Tag: songwriter

Basic Folk Debate Club: Lyrics vs. Melody

Posted on by Shelby Williamson

Welcome to Folk Debate Club, our occasional crossover series with fellow folk-pod Why We Write! Today, to discuss Lyrics vs. Melody, we welcome our panel of guests: music journalist and former singer/songwriter Kim Ruehl, Isa Burke (Lula Wiles, Aoife O’Donovan), musician and Basic Folk guest host Lizzie No, and yours truly, Cindy Howes, boss of Basic Folk.

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Our conversation begins with a case each for melody and lyrics from members of the panel. Some panelists are more fluid with their thoughts and feelings and at least one of us changes sides mid-discussion. Some interesting opinions emerge! For instance, manipulation in music is no good if the listener can see through your bullshit: “Part of the job [of songwriters] is to emotionally manipulate people. When you are feeling manipulated is when the person has missed,” says Kim. The panel talks about rawness: it can take lyrical editing before it can be presented to the public. “It’s sometimes hard to tell as the songwriter, like, how raw am I actually being?”, shares Isa, who goes on to talk about how being raw in melody can be very effective. She points to her emotional guitar solo (that was done during a difficult moment in her life) in the Lula Wiles song “The Way That It Is” as one of her most favorite musical accomplishments (listen below).

Bob Dylan comes up within 90 seconds of the debate! Don’t worry, Taylor Swift, Maggie Rogers, Stevie Wonder, Adele, and Paul McCartney also make cameo appearances. And Lizzie No ftw: “Lyrics are the hand-holding that we need to bring us into the glory of instrumental music.” Enjoy! We had a good time doing this, so we’ll see you again soon!

Photo Credit: Liz Dutton (Cindy Howes); Louise Bichan (Isa Burke); Bernie McAllister (Lizzie No); Kim Ruehl

Basic Folk – Caroline Spence

Posted on by Shelby Williamson

Originally from Charlottesville, Virginia, Caroline Spence came from this cool family that always seemed to be messing around with music: both listening and playing music. She’s recently been discovering and sharing home movies from when she was a kid: scooting around in diapers on a guitar case, singing with her grandfather and mother. The clips, which she used in the video for “Clean Getaway,” were a gift in which she was able to see her personality and genuine love of music from a young age. She was emboldened to perform and write by her musical aunt, who invited Caroline to open for her as a teenager.

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She came to Nashville for a job in the music industry and slowly started putting herself out there as a songwriter for other musicians. Her writing is based in honesty and she opens up about her relationship to the truth in our conversation. We also get into how she had to develop ego, why it matters and how she let herself have access to it. We discuss her love of flowers and how she relates the songs on her new album True North to different flowers. Caroline is an avid reader of Mary Oliver and even has a song named after her as the poet feels devotional and spiritual. Enjoy Caroline Spence!

Editor’s Note: Basic Folk is currently running their annual fall fundraiser! Visit basicfolk.com/donate for a message from hosts Cindy Howes and Lizzie No, and to support this listener-funded podcast.

Photo Credit: Kaitlyn Raitz

The Show On The Road – American Aquarium

Posted on by Shelby Williamson

This week, we’re back for the fall season with the first face-to-face taping in nearly two years. I was able to catch up with the fearless deep-voiced frontman BJ Barham of North Carolina roots-rock favorites American Aquarium, in the front bar of The Troubadour in LA as his tour was passing through.

 

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American Aquarium’s rawly personal new LP Chicamacomico dropped earlier this year and focuses on the twin losses of BJ’s mother and grandmother — as well as a dark point in his own marriage when he and his wife lost a child. He was already building a room for the little one during the pregnancy when everything changed. While fans have been following the band as a roaring country-tinged rock outfit since they formed in Raleigh around 2006 (the masterful Jason Isbell-produced Burn.Flicker.Die put them on the map right as they thought they would quit), it’s with Barham’s more poetic, stripped down offerings like 2020’s Lamentations and his searing solo work Rockingham that he is breaking new ground. Barham isn’t shy about processing his adoration for The Boss as the preeminent living rock-n-roll intellectual king, and there are cuts off the new LP like “The Things We Lost Along the Way” that feel like they could have been recorded in that haunted place alongside Nebraska or Darkness on the Edge of Town.

As a new dad myself who just experienced my wife going through a terrifying birth, BJ’s songs hit me a little harder these days. I can’t think of a country artist today with as big a following from North Carolina to Texas who would center the title track of his record around the unspoken tragedy of a late miscarriage, but Barham pulls it off with a remarkable sensitivity. Like Isbell, Barham notes that his career really began when he got sober and could finally examine the dark corners of his history, his relationships and the fractured history of the South he grew up in.

Though hard to say, naming a record about working through deep loss Chicamacomico makes all the sense in the world. It’s a real place of course, a life-saving station built in 1874 on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, and a beach area where BJ and his wife tried to go to blow off steam and forget their sorrows. Now a proud dad to a little daughter (see the cheerful country banger “Little Things”) Barham has learned that in the end, being a father and husband first doesn’t make him less of a hard-working, deep-thinking artist. In fact, it’s finding that balance that has allowed him to write the most powerful songs of his career.

Basic Folk – Peter Mulvey

Posted on by Shelby Williamson

Milwaukee-born Peter Mulvey has, along with classical duo SistaStrings, made an anti-fascist record. According to Peter, “to make an anti–fascist record, you must keep kindness and compassion in the foreground.” Love is the Only Thing goes from family, to politics, to family, to racism and back to family. It’s as optimistic and introspective as it is filled with “running out of a burning building” type of songs. All the while, Peter is joined by powerful, thoughtful and extremely talented musicians in Monique and Chauntee Ross.

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Lots has happened in Peter’s life since his last album. He originated himself in New England, fell in love and got married, a pandemic, and he’s become a father. All these eek their way into the songs on the new album. Particularly poignant is his co-write with his partner, the song about their possible future as parents (good luck not crying to all the parents out there!) Don’t worry if you didn’t catch all the Buddhist references, we talk about each one in finite detail. Enjoy!

Photo Credit: Joe Navas

Basic Folk – Adia Victoria

Posted on by Shelby Williamson

For Adia Victoria, the blues are not just a genre of music or a set of formal elements. She lives the blues. In her life and work the blues are a mode of creating, a river-tradition into which she steps with each performance, and a way back into self-acceptance. Adia has traveled the world and infused her unique songwriting with Paris and New York as much as with her home state of Tennessee.

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Adia has released three studio albums, working with producers like T Bone Burnett and The National’s Aaron Dessner. In her climb to indie stardom she has remained laser focused on interpreting the blues tradition for contemporary audiences.

My conversation with Adia came shortly after we finished a whirlwind North American tour this spring, and it felt like we were back in the tour van just shooting the shit. Transparent and hilarious, Adia challenged me to go as deep in conversation as she does in her songs.

Photo Credit: Huy Nguyen

Basic Folk – Willi Carlisle

Posted on by Shelby Williamson

It’s hard to not fall a little in love with Willi Carlisle. The former high school football captain (he’ll tell you it was just for his junior year), poet, madrigals singer and freaky dreamer is irresistible on stage and on record. He grew up an outsider and the feeling remains in his adult life.

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In writing about his intense life, he’s found an outlet and in his music we, the others, feel seen. His history is filled with complex experiences like having a musician father, singing in punk bands, getting a masters in poetry and finding true home and community at square dances in the Ozarks.

I got Willi to talk about a couple of notable contradictions in his life including his unflinching willingness to lay it all out for his music, living alongside not trusting himself or believing that he can do this. He also loves high-brow poetry and punk rock, but “I don’t want to come across as too heady, but I also don’t want to be so punk rock that I lack polish.” We talk about those contradictions and, of course, the music. His new album, Peculiar, Missouri, is filled with songs that seem very hopeful and these songs, even the protest songs, are coming from a place of love. Willi’s not reached a state of queer joy, which he’ll freely tell you, but he’s working on it. Meanwhile, his honesty, curiosity and big heart have us hooked.

Photo Credit: Mike Vanata

Basic Folk – Leon Timbo

Posted on by Shelby Williamson

When Leon Timbo was a teenager, he prayed for a singing voice. As a young poet and the child of a preacher, he was a born storyteller, but he dreamed of being able to sing. Leon’s remarkable artistic journey has been the answer to that prayer.

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Timbo started writing and performing songs on DIY solo tours in his native Florida, eventually expanding his reach across the United States. He focused on connecting with each audience member and immediately started building a loyal following. It was on one of these tours that musician and actor Tyrese Gibson fell in love with his music and storytelling and invited Leon to open for him. Gibson’s mentorship helped Leon hone his sound and opened massive doors of opportunity.

Each step of Leon’s musical path has been guided by faith, spirituality, and the power of human connection. He has performed with the legendary Fisk Jubilee Singers and hung out at a bar with Quincy Jones. He has a unique take on Americana, R&B, gospel, and folk music. His new album, Lovers & Fools, Vol. II, is a vehicle for his hopeful worldview, and of course, for his spectacular voice.

Photo Credit: Jace Kartye

The Show On The Road – The Cactus Blossoms

Posted on by Shelby Williamson

On this new episode, maybe we need something soft to counter the hard news many Americans have witnessed this week: so why not dive into the crystalline brother harmonies of Minneapolis duo The Cactus Blossoms, who just put out a lush new record, One Day?

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Sure, you could write off what Jack Torrey and Page Burkum are creating as simply a loving homage to roots pop pioneers like the Everly or Louvin Brothers with an acerbic modern twist. But with allies like David Lynch (who inserted them into his rebooted Twin Peaks universe) and Jenny Lewis in their corner (she joins them on the bouncy tear-jerker, “Everyday”) there is something a bit more biting under the sweet-as-candy close harmonies and hushed acoustic guitars, Wurlitzer and pedal steel.

With a song like “I Could Almost Cry,” you have to dive beneath the aching minor country chords and Hank Williams-adjacent lyrics to find a Beatles Rubber Soul fury roiling underneath. As the soft-spoken mention in this freewheeling talk – what lurks inside many of the songs on One Day isn’t just the story of a broken love affair – but maybe of our slowly-breaking country which Jack and Page see out on the road and try and make sense of anew.

Basic Folk – Dietrich Strause

Posted on by Shelby Williamson

Dietrich Strause, raised in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, was classically trained on trumpet growing up, but the allure of songwriting and performing his own music pulled him into the Americana world. He found his way to the Boston area and into its super collaborative and supportive community.

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On his new album, You And I Must Be Out Of My Mind, Dietrich found himself more in control of the creative process thanks to spending years cultivating his skills at Great North Sound in Parsonsfield, Maine. Under the mentorship of producer Sam Kassirer, he became empowered in his craft by offering up his services as a session player, engineer and studio handyman. The record took several years to record, but due to his experiences with Sam, he was able to see the way that bands made decisions in the studio and how a record takes shape, which all culminated on his latest record.

Dietrich’s known in the Boston area for sitting in on sessions and live shows with people like Rose Cousins, Kris Delmhorst, and Session Americana. He’s built a home and a community there. Now, Dietrich is in the process of moving his base to London, which sounds challenging to do at any time, never mind during a global pandemic. He talks about how it’s been a strange move and how the pandemic has impacted his relationship with touring. Full disclosure: Dietrich is a close pal of mine and one of my favorite hangs. When I spend time with Dietrich, I feel like a little kid: anything is possible and the day is ours. His music gives me that feeling, too. Hope you enjoy getting to know Dietrich and his perfect songs.

Photo Credit: Sam Kassirer

Basic Folk – Edie Carey

Posted on by Shelby Williamson

Edie Carey’s last solo full length album was in 2010 (holy smokes!) so we are more than ready to dig into her new record, The Veil, encompassing themes like motherhood, infertility, love, being a lady while raising a girl and all the things that make you cry in your cereal.

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Edie first appeared on Basic Folk in episode 18 and if you haven’t, you should listen. Not only does she talk about her history, but she very openly details her experience with infertility, including winning her son in a raffle (TLDR: her husband won a free IVF treatment at an infertility conference, which then turned into their son Luca). In this conversation, Edie and I go track by track on her new album, which is a JOY because #1 I love Edie’s songs and #2 I love Edie. A winning combo.

These days, Edie is residing in Colorado Springs, working with area musicians, touring occasionally (when COVID is not raging) and raising her two young kids. Something that’s extraordinary about Edie is that she is not afraid of saying things out loud that most people are. She experienced burn-out after her first baby was born, longed for her pre-baby life, and felt guilty about it. The good news is that she turns emotions like this into fully formed songs where people can see themselves through her experience, and then be okay with talking about hard things. Enjoy this conversation – Edie is so fun and inspiring!

Photo Credit: Steve Willis