Stereo Embers: The Podcast

“On Banjo” In sunny a San Diego high school somewhere in the 70s, while kids were listening to Aerosmith and Van Halen and Boston, Alison Brown was listening to bluegrass. She had started on guitar but gravitated to the banjo and by her teens, she was already pretty proficient on the instrument. She won first place at the Canadian National Banjo Championship, played a gig at the Grand Ole Opry and...

“Forwards” For more than 40 years the Welsh band the Alarm have been one of the most consistent acts on the planet, playing songs with conviction, heart and belief. With almost 20 studio albums under their belts, along with a discography that includes live albums, box sets and EPs, The Alarm are one of those bands where you pretty much want everything they put out. From albums like Declaration to...

“Time On Earth” In the early ‘80s, the British born singer-songwriter Pete Astor was the frontman for the band The Loft and when that outfit split up, he formed the Weather Prophets who put out a trio of albums including the fabulous Diesel River and the miraculous Judges Juries and Horsemen. Astor kept the dream alive after the Prophets split up, emerging with fabulous projects like The Wisdom of...

"Bluegrass Vacation” With close to 20 albums under his belt, including Country Love Songs, Let’s Kill Saturday Night, and his fabulous new one Bluegrass Vacation, Robbie Fulks has had quite a career. Over the last thirty years the Pennsylvania born singer-songwriter has collaborated with everyone from Steve Albini to Dallas Wayne to NRBQ’s Al Anderson, worked as a country music songwriter for the...

“Born In A Trunk” She may have been born in the Bay Area, but Amy Irving might as well have been born in a theatre. Her father was the film and stage director Julius Irving and her mother was the actress Priscilla Pointer. And what happens when you have theatre parents? Well, you’re in the theatre. A lot. And then you’re on the stage. A lot. And then it’s in your blood and there’s no turning back....

“Bergen Street” The Brooklyn-born Chapin Sisters’s new single—which is their first new material since 2017’s Ferry Boat—is called "Bergen Street" and it’s about moving. And because it’s about moving from Brooklyn to the Hudson Valley, The Chapin sisters have had to have a lot of conversations about that move and what it means. Leaving Brooklyn really is kind of a big deal for sisters Abigail and L...

“Doctor Moan” Ever since he landed in San Francisco at 19, the Buffalo-born Peter Case pretty much hasn’t stopped making music. He hit the Bay as a busker and from there joined pals Jack Lee and Paul Collins to form the punk band the Nerves. After the Nerves called it a day, Case formed The Plimsouls, who put out a handful of albums that were instant classics. When the Plimsouls broke up, Case str...

"Foreground Music" With a handful of winning solo albums under his belt including Stardust Birthday Party, Heavy Meta and his fabulous new one Foreground Music, Ron Gallo is, for my money, one of the most exciting guys around. The New Jersey-born singer/songwriter who got his start fronting bands like Toy Soldiers, is a self-possessed engine of a talent who fills every track with nerve, velocity a...

“Dark Island” Inspired by poetry, traditional celtic music, indie rock and the terrain of their beloved home of Cape Breton, the members of Villages have the island in their bones. And that makes sense—because they come from five generations of Cape Bretonians. So it’s safe to say it’s in their bones, their hearts, their minds and their souls. And it shows. The band’s new long player Dark Island i...

“The Hypnogogue” With close to 30 albums to their credit, including classics like Heyday, Starfish, The Blurred Crusade and their fabulous new one The Hypnogogue, The Church are one of the most enduring bands of all time. Led by the British-born but Australian raised Steve Kilbey, the Sydney-based outfit continue to put out music that’s mesmeric, melodic and meditative. Inducted into the ARIA Hall...

“Down Rounder” Cat Clyde is crushing it. The Canadian singer/songwriter’s just-released new album Down Rounder hit the #1 spot in the most added Americana Radio Album charts and her single "Mystic Light” was the #2 most added single on the same chart. Produced by Tony Berg (Phoebe Bridgers, Paul McCartney), Clyde’s third album is a wondrous and poetic collection of indie folk and breezy roots musi...

“Grandfather Courage” Fantastic Negrito may have been born in Massachusetts, but he’s a Bay Area guy through and through. The 8th of 15 kids, he moved to Oakland as a twelve year old and immediately immersed himself in the sounds of the 510 and the 415. He was no stranger to punk rock clubs like Berkeley’s Gillman or the underground hip hop clubs of Oakland. He liked it all—metal, indie rock, soul...

“When The Storm Has Passed” With ten albums or so under their indie folk belts, The Great Lake Swimmers have consistently been one of the most arresting affecting and spellbinding bands around. The Canadian outfit introduced themselves to the world with their self-titled 2003 effort and since then have put out classics like New Wild Everywhere, The Waves, The Wake and the Juno-nominated Lost Chann...

“No Warning Shots Fired” Fang got their start in the early '80s in the East Bay. The Berkeley hardcore band’s early start was a little less hardcore and more experimental but that lineup, which featured future Glass Eye bassist Brian Beattie, only lasted under two years. The new lineup, with newly minted singer Sam McBride on vocals, became the punk rock powerhouse that blasted their way across th...

“I’m Not Sure At All” Bringing to mind a low-fi Kate Bush mixed with Cat Power and Beth Orton, the Kent-born Marlody is a revelation. Her debut album I’m Not Sure At All is a rich and lustrous affair, filled with confident songwriting about feeling unconfident. And that’s the beautiful thing about Marlody—her music is a delicious cauldron of contrasts that’s redolent with vulnerability and strengt...

"Tender Years" The Brisbane-born Robert Forster is perhaps best known as a founding member of the legendary band The Go-Betweens. How legendary are they? Well, let’s just say this: There’s a bridge in Brisbane called The Go-Between Bridge. I was going to say they were one of the most critically-acclaimed bands of the last 40 years, but that falls short of the mark— they’re one of the most critical...

“The Last Mile” The Scottish-born Chris Connelly got his start with the electronic outfit Finitribe. Championed by John Peel, the inventive band did a long and harrowing UK in '88 and so arduous that tour was, it led to the shedding of three members, including Connelly, who left for the U.S. and landed in Chicago, where he fell in with the Revolting Cocks and Ministry. Connelly had hung out with t...

“Direction Of The Heart” Whether you’re good at math or not, it really shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone that Simple Minds have sold 60 million records. After all, the Scottish band have been around since 1977 and since then, have put out an uninterrupted string of classics like Empires and Dance, New Gold Dream, Sparkle in the Rain, Once Upon A Time, Street Fighting Years and their most rece...

“I Hate Memory” Born in Budapest, Eszter Balint relocated to the United States and as a ten year old and found herself in New York living with the avant-garde Squat Theatre troupe, which was founded by her dad. Being surrounded by artists was no new thing for the violin-playing actress, who came from generations of artists. Her father was also a poet, her grandfather was a renowned visual artist a...

“Desert Flowers” The New Mexico-born Heather Trost is one half of the American Balkan Folk Band A Hawk And A Hacksaw, the other half being her husband, the accordionist Jeremy Barnes, who, by the way, also hails from New Mexico. Over the course of their career, A Hawk and a Hacksaw have put out seven marvelous albums, including Darkness At Noon, The Way The Wind Blows and their most recent effort,...

“Analog Holiday” Arielle is one of those rare talents that comes along where you look at what she’s capable of and it kind of knocks you out. A guitar virtuoso who also is blessed with a four-octave voice, Arielle has played on stage with everyone from Queen in the "We Will Rock You” musical to Cee Lo Green at Coachella. She’s opened for Guns 'n Roses, Larkin Poe and Heart, collaborated with Eric...

“Cuando” Adam Topol doesn’t sit behind a kit the size of Alex Van Halen’s or Chad Smith’s, but he’s equally as mighty. Topol is like Charlie Watts in the sense that he just kind of sits in the pocket and holds it all down. Like Watts, his style looks super laid back, but looks are deceptive because laid back appearance aside, big work is getting done. Topol is a subtle player who’s inventive, tast...

“Year Of The Tiger” Art Alexakis is one of the most dynamic frontmen in rock and roll. The L.A.-born musician's songs have power and sting and he plays them with equal parts muscle and heart. To date, his band Everclear, which got started in ’91, have put out nearly 15 fabulous albums, including Sparkle and Fade, So Much For The Afterglow, Welcome To The Drama Club and 2015’s Black is the New Blac...

“Strip" The daughter of the late critically-acclaimed poet Robert Sward, Hannah Sward grew up surrounded by literature. Her unconventional childhood of the 70s found her moving around with her dad and eating tofu and brown rice and having gurus visit the house. But Sward’s memoir Strip isn’t just about an eccentric childhood. It’s a far darker affair than that. Kidnapped in the park as a child by...

“Still Comes The Night" Raised by a drama teacher mother and an acting coach father, the arts were coursing mightily through the Sudol house. A lover of literature and music, the Seattle-born Alison Sudol started crafting her path at a young age. In her teens, the self-taught pianist created a persona that operated under the A Fine Frenzy sobriquet, releasing a power trio of albums, including 2007...