The String

Episode 305: Traditional acoustic blues has seen one of its periodic revivals, with more younger African American artists involved than any time I can remember. No survey of the scene would be legit without sizing up the career of 35-year-old Jerron Paxton, sometimes known as “Blind Boy” for a severe myopia that’s affected his life since his teens. We should be grateful he’s committed to music - as a revivalist of the old and a writer of the new in a range of styles from Delta to ragtime to stride to spiritual. His variety and vivacity bursts forward on Things Done Changed, his first album for Smithsonian Folkways Records. In a Zoom call from his base in New York City, we talk about his upbringing in Los Angeles and his approach to developing his advanced understanding of foundational American music. 

Episode 304: One of my highlights of 2024 was finally getting to see Minneapolis folk rocker Humbird, an artist whose three recordings display an unusual degree of sonic imagination and bandcraft, even beyond her serene and appealing voice. On her newest, Right On, songwriter Siri Undlin conjures ghosts, protests monoculture and environmental neglect, and investigates relationships. In this conversation, taped the morning after her official showcase at Americanafest 2024, we talk about her passion for folklore, the warm embrace of the Minneapolis DIY music scene, and the benefits of bare feet when using guitar pedals.   

Episode 303: “I like dark songs. I don't know why,” says Grayson Capps early on in our interview. “Cheerful songs don't do much for me.” The Lower Alabama bluesman and songwriter is talking about both his career in general and his seventh album in particular, with the un-cheerful title Heartbreak, Misery & Death. It’s a covers collection featuring songs that shaped him as a young guy coming of age in Brewton, AL and New Orleans, where he went to school and launched his music career. It couldn’t have been a better springboard for an hour with an artist who’s even more fascinating for his distance from Music City and its business apparatus.

Episode 302: Joe Boyd is one of the most accomplished and eclectic record producers in the story of popular music. As an American living in London, he helped break psychedelic folk rock pioneers The Incredible String Band and worked with Pink Floyd, Nick Drake, and Fairport Convention. He founded Hannibal Records, giving a home to the solo career of Richard Thompson. He’s also worked with Kate and Anna McGarrigle, Toumani Diabate, Geoff and Maria Muldauer, and many more. He was also part of the small cadre of music marketers and labels that created the market category of World Music in the 1980s. Here, Boyd talks about his journey and his epic new book And The Roots of Rhythm Remain. 

Episode 301: Americana music has been most conspicuously represented in the last few years by songwriting, band-leading artists, including Jason Isbell, Sierra Ferrell, and Billy Strings. Flash back to the origins of the alt-country and Americana movement, and the conversation was more often about bands, such as Son Volt, Whiskeytown, and the Old 97s. Such outfits made well-written roots music that rocked with that collective commitment that makes bandcraft so fascinating. This week I present two veteran and venerable roots rock bands that came along in the second Americana wave, bands that have weathered changes and renewed their vows - Austin’s revived Uncle Lucius and Raleigh NC-based Blake Christiana of Yarn. 

Gaby Moreno, a Guatemalan-born singer-songwriter known for her vibrant mix of Latin and English music, chats about her incredible journey from Guatemala to Grammy success. She shares insights about her latest album 'Dusk' and the cultural influences that shape her sound. Moreno reflects on her collaborations with iconic artists like Van Dyke Parks and her experiences in the Americana music scene. The conversation highlights her perseverance in the music industry while celebrating the richness of Latin influences within Americana.

Episode #299: While the public has become hyper aware of Billy Strings on his rocket ride to the top of bluegrass, only a small retinue of the music’s traditional veteran artists have achieved popular name recognition. I think especially of Del McCoury and Ricky Skaggs. But there’s a deeper world there, and we should work a little harder to shine the light on more of the old school masters working today. That’s what episode #299 of The String is about, through conversations with singer Danny Paisley and mandolinist John Reischman. Paisley, who grew up in a bluegrass family band a few miles from the McCourys is a four time IBMA Male Vocalist of teh Year. Reishman is a Californian who early on played in the first Tony Rice Unit before starting his 25-year band the Jaybirds. They are “musicians’ musicians,” which doesn’t help them put food on the table or build their legacies.

Episode 298: Molly Tuttle is the link in common between two exceptional breakout artists during an exciting era of bluegrass music. Bronwyn Keith-Hynes is the electrifying fiddle player in Tuttle’s band Golden Highway and a two time IBMA Fiddle Player of the Year. We get into her journey from Charlottesville, VA to school at Berklee to Nashville and the latest chapter in her solo life, the wonderful album I Built A World. AJ Lee and Tuttle go back even farther, to the family band they shared growing up in the fertile bluegrass community of California. AJ Lee, an exceptional and original singer, has led her own band Blue Summit for nine years, and their newest album City Of Glass is one reason they were nominated as IBMA New Artist of the Year for 2024.   

Episode 297: It’s an immigrant story like no other. JesseLee Jones pined for something bigger growing up in Sao Paulo, Brazil. He got glimpses of American music and a guitar, and with that a long journey began. After landing in the states, and getting robbed by the way, he found his way to a family in the midwest who took him in and helped him build a life. In the early 90s, destiny brought him to Nashville and a ramshackle honky tonk and boot store that he would help turn into Robert’s Western World, the pivotal and most famous honky tonk in Nashville. On the 25th anniversary of owning and running this legendary club, Jones tells his story, including the formation of his own long-running band, Brazilbilly.   

Episode 296: With Americanafest landing in Nashville, Craig Havighurst looked over the many  artists breaking out of Music City and got especially excited about Baltic Street Hotel by rocking songwriter Sophie Gault. It’ll be released on Friday, but Craig’s been listening for a few weeks and finds it rich with personal details, sharp melodies, and an old school Americana spirit that evokes Lucinda Williams or Kathleen Edwards. The show features exclusive teasers of several songs from this LP, produced by Ray Kennedy at his request. Also in the hour, a rising star of acoustic Americana, 15-year-old mandolinist Wyatt Ellis, who recently released his solo debut with guest turns by some of today’s best mandolin players, including Marty Stuart.