Sweet tea. Kudzu wrapped around anything that doesn’t move. Wearing a short sleeve shirt with a tie to church. While you can experience those things many places (less so the kudzu), growing up with their ubiquity is part of a cultural perspective that lends definition to the idea of being a southerner. In a similar […]
Twangville On The Road: The Fall Showcase Series
We’re taking Twangville on the road this fall — and you’re invited! We’re thrilled to unveil our Fall Showcase Series: seven distinct nights of live music across three states. We’ve put together an exceptional lineup of songwriters, roots revivalists, and road-tested troubadours, from folk to rock ’n’ roll and plenty in between. From a cozy […]
Clayton Nile Young on Working at the Mayo Clinic and Learning to Talk While Tuning
Singer-songwriter Clayton Nile Young talks about his tour meal strategy — since he doesn’t hit the road often, he treats touring like a vacation and eats accordingly. He recalls the 2023 house show in Jacksonville that became his first gig, which left him instantly hooked. Young also shares the story behind his first song, “Heart vs Mind,” written while he was in radiation therapy school.
Afton Wolfe & the Snake Hunters Video Premiere – Cyclone
I think everyone knows someone who, when they enter the room, starts to add color to the discussion. Not the primary color, Jackson Pollack splat of conspiracy or disproven theory, but the rich tint that binds various hues together into a well-formed montage. Nashvillian, by way of several points in the Deep South, Afton Wolfe […]
Norwegian-Americana: Nashville on Her Mind, Norway in Her Bones
Before there was Tennessee, there was Stavanger. Before the highways, honky-tonks and imagined horizons of America, there was the Norwegian coastline—cold water, hard wind, immense mountains and a young girl searching for where she belonged. Maren Davidsen’s music exists in that distance between two worlds. A Norwegian singer-songwriter drawn to the emotional honesty of Americana, […]
Admiral Radio on a Crab Bake-Inspired First Song and the Value of Cover Gigs
Admiral Radio’s Coty Hoover and Becca Smith, a husband-and-wife Americana duo from South Carolina, share their trick for eating well on tour, recall a scare that nearly totaled the band’s touring van outside St. Louis, and talk about the philosophy that’s guided their career since day one.
Darlin’ Brando Song Premiere – How It Is
As anyone in the industry can attest, building a life as a musician is not for the faint of heart. In the case of itinerant drummer and vocalist Darlin’ Brando, nee Brandon Goldstein, he’s moved across the country more times than I’ve moved my furniture. After a repeat stint in LA he’s back in Nashville […]
Ruby Dice – Take Me Back
Like John Muir’s move to Yosemite Valley or E.B. White’s move to a Maine farm, sometimes a simple next step in life’s journey becomes the focus of a writer’s career. Clearly without the hindsight of those two examples, I wonder if a similar pivot is happening with Gunnison, Colorado-borne, but now resident of Austin, bassist […]
Monday Morning Video – Maggie Rose & Old Crow Medicine Show
What happens when you pair Maggie Rose’s voice with Old Crow Medicine Show’s string-band muscle and turn them loose on John Prine’s “Angel From Montgomery.” Give a listen and find out.
Greg Piccolo & Heavy Juice – Who Knows What the Future Holds
Tenor sax player Greg Piccolo is another in a long line of Roomful of Blues alumni who have gone on to great solo careers, along with the likes of Duke Robillard, Ronnie Earl, Curtis Salgado and Sugar Ray Norcia. Roomful of Blues has long been the gold standard for jump blues, which is a horns-heavy […]