Artist:Lily Kershaw Hometown: Los Angeles, California Latest Album:Pain & More Personal Nicknames (or rejected band names): My family calls me Lou or Lulu
What was the first moment that you knew you wanted to be a musician?
Hearing Simon & Garfunkel’s “The Sound of Silence” for the first time. I was 8, in the back seat of my parents car, and the world just stopped. I wanted to write like them.
What’s the toughest time you ever had writing a song?
The toughest time I’ve ever had writing a song was on a song of mine called “Depreshmode.” I initially wrote it in less than 30 minutes, but it ended up taking me 18 hours (I tallied!) to get it into its final shape. About halfway through those 18 hours I thought something inside me had broken. I was like, “Am I ever going to write again?” I did, of course, write again and I am super happy with and proud of the final shape of “Depreshmode.”
What has been the best advice you’ve received in your career so far?
Just finish the song. You can always go back and edit. You can go back and edit for 18 hours if you want, but you can’t edit something that doesn’t exist. So just finish it.
Does pineapple really belong on pizza?
Yes, but not with ham. If you’re going to add pineapple to pizza, let it be the only topping. Now I want pizza!
What is a genre, album, artist, musician, or song that you adore that would surprise people?
I really love the song “Mary On A Cross” by Ghost. It was my most-played song a couple years ago. I was also surprised to find this out! I kind of think of it as rock opera, but the internet has called their music things like black metal and doom metal. I think most people, myself included, would be surprised to know how much I love it!
Welcome to my dinner party. It’s a potluck, of course, and because I can’t cook so well, I picked up a few cases of Miller High Life. Maybe a couple bottles of chilled red: delicious! Someone cooked an orzo salad, someone else made Ina Garten’s Engagement Chicken, maybe some tomato/mozz/basil type of dish – I don’t know. That’s up to you!
All my friends are here; some people even flew in from out of town. It’s the kind of night that you don’t want to make a big deal out of, but somehow someone’s crying happy tears over dessert and saying, “I can’t believe it’s been so long, why don’t we do this more often?” It’s the nights you took for granted in those early years after college, the ones that seemed to come together so easily, like a puzzle for children where all the pieces fit in such an obvious way. We fall into friendships; the hard part is keeping those friendships strong as we get older and move to different cities.
That tension exists at the heart of Eating & Drinking & Being in Love, my debut album that came out on September 20. It’s the tension of life, man! And that’s what makes it so beautiful. I hope you enjoy my Dinner Party Playlist – I’ve organized it into courses of a meal, highlighted as such for your digestion. – Theo Kandel
Appetizers:
“Sky Blue Sky” – Wilco
This is the easiest song of all time – you can listen to it when you’re sad, happy, angry, whatever. Breezy drums, melancholic lyrics. Welcome in!
“Honeydew Moon” – Theo Kandel
The first song on the album (not counting the intro), “Honeydew Moon” is for sunset cocktails, tasteful hors d’oeuvres, and saying, “How the hell are ya?” to friends you haven’t seen in a while.
“Fool” – Adrianne Lenker
Man, I love Adrianne Lenker. She is making beautiful music with thoughtful lyricism and melodies that float, but somehow still dig deep to scratch whatever itch you’ve got.
“Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard” – Paul Simon
Okay, things are ramping up here. People are getting loose – people are drinking – people are starting to think to themselves, “Jeez, I hope we get to eat the real food soon.”
Entrees:
“Magnet” – NRBQ
Uh oh! We’ve sat down at the table and this funky ass jam pops on. People are cheersing, laughing, digging in.
“Tall Boy” – Abby Webster
Country alert! We’re cracking fresh beers, and they’re ice cold, baby.
“The Dress” – Dijon
Somehow, this wistful song still bangs hard at a dinner party. Dijon makes you think about your past, but also the awesome night you’re about to have.
“One More Night (With My Friends in the City)” – Theo Kandel
This song is really my ode to this kind of dinner party. Who brought the pizza? Who brought the beer? In this crazy universe, we all did.
“All Right” – Christopher Cross
Did you know that Billie Eilish was the first person to sweep the “Big Four” categories at the GRAMMYs since Christopher Cross in 1981? Of course, his best song (in my opinion), “All Right,” was not on Sailing, but still. This guy rips.
“Rosanna” – Toto
I put on “Rosanna” at every party I’m at. It’s a song that requires no introduction – quite literally, the drum intro speaks for itself.
“Dancing Queen” – ABBA
Okay now! Someone put ABBA on the speakers and people are getting out of their seats to dance. Everyone has finished eating, and it took only that iconic piano sweep to get everyone up and at ’em.
Desserts:
“April Come She Will” – Simon & Garfunkel
Everyone’s sitting on the patio/balcony/fire escape, sipping on the rest of the red wine and smoking cigarettes. It’s winding down, but not in a sad way, just in the way that a beautiful night with friends does.
“Perdido de Amor [Lost in Love]” – Luis Bonfá
I wish I knew any Portuguese, but luckily you don’t need to know any to understand this song. It’s so viscerally romantic, with Bonfá’s gorgeous guitar playing supporting his voice. Yes.
“I Must Be in a Good Place Now – Live at Spacebomb Studios” – Fruit Bats, Vetiver
This live cover of Bobby Charles’ original song makes me feel like I could cry tears of joy every time I hear it (secret: I have). Everyone is sitting comfortably at the end of the night, just happy to be here. Hope you enjoyed the party.
From the crosshairs of the Boston folk community and punk/DIY scene emerges Sweet Petunia, an innovative duo consisting of multi-instrumentalist songwriters Maddy Simpson and Mairead Guy. A synthesis of banjos, queerness, emotive lyricism, and life-affirming harmonies, the pair’s music explores the fluidity of futurity, even when anchored in centuries of tradition.
With two EPs and several singles under their belt, Sweet Petunia graces the ears of multitudes with an active touring schedule and their vigorous participation in the Boston music scene. The queer alt folk duo’s commitment to community and uplifting overlooked histories only deepen the resounding impact that their music inspires.
So, to start things off, how did the two of you first meet?
Maddy Simpson: We both went to Berklee College of Music and we got placed into the same ensemble, 21st Century String Band, taught by Greg Liszt, who is an incredible banjo player. One day we were supposed to have an additional rehearsal with another guy that was in the ensemble, but he stood us up (shoutout Rob with your Legends of Zelda beanie with a brim!) The two of us showed up for the rehearsal and he never came. So we just had 45 minutes to talk to each other. We ended up talking about our goals, the music we liked, and found out that we had a lot of similar likes and plans for the future. So we decided to get together and play some music. When we did, immediately we were like, “Okay, let’s be in a band.”
What does your musical chemistry with one another feel like?
MS: Well, we always joke that we’re related. I mean, we do sound very similar when we sing together. So it kind of feels like we’re like a family band even though we’re not related.
Mairead Guy: Yeah, I mean it just works – really well. Obviously we put in a lot of work into what we do. But a lot of it feels very easy when we’re playing and arranging together. We have similar intuitions about the way things should go, and that makes it really fun and special to play together.
What is your process like when you songwrite and arrange together? And what’s it like arranging with two banjos?
MG: Most of the time we come to each other with an almost-completed song. Sometimes we write together, but usually we come together once the song is pretty much finished and arrange it from there. And that’s just a lot of playing it over and over and over and over, trying different things and seeing what sticks and what pops out.
That works! How did each of you come to the genre and/or the banjo?
MS: I came to folk music through the folk revival of the ’60s. I listened to a lot of Simon & Garfunkel growing up and then when I was a little bit older, I got into the folk revival revival, so like Mumford & Sons, The Head and the Heart, The Lumineers, and that kind of stuff. I had no idea that was just the tip of a really big iceberg – I didn’t really discover true traditional music until college, when I got really into old-time music and ’50s country blues and that kind of thing.
The reason I started playing banjo is that obviously it was pretty present in the music that I was listening to like all throughout high school and my childhood, but when I got to college I had a dorm-mate who played banjo. He was a banjo principal and he would play banjo in the lounge and the laundry room – just everywhere. One day I told him that I was interested and he said, “If you buy a banjo, I’ll give you lessons.” So over Thanksgiving break I went home, bought a banjo, came back, and started taking lessons with him. And then I started taking lessons with other people at Berklee and that was it for me – it became my primary instrument.
MG: So, I grew up in Virginia. There’s a lot of traditional, old-time bluegrass around in that area and a lot of my family is pretty musical – my uncle and aunt and my great uncle and his longtime partner. We’re are all professional musicians and my great uncle was a phenomenal clawhammer banjo player. My brother plays the banjo and I’d always wanted to play it, because it’s such a beautiful instrument. When Maddy and I first started playing together, we had a lot of songs where we would trade our instruments around. When she switched to banjo I thought it was the perfect time to finally sink my teeth in and do it. Similarly to her, once I picked one up I was like, “Oh my God, why haven’t I been doing this the whole time?” Yeah, it’s an addictive instrument to play.
I noticed that the stylization of a lot of your lyrics is super unique and you have several songs with strong narratives. Can you talk a bit about the song “Quilt Too Big to Fold”? I’ve had it on repeat for weeks.
MS: Thank you. Yeah, I wrote that song for a class. We were given this assignment to write a story song. And I was thinking a lot and sort of had this refrain in my head, “All you do is sit all day and sew.” So I did some journaling about all of the things that you can sit and sew. Fiber arts are really important to me and at the time of writing that song I was really into embroidery and I was getting really into visible mending – dabbling in this world of fiber arts.
I started thinking about all of the different fiber mediums you can have. And I started to think about quotes. And then, obviously, I’m also gay. I had already seen the AIDS Memorial Quilt, so I began to look into it more deeply. The quilt was started by a lesbian and was just one of the many forms of activism that came out of the AIDS crisis. The song sort of formed around that pretty quickly. It was easy to write given the fact that I’m queer and then just creating this work of fiction where I did a lot of thinking about what it would be like to go through that, taking my own passions and interests in sort of like translating them into a historical lens. And it was really an interesting process.
Really, really amazing stuff. I also saw that you both played an integral part in Club Passim’s inaugural Pride show? Can you talk a little bit about that and what that was like?
MG: Oh it was all Maddie! Well, we played it together, but it was all Maddie.
MS: Mairead kept me sane – I was freaking out the whole time. I was given the opportunity to curate Club Passim’s first ever truly Pride-themed show. We’ve done Pride open mics and once we had a queer festival, but that was during COVID, so it was all online. So we’ve had some queer-centered events before, but this was the first ever show specifically dedicated to Pride Month.
I was given this opportunity through The Folk Collective, which is an initiative that Passim is spearheading right now. Basically, it’s a cohort of 12 artists and cultural thought leaders that live in and around Boston. Passim has invited them into the club to synthesize what the future of folk music could be like, since folk music has, in the cultural narrative, been seen as a really white-washed and male-centric genre. So it’s 12 people of varying marginalized identities and people of all ages and races and gender identities and sexual identities coming together to talk about what the future of folk music could look like.
I was given an opportunity through the Folk Collective to bring together six queer acts who are making music either directly inspired by or within the traditional genre. We had several performers who played super traditional instruments – I mean, we both played banjo and we had somebody who plays the mountain dulcimer, which was really cool. We had somebody else who did country blues and talked about gender non-conforming people in the genre. And we also had some incredible singer-songwriters as well. It ended up being a crazy night of celebrating queer identities and also celebrating the traditional music that everybody at Club Passim loves so much. It was very, very awesome.
MG: Hell yeah. Beautiful night – Maddie put so much time and effort and care into curating all of these artists and making this happen in such an important and cognitive way, and it was just such an incredible thing to ride along the coattails of.
Hopefully there are many more! In general, what does the community feel like in Boston, within the folk scene, and how do you see Sweet Petunia fitting into it?
MG: I think that Maddie and I have a particular perspective on it just because we work at Club Passim, so we see all the musicians that pass through. But I mean, as is evidenced by the event that we just had, there is a pretty wide community of queer and trans folk musicians who are drawing inspiration from traditional roots music. And even beyond tradition, things like the pedal or lap steel are becoming super popular in different genres of music. Even the banjo people are using electric banjo to get a super sick like electric guitar tone and that sort of thing.
MS: Yeah, I was just gonna say that we sit in a really weird intersection, because we’re not quite in the traditional folk scene. We’re also really established within the DIY scene as well, which is primarily indie rock and hardcore music in Boston. But because we exist in both circles we get the best of both worlds. Sometimes we get asked to play punk shows, but we also can play listening room venues like Passim.
Outside of the folk and Americana scene, what are your biggest influences right now?
MS: I love slowcore and also the huge bootgaze thing that’s happening right now. I feel like I exist in the perfect time to be 25 and into DIY music, because most of the music being made around here at this point has some bootgaze element.
Could you define bootgaze?
MS: It’s like shoegaze-inspired country music. Or country-inspired shoegaze music. Some blur into indie rock, some are just shoegaze bands that use country instrumentation or come from a place where country music is the main genre. The band Wednesday is probably the biggest right now. They sort of pioneered the genre. MJ Lenderman, Florry – there’s lots to explore if you look up bootgaze or countrygaze.
What about you, Mariead?
MG: I mean, definitely same. I’ve also really been loving a lot of hyperpop and pop music recently. Just like the energy in songs like that is so interesting. I’ve been thinking a lot about the banjo as a similar percussion to a drum machine in a super fast hyperpop song. I’ve been trying to think about ways to incorporate that because most of the songs that I write make you feel kind of bad, but I think it’d be kind of fun to write songs that made you feel kinda good.
I think you’re onto something! Do you two have any fun projects coming up?
MG: We’re working on a Dolly Parton cover EP. Every year for Halloween since 2019 (except for 2020 because of COVID) we have done a Dolly Parton cover set. And so this will be our fifth year of Dolly Parton cover sets. So we wanted to do a little something to commemorate it.
MS: Yeah, it’s gonna be really fun. That’s coming in October. There will be a bill for a cover show. So if people are local to Boston, they can come to that.
That is so exciting! So you’re our One to Watch, but who are you watching? Are there any artists, creatives, musicians, etc. that you’re appreciating especially right now?
MS: I think that my one to watch is Roman Barten-Sherman, the person from Passim’s Pride show who does traditional country blues. She’s incredible. She’s so good. She is so smart. And so well-read and knowledgeable about early American country blues. During her shows she’ll introduce every song with so much knowledge about the genre and people who play it. She knows so much about gender-nonconforming and trans individuals and Black women who have contributed to the genre. She knows everything – it’s crazy. And then she’ll play the song and it’s the best fucking thing you’ve ever heard. She’s just so good. I think she’s going to take over the world. She’s my one to watch.
MD: I definitely second that – she’s one of the people I was thinking of. I would also say Jarsch. Just absolutely incredible, visceral songwriting. Beautiful lyricism relating to both the pain and joy of queerness and gender and life itself – religious trauma, all sorts of things. Everytime I see her play I literally just cry and cry. It’s so beautiful. She’s the only person I’ve seen able to yield a guitjo in an appropriate manner, and she just has so much love for what she’s doing and the community she’s in. I feel very lucky to know her. Definitely a one to watch.
I make a lot of references in Yarn’s music about other bands, artists, movies, actors, etc… I didn’t realize how much until I started working on this Mixtape. Just a few of the things I mention are Jim Croce, Dolly Parton, The Allman Brothers, George Burns, Bob Wills, Waylon Jennings, Velvet Underground, Rex Moroux – and the list goes on. This Mixtape will include references to other artists, food, and places famous in the world of pop culture during its given time of release. – Blake Christiana, Yarn
“Play Freebird” – Yarn
I figured I’d start and end with two of our songs from our new album, Born, Blessed, Grateful & Alive. My wife started writing this one about her father and I took it over and finished it. The entire song is based around another super famous song that Mandy’s dad used to play around the house when she was a kid. And now, if anyone yells out ‘Free Bird’ at one of our concerts, we’ve got something to give ’em.
“You Never Even Called Me By Name” – David Allen Coe
Such a perfect song for this Mixtape. Coe even impersonates the singers he references in this song as well as poking fun at the entire country music genre. Pretty brilliant. Waylon Jennings, Charley Pride, Merle Haggard, and he even references his own name.
“Calling Elvis” – Dire Straits
We could do a giant Mixtape with songs that just reference Elvis alone. I love this one, because just about every lyric is a reference to Elvis and the songs he recorded. Also, Mark Knopfler is THE MAN. More Elvis to come on this list.
“Bette Davis Eyes” – Kim Carnes
I had to include a quintessential ’80s tune on here and this is it. Great voice on Kim Carnes, the perfect sultry rasp. Of course she references the actress, Bette Davis, as well as Greta Garbo.
“Mrs. Robinson” – Simon & Garfunkel
Here’s one with a sports icon reference. Paul Simon has done a lot of these kinds of references in his songs, too, and I’ll include one of those later in the tape. Joe DiMaggio, the famous New York Yankee who married Marilyn Monroe, is mentioned here as ‘Joltin’ Joe.’
“Candle In The Wind” – Elton John
Nice little transition here from The Yankee Clipper to Marilyn Monroe. This entire song is written about Monroe.
“Man on The Moon” – R.E.M.
Lots of references here, but the main star of the song is Andy Kaufman, the brilliant comedian who starred in Taxi in the ’70s. Love Andy Kaufman and R.E.M. Great song. Other honorable pop-culture mentions in this song are 21, Checkers, Chess, and of course Elvis. Also a great Elvis impression from Michael Stipe.
“Nobody Home” – Pink Floyd
The Wall might have been my favorite album as a kid. And in this particular song off that album, Roger Waters sings ‘the obligatory Hendrix perm,’ a direct reference to Jimi Hendrix and his hair style. Glad I got to include Pink Floyd on here. Beautiful song.
“Walkin’ In Memphis” – Marc Cohn
This song just had to be on here. More Elvis for ya, along with WC Handy, Beale Street, Al Green, and more. Another fantastic song.
“Graceland” – Paul Simon
What do you know, more Elvis. I think I need to write a song about Elvis now. This song is too good, it paints a picture as good as any song ever written. Enough said.
“Dairy Queen” – Indigo Girls
I thought we needed some pop-culture food references, so I included these next two songs. Not to mention, Indigo Girls and Amy Ray are my wife’s favorites. Amy Ray’s recent solo records have all been really great and everyone should have a listen.
“Factory” – Band of Horses
I love this tune and its reference to the candy of my youth, Now and Laters. To me, Band of Horses is like a modern day Beach Boys. Great band, great songs, and great harmonies. This song reminds me how half my life is spent in a hotel room.
“I Want You” – Yarn
I reference the 1980 movie, Honeysuckle Rose, with Willie Nelson & Diane Cannon. Not sure anyone saw it, but it’s about an affair on the road between musicians Nelson and Cannon, and the song itself follows a similar plot line. I wrote this song with my longtime writing partner, Shane Spaulding.
Our past albums were written very collaboratively and we sang together almost all the time, whether in harmony or unison, trying to create a unified voice where individuals were difficult to pinpoint. For our new album Everything Is Alive, we made a conscious effort to let the individual voices and minds of our four singers/writers show through. Here are some of the recorded songs by other artists that inspired us in writing and producing the album, to give you (and maybe each other?) a sense of where we were coming from and who to blame if you don’t enjoy the results! – Darlingside
“Cecilia” – Simon & Garfunkel
I enjoy how the energy of this song comes from snaps, claps, and non-traditional-drum-kit percussion — it’s uptempo, but also sparse. I referenced it a number of times while working on “Eliza I See,” whose percussion is mainly the sound of slapping my legs and banging on a desk in my bedroom. – Harris Paseltiner
“A Rose for Emily” – The Zombies
I’ve always been sweet on the key change into the chorus here combined with the entrance of the harmony vocals. I love a moment in a song where I get transported into a whole new place, even while the basic instrumentation maintains course — that’s the same basic move I tried on our song “Darkening Hour,” where the minor chord you’ve been hearing in the verse pivots to major right at the downbeat of the chorus and the harmonies drop in all at once right on top. – Don Mitchell
“King of Carrot Flowers Pt. 1” – Neutral Milk Hotel
There’s so much in this track that I love, but the two easiest things to point to are the double-tracked vocal and the louder-than-expected Uilleann pipes that come in at 0:46. “Right Friend” features both double-tracked (triple-tracked, even!) vocals and a loud, buzzy pad coming in on the second verse. – Auyon Mukharji
“I Love You Always Forever” – Donna Lewis
I heard this song for the first time in years at a friend’s wedding and was reminded of how incredible it is. A few days later I asked Don (middle name Lewis, no relation) to come up with a “Don(na) Lewis” guitar part (mimicking the guitar that comes in at 0:38) for “All the Lights In the City,” and he did, and I love it! – Dave Senft
“Simple Man” – Graham Nash
I’ve always loved the distant, nostalgic piano sound at the beginning of this song — it brings memories immediately back to life, like the sound of my brother practicing piano down the hallway in another room of the house. For our song “Sea Dogs” we decided to stick with a distant iPhone recording of the piano rather than a hi-fi recording because it had this same quality. – HP
“Santa Fe” – Beirut
I love how angular and buzzy the brass is on this track — it was definitely in the back of my head while I was putting an early, MIDI, brass-heavy demo of “Baking Soda” together. – AM
“We Did It When We Were Young” – Gaslight Anthem
We listened to this song on a loop when our band was in its early youth, and something about that insistent eighth-note pulse stayed lodged deep in our brains. A decade later, Auyon was learning guitar and sent out a voice memo with that familiar rhythmic feel which became the starting point for “Lose the Keys.” (The vocal melody doubled in octaves later in the song also points back to Gaslight origins!) – DM
“If You Could Read My Mind” – Henry Jamison, written by Gordon Lightfoot
This song was a guiding light for me while I was working on “Can’t Help Falling Apart,” and I think it influenced “All the Lights In the City” a bit as well. It feels honest and confessional and unresolved in a way that I’ve always admired and just feels like an emotional gut punch to me. I love the original, but the version I have been listening to more recently is this great cover by Henry Jamison. – DS
“Amie” – Damien Rice
There were a good few months of my early 20s wherein I was listening to this track daily. The plaintive, orchestral strings in “Down Here” can claim lineage. – AM
“Gulf War Song” – Moxy Fruvous
I think of this song as the gold standard for handling controversial/political subject matter in an effective way. “How Long Again” was very consciously informed by it from its inception. – DS
“Dancing and Blood” – Low Some songs make me feel things by sounding “real” — humans playing music in a room. This song goes the opposite direction: Everything is surreal and a little unsettling and it seems like things are about to go off the rails at any moment. I think this Low album inspired me to push the boundaries a bit with gated/distorted/off-kilter sounds around the margins of songs that still have a real human performance at the core. – DM
“Bloom” – Radiohead
This song is built on a few measures of extemporaneous piano noodling looped over and over, like an infinitely repeating moment of humanness. For our song “Green Light” we used an old voice memo of a mandocello that I was trying to learn how to play in Dave’s basement, which, when looped, resulted in the rhythmic core of the song. – HP
Artist:The Delevantes Hometown: Rutherford, NJ… then Hoboken, NJ… and now Nashville Latest Album:A Thousand Turns Rejected band names: “The band was originally named Who’s Your Daddy. The name came from the Zombies song, ‘Time of the Season.’ The lyric reads: ‘What’s your name? Who’s your daddy?’ but very few people ever got it. In fact I think maybe one person did. And it eventually made a list of top ten bad band names. Eventually Mike and I decided to go with our last name. It was easy and simple (for us) to remember. But it’s hard to count how many times it was misspelled in ads or on marquees. One of our faves was ‘The Deldinkos’! Probably should’ve gone with that.” — Bob
What was the first moment that you knew you wanted to be a musician?
I had played guitar since I was about 4 years old and I enjoyed it. Our family was very musical. But I don’t think I understood its full potential until I was a teenager and got together with friends and played as a group. Even just in casual circles. That’s when I saw what it can do and how it can bring people together. Our music began in friendships and it grew out from there. — Mike
In high school after lunch my friend Matt and I would pull out our acoustic guitars and play some songs in the auditorium. A little Simon & Garfunkel, Jackson Browne, or maybe something from Will the Circle Be Unbroken. As we played some of the football players’ girlfriends came over and sat down to listen. We realized guitars and harmonies, not helmets and shoulder pads, was the way to go for us. — Bob
Which artist has influenced you the most… and how?
There are so many, but I would probably choose Bob Dylan. Lyrics, folk music, rock ‘n’ roll — there are so many layers and I love that. And he just turned 80 and has released what I think as some of his best work! – Bob
Probably the Beatles. The combination of both amazing lyrics and some of the most incredible melodic lines. I don’t think anyone has come close. — Mike
What’s your favorite memory from being on stage?
Being asked the day of the show to back up Levon Helm at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame show in Cleveland. Rehearsing for about an hour that day and performing “Rag Mama Rag” and “Atlantic City.” — Mike
There are quite a few but two really stick in my mind: The first, we were playing an outdoor festival in Holland and it started to rain. There was large crowd on the hillside. I think the attendance was around 10,000 people and when it started to drizzle all these different colored umbrellas opened up. It looked like a field blooming. The second is the first time we opened up for John Prine and he asked us to sing on the encore, “Paradise.” Won’t forget that one. — Bob
Since food and music go so well together, what is your dream pairing of a meal and a musician?
Sitting down for a dinner of baked ziti and a beer with Frank Sinatra at Ricco’s in Hoboken, NJ, around 1941, just as his career was taking off. — Bob
Hearing the E Street Band play on the boardwalk in Asbury Park with a slice of NJ pizza. — Mike
What other art forms — literature, film, dance, painting, etc. — inform your music?
I’m a designer, photographer, and illustrator as well as a songwriter. All these different disciplines feed each other. They’re all ways of telling stories and I work in all of them. My favorites are probably looking at other artists’ photographs and watching films. They probably affect me the most and inspire my work. — Bob
Going to art school in NYC opened my eyes to how a particular time and place with different art forms can be combined to create a story. The act of creating art alongside other artists — and being fully immersed in galleries and seeing bands in clubs at a certain time — created a story in my head that I can still see. A film with a soundtrack. That time inspires me to find similar moments in how you can imagine a song or say a painting can take on meaning for other people. Part of it is freeing in a way… you don’t have to control every aspect because they will put their story into your art and make it their own. — Mike
Artist:Lee DeWyze Hometown: Mount Prospect, Illinois Latest Album:Ghost Stories
Which artist has influenced you the most … and how?
I would have to say two artists: Paul Simon and Cat Stevens. I always believed everything Paul Simon was saying in his songs, which to me always spoke to the honesty in music — I find that very important for me in my writing. And the emotionality and vulnerability that Cat Stevens put in not only his live performances, but his recordings as well. I was so hooked on them from a young age it was quite literally what inspired me to start writing and playing.
What was the first moment that you knew you wanted to be a musician?
I was about 10 years old and I was reading along the back cover of the Tea for the Tillerman as my dad played it (we always had records playing). I can remember being amazed that these stories were being told through music and I was so moved — it was almost a calling for me. It was like a mental picture book.
How often do you hide behind a character in a song or use “you” when it’s actually “me”?
I would say I do like to have the listener feel like they’re part of the story. I would like to think over the years I’ve become more open to being vulnerable in my writing. I do like to write from my point of view — that said I’m not always writing from my experience. Sometimes it’s just understanding someone else’s experience and trying to convey that from my perspective.
What’s the toughest time you ever had writing a song?
I would say probably during this past year, plus there was a stretch of about eight months that I just could not find the inspiration to write. Which seems ironic considering all the time I had. It was definitely a test for myself, but after a while the writing kind of swept me up and it was like the flood gates were open, allowing me to finish my new record, Ghost Stories.
What other art forms — literature, film, dance, painting, etc. — inform your music?
I would definitely say that film/visual media has found its way into my music. I’ve had quite a few songs in TV and movies and I suppose I’ve always loved that marriage. Whether it be a song of mine that finds its way in, or I’m brought on to write specifically for something. From Harold and Maude to the Disney classics, I always loved the music and movies from a young age. I remember seeing Fantasia for the first time and it blew my mind.
“We went into the studio and decided to do a whole album of duets. These are old songs, some of them are from the ‘40s, ‘50s, early ‘60s, one from the ‘80s, and a new song. We grew up with these songs and our parents grew up with these songs. Just like our latest record, many of the songs on this playlist are songs we’ve loved all of our lives. At the same time, some of them are newer, or unique takes on previous hits. That’s the great thing about music is the diversity and uniqueness that comes with it. We hope you enjoy some of our picks!” — Dale Ann Bradley and Tina Adair
Jack Greene – “There Goes My Everything”
This was the first song I heard on the radio. – DAB
The Osborne Brothers – “Once More”
I’ve been listening to them my whole life and am a student of their classic and seamless harmonies. This song is an example of that. – Tina
Simon & Garfunkel – “The Sound of Silence”
It’s a prophetic song that is still unraveling today as in the ‘60s. A look at human nature that continues to be so thought-provoking. – DAB
Alison Krauss & Union Station – “So Long, So Wrong”
This song encompasses everything I love about bluegrass. Great playing, fantastic vocals and an absolute amazing production/arrangement. – Tina
Glen Campbell – “Galveston”
It’s just a consummate recording in every way. – DAB
Brandy Clark – “Stripes”
This is one of my favorite written “new” songs. Brandy is one of the most clever songwriters in Nashville right now and this song shows it. Fun fact… I have a version of this recorded. Maybe someday I’ll let everyone hear it. Ha ha! – Tina
The Grateful Dead – “Ripple”
This is a song from The Grateful Dead that so much expresses the way I feel spiritually. – DAB
Blue Öyster Cult – “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper”
Talk about drive and timing with an iconic guitar riff, and one of the best rock bands ever. – DAB
Reba McEntire – “Fancy”
Well I’ve always been a huge fan of Bobbie Gentry’s voice and songwriting; however, one of my heroes in this business has been the one and only Reba McEntire (for her ability to interpret a song, entertain you and her amazing business sense). I admire her on so many levels. Her version of “Fancy” is one that can always entertain a crowd … and I love that. Reba was my first concert I attended outside of local bluegrass festivals. – Tina
The Stanley Brothers – “Jacob’s Vision”
Great writing and singing in pure Appalachian style. This song touched my heart the first time I heard it. – DAB
Harry Chapin – “Cat’s in the Cradle”
This is a song that has taken my breath away. – DAB
Poco – “Crazy Love”
I love the harmonies and guitar fingerpicking and just Poco’s overall laid-back feel with this song. It’s always been a fave of mine. – Tina
Mason Williams – “Classical Gas”
I love the guitar and this is so good! We all wanted and tried to play this. – DAB
Ludwig van Beethoven – “The Moonlight Sonata”
It’s such an emotionally driven piece. I always got lost while listening and felt several different feelings. – DAB
Linda Ronstadt – “Desperado”
Any style, any arrangement… we’ve all been “Desperado.” – DAB
Artist:Callie McCullough Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee Latest album:After Midnight Personal nicknames (or rejected band names): “Floofy” which is based on my giant hair and “Muckoluck” which is a riff on my last name “McCullough.” We’ve decided the Muckoluck is some sort of mythical bird creature that should be made into a cartoon…
What other art forms — literature, film, dance, painting, etc — inform your music?
I’m a proud book nerd and definitely guilty of being a movie binger! The title track of this album After Midnight was heavily inspired by the movie Midnight in Paris. I am somewhat of a nostalgist myself, so I really connected with that movie, I’ve watched it at least five times. I’ve got a deep love for not just the music but for the writing of the past; language was just more fluid and poetic before we all started texting short forms. I’ll read things as old as 14th century literature, although sometimes it can take a little deciphering. The more I am reading the more my brain is thinking lyrically; I tend to be a melody driven writer so it helps me to draw inspirations, sometimes even subconsciously. When we wrote “Feathers” I didn’t realize the influence until my producer, Dustin Olyan, pointed out that it reminded him of Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven.”
How often do you hide behind a character in a song or use “you” when it’s actually “me”?
Almost never in my own writing… I didn’t really think about it as we were writing these songs or even pulling them together for the album, but every one of these songs is from the “me” perspective. There’s a vulnerability in that for sure, but these songs are my stories, it seemed obvious writing them in that way.
What was the first moment that you knew you wanted to be a musician?
I’m not sure there was an exact moment. I just always did. I was putting on soapbox shows in the living room for my family, and wandering around the yard making up little songs and singing them to myself by the age of 3. Both of my parents were full-time musicians and it all seemed pretty normal to me. I was playing guitar and piano by 8 years old and by the time I was 14 I had started really working at it, going out and getting my own gigs, joining a few bands and trying to write songs. I’ve always loved music on a visceral level, I couldn’t imagine not singing or playing an instrument; it’s a part of me and it’s in my blood.
What rituals do you have, either in the studio or before a show?
Studio traditions… Well, food is a big priority when we’re in bigger tracking session days. Everyone is always happy when there are snacks! Tracking the bigger sessions of After Midnight I was pretty intimidated starting out surrounded by an all-star cast of our musical heroes like Ron Block and Barry Bales (Union Station), Jeff Taylor, Billy Thomas (The Time Jumpers) and the legendary Stuart Duncan! But quickly we were all laughing it up in the most casual way — and of course eating cookies.
There was a funny little tradition in the vocal sessions of this album. My sister had given me this silly white winter hat for Christmas (we call them “tooks” up in Canada) and it made me look like a Conehead; I had put it on to keep my hair out of the headphones the first day and we dubbed it “my cone.” I ended up recording all my vocal tracks that way, sitting in a cozy chair, wearing my “cone,” wrapped in a blanket sipping tea like a 90-year-old lady! I’m definitely at ease in smaller sessions, the pressure is gone and you are just making music.
If you had to write a mission statement for your career, what would it be?
To make music that moves people. I make music because I love it and I need to do it to stay sane; but it is my hope that something I make will matter. I hope that somewhere along the line I will write a song that stands the test of time, or sing something in a way that catches someone’s heart, if even for a second. Because I think music matters, even if we sell it for less than a cent these days…
Growing up near the Sequoia forests of Northern California, Avi Kaplan gravitated toward the low-key albums by John Denver, Bill Withers, and Simon & Garfunkel in his parents’ CD collection. But in time, the term “low-key” took on a whole new meaning as his baritone voice dropped dramatically upon starting high school. Suddenly possessing a clear, thundering bass range, Kaplan discovered a newfound confidence and rare vocal ability that ultimately led him away from the dream of becoming a choral director to joining the a cappella group Pentatonix.
After six years as a member of that Grammy Award-winning group, Kaplan parted ways with Pentatonix in 2017 and essentially went off the grid for a year. Now living in a cabin in the woods outside of Nashville, he is ready to reconnect to his roots — as he did on his new album, I’ll Get By. With a speaking voice that’s as resonant as you’d expect, Kaplan caught up with BGS by phone.
BGS: I’ve read that you had an early interest in folk music, so I was curious to know if you’d consider this is a full-circle moment, coming back to the music that you grew up loving?
AK: Oh yeah, absolutely. I grew up listening to it and it’s always the music that I’ve listened to throughout my life. And it’s always the music that I’ve written as well. I had a departure when I went and did the Pentatonix thing, but it definitely is a full-circle thing. It’s really surreal for me.
You released “Change on the Rise” about a year ago and it sent you on the path to this record. Why did you choose that song to usher in this stage of your career?
In the past I’ve written a lot of songs that are softer and maybe on the prettier side. A little fire, a little less power, and more about the soft, serene beauty of folk music. I really wanted to come back with something that just had a little more fire in it, because it was really reflective of where I was in my life. I felt like I really got my fire back. I didn’t want to come back with something people had already heard from me. Even then, people hadn’t heard much from me in general, when it came to a solo voice, or my voice out of its lower register. So I wanted to come back strong.
What was on your mind when you wrote “I’ll Get By”? That seems like an anthem of this record.
Thanks, man. Whenever I write a song, I don’t listen to it for a while. Then I come back and listen to it again so I can hear it on fresh ears, without the critical ear. When you’re in the writing situation, you’re criticizing everything you’re doing, so I had to get myself out of that. And when I listened to it again, I got emotional. It was something that really felt special to me. It felt really strong to me. It felt like it was conveying exactly what I was going through at that time, and hopefully something that would help other people get through the same type of thing.
On another song, “Chains,” there’s a lyrical reference to needing peace, and phrases similar to that. Were you needing peace and quiet to keep on going?
Oh yeah, absolutely. I was living in L.A. for about seven years and I’m just not a city guy in general. But when I wasn’t in L.A., I was touring non-stop. I was always going, so I really feel like I lost myself and I lost touch with the things that I loved the most – hanging out with my family, being in nature, all that stuff. … It was about a year after I left the group that I really started delving into writing. I wanted to do some healing first, but even through that, I was still healing just from a lot of stuff I was going through. So yeah, absolutely I was in that spot.
What did that healing process look like for you? What were you doing that year?
Well, I left the group and I just took some time to do the time to do the things that I’ve been longing to do. So I camped a bunch. I moved out of L.A. and moved into a cabin in Tennessee. But before that, I went back out to the Sequoias, where I’m from, and did a camping trip there. I did a lot of time in the Eastern Sierras and the Mojave Desert, and up in the mountain lakes.
I also went to Holland. I went to Germany and did a bunch of nature stuff. Then I went to Israel and I went hiking out there as well. So, I kind of went all over and just got away from everything as much as I possibly could. I just sought out to heal and find myself again, and just do work on myself. It was really important at that time. It was something that I needed more than I even knew.
Why did Tennessee become the place you ultimately settled?
I knew that I wanted to do music still. And really Nashville is the only music city where you can drive like 15 minutes outside the city and be in the country. And that’s where I wanted to be. That was a huge reason and also my sister lives out here. Also, with the music that I’m doing, I would say it’s more of a hub than I would say L.A. or New York anyway.
So, all signs pointed that way. I never had a doubt in my mind either. It was like, “OK, now it’s time for me to move out to Tennessee. I need to get a cabin out there and be in the forest.” It was all very clear to me what I needed to do. I didn’t exactly know how I was going to get into a place where I was good again, but I knew that’s where I needed to go to do it.
You mentioned earlier that you’re singing in a different part of your range on this record. But not a lot of people can sing as low as you. When did you realize you can do something that very few people can do?
It was my freshman year of high school. I joined the choir when I was in eighth grade but I was a baritone back then. And over that summer between eighth grade and freshman year, my voice changed big time. So I remember coming to the choir room and my choral director was extremely excited to hear my voice because it’s hard to find basses and that’s very much needed in choir. So he was a huge inspiration for me and a huge advocate for me. He helped me realize how different it was and how I could utilize it. I owe a lot to him, definitely.
It sounds like music education in your school is a cornerstone of your development.
That’s huge for me. Now I run a summer camp for high schoolers based around harmony and a cappella, music, songwriting, and all that, because that was such a huge inspiration to me. It changed the course of my whole life. It’s always been something that’s been important for me. Before I joined the group I was on track to be a choral director. I was also studying opera, but being a choral director was the dream, just because it had such an impact on me.
Was country music an influence for you growing up?
I didn’t listen to actual country, like Garth Brooks and that type of thing, but I loved bluegrass. I loved John Denver. Bluegrass is more of what I listened to when I was younger. And the Sons of the Pioneers, old-school country. There was actually a band in my hometown that was very similar to them called that Sons of the San Joaquin that I listened to a lot.
What was your entrance point into bluegrass?
I really started delving into it when I was a bit older. What’s funny is that I got on the Bluegrass Situation’s YouTube channel and I just went down a rabbit hole. I was blown away by some of the newgrass that was going on, and by some of the old-school. I think one of my favorite videos that you did was the one of Tim O’Brien. That blew me away. I love it so much! I would watch it all the time.
Then I started getting into Hot Rize, and an album with Tim O’Brien with Darrell Scott, and then I got into Elephant Revival, then Mandolin Orange, and I kept going down and down and down. I really delved into it and fell in love with it even more because it felt like my roots. I had grown up with that kind of thing, but I had gotten into more of the contemporary modern folk with Iron & Wine and Bon Iver.
I’m a huge fan of bluegrass and I tell people all the time that bluegrass musicians are world-class musicians. They are truly virtuosic. So unbelievably talented. It’s amazing to hear music that I love with such virtuosic musicians. That is something that is always very inspiring to me – a musician’s musician, someone who is really amazing at their craft. And that is definitely what bluegrass is about.
I wanted to ask about auditioning people for your band. What are you looking for when you pick a band?
I’m always looking for vocals. Harmonies. That’s the most important thing to me. Especially with my music, it’s not the toughest stuff to do, instrumentally speaking. With this album, the drums are actually more complex than I thought they were going to be, but at the end of the day, it’s nothing crazy. The harmonies are really where I’m looking for the strength. Yeah, that’s it – harmonies, 100 percent, all the way.
Photo credit: Bree Marie Fish
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