Tag: Los Angeles

Basic Folk – Amy Correia

Posted on by Shelby Williamson

LA-based singer-songwriter Amy Correia will tell you that she is not a prolific writer, which… okay maybe she doesn’t write a million songs in one year, but holy crap, those songs and that voice will wallop you. Originally from Lakeville, Massachusetts, Amy’s musical roots lay in New York City’s Lower East Side in a scene that produced Jeff Buckley, Richard Julian and Jesse Harris.

 

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She discovered her musical voice while recovering from a back injury her junior year of college. She was actually a big fan of laying in bed and doing nothing but writing songs and playing around on her guitar. After college, she was playing around and got offered a major label deal, recorded an album with seven different producers and countless musicians, left her label and signed another deal, which would eventually become the place where she released her debut, Carnival Love, in the year 2000. Another album followed in 2004 (fan funded) and another in 2010 (also fan funded). She opened for big acts like Chrissie Hynde, John Hiatt, Richard Thompson and Marc Cohn. She started living in Boston, fully embraced by “a collective of musicians who uplifted her with their creative camaraderie,” which included Kimon Kirk who turned out to be one of her most important friends and collaborators.

Kimon encouraged Amy to record this new batch of songs on her latest release, the EP As We Are, which just came out in March 2022. During our conversation, Amy revealed that the recording session took place in 2015, but she wasn’t ready to release the music until now. Kimon had persuaded her to revisit the songs during the pandemic and the plan was set in motion for the EP. We also discussed Amy’s connection to spirituality, her affinity and experience in the theater world and letting go of control. She also opens up about her relationship to her singing voice, which is so special and always digs deep in me every time I hear it. I hope you enjoy this wonderful and vulnerable conversation with Amy Correia!

Photo Credit: Chris Strother

WATCH: Bhi Bhiman, “Up All Night”

Posted on by Editor

Artist: Bhi Bhiman
Hometown: St. Louis but currently lives in Los Angeles
Song: “Up All Night”
Release Date: April 8, 2022

In Their Words: “I started writing this song when my wife’s dad started to get very sick. He was given about 10 days to live but hung on for two months. And during that time, my wife and her sister would take turns staying up with him all night, talking about life, and hearing stories nearly forgotten. Meanwhile, I was home with our daughter trying to hold down the fort. I’d often write and record in my little home studio after I put her to bed. One night, I started picking this melody and the lyrics just sort of poured out while playing guitar. I was feeling it, so I recorded it live in a couple takes, with some of the guitar bleeding into the vocal mic. I think most people will think that it’s a parent’s song, especially from the music video, but that’s just one half of it. The other half is about being responsible for our elders, and providing them the same care we receive when we enter this world.” — Bhi Bhiman

Photo courtesy of the artist

BGS 5+5: Teddy Grossman

Posted on by Editor

Artist Name: Teddy Grossman
Hometown: Philadelphia; based in Los Angeles
New Album: Soon Come

Which artist has influenced you the most … and how?

John Prine. John’s music has been a fixture in my life ever since childhood, and has provided a lot of comfort and guidance throughout the years. He had a Buddha-like humor and lightness, and of course could turn a phrase with devastating beauty and truth. A true master. His last record Tree of Forgiveness is among my favorites, and kept me company during a pretty lonely time during my first year in LA. The last time I saw him live was right before the pandemic and his passing, in October 2019. He was as lively as ever — literally dancing on the floor by the end of his set. Will never forget it.

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

Hearing Stevie Wonder for the first time is one that stands out. I have this profound memory of my dad playing me “Isn’t She Lovely” in sixth grade, and something inside me changed. It was the first time I remember music lighting me up, tapping into this inner sacred core that little else in this world does.

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

“Soon Come” probably. I knew it was going to be the album name before it was actually a completed song, so the stakes were unfairly high.

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

Meatloaf and George Jones.

What’s your favorite memory from being on stage?

My favorite moments on stage are usually the ones that I have very little memory of. Pure presence in the moment, and flies by in a flash. An emotional blackout of sorts in the best kind of way. The last show I played — Rock N Roll Church at Eagle Rock Presbyterian (LA) — definitely comes to mind. It was right before things shut down again, and was a celebration of the incredibly vibrant Los Angeles singer-songwriter community. It was glorious.

Photo Credit: Steph Port

LISTEN: Colin Hay, “Now and the Evermore” (Ft. Ringo Starr)

Posted on by Editor

Artist: Colin Hay
Hometown: Los Angeles, California
Song: “Now and the Evermore”
Album: Now and the Evermore
Release Date: March 18, 2022
Label: Lazy Eye/Compass Records

In Their Words: “‘Now And The Evermore’ is a reminder to myself, to make the most of what time I have left walking around on top of the planet. When I listen to it, it transports me back to when I thought I had all the time in the world. It is a song which is unashamedly inspired by the majesty of The Beatles, and the gift they gave us all. Having Ringo Starr play on the track is more than icing on the cake.

“I’m deeply grateful for the life I have, and I think my natural tendency has always been towards optimism and humor. Lately, though, I’ve had to be more intentional about it. I’ve had to actively seek out the positive, to let new rays of hope shine on some seemingly dark situations.” — Colin Hay

Photo Credit: Paul Mobley

LISTEN: Joan Osborne, “Saint Teresa” (KCRW, 1995)

Posted on by Editor

Artist: Joan Osborne
Hometown: Anchorage, Kentucky, and Brooklyn, New York
Song: “Saint Teresa” (KCRW, 1995)
Album: Radio Waves
Release Date: February 22, 2022
Label: Womanly Hips Records

In Their Words: “When the Relish album came out I had already done years of shows around the Northeast, but I think this was my first time visiting LA. I had one of those crazy Hollywood experiences of seeing my face on a billboard on Sunset Boulevard on our way to the radio station, and it was totally surreal: I mean I was pleased but that kind of thing was never a goal of mine.

“I remember feeling that the band and I were very much in synch on this day; we had been playing these songs for weeks on tour already and we felt relaxed and confident. I was listening to a lot of the great qawwali singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan in the van during this time and you might hear a little bit of that influence in my performance.” — Joan Osborne

Photo Credit: Jeff Fasano

BGS Top 50 Moments: The LA Bluegrass Situation at Largo

Posted on by Amy Reitnouer

It was 2010 when the true origins of “The Sitch” first materialized.  For five days in May, BGS founder Ed Helms congregated a lauded lineup of roots artists at the storied Largo at the Coronet Theatre in Los Angeles.  That first annual LA Bluegrass Situation festival included the likes of Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers, The Watkins Family Hour, Gillian Welch, Will Ferrell, Jackson Browne, The Infamous Stringdusters, and Ed’s Whiskey Sour Radio Hour variety showcase.

In the festivals that followed, LABS brought in the likes of Nickel Creek, John C. Reilly, the Punch Brothers, Willie Watson, and many others before broadening to bigger venues across Los Angeles.  The online iteration of “The Bluegrass Sitch” wouldn’t come to fruition for another two years, but the heart of it was all there, on stage at Largo, from the very start.

Photo Credit: Lincoln Andrew Defour

WATCH: Ethan Sherman, “Cup & Porch” (Live)

Posted on by Editor

Artist: Ethan Sherman
Hometown: Los Angeles, California
Song: “Cup & Porch”
Album: Indoor Vistas
Release Date: March 4, 2022

In Their Words: “This is one of the first tunes I wrote for this record. Broadly, it’s inspired by some musical ideas I’ve picked up listening to folks like Bryan Sutton and Béla Fleck over the years. One of the many things I love about their composing is the way they take timeless fiddle-tune-y themes through rhythmic mazes that seem totally arbitrary at first, but reveal themselves to be deceptively melody-driven the more you listen. That’s something I tried to do with this tune, as well as give everyone lots of room to improvise and play off each other within the arrangement.

“This new record (Indoor Vistas) was tracked remotely over lockdown, so this video session was one of the first times I’ve played these tunes with other musicians, in the same room, in real time! Joining me in this video are Gabe Witcher on fiddle, Greg Fleischut on mandolin, and Tim McNalley on bass. The album version features McNalley, Thomas Cassell, Matthew Davis, and Avery Merritt.” — Ethan Sherman

Photo Credit: Evan Zee

WATCH: Haroula Rose, “Time’s Fool”

Posted on by Editor

Artist: Haroula Rose
Hometown: Chicago, now LA
Song: “Time’s Fool”
Album: Catch the Light
Release Date: June 2022
Label: Little Bliss/Tonetree

In Their Words: “It feels like so much about love has also to do with timing, not only in the external world but in our internal worlds, our own emotional maps so to speak. Sometimes we are open to things more fully, and other times we are not, but wish we could be or could have been. So this song is, in a sense, a plea for someone to be patient with one’s heart, having the knowledge that you might not be ready but want to be and could be, that becoming more intimate with someone is scary but beautiful sometimes and so requires some extra time or care.

“I wrote this song in the UK with Geoff Martyn during a songwriting residency in Sussex. It was quiet which is fitting since it is inspired by the Shakespeare Sonnet 116 that is perhaps most familiar to people from Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility, which is one of my absolute favorite films:

Love’s not Time’s fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle’s compass come;
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.

“Molly Parden is singing the harmonies and callbacks. I love Molly’s voice so much. Trying some more close and dissonant harmonies felt really cool and organic. You can also hear me fingerpicking on the guitar, Omar Velasco on the second/higher guitar part, and the inimitable Greg Leisz on the pedal steel. I was so excited to have this group of musicians on this track.” — Haroula Rose

Photo Credit: Logan Fahey