Tag: Miles of Music

Basic Folk: Liv Greene

Posted on by Shelby Williamson

Oh, how I’ve longed to talk to Liv Greene. Every once in a while you come across a young artist that seems older and wiser than her 26 years. Liv’s been giving me that impression since I met her in 2019, when she was at Club Passim waiting tables and breaking hearts on the stage at just 21 years. Ok, enough about being young.

Liv’s been writing, studying music, and going to music camps since she was 12. Arguably she’s been studying music all her life with her Americana loving parents, who were filling the house with the sounds of Patty Griffin, Emmylou Harris, and Shawn Colvin, to name a few women in heavy rotation at the Greene house. Being the only of her friends that liked that kind of music, Liv attended many D.C.-area concerts with her mom, taking in the magic of live music at a very tender age. Speaking of tenderness, that’s what Liv Greene is all about and she digs into it in our conversation.

Liv started writing and playing shortly after she was inspired by a Taylor Swift concert. From there, she took off on the instrument and even sought out music education in camps like Miles of Music in New Hampshire. It was at that camp, as well as the arts academy Interlochen High School, where she started meeting peers with similar interests. She found herself living for summers with her music camp friends. Prior to her senior year at Interlochen, Liv was a closeted queer at her all-girls Catholic school mostly writing fictionalized stories into her songs because she could not deal with who she was.

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Liv attended and graduated from The New England Conservatory of Music and released her debut album (produced by Isa Burke) right in time for the pandemic in May of 2020. Shortly after that, she moved to Nashville and has spent the last several years on an intense path of self-discovery. Liv found her community, came out, wrote, and self-produced her new album, Deep Feeler (out October 18). On the album, you can hear the growth she’s experienced and you can hear her thriving in her corner of the Nashville music scene, including indie folk. We talk about all of this, including what it means to have a neurodivergent brain, music production, the roller skating community, and Liv’s favorite Taurus personality traits.

Photo Credit: Joseph Ross Smith

Basic Folk: Dinty Child

Posted on by Shelby Williamson

Dinty Child, founding member of Session Americana, the beloved Boston roots music collective who’ve accidentally been a band for 20 years, has just released his second solo album, Letting the Lions In. The new songs feature co-writing on all tracks between Dinty and Boston area songwriters like Mark Erelli, Kris Delmhorst, and Dave Godowsky. A self-proclaimed slow-writer, the majority of these songs were written on the annual Sub Rosa songwriting retreat Dinty runs on Three Mile Island (no, not that Three Mile Island) on Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire. Owned by the Appalachian Mountain Club, Dinty’s family has been working at the island for over 100 years. Dinty currently serves as the off-season manager, putting his musician and carpenter skills to good use hosting songwriter friends at said retreat – like Rose Cousins, Rose Polenzani, Rachael Price, Miss Tess and many more, as well as Miles of Music, a summer camp run by Dinty, Kristin Andreassen, and Laura Cortese.

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Letting the Lions In was co-produced by Zachariah Hickman (Josh Ritter, Ray LaMontagne) and recorded at Great North Sound in Parsonsfield, Maine over the course of three days in the spring of 2021. Dinty says, “I often trade construction work for studio time there.”

During our conversation, we dig into why these songs needed to be recorded. Our consensus is that legacy and spreading joy to his community are the top two reasons. Also, Dinty, who says an annoyingly large percentage of his songs start as dreams, talks about what kind of sleeper he is, what’s with the lion, and his thoughts on drinking – thanks to the handful of alcohol songs on the new album. Dinty is a dear friend to the podcast and an important part of the New England musical landscape, we’re thrilled to have him on the show!

Photo Credit: Sam Kassirer

Basic Folk – Hannah Read

Posted on by Shelby Williamson

I have been wanting to talk to Scotland-born fiddler and current New Yorker Hannah Read on the pod for longer than Basic Folk has existed. I met her at the very fun camp Miles of Music in New Hampshire. We laughed our faces off all week and I was truly blown out of the water by her fiddling and singing. She’s just released a new duo album with the Scottish banjo player Michael Starkey, so it seemed like a good time to get Han on.

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She grew up in Edinburgh as well as on the Isle of Eigg, a remote island off the western coast of Scotland, and she talks about how living simply as a younger person has impacted her adulthood. Growing up, there was a lot of music in the house: in terms of both listening and playing. Her mum played cello, sister played fiddle, and there was also a community of musicians on the island playing who she connected very deeply with. She started playing traditional Scottish music at the age of six and cites her biggest influences as the musicians surrounding the trad scene there. She made her way to America to attend Berklee College of Music in Boston and eventually moved to Brooklyn.

Her new album, Cross the Rolling Water, is filled with old-time fiddle and banjo duets with the Edinburgh-based Starkey. The two met at an Appalachian old-time session in Edinburgh in late 2019. She talks about their musical relationship as well as how Michael only has a flip phone, which is always hilarious to hear about from someone who’s on top of technology. Hannah’s hilarious, kind and has an infectious energy that carries from her personality to her music. Enjoy!

Photo Credit: Krysta Brayer

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ROOT 66: Cereus Bright’s Roadside Favorites

Posted on by Amy Reitnouer

Touring artists spend so much of their time on the road that they, inevitably, find all the best places to eat, drink, shop, and relax. Want to know where to find the best burger, beer, boots, or bunks? Ask a musician. Better yet, let us ask them for you.

Artist: Cereus Bright
Hometown: Knoxville, TN
Latest Project: Excuses
Release Date: July 29

Pizza: Art of Pizza in Chicago, IL. We have a few pizza snobs in the group, so any pizza experience that leaves everyone happy is a win. Their slices are pretty much a whole pizza in and of themselves.

Highway “Health” Food: Panera. It’s hard to eat “healthy” on the road. When we have a chance, we try to aim for a Panera. A salad a week keeps the doctor away, right?

Highway Fast Food: Chick-fil-a. When we have to jump off the interstate and eat something fast, Chick-fil-a is one of those places we look up. Plus, no matter where you are, there are few things better than starting your day off with a chicken biscuit.

Coffeehouse: Blue Bottle in Brooklyn, NY. Not only does Blue Bottle make incredible coffee, but they also ship it to us every two weeks so, needless to say, they are a big part of our coffee life.

 

A photo posted by Cereus Bright (@cereusbright) on

Bar: The Libertine in Green Bay, WI. Most nights, our alcohol consumption consists of the cheapest beer possible, but when we go to Green Bay, we get to live like kings. Let’s just say that my last drink consisted of some kind of whiskey magic topped with a partially burned cinnamon stick. Tony, the owner of the Libertine, is the man and he invites us to the bar after all our Green Bay shows. It’s worth whatever distance it takes for you to go there. So good.

Gear Shop: Chicago Music Exchange in Chicago, IL. It’s one of those spots we always try to hit when we’re in the area. One time, Tyler accidentally knocked down the whole front window display, so we owe them a blood debt now.

Listening Room: Sixth & I in Washington, D.C. Last Fall, we got to go out with the Oh Hellos and play the Sixth & I, which is a giant sanctuary of a historic church. Never have we gotten to play for that many people, and it still feel as intimate as a small venue. It was a powerful experience.

House Concert: We are in the middle of a tour right now, playing shows in non-traditional venues like houses, warehouses, and co-working spaces. We use a website called Closeup.fm that lets us facilitate those nights better than anything else we’ve ever used. We love Closeup and their passion for creating those intimate shows. 

Backstage Hang: Iron City in Birmingham, AL. It’s rare that an opening band gets the red carpet treatment, but we did at Iron City. They fed us well, it was so comfortable and clean, they even did our laundry. It was a little taste of the celebrity life, and we’ll never forget it!

Music Festival: Mile of Music in Appleton, WI. We first got invited to play Mile of Music because a few friends vetted us. What started as just another festival has turned into a second home. It’s rare that any place on the road feels as good as Appleton — even more so a festival. The staff, volunteers, and attenders of Mile of Music are some of the best you’ll find.

Least Favorite Highway Stretch: I40 from Memphis to Knoxville. It’s usually the first or last stretch of highway we see before or after home. It’s just so, so, so boring. One of those six-hour straight-aways that feels like it never ends. 

Radio Station: Spotify. I wish we could say we listen regularly to tons of radio stations, but we don’t anymore. Plus, our antenna has seen better days. We are big fans of Spotify. You can find a playlist for just about anything these days. We’ve all discovered really good music through it!

 

A photo posted by Cereus Bright (@cereusbright) on

Day Off Activity: Swimming. Although not everyone feels this way (looking at you Evan), most of us love a good swim. If we are, by chance, staying at a hotel with a pool or have a day off with a body of water semi-close, you better believe we’ll try to swim in it.

Tour Hobby: YouTube. The Internet is a terrible and wonderful place. Whether it’s awful covers, Tim & Eric videos, or Wife Swap clips, YouTube is usually at least a little part of every drive.

Driving Album: Voodoo by D’Angelo. It’s one of those albums that will always have more for you each time you listen. The dude’s so damn talented.

Most Memorable Show: Bluegrass Underground in McMinnville, Tennessee. We got the opportunity to open for honeyhoney years ago, as one of our first shows. If you don’t know about Bluegrass Underground, it’s a venue 350 feet underground in a giant cave. It’s one of the most unique, wild places we ever got to play. Definitely worth a trip to catch a show there!

WATCH: Adam Moss, ‘Stolichnaya’

Posted on by Editor

Artist: Adam Moss with David Moss & the Campfire Choir
Hometown: Brooklyn, NY
Song: “Stolichnaya"
Album: Introducing the Music of Adam Moss
Release Date: February 26

Every year since 2011, about 100 songwriters and lovers of traditional roots music convene for a week on a tiny island in Lake Winnipesaukee for an event called Miles of Music Camp. This year, for the first time, camp founders Kristin Andreassen and Laura Cortese invited a videographer to come along. He captured this night of mayhem around a bonfire, featuring identical twin brothers Adam and David Moss leading a rowdy band of fiddles, cellos, drums, tuba, banjo, accordion and marshmallow roasters.

In Their Words: "'Stolichnaya' is my anthemic drinking song from an American boy whose roots are in Eastern Europe. I've been singing this song for a long time, and it's always been an immediate sing-along. But I think the perfect manifestation of any sing-along is on a secluded island surrounded by some of your favorite people. David and I wrote this song after a hard day’s work, waiting for a huge musician gathering to form in Austin, Texas. It turned into a great party that night.” — Adam Moss

Photo credit: Manny Moss

WATCH: Laura Cortese, ‘Three Little Words’

Posted on by Editor

Artist: Laura Cortese
Hometown: Boston, MA
Song: “Three Little Words"

This video is the first release from a project documenting the creative happenings at an event called Miles of Music Camp. Every year since 2011, about 100 songwriters and lovers of traditional roots music convene on a tiny island in Lake Winnipesaukee to teach, learn, and make music with each other. This year, for the first time, camp founders Kristin Andreassen and Laura Cortese invited a videographer to the island. His videos document works in progress and special collaborations like this one.

In Their Words: "The week before Miles of Music, Zack Hickman (bass) and I spent an afternoon on my porch talking about new love and old habits, and writing this song. On the first night of camp, we always have an instructor concert, so we taught this brand new creation to Kristin Andreassen (vocals), Oliver Craven (mandolin), Jefferson Hamer (guitar), Taylor Ashton (banjo), and Dinty Child (accordion), and then we performed it for the campers. That night, the lyrics were a little different. While teaching songwriting classes throughout the week, I found myself coming back to the images in the song and looking for stronger words to express them. Luckily, I was surrounded by many inspiring friends and peers who helped shape the song as you hear it in this video. And, since then, I've settled on a few more changes that you’ll have to come hear at a live show.” — Laura Cortese

Photo credit: Amanda Kowalski