Basic Folk

Jenny Owen Youngs! Jenny is an indie pop songwriter, queer icon and podcast host. I am thrilled to have her on Basic Folk! Her new EP,  Night Shift, is out now (November 15) and we talk about it and all of her whole life in our conversation. From her young life in rural New Jersey to space camp (where she wished for more space and less camp) to coming out in a very public way in 2012. Jenny is a s...

Ryan Walsh of the literary (read: nerd) indie rock band Hallelujah The Hills has new music on the way. The new  I'm You LP releases on November 15, 2019. Walsh, originally from Dedham, MA, has always held an interest in history and folk music, particularly when it comes to his hometown. Dedham was the site of where Sacco and Vanzetti were wrongly held for murder and also, subsequently, was nam...

Betsy Siggins  is a folk boss in charge, and we’re beyond honored to welcome her as a guest on Basic Folk. Siggins has been an integral part of the folk music world since the late 1950’s when she and her roommate, Joan Baez, starting hanging around the Cambridge scene at Club 47. She’s work at the famous folk club until it closed in the 1960’s, where after that she worked with The Smithsonian in W...

Emily Mure is a real life New York native! She is a life-long oboist, who had big plans for a career in classical music. That all changed when she discovered the guitar, thanks to the encouragement of her grandfather. Emily excelled at songwriting and quickly dove into this brave new world. After college, she moved to Ireland for 6 months where she soaked up the busking community in Galway. She re...

Wallis Bird is a joyful musician who is an incredibly emotionally exciting live performer and songwriter. On Basic Folk we talk about her upbringing, her views on faith and spirituality and her immediate attraction to the guitar. We also get into her career talking about the publishing offers she started getting at 12 years old.   American Songwriter Podcast Network: https://americansongwriter.com...

Molly Sarle of Mountain Man has been working on her solo record for a little while and it's finally out! The beautiful Karaoke Angel is the Santa Cruz, CA's native debut album. During our conversation on Basic Folk, Molly talks about her family and where music was in her life growing up. We dig into a few very interesting topics like religion! sex! and cats!   American Songwriter Podcast N...

Joe Troop, frontman for the Buenos Aires "Latin-Grass" group Che Apalache, has loved bluegrass since he was 15. He kind of discovered that fact almost at the same time he discovered his attraction to men. As a North Carolina native, Troop is a proud out gay man in a world that doesn't always accept him: the rural south. Please enjoy and subscribe!   American Songwriter Podcast Network:...

Amanda Shires, Texas born, Nashville based, sideplayer turned songwriter, turned force of nature in Americana, folk and alt-country world. Her partnership with Jason Isbell is legendary. Her most current project, The Highwomen, is well on it's way to legendary status.   American Songwriter Podcast Network Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

David Huckfelt, founding member of the Minneapolis folk band, The Pines, emanates poetry in everything he does. From his solo work to his outlook on life, Huckfelt is living artwork. It was a real pleasure to speak with him about his Iowa upbringing, his connection to indigenous people and his two-week solitary writing retreat on the most remote and least visited national park in mighty Lake Super...

Scottish-American songwriter Johnathan Rice might have first landed on your radar through his duo Jenny & Johnny with his former partner Jenny Lewis. Rice's story starts in Virginia and Scotland where he spent time going back and forth for his dad's work. Each place having its own effect on his young musicianship. Virginia embodied a typical mid-90's American teen experience. In Sc...

Basic Folk is Live at Club Passim! Alisa Amador grew up in Cambridge, MA surrounded by the influence of her parents' Latin group Sol y Canto. She has managed to cultivate a warm sound that walks the line of folk, jazz, blues, soul and Latin. One thing so apparent about these laid back, warm songs is their similarities to the human that's writing and performing them.   American Songwriter P...

Basic Folk is live at Club Passim with Melissa Ferrick! The indie folk songwriter genius lesbian icon joins us for our very first live recording of the podcast. We get honest conversation and live music from Melissa, who had recently moved to Cambridge, graduated grad school at Harvard and got a new teaching job at Northeastern. She played songs from her latest self-titled album as well as a new s...

Songwriter, author and podcaster Ben Arthur did not know what he was in for on Basic Folk, but neither did I. Most times there is a plan when I approach an interview, however, every once in awhile the plan gets thrown out and we really dig into it. "I didn't expect all the psychological profiling that we're doing... but I'm into it" Ben says after a couple of minutes into the i...

Bridget Kearney, bassist for Lake Street Dive, has been deeply immersed in studying music since childhood. From the "super nerds" she met at jazz camp to the nights in her parents' basement transposing songs, Kearney has dedicated herself to the betterment of her craft. In our conversation, we talk about how her experience in playing in orchestras prepared her for collaborative life in...

Matt Smith is a living legend with his unbelievable run at Club Passim, the historic folk venue nestled in a Harvard Square basement. Currently Managing Director at Passim, Matt is the most passionate music lover I know. I met Matt while working as a student at WERS, where he was bringing in fantastic shows into a listening room filled with people who were clambering for honest music in an intimat...

Chris Eldridge won his first Grammy this year with The Punch Brothers. After 8 nominations between Punch Brothers, The Seldom Scene and his work with Julian Lage, this award was very overdue! Eldridge, who goes by the nickname Critter, grew up around bluegrass with his dad being a member of The Seldom Scene and being around influential players like Tony Rice.   American Songwriter Podcast Network...

Jim Kweskin is maybe the most famous person you might not know. With The Jim Kweskin Jug band, he mixed together folk and jazz which invigorated the straight-laced Cambridge folk scene in the 1960's. A regular at The Club 47, now Club Passim, Kweskin talks about how he came to the jug band style and how his band's relaxed stage presence changed the dynamic of the live folk show in profound...

Corey Laitman is a really interesting musician and person. Their music is vulnerable in a way that you rarely find (Deb Talan, Edie Carey, Patty Griffin) with a voice that basically encompasses all human emotions in 0.5 seconds. It's amazing. Corey's spirit is inspired by their vast imagination and connection to nature. We talk in the podcast about how humans are intrinsically connected to...

Zack Hickman is bound to go down in folk history for his incredible handlebar moustache, but fellow bandmates in his numerous groups know him for his extreme talent and keen ability to bring together musical projects. Born in Lynchburg, VA to physician parents, he grew up on a micro farm where his family grew produce, flowers and (of course) tended to bees. He eventually found his way to Oberlin C...

David Dye is a public radio music host pioneer. What Dye, WXPN and NPR did with starting the World Cafe changed the landscape of music on the radio for the extreme better. David is a music fan first and was allowed to express that knowledge and love for sharing songs on the radio to a national audience for over 25 years. David is funny and thoughtful and quick with his answers! We go through all m...

Izzy Heltai is brave, curious and charismatic about the world. Izzy is a trans-man who has not yet talked about his gender at length in an interview the way he does on this episode of Basic Folk. He's careful with how he represents himself,  but it's a lovely and informative conversation about finding how to be comfortable in life. He is someone who has a sharp sense of how to achieve that...

Livingston Taylor has managed to carve out an impressive and interesting career as a successful songwriter and extremely effective professor of stage performance at Berklee College of Music in Boston. Younger brother to the very famous James Taylor, this is an interesting and vast conversation with a fascinating man. Liv generously talks about his relationship with his late brother Alex, Carly Sim...

Jenna Nicholls was the imaginative kid who was friends with trees and believed furniture was alive. Raised in Western Pennsylvania, she was raised on jazz, classical and Irish music. Her music is reflective of the golden age of radio and The Great Depression. Her lyrics put people in a place visually and she encompasses a couple different tones including a delightful lighthearted falsetto. Now a r...

Cinematic, multi-talented, mystical/magical, human-songwriter Ethan Gruska is a grounded and extremely likable person. Ethan’s 2017 Slowmotionary, for me, was a personal lifesaver during a hell of a year. He may have come across your radar through his indie band The Belle Brigade with his sister Barbara. We touch upon topics ranging from his mother’s stroke (which happened right after he was born)...

It is wonderful to have songwriter Marissa Nadler on the pod! Ethereal, goth, ambient and gauzy are often used to describe her sound. She has collaborated with musicians like John Cale, Sharon Van Etten and black metal band Xasthur. Marissa gets into the differences between herself and her songs, "I'm a complete nervous wreck with a massive anxiety disorder..." while her songs are very...