The String

Episode 136: Just beyond the fuzzy boundaries of roots and Americana music, we find Brooklyn Based singer-songwriter Becca Stevens. And I hope you have found her. With a complex musical language drawn from folk, jazz, classical and pop, her output is searching, challenging and ever-evolving. A graduate of the NC School of the Arts and the New School in New York, she leaps from American public radi...

Episode 135: With ten albums and 20 years under his belt as one of the finest and wittiest songwriters working the Western end of country music, Alberta's Corb Lund is on his way to legendary status in Rocky Mountain cowboy-inspired songwriting. His newest is Agricultural Tragic, a 13 song collection that evokes the characters and colors of his home region. Also in the hour, Henry Hicks talks abou...

Episode 134: In an era where women are marginalized on country radio, Brandy Clark is at the top of most people's list of women who should be on the air a lot more. She's written hits for others on Music Row, but her own records are beautifully produced and full of insight about people and humor that would have tickled Roger Miller. Clark's shared a Grammy Award for writing Kacey Musgraves' "Follo...

Episode 133: David Bromberg is one of the most fascinating and multi-faceted figures in roots music, a pioneer of the Americana idea decades before the term came into being. In the 1960s New York folk revival, he was a guitar player and multi-instrumental sideman who specialized in the blues. Then as an artist on Columbia Records, he made dazzling varied roots albums while supporting stars like Bo...

Episode 132: The timing was right to split the hour between two exceptional emerging artists making hard country music in the outlaw tradition. As you'll hear, Jesse Daniel and Jaime Wyatt have lived the life, paid the price and processed their pain and redemption in song. Both are products of the West Coast and both have dug deep into their own stories. Many are sizing up Daniel's 'Rollin' On' an...

Episode #131: Two of the most exceptional and provocative songwriters of their respective generations take on America's political divide and inject some radical empathy in the red/blue schism. Steve Earle addresses coal mining from the heart of a state that didn't vote like he does in Ghosts of West Virginia. BJ Barham caps off 15 years of leading American Aquarium with the amazing Lamentations, w...

Episode 130: She's a daughter of Grand Ole Opry royalty, but Pam Tillis found her own way to the music business and the top of the country charts in the 1990s. She's long been one of Music City's most independent-minded major leaguers, and she shows it on Looking For A Feeling, her first album in more than a decade. She works with some of Nashville's most creative musical minds too. Also in the ho...

Episode 129: Lilly Hiatt put in a lot of work at the local and regional level, including releasing two albums, before her third, Trinity Lane, met the moment and became a breakout work. So a lot of ears were lifted toward her 2020 release of Walking Proof, and it was quickly acclaimed as punchy, vivid and memorable. We talk about going on the road with her dad songwriter John Hiatt back in the day...

Episode 128: Katie Pruitt has been known as a phenom ready for big things in Nashville for a few years now. With patience and enough maturity to get the music exactly as she intended, Pruitt has now made her debut on Rounder Records. The album Expectations is a bold, ambitious and succulent collection, and vividly honest as well, with songs documenting a difficult journey from a conservative famil...

Episode 127: Paul Burch moved from Indiana to Nashville in 1994 when his friend Jay McDowell (BR549) told him about the burgeoning indie country music scene on sleepy Lower Broadway. In the 25 years since then, Burch has made uncompromising and original music with shades of classic honky tonk and timeless rock and soul. Here we talk about his role in the fascinating band Lambchop, the evolution of...

Episode 126: This Spring, many of the outstanding women of roots music have released new albums, and here we catch up with two of them. Jessi Alexander, native of Jackson TN, moved to Nashville at 18 and landed songwriting and record deals. She's a hitmaker behind the scenes who rarely surfaces with her own heartfelt country music, but she sure does so on Decatur County Red, anchored in stories of...

Episode 125: Recording producers are often the best people to speak with to gain extra insight into what makes some music more effective than others. And that's what we do this episode with two Nashville leaders with very different stories. Rick Clark came of age in Memphis and moved to Nashville in the 90s. He's been a DJ, a compilation curator and a music supervisor for film and TV. He's also ge...

Episode 124: Caleb Caudle grew up in rural North Carolina outside of Winston Salem, captivated by music far beyond what his school peers cared about - English punk, folk music and Bob Dylan among them. Since entering the fray as a singer songwriter in the mid 2000s, he's released seven studio albums, with a brand new one on the way later this week. Better Hurry Up was cut in 2019 just days after t...

Episode 123: Ron Pope is a case study in good indie art and commerce. He's an admired songwriter with an avid following for his cathartic, detail-laden songs and his range across a bunch of roots and rock and roll genres. Over more than a dozen albums, he's steered his own ship in a business partnership with his wife/manager and their Brooklyn Basement Records. The newest project is the sweeping a...

Episode 122: Living the road life makes for tight musical couples. And in this split episode, I speak with a new mom who tours and duets with her husband and a couple that's been touring for a decade on their own and as side musicians. Nora Jane Struthers just released her fifth album, celebrating her full life, Bright Lights, Long Drives, First Words, and says it includes "Good Thing," the best s...

Episode 121 is a field trip to Asheville, NC, which Rolling Stone last year touted as one of the best music scenes in the country. We who visit regularly already knew that, and this week's show surveys the talent and the institutions making the region important in roots music and beyond. Featuring Amanda Anne Platt of the Honeycutters, Echo Mountain Studio, WNCW radio, Crossroads Music, Sarah Sisk...

Episode 120: Vince Herman and Drew Emmitt met in 1985 on Vince's first night in Boulder, CO and formed a lifelong musical bond. With banjo player Mark Vann they merged two bands into one and became Leftover Salmon at the dawn of 1990. And in the 30 years since they've earned the respect and partnership of the highest levels of the bluegrass and acoustic world while playing music that's as adventur...

Episode 119: Four virtuoso string band musicians well known for their work with other bands are taking instrumental acoustic music to new heights in the band Hawktail. They are fiddler Brittany Haas, bassist Paul Kowert, guitarist Jordan Tice and mandolinist Dominick Leslie. And they recently landed on the Grand Ole Opry on release weekend of their second album Formations. Also, the delightful and...

Episode 118: Marcus Finnie is one of Nashville's most admired drummers, with a background spanning gospel, roots, pop and jazz. Mabel Pleasure is a lifelong Hammond organ player who rocks Sunday morning church services and the occasional R&B gig. And she's also Marcus's Mom. The String sits down with a musical family that's come from Memphis to Nashville and contributed to a brighter Music City. M...

Episode 117: Often when songwriters talk process, we hear the same few nuggets about craft on repeat. Nashville Songwriters Hall of Famer Beth Nielsen Chapman though has a deeply considered take on the art form and the personal work and qualities of mindfulness that truly unlock creative potential. Her workshops and lectures are in demand. And coming in 2020 she launches The Song School, a podcast...

Episode 116: Fiddler, songwriter, singer, bandleader and folk music scholar Michael Doucet is synonymous with Beausoleil the neo-traditional Louisiana band he co-founded 40+ years ago. But this artist relishes collaborations and his upcoming album with a new band, L'acher Prise on Compass Records, is a real Americana hybrid. It's Cajun at its core, but full of ideas from four other musicians a gen...

Episode 115: To start the new year, a full-hour with one of the certified icons of roots/Americana music and Nashville songwriting, John Hiatt. We cover a lot of ground, from getting launched out of Indianapolis in 1970 through a long, frustrating recording career and a breakthrough in the mid 1980s to his stature today as a Nashville leader. His long-time label New West Records has just released...

Episode 114: They grew up in Nashville in the home of the legendary preacher and singer Rev. Sam McCrary, a key member of the Fairfield Four and a major figure in gospel music. They've sung, together and apart, on stages and in studios around the world. And they've become beloved anchors in Music City. After some work with producer/artist Buddy Miller, they answered popular demand to form their ow...

Episode 113: Allison Moorer emerged around the year 2000 as one of the most profound and beautiful voices in true country music. As she grew in stature and acclaim, it emerged that she's suffered an extraordinary loss as a 14-year-old when her troubled, alcoholic father murdered her mother and then took his own life. The time emerged for Moorer to grapple with the trauma in public, and she worked...

Episode 112: Michaela Anne went to New York City to study jazz vocals and emerged a full on convert to country music. She built a career in Brooklyn then moved to Nashville to see it through. She's recently released her fourth album and a label debut with Yep Roc. There's a serenity in her voice and a sensitivity in her lyrics. She talks about her background and the courage it takes to live, as on...