The String

Episode 245: Dom Flemons made history founding the Carolina Chocolate Drops, an old-time band that changed the face of roots music in the 21st century. Through found songs and tunes learned at the feet of old masters, they won a Grammy Award, played the Grand Ole Opry and opened up new lanes for Black musicians finding their voice in folk. Since parting ways in 2013, Flemons has been a lynchpin of...

Episode 244: William Prince grew up on country and gospel music in rural Manitoba on the Peguis First Nation reserve, getting a grounding from his minister/musician father. Now Prince is a musical minister of sorts, making a strong mark on north American folk music with his sincerity, gravitas and beautiful baritone voice. His formal debut won Canada's JUNO Award for best contemporary folk album,...

Episode 243: Canada's coolest couple - more than 12 years into their joint venture called Whitehorse - is on a creative tear, releasing three albums in two years, all of which came with a portfolio of daring and whimsical graphic design, photography and video. The albums flow, from the zesty indie-rock leaning Modern Love in March 2021 to the psychedelic wonder whirl of Strike Me Down, which arriv...

Episode 242: Craig reports from Knoxville, TN and the tenth edition of the world-renowned Big Ears Festival. Conceived by Knoxville native Ashley Capps as a showcase for modern and avant-garde music, it's broadened to encompass just about every genre and concept from around the world. This year saw a record number of folk/roots/Americana artists, playing alongside some of the world's elite jazz, e...

Episode 241: San Francisco-based Miko Marks hit brick walls when she made her first run at country music in the mid 2000s, when the industry was systemically impenetrable to independent artists and even more so artists of color. After taking more than a decade away from her passion, Marks was inspired to reconnect with her band and producers, and this time, she found a lane, made possible by excel...

Episode 240: Emily Nenni didn't fall in love with country music and then move to Nashville. She did the reverse, using the city's honky tonks and local haunts like country music college. And instead of the lure of the CMA Awards, the Bay Area native dove fully into the traditional end of the pool. Her sparky voice and detail-rich songs grabbed the attention of New West Records, which released her...

Episode 239: She sounds like she was born into a country music family, but Sunny Sweeney was actually a late and somewhat reluctant bloomer as an artist. Her friends had to beg her to record her first album when she was playing bars in Austin. But that album got picked up by a Nashville label and got her to the Grand Ole Opry. The major label system was a bad fit, but Sunny has pursued an exemplar...

Episode 238: Cellist and composer Larissa Maestro enjoys a rich and diverse career as a Nashville session and stage musician. When she came to town in 2007, she had a music degree and flexible expectations about what she'd find in a place she'd never been. Now she's a veteran of creative collaborations with Margo Price, John Legend, Brandi Carlile and Allison Russell, who's just had Maestro arrang...

Episode 237: Ron Sexsmith's brilliant solo debut album of 1995 - the one with the song "Secret Heart" - was on the verge of being overlooked and forgotten when Elvis Costello endorsed it as one of his favorite projects in a major magazine. It changed the conversation about the young balladeer and he was quickly recognized as one of Canada's finest songwriters. Now a dozen great artists have covere...

Episode 236: It would be difficult to name one musician with such long and distinguished resumes as both a recording artist and a record producer as Joe Henry. Since emerging around 1990 as a layered, visionary songwriter, he's released 17 albums to almost universal acclaim. And since his tutelage under T Bone Burnett, stemming from one of his early albums, he's been an in-demand producer with cre...

Episode 235: After a remarkable life in show business and soul music, Charles "Wigg" Walker moved back to his native Nashville in the 90s, and he's been an important fixture in Music City ever since, a one-of-a-kind voice in soul and blues. It started on Jefferson Street in his teens. Then he moved to New York, opened shows for James Brown, played the Apollo Theater and held down Harlem residencie...

Episode 234: Not very long ago, Sunny War was busking on Venice Beach in Los Angeles, nearly homeless and beset with substance abuse. But she was also making weirdly beautiful and honest music that evoked country blues, punk rock and old folk songs without being really any of the above. Now she's moved to Nashville, signed to New West Records, with one of the most talked-about albums in indie musi...

Episode 233: Madison Cunningham blasted on to the modern folk scene in 2019 with a debut album so thoughtful and original that it landed on the prestigious Verve Forecast label and was nominated for a Grammy Americana Album award. After the pandemic interrupted her career momentum, she picked right back up in 2022 with a fast-growing audience and a brilliant sophomore album called Revealer. Just h...

Episode 232: Willi Carlisle is a folk singer in the populist tradition of Utah Phillips and Woody Guthrie, a boisterous, tender, funny performer who is impossible to forget. After years pursuing various outlets in old-time, poetry and theater, he emerged in 2022 as one of the finest songwriters in traditional folk music. The vehicle was his album Peculiar, Missouri, a varied collection of ruminati...

To kick off the new year during my three week book leave, here's a special edition of The String in which I read my own in-depth analysis of how two great and sweeping genres - jazz and Americana - can have such different audiences and narratives in contemporary life despite their common origins in the blues. Reviewed are two releases - the 10th anniversary vinyl edition of Esperanza Spalding's Gr...

Episode 231: Sam Bush was the first guest on The String way back in September of 2016, because he's a hero of mine and an exemplar of the Americana ideal, traditional American music with a contemporary outlook. He returns to talk about one of his heroes, the late great John Hartford. They were friends, picking buddies and sometime tour mates. And while there are many sides to Hartford, Sam wanted...

Episode 230: With an instantly recognizable voice and uncommon skill for balancing melancholy with radiance, Courtney Marie Andrews has released a string of four acclaimed album since her 2016 breakout Honest Life. She's a Tucson, AZ native who hit the road on her own at the tender age of 16 and gave her life over to writing and sharing her soul with others. Her newest follows the arc of a new lov...

Episode 229: Todd Snider walked out alone on the stage of the Ryman Auditorium in late September looking radiant. He was bolstered and beloved by the loyalist lifer fans that hang on his every word, spoken or sung. He told the one about his first open mic and the one about East Nashville character Skip Litz who loved Train Songs. Todd's mother was on hand and it was her birthday, so we all sang fo...

Episode 228: One day during AmericanaFest 2022 I visited the headquarters of leading label New West Records to catch up with their two newest band signings - bands that fit on the label and in an episode with each other. 49 Winchester, school friends from tiny Castlewood, VA, had a breakout year while releasing Fortune Favors The Bold. Town Mountain began 15 years ago as a trad bluegrass band that...

Episode 227: This week dwells on origins and growth with two artists who've had very different journeys but who had to get resourceful in their own way. Amy Ray put the Indigo Girls on the map with her partner Emily Saliers in part through a relentless focus on activism and support of causes they cherished. They were given the Americana Lifetime Award for Free Speech in September. Tami Neilson gre...

Episode 226: The 5 Spot is a nightclub at the heart of East Nashville's music community, and for 12 years, Derek Hoke was at the heart of the 5 Spot. His showcase series Two Dollar Tuesdays offered newcomers a chance to play and music lovers 4-5 artists to sample in a cozy scene, many of whom would become the next wave of Americana stars. Hoke came from South Carolina with a ton of humility and ea...

Episode 225: When you serve a community on a good radio station, you get a feel for the soul of that place, and for me over these many years, that place is Nashville. So I thought it would be fun to join forces for a week with a friend of mine who has a similar gig in western North Carolina who has developed expertise and perspective on the amazing music scene around Asheville. He's Joe Kendrick,...

Episode 224: It's a double Dan special as I visit with two movers and shakers who've contributed perhaps more behind the scenes than most musicians of their stature. Daniel Tashian is a Nashville lifer who's worn all the hats - songwriter, artist, band-leader and producer. He won a Grammy for Kacey Musgraves's Golden Hour and collaborated with Burt Bacharach. Now he's co-written the classic countr...

Episode 223: Americanafest 2022 is in the books, and as usual, I took advantage of all the visiting talent to collect a bunch of interviews with artists from stars to newcomers. Here, I speak with three fascinating emerging artists who will be shaping the scene for years to come. Tray Wellington is a new voice on the banjo from rural Appalachia, but his take on Scruggs style is modern and devoted...

Episode 222: Kentucky natives Linda Jean Stokley and Montana Hobbs have been musical partners for about a decade. They met as college students at Morehead State University, where they both more or less wandered into the school's distinguished traditional music program. They formed the duo The Local Honeys and have gradually built a following and a sound that rides the line between old-time traditi...