Tag: singer songwriter

Eli West: Timber and Timbre

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Eli West first rose to prominence in the acoustic music world as part of a duo with fellow singer-songwriter Cahalen Morrison. After creating three highly regarded albums together in the 2010s, West set off on his own. In 2016, he released The Both, featuring appearances by folks like Dori Freeman and Bill Frissell and on 2021’s well-received Tapered Point of Stone, West led a band that included Watchhouse’s Andrew Marlin and Clint Mullican and fiddler Christian Sedelmyer (Jerry Douglas Band).

This summer, the Seattle-based musician delivered his third solo album, The Shape of a Sway, where he is backed by his current sidemen, fiddler Patrick M’Gonigle and bassist Forest Marowitz, along with longtime collaborator Matt Flinner (mandolin, banjo) and an old college buddy, Peter Hatch (harmonium, piano).

West didn’t take a straight line to becoming a professional musician. Although he played violin and guitar growing up in the Pacific Northwest, he studied visual arts and political science in college. Then he headed east, where he went to timber framing schools in Vermont and Maine. Returning to Seattle, he got a job as a graphic designer.

Dissatisfied with his 9-to-5 existence, he quit his desk job after several years and went to Seattle’s Bainbridge Graduate Institute to study business. About halfway through, he realized business school wasn’t for him. It was around this time that West, who was getting more interested in bluegrass, met Morrison. He quickly decided to take a big leap and start playing and touring with Morrison. “My 30s were my 20s and it was awesome,” he shares with BGS. “And music was the means for that.”

West took some time to talk about his new album and his life while loading up a rental truck with timber frame kit to take to Orcas Island off the coast of Washington, where he and his wife own the Victorian Valley wedding chapel.

The Shape of a Sway is your third solo album. What type of a musical evolution do you see with this album?

Eli West: [With] each sequential record since my project with Cahalen, I’ve just been kind of establishing myself as a solo artist and singing my own music.

Tapered Point of Stone occurred right after my dad died and then this [album] occurred right after I became a dad. And making it halfway through life, turning 40, thinking about the second half. So, there’s kind of a transition theme. Looking up to someone and then all of a sudden looking down to my kids. Kind of switching teachers. My parents were my teachers and now my kids are my teachers. That’s a really abrupt shift.

I was writing for my last two records, but with this record I’m finally singing my songs that matter to me in a way that if they fall on other ears and feel good, I’m stoked. But I’m mostly happy with them as my own journal entries.

You have said you had something of a late start as a songwriter. How did your recent significant life events – your father dying, you getting married, and having children – influence your songwriting?

It took me so long to start songwriting, because I felt like I was cocky if I was putting my songs out if I hadn’t lived life. So, I needed to experience death. I needed to experience life on the other end, being a dad. I just didn’t have enough to say until then. It felt arrogant to do that without those experiences.

I have more certainty in whatever I’m doing. And I honestly needed a few years to think about my dad dying before I became a dad. And that certitude I feel in my music now, too.

I’m not writing to anything. I’m writing for myself. I have a lot of friends in Nashville, but I hate Nashville, because everyone’s writing to something. Not everybody, but there’s a big trend of writing to something to get awards or get someone to cover it – you know, that kind of thing.

How did you select the ten songs – did you pick them because they felt like a piece or because they were the ones ready to record?

It’s half matchmaking and half just the dam breaking because it was time. Making sense of getting half of your life, getting married, settling down, not road-dogging anymore, and ultimately deciding to have kids. So the matchmaking was finding the songs that spoke truth to being a new parent, I guess.

Are there tunes that you feel especially stand out to you from a songwriter’s perspective?

Well, “Ever Lovin Need To Know” doesn’t have a lot of meaning and it’s kind of filling syllables and it just feels good. It had meaning, but it was more about the feeling of the song than the content. “Spite and Love” is maybe the other end, where I had read this article in the New York Times about crows holding grudges and that just kind of launched it. I’m really proud of the lyrical content of that song.

And what songs served as the impetus for the album?

“Ever Lovin Need To Know” kind of felt like the tipping point where I could start assembling songs… And then “Rocks and Trees” is the most pertinent to my current situation. I have a nine-month-old daughter and that is speaking to that reality of who she is in my life.

“Rocks and Trees” also contains the line that you used for the album’s title.

Yeah, I don’t like naming a record after a song title. I think picking a lyric is way more interesting. I think there’s more satisfaction in finding that as a listener, than having a song title be the album title. So, “the shape of a sway” was kind of a secondary line that ended up meaning a lot to me. I have this newborn daughter, and I feel like I really know her not in a cognitive sense, but in a feeling sense. And “the shape of a sway” is this kind of different way to know somebody.

It feels like your lyrics often concern people exploring, examining, and searching for answers, but you don’t necessarily provide answers or explanations. Also, several songs (“All The Saints,” and the cover of Jean Ritchie’s “Cool of the Day”) have spiritual or religious imagery. Is this intentional or coincidental?

I’m glad you brought that up. I grew up in the church but then realized there’s just such a bigger common denominator than religion to get to know the world and people. So, I’ve happily delivered myself from that. But I think I ask better questions of myself because I acknowledge that human experience is bigger than any one religion.

I’m kind of looking back on those religious questions with a humanist empirical perspective, and I think that’s pretty fascinating to look back at the same questions but have a deeper well of experience and knowledge.

Was it difficult to quit the more structured world of graphic design and later business grad school for a life of a musician?

I think we’re all trying to reclaim this word “freedom” in this time and the definition of freedom for me was choosing a creative pursuit. There was some privilege and luxury in that, but it just felt like freedom. And I am grateful.

Has your background in design influenced the way you make music, similar to the connection that people have drawn between music and math?

Yes, spatial thinking – relative understanding based on space – what it feels like to be in one room and look into another room. I think of music and arrangements like that. The flow of walking through space and anticipation and memory, that’s really how I navigate music. That sounds kind of cocky, but I think you know what I mean.

You have talked about how collaborations are important to you. And this album features performers who you are familiar with (Patrick M’Gonigle, Forest Marowitz, Peter Hatch, and Matt Flinner). So, I was wondering how you walked the line with the arrangements and the collaborating, when it’s your name on the cover.

Yeah, I think any relationship [involves] grabbing onto the things that are important. The first line of this “Rocks and Trees” song is “a heavy rock that’s lightly held.” So, how to grab on to important things, but not white-knuckle them. I mean, I had this a few times, mostly in relationships, but also in musical collaborations that you seize the moment, but you don’t pretend it’s eternal.

And there’s a kind of like healthy promiscuity in music that just feeds the creative side. That said, this band that I play with right now – I feel so lucky. They’re just some of my favorite musicians. Besides Matt, we’re all in the Northwest now. And I think beyond anything, that’s why I do this – it’s just to play music with pals that I appreciate.

I had tried to record this a year previous, [and] it was basically too lightly held. I went in with a framework, but not enough rehearsing or structure around mostly [the] arrangements. And it was a great session. Those songs sound great. But it just didn’t have that kind of cohesive thing. So, I think my ideal process is leaving like 20% to be determined the day of recording. And then like that shit is always so great. But I need the 80% structure there.

You play a rather impressive variety of instruments. Guitar is your main instrument, but you play mandolin on this album’s two original instrumentals (“Gentleman’s Bulldog” and “Thanks and Sorry”). And you also play banjo and pedal steel. Do you feel like you have a particular facility with playing instruments?

I did Suzuki violin as a kid, which focuses mostly on ear training and that really helps to be fluid on instruments later in life. So, I’m really grateful for this Suzuki method!

This album has a little less bluegrass sound to it. Songs like “Spite and Love” and your reworking of Paul Simon’s “Hearts and Bones,” in particular, have real adventurous arrangements. Listening to it, the album sounds more genre-less – in a good way.

Yes, I am without genre. I just am drawn to good music, and I don’t like bad music. That’s how I define genre. There’s a lot of whim and not feeling bound to anything. So, that’s a freedom, and I kind of don’t care.

The Shape of a Sway also contains fewer instrumentals than your prior albums, was that by design?

I also love instrumental music…But the lyrical content of this record is important enough that I think that the instrumentals are just kind of supplemental.

You end the album with a real lively version of “I’d Rather Be A Train.” Was that on purpose?

[Chuckles] That Larry Sparks song was mostly just to make sure I still love bluegrass or to show that I love bluegrass.

Photo Credit: Jenny Jimenez

Basic Folk: Olive Klug

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Olive Klug and I recorded this interview in my closet while they were in Portland, Maine, to play a show. Along with their band Cori, Haley, and Payton they stayed with us and it was a real pleasure to be around them for a few days. You can tell that Olive is at their best around their band and it is a true collaboration on stage. Shoutout to the whole crew for leaving such a remarkable impression on me and my wife and for assembling some baby furniture while they were staying at our house.

In our conversation for Basic Folk, Olive takes us on a journey through their musical upbringing, exploring their childhood influences, including their father’s eclectic taste in ’60s and ’70s rock and folk. Olive discusses their love for Joni Mitchell and Taylor Swift, which inspired them to learn guitar and develop their own musical tastes. They provide insights into their early internet presence on platforms like YouTube and Tumblr, and how these shaped their creative expression and online identity.

LISTEN: APPLE • SPOTIFY • AMAZON • MP3

Olive also touches on their experience of transitioning to a music career, going viral on TikTok, and the emotional and practical challenges that come with it. Additionally, they delve into how their psychology background and neurodiversity inform their songwriting, live performances, and day-to-day life. Our conversation wraps up with thoughts on the productive chaos of touring, the importance of community in the folk world, and their aspirations for long-term, sustainable growth in the music industry. Everyone belongs at the Olive Klug show. They leave their glow wherever their travels take them.

 

@oliveklugThe gay cowboys keep leaving nashvillea title=”♬ original sound – Olive Klug” href=”https://www.tiktok.com/music/original-sound-7519310944065817375?refer=embed” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener”>♬ original sound – Olive Klug

Photo Credit: Alex Steed

Sierra Hull, Her Mandolin, and Her Band Blow Away NPR’s Tiny Desk

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

We know we aren’t the only ones addicted to NPR’s fabled Tiny Desk Concert series – especially with all of the excellent roots musicians, country artists, and bluegrassers they’ve had behind the desk lately. We’re obsessed with Gil & Dave’s recent appearance, Sierra Ferrell’s turn from about a year ago, Megan Moroney’s debut, Yasmin Williams wowing the NPR audience, and so many more.

Now, one of our longest-running and most beloved Friends & Neighbors has brought her band and her new album to NPR’s headquarters in Washington, D.C. for her very first Tiny Desk Concert. IBMA Award winner and GRAMMY nominee Sierra Hull – accompanied by her touring band of Erik Coveney (bass), Avery Merritt (fiddle), Mark Raudabaugh (drums), and Shaun Richardson (guitar) – performed four songs from her latest album, A Tip Toe High Wire, from behind the iconic desk.

“Well you guys, this is truly a ‘pinch me’ moment,” Hull exclaims while introducing her second song. “I can’t believe we’re at Tiny Desk!” And that grateful, excited energy remained front and center through the group’s beautiful mini set.

From the grooving “Boom,” to the burnin’ and acrobatic instrumental “Lord, That’s A Long Way,” to the homage to her grandmother, “Spitfire,” to the wise and poetic “Muddy Waters,” the Americana, newgrass, and jamgrass textures of the studio recordings are present, but somewhat subdued in the acoustic, pared down Tiny Desk environment. This is the exact band and these are the exact arrangements you’ll hear at a Sierra Hull headline show or on the album itself, but this setting more immediately demonstrates how her bluegrass and string band upbringing in rural Tennessee is a foundation for everything she makes. Hull is always innovative and cutting edge, yes, but she accomplishes this not by forsaking bluegrass but by bringing it with her wherever she goes, from tours with Cory Wong or Béla Fleck to NPR Music.

Another stellar Tiny Desk Concert by another incredible bluegrass, string band, and Americana musician. If you haven’t yet enjoyed Sierra Hull’s Tiny Desk appearance, watch now above.

Read our recent Cover Story interview with Hull all about A Tip Toe High Wire here.

Artist of the Month:
Tyler Childers

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Next to fellow Kentuckians Sturgill Simpson and Chris Stapleton, you’ll be hard pressed to find a singer more influential on the Commonwealth – or on all of Appalachian music – than Tyler Childers.

The Lawrence County-born artist first began cutting his teeth on dark corner stages inside diners across Eastern Kentucky and in grainy YouTube videos prior to laying the foundation for the cult-like following that’s been enamored with him since with 2011’s Bottles & Bibles and 2016’s Live On Red Barn Radio I & II. The following year he burst onto the national scene with his Simpson-produced studio debut, Purgatory.

From a voice as gritty and raw as the black gold he sings about on songs like “Nose On The Grindstone” and “Coal” to lyrics that shatter stereotypes and perceptions cast down on his home region by those outside of it, it’s easy to see why Childers’ music has become a soundtrack for not just part but all of Appalachia.

Whether it be the combination of humility and holler-bred antics within Purgatory, the intimate honky-tonk vignettes of Country Squire, the fiddle tunes of Long Violent History, the gospel-fueled experimentation of Can I Take My Hounds To Heaven? or the spiritual embodiment of Elvis on Rustin’ In The Rain, Childers has found success by shaking expectations at every turn, keeping old fans on their toes and bringing new ones in along the way.

When violence perpetrated by police was front and center during the aftermath of George Floyd’s death in 2020, Childers opted to cap off that fiddle album with its only vocal track, the protest anthem “Long Violent History.” During a heated societal moment, he approached the tune from an angle of empathy rather than pretentiousness as he tried contextualizing everything going on with past events like the Battle of Blair Mountain. Then in 2023 he had his first hit on country radio with “In Your Love,” an epic love tale that he recast as a gay one with the help of then Kentucky Poet Laureate Silas House in 2023.

While some fans have been turned off by his “political” statements, his viewpoints ultimately led to more people going down the rabbit hole of Childers’ catalog than ever before. This growth has culminated in sold-out shows at fabled venues like New York City’s Madison Square Garden, Lexington’s Kroger Field, London’s O2 Arena and the Los Angeles’ Hollywood Bowl. It also resulted in recording a track for last year’s TWISTERS soundtrack, collaborating with Olivia Rodrigo for a cover of “All Your’n” during a GUTS tour stop in Kentucky, and performing during The White House’s Fourth of July celebrations in 2024. Close to 10 years removed from his breakthrough moment, the singer is as popular and influential as ever.

That influence is sure to grow with the release of his latest studio album, Snipe Hunter. Recorded with and produced by Rick Rubin in Hawaii in early 2024, the 13-song compilation charts the red-headed stranger’s creative and spiritual coming of age with stories of the band’s success. The project is sprinkled with a bit of anti-capitalistic sentiment (“Eatin’ Big Time”), a yearning to escape on a trek to India (“Tirtha Yatra”), his fear of Koalas (“Down Under”) and hunting for whitetail deer (“Dirty Ought Trill”).

Much like its predecessors, Snipe Hunter captures Childers signature sound while also sounding like nothing he’s released before it, a fact no doubt aided by Rubin’s knack for crafting material that sticks to the cultural zeitgeist like superglue. Songs like “Nose On The Grindstone” and “Oneida” – a story about falling for an older woman – have been in Childers’ performance rotation, on YouTube playlists for years, and traded as coveted bootlegs, but the versions captured for Snipe Hunter, with their additions of organ, synths, and other studio toys, has each feeling reborn and completely new again.

Collectively, the album feels rooted in country funk bands of old like Goose Creek Symphony just as much as it incorporates more modern influences like Charlie Brown Superstar (whose remixes for Can I Take My Hounds To Heaven? are sublime) and Eric Church, serving up the perfect combination of past, present and future sounds in the process while sticking to the deeply personal Appalachian flavoring that has long highlighted his grand storytelling.

To celebrate the release of Snipe Hunter, we’ve named Childers our Good Country and BGS Artist Of The Month for August. Throughout the month, we’ll celebrate Childers by going back into our archives for all-things-Tyler, plus we’ll share brand new content on Snipe Hunter, and more – including a retrospective look at his catalog of songs and recordings here and our Essential Tyler Childers Playlist, below.

Photo Credit: Sam Waxman

You Gotta Hear This: New Music From Sunny Sweeney, Hannah Delynn, and More

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Somehow we’ve already arrived at August!? How did that happen? At any rate, there’s no better way to kick off the month than another brand new edition of You Gotta Hear This.

This week, we have a small but mighty collection of country and folk. Just a couple of days ago husband-and-wife duo Alyssa & Wayne Brewer announced an upcoming album, Lonesome & Blue, slated for release in September. To celebrate the announcement, they dropped the title track and lead single and for our roundup they’re sharing its accompanying music video for the first time. Watch below.

Plus, singer-songwriter Hannah Delynn gives a sneak preview of “Jealousy,” her third and final single from her upcoming September release, Trust Fall. Out next Friday, the number was produced by Maya de Vitry and is anchored by emotive piano, exploring the depths and catacombs of often squashed emotions.

To wrap things up, Texan country veteran Sunny Sweeney releases her new album Rhinestone Requiem today, so we’re spotlighting an as-yet-unreleased track, “Find It Where I Can,” that’s twangy, honky-tonkin’, and rocking and rolling, too. Congrats on the new LP, Sunny!

It’s all right here on BGS – and You Gotta Hear This!

Alyssa & Wayne Brewer, “Lonesome & Blue”

Artist: Alyssa & Wayne Brewer
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
Song: “Lonesome & Blue”
Album: Lonesome & Blue
Release Date: July 31, 2025 (single); September 12, 2025 (album)
Label: Sony/Orchard

In Their Words: “‘Lonesome & Blue’ is our first original offering as A&W Brewer. This song is our interpretation of a classic country tune written in our modern-day time. It’s a forbidden love, sad country song that was written to closely mirror the tumultuous relationship of George Jones and Tammy Wynette. In the video, we not only act out the tune as the characters, ‘Lonesome’ & ‘Blue,’ but also act out the characters’ daydream fantasy of being together as shiny country music stars. In the end, because of life, it doesn’t work out.” – Alyssa & Wayne Brewer

Track Credits:
Alyssa Brewer – Vocals
Wayne Brewer – Acoustic guitar, vocals
Gary Brewer – Electric guitar
Tom Killen – Pedal steel
Mason Brewer – Drums

Video Credits:
Director of Photography: Kevin Bryan, Visual Poet Studios
Dave Santiago – Bartender
Alyssa Brewer – Video editing, production
Wayne Brewer – Executive producer

Hannah Delynn, “Jealousy”

Artist: Hannah Delynn
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
Song: “Jealousy”
Album: Trust Fall
Release Date: August 8, 2025 (single); September 5, 2025 (album)

In Their Words: “‘Jealousy’ is a journey through emotional alchemy, I’d say. It’s certainly a vulnerable one and when Maya suggested we put it on the record, I was admittedly a little scared!

“So often, I think we shy away from difficult emotions because they feel shameful. They’re hard to look at, definitely – but I believe that beneath any feeling, even those which are seemingly abhorrent or benign, is an innocent desire. There is a deep chasm of pain with gold waiting within it. If we can just push past the discomfort, we can find what we’re really looking for. It’s a freeing reframe.

“Perhaps the feeling of jealousy, deep down, is a desire to be seen and recognized, to feel we belong. Who doesn’t want that? Instead of getting curious, however, we often bury or project these things in unhelpful ways, creating distance instead of closeness with ourselves and with others. Jealousy isn’t about what anyone else has; it’s about what we already have inside –we’ve simply lost sight of it.

“Following it as a sort of internal compass can connect us with that desire underneath, to recognize ourselves instead of seeking it elsewhere. It can free us from comparison and allow us to embrace our own light and celebrate the light of the other luminous creative beings all around us. (That’s everyone). Besides, the glory of a night sky is billions of stars beaming back at us… What fun would there be in seeing only one single light shining up there all by its lonesome?

“I’m so grateful to my dear, brilliant friends Alex Wilder and Lizzy Ross for sharing their bright light with us all. Alex created the beautiful piano parts within the song. I love, so very much, that the harmonies were a spontaneous unfolding between us three friends who love singing together. Also, it says quite a lot about Clare that we could write a song about jealousy together. The trust, the openheartedness, the non-judgment… may we all be that kind of friend and collaborator to one another. This whole team is bursting at the seams with bright, beautiful stars. Making this with them feels like I made a wish and it’s coming true.” – Hannah Delynn

Track Credits:
Hannah Delynn – Vocals, guitar, harmonies, songwriter
Alex Wilder – Piano, harmonies
Lizzy Ross – Harmonies
Clare “Lollies” Reynolds – Songwriter
Maya de Vitry – Producer
Ethan Jodziewicz – Engineer

Sunny Sweeney, “Find It Where I Can”

Artist: Sunny Sweeney
Hometown: Houston, Texas
Song: “Find It Where I Can”
Album: Rhinestone Requiem
Release Date: August 1, 2025
Label: Aunt Daddy Records

In Their Words: “‘Find It Where I Can’ is about that ache you get when love turns cold and you start looking for warmth anywhere you can find it. It’s not about being reckless… it’s about being human. I heard Jerry Lee Lewis’ version of this song at a time when I had just gotten out of a long relationship filled with lonely nights – not single, just lonely. There’s a specific kind of ache that comes from loving someone who stopped reaching for you a long time ago. This song doesn’t point fingers. It just says, ‘Hey, I’m still here, and I still need something real. If you can’t give it to me, I’ll find someone who will.’ It’s really just a line in the sand.” – Sunny Sweeney

Photo Credit: Sunny Sweeney by Nash Nouveau; Hannah Delynn by Betsy Phillips.

Kristi Grider on
Only Vans with Bri Bagwell

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Quite possibly the most talented guest we’ve had on Only Vans so far, Kristi Grider is a good friend of mine from the New Braunfels, Texas, area and we dig into topics like playing and teaching piano, being a substitute player, singing harmony, high-profile gigs, The Finishing School, therapizing your friends, and the benefits of walking.

LISTEN: APPLE • SPOTIFY • AMAZON • MP3

This is such interesting timing, having my friend Kristi Grider join me this week on the podcast. We recorded this episode right before the devastating floods in Kerrville, Texas, which happens to be Kristi’s hometown. Her heart is so big for her community, and she has encouraged everyone to go to CommunityFoundation.net to donate to this unimaginable tragedy.

Kristi is married to fellow Las Crucen (that’s where I’m from!) Josh Grider and we have gotten really close in recent years living in the same city here in Texas. In addition to her own writing, recording, and solo shows, she performs in cream-of-the-crop cover bands, plays shows with Josh, teaches piano lessons, and is a great mom. I’m so glad that she clarified that Josh is really supportive of her career; it’s the perfect example of how people can make incorrect assumptions from the outside. Kristi talks about being in my songwriting accountability group – where you force yourself to write a song every two weeks – which I stole from my producer Rachel Loy, who we give a lot of well-deserved love to on this episode.

Give Kristi a follow on Instagram and be sure to stream her new EP, All Right – and all her music – wherever you listen. She’s as beautiful as she is talented, so my joke about her being ugly is… a joke.

Photo Credit: AnneMarie Creative

Basic Folk: Tony Kamel

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

You may recognize the voice, face, and vibe of wonderful human being Tony Kamel from his acclaimed bluegrass group, Wood & Wire. But Tony is on Basic Folk to talk about his wonderful solo albums, including his latest, We’re All Gonna Live. The project, which just came out, is a realist-optimist’s guide to navigating a complex and often heartbreaking world. There’s something remarkably encouraging about the songs, which are so humane and so empathetic. The music is rooted in bluegrass, but I found it to be really well-rounded contemporary country-folk with great singing and songwriting. It’s actually a super fun album even though it deals with some heavy topics.

LISTEN: APPLE • SPOTIFY • AMAZON • MP3

One of the most though-provoking parts of the interview was talking to Tony about the differences between being in a band and being a solo artist. When he got into bluegrass, he really just wanted to be able to gel with and collaborate with other musicians. He claimed that they let him hang out because he was a great singer and then he started really figuring out the guitar. There’s a culture in bluegrass where people want to master being a picker and Tony didn’t wanna show up and not have the goods. He had his voice to get his foot in the door, then he just got to work and honing all of his skills. While he says he’s still not a good guitarist, I really enjoyed his playing on this album.

Photo Credit: Josh Abel

Brent Cobb
Ain’t Rocked In a While

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

He might be a renowned lyricist and self-proclaimed songwriter-singer (not singer-songwriter). His typical sound may simmer with a supremely chill mix of country, blues, and soul. But Brent Cobb got his start with the crunchy thunder of guitar-driven rock ‘n’ roll and his seventh album takes him back.

Tapping the raw rage of garage rock, the distorted domination of ‘70s proto-metal, and more, Ain’t Rocked In a While finds this GRAMMY-nominated master of phrase returning to a world where the guitar riff is king – his first love as a musician. Co-produced with Oran Thornton and recorded live, 10 songs combine Cobb’s laid-back style with the immortal edge of bands like Black Sabbath, Metallica, and heavier inspirations still. But while old metalheads do tend to get rusty, this project is razor sharp.

Speaking with Good Country, Cobb explains the change of pace, as well as his abiding love for the rock ‘n’ roll spirit and new appreciation for classic-rock lyrics. Plus, the long-haired country boy explains how Ain’t Rocked In a While could fairly be considered “dad rock.”

I want to get the story behind this record. Ain’t Rocked in While is one of those projects that really seems to do what it say it’s going to do. How much of a creative release was this for you?

Brent Cobb: Well, this project was cool because I was focused more on riff and just really digging back into the foundation of what I grew up on. My first band was a rock band with my best friend Justin, who played guitar. He was real into Pink Floyd and AC/DC and Black Sabbath, and had me learning all those songs to sing. So when I was writing riffs and lyrics for this album, I sort of went back and was rediscovering those songs that I grew up learning.

Back then, even though I was learning the lyrics, I was just learning them to sing it. I wasn’t really paying attention to what they were saying and I didn’t think of those songs as very lyrical songs. I just enjoyed the groove. With this go ‘round, it really took all the pressure off of trying to write a lyrical song – which in turn made the lyrics come way easier. It also made me aware of just how lyrical those old classic rock songs were.

Oh, right!

I didn’t notice it or I didn’t appreciate it, but I don’t guess you would as a teenager. So that was the whole process – I was just trying to write a riff album and wanted to rock a little and show the audience a reference for a live show when they came, but wound up writing lyrical songs anyway.

I guess you just can’t help it. You’ve always been known as a storyteller and a songwriter first, and you even did a gospel record just a few cycles ago. Where does hard rock fit into your listening habits?

It all has always coexisted in my little world. My mom’s from Cleveland, Ohio, and my uncles – her brothers – they were all rockers into Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, and just the classic stuff. But then here, my dad was in a band with his brother – my other uncle – and my dad would cover the early ‘50s and ‘60s rock ‘n’ roll and my uncle would do classic country. So I grew up around that, but if you looked at any of my playlists, it’s just always been real eclectic that way for sure. For this album, Master of Reality [by] Black Sabbath was probably the biggest influence and the one that I would keep returning to for inspiration. And not just in riffs, but in the way that they structured that album to ebb and flow.

This might be a hard question to answer, but how heavy do your tastes get? What do you think would be the hardest hitting band in your collection?

Oh man. Well, [for] modern [artists], I’d probably say the band Sleep. Have you ever listened to much of them?

I don’t think so. I’m going to have to check that out right after this.

It’s like stoner metal. That’s probably the hardest stuff that I’ll listen to right now. But I don’t know – I mean, Sabbath is so hard still to this day. Those first five albums are unreal. … With Sleep, that’s some heavy stoner metal.

Yeah, I’m looking on Spotify right now. They’ve got songs like “Marijuanauts’s Theme.” [Laughs] That’s an awesome title.

Dude, I know! But that stuff is like, you can go find sections of old Sabbath songs and it’s kind of like [Sleep] built a whole sound on little sections of Sabbath songs. But then if you go further, it’s all blues – that’s all it is.

For any true rock record, the recording itself is so important – trying to capture the energy. I know you recorded live-to-tape and that seems like the rock ‘n’ roll dream, right? Was that experience different from digital recording?

Well, honestly, each of my albums have always been recorded to tape except Keep ‘Em On They Toes. But with that said, it is a modern world and we still record to tape and then dump all that into Pro Tools to where it’s easier to edit, then take that and dump it all back to tape. You get the original physical, sonic difference that is recording to tape when each tape is completely different, because the needle’s hitting different, the amp was hotter, or whatever. But then we fast forward to the modern world to where we can just really be quicker and more efficient.

I think we had 10 days blocked off to record, and then I got sick on the first two days. And then Oran [Thornton], my co-producer and head engineer, he got sick for two days. And so we wound up recording in seven or eight days.

That is a plus of the modern age for sure. In any case, it came out sounding really tight – you recorded as a band, right?

That’s right. It’s the touring band [The Fixin’s] I’ve had for a while now. … The studio we recorded at in Springfield, Missouri, was this little bitty, almost broom-closet size live room, and they were all in the main live room together. I did want to isolate myself, so I was in an even smaller little isolation booth with a window where we could still see each other. … I obviously am not as experienced in singing those type songs and playing those type riffs at the same time, so I knew I was going to screw up some lyric phrasings and I didn’t want to mess everything else up. So I was the only thing I isolated.

Where’d that title track come from? “Ain’t Rocked In a While” – this definitely has that Black Sabbath feel, stretching out to five minutes.

Straight up. It started because I had bought my son a little drum kit for his fourth birthday a couple years ago. He just loves the drums … and then I would set my amp up and get my guitar out and we’d just be jamming in his room. One day he was like, “Dad, play some rock ‘n’ roll guitar.” And I’d hit a little lick and he’s like, “No, no, rock ‘n’ roll.” I’d play another little lick. And he said, “No, dad, like Mattman” – which is [the Fixin’s guitar player] Matt [McDaniel]. I was doing the best I could, really just trying to prove to him that daddy could rock.

That’s funny!

So I came up with that “Ain’t Rocked In a While” riff and then it turned into me proving to my son, “I have rocked before, boy. It just ain’t been a while.” I thought it would be funny, but I also thought, “Well, all of us are sort of that way.” I’m nearly 40 and a father of two, so you could definitely consider this album Dad Rock, but all our kids don’t know. We all had some rock eras, whether that be in life or musically or whatever it is.

Well, you still got the hair, so I think it’s easier to make that case.

[Laughs] Hell yeah. It’s funny you say that. My mama just yesterday, she used to be a hairdresser and had her own business, and she was like, “You need to let me cut your hair.” And I was like, “Look, I’m going to keep it growing until it don’t grow no more.” I’m barely gray and I ain’t thinning too much yet. Until that happens, I’m going to keep rocking the long hair.

A little earlier you mentioned how [hard rock is] all blues at the bottom, right? I think that really comes through in a song like “Do It All the Time.”

Man, I’m going to have to give my son some co-writing credit on this album, I guess. That riff did come out very Skynyrd-esque, but … I was actually trying to do my best James Gang feel with the riff, the melody, and the double vocals on that chorus. That early James Gang stuff is so badass – but I think Skynyrd also was probably trying to do their best James Gang on some of their stuff.

Anyway, the idea of that song is from when [my son] Tuck was even younger, we’d be like “Oh man. Look dude, you ate all your food!” And he would say, “I did it, and I do it all the time.” So I always had that. I started saying “I do it all the time!” And then I don’t know how much I should say, but sometimes when you’re parents, you and your other half may not be on the same page. … You’re just both sleep-deprived and sometimes it’s hard to see. And so I think we were having a little moment of that and I was going, “I tried then and I try now and I try all the time. I did it and I do it all the time, babe!” So that’s where it came from.

Okay, one more thing here. For fans who come out and see you live, do you think this is going to change the shows? Are you guys going to rock out more or what?

I mean the only way that we’ll rock out more is we just have more songs to rock out to. But no, in every album that I’ve ever put out all the way back to 2006 with No Place Left to Leave, there’ve always been rock leaning songs in my catalog – including songs that others have recorded; some of the Whiskey Myers stuff, or The Steel Woods stuff. For a little bit there seemed like a disconnect, because I don’t think [people at my shows] were aware of that rock stuff, but it’s just a funner show to me and for us especially.

Now we just have more to pull from, and for people who show up, it’s the same show. I try to do songs from every album and I’ll take requests, too. I don’t turn those down. But now, I think people will show up and they won’t be taken by surprise at all if it does drop.

Photo Credit: Jace Kartye

Basic Folk: Kora Feder

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

On this episode of Basic Folk, Kora Feder talks about her new album, Some Kind of Truth, and reflects on the incredible changes and growth she’s experienced since we last spoke in February 2020. One of the impacts of the pandemic on her music career was the necessity of exploring other artistic ventures – like crafting hats and lino-cutting. She relocated from Philly to California, finally settling in Detroit. Daughter of songwriter Rita Hosking, Kora went slightly viral during the height of COVID lockdowns thanks to her song “In a Young Person’s Body.” In the poignant composition she pays tribute to John Prine and old friends she hasn’t spoken to in years – and somehow still captured incredibly well.

LISTEN: APPLE • SPOTIFY • AMAZON • MP3

Elsewhere in our conversation, Kora discusses the passing of her grandparents, who she moved back to California to be with before they died. Their lives and deaths deeply influenced the new record. She opens up about the nuances of her gender identity, the importance of historical friendships that allow for unfiltered creativity, and her approach to writing both personal and political songs. We go through many of the tracks on the new project, including what I think is the best breakup song I’ve ever heard, “Paragraphs.” Kora Feder is a really incredible leave-you-breathless songwriter, particularly with her political writing. Here’s hoping that she doesn’t wait five more years to release a record, because we’re gonna need her.

Photo Credit: Anna Barber

Finding Lucinda: Episode 6

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Ismay travels from Texas to Mississippi to visit the studio where Lucinda Williams made her first record. There, Ismay interviews Wolf Stephenson, who was the engineer that day in 1978, to learn about what happened during the session and whether Lucinda was confident through that initial challenge of recording. They discuss what results when artists get rejected and what keeps certain artists moving forward in spite of various roadblocks. Stephenson oversaw the development of Malaco Records, which produced R&B, soul, and gospel hits. Elsewhere in the episode, Ismay also takes time to visit the stretch of country between Austin, Texas, and Jackson, Mississippi, in order to understand the landscape that informed Lucinda’s work.

LISTEN: APPLE • SPOTIFY • AMAZON • MP3

Produced in partnership with BGS and distributed through the BGS Podcast Network, Finding Lucinda expands on the themes of Ismay’s eponymous documentary film, exploring artistic influence, creative resilience, and the impact of Williams’ music. New episodes are released twice a month. Listen right here on BGS or wherever you get podcasts.

Finding Lucinda, the documentary film that inspired and instigated the podcast, is slated for release in the fall. Both the film and podcast showcase never-before-heard archival material, intimate conversations, and a visual journey through the literal and figurative landscapes that molded Lucinda’s songwriting.

Credits:
Produced and mixed by Avery Hellman for Neanderthal Records, LLC.
Music by Ismay.
Artwork by Avery Hellman.
Jackson, MS Recording: Recorded at Malaco Studios.
Sound Recordist: Rodrigo Nino
Producer: Liz McBee
Director: Joel Fendelman
Co-Director & Cinematographer: Rose Bush
Special thanks to: Mick Hellman, Chuck Prophet, Don Fierro, Jacqueline Sabec, Rosemary Carroll, Lucinda Williams, & Tom Overby.

Find more information on Finding Lucinda here. Find our full Finding Lucinda episode archive here.