Basic Folk: Blind Pilot

Oregon-bred indie folk music outfit Blind Pilot go on a deep spiritual journey on their new album, In the Shadow of the Holy Mountain, produced by Josh Kaufman. The music inspiration for frontman Israel Nebeker lay in his songwriting process. This is the first Blind Pilot album in eight years, because after struggling with writing for years, Nebeker set aside the songs he had been working on. (Which will be included on a new solo record in 2025.) He gave himself a month to write an album’s worth of songs to present to the band. He demo-ed the songs and headed out for a trip centered around spiritual growth in Norway.

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Searching for ancestral connections and tracing his own roots, Nebeker sought out the Sámi – a semi-nomadic Scandinavian people – their culture and community. He participated in a Sámi shamanic journey exploring indigenous spirituality. A shaman took him on a drum journey and invited him to listen for ancestors and visions. His vision included his ancestors beckoning him to a path that led straight to a mountain, which was clearly his family legacy and origin. Back in the studio with the band, he re-listened to his songs and was very surprised to realize that the album was about his ancestors. The connection that the rest of the band felt in delivering the music is palpable. The special emotional dynamic that always exists with Blind Pilot is supercharged on In the Shadow of the Holy Mountain.


Photo Credit: Shervin Lainez

Basic Folk: Lisa Loeb

Looking back at her wildly successful and always adventurous career up to this point, it feels inevitable that Lisa Loeb was always going to be a songwriter. But young Lisa probably could have done any creative job well. She grew up surrounded by music, yes, but she also had a passion for theater and got her degree in comparative literature. It was her theater and film side hustles that led Lisa to her first big break. Lisa’s friend Ethan Hawke shared her song “Stay” with Ben Stiller, who included the song in the soundtrack for the film Reality Bites. “Stay” was a massive hit and Lisa was the first-ever artist to have a Number 1 hit on the Billboard charts without a recording contract.

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The second act of Loeb’s career is the main focus of our Basic Folk conversation. This chapter in the book of Lisa Loeb is all about… children’s music! As her latest album, That’s What It’s All About, demonstrates, Loeb has managed to keep playfulness and curiosity at the center of her life well into adulthood. She has figured out the delicate balance of making music for kids that adults can relate to as well. Happy memories of music from her own childhood, as well as nods to her elders, make this new record a sonic storybook that listeners of all ages will enjoy.


Photo Credit: Juan Patino

LISTEN: Lisa Loeb featuring Ed Helms, ‘Wanna Do Day’

Artist: Lisa Loeb (featuring Ed Helms)
Hometown: Los Angeles, CA
Song: "Wanna Do Day"
Album: Feel What U Feel 
Release Date: October 7
Label: Furious Rose Productions

In Their Words: "The song 'Wanna Do Day' is a song about too many things to do in a day and the pressure and stress of all of those things, and not enough time to do what 'I wanna do.' The song was a rambling song, to represent the feeling of that kind of day — perfect for a banjo. Ed and I saw each other recently at a TV show premiere in Los Angeles, and we talked about playing together. So, all of the stars aligned, and he came in and played the rambling banjo for me and now the song sounds like there’s a lot of activity going on!" — Lisa Loeb


Photo credit: Frances Iacuzzi