Rochester, Minnesota-based Good Morning Bedlam says, “we want to surprise our audience.” Ostensibly a folk music trio, they accomplish that feat admirably on their latest album, Lulu. The record careens between indie folk and speed-grass, with side trips to Balkan jazz, klezmer, and Roaring 20’s pop music. One thing that does remain constant is the […]
Jackie Bristow on Honda Civics and Her SongCatcher Program for Kids
Singer-songwriter Jackie Bristow talks about the price of guitar strings in New Zealand and writing songs as a love-struck teenager.
Tinsley Ellis on Songwriting and His 6th Grade Talent Show
Blues guitarist Tinsley Ellis talks about working in a medical library and why it’s a good time to be a music listener.
Monday Morning Video – Kasey Chambers
Let’s kick off the week with an intense musical performance, courtesy of Kasey Chambers. In 2018 she was inducted into the ARIA (Australia Recording Industry Association) Hall of Fame. Amy Sheppard, Kate Miller-Heidke & Missy Higgins pay tribute with a moving take on Chambers’ “Not Pretty Enough” before Chambers electrifies with the intense emotion of […]
Sarah Borges – Together Alone
The human psyche is programmed to take comfort from things that are familiar. That plays out in the new record from Sarah Borges, Together Alone. She, and long-time collaborator Eric (Roscoe) Ambel, took the chaos of the pandemic, stitched together an impossible-to-repeat remote recording routine, and produced a record that’s just the Sarah Borges music […]
Mason Jennings on Ford Econoline Vans, Thai Food, and “Moving Blues”
Mason Jennings talks about not trying to fit in and the wildlife that roams around his rehearsal space.
Monday Morning Video – Trey Johnson
Dallas lost one of the cornerstones of its music scene last week with the passing of Trey Johnson. Sorta, the band Johnson co-founded in 2000, quickly established themselves as local favorites and achieved some national recognition before disbanding in 2008. Johnson went on to co-found State Fair Records, the Dallas label that launched the careers […]
Sarah Shook & the Disarmers – Nightroamer
One of my musical discoveries during the lockdown was Sarah Shook & the Disarmers. Their brand of pounding country punk was the perfect soundtrack with which to give fate the middle finger. And underneath the attitude, there were a lot of good songs. So I was looking forward (deservedly so, it turns out) to their […]
Jimmer Podrasky of The Rave-Ups on Finding BBQ on the Road and Taking a 24 Year Hiatus From Music
Jimmer Podrasky of The Rave-Ups celebrates the band’s first new album in more than 20 years by reflecting on secret rehearsals in the basement of A&M Records and the band’s early gigs in Pittsburgh.
Monday Morning Video – Steve Goodman
Steve Goodman was a songwriter’s songwriter whose compositions have been recorded by everyone from Jimmy Buffett to Willie Nelson. Here’s the master performing a few himself, including “Banana Republics” and “City of New Orleans”, the latter of which earned Goodman a posthumous Grammy when Nelson covered it in 1984.