Tag: music interview podcast

Basic Folk – Brent Cobb

Posted on by Shelby Williamson

Georgia-born Brent Cobb is a true blue southern Gospel country artist. His music career kicked off when he shared a demo tape with Dave Cobb, one of Nashville’s finest producers and Brent’s cousin. The two have collaborated on numerous albums since Brent’s debut and I had a lot of questions about that creative relationship during our interview.

 

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Cobb’s 2016 album, Shine On Rainy Day, earned him a Grammy nomination and saw him tour with country stars Chris Stapleton and Zac Brown. He has also written songs for artists like Luke Bryan and Miranda Lambert. Brent has fascinating insights about touring, collaboration, and his role as an interpreter of Southern culture in an interconnected world.

In July of 2020, Brent was driving with his one-year-old son when their truck was t-boned. He got up off the pavement and found his son unharmed in his car seat. This brush with death inspired him to create a Gospel album, drawing on the musical tradition in which he was raised. And Now, Let’s Turn to Page… reimagines time-honored hymns and features one original song co-written by Brent and his wife, Layne. Life, death, love, community, and Willie Nelson-style gentle vocal performances – this album has it all.

Photo Credit: Alysse Gafkjen

Basic Folk – Suz Slezak (David Wax Museum)

Posted on by Shelby Williamson

Suz Slezak is one half of the extremely talented, thoughtful and kind folk band David Wax Museum. Suz, along with her husband David, have been touring and performing their Mexican inspired, Americana folk act since 2009. Along the way, the two got married, had a couple of kids and settled pretty finely into the pandemic with bi-weekly and then weekly live streams. All the while, Suz has been living with her bipolar disorder, which has impacted her life in incredibly unbelievable ways.

 

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She’s also been pretty vocal, especially lately, about how she interacted with her brain health, mental health and treatment for both of those elements, which includes her intense journey with medications. Her Instagram is filled with brutally honest posts about the difficulty of finding meds that continuously help her stabilize her brain. She’s also very willing to share stories from the times where it didn’t matter what prescriptions she was on.

On her new album, Our Wings May Be Featherless, Suz is addressing her life from the perspective of a person who is bipolar, a mother, a touring musician and a creative person. She digs into the power of acceptance, traumatic birth, and grief. In our conversation, we talk about what a special musician she is and how she’s been able to cultivate and keep a childlike wonder alive through her playing. This conversation is heavily rooted in Suz’s journey with her bipolar disorder and you’ll learn a lot about her experience, as she is very open. She addresses the choice to share her experiences publicly and how the sharing impacts her. About the album, she says, “I hope you will also hear the way that a song, or any piece of art, can transform haunting pain into sounds and rhythm, allowing it to finally diffuse. I have needed to make this record for a long time. The relief I feel that it is finally emerging into this physical realm for you to enjoy is immense.” SUZ!

Photo Credit: Tristan Williams

Basic Folk – Maya De Vitry

Posted on by Shelby Williamson

Maya De Vitry released her third solo record, Violet Light, earlier this year and I, for one, am happy that my fiancée has a new Maya record to play endlessly in our house. Lol jk. I love Maya and this album is perfect. Maya’s originally from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, where she lived and met the members of her old band The Stray Birds. Since the dissolution of the Birds, she’s been incredibly prolific with all these solo albums, co-writes and the like. If you’re not familiar, this record is a great intro to the genius of one of the greatest musicians on the scene today. The vibes I’m getting on this record are John Prine, Patty Griffin and, of course, Gillian Welch & Dave Rawlings. We. Are. Digging. IN!

 

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I’m so happy Maya was up for going through this beauty of a record track by track! It’s a brilliant collection that subtly knocks you to the ground over the course of its eleven songs. Produced at home with her partner, the much in-demand bassist and producer Ethan Jodziewicz (The Milk Carton Kids, Sierra Hull, Aoife O’Donovan, Darol Anger, Tony Trischka), Violet Light actually contains a ton of collaborations from Maya’s extensive musical community. This includes her own family; her siblings all collaborated for the very first time on tape for the song “Real Time, Real Tears,” about losing a favorite uncle. Yeah, you try not to cry during that one. Anyhoo. It feels like a gift to be able to turn these songs over and over, contemplate their meaning, their creation and then be able to talk directly to the brains behind it all. I implore you to check out this whole episode and then go buy Maya’s new album, preferably on Bandcamp. Support an independent artist whose music is meaningful and worth getting paid for. She’s a once in a lifetime artist.

Photo Credit: Laura Partain