Tag: singer songwriter

You Gotta Hear This: New Music From Andy Leftwich, Leeann Skoda, and More

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

For New Music Friday, we’ve got a healthy handful of new videos, tracks, and releases from your favorites artists in folk, country, bluegrass, old-time, and beyond.

Don’t miss new songs like Penny & Sparrow’s single “Jeopardy” and Helene Cronin’s take on mortality and togetherness, “Visitors.” Also, bluegrass outfit Seth Mulder & Midnight Run bring a Yellowstone-inspired cowboy number, “Looking Past the Pain (The Cowboy Song).” LA-based singer-songwriter Leeann Skoda debuts “Easy” in our round-up, as well, a new track with plenty of grit – and ’90s rock influences.

Plus, we’ve got a bevy of new music videos! Andy Leftwich performs an instrumental rendition of the gospel classic, “Talk About Suffering,” with an excellent trio. Check out the Hannah Connolly-crafted special live performance for “Worth the Wait,” a song from her most recent album, Shadowboxing. And old-time multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Evie Ladin picks “Walking Up Georgia Row” with fiddler Kieran Towers, celebrating her upcoming project, Ride the Rooster 2.

That’s not all, either! Earlier in the week, the second-to-last installments of the AEA Sessions (featuring Tony Arata this time) and Rachel Sumner’s Traveling Light Sessions (featuring her original “3000 Miles”) premiered on BGS. So you can check out those great performances below, too, and watch for the final edition in each series next week.

All of that musical goodness is right here on BGS – and You’ve Gotta Hear This!

Hannah Connolly, “Worth the Wait” (Live)

Artist: Hannah Connolly
Hometown: Eau Claire, Wisconsin
Song: “Worth The Wait” (Live Performance)
Album: Shadowboxing
Release Date: November 8, 2025

In Their Words: “‘Worth the Wait’ is a song about time, distance, and love. This video was captured last fall in Vienna, when my husband Eric and I were able to be on tour together. I was opening a few shows for his band Young the Giant’s tour and our friend and the band’s photographer, Lupe Bustos, filmed it when we had the afternoon off at the hotel. This song came out of missing Eric while he was on tour, so it was special to be able to capture it while we were traveling together. I’m grateful we were able to record a version of it in such a natural, unplugged form.” – Hannah Connolly

Video Credit: Filmed by Guadalupe Bustos.

Helene Cronin, “Visitors”

Artist: Helene Cronin
Hometown: Dallas, Texas / Nashville, Tennessee
Song: “Visitors”
Album: Maybe New Mexico
Release Date: November 29, 2024 (single); March 7, 2025 (album)

In Their Words: “I got together to write with Cameron Havens and Ben Roberts last year. Ben had the idea of ‘Visitors.’ I immediately loved it, because I like songs that tell the truth. That truth being, we all got here the same way, we’re all leaving the same way, and it’s what we do with the time in between those events that’s most important. How do we treat each other? How do we care for this ‘place made of stardust and gold’ where we’ve landed? What really matters: possessions, time, relationships?

“But the song avoids being preachy, speaking from a level playing field. No one is above anyone else. ‘We all got a seat at the table, pull up a chair, there’s room for plenty more.’ I like the inclusiveness of that; it’s an invitation I want to be part of.

“When I sing this song, I envision a huge, ever-expanding supper table where all are welcome, none are left out in the cold. Shouldn’t we just remember our manners? Wipe your feet and c’mon in!” – Helene Cronin

Track Credits:
Helene Cronin – Lead vocal
Bobby Terry – Acoustic guitar, pedal steel
Paul Eckberg – Drums, percussion
Matt Pierson – Bass
Charlie Lowell – Mellotron, keys
Caitlin Anselmo & Matt Singleton – Background vocals
Mitch Dane – Production, engineering, mixing
David Diel – Production assistant
Sputnik Sound, Nashville – Studio
Mastered by Kim Rosen, Knack Mastering.

Evie Ladin & Kieran Towers, “Walking Up Georgia Row”

Artist: Evie Ladin featuring Kieran Towers
Hometown: Baltimore, Maryland to Oakland, California
Song: “Walking Up Georgia Row”
Album: Riding the Rooster 2
Release Date: November 19, 2024
Label: Evil Diane Records

In Their Words: “Six years and one pandemic to the day since Riding the Rooster came out – my popular first edition of clawhammer banjo/fiddle duets with 17 different fiddlers around the country. Riding the Rooster 2 features 17 new and different fiddlers, from old-time stars like Bruce Molsky and George Jackson to bluegrass maven Laurie Lewis, Cajun master David Greely, and excellent fiddlers known deeply in their old-time subcultures around the world.

“Having released many records of my original songs, this project sits firmly in the wheelhouse of my upbringing and ongoing community. My favorite thing in this milieu is to sit down with a fiddler and launch fast into some crooked tune I’ve never heard. Every cell kicks in and the experience is much like I imagine riding a rooster to be – visceral, in the moment, somewhat off-the-chain. ‘Walking Up Georgia Row’ is a raging duet with London fiddler Kieran Towers, recorded in a cow pasture at the Crossover Festival in England. Kieran and I met at Clifftop in West Virginia, playing in the very early morning hours before he had to head back to the UK, and it was a joy to reconnect a few years later, and invite him to be a part of this record. Also, this tune and the album are being released while I’m on a packed two-week tour of the UK, with only one fiddler, Sophie Wellington.” – Evie Ladin

Andy Leftwich, “Talk About Suffering”

Artist: Andy Leftwich
Hometown: Carthage, Tennessee
Song: “Talk About Suffering”
Release Date: November 15, 2024
Label: Mountain Home Music Company

In Their Words: “Life can deliver some hard blows and no one is exempt from troubles and trials. We read in Matthew 11:28 where Jesus said, ‘Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.’ He offers us peace in the middle of our storm and a confidence knowing we don’t have to walk through it alone. As bad as it can seem sometimes, there is always something to hold onto. We talk about suffering here below, but let’s keep following Jesus.” – Andy Leftwich

Track Credits:
Andy Leftwich – Fiddle, mandolin
Byron House – Upright bass
Cody Kilby – Acoustic guitar

Seth Mulder & Midnight Run, “Looking Past the Pain (The Cowboy Song)”

Artist: Seth Mulder & Midnight Run
Hometown: Sevierville, Tennessee
Song: “Looking Past the Pain (The Cowboy Song)””
Album: Coming On Strong
Release Date: November 15, 2024 (single); Spring 2025 (album)
Label: Rebel Records

In Their Words: “I had just finished binge-watching Yellowstone and felt inspired to write a cowboy song. However, I wanted the song to feel personal and unique and the best way to do that was to draw from my own experiences with a touch of imagination. Growing up in North Dakota, I spent a lot of time around horses, training with my grandfather, competing in 4H and horse shows. After college, I moved back to North Dakota and worked at a camp as a horse trainer and ranch hand. That experience rekindled my passion for working with horses – a passion that almost became my career instead of music. So, it only made sense that I would eventually write about that lifestyle. Once I had a solid foundation for the song, I knew it had potential but I wanted it to be perfect. I reached out to my good friend Seth Waddington from The Waddington Brothers. He helped me refine it, giving the lyrics that old-school cowboy feel I was after.” – Seth Mulder

Track Credits:
Seth Mulder – Mandolin, lead vocal
Colton Powers – Banjo, tenor vocal
Chevy Watson – Guitar, baritone vocal
Tyler Griffith – Upright bass
Max Silverstein – Fiddle

Penny & Sparrow, “Jeopardy”

Artist: Penny & Sparrow
Hometown: Florence, Alabama / Waco, Texas
Song: “Jeopardy”
Album: Lefty
Release Date: November 15, 2024
Label: I Love You / Thirty Tigers

In Their Words: “‘Jeopardy’ is about knowing someone perfectly. It goes beyond tracking their needs & preferences & peccadillos. It grows into a kind of loving memorization where you can almost see the future. Whether it’s romantic, friendly, or familial, there’s something gorgeous about that kind of ‘knowing someone.'” – Penny & Sparrow

Leeann Skoda, “Easy”

Artist: Leeann Skoda
Hometown: Los Angeles, California / Phoenix, Arizona
Song: “Easy”
Album: Now I See Everything
Release Date: November 15, 2024

In Their Words: “I channeled some anger into this song. When I wrote it, I was feeling resentful of the time and energy I’ve spent trying to be easygoing because I thought it was the only acceptable way for me to be in the world. It’s how so many women feel or have felt. There’s this dichotomy because the song feels “easy” and almost light to me. I think it came out that way because it’s cathartic and freeing to put these feelings into music. Like a lot of my songs, there is plenty of ’90s rock influence in this one.” – Leeann Skoda

Track Credits:
Leeann Skoda – Vocals, guitar
Brad Lindsay – Guitar
Nick Bearden – Bass
Ed Benrock – Drums
Brian Whelan – Background vocals
Produced, Recorded and Mixed by Andy Freeman at Studio Punchup! in Nashville.
Background vocals recorded by Aaron Stern at Verdugo Sound.
Mastered by Gentry Studer.

AEA Sessions: Tony Arata, Live at Americanafest 2024

Artist: Tony Arata
Hometown: Savannah, Georgia
Songs: “When I Remember You,” “Here I Am,” “The Dance,” “Getting Older”

In Their Words: “My hometown is Savannah, Georgia, but I grew up on nearby Tybee Island, which I always claim as my hometown. Jaymi and I have been in Nashville since 1986.

“The shoot was done in one of my favorite places I’ve ever worked – Bell Tone Studios in Berry Hill (Nashville, Tennessee), and could not have been easier nor more relaxed. I know I met you, Julie, for the first time that day, but you made me feel like an old friend. And though I’m not a gear-head, the mics were super cool! Thank you for making and representing great stuff. And I love Roger Nichols, my only hope is that he never realizes how talented he is, because he might be hard to live with! He is a truly brilliant musician/engineer/producer/human.” – Tony Arata

More here.

Rachel Sumner, “3000 Miles”

Artist: Rachel Sumner & Traveling Light
Hometown: Boston, Massachusetts
Song: “3000 Miles” (Traveling Light Sessions)
Album: Heartless Things 
Release Date: November 14, 2024 (video); May 10, 2024 (album)

In Their Words: “‘3000 Miles’ is an autobiographical song that traces my journey from the deserts of California to Boston, the place I now call home. Growing up, the Mojave felt confining to me and I always sensed that I’d need to leave to find myself. This song is a rambler’s road song, shaped by years of searching. However, it took the stillness of lockdown to finally finish it – when I couldn’t travel anywhere. That pause gave me the chance to look back and make sense of all the miles I’d put behind me.” – Rachel Sumner

More here.

Photo Credit: Andy Leftwich by Erick Anderson; Leeann Skoda by Anna Rochelle Imagery.

WATCH: Rachel Sumner, “3000 Miles” (Traveling Light Sessions)

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Artist: Rachel Sumner & Traveling Light
Hometown: Boston, Massachusetts
Song: “3000 Miles” (Traveling Light Sessions)
Album: Heartless Things 
Release Date: November 14, 2024 (video); May 10, 2024 (album)

(Editor’s Note: BGS is excited to premiere a new series of live performance videos from singer-songwriter and band leader Rachel Sumner. Over the last few weeks, BGS readers have enjoyed three live song performances of tracks pulled from Sumner’s latest album, Heartless Things, and performed by her touring trio, Traveling Light. Stay tuned for the final installment coming next week.)

In Their Words: “‘3000 Miles’ is an autobiographical song that traces my journey from the deserts of California to Boston, the place I now call home. Growing up, the Mojave felt confining to me and I always sensed that I’d need to leave to find myself. This song is a rambler’s road song, shaped by years of searching. However, it took the stillness of lockdown to finally finish it – when I couldn’t travel anywhere. That pause gave me the chance to look back and make sense of all the miles I’d put behind me.” – Rachel Sumner

Track Credits:
Rachel Sumner – banjo, lead vocals
Kat Wallace – fiddle, harmonies
Mike Siegel – bass, harmonies

Video Credits: Engineered by Zachariah Hickman.
Filmed by Lindsay Straw.
Mixed by Rachel Sumner.
Mastered by Dan Cardinal.
Video edited by Rachel Sumner.

Photo Credit: Bri Gately

Woody Platt Seamlessly Steps Into His Solo Career On ‘Far Away With You’

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

After over 20 years behind the wheel of Western North Carolina-based bluegrass and roots band Steep Canyon Rangers, founding member Woody Platt is forging a new path ahead as a solo artist with his debut album, Far Away With You.

Released on October 11, the 10-song project sees the GRAMMY and IBMA Award winner teaming up with a variety of collaborators – from the North Carolina writers whose songs litter the collection to guest spots from legends like Del McCoury, Tim O’Brien, Sam Bush, and Darrell Scott. The album also showcases covers from Georgia bluesman Blind Willie McTell (“Broke Down Engine”) and rockers Kings of Leon (“Beautiful War”) that showcase Platt’s ability to take songs from far outside the bluegrass space and capture them within it, casting these familiar tales in an entirely new light and making them new all over again.

“This album is a big step for me,” Platt tells BGS. “When I left the Steep Canyon Rangers, it was only to slow down and be home more. I didn’t really have a plan to make a record or to have any sort of solo career, but when you spend half your life on the road and playing music, it just becomes a little bit of who you are.”

That big step has come with even bigger adversity in recent weeks as Platt has joined others in recovery efforts after Hurricane Helene pounded his home region. While his property and most of the city of Brevard were spared catastrophic damage, countless other communities nearby were not. Though recovery will likely take years, Platt is determined to help for the long haul with both power tools and his baritone bluegrass bops.

During a break from hacking away at a fallen tree with his chainsaw to get a neighbor’s bridge reopened, Platt spoke with BGS about the mixed emotions leading up the release of Far Away With You, how Western Carolina informs his music, his song selection process, and how fatherhood has impacted his outlook on music.

What’s it been like for you balancing promoting and preparing for an album release while simultaneously helping your community recover from Hurricane Helene?

Woody Platt: I’m not going to lie to you, I’m conflicted. This is the first time I’ve ever focused on a record that is a solo project with my name on it. With that comes a general sort of concern, anxiety, and excitement, and I’m proud of it, but at the same time I’ve been conflicted about trying to promote something that’s so singular and personal during this huge storm event that’s got so many people in such a bad situation.

Originally, I thought there’s no way the album release show can go on, but when you think about it a little bit more, you realize that music is a great way to bring people together, create a healing environment, and use it as a platform to continue to create awareness and raise money. There’s so many benefit concerts and there always has been, but that just gave me some peace of mind that if we can transition this into being less about the album and more about the community at large and the health of the community, these two things can coexist in a really good way. Being further and further away from the storm and as more people are getting power back, I think it’s a good chance for people to come together and contribute to a greater sort of healing process.

Aside from the pivot to the release show turning into a benefit, what do you hope to accomplish with Far Away With You?

The reason I first started playing music was to play bluegrass music, so this album for me represents a return to my roots. I never stopped playing bluegrass music, but when I was with the Steep Canyon Rangers we evolved and developed more of an Americana sound, so this [album] has been a good way for me to get back to basics and playing the music that originally got me fired up about creating a band and performing in the first place. Also, there’s a lot of great songwriters here in my home community, including my wife Shannon [Whitworth], which has allowed me to tap into some of the local talent to put a spotlight on them as well.

Do you see yourself getting back on the road for any tours or solo runs in support of this record or anything else you may do in the future?

I see shows always on my calendar, but tours, not so much. I don’t envision long runs of shows, but I do see myself playing a festival here, a concert there. I’m also doing a fair amount of work with Shannon, which is sort of separate from this. Between the two, I feel like I’m actually playing more music than I thought it would be. I didn’t have any expectations of what was next after years of touring, but every time I look at my calendar I have some work to do. It’s all been really organic. I’m not out there chasing it or pushing it very hard, but if an opportunity presents itself then I’m usually pretty willing to take part in it.

As you just mentioned, most of the songs on the album are penned by other songwriters. How do you go about deciding what work from others to incorporate into your shows, or in this case, an album?

I’m really drawn to songs, melodies, and just the feel of a composition. I didn’t start this project with a goal to find the songs just within this community, but when a song speaks to you, it speaks to you. Because of that, there was no real roadmap of what the final 10 songs would be. I just went with my gut and the songs that meant something to me or moved me for one reason or another, and this is where I ended up. It was only when looking back on them at the end that I realized that most of them came right out of Brevard.

I was so lucky when I was with Steep Canyon Rangers to be in a band with some really great songwriters. It set the bar pretty high for what I look for in a song, leading to this album where every song is one that I love to play and sing.

From songwriters to nature, how do the mountains of Western North Carolina inspire and inform your music?

We live in such a beautiful place. One of my favorite things about it is all the water. It’s no secret that I’m a lifelong, serious fly fishing angler and I get in the river a lot, like more than most. There’s a real sort of music to the river, so when I’m in the water there’s a lot of inspiration that washes over me. There’s a lot of sounds and what you see is not what you hear and the way it surrounds you is all very inspiring and helps to clear my mind. It’s always been a way for me to reset, which leads to loads of creativity and inspiration.

That’s interesting you bringing up water, because I agree it can be peaceful and relaxing, but as we’ve seen it can also be powerful, destructive, and deadly. Quite the duality.

That’s very true. I just spent the morning in the river with some other guys trying to clear a neighbor’s bridge. Right now the rivers don’t feel as peaceful as they have. There’s a lot to be done, but it’s amazing how rivers can heal themselves and how water can be healing in general.

Sticking with that concept of duality, I can’t help but get a similar sentiment from the song “Like the Rain Does,” which lyrically plays out like a love story (“you’ve got me falling like the rain does”), but is also flexible and ambiguous enough to tie into the recent storms y’all have experienced.

I absolutely love that about music. A song might be written for one particular perspective, but the listener might take it in a totally different direction based on personal experience or, like you said, a recent natural disaster that can sort of change what a song means to you. I’ve always liked that about songs and feel that many of the songs on this record have that sort of ambiguity and openness to interpretation while others are more direct.

Another song I’ve really enjoyed is “Walk Along With Me,” an original of yours that combines your life at home as a father with your love of music. How did it come about?

“Walk Along With Me” was one I wrote in 2015 shortly after our son was born. Shannon and I would work different shifts and I would put our little boy in a Moby [Baby] Wrap on my chest, staying up real late with him while she got some uninterrupted sleep, sort of like a night shift. I wound up writing a lot of songs with this classical guitar nestled against his back, which was really inspiring, because I’d never really thought of myself as a songwriter. I was a part of a lot of song creation, but not as a first writer of songs.

With this one in particular, I was emotional about all of the sudden becoming a father, so I thought about my life and the experiences that I’ve had and how that translated into how I would be as a father. And, how close I would keep my child or how far I would let them go, the ebb and flow of wanting to keep your arms around them and be by their side while also realizing that they’ve got to blaze their own trail. Being a father is ultimately what led me to slowing down my touring. It really changed my whole life, having a son and starting a family and that song is just one example of how I felt about it at that time.

Given that your son is eight years old now, has he started catching the musical bug himself yet?

He really is. Just this morning he was getting ready for school and he had his own music on in his room. He’s also been singing a lot and is getting quite good on the drums. He takes drum lessons from [Aquarium Rescue Unit and Leftover Salmon’s] Jeff Sipe here in town. We were at a little jam not too long ago and he found a cajon and next thing I knew he was a part of the jam and was holding it down pretty well. We’ve tried not to push music on him, but I think just being around these rehearsals at the house and these shows that we play is causing it to seep into his bones.

You’ve mentioned your wife Shannon a couple of times now. What does it mean to you to not only have her by your side for encouragement, but also to lean on as a songwriting partner?

It’s wonderful. She’s super creative [and] also a painter in addition to being a multi-instrumentalist, a songwriter, and a great singer. We play and write a lot together now, but when she was touring with her solo band or with The Biscuit Burners and I was touring with Steep Canyon Rangers we’d oftentimes just put our instruments by the door and not get them out when we got home. We were working so hard with our other groups that when we got together, we were just hanging out. Now that we’re both not playing as much we’re doing a lot more together. It’s been a lot of fun to write together and have her as a good sounding board, and vice versa. We’ve come to a really good place of musical compatibility and creativity.

What has music taught you about yourself?

I was never naturally made for this type of thing. For a long time I didn’t even realize that I had the talent and the capability to carry a show. Because of that, I usually show up over-prepared – I’m not the kind of guy that can just show up and jump on a show, I have to be studied and be ready. That preparation and drive to be good has helped to keep me humble and honest about it. I’ve always felt like at any minute this could all go away. It’s not only aided in keeping my head down and staying focused, but it’s also kept me playing and enjoying music for all the right reasons.

Photo Credit: Bryce Lafoon

MIXTAPE: Rose Betts’ Cottagecore For Your Ears

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

I feel like I’ve been living a cottagecore life since always. All my interests outside of music line up: I sew my own clothes, read old Russian literature, and I love horse riding, long forest walks, and filling my house with wild flowers and candles – and dreaming of picnics out of baskets, dressed in long skirts with ribbons in my hair and champagne in tea cups. My upcoming album, There Is No Ship, is a love letter to my homeland, [the UK], where a cottagecore lifestyle is a bit easier to achieve than here in LA. But, here’s a playlist with some songs that make me feel closer to it. – Rose Betts

“Do It Again” – John Mark Nelson

John Mark Nelson and I met at a session and as soon as we got to talking about books I realized he was a total keeper and we’ve been friends since. His vibe is so cottagecore. The man’s car smells like a pine forest and he bakes his own bread. I feel like his voice is so cozy and this song just feels like a day inside with the rain against the windows and pleasant feelings of being in love.

“Snow In Montana” – Michigander

My sister considers it illegal to listen to Christmas songs outside of December, but this has to be an exception. I love this song. On whatever side of Christmas I listen to it, it either makes me wistful about the one to come, or pleasantly melancholic about the one just passed. “Snow In Montana” makes anywhere feel cozy, which is quite a feat if you live in LA. I listen to it in the car on the way home from Trader Joe’s with bags full of vegetables and cheese and flowers feeling all stocked up and ready to light candles and get flower-arranging. I own so many small vases so that I can crowd my house out with flowers and make it feel like a garden.

“Deeper Well” – Kacey Musgraves

Her voice is so smooth and rich, I love it. And, her songs have this warmth and natural quality to them that I just want to sink into. Makes me want to rent a cabin in the woods with friends and get a campfire and hot cider going and watch the sparks fly up into the night.

“Wells” – Joshua Hyslop

I’ve been reading Anne of Green Gables lately and those books are so full of nature and the simple life, they make me really want to run away to Prince Edward Island, pick apples, and make jam. This song has that natural feel, like a little stream you sat by for a while and had a beautiful time, but all the while knew you couldn’t stay forever. Anne as a character is wonderfully joyful, but also so tragic, so the meeting of those two qualities felt expressed in this song somehow.

“Inconsolable” – Kate Gavin

A friend who knows me well sent me this song and I listened on loop for days. I love the instrumentation, that lovely fiddle part! One of my favorite things about being a musician is that when my musician friends come round they just start playing whatever instrument is in the house. The other week my friend came round and our hangout consisted of cups of tea, me sewing a top, and him going through my pile of sheet music on the piano. This song has that feeling of shared music… maybe it’s the harmonies or those lovely melodies, either way it reminds me of impromptu musical moments that are just so lovely.

“Bishops Avenue” – Rose Betts

For about a year and a half, some friends and I had the run of a mansion on Bishops Avenue in North London. We put on plays, painted out in the orchard, had renaissance parties and banquets in the ballroom, and it was one of those golden times when everything is just a little more precious and glittery. I feel like it’s how I always want to live, banquets by candlelight and then some creative frivolity of some kind. Moving to LA, it’s hard to find orchards and dilapidated mansions to play in, but I found some playfellows who get into the spirit with me so I get close.

“Tier Abhaile Riu” – Celtic Woman

This song has such a strong feminine energy to it, reminds me of all my creative friends who enrich my life so much. My friend and I hosted an evening where we invited just women to come and share stories and we lit candles and drank Champagne out of teacups and it was total bliss. Something about women together in candlelight talking feels ancient and holy and special in a way nothing else is.

“Skye Boat Song” – Bear McCreary, Raya Yarbrough

I’m lucky to have a twin who lives in Scotland, so I get to visit a lot and even lived there for a while in lockdown. It’s such an amazing part of the world. There is a beach near her village where I’d go for walks as often as I could, where the seals sing and the sky stretches out like a great pearl above your head. So much of songwriting is about finding the silence in the noise, so that the song has space to blossom and so many songs came from those walks. This song I’ve known since before I could remember hearing it, but it became more well known to the world when they used it as the title track for Outlander. This is a beautiful version. It sounds like Scotland to me, full of low skies and colossal lochs and mystery.

“The Author” – Luz

Some songs are so lovely they make me want to stop listening and write a song instead. This is one of those. I’ve started trying to write a poem every morning, just something small to start my day creatively. Then I punch a hole in the paper and hang it off some fairy lights I have around my bed. I think we are all the authors of our own life, which isn’t what this song is saying, but it’s so darn romantic and in its existence turns the singer into the author that tells the girl how she feels. If that makes sense…

“Sigh No More” – Joss Whedon

I heard this song in Joss Whedon’s Much Ado About Nothing and it takes a Shakespeare poem and sets it to music. I always really liked it. I have a little book of Shakespeare’s sonnets that I’ve carried around for years and I’m always trying to learn a new sonnet. If I’m bored at some LA party, I’ll get it out and read a sonnet and it puts me in a better mood.

“The Stars Look Down” – Rose Betts

This is off my first EP and I sound so young, which is kind of embarrassing, but also sweet. It’s like hearing a past version of me. I was reading a lot of Russian literature when I wrote this song and it was the mansion period of my life (which I mentioned before for “Bishops Avenue”). I’d just discovered Tolstoy, was reading War and Peace, and this song is full of the stories and vignettes in that book, heroism and love and dreaming and nights of glory followed by disastrous heartbreak. Books have always been where I get the most inspired for my songs, the quality of the writing makes me work harder at my lyrics.

“Mexico” – The Staves

The Staves are a group of sisters who actually come from a town right by the one I grew up in. It’s a place called Watford and is a bit of grey hole of a place. It’s surprising that these three beautiful singers came out of it. I guess music and beauty can come from anywhere, which is how I feel about my life. There’s beauty in everything, and if there isn’t you can bring it. My little apartment in LA is pretty boxy and lightless, but once you add candles and art and music it’s suddenly a little bohemian enclave where I can rest and be creative. Me and family sing together and there’s nothing like families harmonising, which is why I chose this song. Reminds me of the supper table at my childhood home, where we sing before we eat and sometimes after too, and whatever argument or trouble that’s going on disappears for a moment.

Photo Credit: Catie Laffoon

WATCH: Rachel Sumner, “Head East” (Traveling Light Sessions)

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Artist: Rachel Sumner & Traveling Light
Hometown: Boston, Massachusetts
Song: “Head East” (Traveling Light Sessions)
Album: Heartless Things 
Release Date: November 7, 2024 (video); May 10, 2024 (album)

(Editor’s Note: BGS is excited to premiere a new series of live performance videos from singer-songwriter and band leader Rachel Sumner. Over the next four weeks, BGS readers will enjoy four live song performances of tracks pulled from Sumner’s latest album, Heartless Things, and performed by her touring trio, Traveling Light. Watch the next installment here.)

In Their Words: “‘Head East’ is our next release from Heartless Things (Traveling Light Sessions). It has an extra special place in my heart, because it was the first song I ever wrote. Thirteen years ago, I moved to Boston from the Mojave Desert in California (where I grew up) and felt such a connection with the city and a feeling of possibility that I got there – a feeling I didn’t find in my hometown. This song was a plea to my younger brother to get out and find his good fortune elsewhere, just as I had.

“For this song, Kat Wallace trades her fiddle for the tenor guitar, and Mike Siegel adds a sublime third-part harmony that makes the chorus feel like heaven. ‘Head East’ has had many lives and arrangements, but this one is quite possibly my favorite.” – Rachel Sumner

Track Credits:
Rachel Sumner – banjo, lead vocals
Kat Wallace – tenor guitar, harmonies
Mike Siegel – bass, harmonies

Video Credits: Engineered by Zachariah Hickman.
Filmed by Lindsay Straw.
Mixed by Rachel Sumner.
Mastered by Dan Cardinal.
Video edited by Rachel Sumner.

Photo Credit: Bri Gately

MIXTAPE: Melanie MacLaren’s Love & Loss Playlist

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Welcome to my Mixtape of loss and love! I hope you don’t need it right now, but if you do, it’s here to bring you a little comfort. When I was making it, I started out trying to make the most devastating playlist I could make, but then halfway through I decided to make something I’d actually enjoy listening to. Something that mimics the way we process loss and love– yes, there’s a lot of time spent in really dark places, but there’s also so much humor in the face of everything and a lot of reluctant joy, showing its light despite our best efforts to draw the curtains and hide.

That dialogue between loss and joy is at the heart of my EP, Bloodlust, which just came out on October 24. I wrote this project coming out of a period of life that was marred by grief, death, and illness, so naturally I had a lot of heavy stuff on my mind, but I felt this overwhelming need to write some of the most upbeat and energetic songs I’ve ever written.

Sometimes it helps to grieve and sulk and sometimes you want to just roll down the windows and feel your pain casually, communally, and maybe even with the last laugh. I think there’s room on this Mixtape to do both. – Melanie MacLaren

“Wayside/Back in Time” – Gillian Welch

We like to think of a loss as these finite events, but sometimes it’s a long, steady process, the passing of time and dissolution of relationships, a slow decline of health. Loss can sometimes simply be the progression of time, and Gillian Welch’s writing is so timeless, too, that it strengthens that feeling – she could be singing from any time about any time, as long as it’s gone.

“Change” – Big Thief

Thinking of loss as simply “change” is really difficult, but at its core that’s what it is.

“Flirted With You All My Life” – Vic Chesnutt

This song is wild. I remember the first time someone played this for me on a road trip, I was smiling thinking, “Oh man, he really likes me,” and then that guitar comes in and the lyrics change tone completely and you realize the whole song is about death. It’s a funny phenomenon. You can feel the sky darkening at that moment. But then you listen to the song again with all that in mind and you still feel happy in the first half of the song. I think that’s part of the beauty of it too– knowing the ending and still being receptive to joy.

“beachball” – Dan Reeder

This is a 90-second song about a beachball that makes me bawl my eyes out. I love Dan Reeder.

“Buffalo” – Hurray for the Riff Raff

I have a soft spot for songs that talk about animals (I guess that’s why I wrote a song about Laika for my EP). I think we can talk about them in a way that we’re afraid to talk about ourselves. Their fear is our fear, but it’s hard for us to think of it that way. Asking if the love we share with each other as humans will last forever or if it will go extinct the way that some animals have, at our hands, feels really bold.

“Bloodlust” – Melanie MacLaren

This is the title track off my new EP. This whole project is me trying to make peace with the constant cycles of loss and love we all inevitably experience in our lives. They’re natural like the seasons, but they still feel so overwhelming and unnatural. It was also my attempt to experience moments of joy while not shutting out my grief and anger.

“Random Rules” – Silver Jews

Love and loss are so incredibly random that it would be funny if it didn’t matter so much to us. I always laugh a little at the first line and feel really nonchalant in a dumb way. It sounds like wearing sunglasses inside to me. But then, by the second verse, I’m fully feeling my feelings and replaying every little thing that’s gone wrong between me and every person I’ve ever cared about.

“New Partner” – Palace Music

I like to listen to this song when I’m driving alone and see who I picture in the passenger seat beside me. It changes a lot. That’s probably a good thing.

“I’ve Got a Darkness” – Mick Flannery

Mick Flannery writes the best songs. This song is such a devastating portrait of generational pain and an ode to the fact that we can feel the effects of loss and love that we’ve never experienced in our own lifetime. We carry so much with us that we’re not even aware of.

“Lake Charles” – Lucinda Williams

I love how the verses are just memories, snapshots of life, and all questions and talk of death is reserved for the chorus. It’s such a beautiful homage that way, letting someone still be alive in the song and just describing things as they were, but then still asking those bigger questions because you can’t help but ask when you’ve lost someone you love. You just hope they’re ok.

“The Arrangements” – Willi Carlisle

I love the line, “It’s still sad when bad love dies.” Amazing album with lots of songs about animals.

“Whatever Happened to Us” – Loudon Wainwright III

I love how blunt this song is and how it relies on humor in the face of loss. I heard it for the first time this summer, after I had recorded my song “Get It Back.” I immediately resonated with its matter-of-fact nature. I also love the wordplay in it; I think having fun with language is a way we as humans maintain a little bit of control of the narrative of things we don’t really have much actual agency over.

“Donut Seam” – Adrianne Lenker

There’s so much off this album that could be on this playlist. I almost went with “Sadness as a Gift,” but I really loved the way this song intertwines a dying love with the feeling that the world is dying. Even if that isn’t literal, it often feels literal. The harmony on “what it means to walk that line” makes me feel human.

“Days of the Years” – The Felice Brothers

I love how loss is naturally integrated with the mundane and the beautiful: “These are the days, of the years, of my life.” What else is there?

“Don’t Let Us Get Sick” Solo Acoustic – Warren Zevon

The simplicity of this song is so overwhelming, especially from a writer who can obviously complicate things lyrically and musically when he wants to. He just stays in this sort of The Muppet Christmas Carol arena (compliment!) and it’s so effective, because what he’s asking for is so simple. It sounds like a child’s prayer.

Photo Credit: Blaire Beamer

Bleu Edmondson on Only Vans with Bri Bagwell

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

On today’s episode of Only Vans, we have one of my all-time favorite Texas country singers, Bleu Edmondson! We talk about Robert Earl Keen, self-worth, getting Stoney’d, and making a record with Wade Bowen.

LISTEN: APPLE • SPOTIFY • AMAZON • MP3

Our guest this week on Only Vans is ​exciting ​for ​me, ​because ​I’m ​a ​big ​fan ​of Bleu Edmondson ​and ​I ​have ​been ​for ​a ​long ​time. ​As ​you’ll ​find ​out, ​he’s ​been ​on ​a ​multi-year ​hiatus, ​but ​he’s ​back. ​In our conversation ​we ​talk ​about ​Texas ​music ​staple ​and ​legend ​Wade ​Bowen, who ​is ​producing ​Edmondson’s ​new ​project – ​which, of course, ​we ​are ​highly ​anticipating.

We also ​chat ​about ​Lloyd ​Maines, ​who ​we ​mention ​​a ​lot ​on ​the ​podcast. ​I’ve ​never ​really ​introduced ​him ​properly, ​but ​he’s ​a ​GRAMMY ​Award-winning, ​Texas-based ​producer, ​session ​player, ​musician, ​and ​he’s ​in ​the ​Austin ​City ​Limits ​Limits ​Hall ​of ​Fame. ​No ​big ​deal. Also, ​his ​daughter is ​Natalie Maines, ​who ​is ​the ​lead ​singer ​of The ​Chicks. ​

Elsewhere in our chat, we ​also ​talk ​about ​our ​friend ​Brandon ​Jenkins, ​who ​passed ​away ​unfortunately ​in ​2018 ​from ​heart ​surgery ​complications. ​He’s ​dearly ​missed ​and ​remembered ​by ​all ​of ​us. Enjoy our Only Vans ​episode featuring my ​friend, ​Bleu ​Edmondson!

Find Bleu Edmondson on social media here and here.

Thanks to our sponsors, The MusicFest at Steamboat, Lakeside Tax, & CH Lonestar Promo!

Find our Only Vans episode archive here.

Basic Folk: Kasey Anderson

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

We’re starting with the end in our conversation with Kasey Anderson. On Basic Folk we’ve covered a lot of firsts: debut albums, origin stories, and the beginnings. Ever since I have known Kasey, his social media bio has been, “Gradually retiring songwriter.” I’m always teasing him about “What does that mean? When are you going to retire?” Officially, this latest album, To the Places We Lived, is his “last album.” I want to put that in very heavy quotes, because I hate to imagine a world where a great songwriter friend of mine is not making records. I think his insistence on this album as the last one has more to do with saying goodbye to parts of the music industry that he wants to release and ways of being in the world that he doesn’t want to engage with anymore. What do we need to let go of? What do we need to release? That’s the place where this album begins.

LISTEN: APPLE • SPOTIFY • AMAZON • MP3

In our conversation, we talk about Kasey’s whole songwriting career and the moment where he went surprise viral for one of his political songs, “The Dangerous Ones.” We talk about his time being incarcerated and what that taught him about himself, what it taught him about the world, what it taught him about white supremacy. We talk about his family. We talk about his sobriety and his work in helping others get clean and stay clean, and what staying clean means in a holistic and gentle sense.

The songs on this album are mournful, literate, and very, very fun. My favorite is “Back to Nashville;” it’s a rock and blues song. Kasey is the type of artist who can write a really contemplative song about self reflection or grief or loss, and then a blues rocker that makes you want to shake your ass the next second.

Photo Credit: Matthew Leonetti

WATCH: Rachel Sumner, “Bygone Times” (Traveling Light Sessions)

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Artist: Rachel Sumner & Traveling Light
Hometown: Boston, Massachusetts
Song: “Bygone Times” (Traveling Light Sessions)
Album: Heartless Things 
Release Date: October 31, 2024 (video); May 10, 2024 (album)

(Editor’s Note: BGS is excited to premiere a new series of live performance videos from singer-songwriter and band leader Rachel Sumner. Over the next four weeks, BGS readers will enjoy four live song performances of tracks pulled from Sumner’s latest album, Heartless Things, and performed by her touring trio, Traveling Light. First in the series is “Bygone Times.” Watch the next installment here.)

In Their Words: “In May, I released my sophomore record, Heartless Things, containing ten original songs with highly lush studio arrangements (think woodwinds, strings, keys, vibraphone!). However, that’s not how these songs are heard live! When touring, I bring my string trio Rachel Sumner & Traveling Light on the road with Kat Wallace on fiddle and Mike Siegel on bass. We gather ’round a single mic and magic happens as we fill out songs that have many shifting textures and moods with just three instruments and voices. We wanted to capture this magic on film, so we spent one day in the studio re-recording the entire Heartless Things album, but as you’d hear it at a live show. And so the Heartless Things (Traveling Light Sessions) was created! This is ‘Bygone Times,’ a song about the restless moments before sleep when your mind wanders down the dangerous ‘what could have been’ road.” – Rachel Sumner

Track Credits:
Rachel Sumner – banjo, lead vocals
Kat Wallace – fiddle, harmonies
Mike Siegel – bass, harmonies

Video Credits: Engineered by Zachariah Hickman.
Filmed by Lindsay Straw.
Mixed by Rachel Sumner.
Mastered by Dan Cardinal.
Video edited by Rachel Sumner.

Photo Credit: Bri Gately

A Simple Daily Practice Brought About Liv Greene’s ‘Deep Feeler’

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

For Liv Greene, music is all about showing up.

The Nashville-based singer-songwriter just released her sophomore record, Deep Feeler, in mid-October and she wrote and recorded the LP guided by a simple but powerful ethos: Show up for the craft of songwriting and it will show up for you, too. In Greene’s case, that looked like committing to a daily writing practice and finding external sources of accountability – like writers’ groups and online communities – as well as learning to work through days when access to her writerly brain felt blocked.

“A lot of the songs came out of just showing up for the practice, like, ‘Okay, what is there to play with today?’” she tells BGS, calling from her home in Nashville. “‘What’s coming out of my brain today?’”

Though some days only yielded frustration, Greene soon found herself with an album’s worth of material, the bulk of which draws heavily from a concurrent stretch of curiosity-fueled introspection, during which she considered her life as a queer person as well as the quirks and habits that make her who she is.

Greene recorded Deep Feeler at Nashville’s famed Woodland Studios, the East Nashville outpost that serves as home base for David Rawlings and Gillian Welch. She and GRAMMY Award-winning engineer Matt Andrews co-produced the LP, pulling together an ace band that includes acclaimed singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Sarah Jarosz, whom Greene considers a musical hero. Highlights on the record include “Flowers,” a gentle and optimistic celebration of treating oneself with love and care, and “Wild Geese,” which draws inspiration from the late poet Mary Oliver.

Below, BGS catches up with Greene about her daily writing ritual, her experience producing Deep Feeler, and her decision to take a gamble on her artistic vision.

You just released a new record, Deep Feeler. What can you share about the project’s origins and how you conceived its initial vision?

Liv Greene: Most of the songs came out of a dedication to showing up for the craft, whether or not I had an idea when I sat down. I was almost forcing myself to write, but in a way that felt like cultivating a more consistent writing practice. Given that it was during the pandemic, it makes a lot of sense that many of these songs came out of that time. I had a few things to hold me accountable, too. There was a writers’ group I was part of, where I was writing a song a week for the first half of 2021, and a songwriting workshop where I wrote “Flowers.” I also led some workshops myself and participated in the exercises I’d give my students. After moving to Nashville, I wrote “Deep Feeler” and “Wild Geese,” and then the rest of the album took shape from there.

I love the idea of showing up for the craft. It’s not easy to sit down and write when you don’t have an idea at the ready. How did you begin those sessions? Do you have a ritual that helps you shift into that writer headspace?

When I’m in a writing season – which I’m always trying to get back to, though sometimes it’s just not the time, if I’m busier with other parts of my career – it’s usually marked by time with my instrument, just improvising. I’m most inspired by windows or outdoor spaces. Sitting on a porch or in my room looking out the window, just a lot of improvisation. That’s really the core of my songwriting: spending time seeing, maybe speaking in tongues, seeing what comes out in terms of gibberish, and then noticing what starts to stick. There’s something to that diligent practice of making things up consistently, even if you hate what you make up.

Tell me about choosing “Deep Feeler” as the title track. What does feeling deeply represent for you?

The album concept came out of a self-aware period of recognizing patterns in my life and seeing that I was the common denominator. I was in a lot of situationships. While the heart of this record is about the heartache and missteps of my early 20s, I hope it resonates with people beyond that scope. I’d come out, accepted myself, and allowed myself to feel desire and joy and all of these deep romantic feelings for the first time. This record is a lot of me sitting with myself and embracing the way I’m wired, trying to find a healthier self-awareness around it. I’m working on drawing boundaries with myself, but also being proud of my wiring and how it makes me a good storyteller and a good romantic.

As I was preparing to talk to you, I found a quote from you about making this record that really stuck with me. You said, “Now, rather than an escape from myself, songwriting is communion with myself.” Could you elaborate on that?

When I started writing songs in middle and high school, I was at an all-girls Catholic high school. I went to Catholic school most of my life. Being queer, I didn’t feel like I had much representation in my world, so I felt pretty lonely in high school. I didn’t have much of a musical community in D.C., where I grew up. Guitar was always my escape. I’d come home from school, play for hours, and write. As I got older, I had to form a bit more emotional intelligence and really sit with the person I wanted to be. I realized I couldn’t keep running away from parts of myself and that those parts were actually wonderful and something I should embrace. Songwriting became a different vessel for me to explore myself, rather than viewing it academically, as a hobby, or in a scholarly way.

You got to set up shop at Woodland Studios to record the album. Woodland is such a beloved part of Nashville’s music community, and it sounds like you had an excellent roster of musicians in the studio with you. What did being in that environment open up for you creatively?

The core of the record was made in one day in July at Woodland and it was just myself, bass, and drums – no headphones, live in two adjoining rooms, live onto tape. It was very high-pressure. We did six songs that day and just fired them off, trying to keep the authenticity of a live performance at the heart of the record. The studio days were some of the scariest of my professional life, but in a good way.

There were so many nights beforehand where I’d get the Sunday scaries and think, “Oh my God. Sarah Jarosz, who’s a hero of mine, is going to come to the studio tomorrow, and I’m producing. What if we don’t have time to do everything we need to?” It was an immense amount of pressure to be in the producer’s chair for my own project. But musicians put a lot of money into their records because it’s expensive to record. So I viewed the record as, like, “Okay, this is sort of like grad school.” Friends had asked me to produce their stuff before and I’d said no because I didn’t have the experience. Now, it’s baptism by fire, and I’m my own guinea pig.

You have some shows coming up, including a couple here in Nashville. Have you gotten to play much of this material live yet, or is that still to come?

Some of the core songs on the record have been in my set list for a while, at least around town; friends already know all the words to “Wild Geese” and some other “hits” from the record. But yeah, especially the B-side songs, a lot of those will be pretty new to my live show. I’m excited to hopefully do a lot more touring in the next year and see how the songs are landing out in the world. I haven’t really gotten to do that. My last record was a pandemic record and I never really toured it, so I’m really excited for the record to come out soon and then to get out there, meet people, and reconnect with those who resonate with it.

Are you still engaging in your daily writing practice? Do you have other new material on the horizon?

I’m hoping to go into the studio again soon to do a couple of songs. I’m just taking my time getting to know different producers around Nashville. I think this winter is going to be about doing one song here and one song there. I feel like I’m about halfway toward another record, so I’m getting excited to be in the studio again. It’s my favorite place to be.

Photo Credit: Joseph Ross Smith