Tag: piano

BGS 5+5: Gabe Dixon

Posted on by Editor

Artist: Gabe Dixon
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
Latest Album: Lay It On Me

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

I think I was 11. I already loved music and had been taking piano lessons for a few years, but that summer, I went with my parents to see a music festival in downtown Nashville, and I watched a set by Béla Fleck & The Flecktones — the original group, with Béla, Victor Wooten, Future Man, and Howard Levy. Until then, I had no idea that people could be that good at playing their instruments. They were so virtuosic and fun, and the crowd loved it so much. Later that evening, I remember standing in the front yard of our house in Sylvan Park, looking up at the sky and thinking, “I want to be a musician when I grow up.”

What rituals do you have, either in the studio or before a show?

I’m not a very religious person, but before I go on stage, I always take a moment to be grateful and to ask God to work through me so that something bigger than me — love, joy, goodness, light — will shine through me and into the hearts and minds of the people I’m playing for. Sometimes I do that in the studio too. But the stakes feel higher in a live setting, so I’m looking for all the help I can get!

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

For a handful of years, I was a “staff writer” at a publishing company, and the most difficult songwriting sessions were the “blind date” country sessions they set up for me — you walk in the room, meet the other person, and your job is to write a song for “the country market.” Often you’re just hoping some big country star will cut it, and you’ll make some money, and they almost never do. Those sessions often became an exercise in putting limitations on what I wrote in hopes that it would be what some generic country singer would like. I often heard, “That line makes him sound like a wimp. Jason Aldean would never sing that.” Or, “We can’t put that chord in there, it’s too fancy-sounding.” Some people are really good at that kind of writing, but for me it was pretty soul-crushing. The only songs of mine that country artists ever ended up wanting to record were ones that I wrote for my own albums. So I mostly just write for myself now.

How often do you hide behind a character in a song or use “you” when it’s actually “me”?

It happens more than I mean for it to. The classic writing advice is to “write what you know,” but, to a certain extent you can’t help it. Even when you are trying to write from someone else’s perspective. I did this with my song “All Will Be Well,” “All Will Be Well/even after all the promises you’ve broken to yourself” and also with “Flow Like Wine.” “Why the furrow upon your brow / I see beauty between the lines / oh love, don’t you worry about our love / Let love flow like wine” were written for my wife, but when I really examine it, I realize I was probably writing to myself too.

If you had to write a mission statement for your career, what would it be?

Bring forth compassion, love, and peace through music.

Photo credit: Shervin Lainez

WATCH: Gabriel Kelley, “Hard in America”

Posted on by Editor

Artist: Gabriel Kelley
Hometown: Nashville, Tennesee
Song: “Hard in America”
Release Date: July 2, 2021
Label: Epidemic Sound

In Their Words: “‘Hard in America’ was written as a reflection of the commonality between us all as Americans, both within our hardships and our joys. As we have spent the last almost two years dealing with an almost unmanageable amount of hardship and uncertainty, my goal with this song was to find some form of hope and solace in spaces that remind us we are all the same, all one family in unison. I sat down alone at the piano early one morning towards the end of quarantine with not even the slightest hint of an idea of a song. I just sat down to feel the keys for a little while… to discover what I was feeling underneath. Early mornings with instruments somehow always take me on that journey.

“After being off the road for so long, I had become less tied to my own rooted identity as this traveling/touring artist. This slower pace of life had almost forced me, in a way, to reconnect myself to a deeper aspect of who I was and still am. I went further and further into this common space of the simple human condition. We all need love, we all need hope, we all need a little grace. We all need a smile from time to time. This song fell out in about the time it took to play it down. That’s only happened a few times in my life and when they do they are special to me. It’s like it had been marinating in me without my knowing for the last year and a half and then just jumped out. It’s always been very easy for me to connect with my own material but something about this song made me feel connected to everyone in this beautiful and crooked country.” — Gabriel Kelley

Photo credit: Sunny Davis

WATCH: Bob Malone, “The River Gives”

Posted on by Editor

Artist: Bob Malone
Hometown: Los Angeles, California
Song: “The River Gives”
Album: Good People
Release Date: May 21, 2021
Label: Delta Moon Records

In Their Words: “My manager was putting together talent for the Rebuilding West Virginia Telethon, which aired on PBS stations across the country after the devastating 2016 floods in West Virginia. He asked if I could contribute a video for the show, and if it could be done in two days! Immediately after that phone call, I sat down at the piano and this song just came pouring out. The next day I got together with my producer Bob DeMarco and engineer Steve McDonald — we made the video of me playing and singing the song live in the studio, edited it, and sent it off at the 11th hour. The song was never released beyond that original airing, and we never really got the chance to produce the song like we wanted to. So for this new album, we added band and background vocals to that original solo performance.” — Bob Malone

Photo credit: Jim Mimna

The Show on the Road – Low Cut Connie

Posted on by Shelby Williamson

This week, we call in to Philadelphia for a conversation with the highly-theatrical pianist and tireless, much-adored performer Adam Weiner, who for the last decade has gained a cult following around the world fronting his soulful bizarro-rock outfit, Low Cut Connie.


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Some artists have retreated into obscurity during the pandemic shut-down, some have turned lemons into personalized, livestream lemonade. But Adam Weiner took it to another level when he launched his often twice-weekly vaudevillian interactive web show “Tough Cookies” in March. Charging around his small home stage like a schvitzing piano preacher, often losing clothing along the way, Adam has learned nearly six hundred covers in the last eight months alone — from Barry Manilow to Cardi B’s “WAP” to Macho Man to an entire Little Richard set, which he performed to honor his hero after his passing. He then interviews anyone from Beyonce’s dad to members of Sly and the Family Stone. In short, it’s a rollercoaster every week — one that you kind of have to watch to believe.

Alongside his 2020 LP Private Lives, Low Cut Connie’s heartfelt and sweat-dripping sets have gained Weiner some famous supporters: Elton John for one, fellow New Jersey-born hero Bruce Springsteen for another. Up-and-coming playlist presenter Barack Obama unexpectedly placed Low Cut Connie’s defiant cabaret rocker, “Boozophilia,” on his must-listen list. Indeed, this taping, which often showed Adam jumping from his piano to his guitar to play favorites (like the Kinks-esque, “Revolution Rock N Roll”) initially had to be delayed so he could play an inauguration event for new president and Philly-piano lover Joe Biden.

While Weiner is basking in some much-earned attention, it hasn’t always been an easy road. He readily admits to scraping by on side jobs into his mid-thirties, for years playing around dim New York City piano bars as his sequined alter-ego, Ladyfingers. If Low Cut Connie has learned anything during this strange era, it’s that people desperately still need live music. In all its spur-of-the-moment, sweaty glory. One of the more moving stories he tells is seeing groups of nurses in beleaguered hospitals taking a much needed break to watch his livestreams. Much like his role model and patron Elton John, Low Cut Connie’s songs can leap from intimate folk-rock to greasy soul to bombastic musical theater and back with ease and his relentless spontaneity keeps fans waiting for that he will do next.

Photo credit: Skylar Watkins

The Show on the Road – Jeremiah Fraites (The Lumineers)

Posted on by Shelby Williamson

This week, host Z. Lupetin talks to one of the founding members of beloved folk-rock hitmakers, The Lumineers, drummer and pianist Jeremiah Fraites. After following his heart to Italy, Jeremiah dialed into the podcast from Turin, his wife’s hometown. Alongside juggling duties as co-songwriter and performer in one of the most successful acoustic groups of the last twenty years and raising his two-year-old son, Fraites released a gorgeous instrumental record called Piano Piano this January.

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Nearly fifteen years in the making, Piano Piano was created at Fraites’ former home in Denver during the height of the early COVID-19 lockdowns. His two favorite pianos lead the way, as main characters in a story that seemed to unfurl, as his wife would say in Italian, “step by step” — delicately, but with passion. First, he used a newer Steinway for the brighter, more forceful tones, and then a warmly creaky creature, that his piano teacher sarcastically named “Firewood,” for the most personal moments. Really, it’s the tiny imperfections that make this solo work shine: when you can hear the bench swaying slightly; his wife making dinner in the next room as the sustain pedal is pressed into the wood floor; when the aged instrument struggles to hammer out the final notes, but finally does; and when Fraites and the instrument seem to breathe and speak and cry out, together.

While certain smaller songs like “Departure” and “Chilly” are as intimate as fateful field recordings, other standouts like “Tokyo” and “Arrival” are more polished pieces, blooming from that same small space, but growing into masterful, orchestral, widescreen soundscapes with the help of violinist Lauren Jacobson (who often plays with The Lumineers), cellists Rubin Kodheli and Alex Waterman, and the 40-piece FAME’s Orchestra from Macedonia.

Fraites was born in New Jersey, where he grew up with Lumineers frontman Wesley Schultz. When they self-released their confessional and warm-hearted self-titled record in 2012, the two friends never imagined that they would have a chart-topping hit on their hands. Playing the scruffy bars around Denver before their fanbase expanded exponentially and their first record went triple-platinum, The Lumineers soon found themselves headlining international pop festivals, opening for U2 and Tom Petty, placing songs in The Hunger Games and Game Of Thrones, selling out Madison Square Garden (twice) and finally filling their favorite hallowed Colorado venues like Red Rocks. Before the pandemic slowed them down, The Lumineers were bringing their same acoustic spirit to a full-on arena tour coast to coast, showcasing their newest album III. If you’re reading this right now, you’ve probably found yourself singing along to their romantic, stomping ear-worms “Ho Hey” or “Ophelia” or heard them accidentally a thousand times in the last decade (both tracks have been streamed over 500 million times and counting), but all of that is paused for now.

What a perfect time for a peaceful piano record to clear our heads. As Jeremiah Fraites has gained confidence as a sought-after composer, songwriter, and unlikely pop performer, he’s given himself the space to finally create the deeply personal record he’s been hoping to share for decades.

Photo credit: Roberto Graziano Mora

BGS Wraps: Jesse Lynn Madera Featuring Matt Rollings, “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”

Posted on by Editor

Artist: Jesse Lynn Madera Featuring Matt Rollings
Song: “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”
Release Date: October 22, 2020

In Their Words: “What an honor, master class, and joy it was to sing with the legendary Matt Rollings as he produced and played on ‘Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.’ It was important to incorporate the weight of this transformative year into our interpretation, and I think Matt and I were feeling similarly about the events unfolding around us. For that reason, the emotions in our performances danced with ease that isn’t always so readily available in the studio. To have all the players on the same page in their heads, that’s unusual and nothing short of electric. Kristin Wilkinson added a phenomenal string arrangement to the mix. The stars really aligned for this track to happen, and I couldn’t be more proud or grateful to have my name on this.” — Jesse Lynn Madera

“Jesse Lynn Madera is an amazing artist and person. In the years we’ve known each other, I’ve seen her kindness, generosity and fierce spirit, and these traits all come out in her music. All I had to do was press record, sit at the piano, and start playing, and out came this incredible music. She told the story of this classic song in a way I’ve never heard before. Intimate, nostalgic, sad and beautiful…” — Matt Rollings

Enjoy more BGS Wraps here.

LISTEN: Deutsch & Thorn, “Scorpio Sun”

Posted on by Editor

Artist: Deutsch & Thorn (Erik Deutsch and Andy Thorn)
Hometown: Mexico City, Mexico and Boulder, Colorado
Song: “Scorpio Sun”
Release Date: December 4, 2020
Label: Thornpipe Music

In Their Words: “When I first wrote this tune, I recorded it with the Colorado Playboys (Travis Book, Jon Stickley, and John Frazier), and called it ‘Sicks Ate.’ (We thought we were very clever.) Over a decade later, playing it with pianist Erik Deutsch, it took on a whole new life. As fellow Scorpios, Erik and I retitled it ‘Scorpio Sun.’ We recorded this EP in Erik’s beautiful Mexico City apartment, between playing shows at Zinco Jazz Club in the city’s vibrant Centro neighborhood. I never thought I’d bring my banjo to Mexico City, to mingle with Erik’s jazz influences and the sights and sounds of a dazzling culture. But that’s kind of what it’s like playing with Erik — you never know what might happen next.” — Andy Thorn

Photo credit: Josh Timmermans

WATCH: Matt Rollings, “Wade in the Water” (Featuring The War and Treaty & The Blind Boys of Alabama)

Posted on by Editor

Artist: Matt Rollings
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
Song: “Wade in the Water” (Featuring The War and Treaty and The Blind Boys of Alabama)
Album: Matt Rollings Mosaic
Release Date: August 14, 2020
Label: Dualtone Records

In Their Words: “Michael and Tanya [of The War and Treaty] and I had decided to record ‘Take Me to the Mardi Gras,’ the Paul Simon classic, for the record. We spent a few hours — Michael, Tanya, Jay Bellerose and I — and wound up with an amazing take of the song and I was thrilled. After listening to the playback of ‘Take Me to the Mardi Gras,’ I spontaneously asked if they’d be willing to try something else. I had been nursing an idea about the old spiritual, ‘Wade in the Water.’ My first real jazz piano influence, Ramsey Lewis, recorded it on his 1966 album of the same name, and I’ve always loved it. After hearing what Michael and Tanya had done with the Paul Simon song, I was dying to hear them sing it.

“I printed the lyrics out and we went for it. This is the first and only take we did of the song. It was so good that we didn’t even try it a second time. After adding acoustic bass, it still didn’t feel quite complete… some background vocals were needed. I thought, ‘Who would the ultimate singer(s) be for this?’ It occurred to me that a real-deal gospel quartet would be perfect and The Blind Boys of Alabama would be the ideal candidate. Somehow I was able to catch them while they were in Muscle Shoals, recording on another project. So I drove down there from Nashville on the appointed day and recorded them on the track. They brought just the magic that was needed. The way they blended with Michael and Tanya is amazing… like they were in the same room singing together. After that, the song was done.” — Matt Rollings

Photo credit: Michael Wilson

The Show On The Road – Agnes Obel

Posted on by Chris Jacobs

This week, The Show On The Road features a conversation with renowned Danish pianist, experimental composer, and atmospheric-folk songstress Agnes Obel. 

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Recorded high above Hollywood in the famed Capitol records building (Obel was recently signed to Blue Note Records), host Z. Lupetin takes an intimate tour of Obel’s newest work Myopia, which shows the pianist and composer at her most personal and aurally fearless.

Born in Copenhagen and based in Berlin, Obel’s albums warrant repeat listening, as it’s often hard to know exactly what instruments are playing at any given time. At times the darting, looping piano and quicksilver string work seem like a chamber orchestra, or maybe the songs on Myopia are secretly the technicolor backdrop and emotive score to a film that only she sees.

It’s been nearly a decade since her transcendent DIY debut album, Philharmonics, put her into many people’s minds (she may not be very well known yet in the States, but she is a gold-record selling, underground star in many parts of Europe). This past spring, Obel was set to play the expansive Greek Theater in Los Angeles before COVID-19 forced her to stay in Berlin — which, for an artist that creates hushed, often lyricless songs you probably can’t dance to, is an impressive leap.

 

WATCH: Matt Rollings, “Stay” (Feat. Alison Krauss and Vince Gill)

Posted on by Editor

Artist: Matt Rollings
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
Song: “Stay” (featuring Alison Krauss and Vince Gill)
Album: Matt Rollings Mosaic
Release Date: August 14, 2020
Label: Dualtone Records

In Their Words: “I wrote this song with the incredibly gifted singer/songwriter Alisan Porter, who won The Voice in 2016. We wrote it for an album I produced for her that came out in 2014. When Alison Krauss agreed to be a part of Matt Rollings Mosaic, I immediately thought of ‘Stay,’ and that she is the only person (other than Alisan Porter) that I could ever imagine singing it. We cut it live — piano, drums, and vocal — and Alison Krauss did what she always does: Left everyone in the room with their jaw hanging open! Later I added her brother on bass (the insanely talented Viktor Krauss) and enlisted my friend Kris Wilkinson, who did the achingly sparse string arrangement. Finally, the incomparable Vince Gill added a background vocal that perfectly supports Alison’s sublime performance. The result is one of my absolute favorite tracks on the record.” — Matt Rollings

Photo credit: Michael Wilson