GIVEAWAY: Enter to Win Tickets to Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival (Oak Hill, NY) 7/16-7/20
Tag: New York
Amy Helm: Letters to Women and the Legacy of The Barn
Amy Helm has had one of the most fascinating lives that any person can have. As you might have guessed from her famous last name, she comes from roots music royalty. Amy is the daughter of Levon Helm, the beloved late drummer for the incredible groundbreaking Canadian-American group The Band. She also continues to run The Barn, a music venue and recording studio built by her dad and Garth Hudson, which served as Levon Helm Studios.
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In her own career, she has created a new lineage of musical tradition, family, great songwriting, poetry, and a feminine power that emanates off of her. We’re talking about her new album, Silver City, but we’re also talking about songwriting. We’re talking about grief. We’re talking about single parenthood. We’re talking about family. We’re talking about being on the road. We’re talking about how our bodies change over time and how that changes us as a vocalist and as an artist.
Photo Credit: Ebru Yildiz
Amos Lee on Friends, Femininity and Folk Roots
Throughout his music career, singer-songwriter Amos Lee has cultivated a large female fanbase and also owes a lot of his early start to Norah Jones (a female!). He’s about to hit the road co-headlining with folk music and queer icons the Indigo Girls. In our conversation, he talks about the atmosphere he’s going for in concert, and it’s not a very bro-centered vibe. His latest album Transmissions further proves his case with a gorgeous sonic palette that includes country music, indie folk, folk rock and acoustic music sounds. Recorded with his longtime band in a studio in rural Marlboro, New York, the songs came out as warm as the reclaimed church wood it was built out of.
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Amos dives into topics like how he feels about kids, to his work with cancer patients, to the benefits of caring for your mental health and music. He touches on anxiety and overstimulation (a topic mostly prompted by my anxiety!) and overcoming adversity. He also talks about being a mentor for the Black Opry residency at WXPN in his town of Philadelphia, and explains what a Hoagiemouth is. Amaze and delight at the wonderful Amos Lee.
Photo Credit: Anthony Mulcahy
BGS 5+5: Kate Prascher
Artist: Kate Prascher
Hometown: Hudson Valley, New York
Latest Album: Shake The Dust (out August 30, 2024)
Personal Nicknames (or Rejected Band Names): Kate or Katie. I go by my middle name, which I have always thought of as a Southern thing. Growing up in Tennessee, it was not uncommon to go by a middle name or even a family nickname and it has taken some explaining over the years. Especially when I moved to New York.
What rituals do you have in the studio or before a show?
I like to move some way or other, I will often practice yoga and try to get out of my head a little bit. I also warm up my voice and hands, drink tea, and run through whichever songs are new or have parts that need attention. I try to practice the week before a show and avoid day-of practicing whenever that’s possible, especially when there is new material. I have also started working with visualization this year. It is a thing I’m trying, so that I can see the audience in my mind before I meet them and give my brain a roadmap for how the next performance will go.
What other art forms – literature, film, dance, painting – inform your music?
Books are a huge part of my life and a big part of my songwriting practice. I read all the time, all different kinds of things. I think of reading as stuffing my brain with words that are then (hopefully) at my fingertips when I sit down to write. Reading so much has given me a clearer picture of what good storytelling can be, the moves a writer can make to hide, to expose, and to captivate. And it has taught me about characters. I do the same kind of gathering with music, I pack my mind with good songwriting – or bad – and try to name the things that work or don’t work, things that I find interesting, and ideas or themes I would like to filter through my own voice. Also, I find myself asking: What’s fun and intriguing? Why do I love this song so much?
Which elements of nature do you spend the most time with and how do those impact your work?
I am lucky to live in the Hudson Valley now. This after years of city living. I see the mountains every day; a privilege that I do not take for granted. There is something about this area, the Shawangunk Ridge and the Catskills, that cradles a person and whispers of things I’ve never known. I go walking or for a hike and usually return with a more rounded perspective. These old beings, these mountains, offer some kind of magic to us who live around here. They have seen things that they keep secret, but maybe also transmit in some silent way. I know at least one song of mine has come from a walk through the mountains, over a railroad trestle near my house.
What is a genre, album, artist, musician, or song you adore that would surprise people?
I love the Cranberries. Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can’t We? was on heavy rotation in my preteen years. I love Dolores O’Riordan’s voice and the intensity that she could hammer across, but then release to tenderness. Love and love. Also, who doesn’t adore Snoop Dogg? Watching him at the Super Bowl in 2022, the charisma he threw out in that giant arena, surrounded by other huge stars, reached past the fireworks and through the screen. He. Is. So. Good. But you didn’t need me to tell you this.
If I didn’t work in music, what would you do instead?
I would very likely be a writer. I am word nerd at heart and not sure I could ever really let go of that part of myself. Maybe an actor? I thought I was going to be an actor for a while, even majored in theater. I am sure the actors and writers who have worked tirelessly and sacrificed daily to master their craft just love hearing this casual statement from me!
I do have a day job, as an elementary school teacher, love the kids, love the work, I learn something every day from teaching. It is a part of my life I am very proud of.
Photo Credit: Shervin Lainez
MIXTAPE: Walton Goggins’ Oldtone Music Festival Playlist
We want to share some things that bring us joy. Oldtone Music Festival is an intimate roots music festival with camping and dancing that we’re happy to curate and support as producers. It takes place on a staggeringly beautiful hilltop on a working family farm in North Hillsdale, New York, about 90 miles away – and a world away — from New York City on September 5-8, 2024.
Oldtone gathers musicians and fans of many genres of traditional North American roots music, including old-time, bluegrass, Cajun, Zydeco, conjunto, honky-tonk, and so much more. This playlist gathers the best and brightest artists that are playing the 2024 festival. We’d love all roots music lovers to join us, but whether you can make it or not, you can get a taste here! – Walton Goggins, Executive Producer, and Trevor Roush, Executive Producer and General Manager, Oldtone Music Festival
“I’m Gone” – Kiki Cavazos
Kiki Cavazos is a very special songwriter from rural Montana who’s making her debut at this year’s festival. She rarely plays live – we mean, really, really rarely – so we’re excited to have her joining us for Oldtone! So many musicians have told us that they would have come to Oldtone just for the chance to see Kiki, even without the rest of the amazing lineup and beauty of the location.
“Less Honkin’ More Tonkin'” – The Deslondes
This will be The Deslondes’ second year playing the festival and this song is from their new live album, a taste of what you’ll hear when they rock the stage. They have spent the past year touring hard and opening for the likes of Margo Price and they will probably ask you for a dance when they are enjoying the other acts during the night
“Louisiana Aces Special” – Jesse Lege and the Southern Ramblers
Jesse Lege, “the greatest living Cajun dance accordion player,” is one of the pillars in traditional Cajun dance music and has played every single Oldtone festival since 2015. He’s not the youngest musician at the festival, but he plays hard for four hour stretches without a break – ‘til all the dancers collapse.
“High on the Mountain” – Sweet Megg
This year for the first time, alongside her captivating voice Sweet Megg is bringing her complete band to Oldtone. She’s also currently the vocalist of Cirque du Soleil.
“Love Me Like You Do” – Zach Bryson
On this track, the incomparable Zach Bryson of Nashville is backed up by what is essentially the Oldtone house band. And, it was recorded not too far from the farm by Oldtone staff member Donny Dinero.
“Forty Years of Trouble” – Danny Paisley & the Southern Grass
What can you say about Danny Paisley? Well, he was the 2016 International Bluegrass Association Male Vocalist of the Year. In other words, he is the real deal!
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“To The Doves” – JP Harris
JP Harris is an icon in the Nashville honky-tonk scene and he’s been traversing the roads of America since 2007. JP, better known as “Squash” in old-time music circles, is the early front runner for “person who will have the most fun at Oldtone this year.”
“Ay te dejo en San Antonio (I Leave You in San Antonio)” – Los Texmaniacs
We’re thrilled to have the GRAMMY-winning conjunto band Los Texmaniacs joining us! Just this year, their frontman was inducted into the Conjunto Music Hall of Fame.
“One-step de Rôdailleur” – Jordan Thibodeaux et les Rôdailleurs
Jordan Thibodeaux et les Rôdailleurs and Cedric Watson are the new ambassadors of traditional Cajun culture. They’re also putting their own spin on it and bringing a new sound to Cajun music. This trio will also be cooking up a cajun meal for all the staff to enjoy during the fest!
“Valley By the Stream” – The Down Hill Strugglers
The Down Hill Strugglers were all proteges of the late, great John Cohen. This track is off their awesome new album of all original old-time songs. They have been a staple of Brooklyn’s Jalopy Theater for well over a decade.
“Stoned on a country song” – The Neon Moons
The Neon Moons are an amazing honky-tonk orchestra of 10 members based in the Hudson Valley, essentially our very own Oldtone house band. They truly embody the Hudson Valley a close-knit mix of folks who have grown up here, like Trevor, and transplants, like Walton, who have found a true home here.
“Reuben’s Train” – Foghorn Stringband
Foghorn Stringband are a very cool (and well-known) four-piece made up of two couples. One couple lives in Washington and the other couple lives in rural Canada. They always pack the dance floor at the festival! Members of Foghorn will surely be seen jumping up to play songs with other acts from morning to night during the whole four days of Oldtone.
Thanks for listening and keep on Tonin’!
Photo Credit: Molsky’s Mountain Drifters by Reed Stutz; Walton Goggins by Shayan Asgharnia.
Basic Folk: Denitia
Sometimes it strikes me just how much power can emanate from a creative mind. Speaking with Denitia was one of those times. When the indie music artist comes across an unfamiliar musical concept, she goes “sponge mode” until she understands it. Then she seamlessly integrates it into her artistic vocabulary. This relentless curiosity and sense of play can be heard across Denitia’s catalog, from her early work as half of the New York indie R&B duo denitia and sene to her breakthrough 2022 country album, Highways. Her fluency across multiple genres gives her a refreshing approach to record-making, sound, and fashion alike (from her New York streetwear days to thrifting vintage clothes in Nashville).
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Since moving to Nashville and pivoting from R&B to indie country, Denitia has been grabbing audiences’ attention with her gorgeous voice and catchy-as-hell, cool girl indie songwriting. Denitia was selected for the CMT Next Women of Country Class of 2024, and her forthcoming album, Sunset Drive (out September 6), delivers on the hype. Denitia and her longtime songwriting partner, Brad Allen Williams, have painted classic country landscapes against which tales of escape from the ordinary are told with longing and warmth. The new record is something of a full-circle moment for the Texas-born artist and a showcase for her prodigious talents as a vocalist.
Basic Folk co-host Lizzie No leads the conversation in our interview with Denitia, where she offers music industry insights, vocal warm-up techniques, and music marketing strategies.
Photo Credit: Chase Denton
LISTEN: The Bygones, “If You Wanted To”
Artist: The Bygones
Hometown: Brooklyn, New York & Nashville, Tennessee
Song: “If You Wanted To”
Album: The Bygones
Release Date: April 4, 2024
Label: Tonetree Music
In Their Words: “‘If You Wanted To’ encapsulates the feeling of longing for acceptance and approval from someone you love that has known you through many chapters of life. People change and grow over time, and one of the biggest pains is when the ones closest to you don’t grow with you or want to get to know the current person you are. Over time, I’ve realized that you can’t make someone see you and love you for the current walk of life you’re in and not for a previous version of yourself, they have to choose to get to know you. Sometimes the ones you love just want to hold on to the version of you they knew that is no longer here.” – Allison Young
Photo Credit: Brett Warren
LISTEN: Mr Sun, “Shovasky’s Transmogrifatron” (from Duke Ellington’s Nutcracker Suite)
Artist: Mr Sun
Hometown: Portland, Maine / Nashville, Tennessee / Brooklyn, New York
Song: “Shovasky’s Transmogrifatron” (Ballet Snow Scene)
Album: Mr Sun Plays Duke Ellington’s Nutcracker Suite
Release Date: December 1, 2023
Label: Adhyâropa Records
In Their Words: “Everybody’s familiar with the Nutcracker Suite, but there’s this really beautiful recording of Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn’s arrangement of it – it was a really joyful, playful reimagining of this classic piece… It was an easy idea to propose, not fully appreciating the amount of time it would take to do it. Luckily, everyone in the band brings a tremendous skill set to the project.” – Joe K. Walsh, mandolin
“They basically said, ‘We’re gonna take this essential seed of an idea, but we’re gonna play it like us.’ And we’re doing the same thing – we’re playing it like Mr Sun, without doing anything too verbatim. It’s all about being ourselves. That’s the impression you get from Ellington, and that’s a thing we very much are: Ourselves.” – Grant Gordy, guitar
“It sounds simple, ‘Let’s just play this big band arrangement with four stringed instruments.’ In practice it’s been a little more complicated!” – Aidan O’Donnell, bass
“Duke Ellington of course was volcanically creative. He was one of the most creative musicians ever. He was beyond category. Melody, harmony, and rhythm – if you can put those things together in a way that reaches people, it’s gonna be successful in a way that means something.” – Darol Anger, fiddle
Photo Credit: Dylan Ladds
Video Credit: Brian Carroll, Dos Gatos Filmworks
LISTEN: Lake Street Dive, “Neighbor Song” (Feat. Madison Cunningham)
Artist: Lake Street Dive
Hometown: New York City, New York
Song: “Neighbor Song” (Featuring Madison Cunningham)
Release Date: October 6, 2023
Label: Fantasy Recordings
In Their Words: “Madison Cunningham is an extremely special musician, the kind who can make a single note sound like music and who breathes life into every song that she comes into contact with. We feel so honored to have had her join us on one of our songs. We first recorded ‘Neighbor Song’ in 2010, shortly after a few of us had moved to Brooklyn. The song narrates an experience, all too familiar to many New York City apartment dwellers, of overhearing your neighbors making love. Involuntarily bearing witness to such intimacy inspires a potent mix of emotions from annoyance to despair to compassion. It’s a fun song to play live because we get to walk the audience through this emotional journey. Some audiences laugh a lot when we play it. Some cry a lot. In preparing to do this song on tour with Madison, we came up with a new musical treatment for the song to bring out some different sides of those emotions. We recorded it with Madison in Brooklyn, live in one room in a single take. We hope it makes you laugh and/or cry!” – Lake Street Dive
Photo Credit: Shervin Lainez
STREAM: Rachael Sage, ‘The Other Side’
Artist: Rachael Sage
Hometown: Hudson Valley, New York
Album: The Other Side
Release Date: July 21, 2023
Label: MPress Records
In Their Words: “The Other Side is my 15th album and yet, in some ways, it felt like I was starting all over again with this particular collection of songs and recordings. After we were all emerging from lockdown, I noticed there was such an intense awareness that nothing would ever be quite the same, but nor should it be. As a songwriter, how do you chronicle a time of so much loss, but also so much gratitude – just to still be able to live, anticipating all that you will see, do, and experience once you’re able to move freely, beyond a time of immediate crisis?
“My goal in creating this record was to channel a kind of zealousness and to transcend limitations, which we had all largely become accustomed during the pandemic – and, in so doing, to reignite hope. How does music and creative expression in general help us get back to the business of living, with renewed joy, courage, appreciation and even idealism? The dozen originals on the album all circle the theme of transcendence in some way, as do the handful of covers I selected. Yearning, forgiveness, breathing itself – only human beings can thoroughly understand the miracle it is to do all of these with reverence and uplift, after enduring trauma. I hope when people listen they hear not only my voice, but the echoes of refrains so many of us clung to over the last several years: Hopes and imaginings that kept us going, and family and friends, who we were reminded the hard way are the most precious legacy anyone can create in this lifetime.” – Rachael Sage
Photo Credit: Bill Bernstein
