Tag: singer songwriter

Basic Folk – Maya De Vitry

Posted on by Shelby Williamson

Maya De Vitry released her third solo record, Violet Light, earlier this year and I, for one, am happy that my fiancée has a new Maya record to play endlessly in our house. Lol jk. I love Maya and this album is perfect. Maya’s originally from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, where she lived and met the members of her old band The Stray Birds. Since the dissolution of the Birds, she’s been incredibly prolific with all these solo albums, co-writes and the like. If you’re not familiar, this record is a great intro to the genius of one of the greatest musicians on the scene today. The vibes I’m getting on this record are John Prine, Patty Griffin and, of course, Gillian Welch & Dave Rawlings. We. Are. Digging. IN!

 

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I’m so happy Maya was up for going through this beauty of a record track by track! It’s a brilliant collection that subtly knocks you to the ground over the course of its eleven songs. Produced at home with her partner, the much in-demand bassist and producer Ethan Jodziewicz (The Milk Carton Kids, Sierra Hull, Aoife O’Donovan, Darol Anger, Tony Trischka), Violet Light actually contains a ton of collaborations from Maya’s extensive musical community. This includes her own family; her siblings all collaborated for the very first time on tape for the song “Real Time, Real Tears,” about losing a favorite uncle. Yeah, you try not to cry during that one. Anyhoo. It feels like a gift to be able to turn these songs over and over, contemplate their meaning, their creation and then be able to talk directly to the brains behind it all. I implore you to check out this whole episode and then go buy Maya’s new album, preferably on Bandcamp. Support an independent artist whose music is meaningful and worth getting paid for. She’s a once in a lifetime artist.

Photo Credit: Laura Partain

WATCH: Geneviève Racette, “Maybe” (Live)

Posted on by Editor

Artist: Geneviève Racette
Hometown: Montréal
Song: “Maybe”
Album: Satellite
Release Date: March 18, 2022
Label: InTempo Musique

In Their Words: “‘Maybe’ is the first song we released off my third full-length record, Satellite. It’s also the first one I wrote for it. It definitely set the tone for the rest of the album. I wrote it with two of my best friends: Danielle Knibbe and Barbra Lica. We were sitting in our friend’s kitchen just talking about our love lives and ended up writing and singing about it. The song is basically about hazy nebulous relationships. Friends or more than friends? What are we? The video was shot in Lachine’s Honkytonk Danse Country. There aren’t many honky-tonk bars in Montréal let me tell you! It was such a pleasure to sing there.” — Geneviève Racette

Photo Credit: Eva-Maude TC

WATCH: Caroline Spence, “Clean Getaway”

Posted on by Editor

Artist: Caroline Spence
Hometown: Charlottesville, Virginia; Nashville, Tennessee
Song: “Clean Getaway”
Album: True North
Release Date: April 29, 2022
Label: Rounder

In Their Words: “This song is meant to be a cathartic, windows-down, feel-good and feel-bad anthem to sing at the top of your lungs as a way to honor yourself while owning your flaws — it’s for those folks that are still working through their baggage and might need a little help celebrating who they are in the meantime. This song absolutely came out of the lockdown in 2020, a time when none of us had the luxury of being able to hide from ourselves. I think I thought that time off the road would make me a different person in a certain way, but things didn’t get easier with more time, they just got pulled more into focus because you are all that is left when everything else falls away.

“In the video, we wanted to show the lighthearted part of my experience with my Saturn Return — entering a new phase of adulthood where you can actually make space for your inner child instead of running from them. We used home movies of me as a kid to show this. I got to see that my interests and personality really haven’t changed much at all. I think I thought I’d be different by the time I hit 30 and the Saturn Return ended, but it left me exactly where I started, with just with more acceptance of who I am deep down.” — Caroline Spence

Image Credit: Kaitlyn Raitz

WATCH: Mark Joseph & The American Soul, “Early Riser”

Posted on by Editor

Artist: Mark Joseph & The American Soul
Hometown: Minneapolis, Minnesota
Song: “Early Riser”
Album: Vegas Motel
Release Date: November 19, 2021

In Their Words: “‘Early Riser’ is a really special song to me and writing it and recording it was truly a joy. It was a concept I came up with early one morning and developed into a beautiful vehicle for Ryan Young (Trampled by Turtles) to create his amazing melodic and harmonic fiddle soundscapes. In some ways I feel like I wrote this subconsciously for Ryan. When we started tracking it in the studio, (co-producer) JT Bates and I just looked at each other and knew we had something very special. It came together very naturally and showcases the genuine brothership and 20 years of history that Ryan and I share together. Enjoy! Thank you for listening!” — Mark Joseph

Photo Credit: Brent Snyder

LISTEN: Elliah Heifetz, “Keep the Grass in the Ground”

Posted on by Editor

Artist: Elliah Heifetz
Hometown: New York City
Song: “Keep the Grass in the Ground”
Album: First Generation American
Release Date: April 1, 2022

In Their Words: “Written within a week of John Prine’s passing, ‘Keep the Grass in the Ground’ is a tonal ode to one of my biggest heroes. I’ve learned so much about life and how to best live it from John’s lyrics, advice I wish I’d heard as a kid… so this song is basically an imagined conversation where I’m giving my younger self that advice. The thought is, we should follow our instincts, pursue our dreams and urges, open our hearts, let the tears fall when they come, and take the risks we need to. But never, ever at the expense of anyone else. It’s important to appreciate beauty, and just as important to know when to leave it be. I start every chorus with: ‘Take a stone, throw it; take a leaf, blow it; take a drive when the night sky’s good n’ glowing; Aw, but never grab a smile and pull it down.’” — Elliah Heifetz

Photo Credit: Angelina Castillo

LISTEN: Donna Ulisse, “Gray Rock, Red Clay Land”

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Artist: Donna Ulisse
Hometown: Hampton, Virginia
Song: “Gray Rock, Red Clay Land” (written by Donna Ulisse and Becky Buller)
Album: Livin’ Large
Release Date: February 25, 2022
Label: Billy Blue Records

In Their Words: “My husband Rick Stanley found our eight acres of paradise on a website one evening and talked me into going over for a gander. We had lived in Nashville proper for 31 years and the thought of leaving was bittersweet but when we saw this place in Lebanon, Tennessee, it was love at first sight. There are random, large slabs of limestone running through the fields where the most interesting purple and yellow flowers bloom. We had to dig some of them up to get it looking like we dreamed, which gave me the first line of the song. My daddy and brother were also here to help us when we first moved and I don’t think I can ever look at the sweeping pasture without seeing my daddy bent over working on the land. And YES, there is red clay to shovel through to plant a garden…so the hook fell out as natural as the flowers that grow here.” — Donna Ulisse

Photo Credit: Kim Lancaster

LISTEN: Rhyan Sinclair, “Gasoline in the Morning”

Posted on by Editor

Artist: Rhyan Sinclair
Hometown: Lexington, Kentucky
Song: “Gasoline in the Morning”
Album: Letters to Aliens
Release Date: March 4, 2022
Label: Little Haunted Girl Records

In Their Words: “During the writing of this album, I was working through past trauma in therapy. That experience strongly informed my writing for this album, and I think that’s especially present on ‘Gasoline in the Morning.’ The song, for me, is about mental health, its upkeep, and ultimately, reevaluating what you allow to propel you forward…what you use as ‘fuel.’ It’s easy to get caught up in the speed of life, sometimes to the point where you’re running on fumes, leaning on old habits. I think there’s a hesitant hope within the song. It’s that universal feeling of trying to attain some sort of balance within life, and just not quite knowing what steps to take to get there. Some days that balance feels more elusive than others.” — Rhyan Sinclair

Rhyan Sinclair · Gasoline In The Morning

Photo Credit: Julian Karpinski

BGS 5+5: Danielia Cotton

Posted on by Editor

Artist: Danielia Cotton
Hometown: Hopewell, New Jersey; now New York City
Latest Album: Good Day (out March 18)

Which elements of nature do you spend the most time with and how do those impact your work?

I live in New York City and just being outside with my headphones on listening to a great song is so powerful. Walking in the city that never sleeps with a great soundtrack in your ears can almost always lead to moments of inspiration and pleasure. Many times I have taken a run on the West Side Highway in downtown Manhattan and I come home and go straight to the piano or my guitar and begin a new piece. It is always tough to write when one is uninspired. There are times you can push through, others when you put the instrument down and either find inspiration in existing music or art you like, or simply wait it out until you are struck with a spark of lyric or melody that leads you somewhere substantive.

What was the first moment that you knew you wanted to be a musician?

Right after one of my first solo performances at a “Save the Delaware” benefit in New Jersey. I had just learned to play acoustic guitar and I performed my three-chord song. It was the scariest yet one of the most exhilarating moments ever.

Which artist has influenced you the most … and how?

There is no one artist for me that encapsulates all that has influenced me. My sound has always been a bit eclectic so I pull from a few different musical genres. As far as rock goes, two huge influences are The Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin. The Stones are soulful storytellers with serious grooves. Zeppelin for me has a depth that hit me when I was young and feeling displaced that took me somewhere else. Robert Plant’s voice was incredible at that time and his range was inspiring. When it comes to soul, I would include in my top three: Prince, Stevie Wonder and Sly and The Family Stone. Prince and Sly meshed rock and soul in a way that spoke to me as rock music sounded the way I felt. Stevie Wonder was deep. To this day Songs in The Key of Life inspires my soul, my musical theoretical side and my heart.

If you had to write a mission statement for your career, what would it be?

There was a literary critic about a hundred years ago who was asked to define what is a great work of art, and that critic said, “It’s whatever adds to the available stock of reality.” To the extent that my career might mean creating something that becomes part, however small, of someone’s memory, someone’s sense of peace, someone’s sense of solace, or someone’s sense of joy. I guess that’s my mission statement.

How often do you hide behind a character in a song or use “you” when it’s actually “me”?

I almost never hide behind a character when writing a song. I generally write in first person as the honesty in performance is crucial for me as I try to take the audience to a real place. If I can’t find myself in the story or some way to personalize it, my ability to really connect with my audience becomes incredibly difficult. I am not a fan of faking it.

Photo Credit: Chia Messina

LISTEN: Ali Sperry, “Climber”

Posted on by Editor

Artist: Ali Sperry
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
Song: “Climber”
Album: In Front of Us
Release Date: March 11, 2022

In Their Words: “In March of 2018, my friend Becca Richardson was sitting across from me in my music room, and as co-writes often go, we got to talking at length about our lives, plans, the music we were both making, our thoughts on the current government administration, and a topic that was very much in the spotlight and on our minds at that moment, the #MeToo movement. From these musings, ‘Climber’ took shape — not as a song specifically about a single person or story, but an archetype and universal experience we all know too well. It’s the age-old tale of the charming narcissist who commands the room, puts you on a pedestal until they no longer choose to shine their light on you, and the subsequent anger that fuels the recipient of this behavior to shut it down.

“This was the first song that I knew needed to be on the record, and I love its place as the opening track. It signifies the ushering in of a new era — globally and personally — with a revitalized sense of empowerment and newly minted boundaries. When I listen to it now, Audley Freed’s electric guitar sounds like it’s having a conversation with Kristin Weber’s strings, and they build into this catharsis of the final chorus with Allison Russell and Kristin Weber’s harmony vocals lifting the melody. As much as we were all desperately missing sitting in a room and recording together at that time, there was something magical about experiencing each track individually — a precious thing all on its own arriving in a Dropbox folder. Every time a new track was mixed in with the rest, it took the song somewhere completely new and exciting.” — Ali Sperry

Ali Sperry · Climber

Photo Credit: Fairlight Hubbard

WATCH: The Sweeplings, “Shipwrecks”

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Artist: The Sweeplings
Hometown: Cami Bradley is based in Washington State; Whitney Dean is based in Alabama
Song: “Shipwrecks”
Album: Debris
Release Date: April 8, 2022
Label: Nettwerk

In Their Words: “‘Shipwrecks was just fun [to write]. We had some melody ideas… We have this little phrasebook we sometimes use to get ideas, and we found these phrases that revolved around shipwrecks and realized that kind of lyric was just right. We’re all bothered, we’re all struggling, we’re all just a wreck trying to figure out how to get to shore safely. This song is about the empowering knowledge that our imperfections and mistakes make us who we are. Our flaws, turbulence, and strife are all things that help shape us into the people we are, the people we are becoming, and the people we want to ultimately be. We’re all messed up…but we’re all in it together, and there is something beautiful about that. The video was shot in Austin, Texas around late July 2021 in a storm. The idea was to illustrate that we are all ‘shipwrecks,’ and by the end of the video we make it out alive and ready for what’s ahead.” — The Sweeplings

Photo Credit: Glass Jar Photography