The String

Episode 242: Craig reports from Knoxville, TN and the tenth edition of the world-renowned Big Ears Festival. Conceived by Knoxville native Ashley Capps as a showcase for modern and avant-garde music, it’s broadened to encompass just about every genre and concept from around the world. This year saw a record number of folk/roots/Americana artists, playing alongside some of the world’s elite jazz, electronic and experimental creators. Craig offers a history of the festival, thoughts from Ashley Capps and conversations with Bela Fleck, Christian McBride, Sierra Ferrell, Rich Ruth and Jake Xerxes Fussell.

Episode 241: San Francisco-based Miko Marks hit brick walls when she made her first run at country music in the mid 2000s, when the industry was systemically impenetrable to independent artists and even more so artists of color. After taking more than a decade away from her passion, Marks was inspired to reconnect with her band and producers, and this time, she found a lane, made possible by excellent music. She's released three recordings in two years, each more interesting than the last, culminating in the country soul album Feel Like Going Home of late 2022. She's now been on the Grand Ole Opry and is touring the nation. Also in the hour, an archived moment with Shemekia Copeland, an artist working the same fusion of southern roots and contemporary message. 

Episode 240: Emily Nenni didn't fall in love with country music and then move to Nashville. She did the reverse, using the city's honky tonks and local haunts like country music college. And instead of the lure of the CMA Awards, the Bay Area native dove fully into the traditional end of the pool. Her sparky voice and detail-rich songs grabbed the attention of New West Records, which released her breakout album On The Ranch late last year. Also in the hour, a talk with New York writer Stephanie Clifford whose new novel The Farewell Tour tells the life story of a fictional artist in a realistic world, carrying us through the 20th century, from the west coast to Nashville and the long hard road. 

Episode 239: She sounds like she was born into a country music family, but Sunny Sweeney was actually a late and somewhat reluctant bloomer as an artist. Her friends had to beg her to record her first album when she was playing bars in Austin. But that album got picked up by a Nashville label and got her to the Grand Ole Opry. The major label system was a bad fit, but Sunny has pursued an exemplary indie career in the years since. Her mix of smarts, sass and lonesome blues infuses her latest album Married Alone. 

Episode 238: Cellist and composer Larissa Maestro enjoys a rich and diverse career as a Nashville session and stage musician. When she came to town in 2007, she had a music degree and flexible expectations about what she'd find in a place she'd never been. Now she's a veteran of creative collaborations with Margo Price, John Legend, Brandi Carlile and Allison Russell, who's just had Maestro arrange the strings for her next album. In 2022, she was named Americana Instrumentalist of the Year. Maestro is also a formal composer with numerous Nashville performances, including a night of her own music in March 2023. We talk about finding the cello, working with friends in the Nashville community, and composing for the ballet and the stage.

Episode 237: Ron Sexsmith's brilliant solo debut album of 1995 - the one with the song "Secret Heart" - was on the verge of being overlooked and forgotten when Elvis Costello endorsed it as one of his favorite projects in a major magazine. It changed the conversation about the young balladeer and he was quickly recognized as one of Canada's finest songwriters. Now a dozen great artists have covered "Secret Heart" and Ron is 17 albums in to a rewarding and esteemed career. We talk about those tenuous early days, about his move from Toronto to the country and the resulting album The Vivian Line.  

Episode 236: It would be difficult to name one musician with such long and distinguished resumes as both a recording artist and a record producer as Joe Henry. Since emerging around 1990 as a layered, visionary songwriter, he's released 17 albums to almost universal acclaim. And since his tutelage under T Bone Burnett, stemming from one of his early albums, he's been an in-demand producer with credits on Amy Helm, Bonnie Raitt, the Carolina Chocolate Drops and many more. I spoke with Joe by Zoom from his home in rural Maine and we talked about three albums that shaped him, 1990s Shuffletown, 2001's Scar and his latest, the moody All The Eye Can See. 

Episode 235: After a remarkable life in show business and soul music, Charles "Wigg" Walker moved back to his native Nashville in the 90s, and he's been an important fixture in Music City ever since, a one-of-a-kind voice in soul and blues. It started on Jefferson Street in his teens. Then he moved to New York, opened shows for James Brown, played the Apollo Theater and held down Harlem residencies. He lived overseas in the post disco era. And he's recorded all the way through, including some great albums in the 2000s with The Dynamites. Now he holds court every weekend at Soul Brunch at ACME Feed & Seed on Broadway, and that's where we sat down to reflect on his 83 years. 

Episode 234: Not very long ago, Sunny War was busking on Venice Beach in Los Angeles, nearly homeless and beset with substance abuse. But she was also making weirdly beautiful and honest music that evoked country blues, punk rock and old folk songs without being really any of the above. Now she's moved to Nashville, signed to New West Records, with one of the most talked-about albums in indie music. Raves have poured in for her new record Anarchist Gospel, which has an atmosphere all its own and bracing candor about heartbreak, struggle and resilience. 

Episode 233: Madison Cunningham blasted on to the modern folk scene in 2019 with a debut album so thoughtful and original that it landed on the prestigious Verve Forecast label and was nominated for a Grammy Americana Album award. After the pandemic interrupted her career momentum, she picked right back up in 2022 with a fast-growing audience and a brilliant sophomore album called Revealer. Just home from her final overseas tour of last year, Madison joined me by Zoom for a conversation about her acclaimed guitar playing, writing an album in stasis and her less-than welcome categorization as a folk singer. Also in the hour, Jason Carter tells the story of how he planned at age 15 to play fiddle for Del McCoury - before he played the fiddle - but got the job a few years later anyway. The 30-year veteran has made a new solo album.