Tag: soul

BGS Wraps: Ruby Amanfu, Billy Strings, Old Crow Medicine Show, and More

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Farewell 2023 and hello 2024! While we all relish the week that doesn’t exist – that delightful no-man’s-land between Christmas and New Year’s Day – there’s perhaps just one activity beyond abject laziness that’s appropriate for the turning of the year: Music! Whether you’re still in “pajamas hermit” mode or you’re antsy and ready to go back out into the world, we’ve got songs and shows to recommend for your New Year’s Eve/New Year’s Day festivities in this special edition, final week of BGS Wraps.

Thank you for spending another stellar year with BGS! We can’t wait to enjoy all that 2024 has in store with all of you. Celebrate safely and enjoy the holiday, we’ll see you in the new year.

92Q & Analog Soul 2024 New Year Bash, Hutton Hotel, Nashville, TN, December 31

There are seemingly wall-to-wall parties, concerts, and happenings in Music City for NYE, and one certainly worth spotlighting is 92Q & Analog Soul’s 2024 New Year Bash, happening December 31 at Analog at the Hutton Hotel. From 8pm to 2am, guests will hear production, songwriting, and music-making duo Louis York, roots-tinged girl group The Shindellas, Shae Nycole, and more ring in the new year with performances, DJ sets, food and drink, and a champagne toast at midnight. Tickets are available here.

Ruby Amanfu, “Winter”

A dreamy and gauzy neo-folk song from singer-songwriter Ruby Amanfu feels frosty and magical, but warm and enveloping, too. It finds joy in often gray and bleak winter landscapes and vignettes we all know so well. The pulsing piano gives the track a forward-leaning energy, even while it relaxes into its groove and builds to a tender, energetic and lush sound.

The Felice Brothers at Colony, Woodstock, NY December 30 & 31

Spending your New Year’s Eve in upstate New York? Don’t miss the Felice Brothers’ two year-end shows at Colony in Woodstock! Both dates appear to be sold out, but you can join the wait list here. Based in the Catskills – so this is something of a holiday homecoming for the group – the Felice Brothers put out a Bandcamp-exclusive album, Asylum on the Hill, earlier this month. Celebrate ushering out the old and in the new with the Felice Brothers in Woodstock.

McKowski, “Auld Lang Syne”

Mark McCausland – AKA McKowski, also of The Lost Brothers and formerly of The Basement – released an album of ethereal and contemplative holiday instrumentals for guitar this month that features a gorgeous rendition of “Auld Lang Syne” that’s perfect for your NYE playlists. The album, Winter Guitar Hymnals from the Boneyard, certainly listens as a kind of guitar-centered ecclesiastical service, featuring a handful of Christmas carols alongside original arrangements and compositions, too. It’s a lovely collection, one we just had to spotlight for this final BGS Wraps.

Nashville’s Big Bash on CBS and Paramount+, Nashville, TN December 31

If you love big crowds, bright lights, and stunning pyrotechnics, Nashville’s Big Bash is for you! Or, stay home and avoid the crowds by streaming the show on CBS and Paramount+. See and hear Parker McCollum, Brothers Osborne with Trombone Shorty, Jon Pardi, Carly Pearce, Kane Brown, and many more. Hosted by Elle King and Rachel Smith, the five-hour production will feature more than fifty artists, bands, and performances. Oh and of course there will be the music note drop – Nashville’s version of the famous ball drop – over the stage at the Bicentennial Mall at midnight! More info available here.

Nefesh Mountain, “More Love”

What better to take with us into the new year than “More Love”? A Tim O’Brien cover by Jewish bluegrass string band Nefesh Mountain, the track was released with a mission of supporting organizations working to end the violence and ongoing war in Israel, Gaza, and Palestine while supporting Palestinians and Israelis impacted by the conflict. In a press release, Nefesh Mountain made a commitment to “donate a quarter of proceeds from ‘More Love,’ the ‘Love and Light’ Tour, and their forthcoming EP to charities and foundations that are dedicated to promoting peace, coexistence, and a way forward for Israelis and Palestinians.”

With more than 20,000 killed in Gaza and hundreds and hundreds more killed in Israel, the West Bank, and the greater region, we certainly believe the world could use “More Love” – and far, far less war – in 2024.

The Nields, “New Year’s Day”

We’ve been “saving” “New Year’s Day” from the Nields’ new album, Circle of Days – which was released in June – for more than half a year, just for this moment! It’s a truly perfect song for this point of transition. The feeling of helplessness we all feel at the inevitable march of time is captured like lightning in a bottle, with feelings of regret, despair, and exhaustion. But ultimately, they find hope in these lyrics, even while they explore emotions often opposed to hope and its regeneration.

Old Crow Medicine Show at The Ryman, Nashville, TN December 30 & 31

It wouldn’t be New Year’s Eve without Old Crow Medicine Show at the Ryman! It’s a long tradition, this year bolstered by supporting acts like former Old Crow member Willie Watson (30th & 31st) and Kasey Tyndall (30th) and Harper O’Neill (31st). Tickets are somehow still available – so grab yours while you can! You never know what special guests Old Crow will trot out at these rollicking, rowdy, joyous shows. Though it’s probably safe to bet there won’t be a Belle Meade Cockfight either night, don’t rule it out entirely.

Portland Cello Project, “What Are You Doing for New Years?”

The Portland Cello Project is joined by soloist, vocalist Saeeda Wright, for an epic, jazzy rendition of “What Are You Doing for New Years?”, perhaps the only generally accepted New Year’s “carol” besides “Auld Lang Syne.” (We’re open to argument on that point, of course.) The track is from their holiday EP, Under the Mistletoe, a collaboration with Wright and drummer Tyrone Hendrix. It certainly demonstrates the broad contexts in which chamber music such as this can thrive.

Amanda Stewart, “One Hell of a Year”

A thought we have had every year since 2020 – and, honestly, since long before, too – is this: That was one hell of a year. If you’re feeling that same exasperation, mixed with fatigue and pride and a sense of finality, as we turn the page on the calendar, Amanda Stewart has a bluegrassy send off to 2023 and the holiday season just for you.

Billy Strings at Lakefront Arena, New Orleans, LA December 29, 30, 31

 

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A New Orleans New Year’s extravaganza helmed by bluegrass shredder Billy Strings feels like an apropos way to ring out the old and ring in the new. For the past few years Strings has defined bluegrass music, with his skyrocketing fame, mass appeal, and ever-growing fan base. During that time, his shows around New Year’s Eve have been unparalleled. Now, they have grown into multi-night runs in arenas and stadiums – like the Big Easy’s Lakefront Arena. As is usual for Billy’s shows, there are no openers, so buckle up for nothing but rip-roarin’ Billy Strings each night as we say a final goodbye to 2023 and bid good morning and good day to 2024! Tickets here.

Photo Credit: Billy Strings by Christopher Morley; Ruby Amanfu courtesy of the artist; Old Crow Medicine Show by Joshua Black Wilkins.

From “Alligator Bait” to “Gospel Blues,” Joy Is Central on Robert Finley’s ‘Black Bayou’

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Been around the world, seen some of everything, but what I like about it the most is the joy that I bring…

– Robert Finley, “Livin’ Out A Suitcase”

Whether it’s at home or abroad, Robert Finley’s youthful exuberance has a knack for not only lighting up rooms, but people’s faces as well. On his latest batch of songs, the former sharecropper and carpenter – who got his start in music during a stint in the Army – continues that trend with 11 stories pulled from his Louisiana upbringing that include everything from the poignant “No One Wants To Be Lonely” to the cheeky and overly embellished “Alligator Bait.”

Pulling from rock, soul, blues and a whole lot of gospel, Black Bayou is easily Finley’s most personal and sonically developed record to date. His third project with Dan Auerbach and Easy Eye Sound, the record is one that came about organically, feeding on the artist’s energetic live performances with lyrics and arrangements put together on the spot in the studio with no pre-fabricated blueprint.

“When we did this album there was no pencil or paper in the room,” Finley tells BGS of the process. “The band was free to jam what they felt and I had the freedom to say what I felt. Nothing was written beforehand, it all came to life in the moment.”

Born in Winnsboro and now based in Bernice, a North Louisiana hamlet only thirty miles from the Arkansas border, Finley has excelled at living in the moment despite the fast moving world around him. That essence is what accelerates his storytelling throughout Black Bayou, particularly on songs like the aforementioned “Livin’ Out A Suitcase” and “Nobody Wants To Be Lonely,” the latter of which has the artist crooning about the elderly sitting at nursing homes around the country with no family wanting or able to keep in touch or care for them. It’s a topic that Finley doesn’t just sing about from the studio, though. He visits nursing homes in his community on a regular basis to serenade its residents.

“So many people have been forgotten,” says Finley. “Their kids drop them off and go on with their lives. I go down occasionally and perform at the old folks home in Bernice. Just take my guitar and play for 30 minutes or so, try to get them to dance, try to bring some joy to them.”

Whether in those homes or the local clubs, Finley is determined to use his platform to give back to the community that made him. In addition to never turning down a conversation or photo op, he also aims to lift up the next generation of musicians, offering support and guidance to those cutting their teeth and in need of a role model as they pursue their own musical dreams.

“I always go back whenever I’m not on tour, simply because that’s where I got my start,” says Finley. “It also gives me a chance to encourage the young artists there to pursue their dreams, because I can share how I started busking over there on the corner eight years ago and now I’m touring the world. Had I not made that first step, then nobody would even know what I was capable of doing.”

As listeners have come to expect from Finley, Black Bayou is full of lust, love, spirituality, and humor as well. Tunes like “Sneakin’ Around,” “Miss Kitty,” and “Can’t Blame Me For Trying” showcase Finley’s flamboyant and flirtatious side, which goes hand in hand with his center-stage shimmying and shaking at live shows. On the flip side, cuts like the swampy album closer, “Alligator Bait,” unravels as a spoken word recollection of a formative day on the bayou with his grandfather with a gnarly and always evolving backbeat oozing with attitude.

Together these stories make a patchwork quilt of sounds, emotions, and stories that only Finley could piece together. Calling into his North Louisiana home, we spoke with Finley — our November Artist of the Month — in detail about Black Bayou, making music with his family, the similarities between performing and preaching, and more.

What has busking taught you about performing and holding an audience’s attention?

I’ve learned that you don’t need to put all of your eggs in one basket. I’m always trying to shake it up and introduce new things to the crowd at my shows, because no matter how good a movie is, if you watch it two or three times you’re going to know exactly what happens next. It doesn’t mean it’s not a great movie, it just means you’re not going to watch something that you already know the result of. I don’t want to rehearse and be programmed to do the same thing over and over, I need to have the freedom of the spirit of the moment.

Your daughter Christy Johnson and granddaughter LaQuindrelyn McMahon both joined you on this record. What’s it mean to you to share your love for music with them?

It’s great being able to have three generations of Finleys singing together. I’ve always admired Pop Staples and The Staple Singers for him and his daughters. I have two other daughters as well, but they both work in the medical field and can’t just uproot and follow me around the world. My oldest is a licensed beautician, but put it on hold to help me pursue my career due to my sight being bad. She saw that I was determined to do it either way, so she sacrificed hers to make sure I wasn’t alone. Because of that I want to share the spotlight with her every chance I get.

She first came on during the audition process for America’s Got Talent, which was her introduction to the world. The label loved her so much that they were willing to use her on the albums. Soon we needed a second background singer, so I let Dan [Auerbach] know about my granddaughter. He and the label were immediately supportive and have been willing to [incorporate] as much of my family as possible into my career. This is mostly just me trying to open a gateway for them, because they have the potential to be bigger and better successes than me. Or at least it won’t take them 69 years to get discovered.

You’re often referred to as a bluesman, but Black Bayou could also just as easily be described as a gospel album. What are your thoughts on the dynamic between the two genres and how you’re able to tie them together on the record?

The only difference between the gospel and the blues is really the choice of words you use. The same music that you hear in the club is being played in the church and the same music that we grew up on in the church is being played in the clubs. The only difference is that if you want blues you sing “oh baby” and if you want gospel you sing “oh lord.” Other than that, a lot of the rhythms and dances are the same.

What’re your thoughts on continuing to make this type of music in the modern age?

I don’t even look at it as gospel or blues anymore. I look at it as just saying the truth. Regardless of what you’re going through, there’s someone else who’s somewhere who’s been through the same thing. The fact that they made it through gives hope that you can do it, too.

As artists, we’re blessed with fans that will pay to come see you and even take your advice home with them. The same people who go to church will not remember a thing the preacher talked about, but if they like your song they’ll remember it word for word. If you’re really trying to reach people, you’ve got a better chance to reach a lot more folks by singing than you would preaching. Nobody wants to listen to an hour and a half or two hour sermon, but they will stay around a concert for an encore. That’s why it’s so important when you have the world’s attention to tell them something positive with it.

It almost sounds like you view yourself performing on stage like a minister preaching from the pulpit?

That’s it. I can get a bigger crowd than the average preacher even though church is always free, but even then people will flock to the clubs. I’ve also sang “Amazing Grace” in nightclubs and had people put down their glasses, sing-a-long, and go to church with me. You just don’t know what people will do. Everyone’s going through something. If you stop the church people from going to the club then the club will shut down, because most of the people frequenting there are church folks from the other side of town. The problem is that while there they’re not getting the truth. They’re getting the water, but not the wine.

There’s not a better song on the album that ties these influences together than the aptly named “Gospel Blues.” Are you hypothesizing what you’ll do in heaven on it?

I’m trying to tell people not to be so judgmental. That’s why I sing, “I do drink a little whiskey, and I’ll take a little shot of wine” – because it’s better to be real with people than to try and fool them. Whether I have some whiskey [or not] isn’t going to have anything to do with whether or not I go to heaven or hell.

Another song I’ve been captivated by is “Alligator Bait.” Is that a true story?

That song was actually designed more or less as a joke. I never met my grandfather on either side, but I did hear stories when I was sitting around with my dad and his brothers about things like that. It seemed like I had a cruel, cruel grandfather, but that wasn’t the message I was trying to convey. I was trying to prove that any song where you think you’re right needs to be like you just read a novel. It needs to tell a story. It’s more about being a convincing writer than deceiving.

On the cover of Black Bayou is the pond that I used to swim in and got baptized in. For a while it’s just been deserted, but we went back there, because it conjured up a lot of those childhood memories. Even just standing there taking photos my mind flashed back to the things we used to do there like swimming on one end and fishing on the other. Us jumping in the water would scare the fish over to the other side where they could get caught easier, which in many ways is similar to how the alligator is lured in the song.

What has music taught you about yourself?

It’s helped me to find and be myself. I used to try imitating everyone from James Brown to Ray Charles, but soon I realized that the only person I could be the best version of was myself. Nobody can beat you being you. If you just be yourself then you’re automatically different from everybody else anyway. Being real with myself and my music has opened so many doors for me, because of that.

Photo Credit: Jim Herrington

LISTEN: Lake Street Dive, “Neighbor Song” (Feat. Madison Cunningham)

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Artist: Lake Street Dive
Hometown: New York City, New York
Song: “Neighbor Song” (Featuring Madison Cunningham)
Release Date: October 6, 2023
Label: Fantasy Recordings

In Their Words: “Madison Cunningham is an extremely special musician, the kind who can make a single note sound like music and who breathes life into every song that she comes into contact with. We feel so honored to have had her join us on one of our songs. We first recorded ‘Neighbor Song’ in 2010, shortly after a few of us had moved to Brooklyn. The song narrates an experience, all too familiar to many New York City apartment dwellers, of overhearing your neighbors making love. Involuntarily bearing witness to such intimacy inspires a potent mix of emotions from annoyance to despair to compassion. It’s a fun song to play live because we get to walk the audience through this emotional journey. Some audiences laugh a lot when we play it. Some cry a lot. In preparing to do this song on tour with Madison, we came up with a new musical treatment for the song to bring out some different sides of those emotions. We recorded it with Madison in Brooklyn, live in one room in a single take. We hope it makes you laugh and/or cry!” – Lake Street Dive

Photo Credit: Shervin Lainez

WATCH: Melody Walker, Crys Matthews & Heather Mae, “Room”

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Artist: Melody Walker, Crys Matthews, Heather Mae
Hometown: Melody – Bay Area, California; Crys – Richlands, North Carolina; Heather – Washington, D.C. Area
Song: “Room”
Release Date: September 15, 2023
Label: AntiFragile Music

In Their Words: “‘Room’ started as a conversation between me and my co-writer, Sarah Potenza, about the enduring underrepresentation of women and other marginalized folks on festival lineups, but it blossomed into so much more. The ways that women and woman-aligned people are expected to not take up space in the world: to not be fat, loud, queer, creative, assertive, and are definitely not to band together in solidarity to fight against our own oppression. Community and joy are the keys to liberation, and this song celebrates both. I am so glad my faves Heather and Crys were down to come bring it to life with me.” – Melody Walker

“The first time I heard the demo of ‘Room’ that Melody sent me, I had tears in my eyes by the time it got to, ‘Your win is mine, I’ll root for you.’ As a Black, Butch-of-center lesbian in the Americana and country genres, it rarely feels like there is room for women in general, and especially not for women like me. Getting to lift my voice alongside Melody to echo the powerful sentiment contained within this song was an absolute honor. I hope it empowers women and girls to advocate for one another on and off the stage.” – Crys Matthews

“This song is so much more than just an all-woman collab. ‘Room’ stands as a celebratory rallying cry against the enduring patriarchal norms that fuel female rivalry. There persists this notion that there’s only one seat at the table and, when women scan the music industry’s landscape, you can see why we’d be forced to think that. It’s 2023, and a woman has yet to secure a Grammy for Producer of the Year. Examine festival lineups and you’ll see a stark gender imbalance in the representation of male and female artists. This scarcity of ‘room’ forces us into a perceived competition, when in reality, our struggle should be directed at dismantling the system that pits us against one another.” – Heather Mae

Track Credits: Written by Melody Walker & Sarah Potenza

Vocals: Melody Walker; Heather Mae
Vocals and Guitar: Crys Matthews
Slide Guitar: Jacob Groopman
Bass: Michael Majett
Drums: Alex Bice
Keys: Jen Gunderman
Additional Guitars: Dan Knobler
Produced by Dan Knobler

Photo and Video Credit: Kaitlyn Raitz
Filmed live at Sound Emporium Studios, Nashville, TN

First & Latest: “The Thrill Is Gone,” but Bettye LaVette Continues

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

At 77 years-old, singer and song interpreter extraordinaire Bettye LaVette just keeps going. Her new album, LaVette!, features a set of songs so perfectly suited to the recording artist’s voice and perspective many listeners assume she wrote the material herself. But this collection was all penned by Randall Bramblett, whose songs were first selected by LaVette’s husband of 20 years, Kevin Kiley.

“[Kevin] has actually sought out these tunes for me, about 100 tunes,” LaVette explains via phone. “He narrows it down to about 50 that he knows I’ll like and then I narrow it down to the 10 I’m going to record… But if I could write, these songs are exactly what I would have written.”

Whether she’s covering Bob Dylan, The Beatles, Van Morrison, or Bramblett, LaVette has a striking ability to make a song her own – a hallmark of her style since her earliest days as a recording artist, tracking singles like “He Made a Woman Out of Me” and “Nearer to You” as a teen, now more than 60 years ago. For this installment of First & Latest, we compare and contrast these two early singles from the late ’60s with LaVette’s latest album, which has a special vinyl edition dropping today, Friday, August 18, with a vinyl-exclusive track, “What You Don’t Say” featuring Reverend Charles Hodges of Hi Rhythm on organ. Hear a BGS-exclusive preview of “What You Don’t Say” above.

We reached LaVette via phone to chat about her First & Latest recordings and about what’s changed within her creative process and her perspective over the last 60+ years.

BGS: What goes through your mind when you listen back to those first recordings of yourself from the earliest days of your career? What comes back to you? What do you remember about those times and recording those tracks?

BL:  I don’t think I look at it quite so sentimentally. They’re just fleeting. There’s no one big thing. From your questions, I immediately knew that you were probably very young. [Laughs] Because old people don’t think like that. That’s what you might think about, but do you know how many singles I had before I even had an album? The fact that I wasn’t having an album out was not a pleasing situation. Those singles made me think of various things, but it wasn’t on a trajectory, the way you may think about it.

I do know that since this journey of mine started when I was 16 years old, I was thinking something different during that period. You know you age in periods of about five years at a time, so from 16 to about 20 or 21 I saw one thing – and I kind of felt that way about everything! Not just a particular song or anything, that was just my mindset for about five or six years.

[“He Made a Woman Out of Me” and “Nearer to You,”] those songs were back to back and were meant to be an A side and B side. They were the first time I recorded in Nashville, with the people that became the Memphis Horns, with Wayne Jackson as leader. I was in love with him. And that’s what I remember most. [Laughs]

At that juncture, when you were recording those tracks, did you think you would still be singing this many years later? Did you hope you would be? What was your frame of mind?

No. I thought I was going to be a star right after that came out and that would be it. I didn’t think in long range at that point. I’m thinking in long range now. Like, “Am I gonna get through this next tour?” That’s long range now. I saw somebody with a t-shirt the other day that said, “Do not fuck with old people. Life terms in jail do not bother them.” I will kill you!! [Laughs] No…

If somebody had even come up to me and said, “At 77 you will have a new album out.” I would have been like, “Okay… and it’s been large talking to you.” [Laughs] You know, I don’t know that anybody – if they exist they are certainly more brilliant than I – who were thinking at 20 about what they were going to be doing at 77. We’ve got to force ourselves to think that way, we plan better.

Listening to your music made me think about how it has morphed and changed over the years, but also how it has stayed the same. I think there’s so much enjoyment and so much love in what you do, musically. Is that what’s kept you going and kept you in it?

Do you seriously believe, even if this was my husband we were talking about and I married him when I was 16 years old, do you seriously think I’d still be getting giddy every time I saw him? [Laughs]

I don’t know how to do anything else this proficiently! [Laughs] And I would look foolish trying to do something new. I do this well, it would be stupid for me not to do it. And since they didn’t let me get rich, I can’t not do it. But have you listened to the new recording? Have you listened to the lyrics?

Yes! I love it.

[Sings:] “I keep right on rolling, but the thrill is gone…” and I don’t say anything I don’t mean, at this point. [Laughs] No, honey! I’m somebody’s grandmother! If you think I want to put on real tight clothes, a lot of makeup, and go holler and scoot across the stage, you’re wrong. [Laughs]

But I would like at this point, I would like to have what I keep calling a “Ray Charles career,” where they pay a lot of money for the tickets. Everybody’s sitting down. It’s a beautiful venue. And I just sit there and talk to them and sing for an hour to two hours and a half. But, no! [The music business] isn’t even what I think about when I’m not doing it.

[Laughs]

Now, don’t laugh at old people… [Laughs]

The tracks that we chose from the latest album are “Lazy (And I Know It)” and “In the Meantime,” and I wanted to start talking about how you’re known kind of famously as being this song interpreter, somebody who takes songs and makes them your own. How do you find songs? What’s your process for collecting and putting together a collection of songs?

It took me 50 years and kissing a lot of frogs to find a husband. And he loves music. He has everything that everyone has ever recorded in the history of the world. [Laughs] I’m exaggerating, but he is a record historian and a record collector. This still thrills him, even if it doesn’t thrill me. We just celebrated our 20th anniversary and in the 20 years we’ve been together this career, this “fifth career,” I call it, has been going on that whole time. He has actually sought out these tunes for me, about 100 tunes. Then he narrows it down to about 50 that he knows I’ll like and then I narrow it down to the 10 I’m going to record. I could not sit at this point and listen to that much music for any reason in the world.

[Kevin] pretty much knows what I like. When I’m looking for a song, the lyrics have got to be solid. Absolutely solid. I’m too old to look in your face and say bullshit. As I said, I mean the lyrics that I sing. This young man, [Randall Bramblett,] he wrote all the tunes on this album, he said, “Do all the tunes have to be about you?” I said, “Yes.” [Laughs] He said, “Okay…”

But listen, I’ve lived 77 years now. There isn’t a genre of song you could write that wouldn’t pertain to me at this point. And that is why there are so many different genres of songs on the album. I picked the ones out of them that that pertain to me.

Everybody keeps saying in interviews, “Did you write the songs? Did you write them for you? Did you write them together?” None of those things are true! [Bramblett] and I are about two years apart in age. He’s the only person I know who’s had more flop records than I have. [Laughs] He’s done the same thing, devoted his whole life to it for 50 or 60 years, and he pretty much feels the way I feel about this. There were adjustments I had to make in the tunes, but if I could write, these songs are exactly what I would have written.

I’m very pleased with them. When you talk about the tunes, like when you when you were talking about “He Made a Woman Out of Me,” since I was 20, I have just become such a different singer now. The basics of me have always been there, but I’ve broadened so and become such a different thing, a different woman. “He Made a Woman Out of Me,” by now it’s almost a throwaway, a novelty [song] on stage. I sing it when I’m somewhere where people are familiar with it, but it’s no longer a part of my show. It’s now just a part of my life. And my recordings’ lineage.

I wanted to ask you about “Lazy (And I Know It),” because I make this joke constantly lately that laziness is a radical act–

You know what, I’m writing this down – and I’m slapping you! [Laughs] A radical act! [Turns to her husband,] He said “Laziness is a radical act!”

You know what? White people associate laziness with Black people so much, I took the tune out of the list 50 times. [Laughs] I’d take it off, then I’d put it back. I put it back [ultimately] because I was thinking about – girlfriend in Blazing Saddles… She’s laying in the bed. She’s like, “I’m just tired.” Wasn’t she named Lili Von… something? But I thought about it and I think that’s the attitude that I wanna have about it. Oh yes, Lili Von Shtupp!

Yes!!

I entertained myself with it. When I could make it entertaining to me and I got away from that initial feeling, then it was just fun. And it’s just fun to do on stage. I love it.

What do you do when you need to be lazy when you need to take a vacation? What’s your what’s your favorite way to relax?

Oh no, I just come home. I like to be at home. I’ve got 50 plants in the house and with summer, I’ve got 1,084! Me and the deer have been having a constant battle over whose hostas they are, mine or theirs. I love my home. If my mother had lived to know that I would love being at home, she could have lived to be 200 years old, because she could have just been so satisfied.

I don’t want to go out to dinner. I entertain at parties, at a place where people are having a good time. And I drink and I eat and I don’t want to do that when I come home. I want to taste my food that I cook and you know, but I’m not that anxious to look decent and go out and have dinner.

That’s what you gotta do for work!

Yes, I do not want to do that. [Laughs]

Photo Credit: Danny Clinch

Rhiannon Giddens Releases ‘You’re the One,’ Her First Album of All Originals

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

It’s remarkable that a prolific artist such as Rhiannon Giddens could reach this juncture in her career and still be accomplishing notable firsts. This time, she’s putting out her first album of all original material – called You’re the One – since she began her post-Carolina Chocolate Drops solo career in the 2010s. On a recent airing of CBS Saturday Morning, Giddens and her band performed two tracks from the album: “Too Little, Too Late, Too Bad” and the project’s title track, “You’re the One.”

From a genre perspective, You’re the One is one of Giddens’ most expansive works to date, drawing on her endless knowledge of folk and vernacular musics to craft a sound that’s rootsy, yes, but ultimately demonstrates the down home, everyday, and Black origins of all popular American musics. “Too Little, Too Late, Too Bad,” for instance, was co-written with Giddens’ longtime friend and collaborator, fiddler Dirk Powell, to channel the late, legendary Aretha Franklin. The album includes accordions, horns, globally-inspired percussion (by Giddens’ partner Francesco Turrisi), countrypolitan strings, and so much more. Produced by Jack Splash, You’re the One seems to draw on Giddens’ penchant for the theatrical more prominently than previous outings. She did, after all, just win a Pulitzer Prize for her opera, Omar, so the performative elements of this record seem to draw equally from folk and stage traditions.

Among a discography chocked full of essential works, You’re the One is still a landmark release by Giddens, further establishing – and complicating – her unique and indelible voice and once again highlighting the diverse and representative lineages that gave rise to all American roots music forms, with joy and love centered in every note.

Photo Credit: Ebru Yildiz

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

Carolina Calling, Greensboro: the Crossroads of Carolina

Posted on by Shelby Williamson

Known as the Gate City, Greensboro, North Carolina is a transitional town: hub of the Piedmont between the mountain high country to the west and coastal Sandhill Plains to the east, and a city defined by the people who have come, gone, and passed through over the years. As a crossroads location, it has long been a way station for many endeavors, including touring musicians – from the likes of the Rolling Stones and Jimi Hendrix at the Greensboro Coliseum, the state’s largest indoor arena, to James Brown and Otis Redding at clubs like the El Rocco on the Chitlin’ Circuit. Throw in the country and string band influences from the textile mill towns in the area, and the regional style of the Piedmont blues, and you’ve got yourself quite the musical melting pot.

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This historical mixture was not lost on one of Greensboro’s own, Rhiannon Giddens – one of modern day Americana’s ultimate crossover artists. A child of black and white parents, she grew up in the area hearing folk and country music, participating in music programs in local public schools, and eventually going on to study opera at Oberlin Conservatory in Ohio. Once she returned to North Carolina and came under the study of fiddler Joe Thompson and the Black string band tradition, she began playing folk music and forged an artistic identity steeped in classical as well as vernacular music. In this episode of Carolina Calling, we spoke with Giddens about her background in Greensboro and how growing up mixed and immersed in various cultures, in a city so informed by its history of segregation and status as a key civil rights battleground, informed her artistic interests and endeavors, musical styles, and her mission in the music industry.

Subscribe to Carolina Calling on any and all podcast platforms to follow along as we journey across the Old North State, visiting towns like Durham, Wilmington, Shelby, and more.

Music featured in this episode:

Rhiannon Giddens – “Black is the Color”
Andrew Marlin – “Erie Fiddler”
Carolina Chocolate Drops – “Cornbread and Butterbeans”
The Rolling Stones – “Rocks Off”
Count Basie and His Orchestra – “Honeysuckle Rose”
Roy Harvey – “Blue Eyes”
Blind Boy Fuller – “Step It Up and Go”
Rhiannon Giddens, Francesco Turrisi – “Avalon”
Carolina Chocolate Drops – “Snowden’s Jig (Genuine Negro Jig)”
Barbara Lewis -“Hello Stranger”
The O’Kaysions – “Girl Watcher”
Joe and Odell Thompson – “Donna Got a Rambling Mind”
Carolina Chocolate Drops – “Country Girl”
Carolina Chocolate Drops – “Hit ‘Em Up Style”
Our Native Daughters – “Moon Meets the Sun”
Rhiannon Giddens, Francesco Turrisi – “Si Dolce é’l Tormento”

BGS is proud to produce Carolina Calling in partnership with Come Hear NC, a campaign from the North Carolina Department of Natural & Cultural Resources designed to celebrate North Carolinians’ contribution to the canon of American music.

Photo Credit: Ebru Yildiz

Enter to win a prize bundle featuring a signed copy of author and Carolina Calling host David Menconi’s ‘Step It Up and Go: The Story of North Carolina Music,’ BGS Merch, and surprises from our friends at Come Hear North Carolina.

LISTEN: Moot Davis, “Hey Hey”

Posted on by Editor

Artist: Moot Davis
Hometown: Los Angeles, California
Song: “Hey Hey”
Album: Seven Cities of Gold
Release Date: October 22, 2021
Label: Boot Knife Records

In Their Words: “I wrote this song in Nashville in 2002 just before I got signed to Pete Anderson’s Little Dog Records label. It’s a song that I’ve had in my back pocket for a long time, but when I was gathering tunes for this album I took it back out. The song was pretty close to being done, but the chorus needed to be reworked. My girlfriend Katie actually came up with the chorus while she was busy painting one of the large pictures that hangs in our little house.

“The making of the Seven Cities of Gold album was the most fun I’ve ever had in the studio and I think it really comes across on tracks like ‘Hey Hey.’ I was making music with my friends who I’ve known and worked with for years, with no pressure or financial constraints. We recorded it at my drummer Blake Oswald’s home studio and it was very relaxed and heavy on the vodka. I think we were all shocked when it turned out so well, because it was the first time we had ever produced anything on our own. Along with Oswald and myself, we had our past tour manager and studio engineer, Jody Sappington, help us produce and play bass. My longtime guitarist Bill Corvino really gave the album some sharp teeth with his playing while Skip Edwards and Gary Morse added beautiful parts on B3 and pedal steel. Our buddy Al Backstrom (Angela’s husband) did an awesome job mixing the album and laying down some killer harmonies.

“Sometimes projects just come together and it would be really hard to recreate it at any other time. We decided to put the album out now because we are already starting pre-production on the next album, so we felt it was time to get it out of the gate and share it. It’s hard to move forward with a brand new project until the current one is released. Like bullets in a sonic gun, baby!” — Moot Davis

Photo credit: David McClister

WATCH: Elder Jack Ward, “The Way Is Already Made”

Posted on by Editor

Artist: Elder Jack Ward
Hometown: Itta Bena, Mississippi, and Memphis, Tennessee
Song: “The Way Is Already Made”
Album: Already Made
Release Date: August 20, 2021
Label: Bible & Tire Recording Co.

In Their Words: “I can just about sing anything anyone else sings. I never bragged on myself, but this was a gift from God and the Bible says, ‘A gift comes without repentance.’ In other words, you don’t have to be a Christian to be able to sing. If you’ve got that God-given gift you can do it — your choice if you want to sing rock ‘n’ roll, blues, gospel — but I choose the right side.” — Elder Jack Ward

Photo credit: Matt White