Artist: Amy Helm
Hometown: Woodstock, New York
Song: “Sweet Mama”
Album: What the Flood Leaves Behind
Release Date: June 18, 2021
Label: Renew Records/BMG
In Their Words: “‘Sweet Mama’ was written by the wonderful Steve Salett and features killer harp by the one and only Phil Cook. This track is a rock and roll cut made for you, with love, in Woodstock, New York!” — Amy Helm
Photo credit: Ebru Yildiz
Artist: Rachel Baiman with Atwood Quartet and Kyshona
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
Song: “No Good Time for Dying”
Album: Cycles
Release Date: June 11, 2021
Label: Signature Sounds
In Their Words: “Of all the songs on the record, this one felt the most cinematic, production-wise. Perhaps because I see this as the real story (of my late grandmother) playing out in my head each time I sing it. That’s why it seemed so fitting to collaborate with Atwood Quartet for this special live version of the song. Ben Plotnick wrote the incredible string parts, which both mimic and enhance the original album production. Kyshona was an artist I thought of immediately for the vocal harmonies, because of the quality of her voice and general spirit as a human. I was really grateful that she was up for it! After a year in which we’ve all had to face so much tragic death, this song feels like a reckoning of sorts, and a moment to process and hope for better in the future. I also want to give a special thanks to my neighbor Mike Malkiewicz for letting us transform and use his beautiful backyard stage.” — Rachel Baiman
Photo credit: Gina Binkley
Artist: Maia Sharp
Hometown: Nashville, TN (originally Los Angeles, CA)
Song: “Things to Fix”
Album: Mercy Rising
Release Date: May 7, 2021
Label: Crooked Crown
In Their Words: “When I moved into my place in Nashville in 2019 (from California where I had lived all my life) there was, of course, a list of things to fix or upgrade or just tailor to my taste. This was all while I was trying to process the end of my 21-year marriage. I knew there were things I said that I wish I hadn’t and things I should’ve said that I didn’t. I wasn’t sure how to fix that yet so instead I painted a room and then another room, I replaced locks and hinges and repurposed picture frames, you get the idea. I brought this situation as a song idea to my co-writer, Noah Guthrie (who has a great version of the song on his new album) and we saw it all the way through. Eventually I did get to say the better things to my ex and we are lifelong friends but in the meantime I had the cleanest house ever.” — Maia Sharp
Photo credit: Emily Kopp
Allison Russell has already made an exceptional impression in roots music — first in the duo Birds of Chicago, then as a member of Our Native Daughters. Now with her new album Outside Child, she’s putting her own story front and center. Whether she’s singing in English or French, Russell’s voice feels like satin, comfortable and cool. Yet she weaves some of the most painful memories of her formative years in Montréal into the fabric of her Fantasy Recordings debut.
Special guests on the album include the McCrary Sisters, Ruth Moody, Erin Rae, and Yola. Upon revealing the project, Russell wrote, “This is my first solo album. It is acutely personal. It was hard for me to write, harder still to sing, play, and share. Also a relief. Like sucking the poison from a snake bite. Thanks to the supreme empathy, musicality, kindness, sensitivity, and humour of each artist who brought these songs to life with me, the recording process became — by some mystical alchemy –joyous and empowering…. Eased by loving communal laughter as much as shared tears.”
We are proud to present Allison Russell as our BGS Artist of the Month for May. In the days ahead, look for a new performance video, an exclusive interview (read part one here)(read part two here), and a sleek style shoot with this singular artist, who now calls Nashville home alongside her partner JT Nero and their young daughter. Discover more of her musical journey with our BGS Essentials playlist.
Photo credit: Marc Baptiste
Artist: Carsie Blanton
Hometown: Philly (via New Orleans and Virginia!)
Song: “Mercy”
Album: LOVE & RAGE
Release Date: April 30, 2021
Label: So Ferocious Records
In Their Words: “I wrote ‘Mercy’ for my husband Jon, who I’ve been with for thirteen years. My early experiences of love were a mixed bag; what seemed like love was often more about control. Through Jon, I found out that love can be a gentle force that allows us to become more ourselves. Once I discovered that, I was able to envision a whole world of love; a world that’s less about control and more about compassion.” — Carsie Blanton
Photo credit: Shervin Lainez
Artist: Beth Whitney
Hometown: Leavenworth, Washington
Song: “I Go”
Album: Into The Ground
Release Date: May 28, 2021
Label: Tone Tree Music
In Their Words: “In the 1960s, my grandparents started a tradition in our family called ‘the 9-day Backpack’ that continues in different forms to this day. I’ve joined about five of these and to tell the truth, I do not backpack gracefully. Mosquito and horse fly bites turn into big welts. I’m blistered from boots and bright pink from the sun… but as the wilderness takes me in, it starts to heal me somehow and I come into focus.
“I wrote this one with Gina Belliveau and Brittany Alvis at a songwriting retreat some friends and I hosted in the mountains. The assignment was to write a song inspired by one of our favorite poems, ‘The Peace of the Wild Things,’ by Wendell Berry. These two were a joy to write with and are both featured in the recording.” — Beth Whitney
Photo credit: Eratosthenes Fackenthall
Artist: Josephine Johnson
Hometown: Savannah, Georgia
Song: “Where I Belong”
Album: Double High Five EP
Release Date: April 16, 2021
In Their Words: “‘Where I Belong’ is inspired by characters from those Patrick O’Brian British Navy novels set during the Napoleonic wars. Love and high seas adventure, to be sure. Andrew Sovine and I recorded the song in hopes of paying homage to the ethos and spaciousness of Daniel Lanois. Andrew plays electric leads, slide guitar, and Omnichord over my acoustic guitar. Mike Kapitan adds subtle keys and did the final mix and master. Alison Davis, a crew of local Savannahians, and I filmed the video in 18 hours all in one day on Tybee Island and Thunderbolt, Georgia.” — Josephine Johnson
Photo credit: Bailey Davidson
Artist: John Splithoff
Hometown: New York, New York
Song: “Steady”
Album: All In
Release Date: April 23, 2021
In Their Words: “I felt a lot of doubt about making music and was stuck creatively when I wrote ‘Steady.’ The words came from a place of gratitude for the people who keep me grounded and have helped me get through just about anything. Checking in with friends and family through everything was key to staying inspired and encouraged this last year. Shooting this video outside Savannah, Georgia, on a summer evening accompanied by crickets made for a really peaceful night.” — John Splithoff
Photo credit: Lauren Jones
Artist: Brandon Jenner
Hometown: Los Angeles, California
Song: “Life for Two”
Album: Short of Home EP
Release Date: June 11, 2021
Label: Nettwerk
In Their Words: “After a show in Copenhagen, Denmark, I was approached by a woman who felt inspired enough to tell me about how much my music meant to her. As always, I was very humbled by her kind words. She would go on to ask an unexpected favor of me. Little did I know, her confidence in me and my songwriting would change my life forever. She told me that she was diagnosed with a health issue that was sure to end her life within a few years and that she was struggling with the fact that she would be leaving her young children behind to navigate life on their own. She asked me if I would write a song about her experience. I gladly accepted and began thinking about this new song right away. For me, the direction for the song was to write a letter, from her perspective, about what she would want her children to know before she passes. A letter filled with comforting words and some advice on how she thinks their lives would be best lived. ‘Life for Two’ became the title and I hope this song brings some comfort to those who are going through personal loss in their own lives.” — Brandon Jenner
Photo credit: Cassy White
This week on The Show On The Road, we bring you a truly inspiring talk with the activist, author, and free-spirited feminist folk icon Ani DiFranco, who just released her lushly orchestrated twenty-second album: Revolutionary Love.
LISTEN: APPLE PODCASTS • SPOTIFY • STITCHER
Many things have been said about the music Ani DiFranco has created for the last thirty years since she burst on the scene with her fiery self-titled LP in 1990. With her shaved head on the cover, fearlessly bisexual love songs, dexterous guitar work and hold-no-prisoners lyrics sparing no one from her poetic magnifying glass, DiFranco’s persona became almost synonymous with a rejuvenated women’s movement that blossomed in the late-1990’s Lilith Fair moment. And yet she was always a bit more committed to the cause than some of her more pop-leaning contemporaries, who faded away as soon as their hits subsided.
Framing herself somewhere between the rebellious folk-singing teacher Pete Seeger and the gender-fluid show-stopping rock spirit in Prince, (who she recorded with after he became a fan,) DiFranco was always just as passionate about raising awareness for abortion rights, ensuring safety for gay and trans youth and bringing music to prisons, as she was promoting her latest musical experiment. She began playing publicly around age ten, and as a nineteen-year-old runaway from Buffalo, NY, she started her own label, Righteous Babe Records, that allowed her to operate free of corporate (and overwhelmingly male) oversight. Indeed, despite gaining a wide international fanbase she has released every album herself since the beginning — as well as championing genre-defying songwriters like Andrew Bird, Anaïs Mitchell, Utah Philips, and others. It was DiFranco’s encouragement that helped Mitchell’s opus Hadestown become a Tony-winning Broadway smash. DiFranco may have been deemed a bit too left-of-center for pop radio, but her beloved 1997 live record Living In Clip went gold.
Let’s get something out of the way real quick: was this male podcast host initially a bit intimidated to dive into her encyclopedic album collection after admiring her work from afar and believing the songs were not meant for his ears? Indeed. I grew up with girlfriends and fellow musicians who rocked Ani’s Righteous Babe pins and patches on their jean jackets like they were religious ornaments. What I found during this mind-bending conversation, and after listening to her polished and mystical newest record especially, was that DiFranco has never tried to push away people that don’t look or talk like her — or tried to mock or belittle conservative movements she doesn’t agree with or understand. There is a deep kindness and empathy in her songwriting that I never expected and in her 2019 autobiography, No Walls And The Recurring Dream, she acknowledges how lonely and exhausting it can be trying to fight against a societal tide that doesn’t want to stop and give you space to be who you are.
What became increasingly clear during our conversation was that DiFranco wants to make music for everyone. She prides herself on her quirky, multi-generational fanbase — with grandparents and kids, dads and sons, daughters and aunties alike singing along to favorites like “Both Hands,” “Untouchable Face,” and covers like Woody Guthrie’s “This Land Is Your Land” at packed shows across three continents.
I had my own goosebumps-inducing moment singing with Ani that I’ll never forget. The oldest folk festival in America, The Ann Arbor Folk Fest, once put me on stage to sing harmony on “Angel From Montgomery” with DiFranco at the acoustically perfect Hill Auditorium. I attended the University Of Michigan years earlier and I saw John Prine sing that classic in that same room, and it felt like a full circle moment. Seeing how DiFranco transfixed the crowd that night, and how the women songwriters and musicians offstage especially watched her with such admiration made me want to see what her music — which I had never fully listened to — was all about.
If you have a chance, listen to Revolutionary Love start to finish, and stick around to the end of the episode to hear DiFranco read lyrics as poetry.
Photo credit: Daymon Gardner
