The Show On The Road – Steve Earle

This week, Z. speaks with Steve Earle. The three-time Grammy Award-winning roots ‘n’ roll poet and revered performer has been releasing fearless, roguish records for nearly four decades, accidentally becoming one of the founding fathers of the thriving Americana movement along the way.

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Growing up a baseball-crazy son of an air traffic controller in San Antonio, Steve Earle has never quite checked any cliché box or stayed in any lane on the way to his almost mainstream success.

Host Z. Lupetin caught up with Steve on his tour bus before hitting the stage at ROMP Fest in Kentucky this past June. Steve has been on the road in support of his recent release, GUY — a tribute to one of his songwriting colleagues and heroes, the late Guy Clark, out now on New West Records.

The Show On The Road – Richard Thompson

This week, Z. Lupetin speaks with British-born folk-rock rebel and underground guitar icon, Richard Thompson.

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With his signature grimace, that seems to dare you to look at his album covers, his salty slam poet vocal delivery, his slashing fingerpicked guitar style, and imposing black beret — which makes him look more like a hardened revolutionary than a kindly grandpa who just turned 70 — Richard Thompson is a true icon of rock and folk music.

The Show On The Road – Chris Shiflett

This week, Z. speaks with Chris Shiflett, a renegade guitar slinger who has spent 20 years prowling stages around the world with the Foo Fighters and has become a soulful songwriter in his own right.

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His new record, Hard Lessons, is coming out June 14, and he talked with Z. about the vulnerability of striking out on his own, the whiplash jump from rocking Madison Square Garden one night and a rowdy bar the next, and how growing up with three brothers in Santa Barbara helped him navigate becoming a dad to three young sons of his own.

For those about rock, we advise you listen to this man. He’s been to the mountaintop and has had to start over more than once, but most of all, he can write rock ‘n’ roll songs that make you roll the window down and sing at the top of your lungs.

The Show On The Road – Jon Stickley

This week, one of the preeminent guitar pickers and instrumental adventurers working today, Jon Stickley.

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Based in Asheville, North Carolina, Stickley leads one of the most sonically innovative, shreddingly mind-expanding, and confoundingly impossible-to-categorize acoustic groups, the Jon Stickley Trio.

Host Z. Lupetin spoke with Jon in a hotel bathroom a while back to hear his side of his guitar hero story. Listen for an exclusive acoustic performance from Jon at the end of the episode.

The Show On The Road – Bhi Bhiman

This week, Z. speaks with multi-talented songwriter, singer, guitar-slinger, and activist Bhi Bhiman. His newest project is called Peace of Mind, and is being released week by week as an interactive political podcast album.

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For nearly a decade Bhi Bhiman has been diligently crafting poetic, protesty earworms with his masterful guitar work and fuzzed out harmony. Along the way he’s gained some powerful friends and fans — like the late Chris Cornell who had Bhiman sing each night on tour a few years back. He writes about our broken immigration policies, our abandoned mental health system, the continued fight for women’s rights, voter suppression, and that’s just the first few songs off Peace of Mind. Somehow, he’s not preaching at you while he’s doing it. He’s simply putting a stunned smile on your face as you sing along with a renewed faith in the democratic process and freedom of speech.

The Show On The Road – T Sisters

This week on the show, Z. speaks with Oakland’s soulful singing T Sisters. For this trio of sisters, singing harmony-rich songs isn’t just their full-time job, it’s a way of life. It’s what they do — and damn do they do it well.

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Sisters Erika, Chloe, and Rachel Tietjen are harmonic masters. Whether it’s demonstrated in their sassy originals accompanied by upright bass, guitar, banjo, and mandolin, or with their delicious vocal-layer-cake covers of hits by Kylie Minogue and Paul Simon, family runs deep through the music. T Sisters will be releasing their next EP, We Are Bound, produced by Oliver Wood (The Wood Brothers) in March 2019.

 

The Show On The Road – Jordie Lane and Clare Reynolds

This week, we’re talking with Australian singer/songwriter Jordie Lane and his Aussie producing/harmonizing partner Clare Reynolds. Jordie has been making dark-hearted, voluptuously verbose folk music with a grinning rock ‘n roll spirit for nearly a decade.

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While he’s just making a name for himself in the US, Lane has been playing huge venues all over Australia for years as one of Melbourne’s most beloved and respected roots music artists. Have a listen, and then tell your American amigos to give this Aussie kid a shot — you won’t regret it.

The Show On The Road – Darlingside

Darlingside’s Auyon Mukharj talks about his unexpected climb from being an unsure classical violinist as a kid to the height of the current folk music circuit.

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Featured Song Clips From Darlingside’s Latest Release “Extra Life”
Rita Hayworth
The Rabbit and The Pointed Gun
Singularity

The Show On The Road – Front Country

The boundary-breaking bluegrass outfit Front Country is this week’s guest. They are among the most fiercely intelligent, straight-up wacky, and genuinely warm-hearted people playing music on the road today. The Show On Road host Z. Lupetin was initially only going to talk to a few band members for this episode, but this time the entire band got cozy and gathered around the mic for a cool and casual conversation.

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Song – “If Something Breaks”

The Show On The Road – Robbie Fulks

This week Zach talks to Chicago-based troubadour Robbie Fulks. They talk about how he’s made his own brand of sharp-tongued country music for over three decades, and how he considers Hank Williams the Shakespeare of American Music. They also discuss how he’s become more fearless and less embarrassed to confront heartbreak and the darkness always lurking in America as he’s grown older.

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Song: Alabama At Night