Friends and collaborators Edie Carey & Sarah Sample teamed up in 2014 for their first album, ‘Til the Morning: Lullabies and Songs of Comfort. The pair both had babies and were wanting to do a project that centered around calming music for both children and adults. They were shocked at the album’s reception by adults (AKA non-babies) who listened after experiencing grief, trauma, and huge loss. This type of music certainly had an important place in the world. Now, they have done it again, but with more of a focus on calming music for adults with their follow-up. Lantern In The Dark: Songs of Comfort and Lullabies includes some originals, their first co-write, and new interpretations of songs by Wilco, The Beatles, Cyndi Lauper, and James Taylor.
In our Basic Folk conversation, we tackle the concept of comfort and what they experienced in the surprise reaction from their first record. What is a good balance of comfort? It was also a great time to talk about their experiences as touring musicians with young babies. For instance, the types of questions they would get asked that they are sure their male counterparts with young children would not get. They talk about the songs on the album, one of which was written by Edie in the aftermath of her mom’s sudden and recent passing. We wrap it all up, of course, by hearing each of their James Taylor stories and a delightful bedtime-themed lightning round.
Welcome to my dinner party. It’s a potluck, of course, and because I can’t cook so well, I picked up a few cases of Miller High Life. Maybe a couple bottles of chilled red: delicious! Someone cooked an orzo salad, someone else made Ina Garten’s Engagement Chicken, maybe some tomato/mozz/basil type of dish – I don’t know. That’s up to you!
All my friends are here; some people even flew in from out of town. It’s the kind of night that you don’t want to make a big deal out of, but somehow someone’s crying happy tears over dessert and saying, “I can’t believe it’s been so long, why don’t we do this more often?” It’s the nights you took for granted in those early years after college, the ones that seemed to come together so easily, like a puzzle for children where all the pieces fit in such an obvious way. We fall into friendships; the hard part is keeping those friendships strong as we get older and move to different cities.
That tension exists at the heart of Eating & Drinking & Being in Love, my debut album that came out on September 20. It’s the tension of life, man! And that’s what makes it so beautiful. I hope you enjoy my Dinner Party Playlist – I’ve organized it into courses of a meal, highlighted as such for your digestion. – Theo Kandel
Appetizers:
“Sky Blue Sky” – Wilco
This is the easiest song of all time – you can listen to it when you’re sad, happy, angry, whatever. Breezy drums, melancholic lyrics. Welcome in!
“Honeydew Moon” – Theo Kandel
The first song on the album (not counting the intro), “Honeydew Moon” is for sunset cocktails, tasteful hors d’oeuvres, and saying, “How the hell are ya?” to friends you haven’t seen in a while.
“Fool” – Adrianne Lenker
Man, I love Adrianne Lenker. She is making beautiful music with thoughtful lyricism and melodies that float, but somehow still dig deep to scratch whatever itch you’ve got.
“Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard” – Paul Simon
Okay, things are ramping up here. People are getting loose – people are drinking – people are starting to think to themselves, “Jeez, I hope we get to eat the real food soon.”
Entrees:
“Magnet” – NRBQ
Uh oh! We’ve sat down at the table and this funky ass jam pops on. People are cheersing, laughing, digging in.
“Tall Boy” – Abby Webster
Country alert! We’re cracking fresh beers, and they’re ice cold, baby.
“The Dress” – Dijon
Somehow, this wistful song still bangs hard at a dinner party. Dijon makes you think about your past, but also the awesome night you’re about to have.
“One More Night (With My Friends in the City)” – Theo Kandel
This song is really my ode to this kind of dinner party. Who brought the pizza? Who brought the beer? In this crazy universe, we all did.
“All Right” – Christopher Cross
Did you know that Billie Eilish was the first person to sweep the “Big Four” categories at the GRAMMYs since Christopher Cross in 1981? Of course, his best song (in my opinion), “All Right,” was not on Sailing, but still. This guy rips.
“Rosanna” – Toto
I put on “Rosanna” at every party I’m at. It’s a song that requires no introduction – quite literally, the drum intro speaks for itself.
“Dancing Queen” – ABBA
Okay now! Someone put ABBA on the speakers and people are getting out of their seats to dance. Everyone has finished eating, and it took only that iconic piano sweep to get everyone up and at ’em.
Desserts:
“April Come She Will” – Simon & Garfunkel
Everyone’s sitting on the patio/balcony/fire escape, sipping on the rest of the red wine and smoking cigarettes. It’s winding down, but not in a sad way, just in the way that a beautiful night with friends does.
“Perdido de Amor [Lost in Love]” – Luis Bonfá
I wish I knew any Portuguese, but luckily you don’t need to know any to understand this song. It’s so viscerally romantic, with Bonfá’s gorgeous guitar playing supporting his voice. Yes.
“I Must Be in a Good Place Now – Live at Spacebomb Studios” – Fruit Bats, Vetiver
This live cover of Bobby Charles’ original song makes me feel like I could cry tears of joy every time I hear it (secret: I have). Everyone is sitting comfortably at the end of the night, just happy to be here. Hope you enjoyed the party.
Billy Bragg joins hosts Lizzie and Cindy on board Cayamo to talk about songwriting, social justice, punk rock and, of course, The Little Guy (Bragg’s nickname for Woody Guthrie). In our interview, we talked about Billy using humor as a way to connect to his audience, so that he can bring up his political activism – such as fighting for transgender rights, the importance of unions and abortion rights. It’s interesting to hear how he wants the Americana audience to remain as relevant as he does. Billy talked about his place as a British artist in the genealogy of folk music and how working on Mermaid Avenue with Wilco allowed him to be a part of the folk tradition.
He also shares how he overcame anxiety as a teenage musician. Standing in front of a crowd playing with his friends in a band really boosted his confidence. Meanwhile, the old school “stiff upper lip” of British culture created an emotional barrier between Billy’s and his parents’ generations. The older generation grew up with the cultural heritage of separating oneself from any emotion. When Billy was a teen, his father was dying. The doctor recommended not telling the patient or talking about it at all. Several decades later, his mother insisted that everyone talk to and about her terminal cancer diagnosis.
Bragg also gets into the merits of socialism, why nostalgia rubs him the wrong way and his favorite English treat. Spoiler: It’s marmite. Gross.
Born out of humble beginnings in 1983, Mountain Stage has blossomed to become not just one of Appalachia’s most sought after musical platforms, but one of all of Americana and roots music’s most cherished stages. Broadcasting bi-monthly to nearly 300 NPR stations nationwide, the program has welcomed everyone from John Prine to Wilco, Wynonna Judd, and even Widespread Panic during its historic 40-year run. To celebrate the achievement, Mountain Stage and Oh Boy Records have partnered to release the 21-song Live On Mountain Stage: Outlaws and Outliers (released April 19).
According to Larry Groce — Mountain Stage host from 1983 to 2021 and one of the compilation’s curators — distilling 40 years of music into one album was quite the task. Deliberations began with a list of over 150 songs before landing on the 21 that made the album.
“At first we just looked at the artist named and began to narrow it down from there,” Groce describes the process to BGS. “After several narrowings we began listening to some of them, getting the list down to about 30 before cutting it further down to the 21 that made the album.”
Sticking close to the country, folk, and bluegrass sounds of the show’s West Virginia home, the album includes performances from Appalachia’s own – like current Mountain Stage host Kathy Mattea, Tyler Childers, Sierra Ferrell, and Tim O’Brien alongside A-listers like Prine, Eric Church, Alison Krauss, and Jason Isbell. Helping to attract and keep such a diverse array of talent returning has been the program’s artist-first approach, which caters to the performers and platforms great songs over all else.
“We’re not trying to be trendsetters and we aren’t trying to be hip,” asserts Groce, who broke onto the scene as a singer-songwriter with his song “Junk Food Junkie” in 1976. “We try to look at things in the long run by booking talent we think will last. Our goal has always been to put the artist at the center of the show rather than myself, the program, or anyone else. There’s people that would argue that we should always be pushing the brand, but that’s not the way we — or anyone else — operates in West Virginia.”
One of the many artists appreciative of that approach is Molly Tuttle, who last appeared on Mountain Stage in 2023 to support her album City Of Gold, which has since earned her a second Grammy win for Best Bluegrass Album. Born in California, Tuttle didn’t become aware of the show until moving to Nashville in 2015. She’s gone on to play the show three times, the first being a visit in 2018 that provided the performance of “You Didn’t Call My Name” that made the compilation.
Of the show, Tuttle says what she’s cherished most about her time on it is the chance to collaborate and catch up with her colleagues.
“It’s one of the few places where you get to meet, converse and collaborate with other musicians, which typically only happens for us on the road at music festivals,” explains Tuttle. “That really speaks to the trust Larry Groce and the entire Mountain Stage team have in giving the artists freedom to do what they want. What results is a well curated show that’s become one of the most important showcases around for this kind of music.”
In agreement with Tuttle is Tim O’Brien, a native West Virginian who made his Mountain Stage debut in the late ’80s with Hot Rize, an occasion he credits to his mother that has sparked too many follow-up visits to count.
“She called my sister and I — who were living in Colorado at the time — to tell us about it after hearing about it on the local radio back home,” recalls O’Brien, whose song “Cup Of Sugar” from a 2021 appearance is featured on the record. “She immediately thought we’d be a good fit for it, so she wrote them a postcard one day asking when they were going to get Hot Rize on. It was a good fit the first time, and always has been.”
“I remember writing her back saying ‘Your son’s band is much more famous than we are,” Groce jokes as he looks back on the moment. “The question is, does he want to go on the show, not whether we’ll have him or not. And sure enough, we booked Hot Rize shortly thereafter.”
The Indigo Girls perform on Mountain Stage. Photo by Brian Blauser.
It’s that attitude of never feeling above anyone or anything that has helped Mountain Stage to excel and have the lasting legacy that it does. It captures its home region of West Virginia and Appalachia better than most any other music-related program does, both in sound and in sentiment. It’s the latter that’s arguably been the biggest asset in attracting bigger names as the show taps into the majestic mountains around them.
“There’s many different kinds of people that live in Appalachia, but one thing that’s really bedrock is supporting one another, and that shows with Mountain Stage and how they put the program on,” reflects O’Brien. “It’s intimate and friendly, just like the state.”
Photo Credit: Tim O’Brien Band performing on Mountain Stage by Chris Morris; Molly Tuttle performs on Mountain Stage by Josh Saul.
From my early days of being photo editor of my high school newspaper to my current tour hobby of photographing bizarre regional potato chip flavors in their native lands for @chipscapes, I have long held a fascination for photography. As life rushes by us at a mile a minute a camera has the ability to freeze the frame for a second, capture a moment in time, and provide photographic evidence that the moment actually existed. Though the waves may have crashed into your impossibly magnificent sand castle, you can keep it standing forever in a photo. And though time may have drowned out a love that once burned impossibly bright, a security camera may have accidentally captured the most blissful moments of that love and if you can track down the footage and find those moments, you could potentially kick back on the couch and watch those moments on infinite loop forever.
This is the premise of my song, “Security Camera,” from my new album Comeback Kid. Beyond that song, the subject of photos, memories, and trying to hold on to a moment for what it was, to love that moment forever in spite of its ephemeral nature, weaves its way through the album as a common thread. I put together a playlist of songs on the theme of cameras and memory and it turns out a lot of my favorite songwriters and biggest influences have also been fascinated by this subject. Recorded music is basically the audio version of a photo/video, so it makes sense. Hope you enjoy these songs as much as I do. – Bridget Kearney
“Kamera” – Wilco
Jeff Tweedy seems to be using the camera as a self-revealing truth teller in this song. He’s lost his grip on reality and only a camera can tell him “which lies that I been hiding.” I have loved Wilco for a long time and have a very specific visual memory of listening to them on headphones in college: I was on a semester abroad in Morocco and I was going for a run along the beach in Essaouira and came upon these big sand dunes. I spontaneously decided to run up to the top of the dunes and then bound down them into the water. This joyous discovery of dune jumping on a perfect sunny day will always be soundtracked to Wilco’s song “Theologians” in my mind.
“Kodachrome” – Paul Simon
Paul Simon was always playing around the house when I was growing up and this song has a particular significance to the origin story of my band, Lake Street Dive: We were on one of our first tours and we were driving my parent’s minivan around the Midwest. The only way to listen to music in the van was through the CD player. It was in the pre-streaming era where we all would have had a big library of digital music on our laptops (probably illegally downloaded from Napster or the like). So we decided to co-create a mystery mix CD by passing around someone’s laptop and letting each of us put in songs one-by-one, not telling each other what we’d put it in. Then we burned out the mystery mix CD and listened to it together.
As four students studying jazz at a conservatory we had mostly listened to Charles Mingus and The Bad Plus together thus far, but the mystery mix exposed all four of us pop music fiends. Song after song kept coming on and we’d go, “Oh my god, you like Lauryn Hill too?!” and “You also know every lyric to David Bowie’s ‘Life on Mars’?!” This culminated in the moment when the mystery mix played Paul Simon’s “Kodachrome” THREE TIMES IN A ROW! That was when we knew we should be a band forever. The groove on this song is also part of the inspiration for the song “If You’re Driving” from Comeback Kid.
“Hey Ya” – Outkast
Not actually a song about photos and you’re not actually supposed to shake Polaroid pictures, but Andre 3000 is one of the greatest musicians of our time and I’ve learned so much from him about music and language and spirit! Also this song is a total jam.
“Security Camera” – Bridget Kearney
I live in Brooklyn and there are security cameras everywhere here – at the bodegas, at the clubs, on the rooftops. Their purpose is to capture criminals in the act of committing a crime, but they are also capturing so many other things. Everyday things and extraordinary things. Moments of extreme beauty and moments of extreme pain. The idea behind this song is to track down security camera footage of the very best moments of your life so you can watch them on repeat.
“Pictures Of Me” – Elliott Smith
I went through a huge Elliott Smith phase in college and had an instrumental Elliott Smith cover band. His harmonies and melodies are so good that you don’t even need the lyrics, but adding them in, of course, makes it all the better. This one seems to say that pictures can lie to you, too.
“Picture In a Frame” – Tom Waits
This is one of those songs that seems like it has existed forever. “Ever since I put your picture in a frame” sounds to me like he is saying, “Ever since I decided to love you.”
“Body” – Julia Jacklin
My friend Michael Leviton (a great photographer and musician!) told me about this song and its passing but gutting reference to a photo. We were talking about how I had realized that a lot of my songs are about cameras and photography and how funny it is to look back at your own songs and see patterns and discover what you’ve been obsessed with the whole time. Michael said his thing is “curtains,” which appear over and over again in his songs.
“Bad Self Portraits” – Lake Street Dive
A song I wrote for Lake Street Dive years ago about what happens when the person you want to take a picture of steps out of the frame. What you’re left with and how to make the most of it.
“Videotape” – Radiohead
I always thought this song was about when you die and you are at the pearly gates of heaven, they are deciding whether you get in or not and watch back videotapes of your life to see if you were good or bad. I don’t know if that’s what Radiohead meant, but that’s my interpretation! The production is so cool, the way the drum loop is slightly off tempo and moves around the phrase slowly as it cycles around. Damn, Radiohead is so cool!!
There are a few songs on Comeback Kid that are directly Radiohead influenced. “Sleep In” is like Radiohead meets Ravel (or that’s what I was going for!) When I graduated from Iowa City West High School, I arranged a version of “Paranoid Android” that some friends and I played instrumentally at the graduation ceremony. In retrospect, that is a really weird song for us to have played at graduation! But I think it’s cool that they let us be brooding teenagers and go for it.
“When the Lights Go Out” – Sarah Jarosz
The song that gave Sarah’s brilliant new record its title, Polaroid Lovers. I feel so inspired by the music that my friends make, and Sarah’s songs from this album really knocked me off my feet when I heard the album and even more so when I heard them live!
“People Take Pictures of Each Other” – The Kinks
A festive little song about taking photos of things to prove that they existed.
“I Bet Ur” – Bridget Kearney
This is a song from the album I put out last year, Snakes of Paradise. The narrative is built around seeing a picture of something that you don’t want to see, letting your imagination fill in the details, and learning to accept it as truth.
“I Turn My Camera On” – Spoon
Groove goals. The camera here puts a bit of distance between you and the world.
“Photograph” – Ringo Starr
A song about photographs by my favorite Beatle? Yes, please!
“My Funny Valentine” – Chet Baker
I love Chet Baker’s singing, his pure, dry, affectless delivery, his deadpan panache. And I love the way this song manages to rhyme “laughable” and “un-photographable” and stick the landing.
“Camera Roll” – Kacey Musgraves
Photography has been around for a long time now but carrying thousands of photos of our lives organized in chronological order in our pockets at all times is relatively new. And both wonderful and terrible.
“Come Down” – Anderson .Paak
Just a passing reference to pictures in this song, but I had to get Anderson .Paak on the playlist because he’s the best!
“Obsessed” – Bridget Kearney
A song about falling quickly, unexpectedly, insanely in love with someone and trying to understand how it happened. You look back at the pictures as evidence trying to gather clues, see the train of events that led to this madness.
Asheville, North Carolina’s history as a music center goes back to the 1920s and string-band troubadours like Lesley Riddle and Bascom Lamar Lunsford, and country-music pioneer Jimmie Rodgers. But there’s always been a lot more to this town than acoustic music and scenic mountain views. From the experimental Black Mountain College that drew a range of minds as diverse as German artist Josef Albers, composer John Cage, and Albert Einstein, Asheville was also the spiritual home for electronic-music pioneer Bob Moog, who invented the Moog synthesizer first popularized by experimental bands like Kraftwerk to giant disco hits like Donna Summer’s “I Feel Love.”
It’s also a town where busking culture ensures that music flows from every street corner, and it’s the adopted hometown of many modern musicians in a multitude of genres, including Pokey LaFarge, who spent his early career busking in Asheville, and Moses Sumney, a musician who’s sonic palette is so broad, it’s all but unclassifiable.
In this premiere episode of Carolina Calling, we wonder and explore what elements of this place of creative retreat have drawn individualist artists for over a century? Perhaps it’s the fact that whatever your style, Asheville is a place that allows creativity to grow and thrive.
Subscribe to Carolina Calling on any and all podcast platforms to follow along as we journey across the Old North State, visiting towns like Shelby, Greensboro, Durham, Wilmington, and more.
Music featured in this episode:
Bascom Lamar Lunsford – “Dry Bones”
Jimmie Rodgers – “My Carolina Sunshine Girl”
Kraftwerk – “Autobahn”
Donna Summer – “I Feel Love”
Pokey LaFarge – “End Of My Rope”
Moses Sumney – “Virile”
Andrew Marlin – “Erie Fiddler (Carolina Calling Theme)”
Moses Sumney – “Me In 20 Years”
Steep Canyon Rangers – “Honey on My Tongue”
Béla Bartók – “Romanian Folk Dances”
New Order – “Blue Monday”
Quindar – “Twin-Pole Sunshade for Rusty Schweickart”
Pokey LaFarge – “Fine To Me”
Bobby Hicks Feat. Del McCoury – “We’re Steppin’ Out”
Squirrel Nut Zippers – “Put A Lid On It”
Jimmie Rodgers – “Daddy and Home”
Lesley Riddle – “John Henry”
Steep Canyon Rangers – “Graveyard Fields”
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.
Artist:Mike and the Moonpies Hometown: Austin, Texas Latest Album:One to Grow On Personal nicknames: The Moonpies
All answers by Mike Harmeier
Which artist has influenced you the most … and how?
It would be impossible for me to narrow it down to just one artist. Early on, I was heavily influenced by George Strait and ’80s/’90s country artists, in general. I really thought that was the path I would take — a very commercial approach to country music. I would later gain a new perspective when I started listening to more songwriters like Guy Clark and John Prine. It was then that I wanted to add more depth and sincerity to my music. When I moved to Austin in 2002, I started to get more into the art of record making and that process was heavily influenced by bands like Wilco and Radiohead. Lately, I’ve kind of melded all that into an approach that’s more along the lines of Jerry Jeff Walker. Freewheeling records with thoughtful lyrics and just having fun playing music with my friends.
What’s your favorite memory from being on stage?
I’ve had countless moments that stick out in my memory from being on stage. Most of them include our artist friends joining us on stage. From the big jams we usually host at Mile 0 Fest in Key West, to our encores with the opening bands joining us for a cover song to end the night. Most recently, Jerry Jeff Walker’s son Django joined us on stage in Alpine, Texas, for our rendition of “London Homesick Blues.” It’s a song written and performed by Gary P. Nunn and made famous on Jerry Jeff’s Viva Terlingua record. We cut it in London at Abbey Road Studios for our Cheap Silver and Solid Country Gold record. That was a very special moment and felt like a culmination of a lot of things for us. You never know who will join you or when, and that excitement always makes for a memorable show.
What other art forms — literature, film, dance, painting, etc. — inform your music?
I’ve always found a lot of inspiration in film. Especially when that film uses the right music for a particular scene. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve hit pause on a movie to write a song. Some songs can take on a whole new meaning when you put them behind the right scene or character and I will sometimes use those character’s emotions to inspire a new subject to write about. I’ve written quite a few songs just off one line I heard in a movie or TV show.
What’s the toughest time you ever had writing a song?
I actually had a lot of tough moments writing songs for this record. I had more time than normal to write and rewrite these songs. There were countless edits and rewrites and versions of the songs that we just scrapped and then started over. While I think these are some of the best songs I’ve written, it really took much longer to get to a place where I was happy with them. I think if you spend too much time on one thought it can be a dangerous game to play. I’m still learning when to put the pen down and be satisfied with what came naturally. It’s a fine line.
How often do you hide behind a character in a song or use “you” when it’s actually “me”?
I think I have subconsciously done this a lot with many songs in our catalogue. Not until this record have I made the conscious decision to write from a character’s perspective. While I was experiencing or have experienced a lot of the feelings and virtues of the character on this album, I tried to take myself out of it as much as I could. I wanted to broaden the scope and viewpoint beyond my own personal experience so I strayed away from talking too much about road life or really much to do with my personal experience with my work as a musician. I wanted to project a world view from the perspective of an everyday nine-to-fiver and play with how that intersected in my own personal experience. While there is a lot of myself in these songs, I think it translates to the everyman in a very relatable and accessible way. At least to anyone that works hard to get where they want to be.
Artist:Western Centuries Hometown: Seattle, Washington Latest album:Call the Captain Personal nicknames (or rejected band names): Country Hammer (our first band name, since rejected)
All responses by Jim Miller
Which artist has influenced you the most … and how?
When I was 17 years old, living in Branford, Connecticut, the only music I considered “real” was Jimi Hendrix. Nothing else mattered. Then, for reasons I can’t recall, some friends and I went to a concert by Ralph Stanley and the Clinch Mountain Boys in a small venue at Yale University called The Enormous Room. His band at that time included Ricky Skaggs and Keith Whitley, who appeared to be teenagers, like I was. From that point on, my musical life was forever changed. I became a “Ralph Head” and would hitchhike pretty much anywhere on the Eastern Seaboard to see his band play. Even though it’s hard to draw a direct line from Ralph Stanley to the music I write and perform today, I hope that some spiritual elements of his music have seeped into my own.
What’s your favorite memory from being on stage?
I spent 20 years touring with the band Donna the Buffalo. One year, we were hired to play MerleFest and our set, with Peter Rowan as part of the band, was scheduled to close the main stage, going on after Dolly Parton. We of course thought that this was our big break. But it turns out that Dolly talks quite a bit between songs and certainly nobody is going to cut her off. The length of our closing set kept shrinking.
When it got down to where it would be 20 minutes long, the stage manager asked: “Do you still want to go on?” Yes! So we rushed up there and started playing in our long-winded, jammy style. The stage crew could see where this was headed — I can’t remember whether we got through two or three songs before they shut down the house PA and monitors and turned the stage lights off. But our amps still worked! So we raged on as the audience stampeded for the exit gates. Priceless.
What was the first moment that you knew you wanted to be a musician?
I spent my formative years in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. When I was 7 years old, I auditioned for the Saskatoon Boys Choir and somehow made the cut. We got to wear a turquoise vest, a little white jacket, and a black bow tie. Unlike the other kids, I couldn’t read music, but I somehow faked it — learning my parts by ear. We toured the Prairie Provinces, performing in churches and schools, and it became clear to me that being a musician was my true calling.
Which elements of nature do you spend the most time with and how do those impact your work?
I’m a Lepidopterist by training, the study of butterflies and moths. I’ve hiked endless miles through the jungles of Central and South America, searching for rare species. Those travels have opened my eyes to the vastness and beauty of the natural world. They’ve also exposed me to people in different countries who speak different languages, eat different food, and live day-to-day in intimate contact with nature. Such experiences inform my world outlook and provide musical inspiration in ways I can acknowledge, but not easily explain.
Since food and music go so well together, what is your dream pairing of a meal and a musician?
I would go to Bob Seger’s house — in Detroit I assume — and ask him to cook cheeseburgers on the grill. I can make the coleslaw.
Artist:Tow’rs Hometown: Flagstaff, Arizona New Album:New Nostalgia
Which artist has influenced you the most … and how?
Kyle Miller: There have been so many artists I have placed on the altar of my adoration over the years. One seemed to keep rising above all the rest as I kept reflecting. Without a doubt, Jeff Tweedy has sat the longest on the above-mentioned altar. My first interaction with Wilco was my freshman year of college. A friend with extremely pretentious taste in music drove me around in his Subaru Outback blasting Sky Blue Sky. To be honest I didn’t get it at first. I didn’t even like it. I remember I bought it and had it in my car because I felt that as someone who enjoyed music I better damn well like Wilco, haha.
The years went on and Tow’rs started to become more of a realized job for me in my life. My wife and I had two kids all the while juggling our music career and family life on and off the road (as we continue to do). On our first tour my manager Paul was driving and was listening to Sky Blue Sky. I can remember being so blown away by the record in a way that I hadn’t before. The timing of it was perfect and it became mine. Since then, give or take five years ago, I’ve studied Jeff and his work. I’ve listened to him talk about family and music, process, mental health and band dynamics. All the while taking notes and applying it to our band and my own life.
Wilco and Jeff’s solo stuff has become a weekly part of my listening experience, but in a deeper way he has been a voice that I look to for advice. While writing our record New Nostalgia I listened to Jeff’s memoir Let’s Go (So We Can Get Back). I found a sense of peace while writing because of that memoir that I have always wanted permission to have, but didn’t know if I could. The way Jeff talked about the way he interacts with his work set me free and gave me permission for whatever reason to explore and not be sad when I was writing. As a result I think we wrote the best record we’ve ever made. I’m grateful for his vulnerability and I hope in my own way to share myself as he does.
What’s your favorite memory from being on stage?
My favorite memory on stage was in Bryan, Texas a few years ago. We were opening for a band called Seryn. The room was sold out and I was so nervous waiting backstage I thought I was gonna throw up. When we took the stage the crowd was so kind and inviting. Throughout the show I could at times hear them singing our songs more than I could hear myself in the monitor. There was electricity in the air that felt like we were all one.
On our last song I had a string break right before a really important drop on the song. The band saw it break and kept playing the build to the drop while I switched guitars. I stripped my guitar off and grabbed my spare and plugged it in as fast as I could and came in on the one of the drop with the band. The crowd lost their minds and my guitar sounded terrible the rest of the song. Everybody was laughing and clapping.
It reminded me not to take myself so serious. I think that moment was my fave because I struggled so hard to not beat myself up about shows the first couple years we toured. I’ve searched to find that tension that what we do is important to an extent, but that when I take myself too seriously I suck to be around. I’m also not convinced it makes me better to self-deprecate in that way. What we get to do is so fun and I hold it with open hands because I know it’s not for forever. I treasure those moments where you remember the absurdity and gratefulness and hard work all in the same space.
What was the first moment that you knew you wanted to be a musician?
I played violin and piano starting at around 5. There was never a year I had during elementary, middle and high school where I wasn’t learning music in some way. Looking back, the moment I felt I took ownership over my own journey in that was when my grandpa took me to see the Phoenix Symphony when I was 10. I remember we had balcony seats at the symphony hall and my grandpa took each step really careful getting up the stairs. We sat in our seats and listened to the symphony start to tune. My grandpa sat back in his seat and closed his eyes until the symphony started.
Once they started he put his hands up and puppeted the conductor and the music took over his body. You could see his face wincing and his toothpick on the corner of his mouth dancing around. I couldn’t stop staring at him. It was like watching a group of people laugh at a joke you don’t get. You want to understand it so bad. It was the first time I realized music had this involuntary effect on people who need it and let it in. It sent me down the songwriter’s path on how to capture that in a way that could accompany people in their life and mine like the symphony did and still does for my grandpa.
Which elements of nature do you spend the most time with and how do those impact your work?
I try to get out trail running in the pine trees every week here in Flagstaff. Especially while I am in a season of writing for a record. I had heard a story a while back about “runners high” which is essentially this endorphin rush you get from dipping into certain parts of your body’s energy only accessible through intense aerobic exercise. There were these stories of crazy mental clarity after running that I tried to use as a tool while writing. And it totally worked… maybe it was just a placebo, but either way it worked.
I would go out on the mesa next to our house (which, fun fact, is where they discovered Pluto) in the middle of the forest and run and stop when I got an idea, as well as sit down and “ride the high” when I got home in the studio. We live at seven thousand feet with amazing views, mountains, and everything that comes with that terrain. We also get four seasons here so you’re always aware how fast time is moving because nature is postmarking it. I feel like nature, specifically the forest, has influenced my writing more than anything.
What other art forms — literature, film, dance, painting, etc — inform your music?
I’ve tried to create a discipline around reading both poetry and literature in my life. I watched that documentary a while back Jiro Dreams of Sushi and he had a line in it about how he gives his employees the best sushi, the same kind they try and serve their customers. He said that’s because he doesn’t believe you can make good sushi without knowing what it tastes like. Pretty simple and obvious, but I’ve tried to apply reading other people’s work I respect into my life for the same reason.
How can I be a good poet if I don’t read good poetry? I recognize this is subjective to an extent. Lately, I’ve been enamored with Steinbeck as well as Leif Enger from a literary standpoint. The poets who have most informed me have been Dickinson, Rilke and Wendell Berry. I’ve also really enjoyed Abraham Heschel’s words and meditations. There’s something about finding a poem or book that scoops a truth out of you that you’ve always tried to find the words for, but couldn’t. I think that moment is why I keep writing.
Artist name: Griffin House Hometown: Springfield, Ohio; currently resides in Nashville, Tennessee Latest album:Rising Star Personal nicknames (or rejected band names): “Balls” was my nickname, which is part of why I named my 2013 album Balls. I guess you could say it was kind of like a self-titled album. My friend (when we were younger) thought it was funny to add the suffix “balls” onto everything. All nouns, common and proper, including people’s names. Griff-balls apparently had a nice ring to it, since it stuck. Eventually it was shortened to G-Balls and eventually just Balls. It was fun when that album “dropped.” The jokes were endless.
Which artist has influenced you the most … and how?
So many influences, but I think probably Woody Guthrie is the greatest. I do a little more singing than I heard him do, being influenced by guys like Bono and Jeff Buckley, but Woody passed down an American tradition to Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Wilco, etc; his songwriting influenced [and] shaped how we’ve all done things. I relate to him particularly being a guy with his guitar traveling all around America and singing and telling stories about what’s going on around him. He really paved the way for all of us modern day troubadours singing any kind of folk songs.
What’s your favorite memory from being on stage?
One of the first shows I played when I started was opening for John Mellencamp. I was so nervous I told the crowd I was going to go back behind the curtain and “When I come back out,” I said, “Can you just pretend like you are all here to see me and go crazy?” They gave me a standing ovation and went wild before I even played a note. On the last song, I did a victory lap around the audience of 5,000 people and high-fived everyone and then finished the last song. I mostly did it because I didn’t know if I’d ever if I’d ever have an opportunity like that again and I wanted to make the most of it (and have a good story to tell). It felt like something you’d see happen in a movie.
What other art forms — literature, film, dance, painting, etc. — inform your music?
Lots of film. I love watching movies and disappearing into the scenes that I’m watching. It’s a great escape for me and sometimes inspires a song. Going to museums and looking at paintings and sculpture is a wonderful joy for me too. I also love books; I majored in English Literature in college and learned to really appreciate writing during that time. Poetry and literature probably have the biggest direct influence.
What was the first moment that you knew you wanted to be a musician?
I saw Rattle and Hum and wanted to be Bono, circa 1988. [U2] were just so unbelievable. That set the bar pretty high, but I’m also content just making a living, telling my stories, and being a singer and storyteller playing for smaller crowds.
What’s the toughest time you ever had writing a song?
“Yesterday Lies.” I think it took me a couple years to write. But the toughest ones were the ones I couldn’t write at all. Every one I finish is easier than the ones that never happened.
Photo credit: Gabe McCurdy
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