The String

WMOT/Roots Radio 89.5 FM
undefined
Sep 9, 2019 • 59min

Aubrie Sellers and Brian Wright

Episode 103 features two artists who are showcasing at AmericanaFest 2019 with new albums ready for early next year. Brian Wright has lived and made music in Texas, Los Angeles and Nashville, where he's been a guitar-slinging sideman and the co-founder of Cafe Rooster Records. His next opus is the sonically experimental Lapse of Luxury. Aubrie Sellers grew up around the country music business in Nashville but took her time finding her own vision as an artist and writer. We talk about the run-up to her second album, Far From Home.
undefined
Sep 2, 2019 • 1h 1min

Kendell Marvel plus Aaron Lee Tasjan

Episode 102: Kendell Marvel, native of rural southern Illinois, is a veteran professional Music Row songwriter whose work has been recorded by Gary Allan, George Strait, Lee Ann Womack, Chris Stapleton and others. He’s fought for country music values inside the system, even as it’s often let him down. He also put his performing and band-leading dreams on hold for years while raising a family. Now he's back, leading a periodic pop-up honky tonk at the Exit/In and writing new albums. Coming in October, Solid Gold Sounds, recorded at and for Dan Auerbach's Easy Eye Records. It's a 70s tinged classic country album that's good for the soul. Also, a catch up with Aaron Lee Tasjan, who's just released an entirely new version of his 2018 album called Karma For Cheap Reincarnated. 
undefined
Aug 28, 2019 • 59min

Amy Speace plus Marty Stuart

Episode 101: Songwriter Amy Speace was entirely absorbed in theater, studying to be a Shakespearian actress in NYC. Then some fates and muses intervened and she began leaning into folk music. Before long she was recruited and mentored by the great Judy Collins, cultivating a voice that stands out even in the crowded songwriter scene of today. Now in Nashville, her story took another turn recently when she had her first child, a son, at age 50. Her complex observations about the world and herself pour out of the speakers on her newest, Me And The Ghost of Charlemagne. Also, a short phoner with Marty Stuart teasing the new mega-documentary Country Music by Ken Burns. 
undefined
Aug 19, 2019 • 59min

Molly Tuttle and Ep. 100 Highlights

The String turns 100 Episodes old with a focus on one of the most celebrated and dynamic young artists in Americana music, a singer/songwriter who has negotiated the bridge from bluegrass to mainstream popular music with amazing grace. Molly Tuttle is a two-time IBMA Guitar Player of the Year as well as a winner of prizes at Folk Alliance and Americana. But more significantly, her debut album When You're Ready has launched her to appearances at the Grand Ole Opry, Telluride Bluegrass Festival and many other marquee stages. Also in the hour, we listen back to a few highlight moments from three years of The String, including Bela Fleck and Abigail Washburn, Bobby Rush, Gretchen Peters and The Secret Sisters. 
undefined
Aug 12, 2019 • 59min

Charley Crockett plus Lillie Mae

 Charley Crockett has a story that's difficult to imagine playing out in the 21st century - he's hoboed around the country, lost loved ones, scuffled with the law, played on the streets for a decade. And recently he endured open-heart surgery. At 35, he's lived several of our lifetimes. And the thing is, he's poured it all into his remarkable country blues, and he's finally getting the renown he deserves. It's what roots music is all about. Get ready for his 9.20 release of The Valley with this conversation, which took place hours before his Grand Ole Opry debut in the WSM Room back stage. Also in the hour, Nashville's Lillie Mae is back on the program to discuss making her second album for Third Man Records at Studio A with the super-producer Dave Cobb. It's part of a longer conversation that will get posted soon at WMOT.org. 
undefined
Jul 29, 2019 • 59min

Odessa Settles plus The Steel Wheels

The lineage of Nashville's Fairfield Four thrives and resonates in Odessa Settles, this week’s guest on The String. The daughter of singer Walter J. Settles (1928-1999), Odessa is an in-demand singer who values the full spectrum of sacred to secular music, especially the roots/Americana world where she’s amassed a long resume. She’s been a guest vocalist on projects by Darrell Scott, Kathy Mattea, Tim O’Brien and last year’s Rifles & Rosary Beads by Mary Gauthier. She works solo and in combination with her surviving brothers (she was the only girl of eight kids growing up) in the vocal group The Settles Connection. And she’s pulled all this off while maintaining an intense career as a nurse for premature babies at Vanderbilt Medical Center. Also in the hour, a visit with Trent Wagler and Jay Lapp, veterans of VA band The Steel Wheels, who've just released their seventh LP album. 
undefined
Jul 22, 2019 • 1h

Chuck Mead plus Courtney Hartman

The decade-plus since the conclusion of his era-shifting band BR549 have been a case study in creative evolution for Chuck Mead. He's still a stalwart of classic country music and an original songwriter, but he's found new ways to express his expertise. Most significantly has been supervising the music for the Tony Award-winning musical The Million Dollar Quartet and the CMT series Sun Records. Those deep dives into Memphis music culture led to his most recent album Close To Home, which was made at Sam Phillips Recording. Also in the hour, the fresh new direction of songwriter/guitarist Courtney Hartman. Her life after string band Della Mae has been introspective and exploratory, culminating in a 500-mile pilgrimage in Spain and a solo debut album, Ready Reckoner. 
undefined
Jul 15, 2019 • 59min

Keb' Mo' plus Dara Tucker

Episode #96. Launching a career in the blues in the mid 1990s seems in retrospect a bit audacious and foolhardy, but when LA songwriter and studio musician Kevin Moore became Keb' Mo', his blend of reverence for tradition and his contemporary flair proved hugely successful. For 25 years he's been a beacon of consistency, delivering strong songs that feel fresh and timeless. He's followed up his Grammy winning 2017 duo with Taj Mahal with the album Oklahoma. And since that title track was co-written with Nashville's eclectic and under-rated singer/songwriter Dara Tucker, we pulled her in to this episode as well. The hour represents two very different journeys that intersected in Music City.
undefined
Jul 8, 2019 • 59min

Caroline Spence plus Lee Roy Parnell

Episode #95. Caroline Spence moved to Nashville eight years ago fresh out of college with a "vague dream" of writing songs, probably she thought for other artists. But as her network and her confidence grew, it became clear she needed to be out front. She released two solo indie albums and a duo project with Robby Hecht. She won a Kerville New Folk award and captured a lot of people's attention with her coursing country melodies and incisive observations. Now she's been signed to Rounder Records, who've released her latest Mint Condition. Also in the hour, a catch-up with Texas reared, Nashville based country bluesman Lee Roy Parnell. 
undefined
Jun 17, 2019 • 59min

Buddy and Julie Miller

Episode 94: They've each had distinguished careers as songwriters and musicians in American roots music, but together they're especially sublime. Buddy and Julie Miller met in Austin in the 70s and pursued careers in New York and Los Angeles before moving to Nashville almost 30 years ago. Both of their prior duo albums were deemed best of the by the Americana Music Association. Now, following a remarkably busy period for Buddy, the two found their way back to working together, and the result is the new Breakdown On 20th Ave. South from New West Records. It will be one of the landmarks of 2019, and Craig sat down at the Millers' home to talk about two magical, interwoven lives in music. 

The AI-powered Podcast Player

Save insights by tapping your headphones, chat with episodes, discover the best highlights - and more!
App store bannerPlay store banner
Get the app