Tag: podcast

The String – The McCrary Sisters

Posted on by Chris Jacobs

The McCrary Sisters — Alfreda, Ann, Deborah, and Regina — grew up in Nashville in the home of legendary preacher and singer Reverend Sam McCrary, a key member of the Fairfield Four and a major figure in gospel music.

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They’ve sung, together and apart, on stages and in studios around the world. And they’ve become beloved anchors of roots music communities in Music City. After working with producer/artist Buddy Miller, they answered popular demand to form their own quartet, and after several albums through the 2010s, the McCrarys delivered their first Christmas album. It became a leaping off point for a joyful conversation about four remarkable lives in music.

The Show On The Road – JD McPherson

Posted on by Chris Jacobs

JD McPherson joins host Z. Lupetin for the final episode of The Show On The Road’s 2019 season.


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Oklahoma-born JD McPherson makes his own brand of high intellect, dance party-ready, Sun Studios-style rock ‘n’ roll. Last year he may have recorded one of the greatest original Christmas albums of the modern era with Socks.

While McPherson probably never dreamed he would become a new rock ‘n’ roll king of Christmas, Socks may be his most impressive feat yet. If you’re deeply suspicious of the capitalistic caterwauling of most modern holiday music on the airwaves (except you, Mariah!) you’ll still fall in love with JD’s sarcastic and sweet collection of holiday originals. The album deftly dives into lesser discussed Christmas subjects like broken expectations, inter-family angst, holiday horniness, and hilariously, the myth of why Santa must be grossly overweight to satisfy us fairy tale-loving kids. Give Socks a spin as you rock around the Christmas tree or the Hanukkah bush, or even better — keep it playing all year long.

 

The String – Allison Moorer

Posted on by Chris Jacobs

Allison Moorer emerged around the year 2000 as one of the most profound and beautiful voices in true country music.

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As she grew in stature and acclaim, it emerged that she’s suffered an extraordinary loss as a 14-year-old when her troubled, alcoholic father murdered her mother and then took his own life. The time emerged for Moorer to grapple with the trauma in public, and she worked in prose and song. This fall, she released a book and song-cycle album, both called “Blood”. We talk about the parents she lost and the sister (the artist Shelby Lynne) who helped her move forward.

The String – Michaela Anne and Ickes / Hensley

Posted on by Chris Jacobs

Michaela Anne went to New York City to study jazz vocals and emerged a full on convert to country music. She built a career in Brooklyn then moved to Nashville to see it through. She’s recently released her fourth album and a label debut with Yep Roc.

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There’s a serenity in her voice and a sensitivity in her lyrics. She talks about her background and the courage it takes, as one of her songs says, by her “own design.” Also in the hour, the game changing country-grass duo of Rob Ickes & Trey Hensley.

Notes and full versions of these edited interviews can be found at WMOT.org.

The Show On The Road – Jason Lytle (Grandaddy)

Posted on by Chris Jacobs

This week on The Show On The Road, a special conversation with Jason Lytle, the founder and sonic visionary behind one of the America’s most beloved and underrated roots-and-noise-rock groups, Grandaddy.

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Starting from humble beginnings in the early 1990s as a trio of skateboarding friends in Modesto, CA, Grandaddy put out a series of daring, deeply weird records produced and written by Lytle that first caught fire in Europe. By the turn of the millennium, the band found themselves headlining rock festivals like Glastonbury in the UK and crashing late night TV in the US.

But Lytle wasn’t cut out for traditional cookie cutter stardom. Grandaddy broke up for six years, and after disappearing into the Montana wilderness, the soft spoken, mountain-crazy, multi-instrumentalist songwriter kept his devoted fanbase coming back for more.  His oddly-titled solo records, cinematically rich soundscapes that encircled whacked anti-heroes, and poetic, campfire-ready short story songs still make us worried kid listeners feel heard and seen — but also constantly keep us guessing.

His latest album, NYLONANDJUNO, which dropped in August on Dangerbird Records, is an experimental instrumental album made entirely with a nylon string guitar and a vintage Roland Juno synthesizer.

Host Z. Lupetin was able to catch up with Lytle before a recent rare solo show in LA.

The String – AmericanaFest 2019 Part 2

Posted on by Chris Jacobs

This week, one last round of visits with great artists visiting Nashville to showcase during AmericanaFest 2019.

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Craig’s guests include two songwriter artists from the United Kingdom who’ve made American music their own – veteran New Orleans piano man Jon Cleary and Northern Ireland’s soul-singing dynamo Foy Vance. Up first, an absolutely amazing songwriter from Portland, OR, Anna Tivel. Her album The Question is widely seen as one of the finest of the year.

Notes and full versions of these edited interviews can be found at WMOT.org.

The Show On The Road – Madison Cunningham

Posted on by Chris Jacobs

This week Z. Lupetin welcomes Madison Cunningham — a gifted songwriter, singer, and guitar slinger who has quickly risen from shy Southern California prodigy to a nationally admired, Grammy-nominated, major label recording artist redefining what could be a new genre between the fertile plains of pop, jazz, and new wave folk music.

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As the eldest daughter of a big family, maybe Madison Cunningham was always meant to be an old soul. And as a young star on the rise, she thankfully hasn’t had to toil long in dive bars and retirement community gymnasiums, as many new artists do. She has already dazzled on large stages, opening for her heroes like the Punch Brothers, Iron & Wine, and Andrew Bird, all while teaming up with luminaries like Joe Henry to bring her songcraft to a new level.

If you have an hour, lock yourself in a dark room and listen to her newest release, Who Are You Now, and forget the failed love affairs and credit card debt and smoky bars of your youth and put your faith in the new generation. We are in good hands, no doubt about it.

The String – Andrew Combs plus Erin Enderlin

Posted on by Chris Jacobs

Ideal Man, the fourth full-length album from Nashville songwriter Andrew Combs has been praised by major outlets including Rolling Stone Country. Is it a country album? Is Combs a country artist?

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Well he undoubtedly was when his first records emerged. His debut album Worried Man had steel guitar and a snapping rhythm section and songs that got right to the point about loss and love. With 2017’s Canyons of My MInd, a swooning lush atmosphere wafts in, and Combs voice – always full of emotion and carefully wrought – stepped up a few levels. It’s one of the more seductive and involving male voices in Americana, in the same zone as John Paul White and Combs friend Dylan LeBlanc. It marked real growth and refinement, and Ideal Man does too. Also in the hour, Music Row songwriting success Erin Enderlin leans harder than ever into her artist career with the moving and deeply country Faulkner County.

Notes and full versions of these edited interviews can be found at WMOT.org.

The Show On The Road – Sam Lee

Posted on by Chris Jacobs

This week on the show, Z. Lupetin speaks with renowned British song collector, sonic interpreter, roots music promoter, and deeply intuitive folk singer Sam Lee.

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Lee came to music almost by accident after a former life as a wilderness survivalist and nature advocate. Since, he has become one of the leading voices in Great Britain, saving the treasured endemic music cultures that rapidly disappear each year. His gorgeously delicate and meticulously researched debut, Ground Of Its Own, shot him from hopeful academic to nationally recognized folk star — partly by being nominated for the prestigious Mercury Prize. Lee has relentlessly worked to save and rejuvenate the ancient melodies and songcraft of Irish and Scottish traveller tradition, Romany rhythms and stories, and connect those traditional melodies to a youthful pop culture that is yearning to know where it came from and where it is going next.

His Nest Collective, an “acoustic folk club,” gathers artists, authors, dancers and theatrical renegades and puts on shows and events across London – making Sam a rare double threat – as both an artist and a promoter of other artists.

His newest release, Old Wow, drops January 31, 2020.

The String – The Bluegrass Episode 2019

Posted on by Chris Jacobs

Host Craig Havighurst browsed World of Bluegrass in Raleigh in September and caught up with four artists who make for a pretty good cross section of the genre circa 2019: Tim Stafford of Blue Highway, an iconic band celebrating its 25th anniversary, Irene Kelley, a veteran songwriter who’s on top of the bluegrass charts, Appalachian Road Show, a new supergroup with a cultural mission, and The Dead South, a young band of Canadian folk rockers who represent the adventuresome edge of bluegrass music.

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Notes and full versions of these edited interviews can be found at WMOT.org.