Artist:Rachel Garlin Hometown: San Francisco, California Song: “Madelyne Why” Album:The Ballad of Madelyne and Therese Release Date: July 21, 2023
In Their Words: “During a family vacation at the beach, I saw a pair of tattered macrame sandals in the waves. They were tied together with a strip of linen, as if someone had carefully attached them before wildly abandoning them. Interested in this tension – care, attachment, abandon, abandonment – I strummed some chords in a Joni Mitchell-esque ‘open tuning’ while spinning out a tale of a fictional beach-goer who had left me this clue to her life-story. The original version was called “Caroline Why,” but I tired of singing Caroline (so many songs with that name!) and so I asked a few friends to suggest names that had a similar cadence to Caroline and Madelyne rose to the top.” – Rachel Garlin
Artist:Handsome Ghost Hometown: Boston, Massachusetts Song: “Tonight Comes Round Again” Album:Handsome Ghost Release Date: July 14th, 2023 (single); August 25, 2023 (album) Label: Nettwerk Music Group
In Their Words: “Eddie and I were chatting through plans recently – tours, recording, etc. – and we realized that we’ve been making music together for over 10 years. Which, in band years, is more like a thousand, in my opinion. Most of the songs on our new record are about my life in music in one way or another. ‘Tonight Comes Round Again’ is about a time many years back, when we were in New York a lot. Neither one of us actually lived there, but we just kind of claimed it as our home base until there was a tour to do or a record to make. The song itself is about a brief relationship of mine during that time. She wanted casual, I wanted more – and frustration naturally ensued as we tried to make something work. It’s rich looking back on it now, given that I was hoping for something serious while I was crashing on couches every night.” – Tim Noyes
Over his celebrated career, which has now spanned nearly half a century, Tim O’Brien has gained notoriety as an instrumentalist and singer with the bluegrass band Hot Rize, and for his original songs, which have been recorded by Garth Brooks, The Chicks, Nickel Creek, and many more. In recent decades, the Grammy Award-winner has recorded as a solo artist and in collaboration with Darrell Scott, Dirk Powell, Sturgill Simpson, and most recently with his wife, Jan Fabricius.
We caught up with O’Brien on the heels of his annual trip to the Telluride Bluegrass Festival, where he is considered an institution, to discuss his new record Cup of Sugar, which sees him taking on the role of a societal elder. Throughout the collection of songs, O’Brien takes on the perspectives of several different animals as a way of learning from the natural world, as well as characters such as Walter Cronkite. In our conversation, O’Brien explores what it means to be comfortable with your role and direction as an artist, and clarifies his artistic goal – to continue being more and more himself.
BGS: You have a lot of animal references on this album, what do you think is bringing you to those themes right now?
Tim O’Brien: You know, it’s funny, I had actually written a song with Thomm Jutz called “Old Christmas Day” on January 6th. January 6th was Christmas in the Julien Calendar before they changed it to be more in line with the solar system. Anyway, the legend was that on Old Christmas Day, the animals all talk to each other. After writing that song I was actually thinking about trying to do a whole record of animal songs… but I went to a bunch of stuff I had already, so I decided to split it up. I think that’s what inspired the direction.
I love “Shout LuLu,” the song about the Tennessee border collie, who inherited the wealth of her owner Bill Dorris. Dorris was the subject of controversy because of the statue of Nathan Bedford Forrest, Confederate general and leader of the KKK, which was displayed prominently on his land facing the highway. How does the story of Lulu relate to the story of the KKK statue in your mind?
Well, a dog probably doesn’t see black or white, or understand discrimination. It’s just a dog, and maybe we all wish we could be that way… it’s hard to be innocent in this world, but a dog doesn’t care, and that’s what’s great about it.
The natural world can teach us a few lessons, that’s kind of like a running message through time. Human beings, since the first cave paintings, have commented on animals; they are interesting to us, and they represent different things. We study them and try to learn from them. I like what Lulu teaches us about the beliefs of her owner.
“Took Lulu to Hogan Road where Nathan Forrest’s statue stood/ She didn’t shout she didn’t beg, stood next to Forrest with lifted leg/ Statue covered with paintball pink, now it has a Lulu stink/ Don’t know from white supremacy, just knows a place she likes to pee/” – “Shout Lulu” excerpt
You talk in your record notes about having the perspective of an elder who has seen a lot of changes both in the world at large and in the music business, can you talk about this viewpoint and what you’re trying to say in these songs with regards to that specifically?
I’m closing in on 50 years doing this, I’m about to turn 70 this year, and so many things have changed. But the music still goes on, and people still make it for the same reasons; they want to express something, they want to tell a story, they want to connect with people… but the changes get harder and harder to adapt to as you get older.
Social media is so important now and it’s something I don’t really interact with at all. I’m lucky that Jan [Fabricius] does all of that, but it just doesn’t really occur to me. I probably won’t ever do it. These days you’re in charge of promoting your shows, because the clubs are kind of cutting corners, and they’re hurting financially, and that’s just the way it is. I’m just watching all of those changes and I’m kind of indifferent to them mostly. I try to keep my head down and just try to make my music.
Being an elder, well we lost two great mandolin elders this week, Bobby Osborne, and Jessie McReynolds. You just realize how much our music helps us define our lives.
Nancy Blake said once, “Ya know, people wonder why we sit around and practice our own material, but it’s kind of the way we define our lives.” I feel like that is true for me.
But you see these guys going, and it’s the last of the first and second generation going away… and you wonder who else is going away… I go watch Chris Thile and I say, “Take that baton and run with it, I’ll follow up on the rear!” I like to learn new things all the time, but mostly I’m trying to do the best I can in the direction I’ve already established and faithfully follow that.
I love the song “The Anchor,” which is told from the perspective of Walter Cronkite. What made you want to write about him? What does he represent for you?
Well, the way that the news is disseminated today is in a million ways. They shape it to a certain audience, and they shape the news to that, so you get a million different versions of the news. If you get happy with a certain outlet, maybe you don’t notice a lot of things going on… I think the same thing happened back when there were only three news outlet. But they weren’t selling it, they were propped up by other shows. They weren’t really competing for advertising dollars in the same way, mostly the networks realized they had to have a news thing. I was just thinking about that difference.
Cronkite was the trusted guy and when he made a telecast one night and said, “It looks to me like this Vietnam conflict, we can’t win it.” President Johnson said, “If I’ve lost Cronkite then I’ve lost the nation… I won’t run for president again.” Cronkite had a lot of power, but he was trying to remain neutral. It’s really hard, it’s hard to remain neutral about the news, and if there’s a truth in the news, it’s hard to reach it.
I’m addicted to the New York Times and I read it every day, so I’m just as much a part of this as anyone. I have my one outlet and I stick to it.
There are a lot of songs on this album told from a perspective that is not your own, was that intentional?
Actually, Danny Barnes brought it up to me, he said, “Do you ever write a song that’s not from your own perspective?” It was helpful to aim from that direction, but I think your own perspective kind of comes through regardless. It’s just the reverse of reading a novel and identifying with one of the characters, you kind of bring some of your own personality into it. Sometimes you have to trick yourself into writing songs, and I think trying for a perspective other than your own is one technique that helps.
How have you seen your songwriting or approach to songwriting change throughout your career?
When I first started writing, I was at sea about what to start writing about, and what’s good and what’s not good. Do you imitate others? Then you get some experience, and you get some good reactions, and you trust yourself more.
One thing that’s kind of more true for me now, in the last 10 years. I realize that in a certain way, I kind of write about the same things over and over, just different versions. Like, I’m always talking about, or trying to get people to see, the bigger picture and include everyone in my world. I used to worry that writing the same songs, [topically], was a problem, that I need to break it apart and start over… but then I realized that everyone I admire has their own thing that they do, and you just get better at it. Maybe you just continue to go deeper…
Thelonious Monk said that the genius is the one who is most like himself. That’s hard to find. I think maybe I found it and I don’t like it…
Just kidding.
Was there anything important about this record that was different from the way you’ve worked in the past?
Jan [Fabricius] and I have a cottage industry here, we have a cottage, and an industry. [Laughs] We’ve also been writing songs together. I think one of them is one of the better ones on this release, “She Can’t, He Won’t and They’ll Never.”
We also have a record label… and for the last record and this one, I’ve used artwork that I’ve drawn myself. I showed something I drew to [Danny] Barnes and he told me, “That’s so much better than anybody else could do it.” That kind of inspired me to do more of my own drawings. A lot of this is just continually becoming more and more comfortable with yourself.
It feels like the protests are following Kate Stables around. Mere weeks ago she was in Paris, the city where she lives, when it was brought to a halt by the May Day march against pension reform, which ended in violence on the streets between police and demonstrators. Then, she arrived in the UK just as it embarked on a week-long series of national strikes against low pay and poor working conditions.
Stables does not disapprove of the disruption. “People have to remember that this is how change happens,” says the 40-year-old behind the British alt-folk outfit This Is The Kit. Whatever inconvenience Stables may face as a touring musician who currently can’t get around by public transport, she says, only helps to make the point. “It’s more inconvenient not getting paid enough and not getting treated properly.”
Since Stables relocated to France 17 years ago, the difference in national attitudes towards civil disobedience has been an eyeopener. “The UK has got a bit comfy over the decades and taken things for granted, they assume the government will look after them. In France, the slightest threat, people hit the streets and protest.”
Stables’ skills as an observer of the human experience is the golden thread that runs through her songs for This Is The Kit. Her 2018 fourth album, Moonshine Freeze, earned her a nomination for a prestigious Ivor Novello songwriting award, and her follow-up, Off Off On, saw her break further into the mainstream as critics applauded its depth and complexity.
A rarely overt but nevertheless keen political awareness is ever-present. And while Stables describes her new release, Careful Of Your Keepers, as “slightly more personal” than her previous albums, she’s aware that this is more in the way people will experience the songs than the way she necessarily intended them.
Take the track “More Change,” which was released as a single in early June. It is accompanied by an utterly delightful animated video made by her talented family friend, Benjamin Jones, in which various inanimate objects from sneakers to pieces of fruit search yearningly for connection and meaning.
“It sounds like a relationship song,” admits Stables, “But it started off with me thinking about situations in society, and people trying to decide if those are better now than 100 years ago. It’s an impossible question – there’s so much that’s worse and so much that’s better. You have to choose which one gets you through the day.”
The lyrics on the opening track, “Goodbye Bite,” include the memorable image of a “‘How shit is this?’ measuring stick” – and the question of change becomes a recurrent theme throughout the album. “I’ve been thinking about how we deal with it, how we quantify it,” says Stables, who compiled the songs over the past two years. “We make decisions by comparing things against each other… and it’s all meaningless, because any decision is a decision! You’re following your nose and hoping for the best.”
And yet, to quote a famous French writer, plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose. The hypnotic sound and elliptical lyrics that have won This Is The Kit its cult following fanbase remain their trademark and Careful of Your Keepers is a joyous example of the acoustic folk and clubby groove that Stables’ (stable) line-up has been blending over the past decade.
The opportunity to rehearse together for 10 days at a friend’s house in Cork, southern Ireland, proved the power of the band’s long-lasting relationships. “We all live in different places now, but it did us all such a lot of good to be there together, so far away from our other lives,” says Stables. “As the years go by we’ve got better at giving and taking criticism, and you’re able to communicate better which isn’t always the case, in bands or in life.”
She herself has gained a reputation as a musicians’ musician, a favorite of Elbow’s Guy Garvey, The National’s Aaron Dessner, and Gruff Rhys of the Super Furry Animals, who produced the latest album at her request. “I love his live shows, he’s so articulate and thoughtful. And in the studio he has just the right balance of sense of humour and total creative work ethic.” He also turns up in the “More Change” video, transmuted into a long-eared plasticine toy singing backing vocals.
Other influences on the album included punk-folkster Naima Bock, and Horse Lords (“the way they mess or play with rhythm and timing, it makes me so excited and alive”). At home in Paris, Stables has found creative community among a group of French and English artists that include Halo Maud, Mina Tindle, and Belvoir – a duo who, like her, hail originally from the west country of England, but now sing “really loud, super energy stuff” in their adopted French tongue. “Which is really nice, because the outside world doesn’t get exposed to enough non-Anglophone music.”
Stables herself found it slow-going to learn a new language, paralyzed by her fear of making mistakes or speaking with too English an accent. “I didn’t make any progress until I had my daughter,” she admits. “But after you’ve got over the shock of having a baby your inner punk wakes up and you don’t care what anyone thinks. So I got better quite quickly!”
She also found her new environment altered the way she made music. By her own admission, Stables is “quite a drone-y songwriter” by instinct– “I’ll have the same note all the way through,” she laughs. “But French songwriting has tons of chords in it. So now I try and write songs with more than two…”
One track from Careful Of Your Keepers offers an unusually autobiographical glimpse into her daily life. “This Is When The Sky Gets Big” was inspired by a favorite park near her home: “A rare place in the city where there’s loads of sky because there’s no immediate tall buildings.” “It’s not a classic Paris park of gravel and pollarded trees in rows,” She says. “You’re allowed on the grass which is pretty unusual.” The sight of people sharing food, playing card games or dominos – even those who live in the park, because they have no other home to go to – inspires one of the album’s most reflective tracks.
When we spoke, however, she was in Bristol, staying at the home of her friend and fellow musician Rachael Dadd ahead of a show at an open-air amphitheatre on the Cornish coast. Stables loves being on the road; her favourite touring destinations include Seattle, Hamburg, and Japan, a place she, Dadd, and her partner (the musician Jesse D Vernon) toured together in the very early days of the band. “I’d just moved to Paris at the time and I was in culture shock,” remembers Stables with a laugh. “So it was so good to be in a place where people were respectful and nice and said sorry and thank you as much as I did. I’d love to go back…”
There will just be time, before the main tour in support of the album kicks off, for a family wedding in Europe, where she and her twin sister will celebrate their birthday together. (Her two other siblings are also twins – they all spent a lot of their youth, she says, filling in questionnaires from research scientists). As someone with a teenage daughter of her own, the question of the future, and the legacy her generation will leave for the next one, is uppermost in her mind.
You can hear it in the final track of the album, “Dibs,” which ends with the apocalyptic thunder of washing machine drums and the line, “Since the beginning of time, man out of time.” Here is the real change that is coming: the music resonates with the sense of climate crisis without ever explicitly referencing it. “There’s no avoiding it,” agrees Stables. “It’s on everyone’s mind, it can’t help but dribble out into the songs we write, the worry. There’s no stopping the train.”
But as a lifelong fan of the science fiction author Ursula K Le Guin, she can, too, see a brighter future. “Her books are really reassuring, and Kim Stanley Robinson’s books have given me hope, too. Life does carry on. We’re currently living in absolute sci-fi conditions for people who were around 100 years ago. It would just be nice if we knew how to respect that, and carried on in a way that doesn’t create more suffering.”
(Editor’s Note: Find all of WXPN’s Artist to Watch Black Opry Residency podcast episodes on their website.)
Founded just two years ago, the Black Opry has a simple, but deceptively-difficult mission.
Simple in that it seems straightforward enough: To challenge the idea Black voices are only under represented in roots music because there’s little interest or talent in the black community.
But deceptive, in how hard that myth is to refute.
The truth is that Black and Brown voices have always (and continue to) contributed mightily to the pantheon of Americana music, but they are often overlooked by the very media channels needed to bring about a change.
Using the Philadelphia-based public radio station’s new Artist to Watch podcast to highlight a Black Opry Residency in the City of Brotherly Love, both organizations have teamed up to celebrate and elevate current Black artists, and to educate roots music fans on what they’ve been missing.
Over five weeks, host John Morrison seeks to introduce a new generation of talent to the broader listening public, telling some truly remarkable stories in the process. And, according to Black Opry founder and co-director, Holly G, it was just the type of partnership that could create a lasting trajectory change.
“Working with WXPN was great because they really let us take the lead on what the needs were for our community,” she says.
As a journalist/artist manager and self-identified “country music disruptor,” Holly G knows those needs better than just about anyone. She’s been shining a light on this community for years, which the podcast does a good job of explaining.
Holly G founded Black Opry as a blog and artist directory back in 2021, recognizing a blind spot in the genre and working to profile Black artists in the roots space. But it quickly became something more, and has now grown into a web of inter-connected talent and supporters which even includes a nationwide touring production – the Black Opry Revue. The WXPN show helps tell that story in a broad sense, but also zooms in to introduce a handful of artists individually.
In a five part series, each weekly episode features a different Black artist or act, taking listeners on a “deep and personal dive into the real-life struggles of emerging performers.” Along the way, each gets the chance to tell their story and let listeners see the unique contours of their world – namely, trying build careers from the ground up, in a genre that has all but said they don’t exist.
It’s part of a new drive WXPN has to help develop (and actually support) talent in the pandemic’s wake, since it exposed how precarious an emerging artist’s life can be. According to Bruce Warren – Assistant GM for programming at WXPN and World Cafe’s Executive Producer – featuring Black Opry artists is a natural place to begin.
“WXPN has for a long time had a reputation as a tastemaker, and part of that has been its ability to identify and curate new and emerging artists from across the country and connect them to wider audiences,” he says in podcast’s first episode. “We wanted to give [artists] an amazing, immersive experience that will help change their careers, and at the same time showcase a deeper piece of who they are above and beyond the actual music they play to our audience.”
The Artist to Watch season profiling The Black Opry kicked off on June 8, highlighting Nashville’s Tylar Bryant. Other episodes introduce Denitia and The Kentucky Gentleman (both also out of Nashville), plus Boston’s Grace Givertz and hometown Philly talent, Samantha Rise.
As part of the show, each artist sat for an extensive interview, and also took took part in a week-long creative residency in Philadelphia, writing songs, meeting with mentors and ultimately performing their work at a live showcase.
It’s a remarkably detailed and enlightening podcast, giving some talented and deserving artists a carer boost while also expelling an outdated premise about country music and the black community. New episodes continue to air weekly on Thursday nights, and although it’s just one more step in tackling a big and complex problem, Holly G says every little bit counts.
“It was great feeling empowered to provide the artists involved with resources specifically catered to them,” she says. “Our knowledge and understanding of our community paired with the extensive industry knowledge that WXPN provided enabled us all to have a great experience that was meaningful and substantial to everyone involved.”
Artist:Mark Wilkinson Hometown: Sydney, Australia Song: “Taking Our Time” Album:Golden Afternoons Release Date: July 7, 2023 Label: Nettwerk Music Group
In Their Words: “I co-wrote this track with Ben Cramer from Old Sea Brigade. We wanted to write a song that carried a sense of nostalgia mixed with an optimism about the future. The song is essentially about how our lives are constantly evolving and about learning to adapt and let go of the past. It’s almost like a quiet pep talk to yourself to stop chasing history and start embracing what’s in front of you. Memories can be beautiful things, but spending too much time looking back can stop you creating something new. For me, the track is a recognition or realization of that, as it moves from reflective thoughts in the verses to a point of resolution in the bridge, culminating with the line, ‘I won’t fall into the shadows of what I intend to leave behind.'” – Mark Wilkinson
Artist: The Two Tracks Hometown: Sheridan, Wyoming Song: “Canyon Wren” Album: It’s a Complicated Life Release Date: August 25, 2023
In Their Words: “I started writing ‘Canyon Wren’ as a series of two poetic pieces inspired by pictures from our place in Baja, Mexico, one of which is the cover of the single. From our place there, the sun rises over distant mountains and shines right into the faces of breaking waves along the Pacific coast. You check the surf while the arroyos and hillsides buzz with the sound of birds. The canyon wren is one of those birds. Often there can be fog, or dew hanging in the air – an elusive hint of moisture in this otherwise dry place. We love the calm, quiet, empty feel of those mornings as the landscape wakes up and I tried to capture a bit of that scene, and our time spent down there. Julie and I love empty, wild places as much as we love the busy life of performing music. I was musically inspired by the laid back, chill vibes of early J.J. Cale records, which I’ve listened to a lot over the years while driving through Baja, and tried to channel that sound into this track.” – Dave Huebner
Caitlin Canty is in the middle — in the middle of moving houses (behind her when we connected on Zoom this spring is a Jenga tower of bankers boxes) and in the middle of prepping an album release, which we’re in the middle of talking about when she isn’t in the middle of pushing a pair of overeager dogs from her lap (“These dogs!”), all of which is taking place in the middle of her toddler’s nap.
The moving, the music, and the motherhood are taking place in the middle of her life (Canty turned forty-one in January) and the middle of her career: Quiet Flame, her latest record, is her fourth.
Oceans of ink have been spilled on beginnings and endings, on best new artists, and lifetime achievements. We rarely think about the middle, write about it, or sing about it. But Caitlin Canty does.
Quiet Flame is a dispatch from — and a celebration of — the middle; it is a testament to the in-between, to the precious spaces between day and night, birth and death, here and home. It is also a rallying cry, a call not to run from middle moments, but to revel in them. “Breakneck boy goes speeding by / In a hell-bent race to some finish line,” Canty sings on the album’s opening track, “Blue Sky Moon.” “I ain’t going with him… Gonna take my time in the middle of the road.”
This is a new message for Canty, one that asks the listener not to “get up before the road pulls you under,” as Canty sang on 2015’s Reckless Skyline, but to accept the road as it is, accept that it may pull us under, and enjoy the ride. “If the pandemic and [2020 Nashville] tornado taught me anything,” Canty says, “It’s all the things I thought I could control are out of my control. The natural world is beautiful. It’s also terrifying,” she exclaims with a half laugh, “it can just crush you in a second.” (That tornado missed her house by thirty feet.)
This new vision, however, hasn’t diminished Canty’s optimism. With a heightened sense of all that is lost and lose-able, Canty offers not less hope, but more. “Let it roll, let it ride / Let your sweet heart open wide,” she sings on “Pull the Moon.”
“I let go of a lot of things I thought were my fault, or my responsibility, things I thought I could do everything about, or take care of, or succeed at,” she explains. “And what I found was an ability to be happy in devastating moments in time. Even when it gets dark and troubled, to find a way not to ignore that — to address it — but to stay buoyant.”
It is this clear-sighted courage — what amounts to Canty’s profound musical and lyrical authenticity — that not only sets Canty apart, but draws so many of the acoustic world’s greatest artists into her corner. “Caitlin just has such a magnificent view of the world,” Grammy Award-winning guitarist and Quiet Flame producer Chris Eldridge says. “It’s so strong and true and clear and honest. You just believe it.”
Among those drawn to Canty’s vision — to her clarity, honesty, believability — are some of the greatest artists in contemporary music, making the Quiet Flame band a bona-fide acoustic supergroup: on banjo, mandolin, and harmony vocals you have singer-songwriter Sarah Jarosz (another Grammy winner); on bass, Paul Kowert of Punch Brothers and Hawktail (yet another Grammy winner); and on fiddle, Brittany Haas (also of Hawktail and the newest member of Punch Brothers), who is widely considered the greatest fiddler of her generation.
“Every artist has a vision,” Kowert says, “But I specifically would say I believe Caitlin. I believe her about what she’s seeing in the songs.”
“There’s such conviction,” Haas adds. “It’s so clearly from the heart.”
For Jarosz, Canty’s super-distinction is the totality of her authenticity and an unusual ability for Canty to “sound like herself” in every domain of her artistry. “Her ability to be herself within her songs has always been very obvious to me, before I even knew her,” Jarosz says. “My favorite singers sound like themselves when they’re talking — their singing voice is a genuine extension of them, their personality. Tim O’Brien has that, Gillian Welch has that, Caitlin has that. It’s almost like Caitlin’s voice is so true —it’s like it’s not an option for her to be anyone but herself. And the songs are also that way.”
The songs of Quiet Flame mark not only a musical achievement, but an achievement of spirit. “It takes a very self-assured, fully realized human being to be able to make a record that’s this exposed,” Jarosz continues. “The record takes its time. It takes a very mature musician — and person — to have the courage to let these songs unfold the way they do.”
It is no small feat that Canty manages to make this deliberately slow journey, this taking our time in the middle of the road, so arresting. Such is a testament, of course, to the music as music; to Canty’s voice (“Caitlin, in her way, is as good a singer as exists,” Eldridge says); to her effortless melodic sensibility; to what Haas calls the unusual “variety and diversity of what [her] songs are like, what they allow and make room for texturally.” It is also a testament to the production vision of Eldridge, who Canty calls the perfect “co-pilot,” and to his attention to the “big picture.”
Each member of Canty’s bandoffers a tour de force on their instruments. In Canty’s words, Kowert is a “Multi-instrumentalist on his instrument… essential, the strongest foundation… my favorite bass player I’ve ever played with”; Haas is a “Flamethrower! Her fiddle is an electric guitar! It’s grit and mournfulness — not sad, defiant; not sorrowful, defiant”; Jarosz is “Just insanely good — insanely good singer, insanely beautiful instrumentalist — the most solid partner; she held it down!”
In turn, the band is quick to praise the rare musical freedom Canty affords them. “She makes so much space for other musicians in her music,” Haas says. “She’s really good at being like, ‘I hired you to be you,’ instead of, ‘I want you to do this very specific thing that involves only playing these four notes.’”
The result? The band gets to see their true selves in the work — even their best selves. “‘Odds of Getting Even’ is one of my favorite performances I’ve ever played,” Kowert remarks. “My playing on that song is really exemplary of something that I am uniquely able to do, which is bowing the bass that way, driving the rhythm with the bow.” Multi-instrumentalist Noam Pikelny (still another Grammy winner), who is featured on “I Don’t Think of You,” says much the same: “[It’s] easily one of my favorite examples of my playing captured on record.”
Most of all, however, the success of Quiet Flame’s slow burn is owed to the trust Canty engenders in her audience. It is a trust natural to Canty, but made all the more affecting by her decision, for the first time in her career, to make an entirely acoustic record. “Intimacy is just kind of baked into the nature of acoustic music,” Eldridge explains. “You just intuitively understand that what you’re hearing is what can happen in somebody’s living room. So when you commit to doing a string band record, you’re committing to a certain kind of intimacy. It casts the artist, and the songs, in a different light—in a light that asks the listener to lean in a little bit more, asks the listener to be a part of a moment.”
It is with the listener leaning in close, grounded in the moment with Quiet Flame, that Canty offers a vision both audacious and convincing, that she shares the unmistakable and unshakeable sense that all will be well; that even in the face of so many black holes, we too will be okay; that we, like Canty, will arrive “by the highway home” – a lyric after Robert Frost.
“They all told me love could feel this way,” she sings. “I never thought I would see the day.”
It is the peculiar gift of Caitlin Canty that when she says love can feel “this way” – or even that “nothing’s gone, only changed” – one can’t help but think she’s right.
The other day I was going through my closet doing some spring cleaning, when I found a box with a bunch of old things that just took me back. One thing in particular was my old CD binder that I used to keep in the first car I ever owned, my parents old Ford Windstar. When I started looking through the binder, it brought me right back to the first time I moved away from home. At 19, I decided to leave the city and start working on a vegetable farm as a labourer. I was really into gardening and growing food at the time. Being out there was a time of many firsts, first time moving from home, first love, first time out partying (I’d always been a homebody).
This find made me think of turning them into a digital playlist, “Songs That Take Me Back.” Something that I could take with me, wherever I may go. Here’s a playlist of songs that somehow take me back to a moment in my life, and I’d like to share them with you. – Jeremie Albino
“Trouble” – Ray LaMontagne
This was the first CD in that CD binder that really brought me back. I could just smell the lilacs in the spring time driving out in the country with my old Windstar with the windows down, blasting this record.
“Sylvie” – Harry Belafonte (At Carnegie Hall)
This song brings me right back to an early Sunday morning when I was a kid. I’d be sleeping in and my dad would throw this on his five disc CD player, blaring records while he’d clean the house. This is probably one of my all time favourite records.
“Dust My Blues” – Elmore James
When I hear this tune, it reminds me of the first open mic I ever participated in. I was probably 15 or 16, I had been so in love with this song and had to learn it. I didn’t do too bad, the audience seemed to enjoy a 15 year old trying to play the slide guitar.
“Only Son” – Shakey Graves
This song takes me back to the summer of 2015 — I was so in love with a fellow farmer who worked at a farm not too far from mine. She was so cool, she had the coolest taste in music. One of the first times I had found someone who liked so much of the same music as I did. The song specifically reminds me of that first date, where we had pizza on a dock and listened to Shakey Graves.
“Harriet” – Hey Rosetta
This song reminds me of the first tour I ever went on. I was in a folk trio with my best friends called En Riet. We went on an epic first tour, drove eastern Canada all the way to Newfoundland, one of the most beautiful places I’d ever seen. We would listen to Hey Rosetta driving through some of the most scenic drives I’d experienced in my life, the music felt so fitting and right.
“Hey Boogie” – John Lee Hooker
The first CD I ever purchased was a compilation record called Blues Legend. It was all John Lee Hooker. I got it from the Future Shop (fellow Canadians, do you remember this store? So good.) when I was 7 or 8. I have no idea why I bought it or why I was drawn to it, I think my parents probably told me I liked blues and brought me to the blues section. I ended up picking it cause I thought the cover looked cool! Turns out it was a good pick and listening to it now, it brings me back to being a kid.
“Shipwreck” – Jeremie Albino
This is the first song I ever wrote. I wrote this one 10 years ago; it’s always nice to look back to see how things started for me. At the time I was having such a hard time writing music, and on weekends I would meet up with some friends and have a kitchen jam session. We’d go in a circle, sharing songs. My friends would always share a new song they’d been working on, and I would just play covers, since I still hadn’t written a full song. After coming home from one of these sessions, I told myself, “That’s it! I’m writing a song.” So I thought about how much of a hard time I was having writing and the line “I’m a wreck” came to me cause that’s what I was feeling when I was writing. Eventually one thing led to another, and I started thinking about what other things are wrecks and long story short, “Shipwreck” was born.
“Stumblin’” – Jackson & the Janks
“Stumblin’” was a song that was a must-listen when I was on tour with Cat Clyde. I remember the Mashed Potato records compilations had just come out and I started listening to these songs non-stop. With “Stumblin’” in particular, I just couldn’t get over how good it was! I had sent over the album to Cat so she could listen to how good it was, too! So by the time we hit the road together, we probably listened to that song a million times combined, no word of a lie.
“Boxcar” – Shovels & Rope
I remember the first time I heard this song was one of the first times I went to a bar and partied with friends. A local band was covering the song. When I finally got my hands on the record I fell in love with their music, the songwriting and vocals. I had a huge crush on Cary Ann’s voice. After that Shovels & Rope turned out to be one of my favourite bands. Ten years later, we actually ended up hitting the road together for a tour and it was one of my “I made it” moments. I feel very blessed to call them my friends, it’s funny to see how things come full circle sometimes.
(Editor’s Note: Watch a brand new music video for the title track of Lauren Calve’s upcoming album, “Shift,” below.)
What other art forms — literature, film, dance, painting, etc. — inform your music?
I was a visual artist before I was a musician, so visual art has always played a role in my music-making. Interestingly, though, my songs usually inform my art. After I finish writing and recording a collection of songs, I usually go through a kind-of sensory transition from auditory to visual. For instance, after I finished my forthcoming album Shift, I painted a self-portrait incorporating the imagery from Shift for my album cover in the style of surrealist painter Rene Magritte. For me, creating art to accompany my releases enriches the experience of making music.
Which artist has influenced you the most… and how?
Patty Griffin is probably my biggest influence. Her songs have always captured my heart and imagination. And I love how she constantly evolves her sound and songwriting while maintaining her authenticity. In my opinion, she is one of the best living singer-songwriters.
Which elements of nature do you spend the most time with and how do those impact your work?
Walking the Anacostia River paths behind my house is my favorite and most accessible way to be in nature. These walks have elicited everything from song ideas and lyrics to notes for mixes. There’s something about walking in nature that clears my head and allows my creativity to flow more freely.
If you had to write a mission statement for your career, what would it be?
If I had to write a mission statement for my career, especially in light of my recent personal shift, it would be “Songs for Seekers on their quest to know and be known.”
What’s your favorite memory from being on stage?
My favorite memory from being on stage was when I performed with the Mountain Stage band for the first episode of Mountain Stage’s 40th Anniversary year in January. Prior to the show my guitarist, Jonathan Sloane, had been in touch with the band leader; I was pretty much in the dark regarding the instrumentation for my set. It was the day of the show during soundcheck that I learned that the entire 7-piece house band would accompany me — including Kathy Mattea on background vocals! Never in my wildest dreams did I think that such an illustrious group — many of whom had been at Mountain Stage since its inception 40 years earlier — would be my backing band. Unsurprisingly, that set was the best my songs have ever sounded!
Photo Credit: Sarah Danelli
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