Tag: performance video

Watch A New Live Video of Tommy Emmanuel Performing “Gdansk” and “Tall Fiddler”

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

In a black ruffled shirt on a brightly colored stage, Tommy Emmanuel sits with his guitar and, like always, amazes the audience with his music. His latest video, “Gdansk/Tall Fiddler (Live at The Sydney Opera House)” is an upbeat and beautiful showcase of his songs that demonstrates the excitement and ease Emmanuel brings to his music. The medley is a single from his forthcoming album, Live at the Sydney Opera House, out March 21.

The clip starts off with a new original, “Gdansk,” named after Gdansk, Poland, where Emmanuel wrote the tune. It’s soft yet energetic, emulating the feeling of calm ocean waves on a sunny day that at the same time brings energy and joy to the music. The peaceful and uplifting melody might make you want to get up and dance.

“Gdansk” then beautifully leads into another tune of Emmanuel’s entitled “Tall Fiddler,” a number off Emmanuel’s 2006 release Endless Road that was inspired by the great fiddler Byron Berline. With fast licks and a rock and roll feel, he effortlessly transitions between a bluegrass fiddle tune and a heavy, rocking vibe.

It’s easy to see the excitement Emmanuel brings to playing and performing. The way he just “goes for it” is utterly inspiring – you can see how the music takes over him as he becomes the vessel that brings it into fruition.

Photo Credit: Alysse Gafkjen

WATCH: Tommy Emmanuel, “Mr. Guitar (Live)”

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Artist: Tommy Emmanuel
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
Song: “Mr. Guitar (Live)”
Album: Endless Road: 20th Anniversary Edition
Release Date: May 28, 2024
Label: CGP Sounds

In Their Words: “The one and only Chet Atkins would be celebrating his 100th year if he were still here in body. We miss him. We love his playing, we remember all the great lessons and wisdom he handed out freely to us.  We always use his example as the one written in stone. My fellow CGPs, John Knowles and Steve Wariner, have their own experiences and memories to share, and they have lived a different life to me. Yet, because of our love for Chet’s music, we are forever joined, like family.

“I’m looking forward to CAAS ’24 coming in July — an event that was started by people whose lives were forever changed by Chet’s music and his example as a person. He has inspired me since I was 7 years old and I truly miss talking with him. He’s a dad, a brother, a friend, and a teacher who will never be replaced in my life. Chet was funny, curious, energetic, and yet cool and relaxed. He taught me to never settle for mediocrity and to FIGHT it tooth and nail! Thanks for all you’ve done Chet!” – Tommy Emmanuel

Photo Credit: Simone Cecchetti
Video Credit: Directed by Joshua Britt & Neilson Hubbard for Neighborhoods Apart.

WATCH: Meadow Mountain, “Count Me In” (SkyTheory Sessions)

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Artist: Meadow Mountain
Hometown: Denver, Colorado
Song: “Count Me In”
Album: June Nights
Release Date: May 22, 2024

(Editor’s Note: Over the last four weeks, Colorado-based bluegrass band Meadow Mountain has premiered a series of exclusive, live performance videos of tracks from their just released album, June Nights. This is the final installment of their SkyTheory Sessions. Find links to the full series below.)

In Their Words: “I originally conceived of this song as a ‘rewriting’ of ‘Rocky Mountain High’ by John Denver. The first lyric from ‘Count Me In’ is: ‘Twenty-seven came and went like a storm, hanging on by the songs I wrote on the day that I was born,’ which is an homage to Denver’s lyrics: ‘He was born in the summer of his 27th year, coming home to a place he’d never been before.’ From there, the song took on its own life. It is a celebration of life in The Rocky Mountains. You want to go play up in the talus fields and by the ice cold mountain lakes? ‘Count Me In.'” – Summers Baker

Track Credits: Written by Summers Baker

Photo Credit: Video still by Erik Fellenstein

Video Credits: Videography – Erik Fellenstein
Lighting – Payden Widner
Mixing – Vermillion Road Studio

WATCH: Meadow Mountain, “Waiting for Tomorrow” (SkyTheory Sessions)

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Artist: Meadow Mountain
Hometown: Denver, Colorado
Song: “Waiting for Tomorrow”
Album: June Nights
Release Date: May 13, 2024 (single)

(Editor’s Note: Over the last few weeks, Colorado-based bluegrass band Meadow Mountain has premiered a series of exclusive, live performance videos of newly releasing tracks. Watch each installment of their SkyTheory Sessions right here, on BGS. The final installment will be released next week.)

In Their Words: “This song attempts to answer the question, ‘What if, instead of starting the band Foo Fighters, Dave Grohl had picked up a mandolin and spent a year exclusively listening to Alison Krauss & Union Station?’ I guess I was doing a lot of thinking and writing about time – the great healer, but also that which brings an end to all things. And then a new beginning. This is a song about time, and hope.” – Jack Dunlevie

Track Credits: Written by Jack Dunlevie

Photo Credit: Video still by Erik Fellenstein

Video Credits: Videography – Erik Fellenstein
Lighting – Payden Widner
Mixing – Vermillion Road Studio

WATCH: Meadow Mountain, “Trail to Telluride” (SkyTheory Sessions)

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Artist: Meadow Mountain
Hometown: Denver, Colorado
Song: “Trail to Telluride”
Release Date: May 6, 2024 (single)

(Editor’s Note: Over the next few weeks, Colorado-based bluegrass band Meadow Mountain will premiere a series of four exclusive, live performance videos of newly releasing tracks. Watch each installment of their SkyTheory Sessions on Thursdays each week for the next three weeks right here, on BGS.)

In Their Words: “I have attended the Telluride Bluegrass festival every year for over 12 years now. It is where I fell in love with bluegrass music and it is where I felt my first calling to write the music of the Rocky Mountains. This song tells a fictional story of a miner in the late 1800s who traveled from Denver to Telluride in an attempt to strike it rich mining for silver. While I am no miner, I do feel that the story tracks with the life of a working musician. You go out there to try something new, and if it doesn’t stick, you reset and get back to work.” – Summers Baker, guitar and songwriter

Track Credits: Written by Summers Baker

Photo Credit: Video still by Erik Fellenstein

Video Credits: Videography – Erik Fellenstein
Lighting – Payden Widner
Mixing – Vermillion Road Studio

WATCH: Meadow Mountain, “June Nights” (SkyTheory Sessions)

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Artist: Meadow Mountain
Hometown: Denver, Colorado
Song: “June Nights”
Release Date: April 30, 2024 (single)

(Editor’s Note: Over the next few weeks, Colorado-based bluegrass band Meadow Mountain will premiere a series of four exclusive, live performance videos of newly releasing tracks. Watch each installment of their SkyTheory Sessions on Thursdays each week for the next four weeks right here, on BGS.)

In Their Words: “It sometimes feels like my life is split up into eras – periods of a year or two that, upon looking back, have a distinct, overarching feeling. As I get older I’ve started to recognize when I’m on the edge of one era, moving into the next one, and I begin to get a sense of the overall color of my recent life. I had that feeling as spring moved into summer last year and wanted to document it in a song. It recounts moments in the Colorado wilderness, misadventures in love, and my abiding wish to be Sam Bush in the 1980’s.” – Jack Dunlevie, mandolin and songwriter

Track Credits: Written by Jack Dunlevie.

Photo Credit: Video still by Erik Fellenstein

Video Credits: Videography – Erik Fellenstein
Lighting – Payden Widner
Mixing – Vermillion Road Studio

Watch Chris Stapleton Perform on ‘Saturday Night Live’

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Last week’s episode of Saturday Night Live hosted by Ryan Gosling included musical guest Chris Stapleton, who returned to the show for his third appearance. He masterfully performed two tracks, including the multi-Grammy winning “White Horse” (Best Country Song, Best Country Solo Performance) featuring his band and his wife, Morgane, accompanying.

On a show known for making or breaking many a musical guest and in a setting ripe for sound issues and technical hurdles, Stapleton and his ensemble shined, choosing a music-centered, less-is-more approach to their performances and arrangements. Anchored by Stapleton’s gritty and grounded guitar playing, “White Horse” sounded just as good live as it does on Higher, which he released in November 2023.

The real showstopper, though, was Stapleton’s second number, “Mountains of My Mind,” which found the former SteelDrivers lead singer alone on the fabled Studio 8H stage – just a singer-songwriter, his guitar, and his lyrics. Live television can feel especially exposed and vulnerable for artists like Stapleton, but he and “Mountains of My Mind” felt right at home in the setting.

A five time nominee at this year’s 59th Annual ACM Awards, Stapleton also showcased his acting chops while stepping into a hilarious sketch with Gosling and SNL cast members Ego Nwodim, Chloe Fineman, and Chloe Troast. The satirical music video, “Get That Boy Back,” delightfully skewers country tropes around heartbreak, betrayal, and comeuppance. This ain’t your mama’s “Before He Cheats,” that’s for sure!

All in all, Chris Stapleton once again showcased his particular brand of Good Country to the variety show’s vast audience – and did all of us who “knew him when” proud, yet again.

Photo Credit: Mary Ellen Matthews

WATCH: Ben Sollee, “Only Love” (John Prine Cover)

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Artist: Ben Sollee
Hometown: Louisville, Kentucky
Song: “Only Love”
Release Date: February 13, 2023

In Their Words: “John Prine had a knack for folding mantras in to his songs. This song has a message that resonates deeply with my journey as a creative, father, and husband [and] that is so needed in this fitful world. ‘When love comes your way, you learn to say, I love you!'” – Ben Sollee

Photo Credit: Jessica Ebelhar
Video Credit: Created by Josh Ford, FordFoto.
Recorded at Mahonia Studios, Louisville, Kentucky.

WATCH: Josh Fortenbery, “Sewing the Same Seam”

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Artist: Josh Fortenbery
Hometown: Juneau, Alaska
Song: “Sewing the Same Seam”
Album: No Such Thing as Forever
Release Date: January 12, 2024 (single); March 8, 2024 (album)

In Their Words: “‘Sewing the Same Seam’ is an uptempo existential crisis. Like many songs on No Such Thing as Forever, it indulges in a bit of fatalism while also worrying that I’m capable of more than I admit. I’m a sucker for worst-case scenarios —maybe things won’t get better and not everything turns out alright. And when I linger on those thoughts, it gets easier to convince myself I know what I’m talking about instead. This live take was filmed at a house in Juneau that often hosts songwriters, with the same band that plays on the record.” – Josh Fortenbery

Track Credits: 

James Cheng – Bass
Lindsay Clark – Fiddle
Andrew Heist – Mandolin/vocals

Photo Credit: Annie Bartholomew

WATCH: Sully Bright, “November” (Live in Appalachia Video Series)

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Artist: Sully Bright
Hometown: Forest City, North Carolina; currently lives in Nashville, Tennessee
Song: “November”
Album: Darling, Wake Up
Release Date: October 13, 2023

In Their Words: “‘November’ is a song I wrote about being away from something you love. It’s about wishing for ‘November’ to come soon, whether that be the actual season of fall or someone. ‘Please come around this year, don’t make me wait any longer. I hope to see you soon, I hope to see you soon.’

“In the video we captured, I got the chance to sing the song on an old cabin porch in Roan Mountain, North Carolina. If you listen closely enough, you can hear a woodpecker. Be sure to check back in two weeks for the last video!” – Sully Bright

Photo Credit: Wonderfilmco
Video Credit: Seth and Jenna Herlich, Wonderfilmco