The String

Episode 193: From where we sit at WMOT, Allison Russell was the artist of 2021. Her album Outside Child, our most played disc, emerged in the summer to massive acclaim and it has now been nominated for three Grammy Awards. And she was tapped to curate the Sunday closing set at Newport Folk Festival, which she used to shine a light on a dozen extraordinary African American women who've found their footing in roots music and lit up the genre with deeply individual work. That said, she's been in folk music for 20 years. So to close out 2021, Allison joined me to talk about it all. Also, Cajun music star and caretaker Joel Savoy speaks about his father Marc Savoy's new book tracing his career and contributions to the Acadian accordion. 

Episode 192: Nashville-raised songwriter Aubrey Sellers returns to The String as half of the new duo Jackson & Sellers. She and Jade Jackson became Instagram friends after the 2019 AmericanaFest where they realized they liked each other's music. Then a co-writing date sparked a close friendship and a hot duo that's attracted a ton of attention and praise. Their self-titled album has country in its bones, but it rocks hard and takes advantage of the dazzling guitars of Ethan Ballinger. 

Episode 191: The Charleston, SC collective SUSTO has been a vehicle for the fertile mind of songwriter Justin Osborne since 2014. The music and his lyrics have both a grandeur and an intimacy, tackling nothing less than existence. On his newest Time In The Sun, Osborne wrote epic tracks that among other things tackled the near simultaneous passing of his father and the birth of his first child. We also talk about the influence of a pivotal trip to Cuba and discovering psychedelics while a student at the Citadel military academy. Also, a tour through the fine 2021 album Ten Thousand Roses with its creator, Galax, VA songwriter Dori Freeman. 

Episode 190: Veteran songwriter Bruce Robison set the pace for the alt-country/Americana format in the 1990s and wrote hit songs for George Strait, the Dixie Chicks and others. Five years ago, he widened his scope and formed The Next Waltz, a studio sessions oriented video channel and nascent record label. Now TNW has released its first full album by a solo songwriter, and that's Tony Kamel, ten-year founding member of string band Wood & Wire. In a split hour, I speak with Tony about his life around the Gulf Coast and his work with Bruce on the album Back Down Home. Then it's a catch up with Robison about his vision for The Next Waltz. 

Episode 189: Phoebe Hunt established herself on a national stage playing for years with her former band the Bellville Outfit out of Austin. Since pursuing a solo career in New York and now Nashville, she's come into her own as an artist with a highly developed global and spiritual perspective, expressed on the recent albums Shanti's Shadow and Neither One Of Us Is Wrong. She's also advocated for music as therapy and self-actualization through TED talks and a non-profit. This is an enriching talk about music's role and about some great new sounds. Also, I interview Dr. Ted Olson of ETSU about his liner notes for a new career-spanning Doc Watson anthology. 

Episode 188: Doyle Lawson has been mingling the holy and the down home in his blistering traditional bluegrass over a career on the road stretching back just shy of 60 years. Now at 77 he's stepping away from touring and the album cycle, leaving us with the swan song album Roundtable. In a career-spanning conversation we talk about getting hired by Jimmy Martin at age 18, about the supergroup Bluegrass Album Band, about forming and leading his band Quicksilver, and about his observations, as a conservative Christian, of efforts to diversify bluegrass music. 

Episode 187: John Sebastian is most famous as the founder of and songwriter for the Lovin' Spoonful, which produced a fresh crop of folk rock hits in the late 60s. But there's much more to his story. In a full hour conversation, Sebastian talks about learning music in Washington Square in the 50s, about the great song "Nashville Cats," about Woodstock and his time with NRBQ. His most recent project was to team up with guitarist Arlen Roth to reinterpret great songs from the Spoonful catalog. John is a great storyteller and I loved this encounter a lot. 

Episode 186: Formed as a showcase for women in string band music in 2009, Della Mae has seen lineup changes but no drift in its mission to create a new bluegrass and neo-folk sound full of ideas and heart. This episode, founding member Kimber Ludiker and decade-long vocalist Celia Woodsmith tell the story of how the band worked together at a distance during 2020 and then came together in a cathartic run of sessions that became the new Family Reunion. Also, Boston's imaginative, daring Twisted Pine speaks to me at the World of Bluegrass. 

Episode 185: Tim Easton is one of the most interesting guys in the Americana troubadour game. He grew up split between Akron, OH and Tokyo, Japan. He busked all over Europe for years as he formed his identity as a performer and songwriter. His albums on New West in the early 2000s are classics of folk rock, and he's also powerful as a solo artist, as you can hear on the one-take direct-to-analog tracks of Paco And The Melodic Polaroids. His newest, You Don't Really Know Me, takes us inside his story and his heart more directly than most of his prior work. This is a fun, wide-ranging talk from his new home in Madison, TN with plenty of music from the new album. 

Episode 184: AmericanaFest returned to the clubs and yards of Nashville with a slimmer but spirited 2021 edition. Those able to come found community, diversity and great performances. I caught up with five showcasing artists to check in on their new projects and their take on today's roots scene. Included: blues veteran Sue Foley, LA protest folk artist Chris Pierce, Colorado songwriter Emily Scott Robinson, new Austinite roots rocker Suzanne Santo and folk duo Golden Shoals.