The String

Episode 327: To hear Mike Farris sing - an experience a bit like being pinned to the seat of an accelerating Porsche Taycan - is to believe that he was born to the stage, motivated from childhood, and destined for soul/gospel glory. Yet in Episode 327 of The String, we learn that A) Mike is lucky to be here at all and B) that a singing career was not remotely on his own radar until he was approaching his 20th birthday. And the two are related. In his teens, Farris almost died from drug abuse. Music was part of his rescue. And I’ve never heard him go as deep on these subjects as he does in this hour. His newest album is a powerful, secular record recorded at FAME Studios called The Sound Of Muscle Shoals.   

Episode 326: Andrea Zonn has been on my list of possible Music City star musicians to be a guest on the show for some time, but her new project the HercuLeons and their debut album of the same name sealed the deal. She’s been a leading studio and road musician since the 1990s, when she sweet talked her way into a touring spot with burgeoning country star Vince Gill. Her background is in classical violin, so she’s respected in town for her versatility and her gorgeous voice. She’s also a songwriter and recording artist with two fine albums to her credit. Now, working with her old friend John Cowan (my guest last week in Episode 325), she’s part of a nimble top-flight band that draws from soul, jazz, the blues, and Nashville roots music for one of the year’s best albums. We cover her whole journey, up to her breathtaking vocals on songs like “Face Of Appalachia.” 

Episode 325: In 1972, a 19-year-old bass player and natural born singer from Kentucky and Indiana auditioned for an emerging band called New Grass Revival. Over almost 20 years, John Cowan would be the voice of that ensemble, through mega tours supporting Leon Russell, improbable country radio success, and the emergence of a whole new genre of roots music they gave a name to. NGR got Cowan into the Bluegrass Hall of Fame, but there’s so much more - a mighty solo career, abundant collaborations, and a steady gig in the Doobie Brothers. Now his latest project is the new band The HercuLeons, a Nashville supergroup with fiddler/singer Andrea Zonn. Here, John covers his life in music. Next week, Andrea Zonn gets her turn. 

Episode 324: It’s hard to believe that Nashville’s SteelDrivers have been making their unique brand of hard-core string band music for nearly twenty years. They were the vehicle through which many of us were introduced to the epic voice of Chris Stapleton, back when he and Mike Henderson co-wrote that band’s high impact debut album of 2008. When Henderson and Stapleton had to move on, the band pulled its greatest trick, bringing on great new voices, growing bigger, and building a legacy that’s like nothing else in 21st century bluegrass. In Episode 324 of  The String, Craig talks with original members Mike Fleming, bass player and baritone vocal, and Tammy Rogers, the fiddler and harmony singer who now leads the way with the band’s songwriting. We talk about the whole ride, up to the new album Outrun, out now on a revived Sun Records.   

Special Episode: The story of how global banjo explorer Joe Troop (formerly of Che Apalache) met Venezuelan harpist and all-around folk music master Larry Bellorín is testimony to the magic of global culture and a cautionary tale about the stark turn US policy has taken against working asylum seekers this year. Over three years as the bilingual, genre-fusing, and multi-instrumental duo Larry & Joe, they’ve toured widely and made two albums together to great acclaim among folk music lovers. They’re one of the most charismatic and culture-crossing acts to come out of roots music in the past decade. Here in a special episode of The String, they tell their story in an interview that took place in Knoxville, TN in March.

Episode 323: This episode of The String is a field report from the city that raised me in the 1970s and 80s and gave me my foundation in music, from college rock radio, to youth orchestra at Duke University, to jazz tutelage at a Black Muslim community center. It’s an arts-forward city that in the past decade has become something of a magnet for roots music, building on a history of gospel, blues and string band music, while Biscuits & Banjos, the new festival conceived by Rhiannon Giddens, has put itself in a position to be a bridge from the past to the future and give Durham the identity it’s lacked as a national music hotspot.

Episode 322: Texas songwriter Vincent Neil Emerson graduated from playing on the streets and in the bars of Fort Worth to tours with Colter Wall and American Aquarium and then a well-received debut album (2019’s Fried Chicken And Evil Women). That inspired none other than Rodney Crowell and Shooter Jennings in turn to take an interest in producing the young country troubadour, resulting in a self-titled release in 2021 and the more recent The Golden Crystal Kingdom of 2023. They heard what I hear - an artist pxrocessing his past and making his struggles universal, a singer with an honest voice and a distinct point of view. He paused during his ongoing touring to sit down with WMOT after a show at Skinny Dennis.   

Episode 321: Atlanta native Kristina Murray moved to Nashville in 2014 with a fresh and original debut album and steely determination. The country singer and songwriter carved out a respected space at honky tonks like Santa’s Pub and the American Legion. When hard work and critical acclaim for her two releases didn’t launch her career to a new orbit, it felt like defeat. That, plus the pandemic, fueled some challenging times and emotions that inspired her new one, Little Blue, a lovely, lament-filled album on New West’s Normaltown imprint. Murray is due for new waves of attention, and we talk about how hard that is to manifest in this edition of The String. 

Episode 320: JD Clayton is one of the first emerging artists to release music in an era of new leadership at the historic Rounder Records in Nashville. He’s an open-hearted guy who got the songwriting bug growing up in Fort Smith, AR and who then found his songs and his way on stage led to organic growth. His 2023 album Long Way From Home got him out on the road in a big way and led to some high profile opening shows. He produced his new album Blue Sky Sundays, a fresh and catchy take on country rock, with his brotherly band. He seems to embody the ethos of his feel-good song “High Hopes & Low Expectations.”   

Episode 319: This week’s split episode looks at songwriting and musicianship from two very different points of view. Toronto’s Jeremie Albino is a powerful roots rock singer/writer whose early love of blues and old rock and roll comes through in his self-effacing, easy grooving songs. A call from Dan Auerbach opened up new avenues for him through the production of his late 2024 album ‘Our Time In The Sun’. Champion guitarist Tyler Grant writes his material more about stories from the history and geography of the American west, where he’s been based for about 15 years. He’s also set aside his twangy electric country rock for a return to the bluegrass music that brought him to national attention. His newest is a mix of instrumentals and songs but the title indicates the focal point: ‘Flatpicker.’