Roots Music Rambler

On the latest episode of Roots Music Rambler, singer-songwriter Taylor Lansdale opens up about his journey from the courtroom to the creative world of songwriting. Once a public defender in Montgomery County, Kentucky, Taylor found himself emotionally exhausted by the weight of his work. Turning to music, he discovered songwriting as a powerful form of therapy and storytelling. Now, with his debut...

When a band’s first album drops, it’s exciting. When it shoots up to a top three position on the charts – any chart for that matter – something is happening. That’s exactly what is happening to Ramona & The Holy Smokes whose eponymous debut album landed at No. 3 on the Alt Country Specialty Chart in early October. It has bounced around the top 10 since and debuted at No. 50 on the Americana Music...

The new single from country singer-songwriter Brit Taylor “All for Sale” presents a cautionary tale for men who mess up. If you do, all you stuff is going on sale and you can take a hike. The song probably wasn’t intended for Taylor’s husband Adam Chaffins. He co-wrote and produced the track for the Kentucky native. And the couple, very much mad about one another, are expecting their first child t...

Chasen Wayne took the long road to honky tonk stage success. The native Texan’s first job in the music industry – if you could call it that – was a club bouncer as a teenager. His reputation and professionalism landed him at a popular venue in Austin, Texas where he wound up booking shows, too. Nevermind that his big claim to fame in Austin is booking a video shoot for Zach Bryan, a story he tells...

Long-time listeners of Roots Music Rambler will recognize the name of the band Sparkle Carcass. They happen to be one of Francesca Folinazzo’s favorite Chicago-based bands she sees play live frequently. And to their credit, they are well-known in the windy city as an alt-country, dive bar sorta crew. Well, Cody Palmer and crew today released their second studio album and he joined us on Roots Musi...

Just a few short years ago, Minneapolis-based folk rock band The Last Revel may have been on its last leg. Co-founder and guitarist Lee Henke was burned out and needed a break. Fortunately, he went on the all-too-familiar journey of burned out musicians, found space, and therapy, which led him back to the band after the pandemic. Soon after, they released Dovetail, which was what he called the “ha...

Chicago-based Los Gallos is a perfect example of the blending of culture in Americana music. Their Mexican and Puerto Rican family backgrounds manifested in first-generation American players who grew up on country and rock radio in the U.S. has resulted in perhaps one of the most interesting bands we’ve heard in a while. Their music is a mix of English and Spanish language songs that range from tr...

Singer-songwriter Shawn Camp has a number of No.1 and Top-10 hits to his name as a songwriter. He’s also had solo success as an artist through the years and is one of the members of bluegrass power group The Earls of Leicester. But perhaps the most fulfilling role he’s had through the years was being a collaborator and protege of sorts of the legendary Guy Clark.  Clark died in 2016 but for over 2...

Corduroy Brown was so ill with COVID during the pandemic, he was airlifted from Huntington, W.Va., to more advanced medical facilities in Morgantown. During the helicopter ride, he died.  Fortunately, quick work from the EMTs revived him. He survived and experienced something most people don’t: A glimpse of what’s on the other side. It changed his outlook on life and his music, which has taken off...

We’re taking a bit of a diversion from the typical artist interview this week on Roots Music Rambler with a special guest. Anne Gauthier is the primary producer and engineer behind the great sounds and recordings that come out of La La Land Sound in Louisville, Ky. She has produced, mixed and recorded with artists like Bonnie Prince Billy, Murder by Death, Joan Shelley and more. She has also contr...

Bill Taylor got a message on TikTok in November from a talent scout for America’s Got Talent. Yes, he was interested, but he thought little of the outreach until two weeks later when the process began to have him and his Appalachian Heatherns fly to California for an audition in front of Simon Cowell, Sophia Vergara, Mel B and Howie Mandel.  The band recorded their audition in March. In June, it a...

In 2018, a group of southern rock, soul and funk loving musicians from Lexington, Ky., got together to form a new band called Magnolia Boulevard. They quickly gelled and his momentum before the pandemic interrupted what seemed to be a sure rise to prominence in the emerging Americana blend of genres popular in today’s clubs and music festivals.  As the COVID-19 fears subsided and they returned to...

Did you know there’s a music festival coming Labor Day weekend that features an incredible roster of singers, songwriters and bands in the Americana, country, folk and bluegrass space and the tickets to said event are absolutely free? You do now.  The Manchester Music Fest is in its seventh iteration in eight years (damnit, COVID) and has always been completely free to the public to attend. Yes, y...

Nicholas Jamerson is regarded as one of the finer songwriters in the current Americana, folk and country scene. His heartfelt lyrics of love, loss and lamentation born from the hills of Eastern Kentucky were the foundation of the success of Sundy Best, his award-winning band and collaboration with Kris Bentley. But after its temporary break-up/hiatus, Jamerson continued writing and recording as a...

Roots Music Rambler is not designed to be a breaking news outlet, but don’t tell Ben Chapman that. In our recent sit-down for Roots Music Rambler the Georgia-native and standout singer-songwriter dropped news item after news item. Chapman, who recently tied the knot with longtime girlfriend and fellow songwriter Meg McRee shared the news of their upcoming first child (which they’d already shared o...

For Ireland’s Mark Geary, America was everything. He moved to New York in the 1990s and cut his teeth in the music business alongside legendary artists like Jeff Buckley. Thirty years later, his songs continue to paint pictures of the modern Irish experience, especially as it relates to America. Geary sat down with Roots Music Rambler before his May headline show at The Monarch Music Community in...

If you’ve listened to Roots Music Rambler much at all you know Frank and Falls are suckers for the new wave of retro-sounding Americana and Country artists. (See our previous episode with Kimmi Bitter.) When we first heard Logan Ledger, the same fascination kicked in.  With sounds reminiscent of Marty Robbins, Jim Croce and The Byrds, it was easy to see why this Bay Area product was reclaiming the...

Songwriters and storytellers are at the core of Americana music. Few conversations in the genre go very long without the mention of names like John Prine, Jason Isbell, Gillian Welch and others. Most of those folks flocked to Nashville at one time or another to get a publishing deal, cut some records and try to make it in music. Gabe Lee never had to flock to Nashville. He was born and raised ther...

The mountains of Appalachia have produced some of the most memorable music in recent memory. From Dwight Yoakam to Chris Stapleton and Sturgill Simpson to Tyler Childers, plus up-and-comers like Brit Taylor and Leah Blevins, there’s beautiful tunes in “them-thar hills.” Cait Justice’s debut album Angel Teeth from sonaBlast Records offers a new entry in the fresh voices from Eastern Kentucky. The 2...

Folk rockers The Mallett Brothers are back with a new album on April 4 called “Higher up in the Hills.” Luke and Will Mallett joined us on Roots Music Rambler this week to talk about the album, the first couple of singles from it, 15-years of making it in independent music without leaving their home state of Maine and more.  The brothers who front the band are actually from folk music royalty. The...

There’s nothing we love more on Roots Music Rambler than digging into the stories behind songs, albums and artists, especially when geography and place have an impact there. That’s why this episode stands out as one of our favorites as Tyler Grant joined us to talk about his new album, his journey through bands and solo work and more. No one digs into a story as well as Grant does and you’ll note...

It’s no secret that the Roots Music Rambler team loves a good music festival. But as we’ve discussed before, there are perhaps too many of them and the costs continue to skyrocket for fans. It just so happens that there exists an entire podcast and YouTube show dedicated to music festivals and its host, Nate Riggs, is a friend of the program. This week on Roots Music Rambler, Frank and Falls dig i...

There are few artists out there who fit the Americana music label by decidedly not fitting in any single box better than Jeff Shepherd. The northern Indiana native has been called rock, blues, outlaw country and punk. His music harkens back to 70s rock but has enough country influences to draw comparisons to southern rock and outlaw country artists, alike. Shepherd, which he now goes by as a singl...

Well, 2024 is in the books and what a year we saw in Americana and Roots Music. From Sierra Ferrell’s explosion to Beyonce’s Cowboy Carter and crazy collaborations to new music from artists like Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, The Secret Sisters, Marcus King and Dwight Yoakam, the year was one for the books. Since this was the first full calendar year Roots Music Rambler existed (we debuted in S...

It’s not often Rolling Stone compares a singer-songwriter to John Prine. But they did just that when they heard “Steelhead Trout” by Margo Cilker. The Oregon-based artist’s first two albums have turned her into an emerging star in the Americana music scene.  Pohorylle, her debut, was so good, the UK Americana Music Association nominated it for Album of the Year alongside Brandi Carlile, Robert Pla...