’ McCoury – “The Fox”

Little Mo’ McCoury arguably stands as the most authentic bluegrass album for children, at least in the 21st century. Ronnie McCoury leads his family band through a set of old-timey tunes plus “You’ve Got A Friend” and “Man Gave Name to All the Animals.” While there are some overly familiar choices (“This Old Man,” “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad), “The Fox” provides a frisky workout of this bluegrass standard.

Meat Purveyors – “The Crawdad Song”

“The Crawdad Song,” along with “Froggie Went A-Courting/King Kong Kitchie Kitchie Ki-Me-O” must rank as the traditional tunes most frequently recorded for children. I included “Crawdad” here because it is the one ingrained more in my brain. And I picked this version because of the Meat Purveyors’ speedy bluegrass-y rendition. You’ll find it on Bloodshot Records’ irreverent kids’ compilation, The Bottle Let Me Down (although parents might want to listen to it before sharing with their little ones).

Red Yarn – “Rabbit in a Log”

Red Yarn (the nom de plume for Oregon-based musician Andy Furgeson) makes rootsy music that appeals to all ages. He frequently travels an early rock and roll route but he follows a more acoustic road on this hopped-up banjo-powered take of the old folk tune that appears on his Born in the Deep Woods album.

Johnette Downing – “J’ai Vu Le Loup, Le Renard Et La Belette”

Louisiana music is a popular Americana style in children’s music, probably because it so easily gets kids dancing. On her album Swamp Rock, the New Orleans musician Johnette Downing does a marvelous job presenting, and explaining, a variety of Louisiana-bred music and culture. This bilingual animal tale (“I Saw the Wolf, the Fox and the Weasel”) showcases two Cajun greats: fiddler Joel Savoy and accordionist Roddie Romero.

Kare Strong & Josh Goforth – “To The Country We Will Go”

Slowing down the tempo a bit, “To the Country We Will Go” offers a leisurely family trip. This song, as with most Kare Strong’s music, contains elements of English folk ballads. Providing the banjo, fiddle and other musical accompaniment is Josh Goforth, a bluegrass vet who has played with David Holt, Appalachian Trail, and Carolina Road.

Francis England – “Blue Canoe”

Sticking in the traveling mode, “Blue Canoe” is a charming little outing from Francis England, who makes consistently excellent music for families. This tune appears on her debut, Fascinating Creatures, an album where I would recommend “Charlie Parker” and “The Books I Like to Read” too.

Dan Zanes featuring Valerie June – “Take This Hammer”

While Zanes is right at the top of the best-known kids musicians today, I couldn’t resist including something by him. He has a whole bunch of fine tunes to choose from and I wound up landing on this one, which he sings with Valerie June, from his 2017 tribute album, Lead Belly, Baby!

Sarah Lee Guthrie – “Go Waggaloo”

I couldn’t exclude the name “Guthrie” from this mixtape. For this title track to her family music album, Sarah Lee (Woody’s granddaughter and Arlo’s daughter) wrote a song using unpublished lyrics her grandfather had written. Starting off like a silly sing along, the tune quickly goes deeper becoming a somewhat autobiographical look at Woody’s life.

Josh Lovelace with Spirit Family Reunion – “Going to Knoxville”

Lovelace took a break from his day job as keyboardist in rock band Needtobreathe to make a kids album. A standout track on Young Folks, “Going to Knoxville” is joy-filled, driving-in-a-car love song, with Spirit Family Reunion’s Nick Panken and Maggie Carson contributing some singing and banjo playing.

Beth Nielsen Chapman with Kid Pan Alley – “Little Drop of Water”

Kid Pan Alley, a Virginia-based nonprofit, sends songwriters into schools to collaborate with students. Chapman wrote this song with a third-grade class. Besides its strong message about water conservation, it’s pretty darn catchy too. My family still remembers it over a dozen years after the disc was last in our car’s CD player.

Justin Roberts – “Rolling Down the Hill”

One of the most skillful songwriters in the children’s music scene, Roberts usually operates in the pop/rock field, so this is a rare tune of his with a fiddle. Roberts injects just enough details into this playful ditty to make it resonate with both parents and kids — without slowing down the momentum.

Shovels & Rope with The Secret Sisters – “Mother Earth Father Time”

The just-released third volume in Shovels & Rope’s Busted Jukebox series is a set of family-oriented covers entitled Busted Juicebox. The husband-wife duo Michael Trent and Cary Ann Hearst partnered with The Secret Sisters for a sweetly sung rendition of this tune from the 1973 animated film version of Charlotte’s Web.

Sarah Sample and Edie Carey – “If I Needed You”

These two singer-songwriters teamed up back in 2014 to make ‘Til the Morning, a lullaby album that shouldn’t just be restricted to nap time. This Townes Van Zandt gem was a particularly inspired choice and their tender interpretation is quite moving.

Alastair Moock with Aoife O’Donovan – “Home When I Hold You”

Moock is a Massachusetts singer-songwriter whose family albums often tackle themes like inclusivity or social action. This track comes from Singing Our Way Through, an inspiring, powerful work he made for families dealing with pediatric cancer. His duet with Aoife O’Donovan conveys a simple yet poignant message of love from parents to a child.

Sara Watkins – “Pure Imagination”

Watkins’ first family album, Under the Pepper Tree, arrives on March 26, and its first single offers an appetizing hint of what’s to come. Watkins’ heavenly, soaring vocals highlight her gorgeous rendering of this Charlie and the Chocolate Factory tune. And celebrating the magic of creativity and the freedom of possibilities seems like a sweet note to leave families with.

 

WATCH: Raye Zaragoza, “They Say” (Featuring Colin Meloy & Laura Veirs)

Posted on by Editor

Artist: Raye Zaragoza (feat. Colin Meloy on harmonica and Laura Veirs on banjo)
Hometown: New York City
Song: “They Say”
Album: Woman in Color (produced by Tucker Martine)
Release Date: October 23, 2020
Label: Rebel River Records

In Their Words: “This song is about the dysfunction of American power structures. It’s about how the systems built to support the people don’t support all people. Especially during a pandemic, it’s been exposed how those lower on the socio-economic ladder are left without the basic resources everyone deserves.” — Raye Zaragoza

Photo credit: Cultivate Consulting

MIXTAPE: Lydia Ramsey’s Songs to Keep Your Heart Inspired

Posted on by Editor

There’s so much going on in the world right now, I find myself feeling somewhat unhinged at times. For me, the best remedy for fighting that feeling is writing, playing, and listening to music. In September, I released a new album, Flames for the Heart, which was written on themes of hopefulness, resilience, and discovering how to keep yourself inspired to move through this life with joy. Here’s a selection of songs that help do that for me. — Lydia Ramsey

Chris Staples – “Walking With a Stranger”

Chris is a dear friend I met in Seattle, Washington. I’m always impressed with his simple and poignant arrangements, there’s an understated sweetness to his voice and cathartic messages in his songs. In most of his songs he’s playing all the instruments and he often also records everything himself in his garage.

Kevin Morby – “Aboard My Train”

Kevin Morby is another one for me who’s able to bring a sweet vocal tone with hopeful lyricism through fun musical ‘60s rock vibes. He’s been putting out so much great music, I like this tune in particular on a gloomy day.

Laura Veirs – “I Can See Your Tracks”

I love the fingerpicking in this one and the soft, makes-you-feel-like-floating arrangement she has worked out — with the reverb on her voice and background vocals creating lovely, layered textures. The lyrics have a theme of forgiveness I like to reflect on when I think about the difficult people in my life.

Lydia Ramsey – “Things Get Better”

I wrote this song thinking about all the good things happening around us every day. Good people helping each other out, and calling each other out when things aren’t right. I believe keeping hope in our hearts is paramount in keeping ourselves intact through the troubles we face.

Fruit Bats – “My Sweet Midwest”

I love the pace of this song, it feels like getting rocked in a hammock in the breeze. It always puts me in a good mood and it’s sweet thinking about all the beautiful parts of this vast country, and people everywhere celebrating the place they call home.

Julie Byrne – “Sleepwalker”

I fell in love with Julie through her record Not Even Happiness when I filled in for her on a show opening for Steve Gunn. The vocal stylings on this are so dreamy and that clear guitar tone is so gorgeous I could listen to this song for days.

Becca Mancari – “Golden”

I met Becca at a show she opened in Seattle when I sang backing vocals with the band Joseph. Her record Good Woman has this rad pedal steel all over it and I just love the swoony, warm tones of this song especially.

Adrianne Lenker – “symbol”

I love Adrianne’s sort of stream of consciousness lyricism, quick rhymes, and hypnotic melodies that later break free with the guitar into this little chorus. Her work with Big Thief is also great, but I often lean into these tender songs of hers a bit more.

Neko Case – “I Wish I Was the Moon”

You know how when you watch someone just shred on the guitar you think, “Oh, that’s how you play a guitar”? When I hear Neko sing I’m like, “Oh, THAT’S how you sing.” I think we all wish we could be the moon sometimes, where we can’t help but shine, high up above it all.

Lydia Ramsey – “Take My Only Heart”

A few years ago, two friends of mine sold their house and everything they owned to travel the world together. I wrote this song loving the idea that all we need is each other to face and embrace the unknown depths of the world.

Photo credit: Kendall Rock

MIXTAPE: Joseph’s Night Drive

Posted on by Editor

All three of us went to college in Seattle at a school tucked between Fremont and Queen Anne. At the time, pre-Amazon, we knew the city best for its bridges and sailor vibes and constant grey blanket of melancholy. When you’re driving around at night on top of Queen Anne Hill, thinking about your unrequited love (just me?) the city views of blinking lights are spectacular and the LiveJournal entry is brewing in your mind. These are the songs you’re listening to. – Joseph (Natalie Schepman, Allison and Meegan Closner)

Nick Drake – “From the Morning”

I chose the song with “morning” in the title as the first track of this Night Drive mixtape. Sequence is very important in a mix for a night drive. The first verse says “A day once dawned from the ground / Then the night she fell.” It sets the stage and delivers the opening monologue. — Natalie

Laura Veirs – “When You Give You Give Your Heart”

One of my favorite songwriters:

“My stampeding buffalo
Stops in her tracks and watches the snow
Falling through the old oak tree
When you give your heart to me.” — Natalie

Blanco White – “Ollala”

I found this song on a curated Spotify playlist and I haven’t been able to stop listening to it. It’s become one of my partner’s and my favorite songs to listen to together. — Allie

Fleetwood Mac – “Sara”

My friend showed me this song and told me her Mom used to sing it to her as a kid while she was tucking her into bed. I’ve never been able to shake that childhood movie moment when I hear this song. I listen to it as though that were my own comforting memory. — Meegan

Iron & Wine – “Naked as We Came”

This is a mood, isn’t it? I bet anyone who loved this song gets taken back to where they listened to it. It’s the quintessential Night Drive feeling. — Natalie

John Moreland – “Hang Me in the Tulsa County Stars”

This song means 1,000 things to me, but mostly it’s always felt like coming home. In a lot of uncertain times I returned to this song over and over again to ground me. — Meegan

Death Cab for Cutie – “A Lack of Color”

When I was first curious about how to write songs, Death Cab was big for me. He starts the song with “and” like you’re already in a conversation and that wowed me. — Natalie

Bob Dylan – “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right”

I heard this song later on in life (within the last year) and fell in love with Bob Dylan’s voice. I know… took me a minute. I love the tongue-in-cheek feel of it and it has given me many special listening moments. — Allie

Sufjan Stevens – “Casimir Pulaski Day”

Sufjan. Mind blowing for me. I’m amazed by his matter-of-fact, deadpan delivery while singing about scenes that combine the horror of cancer right next to “the complications you could do without when I kissed you on the mouth.” It feels like acceptance. It’s devastating but it feels true in my chest. — Natalie

Nickel Creek – “Sabra Girl”

I listened to this song in headphones every night as I fell asleep in my dorm room freshman year. The acoustic guitar, the mandolin, the violin, Sara’s voice. Perfect. — Natalie

Photo credit: Louis Browne

Keeping Watch: A Conversation with Laura Veirs

Posted on by Editor

Laura Veirs’ new album, The Lookout, celebrates a significant milestone for the singer/songwriter: It marks her 10th solo album. For a musician 20 years into her career, that’s a significant output upon which to reflect at a time when reflection has become more crucial than ever. Like many indie folk artists — those forever attuned to the social, economic, and even political struggles of the world they attempt to capture in song — Veirs has been wrestling with the changes that have taken place since Donald Trump became president. In many ways small and large, his leadership has legitimized certain behaviors that once existed in the shadows. Now, they are out in the open. It’s time more than ever, then, to be on the lookout.

Veirs penned her new album around the trope of protection. The characters that surface across all 12 songs oscillate between protecting and needing protection, because humans, in all their complexity, never simply occupy one role. She punctuates that subject matter with stark and striking natural imagery — meadows, lightning, frost, fire … each setting or accoutrement placing in sharp relief exactly how fragile people truly are, and why we must take care of one another’s safekeeping. After all, as she sings on “When It Grows Darkest,” “When it grows darkest, the stars come out.”

The Lookout is filled with quiet flourishes. Veirs tapped Sufjan Stevens’ steady, whisper-soft vocals for “Watch Fire,” a reminder about staying vigilant for prowling wolves, while “The Lookout” praises the relationship she’s built with husband Tucker Martine — how it’s a safe haven in times of trouble. As foreboding as some of Veirs’ imagery is on The Lookout, her folk sensibility and elegant melodic strains leave the album leaning more toward hope than despair. Keeping watch can be exhausting, but it’s a worthwhile fight.

This album presents an interesting dichotomy: There are characters who protect and characters who need protection. Which side of the line do you think you fall on?

I’d say I’m more in the protector role, as a parent of young children, but I also feel very vulnerable and confused. It’s a very chaotic time and a very confusing time to live in, so I feel I need protection. That song, “The Lookout,” is about my husband Tucker and how he looks out for me, and how precious it is for someone to have your back like that, and how hard it is to trust everyday people sometimes, especially with the divisions we have in our country.

There’s this guy who killed another guy on a train in Portland, and that kind of racial violence and misogyny and the rock getting turned over is just so upsetting. I mean it’s always been like that, but I feel like, with this new administration, there’s this legitimization of violence that we haven’t seen in recent years, and it makes me feel like I want to protect and also need protection myself.

Speaking of parenting, it’s one thing to navigate these newer changes as an individual, but how are you helping guide your children?

He’s gone to protests with us in the past — he went to the Women’s March. We do everything we can to expose them to powerful voices of color, and powerful women, and to have friendships that are not just people exactly like us, to take him to public school, and to support the public school system as much as we can, and to be good citizens, and to show them that it’s a complicated world, but you have your own voice and you have your own power in this. Even though you’re just a child and even though we’re just artists, we can use our voices to try and make the world a better place.

Which is what makes this album so special because you’re working against that sense of complacency that got us to November 2016. On “Seven Falls,” the chorus includes that line about struggling to be kind, so how do you personally fight that?

I definitely have struggled to have compassion and empathy for people who have radically different political views from me.

It’s so hard!

It is hard, and they write us off, which is why we have such a divide, but we need to find a way to bridge it. In that song, it was a little more personal than political, in terms of me thinking that, even though I don’t want to be mean, sometimes I am. We all have a dark side. I need to look at that side of myself to move past it. It could be as simple as just yelling at the kids less, or speaking to my husband in a nicer tone instead of being short and quick. It takes discipline, basically, to not go to that dark place. It can be tiring. Sometimes you just want to be impatient and be a jerk. It’s about the dark side of human nature and how we contend with that, and how it can stay with you, even though you’re getting older. It doesn’t mean you’ve moved past it.

Absolutely, which is why it’s so important to keep talking about it. To pretend it doesn’t exist does everyone a disservice.

Yes.

Does your sense of wonder, either for life or language, feel dulled after 20 years in the business?

Oh, definitely. I think that’s one of the biggest challenges for artists who continue on through decades is how do you maintain your passion for the craft. So much of it is a slog; so much of it is grunt work and there’s no reward. I try to remember there is a reward, and for me they’re, “Wow! I totally got in the flow today, and I forgot time!” That’s a hard thing for a parent of young children to do, because we’re so under the clock. If I can get into that flow state, that feels like such a gift, and that is often where my good writing comes from. I can’t get there all that often, but when I do, it feels so good, and it fuels the next session of writing, which will probably be sort of fallow.

Also, it’s an opportunity to realize how you’ve done this a long time. There’s truly an infinite path here of discovery, whether that means totally changing the way that I’m writing lyrics, or whether that means I’m studying a different style of guitar — I’m learning new chords. I’m changing tunings. I’m studying how other people have written songs in detail. I’m reading books about songwriting. I’m using a very limited palette to limit myself, in terms of chords or guitars or instruments or tracks on a demo. It’s definitely a big challenge to stay in that beginner mind, because you’re not a beginner anymore, but if I can remember that sense of wonder that I felt in the beginning, it does remind me, like, “You still can get there because there’s still so much to learn.” It just takes effort.

It’s tough when you’re a parent because you’re balancing the needs of your children with your creative need, which is why I appreciate the song “Everybody Needs You,” because it’s such an honest moment. How do you carve out time for your creative needs knowing that, if you don’t, it will suffer?

Well, I do treat it as my job, and I’ve always done that. I feel privileged in that I can choose my own hours. I have usually four-to-six-hour days, four days a week. That’s my work schedule. I’ll usually write two-to-three hours of the morning, and then I’ll spend a couple of hours catching up on emails or shopping or cleaning the kitchen or just even going for a run. I don’t usually spend more than three hours writing; I just don’t have the focus. When I am writing, I’m really focused on that. I’ve always done it that way.

That kind of discipline is fantastic.

Yeah, I mean, certain days I guess I don’t really get to it, but mostly I do. And then I’ll take long periods off. I haven’t written a song since I finished making the record in July because I started a podcast, Midnight Lightning. It has taken a remarkable amount of time and energy, and also I wanted a break. I was so burnt out. I feel like breaks are good for people, too. If you get too wrapped up in what someone’s expecting of you, you’ll burn out quick.

How has Midnight Lighting been a different kind of creative influence for you?

I’ve been learning a lot about the art of interviewing, which I hadn’t studied at all. I’ve been listening to that podcast The Turnaround with Jesse Thorn, and he discusses interview techniques with different famous interviewers, and I learned a lot about that. I’ve only done 16 interviews, but I’m really enjoying it.

It’s kind of easy for me — in terms of the subject matter is so close to my heart — to connect with other people. This season, it’s the moms, and I might do another season with dads. It’s been neat to try out the creative side of coming up with questions that feel new and interesting, and then just the risk-taking of not really having notes, and just having a couple things jotted down and winging it. That’s been a good exercise for me. I’ve gotten a lot out of it, and it’s extended my community a lot, which is why I started it.

It’d certainly be interesting to hear from dads in the next season. Now, you said you wrote “Watch Fire” with Sufjan’s voice in mind. You’ve been friends for some time, so why this collaboration now?

I said in the press release that I thought of it, but actually Tucker did. He was really the one who heard Sufjan’s voice on there and, once he said that, I really could hear it. We’d never asked him before, but he’d asked me to sing on something, and it felt like a natural thing to try. He did it, and it sounds like a good fit for his voice, that line that he’s singing.

Right, and I love that sense of historical circularity — there’s always a wolf we have to watch out for. How do we stay on guard?

I think just looking up, looking out. Don’t get so buried in your phone. You see all these people on the street — I sound like an old lady — but they don’t even look up anymore. Keeping your eyes open and looking out for each other and staying awake, whatever that means. Stay alert.

Lastly, nature plays a large role on this project. You position people in places steeped in natural imagery. With your background in geology, are you always aware of this connection between people and the environment?

Yeah, my parents took us camping a million times growing up. We spent a lot of time outside. My dad was a physics professor and always explained how everything works, and my mom was an artist and craft weaver, and I really do feel like that combination of my mom and dad comes into my work a lot.