WATCH: Thunderstorm Artis Performs “Scared to Love” for From One to Tenn

Artist: Thunderstorm Artis
Hometown: Born on the North Shore of Oahu, Hawaii; lives in Nashville, Tennessee
Song: “Scared to Love”

In Their Words: “Working with the From One to Tenn crew was such a breath of fresh air, they created such a beautiful space for me to be able to express myself in such a positive way in such an iconic venue.

“‘Scared to Love’ is my most vulnerable and transparent song yet. I wanted to write from a place that just felt raw and real and then I began to write this song. It’s easy to fall in love with someone, but the real work is found in the staying in love part. And in the beginning stages of my relationship with my wife, I was truly afraid of sharing all of my baggage with her. I was truly scared that if she knew the broken man I used to be, maybe she would have chosen a different life.” – Thunderstorm Artis

“I love this music and this is my favorite thing to do. Seeing things unfold through the lens of a camera while we experience a private concert a few feet away is incredible. When it’s happening, it’s the best place to be on Earth.” – David Allison, Pilot Moon Films

“In venues like this, I have filmed a lot of big Broadway-style shows with lots of activity, lights, and people running all over the place. It was so special to have this wonderful space to focus on the simplicity of these intimate performances and to actually hear how the instruments and voices fill this room.” – John DeMaio, Pilot Moon Films


Video Credits: Filmed by David Allison, John DeMaio, and Joel Malizia, Pilot Moon Films / Islander Entertainment
Audio captured – Brett Blandon
Mixed/Mastered – John Kelly
Special thanks to Helene Cronin & Victoria O’Campo

Photo Credit: Video stills courtesy of Pilot Moon Films

WATCH: Sully Bright, “November” (Live in Appalachia Video Series)

Artist: Sully Bright
Hometown: Forest City, North Carolina; currently lives in Nashville, Tennessee
Song: “November”
Album: Darling, Wake Up
Release Date: October 13, 2023

In Their Words: “‘November’ is a song I wrote about being away from something you love. It’s about wishing for ‘November’ to come soon, whether that be the actual season of fall or someone. ‘Please come around this year, don’t make me wait any longer. I hope to see you soon, I hope to see you soon.’

“In the video we captured, I got the chance to sing the song on an old cabin porch in Roan Mountain, North Carolina. If you listen closely enough, you can hear a woodpecker. Be sure to check back in two weeks for the last video!” – Sully Bright


Photo Credit: Wonderfilmco
Video Credit: Seth and Jenna Herlich, Wonderfilmco

Folk Inspirations of Acoustic Syndicate’s Steve McMurry

Acoustic Syndicate is one of the best acoustic rock and Americana bands on Earth. Fronted by Steve McMurry, the band’s music leans toward themes of sustainability, social justice and quality of life and they’ve built a loyal following over the last 30 years. Steve takes us on a musical journey filled with inspiration and tradition in this episode, and he is as down-to-earth as they come; he still farms the land his ancestors first tended over 200 years ago near Shelby, North Carolina, and we get together every Thanksgiving for a hometown holiday jam in Brevard where I get absolutely blown away by the gravity of this musical titan. As a third-generation folk performer, Steve, in our interview, reveals the deep-rooted sources of his creativity, from legendary Americana influences to the tight-knit musical family that nurtured his sound. I was honored he agreed to join us for an episode of the Happy Hour and I know you’ll love his story and his insights and humility.

LISTEN: APPLE • SPOTIFY • STITCHERAMAZON • MP3

This episode was recorded live at The Grey Eagle in Asheville, North Carolina, on May 19, 2021. Huge thanks to Steve McMurry, Mike Ashworth, and Mike Guggino.

Timestamps:

0:06 – Soundbyte
1:00 – Introduction
2:24 – Bill K. Introduction
4:00 – “I Will Lead You Home”
6:52 – “Beauty In The Ugliest Days”
10:44 – Interview 1
26:45 – “Sweetest Breeze”
33:51 – “Rainbow Rollercoaster”
40:00 – Interview 2
50:25 – “Sunny”
57:18 – “Song For Myself”
1:03:26 – Outro


Editor’s note: The Travis Book Happy Hour is hosted by Travis Book of the GRAMMY Award-winning band, The Infamous Stringdusters. The show’s focus is musical collaboration and conversation around matters of being. The podcast is the best of the interview and music from the live show recorded in Asheville and Brevard, North Carolina.

The Travis Book Happy Hour Podcast is brought to you by Thompson Guitars and is presented by Americana Vibes and The Bluegrass Situation as part of the BGS Podcast Network. You can find the Travis Book Happy Hour on Instagram and Facebook and online at thetravisbookhappyhour.com.


WATCH: Hannah Kaminer, “Heavy on the Vine”

Artist: Hannah Kaminer
Hometown: Asheville, North Carolina (technically Black Mountain, North Carolina)
Song: “Heavy on the Vine”
Album: Heavy on the Vine
Release Date: November 17, 2023 (single); January 5, 2024 (album)

In Their Words: “Over the last few years I started gardening and going to the community garden to learn whatever I could. One day in late summer I showed up and the gardener in charge told me we had to take out all the tomatoes and summer plants. I was stunned because all of those plants were still going strong, in full bloom. She gently let me know that it was time: If we did not take the summer plants out, there would be no fall planting and no fall harvest. Pulling the tomatoes out was a spiritual experience – letting go of one thing so another could grow – but it’s a lot harder when it’s not just tomatoes that you have to let go of. This song is about those moments when your vision narrows and you realize that only a few things in life are actually important, and you find yourself bargaining with the universe for the one thing you want but can’t have.” – Hannah Kaminer

Track Credits: Hannah Kaminer – vocals, guitar
Kevin Williams – keys
Ross Montsinger – drums
Melissa Hyman – bass, harmony vocals
Jackson Dulaney – pedal steel


Photo Credit: John Dupre
Video Credits: Produced by Old Home Place Recordings
Director – Aaron Stone
Audio Engineer – Mike Johnson
Photography – John Dupre
Executive Producers – Tim & Susan Griffin

WATCH: Autumn Nicholas Performs “Baggage” for From One to Tenn

Artist: Autumn Nicholas
Hometown: Born in Fayetteville, North Carolina, living in Nashville, Tennessee
Song: “Baggage”

In Their Words: “To be able to share our music in such an incredible, intimate way, in such a breathtaking setting was pure joy for us and we hope that comes through with the recordings. We are grateful to From One to Tenn. for including us in this series and are excited to share our music as part of the program.

“We’ve had the pleasure of working with Pilot Moon on a few other projects and it’s always an amazing experience, they are uniquely able to capture emotion in a raw, unfiltered, and honest way.

“Opportunities to help lift and amplify our music, such as the One to Tenn. series, are invaluable to us as artists and humans, as it allows us to connect more broadly with new people in a very compelling way.” – Autumn Nicholas

“John, Dave, and I have been coming to AmericanaFest for a few years to sit back, relax and enjoy the music.  Last year, we decided that, in 2023, we would set something up that’s fun, helps musicians, and benefits the AMA. It was important to us that we dream up something big that would inspire the musicians and offer them an opportunity that doesn’t come around very often. Once the Schermerhorn [Symphony Center] agreed to rent us the venue, we knew this series was going to be special.” – Joel Malizia, Pilot Moon Films


Video Credits: Filmed by David Allison, John DeMaio, and Joel Malizia, Pilot Moon Films / Islander Entertainment
Audio captured – Brett Blandon
Mixed/Mastered – John Kelly
Special thanks to Helene Cronin & Victoria O’Campo

Photo Credit: Video stills courtesy of Pilot Moon Films

Hurray for the Riff Raff Announce New Album, ‘The Past Is Still Alive,’ with Music Video

Alynda Segarra, creative and frontperson extraordinaire of Hurray for the Riff Raff, has announced a brand new album for the Americana/indie folk-rock group that they have spearheaded for now more than 15 years. The Past Is Still Alive (out February 23, 2024 on Nonesuch Records) was heralded last week with a new music video – watch above. “Alibi” showcases a tender, more subdued, and more country-fied sound following the anger and passion of 2022’s LIFE ON EARTH. Segarra has always made their home directly in American roots music, even while they and their ensemble have played most often in its fringes and margins. The Past Is Still Alive feels a bit like a return to the bread-and-butter genre aesthetics that first launched HFTRR into the upper, superlative reaches of indie Americana.

The Past Is Still Alive also showcases Segarra’s incredible talent for processing and displaying all of the beautiful and hideous facets of grief and loss – this time, losses and griefs much more personal than those highlighted on recent albums and songs.

The Past Is Still Alive is an album grappling with time, memory, love and loss, recorded in Durham, NC a month after losing my father,” Segarra explains via press release. “‘Alibi’ is a plea, a last ditch effort to get through to someone you already know you’re gonna lose. It’s a song to myself, to my father, almost fooling myself because I know what’s done is done. But it feels good to beg. A reckoning with time and memory. The song is exhausted with loving someone so much it hurts. Addiction separates us. With memories of the Lower East Side in the early 2000s of my childhood, mixed with imagery of the endless West that calls to artists and wanderers.”

Even with subject matter as heart-stopping and human as this, it’s difficult to anticipate this new album with anything other than excitement. Segarra is a master of transparent vulnerability, painting and evoking with their queerness, their identity, their cultural background in ways that complicate internalized narratives and stereotypes – while also contextualizing all of these intellectual explorations in a down-to-earth, everyday fashion. That The Past Is Still Alive will engage this sort of exploration within country, Americana, and string band sounds – however experimental or mainstream or “normative” or genre-blending – adds up perfectly.


Photo Credit: Tommy Kha

Out Now: Liv Greene

For this edition of Out Now, we’re honored to introduce an artist I’ve known for years. Liv Greene and I met in 2017 at Interlochen Arts Academy. It’s incredible to watch artists like Liv, who have been dedicated to their craft for years, develop careers in the industry. Following our time at a small arts school in Northern Michigan, Liv and I both moved to Boston. After a year at Tufts, grappling between following a traditional path or following her intuition, she transferred to New England College of Music. And we both eventually found ourselves in Nashville.

I have known a small handful of individuals who took this path – following music and intuition from their teen years into adulthood. That kind of persistence and dedication is rare.

I’ve known Liv from before they were out to even their closest friends to now, a time when they are publicly vocal about their identity. To some, these things may seem small. But to teens, up-and-coming artists, and the queer community, it’s incredibly important.

Liv has long been one of the most talented artists I’ve known – even in their teen years. But years of persistence and dedication to their craft have sculpted their music and work into something polished, professional, and bound to take off if they continue on this path. If you don’t know their music, you’re in for a treat: sophisticated guitar lines soaring melodies and reflective lyrics. We are so proud to present Liv Greene for Out Now.

Why do you create music? – What’s more satisfying to you, the process or the outcome?

Liv Greene: The process! I think I make music because I have an ever-burning curiosity and desire to learn new things. Ever since I was 11 and first discovered my ravenous appetite for learning songs on the guitar, my passion has burned brightly and shifted focus a number of times. Recently, the process of recording is really fascinating to me. I am quite new to it overall, and I feel lucky to have some mentors that have really helped me wrap my head around the daunting mystery of it. My first record was produced by my friend and mentor Isa Burke, (you may have heard her shred electric guitar and fiddle with Aoife O’Donovan), and watching her work, as both a session musician and producer on that record, was beyond inspiring. This past year I’ve been lucky to work on a record with legendary engineer Matt Andrews. Matt’s become a friend as well as a mentor and the process of making music with him has taught me more than I can even put into words.

What is your current state of mind?

Recently, it’s not the most positive. With the accelerating climate crisis, I’ve been grappling with big picture plans and visions and considering how it all may need to change in a different world. For example, touring, while once a main dream for my career, now doesn’t feel like the most important thing to me anymore, especially given all the carbon emissions from flying and the gasoline needed to drive. While connecting with people over sharing music on tour feels really sacred to me, I think being intentional about it and how often I’m doing it feels like the only thing that makes sense. With how scary things are these days, I’ve been trying to zoom in on the close-range and try to make it better. Brighten a corner in the space I’m already in now. I’ve been focusing on the things that have always held me, and trying to be the best I can in return to them. My loved ones, family and friends, and my craft.

What would a “perfect day” look like for you?

As much as I love the road, a perfect day would probably be an off day at home. The groundedness of home is unparalleled. I’d wake up around 9, have some coffee and avocado toast, read my book (right now I’m reading this stunning queer novel, Swimming in the Dark), then go out for my favorite 6-mile skate route through the woods near my home (I love rollerskating, particularly trail skating), then come home, and get ready for the day. Once dressed for the day, I’d play some guitar, work on a half-written song or two.

My favorite way to work on songs is to pick up drafts and ponder them by improvising on them every few weeks until they take form. A perfect day of this would probably lead to a completed song and a demo, which I do on cassette on my Tascam portastudio 424mkii with an Ear Trumpet Labs Edwina mic. Four track demo-ing makes my heart happy. Something about the constraints, and the warmth and imperfection of tape, really helps to rise above the minutia and get to the heart of the song. I’d probably enjoy something tasty for lunch, maybe meet a friend or two for some antiquing or thrifting, and then end the day over delicious food with dear friends. Sharing songs, crafting, and drinking wine or tea on a night in, or dancing my boots off to motown or honky-tonk if on a night out in Nashville.

What’s the best advice you’ve ever gotten?

There are two in particular that come to mind. The first is songwriting related, and it’s something I first heard when I was 16 at Interlochen songwriting camp in northern Michigan. My instructor at the time, an amazing North Carolina-based songwriter and community builder named Cary Cooper, shared with us the words of Mary Gauthier: “Sing the song that only you can sing.” That message has stuck with me ever since, for its sobering simplicity and its reminder to look for the story you can tell best, the one on your own heart.

In terms of non-song-related advice, my friend Jack Schneider introduced me to the Stephen Covey quote, “The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.” This applies to production work, when you need to zoom out and make sure you haven’t lost the heart of the song, but also to life in general. If I’m ever getting too tied into or stressed over the details of something I try to remind myself, “It’s just music, focus on the music, enjoy it.”

Who are your favorite LGBTQ+ artists and bands?

This answer changes monthly, maybe even weekly, as we are so blessed to have so many artists who are out and proud these days. Growing up it was Brandi Carlile, and she will always be a huge influence for me not only as a writer and musician, but just as a person. Recently, it’s been a lot of my old friends/new friends/mentors, Jobi Riccio (killer classic-style songwriting meets honest new perspectives and modern production), Chappell Roan (kitschy, campy, brilliant pop artist), Olivia Barton and Corook (you may know the smash TikTok hit, “If I Were a Fish“), Mary Bragg (brilliant songwriting, production, and stunning vocals), Melissa Carper (queer woman queen of western swing/classic country), Rosie Tucker (brilliantly clever indie magic), and Izzy Heltai (indie-americana sad boy music that gets to the heart of it). For more pop, MUNA is also one of my all-time favorite bands, period, Saves the World being the record that got me into them. Their live shows are always a religious experience.

What does it mean to you to be an LGBTQ+ musician? And what are your release and touring plans for the next year?

Man, being an out LGBTQ+ musician means the world to me. Being queer is beautiful, it’s a blessing and a gift to be able to access the fullness of who you are without limitations, and I think it’s particularly special to me given how I am able to be proud of it after years of shame around it. Representation matters. I remember seeing Brandi Carlile when I was 14 and didn’t have any other tangible people I saw myself and my queerness in. In a lot of ways, seeing her live at such a young age helped me realize that it was ok to be me.

As for touring plans, you can catch me on the road this fall with fellow queer Americana artist Brittany Ann Tranbaugh, who just released an EP produced by Tyler Chester (Madison Cunningham) that’s damn good, as well as a couple shows in Tennessee in late October opening for one of my favorite songwriters, Margo Cilker. For release plans, I recently finished work on LP #2 and am burning with anticipation to get it out. It’s looking like spring of 2024. Good things take time.


Photo Credit: Courtesy of Liv Greene.

WATCH: Afton Wolfe, “Lost Prayers” (Feat. Courtney Santana)

Artist: Afton Wolfe
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
Song: “Lost Prayers” featuring Courtney Santana
Album: The Harvest
Release Date: November 10, 2023
Label: Grandiflora Records

In Their Words: “Courtney’s vocals turned this one from a country waltz to a country waltz that explodes into a gospel hymn. And Anna’s violin part really tied it together beautifully. Hopefully someone hears the prayers, or at least the song.

“This video was filmed in the brief time that [videographers] Anana [Kaye] and Irakli [Gabriel] were available at the same time as Courtney, during AmericanaFest. It represents the offeror of the prayer, Afton, separated from the angel receiving those prayers, Courtney. The tragic figure sending prayers in the wrong direction no matter which direction. We didn’t have much time to plan or conceptualize, but we decided to go outside and brought some chairs. As Anana and I were looking at the setup, the concept and feel of the shoot materialized like magic. Then Anana edited it beautifully. With Courtney’s beauty and presence, the whole thing just turned out better than a plan would have. I wore the same thing to my gig that afternoon.” – Afton Wolfe

Track Credits: Written by L.H. Halliburton.

Afton Wolfe – guitar, vocals
Doc Sarlo – keys
Anna Eyink – violin
Courtney Santana – vocals

Produced and engineered by Doc Sarlo.
Recorded at Portland Playhouse Studio, Portland, Tennessee
Mixed by Mark Robinson, Guidos South, Madison, Tennessee
Mastered by Oz Fritz.

Video filmed, directed, and produced by Anana Kaye and Irakli Gabriel.


Photo Credit: Jeff Fasano

WATCH: Sully Bright, “She Left Nashville” (Live in Appalachia Video Series)

Artist: Sully Bright
Hometown: Forest City, North Carolina; currently lives in Nashville, Tennessee
Song: “She Left Nashville”
Album: Darling, Wake Up
Release Date: October 13, 2023

In Their Words: “I wrote the song ‘She Left Nashville’ over two years ago, late one cold Valentines night. It was actually freezing outside; it was my first snow in Nashville. Someone I love had to leave town early and head back home to North Carolina because of the snow. This is my favorite video we captured. We recorded while driving through the Blue Ridge Mountains. It felt right to sit in the back of the car while driving through the mountains and singing my song, not to mention the beautiful green peeking through the fog as we drove further along the road. I hope you enjoy the video and check back for the next one in two weeks.” – Sully Bright


Photo Credit: Wonderfilmco
Video Credit: Seth and Jenna Herlich, Wonderfilmco

LISTEN: Matt Blake, “Ohio”

Artist: Matt Blake
Hometown: Warren, Ohio
Song: “Ohio”
Album: Cheaper to Fly
Release Date: February 16, 2023
Label: JTM Music

In Their Words: “My friends and I always talked about escaping Warren, Ohio, the minute we graduated high school. The night sky glowed orange from the Youngstown steel mills, the Cuyahoga River caught fire in Cleveland. That’s probably why I thought living in Los Angeles was a dream. It was exotic everyday. I didn’t appreciate Ohio until years later. Ohio felt like home and that’s a feeling I never want to escape.” – Matt Blake


Photo Credit: TB Scott