At 85 years old, Bobby Rush has been playing his brand of lovably raunchy, acoustically crunchy, and soulfully rowdy blues for over six decades.
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Starting from his days as part of the Southern migration from his hometown of Homer, Louisiana, to the South Side of Chicago — where he used to have Muddy Waters himself sub for him when he couldn’t do a gig — Bobby Rush, who won his first Grammy at the humble age of 83, has no plans of slowing down.
This week, Z. speaks with multi-talented songwriter, singer, guitar-slinger, and activist Bhi Bhiman. His newest project is called Peace of Mind, and is being released week by week as an interactive political podcast album.
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For nearly a decade Bhi Bhiman has been diligently crafting poetic, protesty earworms with his masterful guitar work and fuzzed out harmony. Along the way he’s gained some powerful friends and fans — like the late Chris Cornell who had Bhiman sing each night on tour a few years back. He writes about our broken immigration policies, our abandoned mental health system, the continued fight for women’s rights, voter suppression, and that’s just the first few songs off Peace of Mind. Somehow, he’s not preaching at you while he’s doing it. He’s simply putting a stunned smile on your face as you sing along with a renewed faith in the democratic process and freedom of speech.
This week on the show, Z. speaks with Oakland’s soulful singing T Sisters. For this trio of sisters, singing harmony-rich songs isn’t just their full-time job, it’s a way of life. It’s what they do — and damn do they do it well.
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Sisters Erika, Chloe, and Rachel Tietjen are harmonic masters. Whether it’s demonstrated in their sassy originals accompanied by upright bass, guitar, banjo, and mandolin, or with their delicious vocal-layer-cake covers of hits by Kylie Minogue and Paul Simon, family runs deep through the music. T Sisters will be releasing their next EP, We Are Bound, produced by Oliver Wood (The Wood Brothers) in March 2019.
This week, we’re talking with Australian singer/songwriter Jordie Lane and his Aussie producing/harmonizing partner Clare Reynolds. Jordie has been making dark-hearted, voluptuously verbose folk music with a grinning rock ‘n roll spirit for nearly a decade.
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While he’s just making a name for himself in the US, Lane has been playing huge venues all over Australia for years as one of Melbourne’s most beloved and respected roots music artists. Have a listen, and then tell your American amigos to give this Aussie kid a shot — you won’t regret it.
Starting in the late 1970s with the pioneering string band Hot Rize, Tim O’Brien has trailblazed a quietly powerful and influential solo career that includes 16 albums and multiple Grammy awards, writing what many consider to be the new standards of bluegrass music.
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Now that he’s a bluegrass elder statesmen, O’Brien has made the time to produce albums for a new crop of festival headliners like Yonder Mountain String Band and the Infamous Stringdusters. He’s recorded and toured with Mark Knopfler and Steve Martin, had his songs covered by the Dixie Chicks and Garth Brooks — not bad for the small, bespectacled kid from Wheeling, West Virginia who dropped out of college and headed west with the idea that maybe, just maybe — if he learned enough songs — he could make it.
Béla Fleck and Abigail Washburn — two legends and innovators who’ve brought the humble banjo across four continents and have won over 17 Grammys between them in the process — talk with Z. before their show at UCLA.
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For over three decades now Béla has quietly revolutionized how the banjo is played, recorded, and perceived — taking it from of the front porches of Appalachia and into jazz clubs, symphony halls and rock stadiums from his hometown of New York City to Uganda and Tibet and back again.
Meanwhile, Abigail has forged her own unique path. A fiercely intelligent songwriter and activist fluent in Mandarin, she gave up on being a well regarded lawyer in China after a meditation retreat brought her to the realization that the banjo and not the briefcase was her destiny. After meeting at a Nashville square dance (yes, that really happened), Bela and Abigail’s banjo explorations became one. Slowly, they began touring and recording together, and that’s where Z. caught up with them, on a rainy Wednesday on UCLA’s campus in LA.
Featured Songs: “Big Country” and “Over The Divide”
Presented by Nomad Goods. Head to hellonomad.com/bgs and use code “BGS” at checkout to receive 15% off any full priced items through the end of January.
The Bluegrass Situation, a multifaceted media company co-founded by actor and banjo player Ed Helms, is pleased to announce the addition of three new roots music-themed programs to its BGS Podcast Network this fall.
The Shift List, hosted by Chris Jacobs, is a weekly conversation with the world’s top chefs about the music that fills their kitchens, restaurants and recipes. The series features chefs from Los Angeles, Copenhagen, and London, including Noma alums Rosio Sanchez (Hija de Sanchez) and Christian Puglisi (Baest, Ralae); Matt Orlando (Amass); Jessica Largey (Simone, Manresa); and Naved Nasir and Shamil Thakrar (chef and founder of Dishoom). Listen to a teaser here. The first two episodes will be released on September 17.
The Show on the Road, produced and hosted by Dustbowl Revival frontman Zach Lupetin, is a conversation with fellow artists about a modern musician’s life (as the name implies) on the road, while taking a few conversational tangents in between. Guests include Mandolin Orange, Shook Twins, Lindsay Lou, and more. The series premieres this October.
The Breakdown brings together BGS contributor Emma John and The Lonely Heartstring Band’s Patrick M’Gonigle for the ultimate deep dive into bluegrass back catalog. Through six episodes, they peel back the layers of a genre that’s not just hard-driving and high lonesome, but also bizarre, compelling, and full of completely mad stories. The limited-run series premieres this fall.
Other BGS podcasts include The BGS Radio Hour, The String hosted by Craig Havighurst, and the Hangin’ & Sangin’ archive. Subscribe and download at The Bluegrass Situation or wherever you get your Podcasts.
