Basic Folk

Alice Howe's vibe is Jackson Browne & Bonnie Raitt, but also Joan Baez and old English ballads. Her musical life was changed in 2016 when she met Freebo, legendary musician who's played with Bonnie Raitt, Crosby, Stills & Nash, Maria Muldaur, Kate & Anna McGarrigle and many others. Freebo and Alice instantly connected through music and their collaboration has led to many shows...

Once singer/songwriter Danielle Knibbe earned the nickname "The Lyric Doctor" due to her intrinsic ability to channel human feelings through songs like an actual medical doctor. This woman was born to make you cry, feel and emote. Now Danielle calls Toronto home, but the musician was born and raised on in the prairies in Alberta, Canada. She knew that performing was what she wanted to purs...

Sunny War has a cool finger picking style and a singing voice that matches her persona: whimsical, yet strong. Sunny's probably the bravest person I have ever talked to in my life. She's been through the ringer of life: living a nomadic life with her mom, surviving abuse, suffering from addiction, getting arrested, leaving home, living on the streets, hopping trains and getting clean all b...

Nerissa Nields is a guitarist, songwriter and singer best known for performing with her sister Katryna in The Nields and as a duo. She grew up outside of Washington, DC surrounded by music and politics, which had a profound impact on her formative years. She especially found herself greatly influenced by the music of Pete Seeger. These days, Nerissa finds it more difficult to find common ground wi...

There is something I find very telling about the way Letitia VanSant approaches her name with people. The Baltimore musician offers the pronunciation upfront ("Leh-TISH-ah" - "tish" rhymes with "wish."), not assuming that someone would know how to say it. There is kindness and patience in the offering, but also she takes control of the narrative of her unique and beautiful...

What a dang treat to talk to the legend herself Susan Werner on Basic Folk! Susan was born and raised on her family's 140 acre farm near Manchester, Iowa. Her and her siblings helped out on the farm growing up. At a young age she noticed the divide between kids who lived in town and the farm kids: namely that the town kids wore the same clothes all day instead of changing into work clothes aft...

Maya De Vitry, formerly of The Stray Birds, quietly released one of the best records of the year on March 13, How To Break a Fall . She goes through the album track by track with us on Basic Folk. The record ranges in sound from gauzy beauties, to sick grooves to jagged rock bangers. There are a lot of themes on this record like celebrating women and reclaiming your own self and your body. It full...

Mike Savino is the brains behind the experimental-banjo act, Tall Tall Trees. Raised in Long Island, Mike was first encouraged to explore his musical talents thanks to his sixth grade band leader, Mr. Hangley. From there, he became engulfed in the world of jazz: first on sax and then on bass. He thought he would be a professional bass player in New York's experimental jazz scene, but then he h...

We get a track by track from New England singer/songwriter Mark Erelli on his new album  Blindsided on Basic Folk! The record came out last week and is very Tom Petty inspired. Mark talks about how the late legend inspired the sound and even at least one song. We talk about the contributions from the players on the record, like when drummer Jamie Dick suggested a "Bo Diddley Beat" for the...

Songwriters pay tribute to Anais Mitchell in a concert recorded October 29, 2019. Peter Mulvey, Rose Polenzani, Mark Erelli, Molly Venter (Red Molly), Ali McGuirk, Liv Greene and Barry Rothman performed Anais songs at Club Passim. In between songs, I was there playing clips from Anais' interview on Basic Folk and clips from musicians and music fans talking about Anais. You'll hear thoughts...

Jesse Dee is a painter and a singer who takes influence from classic soul and R&B. The eldest fo 5 children raised in Arlington, MA, just outside Boston, Jesse was obsessed with oldies on the radio from a young age. He turned to theatre as a teen and started writing songs and learning guitar in high school. He attended Mass Art (Massachusetts College of Art and Design) while the intention of b...

Nora Jane Struther s is back! We go track by track on her new album  Bright Lights, Long Drives, First Words ! The record was recorded while she was 8 months pregnant after a long struggle with infertility (see Basic Folk episode 4 for the whole incredible story). This album addresses the dichotomy between realizing her hard-earned dream and the tough realities of keeping her musical career alive...

Taylor Ashton! Clawhammer banjo! Illustrations! Canada! He started his career in the alt-folk band Fish & Bird and has collaborated with musical friends like Courtney Hartmann (formerly of Della Mae). Taylor's debut solo album,  The Romantic , is out now and filled with sweet banjo grooves and emotional feelings. We talk about his growing up in Canada: flying solo on an airplane at a very...

Kora Feder came from a musical family. Her mother is the well regarded singer/songwriter, Rita Hosking. Growing up, she was surrounded by music, so it's not a surprise that she naturally gravitated toward performing and singing with her musical mom and dad. Her vacations were spent going on tour around the west coast and in the UK. When she headed off for college, she knew she wanted to travel...

Business or performance? According to  Dave Godowsky , you don't have to choose, guys. As a professional music fan for nearly 3 decades, Dave has been an artist manager, A&R rep and several other kinds of music industry types. All the while, he's weaved in and out the singer/songwriter/performer, for which he has a great talent for. Dave's genuine good hearted nature has gotten him...

I had a lot to talk about with Leyla McCalla! The New Orleans resident has already had an impressive career with her solo work, Carolina Chocolate Drops and Our Native Daughters. However, it seems like she's just getting started. I literally had 9 pages of questions for her as we sat in my Airbnb during Folk Alliance (you can hear about 4 trolleys rolling by the windows). Leyla is smart, well...

Montreal's Elisapie was born in Salluit, Quebec into the Inuit community. She grew up in the a little arctic village in The North surrounded by the sad truth of what happened to the generations before her when while settlers forced the semi-nomadic Inuit people to settle into one area. Elisapie was born to a single mother, who adopted her out other family members who could not have children. S...

Crys Matthews is the self-proclaimed "Poster Child for Intersectionality." While she'll say that with a smile, it's actually true: she's a black, lesbian, butch woman, formerly in an interracial marriage. Raised in North Carolina, her mother was a preacher, providing Crys with a rich backdrop of gospel music. She found music in 6th grade, first picking up the clarinet and then...

Singer-songwriter Amythyst Kiah joins us this week. She can be heard along side Layla McCalla, Allison Russell and Rhiannon Giddens in the Grammy nominated project Songs of Our Native Daughters . Amythyst talks about growing up an independent worker in Mississippi and how music forced her into collaboration. She recounts how writing songs helped her through some of the most difficult family strive...

Rachel Lynne, the highly emotive songwriter, joins us for a live episode at Club Passim! Lynne was born and raised in Georgia. She spent her young life obsessed with music, especially sad and lonesome country music. Her own music cannot be described as country, but it has a certain lonesome quality to it. If you've ever experienced any serious emotions, one listen to Rachel's music and you...

Basic Folk is live at Club Passim in Cambridge with Americana songwriter  Dinty Child . Member of Session Americana, Dinty is releasing his debut solo album after being a part of the Boston folk and roots community for about three decades. His record, Lucky Ones,  will be out on January 17 , with a release show  January 16 at Oberon in Harvard Sq , Cambridge. In our conversation, we talk about gro...

Singer/Songwriter and guitarist Abraham Alexander has an incredible life story: born in Greece to Nigerian parents, he immigrated to the US when he was 11. Months after that move, his mother died, putting Abraham into foster care until he was adopted at age 16. He was extremely athletic when he was young and found community through sports and encouragement from his parents, who actually had an int...

Rebecca Loebe is a Georgia-born musician raised in the Atlanta music community via Eddie's Attic. Loebe attended Berklee College of Music and spent time in the Boston music world before settling in Austin, TX. She also had the unique experience of being a part of the very first season of "The Voice" as part of Adam Levine's team. She appeared on the show for a couple of episodes an...

Molly Venter of Red Molly and Goodnight Moonshine has a style reminiscent of the clearest folk singers from the 60's combined with a classic 50's rock vibe. On top of all this, she's an incredibly delightful person. Molly's story begins in New Haven, CT, where she was raised by two parents whose past times included sailing and performing music. Molly actually learned how to play gu...

Montreal's Leif Vollebekk emotional delivery creates a world of color in my mind. It's not surprising that he has Synesthesia, a perceptual condition in which the stimulation of one sense triggers an automatic, involuntary experience in another sense. Leif sees colors when he hears music, therefore, his music invokes colorful emotion. Raised in Ottawa, he inherited a few instruments from f...