Basic Folk

Sunny War goes through her new album  Simple Syrup track by track on the pod! Talking to Sunny is an absolute trip: she has lived through incredible trauma and addiction, but approaches life with a sharp sense of humor. This is all coming through on the new record, which was recorded in her usual spot in Venice Beach with producer Harlan Steinberger. Sunny's deeply rooted in Los Angeles where...

Bowerbirds have been off the radar musically since 2012's The Clearing . Lots has changed for the B-Birds, which now centers solely around Phil Moore since his bandmate and former partner Beth Tacular has left to concentrate on her own artwork. 2021 sees a new Bowerbirds album, becalmyounglovers , and a new version of Phil himself. He writes to his fans “It’s been 8 years since you’ve heard ne...

Growing up, Oliver Wood thought he'd try the bass guitar, but after 6 months, he handed it to his younger brother Chris. That's right, *the* Chris Wood, virtuosic bassist of acclaimed Medeski Martin and Wood . Even at a young age, the brothers' styles were pretty clear. While Chris was getting intense about the bass, Oliver was meandering on the guitar and forging his own musical path....

Raised outside of Austin, Texas, Katy Kirby grew up homeschool, enamored with Jesus and was rocking out to Christian Contemporary Music from the late 90's and early 2000's. BUT THEN: she went to college in Nashville and her world opened up. She started questioning everything she believed about God and the church. She fell in with a crowd of musicians who were going through similar situatio...

Allison Russell 's story is unreal and it's hard to know where to begin. Unfathomable childhood abuse: sexual, physical and emotional abuse (at the hands of her white supremacist step-father) is chronicled in searing detail for the very first time on her debut solo album Outside Child . Up until now she was not able to honestly address this story in her other projects: Birds of Chicago (wi...

Help produce Basic Folk by contributing at basicfolk.com/donate Tom Rush 's career is a wonder. After stepping away from record labels and major tours in the 70's, he's managed to cultivate a dedicated audience that has loyally shown up for decades. His relationship to music had a rocky start with a dozen years of unenjoyable piano lessons. Tom talks about his cousins, Beau Beals, who...

Chris Pierce was raised by a white mother and a Black father, who impressed the importance of music in terms of finding peace and love within. While Chris was growing up, interracial marriage had only just become legal countrywide in 1967 and his family was not always accepted. At 5 years old, a burning cross was placed on his front yard and the way his parents calmly reacted to this horrible act...

The Brother Brothers are rooted in sibling harmony provided by twin brothers Adam and David Moss. Adam Moss would prefer if you didn't get really weird about twin stuff: “We sometimes find being twins a barrier to conversing and getting to know people quickly. It’s an easy thing for people to fixate on," he says. Truthfully there is PLENTY to discuss with Adam, who plays several instrument...

Mark Kilianski (of Golden Shoals) had the unfortunate experience of coming of age in a time where mainstream rock was just terrible (late 90's - specifically 1999 was pretty bad). He was really getting into bands like Korn and Limp Bizket, and his first guitar was a BC Rich Warlock (a heavy metal style guitar). Lucky for him, he had a cool guitar teacher that introduced him to bands like Black...

David Wax started visiting Mexico in 2001 and there he became enamored with the music of Central Mexico, particularly with styles of son music. He would spend summers going back to Mexico while studying at Harvard: Latin American History and literature. He was able to get a Harvard Fellowship which allowed him to live in Mexico for a year immersing himself in the music through attending fandangos...

Yasmin Williams is your new favorite guitarist! She plays the type of music she'd want as a soundtrack for hiking, which is funny to think when you consider her initial inspiration for picking up the guitar. When she was in junior high, she beat the video game Guitar Hero 2 (on expert level!). She was clearly very good at it and thought that she would also be good at the real thing. Her musica...

Kaiti Jones' vibe is truly chill with that special something that you experience in a real artist. She's got that thing that should propel her to great heights: her music is spot-on and as a human being, it feels like you're in the presence of some kind of greatness. Am I exaggerating? I don't know, but this woman is wicked cool. Her backstory starts in Portland, Maine with her hip...

Local Natives are not a folk band, but this is my podcast and I do what I want. They are one of my favorite bands of all time, so I was geeked to talk to founding member, guitarist and co-frontman, Taylor Rice . Torchbearers of the Southern California band sound, Local Natives are originally from Orange County, CA. The core of the band have been playing together since high school. Taylor talks abo...

If you do a web search for Steve Tilston, most of the results will be about John Lennon. Lennon wrote a letter to a young Steve offering him advice, but Steve did not know about the letter until decades later. His story would eventually become the 2015 film Danny Collins starring Al Pachino. Steve's talked about this subject probably one thousand times and it might be the biggest thing that de...

Alec Spiegelman has been making folk music weird for years. Recently, his partnership with Ana Egge has put him on the radar as one of the most creative producers for folk musicians, working with people like Taylor Ashton, David Wax Museum and Sadie Gustafson-Zook. He's a part of the innovative indie folk band, Cuddle Magic, who just released a record in 2020. Alec also found time during quara...

Raye Zaragoza has strong spiritual leader vibes and I believe everything she says. Originally raised in New York City, she and her two siblings and parents somehow all lived together in a studio apartment. New York has been a strong influence on her identity and her work ethic. She's a person who's always moving and moving fast. Raye's mom is an immigrant from Japan and her dad is of M...

The Suitcase Junket 's Matt Lorenz was guest #3 on this folk podcast and I'm thrilled to welcome him back to break down the latest album song by song. Released in November 2020,  The End is New , was produced by Steve Berlin (Los Lobos), who was working remotely (because of Covid precautions) from the West Coast. Matt describes how that changed the way the album turned out as well as sever...

Patty Larkin is a monster on the guitar. Although starting on the piano, after her uncle gave her a guitar it was all over for young Patty. The main appeal of the instrument was the privacy in which one could play. She holed up for hours playing. In high school she furthered experimented with different ways to play, while working on her singing and writing. She moved to Boston in the 70's to s...

Help produce Basic Folk by contributing at basicfolk.com/donate Wesley Schultz has one of the most recognizable modern voices in folk music. His band, The Lumineers, are arguably the most popular group of the genre embarking on stadium tours worldwide to support their chart-topping records. From afar, he also seems like one of the most humble and good-natured people to have lived. After doing a de...

There is a lot going on with Sadie Gustafson-Zook. Raised in a supportive Mennonite community near Goshen, Indiana, Sadie was playing in her parents' folk band from the age of 6. Homeschooled until grade 5, she learned to channel her feelings through writing. After graduating from Goshen College, she moved to Boston in order to experience life outside of her community and to further her educat...

Anjimile Chithambo, who uses his first name on stage, is a genderqueer Black singer songwriter making his way onto a larger radar with the debut album, Giver Taker. The artist appeared on some high-profile Best of 2020 lists (Namely NPR) and picked up two recent Boston Music Awards. Originally from outside of Dallas, Jimi was raised by Malawian parents, father a doctor and mother a computer progra...

Cinder Well, who is California-born Amelia Baker, makes spooky folk songs in the Irish music tradition. Amelia grew up in Santa Cruz, California in a non-religious Jewish family. Her parents always had music on the stereo: Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell and The Grateful Dead. Music was always on in the house. From a young age she was drawn to the vibe and the strange stillness of abandoned h...

Help produce Basic Folk by contributing at basicfolk.com/donate Canadian songwriter Rose Cousins hates small talk. She'd much prefer to get down to the bone of your humanity and know about your struggle than talk about the weather. Raised in the tight-knit community on Prince Edward Island, at a young age, Cousins had the sense of helping out others and lifting up others instilled in her. She...

Auyon Mukharji, of the Massachusetts spacey-folk band Darlingside, grew up in Kansas with first generation immigrant parents. Nature, music and sports all played a big role in his formative years. He ended up studying biology at Williams College, where he met his future bandmates in Darlingside. He joined an a capella group with members of the band and that allowed the guys to formulate their frea...

Help produce Basic Folk by contributing at basicfolk.com/donate The one and only Chris Smither! Influenced by Mississippi John Hurt and Lightnin' Hopkins, Smither's guitar playing is centered around the beat and around the groove. He mics his feet during concerts and loves being able to sound like several different instruments as his heroes did. Smither says “Groove is the essence of engag...