For the third edition of our Down in the Valley Sessions – shot at the first annual Down in the Valley festival hosted by The Head And The Heart in Napa, California earlier this year – we return to the verdant rolling landscape of the Hills Family Estate for an intimate performance by Mitch Cutts, frontperson and self-proclaimed “head dumbass” of Richy Mitch & the Coal Miners. Beneath the shade of a pair of willow trees, Cutts showcases his unique fingerstyle right hand – rather, left hand – approach on “Laramee.” The track feels right at home in this pastoral setting. At times soaring and impassioned, at others tender and understated, Cutts’ solo renditions of these two numbers feel just as fully realized as the indie-folk, string-band sounds of the group’s recordings. “Lake Missoula” is right at home backgrounded by grapevines and foregrounded by palms, despite the distance from the glacial lake it references in the Coal Miners’ home state of Montana. “Lake Missoula, I’m letting you out,” Cutts sings, a poignant coda on a track that feels a bit like a musical amuse bouche. There’s a charm here, well supported by a palpable, genuine nature, that certainly illustrates why Richy Mitch & the Coal Miners enjoy tens of millions of listens each month on digital streaming platforms.
Our Down in the Valley Sessions continue next week.
Video Credit: Brad Wagner, I Know We Should Audio Credit: Juan Soria, I Know We Should
For the second edition of our Down in the Valley Sessions – shot at the first ever Down in the Valley festival in Napa, California, earlier this year – we return to the picturesque panoramas of Napa’s Hills Family Estate to hear two songs by indie- and folk-pop singer-songwriter Miya Folick. “Nothing to See” and “Get Out of My House” are both tracks on Folick’s most recent release, Roach. But here, backgrounded by Napa County’s iconic rolling, pastoral hills, she trades in the angered, energetic, and gritty rock and pop production elements for a tender guitar duo – with collaborator and bandmate Jacob Ungerleider accompanying with background vocals and guitar.
The most compelling singer-songwriters, regardless of genre, are able to command with their lyrics and melodies in any context, whether full, studio album production or quiet, simple, solo accompaniment on guitar or piano. Great songs will always shine through, no matter the musical trappings. Of course, Folick is right at home in these contexts – she’s even toured supporting Down in the Valley hosts and curators The Head and the Heart – but this setting somewhat surprisingly highlights the folk and down home underpinnings to her fully realized sonics of her albums. This is a fact she leans into in many more scenarios than our Down in the Valley Sessions – she’s even released an acoustic cut of “Get Out of My House” as a single, anticipating listeners craving a version of the above performance they can return to again and again.
Our Down in the Valley Sessions series was shot by Brad Wagner and recorded by Juan Soria of I Know We Should. Watch for a handful more weekly installments from our shoot.
Video Credit: Brad Wagner, I Know We Should Audio Credit: Juan Soria, I Know We Should
Last month, The Head and the Heart curated Down in the Valley, a brand new two-day music festival in downtown Napa, California. The audio and visual experts of I Know We Should were there, shooting these gorgeous sessions for BGS. It was fitting that we kicked off the series with Down in the Valley’s curators and hosts – they played three sets over the course of the festival – at the gorgeous Hills Family Estate, flanked by canary island palms and backgrounded by olive trees.
The core trio of The Head and the Heart performed two songs for BGS, both from their 2022 album, Every Shade of Blue. They began with the title track, a stripped down arrangement that centers the three-part harmonies of Matt Gervais, Charity Rose Thielen, and Jonathan Russell. The sweeping and lush strings from the studio version are swapped for tender fingerpicking on guitar and Thielen’s emotive bow.
Second, they performed the loping and energetic “Don’t Show Your Weakness,” finding power in singing in unison and in the lyrical hook as a mantra, punctuated by that tight vocal trio sprinkled throughout the verses. Gervais sings of the Adirondacks, but this music feels equally at home right here, in the lushly cultivated mountains of Napa County.
Over the two days of Down in the Valley, we captured a half dozen sessions with artists and bands from the festival’s lineup. Tune in right here on BGS each week as we unveil new Down in the Valley Sessions shot in beautiful Napa, California.
Video Credit: Brad Wagner, I Know We Should Audio Credit: Juan Soria, I Know We Should
Back in December of 2022 we brought together two talented flatpickers, Jake Eddy and Jordan Tice, to pick a few songs on their brand new Yamaha acoustic guitars at a shoot in Los Angeles, California. Both Eddy and Tice performed a couple of tunes solo, then they joined together on a Norman Blake-penned song that Tony Rice popularized called “Orphan Annie.” Though both of these musicians came into bluegrass and guitar-picking from seemingly disparate points of entry, their styles blend seamlessly as they swap licks inspired and influenced by Blake and Rice.
Discover more about Yamaha’s just-released FG9 model at YamahaGuitars.com.
We’re sad to say goodbye to June and lose the Black Opry as our official Artist of the Month, but just as the Black Opry carries on elevating Black country artists and fans through showcases, touring, and community building, we look forward to supporting their endeavors for years to come. We have one more session up our sleeve, another communal moment from the Black Opry Revue’s time on Cayamo. Vanessa May (Rainbow Girls) led the group in her arrangement of the traditional “Sally Over the Water.” We hope you enjoy this final session from our Artist of the Month celebrations!
We recently caught up with singer-songwriter Fruit Bats (AKA Eric D. Johnson) to shoot a sunny Sitch Session in New York City just prior to his April 2023 appearance at Webster Hall. His simple, acoustic performance of “We Used to Live Here” reflects the stark, unencumbered production and arrangement of the studio recording of the track on his latest album, A River Running to Your Heart. Tender longing and exhausted resignation in the lyric remind of country classics new and old like Lee Ann Womack’s “If These Walls Could Talk” or Miranda Lambert’s (and Tanya Tucker’s) cuts of “The House That Built Me.” A home holds so much more than just knick-knacks and memories. “All that we had then was you and me/ living on love and making believe/”
As we celebrate the Black Opry as our Artist of the Month for June, we’re excited to premiere another live session from this year’s Cayamo cruise. In true Black Opry fashion they hosted memorable collaborations and celebrations onboard, from Black Opry Revue writers’ rounds, to a Motown vs. Stax tribute set hosted by Devon Gilfillian, and group sessions like this one, led by Jake Blount, who released “Give up the World” on his 2022 album The New Faith.
We hope you enjoy this session with the Black Opry Revue!
Mama Magnolia share stories of love, loss and growth in their performances of “Yer’s Song” and “Dear Irvington,” recorded live at this year’s WinterWonderGrass festival in Steamboat Springs, Colorado.
Artist:Robert Ellis Hometown: Lake Jackson, Texas Song: “On the Run” Album:Yesterday’s News Release Date: May 21, 2023 Label: Niles City Records
In Their Words: “There’s this stretch of Interstate 10 somewhere near Bakersfield, Texas. There’s a gas station there. It’s the only one for miles in any direction. You more or less have to stop if you want to make it to the next town. I’m getting gas as quickly as I can, nervously scanning the horizon. I have to keep going. Just keep going. I get back in the car and drive.” — Robert Ellis
Leftover Salmon retreated to the high country of Steamboat Springs, Colorado, for this year’s WinterWonderGrass festival and shared a few of their songs with us: “High Country” and “Woody Guthrie,” a cry to the Dust Bowl Troubadour about an ever-changing landscape and a new way of life.
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