Tag: podcast

The String – Jessi Alexander and Jill Andrews

Posted on by Chris Jacobs

This Spring, many of the outstanding women of roots music have released new albums, and here we catch up with two of them.


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Jessi Alexander, native of Jackson TN, moved to Nashville at 18 and landed songwriting and record deals. She’s a hitmaker behind the scenes who rarely surfaces with her own heartfelt country music, but she sure does so on Decatur County Red, anchored in stories of her Tennessee coming-of-age. Jill Andrews is more urbane and silky in her sound, but the personal journey she shares on the album and book Thirties is full of challenges and the clarity that comes with time and triumph.

The Shift List – Chef John Winter Russell (Restaurant Candide) – Montreal, Part 1

Posted on by Chris Jacobs

This week on The Shift List, a conversation in quarantine with John Winter Russell, chef and founder of Restaurant Candide in Montreal.

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Host Chris Jacobs first had the chance to speak with Russell at Candide before COVID-19 related travel and gathering restrictions went into place, and decided to reconnect with him recently via phone to see how Russell is facing the challenges of being an independent chef and restaurant owner during a global pandemic.

In the episode, the pair talk about some of the music Russell’s listening to in quarantine and the food he’s making at home, but he also talks about some of the ways he’s been able to give back to the restaurant workers affected by job losses in Canada, as well as a recent opportunity to create menus for the food banks of Montreal.

If you live in Montreal and are craving some craft beer delivered to your house, send an email at [email protected]. All proceeds will go to the Montreal Restaurant Workers Crisis Relief Fund.

We’ll be airing our non-quarantine episode from Candide in Montreal on April 21.

The Show On The Road – Theo Katzman (Vulfpeck)

Posted on by Chris Jacobs

For this special episode, your host Z. Lupetin adhered to the strict stay-at-home pandemic orders, recording an intimate phone conversation with Theo Katzman, the Cheshire Cat of soulful pop-rock and one of the most visible members of the mysterious funk supergroup, Vulfpeck.


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In January, Katzman celebrated the release of his cheeky, super catchy, unabashedly romantic, and pop-driven new solo album Modern Johnny Sings: Songs in the Age of Vibe and was on a run of packed release shows when everything shut down (you know, because COVID-19). Katzman’s expertly-crafted songs and lilting falsetto vocals have that rare spark that can brighten anybody’s dull quarantine in no time.

The Show On The Road – Joey Dosik (Vulfpeck)

Posted on by Chris Jacobs

This week on the show, host Z. Lupetin meets up with Joey Dosik, a silky-voiced songwriter and freaky-talented multi-instrumentalist who writes lush, romantic jams that transport listeners to R&B-tinted, old school FM radio gold.

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Some listeners may have learned of Dosik’s talents with DIY, future-funk ensemble Vulfpeck, led by trickster curator/composer Jack Stratton. Vulfpeck went from making goofy viral videos and recording an album of total silence — that scared the shit out of streaming giants like Spotify after it rocketed the band to international notoriety and financial success — to crowdfunding a series of hit funk records and vinyl releases that propelled them to sold out international tours, headlining nights at Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado, and an unprecedented sold out show at Madison Square Garden (all with no record label in sight).

As we honor and celebrate two lost musical greats this week, Bill Withers and John Prine, it’s comforting to remember that we have constant new waves of amazing artists like Joey Dosik coming up who can honor and further their message. In many ways, Dosik’s songs combine the honest earnestness of Prine’s best early work, telling frank stories of family and relationships, with Withers’ deep, church-flavored, down-home groove.

 

The String – Producers Rick Clark and Neilson Hubbard

Posted on by Chris Jacobs

Recording producers are often the best people to speak with to gain extra insight into what makes some music more effective than others. And that’s what we do this episode with two Nashville leaders with very different stories.


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Rick Clark came of age in Memphis and moved to Nashville in the 90s. He’s been a DJ, a compilation curator and a music supervisor for film and TV. He’s also getting back into songwriting and recording his own music. Neilson Hubbard is a key player in the modern Nashville music scene, with albums to his credit by Mary Gauthier, Gretchen Peters, Nora Jane Struthers and Matthew Perryman Jones. His own band of late is called the Orphan Brigade.

Alice Gerrard – Toy Heart: A Podcast About Bluegrass

Posted on by Chris Jacobs

Old-time legend and Bluegrass Hall of Fame member Alice Gerrard talks to host Tom Power at her kitchen table in North Carolina.

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Gerrard tells stories of how she and other college students from the northern U.S. found bluegrass and old-time, of the lifelong influence of the Antioch College folk scene, meeting her Hall of Fame partner Hazel Dickens and making some of the greatest records in the genre. She goes on to describe her split from Hazel, her work since, the creation of print publication The Old-Time Herald, of which she is the founding editor. In tender moments, she shares the last time she ever spoke with Hazel, and describes what she sang to “sing her back home.”

The String – Caleb Caudle

Posted on by Chris Jacobs

Caleb Caudle grew up in rural North Carolina outside of Winston-Salem, captivated by music far beyond what his school peers cared about — English punk, folk, and Bob Dylan among them.


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Since entering the music industry fray as a singer/songwriter in the mid-2000s, Caudle has released seven studio albums, with a brand new one available now. Better Hurry Up was cut in 2019, just days after he and his wife moved to Nashville. A crack band set up shop at the Cash Cabin in Hendersonville, TN, surrounded by the spirit of Johnny and June. Great things resulted. Also in the hour, bass playing sideman turned impressive singer/songwriter, Adam Chaffins.

Photo Credit: Bret Scheinfeld

The Shift List – Restaurant Workers Relief Program

Posted on by Chris Jacobs

This week on The Shift List, a replay of our conversation with Chef Edward Lee, recorded back in 2018.

Chef Lee is helping to lead the way in bringing restaurant workers relief with his Restaurant Workers Relief Program through The Lee Initiative. Due to the closure of so many restaurants and bars across America in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, thousands of workers have an urgent need for assistance, and they need our help now more than ever.

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In partnership with Maker’s Mark Bourbon, Chef Lee is transforming restaurants across the country into relief centers for any restaurant worker who has been laid off or has had a significant reduction in hours and/or pay. The Lee Initiative, in conjunction with local chefs in every majorly affected community across the country, is offering help for those in need of food and supplies, and each night, they’re packing hundreds of to-go meals.

Restaurateurs like Nancy Silverton in Los Angeles, Jose Salazar in Cincinnati, and Lee’s own Succotash and 610 Magnolia teams in D.C. and Louisville are doing so much good right now, along with so many others across the country. The BGS Podcast Network team wants to do what we can to spread the word and shine a spotlight on this important work.

For more information and to donate, visit leeinitiative.org, and in the meantime, while we’re all trapped indoors, continue to support your local community by ordering takeout and pickup (if your local guidelines and recommendations permit it).

The Breakdown – The Seldom Scene, ‘Live at The Cellar Door’

Posted on by Chris Jacobs

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On our latest episode of The Breakdown, the Seldom Scene’s classic 1975 release, Live at the Cellar Door, is featured, and if ever there was a party of a bluegrass album, this is it.

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Hosts Patrick M’Gonigle and Emma John interview original Seldom Scene band members Tom Gray and Ben Eldridge to find out what was really going down on that mad and marvelous night in 1975.

Season 2 of The Breakdown is sponsored by The Soundtrack of America: Made In Tennessee. Visit TNvacation.com to start planning your trip.

The Show On The Road – The Wood Brothers

Posted on by Chris Jacobs

Right before the whole world as we know it shut down and they shortened their West Coast tour due to COVID-19, host Z. Lupetin spoke to Oliver and Chris Wood — Americana pioneers The Wood Brothers — about their renewed musical bond, how they grew up in Colorado jamming with their biology professor dad, and how they just barely missed the great East Nashville tornado earlier this month. When it rains it does pour, it seems.


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The Wood Brothers’ brand new record, Kingdom in My Mind, is a sweetly funky, ballsy, bluesy, booty-shaking, and romantic improvisational masterwork. Do yourself a favor and turn it up loud and proud — it will help you groove through the lockdown. If there is anything that’s clear in this deeply strange and unsettling time, it’s that we need music more than ever.