The String

Episode 93: In the 1970s Nick Lowe carved out a place on the thoughtful side of punk and pop in England, landing "Cruel To Be Kind" on the charts with his band Rockpile but doing so much more besides. He produced Elvis Costello's first five albums and wrote the anthem "What's So Funny About Peace Love and Understanding?" In the late 90s, he reinvented himself, with a new focus on his mellifluous voice, starting a run of songwriting that's up there with anybody's. And it was all rooted in a passion for American roots, from Tin Pan Alley to country to rock and roll. Lowe has recently released another EP in a stretch of work with the band Los Straightjackets. Also this hour, the emotionally charged and luxurious roots pop of Dylan LeBlanc. 

Episode 92: This week's show is split between two string instrument masters who have little in common save for a lifelong commitment to nurturing traditional music while allowing it to grow and adapt to the times. Byron Berline is an Oklahoma based fiddler who's a hero in bluegrass music but who also led the way in the country rock movement out of Los Angeles for 25 years. He's recently had a setback when his famous and beloved Double Stop Fiddle Shop in Guthrie, OK burned down, with a huge loss of valuable instruments. Also in the show, Andy Statman talks about how and why he mastered the bluegrass mandolin and the Klezmer clarinet. He's released more than 30 exceptional albums, his latest being Monroe Bus, a tribute to Bill Monroe instrumentals that took on unexpected range and dimension. 

Only five artists or acts have been inducted into both the Country Music and Bluegrass Music halls of fame, and only one is actively touring and shaping the dialogue around roots music generally. And that's 64-year-old Ricky Skaggs. As a fiddler, mandolinist, singer and band leader he's bridged the country/bluegrass divide more deftly than any artist alive, and he still does it with sets that split the difference as his band can shift gears on a dime. In a full-hour feature interview, Skaggs reflects on two key periods of his career - the 1970s when as a twentysomething he worked with epic bands the Country Gentlemen, J.D. Crowe and the New South, and Boone Creek, which he started with a young Jerry Douglas. And we talk about the 2000s, when he turned his full attention back to bluegrass and quickly dominated the industry with awards and era-shaping records. 

No. 90 - Honky tonk maestro Dale Watson grew up in Pasadena, TX, just on the Galveston Bay side of Houston. With a father and brother who played country music, he was playing professionally by his early teens. In 1988, alt-country pioneer Rosie Flores convinced him to move to Los Angeles, where he became integral to the scene at the Palomino Club. Then it was on to Austin, a debut album on Hightone Records and a long run of critical and popular acclaim as one of the proudest, silkiest voices carrying the torch for country music. Now he’s putting down new roots in Memphis TN. He’s the new owner of a legendary south Memphis road house called Hernando’s Hideaway, which he’ll reopen after renovations this summer. He’s taken his concept of Ameripolitan music to new heights with a growing Memphis festival and an awards show that just wrapped its sixth edition. And he made his new album there - his 32nd release. So there’s a lot to talk about. Also, getting to know English folk singer and master guitarist John Smith, whose new album Hummingbird blends a few originals with a collection of age-old English ballads. 

Will Kimbrough, 30-year veteran of Nashville TN is up to so many musical projects, it took a whole segment to cover them all. He's in three bands and an acoustic duo. He writes with and for Jimmy Buffett. He's been on the road over recent years with Rodney Crowell and Emmylou Harris, two of his heroes. He produces great records. And, lest we forget, he's a dynamic performing songwriter and guitarist, steaming ahead with a busy year of touring and a new album, the grooving and highly thought provoking I Like It Down Here. Also in the hour, an excerpt from a recent catch up with the mighty Steve Earle, who's just released his long awaited tribute to his late great friend Guy Clark. Full conversation is at WMOT.org. 

Tulsa, OK has an important musical past but also a dynamic present built on the legacies and impact of Bob Wills, Leon Russell, J.J. Cale, Woody Guthrie and more. This special field trip edition of The String tours the exciting music scene in Tulsa with visits to Cain's Ballroom, Russell's Church Studio, currently under renovation, the Woody Guthrie Center, the Bob Dylan Archive and iconic honky tonk The Colony. We meet locals who are championing the next wave of Tulsa music, including singer/songwriter and producer Jared Tyler. See WMOT.org for photos, a playlist and more resources. 

In this special hour, a roundtable talk with two outstanding managers from the world of roots and Americana music. Denise Stiff went from college event booking to working for agencies and through that world took on management - first of Irish singer Maura O’Connell and then Alison Krauss, Gillian Welch and Sarah Jarosz - among others - a kind of defining list of magnificent talent to emerge from bluegrass and roots. Michelle Concesion came from advertising but eventually her love of music drew her to helping artists and it seemed destiny that she’d take them on as clients and start her own firm, Nashville based Market Monkeys. She has worked with the multi-dimensional songwriter Susan Werner and Canadian folk star Rose Cousins. Her current roster includes prog-bluegrass band Della Mae, NC songwriter Sarah Siskind and English folk singer John Smith.

Two gentlemen of Americana who share a soulful feel and a chill vibe while writing songs that cut to the bone. Seth Walker talks about his years in Austin, New Orleans and Nashville and some of the new approaches to recording that made his new album Are You Open so special. Louisiana native Steve Conn shares his story as a keyboardist, accordion player and songwriter, culminating in the candid, funky and wonderful Flesh And Bone, out now.

Episode 85 offers two remarkable stories from the always-dynamic world of bluegrass music. Michael Cleveland is the record-setting, 11-time winner of the IBMA Fiddle Player of the Year award. He's a traditionally grounded player who's reaching into new terrain as a 38-year-old phenomenon. He's also been blind since birth and he's overcome a lot, a story told in the new documentary Flamekeeper. Rounding out the hour, the married duo bandleaders Eric and Doni of Nefesh Mountain, a New York-based band that boldly and brilliantly fuses bluegrass and Jewish music. They sing in Hebrew and English. The melodies are beguiling and ancient-feeling. The musicianship is excellent. They talk about their four-year adventure together as the first band of their kind. 

The British singer songwriter known as Yola made her first significant stateside impression at the 2016 AmericanaFest in Nashville. She returned the following year and won the Artist of the Year honor at the AMA's UK counterpart awards. Her charisma, her intelligent update of country soul and her astonishing voice made her an instant favorite of music fans and critics. Soon offers to record began flowing in, but the one that seemed to have the greatest potential for reaching a new level was Dan Auerbach and his Easy Eye studio and label in Nashville. The resulting debut LP Walk Through Fire is an exquisite album with classic textures and an unmistakable esthetic. We first spoke with Yola as part of a round-up review of AmericanaFest 2017, so with this in-depth conversation, she becomes the first-ever repeat visitor to The String! Also this hour, a talk with Erika Wollam Nichols, general manager of The Bluebird Cafe and instigator of a new documentary about the famous venue that premieres this week at SXSW.