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Calvin Powers

On episode 106 of the Americana Music Show, Andy Bean of the Two Man Gentlemen Band on sounding like Slim and Slam, de jacketing at shows, and how his Tin Pan Alley show is like an AC/DC show.

On episode 94 of the Americana Music Show, Otis Gibbs talks to Rick Cornell about his CD, Harder Than Hammered Hell; how many trees he’s planted in his life time; his early record collection; his favorite car; life in East Nashville; and living in the age of YouTube.

TPR #93 – Cornell Hurd – Interview and Music (MP3)

Show Notes

Cornell Hurd web site

The Broken Spoke

Interview Recap

Cornell Hurd talks about western swing band music. Cornell Hurd’s been inducted into the Cow Town Society of Western Music’s Hall of Fame. So he knows a thing or two about western swing music. He says that western swing is an amalgam of styles. He notes that Bob Wills borrowed from the blues, borrowed from Mexican music, borrowed from big band music. Cornell Hurd says that in Texas it’s all really about whether you can dance to it or not.

Calvin notes that he’s got a good crooning sound on several tracks and asks Cornell Hurd if he is trying to sound like Raul Malo. Cornell Hurd laughs and says he takes that as a compliment but no, he’s not trying to sound like Raul. Cornell Hurd says he is more comfortable than he used to be singing in lower registers and some of the songs on the CD are in lower keys, so that might be what makes it sound like he’s crooning.

Cornell Hurd talks about how this collection of songs came to be. Cornell Hurd says that a year a go the band found them without a weekly gig. His engineer, Allen Crider, suggested they start working on a new set of songs so Cornell and Allen met every Thursday for a year writing and arranging these songs.

Cornell Hurd set us “The Bad Girl I Keep In My Heart.” He says it’s a story about a guy who has an affair with a woman. He realizes after it was over that there was some good in it even though what they were doing was wrong.

[Calvin plays “The Bad Girl I Keep In My Heart” from Drop In On My Dream.”]

Calvin asks Cornell Hurd about the first time Cornell Hurd played on stage. He say it was 1964. He played drums in a surf band, playing songs like “Pipeline.” That was the time that the Stones and the Who were big. But the song that got him interested in country music and playing guitar was “Walk On By” by Leroy Van Dyke.

Cornell Hurd tells the story of the first band he put together and played guitar in. That was in 1968 for a senior talent show at his high school. The band was the Milpitas Submarine Band and Cornell Hurd tells the story about the joke in the name. The band only played one song on stage, but he was one of the guitar players and it transformed him from being a nerd to being one of the cool guys at his school.

Cornell Hurd talks about his college era bands also. One of the bands was the Rag Brothers. The bass player in that band was Frank Roeber who ended up playing with him for 37 years. The Rag Brothers was largely inspired by Dan Hicks and the Hot Licks. Cornell says. “ I saw Dan Hicks in a white sport coat with two girls singing ‘How Can I Miss You When You Won’t Go Away’ and I knew that’s what I wanted to do.”

Cornell Hurd talks about how he read about a band called Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airment in Rolling Stone, “which was a cutting edge publication at the time.” He went to seem the band play at a bar in Berkely and eventually switched schools so he could be near the band and the music scene there ate the time. Cornell Hurd says he prides himself on being “a linear descendent of Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen” because “they put Hank Williams and Elvis Presley on the same page for me. Cornell says that’s why his band is not afraid to play a rockabilly song followed by a western swing song. Cornell Hurd says he has a tribute record to Moon Mullican, “the king of hillbilly piano,” and discusses the story of the Berkeley scene in the liner notes of that record.

Cornell Hurd tells his vision of having a band show up at a gig and do three sets of three different styles of music. They’d play a set of Fifties music, then a set of hard-core country, and close with a set of 30’s era swing. The band name he was using for the 20’s era music was called The Mondo Hotpants Orchestra. The other two “bands” didn’t pan out. But the Mondo Hotpants Orchestra eventually morphed into the Cornell Hurd Band. This was in about 1977.

Cornell Hurd talks about what bands did back then to build a following. He says they relied on newspaper coverage, flyers, posters, word of mouth and the occasional air play on the radio. He tells the story of knocking on the door at a radio station late one night and the DJ auditioned their record right then and started playing it on the radio. Cornell says that would be impossible today because all the music is programmed.

Cornell Hurd sets up “Whiskey Drinkin’ Women.”

[Calvin plays “Whiskey Drinking Women”]

Cornell Hurd tells us why the Broken Spoke is his favorite place to play. He says it’s the last of the true Texas Dance Halls. He says it’s all about “real man and woman dancing.” He says the owner’s daughter has dance lessons early in the evening.

Cornell Hurd sets up “The Old Part Of Town.” He says it’s about wanting to live in a simpler era.

Get More!

• The episode index page lists the guests for all episodes and has links to the episode pages.
• You can receive email notifications of future episodes by signing up for the free Taproot News email newsletter.
• Taproot Radio Podcast page on iTunes so you can subscribe in iTunes
• Subscription page for other podcast players
• Taproot Radio Home Page

Legal

The Taproot Radio Podcast is copyright 2011 by Taproot Media. The music and interviews in this episode are used with permission of the artists. The Taproot Theme music is called “Meltdown Man” by Derek K. Miller of Penmachine.com. The episode as a whole is copyright 2011 by Taproot Media.

Feedback

If you have any feedback for this episode or any other episode, please send mail to feedback@taprootradio.com.

The Taproot Radio Show is getting a new name, web site, and show format. We’ll still have the same great interviews and the same hand-picked, road-tested american music. But  the show will now originate from the Americana Music Show web site.  For the next few episodes, the show will continue to be available on this site, this site’s RSS feed, and will continue to be available on iTunes under the name Taproot Radio.

On episode 92 of the Americana Music Show, Chelle Rose talks about growing up in the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee and North Carolina, writing a song to pacify the ghost of her boyfriend, hearing Malcolm Holcombe play live, why she’s drawn to minor chords, how she learned to depend on herself in her musical career, the thrill she got working with the McCrary sisters, and the preacher that inspired her song, “Rufus Morgan.”

TPR#91 Bob Woodruff – Interview and Music (MP3)

Show Notes:

Bob Woodruff on CD Baby

Interview Recap:

Rick Cornell, on his Dirty Laundry show, starts the show talking about “one of the best surprises of 2102″ being the releases being Bob Woodruff’s album, The Lost Kerosene Tapes, recently released by Sweden’s Sound Asleep label.

[Rick Cornell plays "Hat Full of Rain"]

Rick Cornell welcomes Bob Woodruff on the phone from Los Angeles. Bob Woodruff talks about the New York City scene for country music in the “early 90′s,” when Bob first started recording country and country-rock. Bob Woodruff says it wasn’t a big scene, but there were a few bars that played music including The Rodeo and CBGB’s. Bob says the first C in CBGB stands for country music.

Rick Cornell says when Bob Woodruff’s first record came out it was a couple of years ahead of the alt.country wave tht came later. Bob Woodruff’s first CD Dreams & Saturday Nights, came out in ’94 and the No Depression magazine, the milestone of the alt.country scene didn’t come out until ’95. Bob Woodruff talks about his band from the 80′s called The Fields, which he says he dragged kicking and screaming in a country direction in the mid-80′s. Bob Woodruff says he was not impressed with the MTV culture of the time and that he was drawn to the song writing of Elvis Costello and T-Bone Burnett.

Rick asys at least one track of Dreams & Satruday Nights was from The Fields. Bob says about half the album was music that was supposed to be on The Fields next release on Restless records. Bob Woodruff tells the story of how they got a deal with Restless by sending them an unsolicited casette tape. Restless said later that was the only time they signed a band from an unsolicited tape. Bob Woodruff says that their album for Resltess never gor released because the company went bankrupt during the recording.

[Rick plays "Brand New Blue" from The Lost Kerosene Tapes.]

Rick Cornell asks if there is a Byrds influence on “Brand New Blue” and on The Lost Kerosene Tapes. Bob Woodrusff says yes there is a Byrds influence. Bob Woodruff says that the songs on Dreams & Saturday Nights and Desire Road were originally targeted for coutnry radio so there is more of a Byrds influence on those records than on the songs on The Lost Kerosene tapes. Most of the songs on The Lost Kerosene tapes were part of a demo deal they had with Interscope records.

Bob Woodruff tells the story of how The Lost Kerosene Tapes came to be released. Jerker Emanuelson of Sound Asleep records had a freind in France who had somehow obtained one of Bob Woodruff’s demo cassettes and shared with him. Jerker Emanuelson had been trying to track Bpob Woodruff down for several years. So the friend in France happed to see a news story writen about Bob Woodruff in the Houston Chronicle which was later also published on The Huffington Post. The friend in France reached out to the journalist from the Houston Chronicle to find out how to reach Bob. And eventually, they all met and Sound Asleep Records agreed to release the record.

Bob Woodruff sets up “Whiskey Heaven” from The Lost Kerosene Tapes. He says this is one of the last tracks that The Fields ever recorded. It’s one of the more country songs the band ever wrote. And for whatever reasons, it never made it on an album.

Bon Woodruf gives a shout out to Jeanne Jolly. Bob met her in Los Angeles and she has sung harmonies on several of his songs. But now she is back in Raleigh and is playing gigs around town includeing the Berkeley.

[Rick plays "I'm Staniding Here With Standing Here With Both Knees On The Ground." from Dreams & Saturday Nights"

Bob Woodriff says he's doing some more recording and is about half way through making a new album. He says his current songs are a little more R&B influenced than his past work. Bob Woodruff says his music has always been a combination of 60's rock, country, and R&B. He says sometimes one genre comes more to the front than others and right now R&B is comeing to the front.

[Rick Cornell plays "Every Day I Have To Cry" form Deisre Road.]

Get More!

• The episode index page lists the guests for all episodes and has links to the episode pages.
• You can receive email notifications of future episodes by signing up for the free Taproot News email newsletter.
• Taproot Radio Podcast page on iTunes so you can subscribe in iTunes
• Subscription page for other podcast players
• Taproot Radio Home Page

Legal

The Taproot Radio Podcast is copyright 2011 by Taproot Media. The music and interviews in this episode are used with permission of the artists. The Taproot Theme music is called “Meltdown Man” by Derek K. Miller of Penmachine.com. The episode as a whole is copyright 2011 by Taproot Media.

Feedback

If you have any feedback for this episode or any other episode, please send mail to feedback@taprootradio.com.

TPR#90 Moot Davis – Interview and Music (MP3)

Show Notes:

Moot Davis web site

Interview Recap:

Moot Davis made a name for himself with some honky tonk CDs from several years ago.

Moot Davis talks about starting from the other side of the world to get this CD started. He says that in 2007, his seconmd CD, Already Moved On had come out.  He says he was burned out from living on the road and was struggling with his record label. So he moved to New Zealand for about half a year.  Moot Davis Lived in Wellington and “had a blast.” After a couiple of weeks of “not fighting with anybody” he could finally get back to writing some songs.  Moot Davis says he wrote about 80-85 percent of what’s on the current CD, Man About Town.

Moot Davis sets up “Rags to Rhinstones.” Moot Davis says he was carrying that phrase around for a long but wasn’t having much luck writing a song with it. But a friend of his in Nashville was going through a career nose dive. This friend had been a high flyer and now he was getting kicked out of all the bars. That served as a real-life inspiration for the song.

[plays "Rags to Rhinestones"]

Moot Davis talks about the vocal style on that track and the CD. Mot Davis says that while they’ve been on tour he’s been hearing people say that he soundslike Roy Orbison.  Moot Davis says that Orbison is certainly enjoyed his vocie. Moot Davis calls Roy Orbison’s voice “almost angelic” and he didn’t think of it as something he could ever attain. So he liked that sound but it wasn’t a vocal style he ever deliberately tried to emulate. As far as the crooning goes, Moot Davis says his voice matured over time and that’s part of it.

Moot Davis talks about the backing band. The CD was produced by Kenny Vaughan who is sort of Marty Stuart’s right hand man and guitar player in the Fabulous Superlatives. Kenny Vaugn also plays guitar on Man About Town. Chris Scruggs plays lap steel and pedal steel. Harry Stinson is on drums. Paul Martin plays bass. Also featured is fiddler Hank Singer, who plays with George Jones.

Moot Davis says it was kind of an intimidating line up. Moot Davis says with that band you don’t do a lot of rehearsing. Moot Davis got together with some locals and made demo recording. He sent the songs to Kenny to help pick out the songs that went into the CD. Other than one or two meetings with Kenny there was no rehearsal. Everyone just showed up at the studio. And on the first day they had Elizabeth Cook there as well to do a duet.

Moot Davis sets up “Fade To Gold.” he says when he was a child, his family used to take weekend trips to Pennsylvania. For the whole trip, his Dad had only one cassette tape that he played over and over. On one side it had Dylan’s Desire. And on the other side it was the Greatest Hits of Roxy Music. This song is sort of a melding of all that.

[plays "Fade To Gold"]

Moot Davis talks about how he’s more of a suit and tie kind of country singer. Moot Davis says when he first got started he was in acting and was in plays that traveled around the country and Europe. When he first started doing music he was a very poor musician. So when he got up on stage in those early days he says he needed a buffer between him and the audience. And so the  suit and tie kind of became his armor. Moot Davis also said that the Hank Williams image was also part of his early act. Also there was a movie called Honky Tonk that has Clint Eastwood in it. That movie plus the Hank Williams image are the two things that gave him courage to do those early shows. Moot Davis says that the suit and tie is not some sort of “retro-creep” thing, he also says that the suit and tie does command some respect. He discovered at an early age when he was trying to get into bars as an underaged minor that if you wore a suit and tie people treated you completely different and that has remaind true through all stages of his adult life.

Moot Davis talks about getting hsi songs placed in movies and TV shows. He says other than the traveling, its been the best part of his career. He says he’s up to about 20 placements now. His first placement was a song called “Whiskey Town” in a movie called Crash that went on to win the Oscar for Best Picture. He got to the Premiere and all that stuff. Moot Davis says it’s a real, emotional thing when you’re in a movie theater watching the movie, people you recognize on screen and you hear your song come one.

Moot Davis sets up “Queensbury Rules.” Queensbury Rules are the old British Boxing rules whith stuff like don’t kick your opponent when they are down. Moot Davis then parlayed that into a love song.

[plays "Queensbury Rules']

Moot Davis talks a little bit about the bind he got in with his previous label and how he got started with his own label. He says he doesn’t have anything but good things to say about the people on his previous label. But he says that the problem was he wasn’t in control of his own destiny and that has to be in charge of his own decisions and make hsi own mistakes. Moot Davis talks Paul W Reed who is a business man from Texas who followed his career and went into business with him to create their label. Moot Davis talks about he admires Reed’s willingness to put hsi money where his mouth is.

Moot Davis talks about the advice he’d give to new aspiring artists. He says that when he was getting started with his previous label, he had a lawyer and his father helping out. But the label brought things to a head  and pressured him to sign up so they could get a tour going. So he signed a contract. So his advice to artists is to not be easily bluffed or pressured into agreeign things you don’t want to get into.

Moot Davis says they are on tour right now, doing a string of shows in the US. Then they are doing a summer European tour then a Canadian run. They are also shooting for more placements in film and TV. Moot Davis also says he’s has admired Lyle Lovett’s career and would like to try to work with him in the future.

Moot Davis says that he’d like put more emphasis on roots rock on the next CD to broaden his horizons and not make the same album over and over again.

Get More!

• The episode index page lists the guests for all episodes and has links to the episode pages.
• You can receive email notifications of future episodes by signing up for the free Taproot News email newsletter.
• Taproot Radio Podcast page on iTunes so you can subscribe in iTunes
• Subscription page for other podcast players
• Taproot Radio Home Page

Legal

The Taproot Radio Podcast is copyright 2011 by Taproot Media. The music and interviews in this episode are used with permission of the artists. The Taproot Theme music is called “Meltdown Man” by Derek K. Miller of Penmachine.com. The episode as a whole is copyright 2011 by Taproot Media.

Feedback

If you have any feedback for this episode or any other episode, please send mail to feedback@taprootradio.com.

TPR#89 Allison Russell and Dom Flemons of Sankofa (MP3)

Sponsor

North Carolina Hops and Roots Fest

Show Notes:

Sankofa on CD Universe

Get More!

• The episode index page lists the guests for all episodes and has links to the episode pages.
• You can receive email notifications of future episodes by signing up for the free Taproot News email newsletter.
• Taproot Radio Podcast page on iTunes so you can subscribe in iTunes
• Subscription page for other podcast players
• Taproot Radio Home Page

Legal

The Taproot Radio Podcast is copyright 2011 by Taproot Media. The music and interviews in this episode are used with permission of the artists. The Taproot Theme music is called “Meltdown Man” by Derek K. Miller of Penmachine.com. The episode as a whole is copyright 2011 by Taproot Media.

Feedback

If you have any feedback for this episode or any other episode, please send mail to feedback@taprootradio.com.

TPR#88 Addam Scott – Interview and Music (MP3)

Sponsor

North Carolina Hops and Roots Fest

Show Notes:

Addam Scott on iTunes

Addam Scott web site

Honky Tonk Christmas Charity Event

Recap of Interview with Addam Scott about San Diablo

Addam Scott talks about the roots music in the Long Beach / Los Angeles area and how there’s a thriving roots music scene that hasn’t reached out to the rest of the country yet.

Addam Scott talks about the idea behind his CD, San Diablo, is centered around “conflict.” Even the title highlights the conflict translating into “saint devil.” “I like to move forward that contradiction and show the best of who we are as people and the worst of who we are as people.” He also wanted to make a record that is a “little bit smarter than what we hear on pop culture radio.”

Addam Scott sets up a song he wrote with Brian De Den called “Gallows.” This song was written a few years ago when he was in El Paso. It was 1:00pm in the afternoon. He was looking across into Juarez. You’d think it would be a bustling community that time of day but all they saw walking around were little clumps of people dressed in black. It was during one of the worst months of the drug wars down there. He wrote this song to personalize the story that of someone who might have gotten involved in the drug war and might not have made the best decisions at the time.

[Calvin plays “Gallows” from the Addam Scott's CD, San Diablo.]

Addam Scott says that song had a lot of Marty Robbins in it and he was thinking of a cinematic kind of song.

Addam Scott talks about his earliest recollections of music was playing records at his grandparents house where they played Willie and Waylon. As he got older he moved into Townes Van Zandt and Kris Kristofferson. Has respect for Dwight Yoakam and Buck Owens. Addam Scott says that at some point we’re going to see a Buck Owens biopic that shows what an innovator he really is. Addam Scott also talks about Merle Haggard as being one of the local artists he pulls from.

Addam Scott sets up “Good News.” He says this song as about what’s good comes from what’s bad. And what’s bad comes from what’s good.

[Calvin plays “Good News” from Addam Scott's San Diablo CD.]

Calvin asks about the beer hall group sing song he has in some of his songs. Addam Scott says they deliberately tried to create a song people would like to sing along with. He’s not adverse to get people who just happen to be in the studio to come in and sing the chorus. He talks about the need to write choruses that are easy to sing along to to give people the confidence to do it.

Addam Scott talks about his musically formative years. He grew up in a small desert town called Apple Valley, California. He says its mostly known for “tumble weeds, meth labs and bikers.” After finishing high school, he had a buddy whose uncle owned a brick yard up in Wyoming, went thereto work for the summer. But the job fell through after they got up there. So he ended up in Jackson Hole. He lived out of his car for the summer and worked odd jobs. He hung out with the hippie group, The Rainbow Family. He was hanging out in the heartland of America, living with the cowboys out there juxtaposed with the hippies that were staying there. He met different musicians in town and some hippies taught him some chords on a guitar. He’d listen to cowboy songs on the ranches. He says he learned about music equally from the cowboys and hippies. “there’s such a zest for life on one side and a subdued dignity on the other.”

Addam Scott sets up “California.” One of the jobs he’s done over the years is truck driving. He says people don’t realize how hard the work is. While he was growing up, truckers were super heroes and movies were made of them. Addam Scott says that over time there’s been a growing disdain for manual labor and blue collar labor. So we wrote a song to pay tribute to it the truckers.

[Calvin plays “California,” off Addam Scott's CD San Diablo]

Addam Scott talks about his charity, Honky Tonk Christmas. Originally it came from a guy named Jerry Zinn another country music artist. It’s a yearly Christmas show to raise money for the Boys and Girls club of Long Beach. They make it “just a little bit off from classy.” They bring in thousands of Christmas lights and you can get your picture taken with Santa. But it’s an “80 proof Santa.” They get a bunch of bands to play and they raffle off prizes to raise money.

Addam Scott talks about his next project. He spends half his time promoting the current record and half his time working on his next CD which will be more of a three instrument arrangement with vocals.

Get More!

• The episode index page lists the guests for all episodes and has links to the episode pages.
• You can receive email notifications of future episodes by signing up for the free Taproot News email newsletter.
• Taproot Radio Podcast page on iTunes so you can subscribe in iTunes
• Subscription page for other podcast players
• Taproot Radio Home Page

Legal

The Taproot Radio Podcast is copyright 2011 by Taproot Media. The music and interviews in this episode are used with permission of the artists. The Taproot Theme music is called “Meltdown Man” by Derek K. Miller of Penmachine.com. The episode as a whole is copyright 2011 by Taproot Media.

Feedback

If you have any feedback for this episode or any other episode, please send mail to feedback@taprootradio.com.

My interview guest is the lead instigator behind country music’s worst nightmare, Cornell Hurd. We’ll be talking about his long career and playing tracks from his band’s latest release, Drop In On My Dream.

Browder Holler Boy / 3:26 / Chelle Rose / Ghost Of Browder Holler
Sugar / 3:11 / Lisa Biales / Just Like Honey
Boys & Girls / 3:28 / Alabama Shakes / Boys & Girls
You Got What You Wanted / 3:37 / Janiva Magness / Stronger For It

*** Interview Guest: Cornell Hurd

Please Return To Jesus / 4:14 / Bap Kennedy / The Sailor’s Revenge
Ice Age / 4:26 / Dr. John / Locked Down
Don’t Let Me Down Again / 3:35 / Paul Thorn / What The Hell Is Goin’ On?
Badly Bent / 4:49 / JP Harris and the Tough Choices / I’ll Keep Calling
Good News / 4:20 / Addam Scott / San Diablo
Sweet Senorita / 3:29 / Hobart Brothers w Li’l Sis / At Least We Have Each Other
Morning Song / 4:17 / Milagro Saints / Chance & Circumstance
Can’t Keep You Off My Mind / 3:47 / Woody Pines / You Gotta Roll EP
Two Star Motel / 2:26 / The Two Man Gentlemen Band / Two At A Time
Maybe It’s Best / 4:48 / D.L. Marble / Not The One…
Stop Breaking Down / 5:24 / Terry Lewsader / The Beanfield Blues

TPR#87 MC Taylor from Hiss Golden Messenger – Interview and Music (MP3)

Sponsor

North Carolina Hops and Roots Fest

Show Notes:

Hiss Golden Messenger on iTunes

Hiss Golden Messenger on FaceBook

TPR#27 Paradise of Bachelors Label – Interview and Music

Phuzz Fest

Recap of Interview with MC Taylor of Hiss Golden Messenger

Hiss Golden Messenger is a duo consisting of song writer MC Taylor multi-instrumentalist Scott Hirsch. Their latest release is Poor Moon which has been put out on Vinyl by Paradise of Bachelors and on CD and electronic distribution by Tompkins Square.

MC Taylor joins Calvin in the studio for an interview and some acoustic versions of songs from Poor Moon.

MC Taylor talks about his collaboration with Scott Hirsch and how they met 20 years ago when they were freshmen at University of California at Santa Barbara. They were primarily into experimental, noise music. It gradually morphed into a melange of American traditional music under the name Hiss Golden Messenger.

MC Taylor sets up “Jesus Sot Me In The Head.” He says it’s the most narrative song on the CD.

[Calvin plays “Jesus Shot Me In The Head” off the Poor Moon CD.]

MC Taylor discusses the songwriting on “Jesus Shot Me In The Head”. Scot and he are omnivorous music listeners and so a lot of different sounds show up in the records that might not show up on a traditional Americana record.

MC Taylor ponders whether this CD could be called a gospel record. He says maybe, but not necessarily a gospel of Jesus Christ. He talks about how Jesus has “a cameo or two” on the record. He says it’s a gospel record of the spirit and that “this record as a part of my trying to understanding my spiritual life and sensibility.”

MC Taylor sets up “Call Him Daylight”. He says this song is as William Blake-ian as he gets.

[MC Taylor plays an acoustic version of “Call Him Daylight.”]

MC Taylor talks about his roots in the area and his experience living in Pittsboro south of Chapel Hill. He discusses why it’s important for him to live in the south.

MC Taylor sets up “Drum” from their previous release Bad Debt. MC Taylor describes this song as a gospel song but they might not play it in a church.

[MC Taylor plays an acoustic version of “Drum.”]

MC Taylor talks about their next release. It’s about half recorded so far. Bad Debt came out in early 2011, Poor Moon came out in late 2012, and their next CD already half done so they are prolific.

MC Taylor promotes the Hiss Golden Messenger FaceBook page as the best place to get show announcements and other information about the band.

Get More!

• The episode index page lists the guests for all episodes and has links to the episode pages.
• You can receive email notifications of future episodes by signing up for the free Taproot News email newsletter.
• Taproot Radio Podcast page on iTunes so you can subscribe in iTunes
• Subscription page for other podcast players
• Taproot Radio Home Page

Legal

The Taproot Radio Podcast is copyright 2011 by Taproot Media. The music and interviews in this episode are used with permission of the artists. The Taproot Theme music is called “Meltdown Man” by Derek K. Miller of Penmachine.com. The episode as a whole is copyright 2011 by Taproot Media.

Feedback

If you have any feedback for this episode or any other episode, please send mail to feedback@taprootradio.com.

My interview guest this week is Chelle Rose. I am super excited to have her on the show because she’s from the NC/TN mountains.

Cheese & Crackers / The Two Man Gentlemen Band / Two At A Time / 2:48
Two Lane Highway / D.L. Marble / Not The One… / 2:54
Locked Down / Dr. John / Locked Down / 4:59
Damn Your Eyes / Lisa Biales / Just Like Honey / 3:34

*** Interview Guest: Chelle Rose

Take My Love With You / Paul Thorn / What The Hell Is Goin’ On? / 4:17
Two For The Road / JP Harris and the Tough Choices / I’ll Keep Calling / 2:54
California / Addam Scott / San Diablo / 3:56
Almost Home / YARN / Almost Home / 4:16
Only You / Moot Davis / Man About Town / 2:31
Live And Let Live / JWW And The Prospectors / It’s High Past Time / 2:51
All Things Being Equal / Hobart Brothers w Li’l Sis / At Least We Have Each Other / 3:29
Our Future (Isn’t What It Used To Be) / The Cornell Hurd Band / Drop In On My Dream / 3:32
I Ain’t The Same / Alabama Shakes / Boys & Girls / 2:56
Make It Rain / Janiva Magness / Stronger For It / 3:46
Ham & Eggs / Woody Pines / You Gotta Roll EP / 3:18

Two Man Gentleman Band web site.

Lisa Biales on iTunes

Lisa Biales web site

TPR#86 Milagro Saints – Interview and Music (MP3)

Sponsor

North Carolina Hops and Roots Fest

Show Notes:

Milagro Saints on iTunes

Milagro Saints on Facebook

Milagro Saints web site

Interview Recap

The Milagro Saints are:
SD Ineson: Vocals, Acoustic Rhythm Guitar
Lee Kirby: Hammond Organ, Piano, Harmonica, Melodica
Roberto Morales: Electric guitar/mandolin
Smitty: Lap Steel
Steve Samosky: Bass
Rusty May: Drums/percussion
Joyce Bowden: vocals
Jick wins-Low: vocals, drums, bass, trombone, guitars, fiddle

Stephen, Lee, and Roberto joined Calvin in the studio.

Stephen Ineson and Calvin talk about how the Milagro Saints have been playing “since before the turn the century.” They talk about how Calvin bought the debut Milagro Saints CD about that time because he liked the cover and thought it looked like something Steve Earle would have made.

Stephen Ineson talks about how this collection of songs on the Milagro Saints’ new CD, Chance and Circumstance came together. They’d been writing songs for a couple of years. And a local Carrboro producer Jick wins-Low  saw the band perform their songs at the Weaver Street Market music on the lawn series. Jick helped them mix and produce the CD over about a year period.

Stephen Ineson sets up an acoustic cover of “Pennsylvania Rose,” a song he wrote for his wife.

[Stephen Ineson, Lee Kirby, and Roberto Morales of Milagro Saints play “Pennsylvania Rose”]

Stephenson Ineson talks about the songs on the Milagro Saints’ CD has many influences because he’s from England and “sees America from an outside perspective.” Besides, he says, he’s not afraid to through non-genre specific elements into the music. Ineson also talks about the fact that there’s a thriving Americana scene in England.

Lee Kirby talks about growing up in North West Arkansas and getting the chance to see Earl Scruggs live which was his first taste of roots and bluegrass music and he was also influenced by the New Grass music trend.

Roberto says he grew up in Italy without any roots music influences although Ineson is quick to point out that they have mandolins in Italy. Roberto credits Stephen and Lee for making him “see the light” on the roots music scene.

Stephen Ineson sets up “Ghost.”

[Stephen Ineson, Lee Kirby, and Roberto Morales of Milagro Saints play “Ghost.”]

Stephen Ineson talks about  the gigs that Milagro Saints play in the area including Sadlacks and Weaver Street Market. They also talk about playing in the open air. And the joys of playing earlier in the day.

Stephen Ineson sets up “These Things About You,” which he describes as a “bit of a rock and roll number.”

Get More!

• The episode index page lists the guests for all episodes and has links to the episode pages.
• You can receive email notifications of future episodes by signing up for the free Taproot News email newsletter.
• Taproot Radio Podcast page on iTunes so you can subscribe in iTunes
• Subscription page for other podcast players
• Taproot Radio Home Page

Legal

The Taproot Radio Podcast is copyright 2011 by Taproot Media. The music and interviews in this episode are used with permission of the artists. The Taproot Theme music is called “Meltdown Man” by Derek K. Miller of Penmachine.com. The episode as a whole is copyright 2011 by Taproot Media.

Feedback

If you have any feedback for this episode or any other episode, please send mail to feedback@taprootradio.com.

[Stephen Ineson, Lee Kirby, and Roberto Morales of Milagro Saints play “These Things About You.”]

Everyone marvels at Lees harp work on that last song and his ability to switch them in mid-song.

Stephen Ineson tells us the short version of the story behind the band name. He talks about “Milagro” means “miracle.” Lee points out that the true story refers to iconography. In Central  America where they wear icons of the saints. They are saving the official story of the band name for an upcoming book, or something.

Roberto Morales tells the story of how he was tricked into becoming he band’s mandolin player.

Stephen Ineson sets up “53rd and 9th Street.”

[Stephen Ineson, Lee Kirby, and Roberto Morales of Milagro Saints play “53rd and 9th Street.”]

Stephen Ineson refers people to MilagroSaints.com and also see Milagro Saints on FaceBook.

Stephen Ineson talks about being self-produced.

Dr. John on iTunes

My interview guest is Jon Neufeld from the string band Jackstraw. Come har him talk about the Portland roots music scene and hear tracks from their CD, Sunday Never Comes.

Jezebel Jones / The Cornell Hurd Band / Drop In On My Dream / 2:22
Lucky Tonight / D.L. Marble / Not The One… / 2:38
Ballad of Sis (Didn’t I Love You) / Hobart Brothers w Li’l Sis / At Least We Have Each Other / 4:17
Long Gone Long John / Woody Pines / You Gotta Roll EP / 2:46

*** Interview Guest: Jon Neufeld ***

Blue Country Mystic / Hiss Golden Messenger / Poor Moon  / 4:08
Hold On / Alabama Shakes / Boys & Girls / 3:46
Been There Before / Possum Jenkins / Carolinacana / 3:12
I Won’t Cry / Janiva Magness / Stronger For It / 3:51
Crazy / The Parlor Soldiers / When The Dust Settles / 3:00
I’ll Keep Calling / JP Harris and the Tough Choices / I’ll Keep Calling / 3:07
What The Hell Is Goin’ On? / Paul Thorn / What The Hell Is Goin’ On? / 4:02
Outfit / Drive-By Truckers / Decoration Day / 4:05
River Rush / Beth McKee / Next to Nowhere / 3:24
White Freightliner Blues / Lyle Lovett / Release Me / 5:06
Burning House of Love / Knitters / The Modern Sounds of … The Knitters / 3:42

Jezebel Jones / The Cornell Hurd Band / Drop In On My Dream / 2:22
What The Hell Is Goin’ On? / Paul Thorn / What The Hell Is Goin’ On? / 4:02
Lucky Tonight / D.L. Marble / Not The One… / 2:38
Long Gone Long John / Woody Pines / You Gotta Roll EP / 2:46
Hold On / Alabama Shakes / Boys & Girls / 3:46
I Won’t Cry / Janiva Magness / Stronger For It / 3:51
I’ll Keep Calling / JP Harris and the Tough Choices / I’ll Keep Calling / 3:07
Gallows / Addam Scott / San Diablo / 4:20
Pennsylvania Rose / Milagro Saints / Chance & Circumstance / 4:42
Ballad of Sis (Didn’t I Love You) / Hobart Brothers w Li’l Sis / At Least We Have Each Other / 4:17
Blue Country Mystic / Hiss Golden Messenger / Poor Moon  / 4:08
Annie / YARN / Almost Home / 4:07
Only You / Moot Davis / Man About Town / 2:31
Barton Hollow / The Civil Wars / Barton Hollow / 3:26
Big Bend Boogie / JWW And The Prospectors / It’s High Past Time / 3:07
Been There Before / Possum Jenkins / Carolinacana / 3:12
Crazy / The Parlor Soldiers / When The Dust Settles / 3:00
White Freightliner Blues / Lyle Lovett / Release Me / 5:06
Mother Blues / Ray Wylie Hubbard / The Grifter’s Hymnal / 5:57
River Rush / Beth McKee / Next to Nowhere / 3:24
Get Ready / Tilford Sellers & The Wagon Burners / Heartaches, Lies, and Cheating Songs / 1:59
Maybe I Will / Bap Kennedy / The Sailor’s Revenge / 4:34
Woman On The Wheel / Gretchen Peters / Hello Cruel World / 5:01
Heart With A Hole / J.J. Ford / Performance Jones / 4:14
Lee Harvey / T. Tex Edwards / Intexicated! / 3:16
Darkness in the Delta / Eden Brent / It’s All Connected / 3:21
Movin’ On / Donna The Buffalo / Positive Friction / 2:55
Think / Steve Cropper / Dedicated – A Salute To The 5 Royales / 4:02
Sent By Angels / Arc Angels / KGSR Broadcasts Vol. 17 (Disc 2) / 5:35
If I Were A Bramble And You Were A Rose / The Long Ryders / The Long Ryders Anthology: Looking for Lewis and Clark [Disc 2] / 3:20
We’ll Sweep Out The Ashes In The Morning / Gram Parsons / Under Your Spell Again [Disc II] / 3:43
I Can’t Turn You Loose / Otis Redding / Live On The Sunset Strip / 6:19
Reelin’ & Rockin’ [Live] / George Thorogood & The Destroyers / Greatest Hits: 30 Years of Rock / 5:49
What Are You Willing To Lose / Lucero / 1372 Overton Park / 4:08
Ain’t No Good / Nick Curran And The Lowlifes / Reform School Girl / 2:19
Look At Miss Ohio / The Band Of Heathens / One Foot In The Ether / 5:12
Last Fair Deal Gone Down / Crooked Still / Hop High / 4:29
Turn Here / Eddie & Ernie / The Soul Side Of The Street – The Hadley Murrell Story: 1964-1972 / 1:57
Dancin’ Circles Round the Sun (Epictetus Speaks) / Rodney Crowell / The Outsider / 4:32
Here Tonight / Daryl Hance / Hallowed Ground / 3:10
Sleepin’ on the Job of Love / Robbie Fulks / The Very Best Of Robbie Fulks / 2:10
The Rescue Blues / Ryan Adams / Gold / 3:39
Home Of The Blues / Hacienda Brothers / Music For Ranch & Town / 2:50
You’re Gonna Make Me Cry / O.V. Wright / The Soul Of O.V. Wright / 3:24
Loving Time Of Happiness / J. Shogren / Bird Bones & Muscle / 1:54
Perfect World / Devon Allman’s Honeytribe / Torch / 3:37
Last Night / The Mannish Boys / Shake For Me / 5:04
If You Gotta Go, Go Now / Eric Ambel / Roscoe’s Gang / 3:38
Burning House of Love / Knitters / The Modern Sounds of … The Knitters / 3:42
Songs / Slobberbone / New West Records 1 / 2:47
Outfit / Drive-By Truckers / Decoration Day / 4:05
To Drink The Rain / Malcolm Holcombe / To Drink The Rain / 4:22

Brothers Comatose on iTunes

Brothers Comatose web site

TPR#85 Dave Willis from Possum Jenkins (MP3)

Sponsor

North Carolina Hops and Roots Fest

Show Notes:

Possum Jenkins on iTunes

Possum Jenkins web site

Recap of Interview with Dave Willis of Possum Jenkins

Dave Willis from Possum Jenkins talks about how they started in Boone because they all attended Appalachian State University. But now all but one of the members is based out of the Winston-Salem area.  Dave reviews the line up. Jared Church plays bass. Nate Turner is a multi-instrumentalist guitar player, drummer and singer. Brent Buckner is the harmonica player. David Brewer is also a multi-instrumentalist guitar player, drummer, and singer. And of course there’s Dave Willis himself.

Dave Willis talks about looking back on the past 8 years and he says he’s honestly surprised that people can hang out with each other every weekend and multiple times a week for 8 years. He talks about how they thought the band was going to be a short lived project but it survived 8 years even as the members were getting married and having kids etc.

Dave Willis sets up “Know The Way.” It’s a Piedmont blues gospel influenced song. He enjoyed this one because they got Jordan Craig to play trombone, David McCracken from Donna The Buffalo to play organ, and Molly McGinn to sing harmony.

[plays “Know The Way”]

Dave Willis says gospel music is overlooked sometimes but seems to be a building block of just about everything.

Dave Willis says Carolinacana is the first album the feels like they are narrowing down on a sound they can call their own. He says their past albums have been a little scattershot.

Dave Willis sets up “Swinging Door”. This is a song written by Nate and Brent wrote this one. It’s stripped down on the album, but it’s one they play live a lot and it’s evolving.

[plays “Swinging Door”]

Dave Willis talks about the turning point in the band. He says when they first got started they might not have taken it as seriously as they could have. But the turning point for him was the band’s previous release, Collection Of Bad Habits. It was at that point Dave realized they could make a decent album and ever since then he constantly writes and plays and tries to build up a lot of material just because he enjoys doing it.

Dave Willis talks about playing festivals like Shakori Hills, FloydFest, and Rhythm and Roots Fest. They like playing festivals because they get to also see other bands they like. Dave says that he also kinda likes playing bar gigs where sometimes the patrons don’t even want you there and they have to “keep throwing music at them ‘til they give up and start dancing.”

Dave Willis sets up “A Toast.” It was written as a banjo tune but they stripped it down and brought Molly in again to help out on harmonies.

[plays “A Toast”]

Dave Willis talks about how Possum Jenkins got Carolinacana raised the funds to produce the CD through a Kickstarter program. Fans pre-ordered CDs and if people supported with more cash the band would mow lawns or play private parties or whatever. Dave Willis talks about how humbling it was to get that level of support from their fans.

Get More!

• The episode index page lists the guests for all episodes and has links to the episode pages.
• You can receive email notifications of future episodes by signing up for the free Taproot News email newsletter.
• Taproot Radio Podcast page on iTunes so you can subscribe in iTunes
• Subscription page for other podcast players
• Taproot Radio Home Page

Legal

The Taproot Radio Podcast is copyright 2011 by Taproot Media. The music and interviews in this episode are used with permission of the artists. The Taproot Theme music is called “Meltdown Man” by Derek K. Miller of Penmachine.com. The episode as a whole is copyright 2011 by Taproot Media.

Feedback

If you have any feedback for this episode or any other episode, please send mail to feedback@taprootradio.com.

The Taproot Radio show airs live on Monday nights at 9pm Eastern. Local listeners in Chapel Hill can tune in to WCOM at 103.5FM.  Everyone else can tune in to the WCOM.webcast stream.

My interview guest is the one and only Moot Davis, who has just released his first twangy CD in seven years. I really like his vocal style.

Poor Old Dirt Farmer / Levon Helm / Dirt Farmer / 3:53
You Ain’t Alone / Alabama Shakes / Boys & Girls / 4:45
There It Is / Janiva Magness / Stronger For It / 3:30

*** Special Guest: Moot Davis ***

Cranky Mulatto / The Gourds / Noble Bonus Tracks / 3:21
Almost Home / YARN / Almost Home / 4:16
I Am Trying To Break Your Heart / JC Brooks & the Uptown Sou… / Get It Together b/w I Am Trying To Break Your Heart / 3:39
on the bleed / Michael Rank and Stag / Kin [Disc 1] / 4:52
Shoulda Kept on Walkin’ / Beth McKee / Next to Nowhere / 2:57
New Year’s Eve at the Gates of Hell / Ray Wylie Hubbard / The Grifter’s Hymnal / 3:31
Don’t Let Me Down Again / Paul Thorn / What The Hell Is Goin’ On? / 3:33
Gypsy Minor / Pathos / El Pathos / 3:41
Sweet Senorita / Hobart Brothers w Li’l Sis / At Least We Have Each Other / 3:27
I Can Get Off On You / Willie Nelson / Willie & Family Live / 2:09
Little Birds / Levon Helm / Dirt Farmer / 4:42

Donna The Buffalo on iTunes

Donna The Buffalo web site

taprootradio.com Road Song play list on Spotify

As always, you can listen to each week’s rotation for free on the taprootradio.com current rotation play list on Spotify.

Don’t Let Me Down Again / Paul Thorn / What The Hell Is Goin’ On? / 3:33
You Ain’t Alone / Alabama Shakes / Boys & Girls / 4:45
There It Is / Janiva Magness / Stronger For It / 3:30
Badly Bent / JP Harris and the Tough Choices / I’ll Keep Calling / 4:47
Good News / Addam Scott / San Diablo / 4:18
Morning Song / Milagro Saints / Chance & Circumstance / 4:15
Sweet Senorita / Hobart Brothers w Li’l Sis / At Least We Have Each Other / 3:27
Shady Grove Gonna Blow / Chelle Rose / Ghost Of Browder Holler / 3:44
Jesus Shot Me in the Head / Hiss Golden Messenger / Poor Moon  / 5:07
Almost Home / YARN / Almost Home / 4:16
Queensbury Rules / Moot Davis / Man About Town / 2:50
Poison & Wine / The Civil Wars / Barton Hollow / 3:40
What Have I Done That Made You Go Away / JWW And The Prospectors / It’s High Past Time / 3:29
Copper Coin / Possum Jenkins / Carolinacana / 2:46
When The Dust Settles / The Parlor Soldiers / When The Dust Settles / 4:32
One Way Gal / Lyle Lovett / Release Me / 2:59
New Year’s Eve at the Gates of Hell / Ray Wylie Hubbard / The Grifter’s Hymnal / 3:31
Shoulda Kept on Walkin’ / Beth McKee / Next to Nowhere / 2:57
Like Lightning / Lucero / Women & Work / 4:15
on the bleed / Michael Rank and Stag / Kin [Disc 1] / 4:52
More To It Than This / Kane Welch Kaplin / Live at the Bluebird / 3:49
Lucky / Magnolia Collective / Ghost Stories (EP) / 2:36
When I Arrive / Sam Reid & The Riot Act / A Slow Burn / 3:00
The Right Stuff / Bap Kennedy / The Sailor’s Revenge / 3:46
Hello Cruel World / Gretchen Peters / Hello Cruel World / 4:25
Gypsy Minor / Pathos / El Pathos / 3:41
Security / Otis Redding / Stax 1959-1968 #3 / 2:37
Lights Of Downtown / The Long Ryders / The Long Ryders Anthology: Looking for Lewis and Clark [Disc 1] / 3:10
The Angels Rejoiced Last Night / Gram Parsons / Sacred Hearts And Fallen Angels: The Gram Parsons Anthology (Disc 2) / 3:36
Omaha / The Gourds / Shinebox / 3:15
I Am Trying To Break Your Heart / JC Brooks & the Uptown Sou… / Get It Together b/w I Am Trying To Break Your Heart / 3:39
Sunny Side Of The Mountain / The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Various Artists / Will The Circle Be Unbroken [Disc 1] / 2:51
Appaloosa / The Black Crowes / Before The Frost…Until The Freeze / 3:27
Leonard’s Pigpen / Malcolm Holcombe / For The Mission Baby / 4:50
Sheena’s Back / Nick Curran And The Lowlifes / Reform School Girl / 2:59
You Beat Me To The Punch / Mary Wells / The Ultimate collection / 2:42
I Can Get Off On You / Willie Nelson / Willie & Family Live / 2:09
Up On Cripple Creek / The Band / Greatest Hits / 4:32
Poor Old Dirt Farmer / Levon Helm / Dirt Farmer / 3:53
Little Birds / Levon Helm / Dirt Farmer / 4:42
There’s A Hole / John Doe / A Year In The Wilderness / 2:39
Mississippi Home / The Subdudes / Miracle Mule / 4:11
Pretty Boy Floyd Was A Travelin Salesman / David Childers / Known On The Underground / 5:17
$1000 Wedding / Willie Nelson / Songbird / 3:05
Dark Night / The Blasters / Trouble Bound / 5:32
Holy Moses / Drams / Jubilee Dive / 6:30
Get Out Of My Life Woman / Allen Toussaint / New Orleans Funk: New Orleans – The Original Sound Of Funk 1960-75 / 3:04
Fool For A Lonesome Train / Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals / Lifeline / 3:30
Electric Rodeo / Shooter Jennings / Electric Rodeo / 4:34
Baffled Ghosts / Mercury Dime / Baffled Ghosts / 6:20
Cranky Mulatto / The Gourds / Noble Bonus Tracks / 3:21

Cornell Hurd Band on iTunes

Cornell Hurd Band web site

Woody Pines on iTunes

Woody Pines Web Site

D.L. Marble on iTunes

D.L. Marble Web Site

TPR#84 Mike June and the Wilson Street Refugees (MP3)

Sponsor

North Carolina Hops and Roots Fest

Show Notes:

Mike June and the Wilson Street Refugees web site

Mike June Interview Recap:

Mike June talked about how his grand father was a country western singer which was rare growing up in New York state. So Mike heard more than his share of Hank Williams growing up. But at the time in the 80s, Mike was getting a big dose of heavy metal music at the same time. He is somewhat embarrassed to list all the metal bands he saw before he was 13. Mike reveals his favorite metals bands from those days as part of his process of owning up to those influences.

Mike June sets up “The Prisoner” Mike says “the words kind of sum up the whole record. It’s kind of the thesis statement for the whole album.”

[plays “The Prisoner”]

Mike June talks about all the personal history in “The Prisoner.” He says that in person he would never talk about all that stuff, but he has no problem putting it in songs. He says he’s not a poet or a song crafter. His songs are “usually finishing conversations that weren’t finished in person.”

Mike June talks about his first band in New Jersey called Mike Junes and the Dirty Doves. Their first record was 10 years ago. Mike talks about how his dad was into country music and didn’t really approve of Mike spending his time following the Grateful Dead around. But Mike remembers hearing the Marty Robbins song “El Paso” at a Grateful Dead concert. He talks about how the Grateful Dead played a lot of country music and if became a bonding point between Mike and his Band.

Mike June talks about New Austin Music which was started by Larry Graves and Scott Everett. They go around and find musicians who don’t have any money to record and give them a chance to record. They came to Mike because he had no money but a big collection of songs.

The Wilson Street Refugees were put together from ex-members of the Doves and another friend. They were the core of the band and they would go out during the week and just meet musicians and invite them to play at the studio on the weekend and help them record.

Mike June sets up “Newark.” He wrote the song “Newark” about his friend Joe Marques who was in a band in the 90’s called The Winter Hours. Joe was his college roommate and introduced him to The Byrds and Leonard Cohen etc. The song “Newark” was kind of a tribute to him. This past week at South By South West, he ran into Lenny Kaye from the Patti Smith Group. He had produced the one and only album The Winter Hours had produced. So Mike June got to stand on the corner of South Congress in Austin talking to Lenny Kaye about his friend.

[plays “Newark”]

Mike June talks about Jon Dee Graham playing lead guitar on that track and the legend that Jon Dee Graham is in Austin because he was such a good songwriter in Austin. He was in Austin’s first punk band, The Skunks. And he was also in John Doe’s X for a while.

Mike June talks about the name of the band. It’s named after an apartment complex where many Austin Musicians have lived at one time or another because it was so cheap. Unfortunately the apartments recently got knocked down and now all those people are refugees.

Mike June set up his favorite track “Babe, I Ain’t Perfect”. It’s pretty self-explanatory, but he notes that the song comes from the bottom of his heart.

[plays “Babe, I Ain’t Perfect”]

Mike June talks about how that song was for someone special and how she inspired him for so many songs on this CD.

Get More!

• The episode index page lists the guests for all episodes and has links to the episode pages.
• You can receive email notifications of future episodes by signing up for the free Taproot News email newsletter.
• Taproot Radio Podcast page on iTunes so you can subscribe in iTunes
• Subscription page for other podcast players
• Taproot Radio Home Page

Legal

The Taproot Radio Podcast is copyright 2011 by Taproot Media. The music and interviews in this episode are used with permission of the artists. The Taproot Theme music is called “Meltdown Man” by Derek K. Miller of Penmachine.com. The episode as a whole is copyright 2011 by Taproot Media.

Feedback

If you have any feedback for this episode or any other episode, please send mail to feedback@taprootradio.com.

Pathos on iTunes

Pathos web site

taprootradio.com Road Song play list on Spotify

Does the most hyped up band of the past year, live up to their pre-billing? Maybe. No doubt they are a super strong band and as my friend Ann put it, “They’ll be great if they don’t flame out.” That works for me.

Alabama Shakes in iTunes

Alabama Shakes web site

Addam Scott on iTunes

Addam Scott web site

Howdy,

Janiva Magness has just released Stronger For It. Long-time listeners of the show will be well familiar Janiva Magness because she got heavy play on Taproot Radio in 2010 when her The Devil Is An Angel Too CD was out. And she won best CD of 2010 on Taproot Radio. Stronger For It is just as impressive. She’s got a strong Candi Staton vibe on this one full of soul star power just like you know you like it. My favorite track is the cover of Ike Turner’s “You Got What You Wanted.”

On I’ll Keep Calling from JP Harris and the Tough Choices, you get smooth, straight up honky-tonk from a guy that’s lived what he writes about. There’s no kitsch, not glitz, no glamor in this music. Instead you get authentic, aching, autobiographical songs and a band that knows how to make you tap your foot. Highlights for me are “Two For The Road,” “Badly Bent,” and “I’ll Keep Calling.”

I’m psyched to announce that Dom Flemons and Allison Russell will be my guests on the live show this week. They are in a band called Sankofa which plays jug band music like nothing you’ve ever heard before. So tune in to the web cast of the live show on Monday April 16th at 9pm Eastern.

photo credit: Beana Bern

On episode 83 of the Taproot Music Show,  Chris Castle talks about how he lined up the stellar group of musicians for his latest project, Last Bird Home, and managed to get it recorded in Levon Helms studio; how he got started in song writing and landed his first job working for music publishers on Music Row, and how he connects the dots from Sublime to Lefty Frizzell.

If you listen to the podcast episodes, either on the web or via podcast, I would appreciate it if you could go to the iTune page for the show and leave a rating or a review. This helps me get featured more prominently in the iTunes directory which helps me promote the artists you hear. So it’s a win win for everybody. Instructions are on this page. Thanks!

Dig Deep,

Calvin

See the bottom of this newsletter
for all the links and social network stuff.

Taproot Road Song of the Week

“Voodoo Cadillac’s” car metaphor is about as subtle as Mary Huff’s hair and why the hell not. This is from their Dirt Track Date album which came out in the early 2000′s as I recall. The video was shot live here in Chapel Hill at the Local 506.

Dirt Track Date on iTunes

Southern Culture on the Skids web site

taprootradio.com Road Song play list on Spotify

Recent Adds

Lucky / Magnolia Collective / Ghost Stories (EP) / 2:36
Stolen Car / Magnolia Collective / Ghost Stories (EP) / 3:25
Call of the Wild / Tracy Weinberg / Mountains of Dreams / 3:11
There It Is / Janiva Magness / Stronger For It / 3:30
I Won’t Cry / Janiva Magness / Stronger For It / 3:51
Make It Rain / Janiva Magness / Stronger For It / 3:46
You Got What You Wanted / Janiva Magness / Stronger For It / 3:35
Two For The Road / JP Harris and the Tough Choices / I’ll Keep Calling / 2:54
Badly Bent / JP Harris and the Tough Choices / I’ll Keep Calling / 4:47
I’ll Keep Calling / JP Harris and the Tough Choices / I’ll Keep Calling / 3:07
Bend in the River / Claudia Schmidt / Bend in the River / 3:21
When I Arrive / Sam Reid & The Riot Act / A Slow Burn / 3:00
The Right Stuff / Bap Kennedy / The Sailor’s Revenge / 3:46
Maybe I Will / Bap Kennedy / The Sailor’s Revenge / 4:34
Please Return To Jesus / Bap Kennedy / The Sailor’s Revenge / 4:12
Unforgiven / Bap Kennedy / The Sailor’s Revenge / 3:40
Ada, OK / Michael Fracasso / Saint Monday / 3:32
Gypsy Moth / Michael Fracasso / Saint Monday / 4:34
Hello Cruel World / Gretchen Peters / Hello Cruel World / 4:25
Woman On The Wheel / Gretchen Peters / Hello Cruel World / 5:01
Heart With A Hole / JJ Ford / Performance Jones / 4:14

Taproot Music Show Recent Episodes

See a list of all episodes on the episode index page.

Episode 79 - Snatches of Pink front man Michael Rank and Marc E Smith join Calvin in the studio live to play some acoustic versions of songs from Kin, the debut release from Michael Rank and Stag. Michael talks about the amazing line up of area musicians he’s got on the new CD, why he decided not to do this as a CD as a Snatches of Pink CD, the challenges of coordinating so many band mates when recording the tracks, writing songs for both acoustic and full band performances, and how he finally caught up with Taylor Swift in the break up CD department.

Episode 80 – Joe Maynard talks about his many-faceted art career in New York City; explains the name of his first band, the Millerite Redeemers; runs through the current band line up and explains how they became The Musties; the advice he got from Ryan Adams; and explains why his band is mapped out to “the rhythm section” and “the weirdos.”

Episode 81 – Alex Culbreth and Karen Jonas are the Parlor Soldiers and they talk about the origin of their band name, how they manage to combine folk and alt.country into something that works, how they are able to write such gritty, detailed songs, their advice for aspiring singer/songwriters, and their Johnny Cash / June Carter song.

WCOM Play List

The Taproot Radio show airs live on Monday nights at 9pm Eastern. Local listeners in Chapel Hill can tune in to WCOM at 103.5FM.  Everyone else can tune in to the WCOM.webcast stream.

My interview guests this week are Dom Flemons and Allison Russell from Sankofa. They will be on the air to play jug band music like you have never heard before.

You Got What You Wanted / Janiva Magness / Stronger For It / 3:35
Heart Worth Breaking / YARN / Almost Home / 3:40
All Things Being Equal / Hobart Brothers w Li’l Sis / At Least We Have Each Other / 3:29
Browder Holler Boy / Chelle Rose / Ghost Of Browder Holler / 3:24

*** Special Guests: Dom Flemons and Allison Russell from Sankofa ***

Two For The Road / JP Harris and the Tough Choices / I’ll Keep Calling / 2:54
It’s High Past Time / JWW And The Prospectors / It’s High Past Time / 3:37
She’s Like a Song / Patty Hurst Shifter / Too Crowded on the Losing End / 2:28
Been There Before / Possum Jenkins / Carolinacana / 3:12
Only You / Moot Davis / Man About Town / 2:31
Super Blue (Two Days Clean) / Hiss Golden Messenger / Poor Moon  / 4:36
Voodoo Cadillac / Southern Culture On the Skids / Dirt Track Date / 4:40
For the Mission Baby / Malcolm Holcombe / For The Mission Baby / 2:57
Carl Perkins’ Cadillac / Drive-By Truckers / The Dirty South / 5:26
Freeway View / James McMurtry / Live In Europe / 3:52
White Boy Lost In The Blues / Lyle Lovett / Release Me    3:32

This Week’s Webcast Rotation

Listen to the week’s rotation on the taprootradio.com current rotation play list on Spotify.

Little Bottles / Alejandro Escovedo / With These Hands (Deluxe Edition) / 3:18
Same Dog’s Tail / Beth McKee / Next to Nowhere / 3:37
It’s Summertime / Bobby Smith / It’s Summertime! / 3:42
Browder Holler Boy / Chelle Rose / Ghost Of Browder Holler / 3:24
Bird / Chris Castle / Last Bird Home / 1:47
Bend in the River / Claudia Schmidt / Bend in the River / 3:21
Dreaming My Dreams With You / Cowboy Junkies / The Trinity Session / 4:31
Can’t Make It Through The Night / Deadstring Brothers / Sao Paulo / 3:23
Carl Perkins’ Cadillac / Drive-By Truckers / The Dirty South / 5:26
High Fashion Queen / The Flying Burrito Brothers / Sacred Hearts And Fallen Angels: The Gram Parsons Anthology (Disc 1) / 2:09
American Made / George Thorogood & The Destroyers / Greatest Hits: 30 Years of Rock / 4:07
Last Letter / The Gourds / Noble Creatures / 5:01
A Bad Way / The Great Unknowns / Homefront / 3:05
Five / Highway Robbers / Robbers & Swills / 5:12
Super Blue (Two Days Clean) / Hiss Golden Messenger / Poor Moon  / 4:36
All Things Being Equal / Hobart Brothers w Li’l Sis / At Least We Have Each Other / 3:29
Freeway View / James McMurtry / Live In Europe / 3:52
You Got What You Wanted / Janiva Magness / Stronger For It / 3:35
Happier Times / Jim Armstrong / Mudtown / 4:13
Two For The Road / JP Harris and the Tough Choices / I’ll Keep Calling / 2:54
It’s High Past Time / JWW And The Prospectors / It’s High Past Time / 3:37
Millionaire / Kane Welch Kaplin / Live at the Bluebird / 4:29
Over the Levee / Kevin Gordon / Cadillac Jack’s #1 Son / 3:59
Clementine / Lincoln Durham / The Shovel Vs. The Howling Bones / 3:23
I’ll Get Out Somehow / The Long Ryders / The Long Ryders Anthology: Looking for Lewis and Clark [Disc 1] / 3:48
Women & Work / Lucero / Women & Work / 3:07
The Night’s Too Long / Lucinda Williams / Lucinda Williams / 4:18
Do Right / Lydia Loveless / Indestructible Machine – CLEAN / 3:51
White Boy Lost In The Blues / Lyle Lovett / Release Me / 3:32
Stolen Car / Magnolia Collective / Ghost Stories (EP) / 3:25
For the Mission Baby / Malcolm Holcombe / For The Mission Baby / 2:57
Paper Sack / Mark Lemhouse / The Great American Yard Sale / 4:07
Cheap Cigar / Maynard and the Musties / Cheap Cigar / 4:00
Evangelyne / Milagro Saints / Chance & Circumstance / 3:17
How Long / Moot Davis / Man About Town / 3:29
Only You / Moot Davis / Man About Town / 2:31
You Can’t Lose What You Ain’t Never Had / Muddy Waters / His Best, 1956 To 1964 / 2:56
That’s What My Heart Needs / Otis Redding / Stax 1959-1968 #2 / 2:42
When The Dust Settles / The Parlor Soldiers / When The Dust Settles / 4:32
She’s Like a Song / Patty Hurst Shifter / Too Crowded on the Losing End / 2:28
I Don’t Like Half The Folks I Love / Paul Thorn / Pimps & Preachers / 4:21
Been There Before / Possum Jenkins / Carolinacana / 3:12
(Night Time Is) The Right Time / Ray Charles / The Very Best Of Ray Charles / 3:24
South of the River / Ray Wylie Hubbard / The Grifter’s Hymnal / 4:07
King of the Blues / Robbie Fulks / The Man Of Somebody’s Dreams: A Tribute to the Songs of Chris Gaffney / 3:53
The Obsenity Prayer (Give It To Me) / Rodney Crowell / This Is Americana Volume 2 / 3:56
Voodoo Cadillac / Southern Culture On the Skids / Dirt Track Date / 4:40
When I Get Like This / Steve Cropper & Lucinda Williams / Dedicated – A Salute To The 5 Royales / 2:29
Call of the Wild / Tracy Weinberg / Mountains of Dreams / 3:11
16 Days / Whiskeytown / Strangers Almanac / 3:55
Heart Worth Breaking / YARN / Almost Home / 3:40

All The Links You Need

Taproot Radio Live on WCOM

Monday nights at 9pm Eastern time. Tune in to the WCOM webcast.

Taproot Music Show

Listen on the web

Subscribe to the podcast for free

Follow on Pinterest

Webcast

taprootradio.com current rotation on Spotify

taprootradio.com roadsongs on Spotify

Social Networks

The Taproot Radio Blog

Taproot Radio on Facebook

Taproot Radio on Twitter

Subscribe to the free email newsletter

Email

Send your feedback and suggestions to director@taprootradio.com

photo credit: Beana Bern

TPR#83 Chris Castle – Interview and Music (MP3)

Sponsor

North Carolina Hops and Roots Fest

Show Notes:

Chris Castle on iTunes

Chris Castle web site

Recap of Interview with Chris Castle

Chris Castle describes how he put together the band behind Last Bird Home. In 2008, Chris Castle did an EP project at Levon Helm’s studios and got to know Justin Guip, the head engineer there. They discussed doing a full length project a couple of times when they’d cross paths on the road. About a year ago Chris Castle was touring with the Womack Family Band and he started talking to them about doing a full lenth projct. Chris had also met Tommy Ramone at a show. He is now doing roots music with Uncle Monk, playing mandolin and banjo. Chris thought it would be great to get him on the project. Chris had also researched online to find Garth Hudson and reached out to he and his wife Maude and got them signed up. In short, he pursued this project as an “indie artist from the middle of nowhere” and just put it together even though it makes the business side of things more complicated. In March of 2011, he booked the studio and got everyone up there to record.

Chris Castles sets up “Trees Fall Every Day.” He notes that Tommy Ramone (sp?) is playing mandolin on this track.

[plays "Trees Fall Every Day"]

Another player on this CD is Gabriel Butterfield who is the son of Paul Butterfield, the blues player from the woodstock era. Gabirel was running a venue down in Florida. While playing there a while back they got to talking about song writers of that ers. Of course all conversations like that start with Dylan and The Band, and Butterfield and Bloomfield and how they were all working together. Gabriel was talking about growing up in Woodstock and meeting all those legends so early. Chris Castle thought it would be cool to get Gabriel on the project as well.

Chris Castle talks about the troubles they had recording “Trees Fall Every Day.” As producer, Chris has to assemble great players and not offending any of them but also recognizing that not every player is going to be able to play on every track.

Chris Castle sets up “All Kinds Of Time,” featuirng Larry Campbell. Chris told Larry this is gonna be a Hank WIlliams Sr. Intro/outtro sort of fiddle tune. All he needed to hear a couple of pick up notes before the 1 beat, like an old hank record.

[plays "All Kinds Of Time']

Chris Castle tells the story of how he landed a gig as a song writer on music row in Nashville by the time he was 15. His father had died early on and so the family struggled. His mom had always supported his musical interests both becuase she was proud of his early successes but also because he helped put money and food on the table.

She say a special on TV about The Bluebird Cafe in Nsahville. She saw that and arranged for Chris to record a demo of 10 original and sent it to the BlueBird. He got a letter back from the booking agent at the BlueBird who said he had enough potential that Chris should come down to Nashville and play some open mic nights and play with some more experienced performers. So Chris and his Mom went down there and he got to play at some Songwriter nights. A song writer named Casey Kelly (wrote “The Cowboy Rides Away” for George Strait) helped Chris out a lot. He started teaching Chris the fundamentals of song writing. And after about 6 months of training including “homework” assignments, Casey introduced Chris to a published and Chris landed a job at a publisher at the age of 15. Chris describes it as the best “college education” he could have had. Chris talks about the grind of working for a publisher.

Chris Castle sets up “Dirty Water.” It’s a blusey song. Garth Hudson and Gabriel Butterfield.

[plays "Dirty Water"]

Chris Castle talks about paying it forward by helping out a young band called the Womack Family Band. They area quartet and Chris is trying to teach them to pay attention to their locale in their music. They have been touring with Chris. Chris described the series of artists he exposed them to in order to get them from Led Zeppelin to Lefty Frizzell.

Get More!

• The episode index page lists the guests for all episodes and has links to the episode pages.
• You can receive email notifications of future episodes by signing up for the free Taproot News email newsletter.
• Taproot Radio Podcast page on iTunes so you can subscribe in iTunes
• Subscription page for other podcast players
• Taproot Radio Home Page

Legal

The Taproot Radio Podcast is copyright 2011 by Taproot Media. The music and interviews in this episode are used with permission of the artists. The Taproot Theme music is called “Meltdown Man” by Derek K. Miller of Penmachine.com. The episode as a whole is copyright 2011 by Taproot Media.

Feedback

If you have any feedback for this episode or any other episode, please send mail to feedback@taprootradio.com.

JP Harris and the Tough Choices on iTunes – coming soon

JP Harris and the Tough Choices web site

Dirt Track Date on iTunes

Southern Culture on the Skids web site

taprootradio.com Road Song play list on Spotify

Janiva Magness on iTunes

Janiva Magness’ web site

Howdy,

Congratulations to Glenda Lee Hedenskog who was the randomly selected entry in the Merlefest Ticket Giveaway. The giveaway is 2 one-day passes to any day of Merlefest. This contest is now closed. Thanks to everyone who entered!

The Hobart Brothers with Li’l Sis is Jon Dee Graham, Freedy Johnston, and Susan Cowsill. Their debut CD, At Least We Have Each Other is very much in the spirit of X’s side project, The Knitters, which is to say it has a feel of ex-punk/indie/alt rockers slowing down to do something a little more rootsy and little more singer-song-writery. The twangy undercurrents are unmistakeable but the grit is all rock and roll. Highlights for me are “Ballad Of Sis,” “Sweet Senorita,” and “All Things Being Equal.”

Heartfelt, funky, and just a little bit trippy in the spirit of Donna The Buffalo. That’s how I’d describe the Milagro Saints’ latest release, Chance & Circumstance. These veterans of the roots music scene have transcended the alt.country crowd they sprang from into band that creates Americana that’s deceptively modern. Whether it’s the mandolin riffs setting a easy going roll or a well timed accordion riff at just the right moment, they know how to pay homage to traditional music without being limited by it. Highlight tracks for me are “Morning Song,” “Evangelyne,” and most of all “Pennsylvania Rose.”

My interview guest on the live WCOM show tonight will be Addam Scott, talking about his honky tonk americana CD, San Diablo. He’s got some good stories to tell about live in southern California, which I’m sure you’ll enjoy. So tune in to the web cast at 9pm EDT.

On episode 82 of the Taproot Music Show , Beth McKee  talks about the different styles of southern music on her latest CD, Next To Nowhere; tells us about fishing or redfish near Port Sulfer, Louisiana and its metaphorical implications; and tells us how her “Swamp Sistas” movement got started.

Dig Deep,

Calvin

See the bottom of this newsletter
for all the links and social network stuff.

Taproot Road Song of the Week

A swaggering song about (trying) to pick up women at a bar. “Putting the honky in honky-tonk,” as my wife says, it’s the Old 97′s with “Barrier Reef” from Too Far To Care.

Too Far To Care on iTunes

Taproot Radio Road Songs on Spotify

Recent Adds

Blue Country Mystic / Hiss Golden Messenger / Poor Moon  / 4:08
Jesus Shot Me in the Head / Hiss Golden Messenger / Poor Moon  / 5:07
Super Blue (Two Days Clean) / Hiss Golden Messenger / Poor Moon  / 4:36
Wings In The Morning / Johnny Cash / Bootleg Vol. IV: The Soul Of Truth / 2:46 / 1 of 2 / 1 of 25
Strange Things Happening Everyday [Album Version] / Johnny Cash / Bootleg Vol. IV: The Soul Of Truth / 3:33 / 1 of 2 / 9 of 25
That’s Enough / Johnny Cash / Bootleg Vol. IV: The Soul Of Truth / 2:44 / 1 of 2 / 19 of 25
Look Unto The East / Johnny Cash / Bootleg Vol. IV: The Soul Of Truth / 2:34 / 2 of 2 / 2 of 26
Sanctified [Album Version] / Johnny Cash / Bootleg Vol. IV: The Soul Of Truth / 2:25 / 2 of 2 / 4 of 26
Our Little Old Home Town / Johnny Cash / Bootleg Vol. IV: The Soul Of Truth / 2:43 / 2 of 2 / 12 of 26
My Children Walk In Truth / Johnny Cash / Bootleg Vol. IV: The Soul Of Truth / 2:39 / 2 of 2 / 14 of 26
Gloryland / Kevin Gordon / Gloryland / 5:03 / 1 of 1 / 1 of 11
Get In Line / Bobby Smith / It’s Summertime! / 7:04
It’s Summertime / Bobby Smith / It’s Summertime! / 3:42
Ballad of Sis (Didn’t I Love You) / Hobart Brothers w Li’l Sis / At Least We Have Each Other / 4:17
Sweet Senorita / Hobart Brothers w Li’l Sis / At Least We Have Each Other / 3:27
All Things Being Equal / Hobart Brothers w Li’l Sis / At Least We Have Each Other / 3:29
It’s Hard, So Damn Hard / Trailerpark Idlers / The Rumble & The Roar / 2:05
To the Harvest Look Ahead / Kane Welch Kaplin / Live at the Bluebird / 3:33
Millionaire / Kane Welch Kaplin / Live at the Bluebird / 4:29
More To It Than This / Kane Welch Kaplin / Live at the Bluebird / 3:49

Taproot Music Show Recent Episodes

See a list of all episodes on the episode index page.

Episode 78 - Tommy Womack talks about he was motivated to start writing songs about himself and “from the gut” on There I Said It and how he continues to write peronal songs on Now What because he could never go back to writing third person songs. his role of patron saint of 50 year olds with kids who don’t make it to as many shows as they used to; the structure of the CD Now What in terms of song arrangements and sequence; Tomy’s habit of reference to other musicians in his song names and lyrics; and his favorite covers of his songs.

Episode 79 - Snatches of Pink front man Michael Rank and Marc E Smith join Calvin in the studio live to play some acoustic versions of songs from Kin, the debut release from Michael Rank and Stag. Michael talks about the amazing line up of area musicians he’s got on the new CD, why he decided not to do this as a CD as a Snatches of Pink CD, the challenges of coordinating so many band mates when recording the tracks, writing songs for both acoustic and full band performances, and how he finally caught up with Taylor Swift in the break up CD department.

Episode 80 – Joe Maynard talks about his many-faceted art career in New York City; explains the name of his first band, the Millerite Redeemers; runs through the current band line up and explains how they became The Musties; the advice he got from Ryan Adams; and explains why his band is mapped out to “the rhythm section” and “the weirdos.”

Episode 81 – Alex Culbreth and Karen Jonas are the Parlor Soldiers and they talk about the origin of their band name, how they manage to combine folk and alt.country into something that works, how they are able to write such gritty, detailed songs, their advice for aspiring singer/songwriters, and their Johnny Cash / June Carter song.

WCOM Play List

The Taproot Radio show airs live on Monday nights at 9pm Eastern. Local listeners in Chapel Hill can tune in to WCOM at 103.5FM.  Everyone else can tune in to the WCOM.webcast stream.

My interview guest this week is Grant Peeples. He’s got a new CD coming out in May, but you will get to hear it first before anyone else on The Taproot Show this week.

Ballad of Sis (Didn’t I Love You) / Hobart Brothers w Li’l Sis / At Least We Have Each Other / 4:17
Pennsylvania Rose / Milagro Saints / Chance & Circumstance / 4:42
Dirt Road / YARN / Almost Home / 3:28
Reckoning Lament / Lincoln Durham / The Shovel Vs. The Howling Bones / 3:11

*** Interview Guest: Grant Peeples ***

Brown Eyed Handsome Man / Lyle Lovett / Release Me / 3:36
Cranky Mulatto / The Gourds / Noble Creatures / 3:13
Sit This One Out / Solomon Burke / Don’t Give Up On Me / 4:34
Running Scared / Roy Orbison / Best Of Roy Orbison / 2:14
Texas Flood / Larry Davis & His Band / Blues Masters Vol. 6 – Blues Originals / 2:42
All Is Not Lost / Possum Jenkins / Carolinacana / 2:14
Another Story / The Damn Quails / Down the Hatch / 3:33
Bouquet Of Roses / Bobby Womack / Dirty Laundry – The Soul Of Black Country / 2:47
Queensbury Rules / Moot Davis / Man About Town / 2:50
Weepin Willow On The Hill / Chelle Rose / Ghost Of Browder Holler / 3:55
Barrier Reef / Old 97′s / Too Far To Care / 3:50
Coricidin Bottle / Ray Wylie Hubbard / The Grifter’s Hymnal / 2:00

This Week’s Webcast Rotation

Listen to the week’s rotation on the taprootradio.com current rotation play list on Spotify.

Pretty Girl From Cedar Lane / The Avett Brothers / Mignonette / 3:23
On the Verge / Beth McKee / Next to Nowhere / 4:16
Joy / Bettye LaVette / I’ve Got My Own Hell to Raise / 3:56
Take A Chance With Me / Big John Hamilton / How Much Can A Man Take / 2:35
Have Mercy Baby / The Blasters / Live: Going Home / 4:23
Get In Line / Bobby Smith / It’s Summertime! / 7:04
Bouquet Of Roses / Bobby Womack / Dirty Laundry – The Soul Of Black Country / 2:47
Weepin Willow On The Hill / Chelle Rose / Ghost Of Browder Holler / 3:55
Trees Fall Every Day / Chris Castle / Last Bird Home / 3:10
Barton Hollow / The Civil Wars / Barton Hollow / 3:26
Another Story / The Damn Quails / Down the Hatch / 3:33
Toe The Line / Deadstring Brothers / Starving Winter Report / 3:42
The Middle / Eric Hisaw / Nature Of The Blues / 4:25
You Gonna Miss Me / Fiona Boyes And The Fortune Tellers / Lucky 13 / 3:20
The Gardens / Freddy Fender / The Man Of Somebody’s Dreams: A Tribute to the Songs of Chris Gaffney / 3:16
Cranky Mulatto / The Gourds / Noble Creatures / 3:13
The New Soft Shoe / Gram Parsons / Sacred Hearts And Fallen Angels: The Gram Parsons Anthology (Disc 2) / 3:54
Love Song / The Great Unknowns / Homefront / 2:46
Blue Country Mystic / Hiss Golden Messenger / Poor Moon  / 4:08
Ballad of Sis (Didn’t I Love You) / Hobart Brothers w Li’l Sis / At Least We Have Each Other / 4:17
Wings In The Morning / Johnny Cash / Bootleg Vol. IV: The Soul Of Truth / 2:46
Big Bend Boogie / JWW And The Prospectors / It’s High Past Time / 3:07
To the Harvest Look Ahead / Kane Welch Kaplin / Live at the Bluebird / 3:33
Gloryland / Kevin Gordon / Gloryland / 5:03
Texas Flood / Larry Davis & His Band / Blues Masters Vol. 6 – Blues Originals / 2:42
Reckoning Lament / Lincoln Durham / The Shovel Vs. The Howling Bones / 3:11
Sometimes / Lucero / Women & Work / 4:53
Brown Eyed Handsome Man / Lyle Lovett / Release Me / 3:36
I’m Doin’ Fine / Mark Lennon / Down The Mountain / 3:57
Pretty & Cryin’ / Maynard and the Musties / Cheap Cigar / 4:41
Sea Measures / Michael Rank and Stag / Kin [Disc 2] / 4:25
Pennsylvania Rose / Milagro Saints / Chance & Circumstance / 4:42
Queensbury Rules / Moot Davis / Man About Town / 2:50
Barrier Reef / Old 97′s / Too Far To Care / 3:50
Mr Pitiful / Otis Redding / Stax 1959-1968 #4 / 2:44
Shallow Grave / The Parlor Soldiers / When The Dust Settles / 4:00
Big Fat Moma / Pinetop Perkins / Ladies Man / 4:39
All Is Not Lost / Possum Jenkins / Carolinacana / 2:14
Coricidin Bottle / Ray Wylie Hubbard / The Grifter’s Hymnal / 2:00
King of the Blues / Robbie Fulks / The Man Of Somebody’s Dreams: A Tribute to the Songs of Chris Gaffney / 3:53
Running Scared / Roy Orbison / Best Of Roy Orbison / 2:14
Sunshine / Ryan Bingham / Mescalito / 4:21
Poor People’s Store / Shinyribs / Well After Awhile / 2:35
Sit This One Out / Solomon Burke / Don’t Give Up On Me / 4:34
Dedicated To The One I Love / Steve Cropper, Lucinda Williams & Steve Winwood / Dedicated – A Salute To The 5 Royales / 3:15
It’s Hard, So Damn Hard / Trailerpark Idlers / The Rumble & The Roar / 2:05
Foot Of The Bed / Tres Chicas / Sweetwater / 4:04
Too Drunk To Dream / Whiskeytown / Whiskeytown: Faithless Street [Reissue] / 2:54
She’s Lookin Good / Wilson Pickett / The Very Best Of Wilson Pickett / 2:30
Dirt Road / YARN / Almost Home / 3:28
Hankerin’ / The Yayhoos / Fear Not The Obvious / 3:48

All The Links You Need

Taproot Radio Live on WCOM

Monday nights at 9pm Eastern time. Tune in to the WCOM webcast.

Taproot Music Show

Listen on the web

Subscribe to the podcast for free

Follow on Pinterest

Webcast

taprootradio.com current rotation on Spotify

taprootradio.com roadsongs on Spotify

Social Networks

The Taproot Radio Blog

Taproot Radio on Facebook

Taproot Radio on Twitter

Subscribe to the free email newsletter

Email

Send your feedback and suggestions to director@taprootradio.com

Too Far To Care on iTunes

Taproot Radio Road Songs on Spotify

Milagro Saints on iTunes

Milagro Saints web site

Hobart Brothers on iTunes

Hobart Brothers web site

TPR#82 Beth McKee – Interview and Music (MP3)

Sponsor

North Carolina Hops and Roots Fest

Show Notes:

Beth McKee on iTunes

Beth McKee web site

Recap of Interview with Beth McKee

Beth McKee joins Calvin on the show live via telephone to talk about her new CD, Next To Nowhere.

Beth McKee talk this being Beth’s second appearance on the show. She was a guest back on episode 7 of the show.

Beth McKee talks about this CD being a testament to persistence and gumption. She says the climate in the music business is different than it’s ever been before. So having gumption and “stick-to-it-tiveness” is important for anybody in the music business today.

Beth McKee sets up “On The Verge” as the anthem track of the CD. It was inspired by a group of women that she’s gotten to know as she toured and promoted her previous CD, I’m That Way. As she met these interesting women that she wanted to keep up with, she decided to create an online Facebook community which she calls The Swamp Sistas. The group now has 1200 women. They are mostly from or in the south but they are from all over the world. Getting to know these women inspired this song. The song is about getting back to your dreams if you’ve lost track of them and it could apply to anybody.

[ plays “On The Verge” ]

Calvin talks about the many different styles of song on CD and asked her if it was a deliberate choice. Beth McKee says no, it wasn’t deliberate. It’s just her. Beth says these songs “are the sound track to her life.” She talks about how the time she’s spent in Mississippi, Texas, Louisianna, Florida, and North Carolina. Each of those states have their own type of southern culture and she’s picked them up as she went around.

Calvin asks if any of the genres are harder than others. Beth says no, they were all challenging in their own way and that the whole band and producer Tony Battaglia put everything they had into every track.

Beth McKee set up “Should Have Kept On Walking”. This is a song she wrote with a friend in New Orleans, Gary Hirstius. It’s about realizing that you should have gotten out of a relationship earlier than you did but being glad that at least you did eventually get out of it.

[ plays “Should Have Kept On Walkin'” ]

Beth and Calvin talk about the very short insert of back up vocals into “Should Have Kept On Walking.” She says it was Tony’s idea and she recorded that back up bit and her rule is “Tony is always right.”

Beth talks about the difference between covering someone else’s songs like she did on the previous CD and writing songs from her personal experience. She says its obviously a little more frightening but that was all the more reason for doing it. She said that Bobby Charles told her to follow her gut and don’t question yourself and just be honest about it.

Beth McKee tells a story about fishing to illustrate how she feels about the CD, Next To Nowhere. She says she used to go fishing down in Cocodrie, LA (near Port Sulfer) in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana and that she’d fish for redfish. She’d catch then from the bank, some times 8-10 pounders. She talks about the intense nervous feeling she got when she’d hook a fish on her line and it was so overwhelming she’d have to remind herself tht’s the fun part. She’d tell herself “don’t be freaked out that you are going to lose the fish so much that you don’t enjoy catching the durn thing.”

Beth McKee picks the third track, “Same Dog’s Tail,” because it is based on a quote from a famous North Carolina baseball player, Catfish Hunter. She had to clean up the language and “PG it down a little.”

[plays “Same Dog's Tail” ]

Beth McKee talks about the many musical influences she’s had. One in particular she mentioned was Gram Parsons because she lives in the area of Florida he was from. Calvin asks Beth to talk about the Americana of Gram Parsons of then vs the Americana of today. Beth says he was the guy the connected rock and country music then and that’s the core of americana today.

Get More!

• The episode index page lists the guests for all episodes and has links to the episode pages.
• You can receive email notifications of future episodes by signing up for the free Taproot News email newsletter.
• Taproot Radio Podcast page on iTunes so you can subscribe in iTunes
• Subscription page for other podcast players
• Taproot Radio Home Page

Legal

The Taproot Radio Podcast is copyright 2011 by Taproot Media. The music and interviews in this episode are used with permission of the artists. The Taproot Theme music is called “Meltdown Man” by Derek K. Miller of Penmachine.com. The episode as a whole is copyright 2011 by Taproot Media.

Feedback

If you have any feedback for this episode or any other episode, please send mail to feedback@taprootradio.com.

Howdy,

It’s not out til May 1st, but I wanted to tell you about this album as soon as possible so you can start saving your pennies now to buy it. It’s called Ghost of Browder Holler by Chelle Rose. Chelle Rose comes from the deep woods of the Appalachian mountains around the North Carolina / Tennessee border and her album, Ghost of Browder Holler, sounds like it. Her vocals have that mountain sound to them. But tales of rural preachers, moonshine, and mountain flowers are just the jumping off point for a collection of songs that’s closer to rock and roll than folk, closer to soul then country. More details online at the review.

There’s still time to enter for the Merlefest Ticket Giveaway! You could win a pair of one-day tickets to Merlefest 2012,  courtesy of WCOM FM.  Tickets will be given away on April 9th. Visit the Giveaway page for all the details!

On episode 81 of the Taproot Music Show, Alex Culbreth and Karen Jonas are the Parlor Soldiers and they talk about the origin of their band name, how they manage to combine folk and alt.country into something that works, how they are able to write such gritty, detailed songs, their advice for aspiring singer/songwriters, and their Johnny Cash / June Carter song.

Dig Deep,

Calvin

See the bottom of this newsletter
for all the links and social network stuff.

Taproot Road Song of the Week

Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears have proven beyond booty-shakin’ doubt that soul music has a place in the21st century. “Booty City” is probably the hardest hitting cut from their Scandalous CD and you can’t help but want to shout along with the chorus.

taprootradio.com road song play list on Spotify

Recent Adds

Overclocked / Jim Allchin / Overclocked / 3:05
Bowder Holler Boy / Chelle Rose / Ghost Of Browder Holler / 3:24
Weepin Willow On The Hill / Chelle Rose / Ghost Of Browder Holler / 3:55
Rufus Morgan / Chelle Rose / Ghost Of Browder Holler / 4:28
Shady Grove Gonna Blow / Chelle Rose / Ghost Of Browder Holler / 3:44

Taproot Music Show Recent Episodes

See a list of all episodes on the episode index page.

Episode 77 - Becky Warren of The Great Unknowns talks about why there’s almost always a geographic reference in all of her songs; her experience driving the Lewis and Clark Trail and what it mean to her; the long wait between their first and second CD; writing a song about a band that doesn’t become that famous; the new line up; and plays three tracks from their new release, Homefront.

Episode 78 - Tommy Womack talks about he was motivated to start writing songs about himself and “from the gut” on There I Said It and how he continues to write peronal songs on Now What because he could never go back to writing third person songs. his role of patron saint of 50 year olds with kids who don’t make it to as many shows as they used to; the structure of the CD Now What in terms of song arrangements and sequence; Tomy’s habit of reference to other musicians in his song names and lyrics; and his favorite covers of his songs.

Episode 79 - Snatches of Pink front man Michael Rank and Marc E Smith join Calvin in the studio live to play some acoustic versions of songs from Kin, the debut release from Michael Rank and Stag. Michael talks about the amazing line up of area musicians he’s got on the new CD, why he decided not to do this as a CD as a Snatches of Pink CD, the challenges of coordinating so many band mates when recording the tracks, writing songs for both acoustic and full band performances, and how he finally caught up with Taylor Swift in the break up CD department.

Episode 80 – Joe Maynard talks about his many-faceted art career in New York City; explains the name of his first band, the Millerite Redeemers; runs through the current band line up and explains how they became The Musties; the advice he got from Ryan Adams; and explains why his band is mapped out to “the rhythm section” and “the weirdos.”

Episode 81 – Alex Culbreth and Karen Jonas are the Parlor Soldiers and they talk about the origin of their band name, how they manage to combine folk and alt.country into something that works, how they are able to write such gritty, detailed songs, their advice for aspiring singer/songwriters, and their Johnny Cash / June Carter song.

WCOM Play List

The Taproot Radio show airs live on Monday nights at 9pm Eastern. Local listeners in Chapel Hill can tune in to WCOM at 103.5FM.  Everyone else can tune in to the WCOM.webcast stream.

I’ll be covering two hours this week and featuring two interview guests. In the 9:00 hour The Milagro Saints will be in the studio to perform songs from their upcoming release. In the 10:00 hour MC Taylor from Hiss Golden Messenger will be live in the studio with me.

9:00 Hour
Roll In My Sweet Baby’s Arms / Lester Flatt;Earl Scruggs;The Foggy Mountain Boys / The Essential Earl Scruggs / 2:39
Rufus Morgan / Chelle Rose / Ghost Of Browder Holler / 4:28
All Is Not Lost / Possum Jenkins / Carolinacana / 2:14
Hooky Junk / The Gourds / Heavy Ornamentals / 4:44

*** Special Guest: Milagro Saints ***

Dirty Water / Chris Castle / Last Bird Home / 4:21
Life In Shambles / Sons Of Bill / Sirens / 3:10
Evil Gal Blues / Aretha Franklin / Aretha Sings The Blues / 2:43
Should Have Known / Yvette Landry / Should Have Known / 3:29
Elvis Presley Blues / Gillian Welch / KGSR Broadcasts Vol. 12 (Disc 2) / 4:51
on the bleed / Michael Rank and Stag / Kin [Disc 1] / 4:52
Live And Let Live / JWW And The Prospectors / It’s High Past Time / 2:51
Shallow Grave / The Parlor Soldiers / When The Dust Settles / 4:00
Annie / YARN / Almost Home / 4:07
One Way Gal / Lyle Lovett / Release Me / 2:59
Cripple Creek / Lester Flatt;Earl Scruggs / The Essential Earl Scruggs / 2:05

10:00 Hour
Foggy Mountain Top / Flatt & Scruggs; (featuring Mother Maybelle Carter & The Foggy Mountain Boys) / The Essential Earl Scruggs / 2:25
Cheap Cigar / Maynard and the Musties / Cheap Cigar / 4:00
Reckoning Lament / Lincoln Durham / The Shovel Vs. The Howling Bones / 3:11

*** Special Guest: MC Taylor from Hiss Golden Messenger ***

How Long / Moot Davis / Man About Town / 3:29
Stuff That Works / Jack Ingram / This One’s For Him: A Tribute To Guy Clark [Disc 2] / 4:49
Sway With Me / Ben Weaver / Stories Under Nails / 7:53
Curtains & Dreams / Choosy Beggars / Choosy Beggars / 3:57
Come On Back To Me / Jackstraw / Sunday Never Comes / 3:08
Doncha Miss That Water / Malcolm Holcombe / For The Mission Baby / 2:36
Booty City / Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears / Scandalous / 2:41
River Rush / Beth McKee / Next to Nowhere / 3:24
South of the River / Ray Wylie Hubbard / The Grifter’s Hymnal / 4:07
On My Way Downtown / Lucero / Women & Work / 4:29
Nashville Skyline Rag / Lester Flatt;Earl Scruggs;The Foggy Mountain Boys / The Essential Earl Scruggs / 2:47

This Week’s Webcast Rotation

Listen to the week’s rotation on the taprootradio.com current rotation play list on Spotify.

Evil Gal Blues / Aretha Franklin / Aretha Sings The Blues / 2:43
Matrimony / The Avett Brothers / Four Thieves Gone / 2:50
Sway With Me / Ben Weaver / Stories Under Nails / 7:53
River Rush / Beth McKee / Next to Nowhere / 3:24
Booty City / Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears / Scandalous / 2:41
Trouble Bound / The Blasters / Trouble Bound / 3:40
The House Is Rockin’ (Live) / Brian Setzer / Don’t Mess With a Big Band (Live) / 4:06
Rufus Morgan / Chelle Rose / Ghost Of Browder Holler / 4:28
Curtains & Dreams / Choosy Beggars / Choosy Beggars / 3:57
Dirty Water / Chris Castle / Last Bird Home / 4:21
Poison & Wine / The Civil Wars / Barton Hollow / 3:40
Hot Tamale! / Davy Jay Sparrow & His Well-Known Famous Drovers / Olde Fashioned / 2:38
Borrow / Eric Hisaw / The Crosses / 2:50
Blue Collar King / Family Reunion / Family Album / 3:48
I’ve Been Loving You Too Long / Flat Duo Jets / Introducing The Flat Duo Jets / 2:39
Foggy Mountain Top / Flatt & Scruggs; (featuring Mother Maybelle Carter & The Foggy Mountain Boys) / The Essential Earl Scruggs / 2:25
Elvis Presley Blues / Gillian Welch / KGSR Broadcasts Vol. 12 (Disc 2) / 4:51
Hooky Junk / The Gourds / Heavy Ornamentals / 4:44
Streets of Baltimore / Gram Parsons / Sacred Hearts And Fallen Angels: The Gram Parsons Anthology (Disc 2) / 2:54
Love Song / The Great Unknowns / Homefront / 2:46
Stuff That Works / Jack Ingram / This One’s For Him: A Tribute To Guy Clark [Disc 2] / 4:49
Come On Back To Me / Jackstraw / Sunday Never Comes / 3:08
Overclocked / Jim Allchin / Overclocked / 3:05
I’d Be Over You By Now / Joey Allcorn / All Alone Again / 2:39
Little Flower / Jon Shain / Times Right Now / 3:26
Live And Let Live / JWW And The Prospectors / It’s High Past Time / 2:51
Cripple Creek / Lester Flatt;Earl Scruggs / The Essential Earl Scruggs / 2:05
Roll In My Sweet Baby’s Arms / Lester Flatt;Earl Scruggs;The Foggy Mountain Boys / The Essential Earl Scruggs / 2:39
Nashville Skyline Rag / Lester Flatt;Earl Scruggs;The Foggy Mountain Boys / The Essential Earl Scruggs / 2:47
Reckoning Lament / Lincoln Durham / The Shovel Vs. The Howling Bones / 3:11
Lights Of Downtown / The Long Ryders / The Long Ryders Anthology: Looking for Lewis and Clark [Disc 1] / 3:10
Alone With You / Loretta Lynn / Sings LP / 2:14
On My Way Downtown / Lucero / Women & Work / 4:29
One Way Gal / Lyle Lovett / Release Me / 2:59
Doncha Miss That Water / Malcolm Holcombe / For The Mission Baby / 2:36
Devil Final Master mp3 / Marah / Willow Mixes / 3:41
Down In The Swamp / Mark Lucas / Dust / 3:59
Cheap Cigar / Maynard and the Musties / Cheap Cigar / 4:00
on the bleed / Michael Rank and Stag / Kin [Disc 1] / 4:52
Rose La Rose / Miller Brothers Band / Tales From Foundry Town / 4:34
How Long / Moot Davis / Man About Town / 3:29
The Same Thing / Muddy Waters / His Best, 1956 To 1964 / 2:45
Baby You Crazy / Nick Curran And The Lowlifes / Reform School Girl / 2:13
James River Blues / Old Crow Medicine Show / Old Crow Medicine Show – Big Iron World / 3:07
These Arms Of Mine / Otis Redding / Stax 1959-1968 #2 / 2:33
Shallow Grave / The Parlor Soldiers / When The Dust Settles / 4:00
All Is Not Lost / Possum Jenkins / Carolinacana / 2:14
Haunting Me / Raul Malo / Lucky One / 4:18
Bad Man’s Blood / Ray Bonneville / Bad Man’s Blood / 4:20
South of the River / Ray Wylie Hubbard / The Grifter’s Hymnal / 4:07
Suitcase Lover / Shanimal / Rough & Tumble / 0:50
Life In Shambles / Sons Of Bill / Sirens / 3:10
Think / Steve Cropper / Dedicated – A Salute To The 5 Royales / 4:02
Too Drunk To Dream / Whiskeytown / Whiskeytown: Faithless Street [Reissue] / 2:54
Annie / YARN / Almost Home / 4:07
Should Have Known / Yvette Landry / Should Have Known / 3:29

All The Links You Need

Taproot Radio Live on WCOM

Monday nights at 9pm Eastern time. Tune in to the WCOM webcast.

Taproot Music Show

Listen on the web

Subscribe to the podcast for free

Follow on Pinterest

Webcast

taprootradio.com current rotation on Spotify

taprootradio.com roadsongs on Spotify

Social Networks

The Taproot Radio Blog

Taproot Radio on Facebook

Taproot Radio on Twitter

Subscribe to the free email newsletter

Email

Send your feedback and suggestions to director@taprootradio.com

Scandalous on iTunes

taprootradio.com road song play list in Spotify

TPR#81 Parlor Soldiers – Interview and Music (MP3)

Sponsor

North Carolina Hops and Roots Fest

Show Notes:

The Parlor Soldiers on iTunes

The Parlor Soldier web site

Interview Recap:

Alex Culbreth and Karen Jonas are the Parlor Soldiers and they join Calvin for a telephone interview.

Alex Culbreth notes that the folk influence in their music mostly comes through Karen and the gritty alt.country influence comes through Alex. Karen says Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen, and Paul Simon as her musical influences, but since she has met Alex she’s enjoyed exploring the alt.country influences.

Calvin asks the Parlor Soldiers if they could open for any band they wanted who would it be. Alex Culbreth says they are into Ryan Adams, Justin Townes Earl, and Hayes Carll these days. Alex also says that they are looking forward to opening some gigs for Chris Knight and says that Knight’s CD, Enough Rope, was a big influence on his music.

Karen Jonas set up “Mess.” She says it’s about a girl who who runs into some bar mishaps and is trying to get noticed by a guy and she gets noticed for all the wrong reasons. She said this is one of the first songs she’s written that’s not autobiographical.

[plays "Mess"]

Calvin asks Karen and Alex about how they got to the point where they can write such detailed songs. Alex Culbreth talks about trying to say a lot in as few words as possible and how Charles Bukowski advice to writers rings true for him. Karen Jonas believes that detailed writing is something that can be learned and intentional. She talks about getting away from “emotional language” and translate emotion with a story. Karen also says that it’s important to collaborate with other artists and to not feel like your art is their specific thing and they can’t share it. But Karen has said this band has taught her the value of working with other artists.

Alex Culbreth sets up “Shallow Grave.” He says it started out with the guitar riff and the first line “Pretty Mary Jo with a bloody broken nose, left her clothes out on the line.” From there he wrote a rough draft and sent it to Karen and she wrote the bridge for it. Alex says Karen didn’t like the song at first because she thought it was too gory.

[plays "Shallow Grave']

Alex Culbreth talks about the band name. They are based in edericksburg, Virginia which was the location of many significant Civil War battles. And the term “parlor soldier” was a slang term of the times indicating someone who’s a poseur, someone who looks good in uniform in the parlor but isn’t really a soldier.

Karen Jonas talks about supportive music scene in Fredericksburg and their upcoming gig a the historic Kenmore Inn with the Green Boys and Brooklyn’s The Spirit Family Reunion.

Karen sets up “Crazy”. A sort of Johnny Cash / June Carter style tune that they wrote together. Karen says at first she didn’t like it but as they played it at live gigs she began to like it more and more.

[plays "Crazy"]

Alex talks about their web site and some of their upcoming shows, including one in October in Winston-Salem.

Get More!

• The episode index page lists the guests for all episodes and has links to the episode pages.
• You can receive email notifications of future episodes by signing up for the free Taproot News email newsletter.
• Taproot Radio Podcast page on iTunes so you can subscribe in iTunes
• Subscription page for other podcast players
• Taproot Radio Home Page

Legal

The Taproot Radio Podcast is copyright 2011 by Taproot Media. The music and interviews in this episode are used with permission of the artists. The Taproot Theme music is called “Meltdown Man” by Derek K. Miller of Penmachine.com. The episode as a whole is copyright 2011 by Taproot Media.

Feedback

If you have any feedback for this episode or any other episode, please send mail to feedback@taprootradio.com.

Howdy,

It’s getting to be Merlefest time of the year again, North Carolina’s big contribution to live roots music. I’m proud to announce that Taproot Radio has tickets to giveaway courtesy of Merlefest and WCOM FM in Chapel Hill, NC. The tickets will be given away to a randomly selected subscriber to the newsletter. BUT you must enter to win. Look for the “update subscription preferences” link at the bottom of every issue of the newsletter. Follow that link to your newsletter subscription profile. Click Yes in the Merlefest 2012 Ticket Giveaway Field. Then click the Update button at the bottom of the form. Full details about the Ticket Giveaway can be found at the free stuff page at the site. Tickets will be given away on April 9th, so enter soon!

YARN’s Almost Home reminds me of Paul Simon’s folk. Down to earth and world wise at the same time. A little worn and weary but at the same time optimistic and hopeful. They have a barroom twang and a enough character sketches to fill a wall with black and white photos.  Highlights for me are “Dirt Road,” “Annie,” “Almost Home,” and “Heart Worth Breaking.” Yet another twangy band from Brooklyn!

Moot Davis’ music on Man About Town hearkens back to the early days when both rock & roll and country were warm, earnest, confident, and a little off the rails. Fun times. Kinda reminds me of something Roy Orbison might have done if he were more twangy. Highlights for me are “Crazy In Love With You” featuring a duet with Elizabeth Cook, “Only You,” “Queensbury Rules,” and “How Long.”

On episode 80 of the Taproot Music Show, Joe Maynard talks about his many-faceted art career in New York City; explains the name of his first band, the Millerite Redeemers; runs through the current band line up and explains how they became The Musties; the advice he got from Ryan Adams; and explains why his band is mapped out to “the rhythm section” and “the weirdos.”

Calvin

See the bottom of this newsletter
for all the links and social network stuff.

Taproot Road Song of the Week

Ha Ha Tonka on iTunes

Taproot Road Songs on Spotify.

Recent Adds

Santa Ana Winds / Sons Of Bill / Sirens / 4:28
Life In Shambles / Sons Of Bill / Sirens / 3:10
Slow Slow Boogie / Davy Jay Sparrow & His Well-Known Famous Drovers / Olde Fashioned / 4:16
Hot Tamale! / Davy Jay Sparrow & His Well-Known Famous Drovers / Olde Fashioned / 2:38
Orange Grove / Shanimal / Rough & Tumble / 2:47
Suitcase Lover / Shanimal / Rough & Tumble / 0:50
Dirt Road / YARN / Almost Home / 3:28
Annie / YARN / Almost Home / 4:07
Almost Home / YARN / Almost Home / 4:16
Heart Worth Breaking / YARN / Almost Home / 3:40
How Long / Moot Davis / Man About Town / 3:29
Only You / Moot Davis / Man About Town / 2:31
Queensbury Rules / Moot Davis / Man About Town / 2:50
Rust / Moot Davis / Man About Town / 3:56
Blue Collar King / Family Reunion / Family Album / 3:48

Taproot Music Show Recent Episodes

See a list of all episodes on the episode index page.

Episode 76 –  Brandon Sampson from Six Mile Grove and Bob Wootton tell the story of how they met and began their long time musical collaboration, talk about their mission to keep the Johnny Cash sound alive, give us a preview of Six Mile Grove’s upcoming CD Secret Life In A Quiet Town, and explore the existential question of free will and predestination.

Episode 77 - Becky Warren of The Great Unknowns talks about why there’s almost always a geographic reference in all of her songs; her experience driving the Lewis and Clark Trail and what it mean to her; the long wait between their first and second CD; writing a song about a band that doesn’t become that famous; the new line up; and plays three tracks from their new release, Homefront.

Episode 78 - Tommy Womack talks about he was motivated to start writing songs about himself and “from the gut” on There I Said It and how he continues to write peronal songs on Now What because he could never go back to writing third person songs. his role of patron saint of 50 year olds with kids who don’t make it to as many shows as they used to; the structure of the CD Now What in terms of song arrangements and sequence; Tomy’s habit of reference to other musicians in his song names and lyrics; and his favorite covers of his songs.

Episode 79 - Snatches of Pink front man Michael Rank and Marc E Smith join Calvin in the studio live to play some acoustic versions of songs from Kin, the debut release from Michael Rank and Stag. Michael talks about the amazing line up of area musicians he’s got on the new CD, why he decided not to do this as a CD as a Snatches of Pink CD, the challenges of coordinating so many band mates when recording the tracks, writing songs for both acoustic and full band performances, and how he finally caught up with Taylor Swift in the break up CD department.

Episode 80 – Joe Maynard talks about his many-faceted art career in New York City; explains the name of his first band, the Millerite Redeemers; runs through the current band line up and explains how they became The Musties; the advice he got from Ryan Adams; and explains why his band is mapped out to “the rhythm section” and “the weirdos.”

WCOM Play List

The Taproot Radio show airs live on Monday nights at 9pm Eastern. Local listeners in Chapel Hill can tune in to WCOM at 103.5FM.  Everyone else can tune in to the WCOM.webcast stream.

This week only, I’ll be in the studio for two hours from 9-11 and I’ll be interviewing Mike June from Mike June and the Wilson Street Exiles during the 9:00 hour and Dave Willis from the Possum Jenkins Band in the 10:00 hour.

9:00 hour

Heart Worth Breaking / YARN / Almost Home / 3:40
White Freightliner Blues / Lyle Lovett / Release Me / 5:06
I’ve Got This Friend / The Civil Wars / Barton Hollow / 3:24
Crazy / The Parlor Soldiers / When The Dust Settles / 3:00

*** Special Guest: Mike June from The Wilson Street Exiles ***

Everything Is Free / Gillian Welch / KGSR Broadcasts Vol. 17 (Disc 1) / 4:37
Song Of The Open Road / Bobby Sichran / Peddler In Babylon / 3:44
Santa Ana Winds / Sons Of Bill / Sirens / 4:28
I’m Gonna Get My Heart Broken / The Great Unknowns / Homefront / 2:59
Houses On The Hill / Whiskeytown / Strangers Almanac / 2:38
New River / The New Familiars / Between The Moon And The Morning Light / 3:25
Been There Before / Possum Jenkins / Carolinacana / 3:12
Usual Suspects (Album) / Ha Ha Tonka / Death Of A Decade / 3:33
Trouble In Mind / Pinetop Perkins/Odetta / Ladies Man / 4:28
Pretty & Cryin’ / Maynard and the Musties / Cheap Cigar / 4:41
Crazy in Love with You / Moot Davis / Man About Town / 3:04

10:00

New Orleans to Jackson / Beth McKee / Next to Nowhere / 4:44
Crazy in Love with You / Moot Davis / Man About Town / 3:04
What Have I Done That Made You Go Away / JWW And The Prospectors / It’s High Past Time / 3:29
Bird / Chris Castle / Last Bird Home / 1:47

*** Special Guest: Dave Willis from Possum Jenkins

She Even Woke Me Up to Say Goodbye / Swamp Dogg / The Excellent Sides of Swamp Dogg, Vol. 1 / 3:00
Don’t Be Ashamed / Steve Cropper, Bettye LaVette & Willie Jones / Dedicated – A Salute To The 5 Royales / 2:49
Faulkner Street / Hayes Carll / Trouble In Mind / 3:26
My Favorite Picture Of You / Jerry Jeff Walker / This One’s For Him: A Tribute To Guy Clark [Disc 2] / 3:44
1968 / Alejandro Escovedo / The Man Of Somebody’s Dreams: A Tribute to the Songs of Chris Gaffney / 5:10
Hangin On / Joel Dasilva And The Midnight Howl / Joel Dasilva And The Midnight Howl / 2:39
Usual Suspects (Album) / Ha Ha Tonka / Death Of A Decade / 3:33
Like Lightning / Lucero / Women & Work / 4:15
Mother Blues / Ray Wylie Hubbard / The Grifter’s Hymnal / 5:57
Pyramid Of Tears / Lucinda Williams / Por Vida: A Tribute To The Songs Of Alejandro Escovedo / 4:47

This Week’s Webcast Rotation

Listen to the week’s rotation on the taprootradio.com current rotation play list on Spotify.

1968 / Alejandro Escovedo / The Man Of Somebody’s Dreams: A Tribute to the Songs of Chris Gaffney / 5:10
Hu-matic Man / Andre Williams / Hoods and Shades / 3:13
New Orleans to Jackson / Beth McKee / Next to Nowhere / 4:44
Song Of The Open Road / Bobby Sichran / Peddler In Babylon / 3:44
Why Don’t You Do Right? / Carolina Chocolate Drops / Genuine Negro Jig / 3:37
When You Come Around / Charlie Feathers / Get With It: Essential Recordings (1954-69) [Disc 1] / 2:09
Bird / Chris Castle / Last Bird Home / 1:47
I’ve Got This Friend / The Civil Wars / Barton Hollow / 3:24
Fisherman’s Blues / Cornflower Blue / Run Down The Rails / 4:54
Long As I Can See The Light / Creedence Clearwater Revival / Chronicle, Vol. 1 / 3:34
Better Place To Stop / The Damn Quails / Down the Hatch / 3:20
Slow Slow Boogie / Davy Jay Sparrow & His Well-Known Famous Drovers / Olde Fashioned / 4:16
Little White Lies / Deer Tick / Born On Flag Day / 3:39
Love Is Here And Now You’re Gone / Diana Ross and The Supremes / The Ultimate Collection / 2:49
Jake / Eric Hisaw / Nature Of The Blues / 3:50
Fishin’ Hole / Fiona Boyes / Blues Woman / 2:58
Everything Is Free / Gillian Welch / KGSR Broadcasts Vol. 17 (Disc 1) / 4:37
Kiss The Children / Gram Parsons / Under Your Spell Again [Disc II] / 3:44
I’m Gonna Get My Heart Broken / The Great Unknowns / Homefront / 2:59
Usual Suspects (Album) / Ha Ha Tonka / Death Of A Decade / 3:33
Faulkner Street / Hayes Carll / Trouble In Mind / 3:26
My Favorite Picture Of You / Jerry Jeff Walker / This One’s For Him: A Tribute To Guy Clark [Disc 2] / 3:44
Hangin On / Joel Dasilva And The Midnight Howl / Joel Dasilva And The Midnight Howl / 2:39
What Have I Done That Made You Go Away / JWW And The Prospectors / It’s High Past Time / 3:29
Dirt On My Hands mp3 / L.P.O. / What You Been Missin’ / 3:05
You’ll Never Again Be Mine / Levon Helm / The Lost Notebooks of Hank Williams / 3:10
Clementine / Lincoln Durham / The Shovel Vs. The Howling Bones / 3:23
Like Lightning / Lucero / Women & Work / 4:15
Pyramid Of Tears / Lucinda Williams / Por Vida: A Tribute To The Songs Of Alejandro Escovedo / 4:47
White Freightliner Blues / Lyle Lovett / Release Me / 5:06
Pretty & Cryin’ / Maynard and the Musties / Cheap Cigar / 4:41
Sea Measures / Michael Rank and Stag / Kin [Disc 2] / 4:25
Crazy in Love with You / Moot Davis / Man About Town / 3:04
New River / The New Familiars / Between The Moon And The Morning Light / 3:25
Baby You Crazy / Nick Curran And The Lowlifes / Reform School Girl / 2:13
(Sittin’ On) The Dock Of The Bay / Otis Redding / Stax 1959-1968 #9 / 2:42
Crazy / The Parlor Soldiers / When The Dust Settles / 3:00
Trouble In Mind / Pinetop Perkins/Odetta / Ladies Man / 4:28
Been There Before / Possum Jenkins / Carolinacana / 3:12
Mother Blues / Ray Wylie Hubbard / The Grifter’s Hymnal / 5:57
Orange Grove / Shanimal / Rough & Tumble / 2:47
This Ain’t My Home / Shannon McNally / Coldwater / 4:34
Santa Ana Winds / Sons Of Bill / Sirens / 4:28
Don’t Be Ashamed / Steve Cropper, Bettye LaVette & Willie Jones / Dedicated – A Salute To The 5 Royales / 2:49
Stage Fright / Steve Reynolds / Endless Highway: The Music Of The Band / 3:45
She Even Woke Me Up to Say Goodbye / Swamp Dogg / The Excellent Sides of Swamp Dogg, Vol. 1 / 3:00
Wild Wild Lover / Th’ Legendary Shack Shakers / Cockadoodledon’t / 3:00
Whiskey Or Die / Tom Eure / Back Woods / 5:22
Houses On The Hill / Whiskeytown / Strangers Almanac / 2:38
I Still Miss Someone / Willie Nelson & Johnny Cash / VH1 Storytellers / 3:13
Heart Worth Breaking / YARN / Almost Home / 3:40

All The Links You Need

Taproot Radio Live on WCOM

Monday nights at 9pm Eastern time. Tune in to the WCOM webcast.

Taproot Music Show

Listen on the web

Subscribe to the podcast for free

Follow on Pinterest

Webcast

taprootradio.com current rotation on Spotify

taprootradio.com roadsongs on Spotify

Social Networks

The Taproot Radio Blog

Taproot Radio on Facebook

Taproot Radio on Twitter

Subscribe to the free email newsletter

Email

Send your feedback and suggestions to director@taprootradio.com

Man About Town on iTunes

Almost Home on iTunes.

TPR#80 Joe Maynard – Interview and Music (MP3)

Sponsor

North Carolina Hops and Roots Fest

Show Notes:

• Joe Maynard on iTunes
• Maynard and the Musties Web Site

Interview Recap With Joe Maynard from Maynard and the Musties

Joe Maynard talks about how Brooklyn is home to many different kinds of people and that members of his band come from all over the U.S and their drummer is from Frnce. So that’s how they can be an oasis of easy going music in Brooklyn.

Joe Maynard talks about the anti-politically correct title “Cheap Cigar” and that they chose the name to go along with the band name “Maynard and the Musties.”

Joe Maynard sets up the title track, “Cheap Cigar” by describing it as “politics, religion, and sexual morality all tied together.”

[plays "Cheap Cigar"]

Joe Maynard talks about his many different forays into the New York City art scene. He went to Pratt, did art for a long time. He talks about how he did a series of automatic drawings” which contained more and more words, which lead him to writing fiction and zines. He worked at Christie’s for a while. He started writing lyrics and playing guitar.

Joe Maynard talks about how he put the band together. He had enough songs written. He met Naa Koshie Mills the fiddle player. They first performed with her as the “Millerite Redeemers.” Joe played in Mo’s Jepson band, Mr. MacGregor, and eventually Joe “adopted” the band and they started calling themselves the Musties because they all worked with old books. Drew Glackon also played with them on lap steel.

Joe tells the story of working at a flea market and talking to Russ Titelman  who encouraged hime to make a demo. With Russ’ advice, he booked a recording studio. He also talks about ocasionally seeing Ryan Adams at the flea market and Ryan encouraged him to go ahead and make a full album. Ryan Adams played with them on a few tracks on the band’s first CD.

Joe Maynard sets up “Pretty and Cryin’.” It’s based on a long road trip he took to Florida and in Jackson ville he witnessed a commotion in a parking lot and the songs is based on what he saw.

[plays "Pretty and Cryin']

Joe Maynard talks about some of the additional band members. Dikko Faust plays trombone as his “midlife crisis” instrument. Chet Hartin on bass, Gordon Hartin on pedal steel.  They are from Texas and their dad was a country musician. Eric “Roscoe” Ambel plays rhythm guitar and the band plays at his bar, The Lakeside, once a month.

Joe Maynard talks about the way Eric “Roscoe” Ambel helped them “map out the group.” Joe, the bass, and drums are “the rhythm section” and everyone else are “the weirdos.” Joe says that actually helped them a lot.

Joe sets up “Marfa.” It’s a town in west Texas known for weird lights in the sky and there is speculation about what the lights are. Are they car head lights? UFOs? Something like the Northern Lights?

[plays "Marfa"]

Joe Maynard points out their myspace page, reverb nation and other sites for the band’s gigs. Joe Talsk about the joys of being self-produced and doing such fun tasks like stuffing inserts into CD jewel case.

Get More!

• The episode index page lists the guests for all episodes and has links to the episode pages.
• You can receive email notifications of future episodes by signing up for the free Taproot News email newsletter.
• Taproot Radio Podcast page on iTunes so you can subscribe in iTunes
• Subscription page for other podcast players
• Taproot Radio Home Page

Legal

The Taproot Radio Podcast is copyright 2011 by Taproot Media. The music and interviews in this episode are used with permission of the artists. The Taproot Theme music is called “Meltdown Man” by Derek K. Miller of Penmachine.com. The episode as a whole is copyright 2011 by Taproot Media.

Feedback

If you have any feedback for this episode or any other episode, please send mail to feedback@taprootradio.com.

“Usual Suspects” by Ha Ha Tonka has kind of an80′s REM-ish feel to it. Reminds you of the days when all you needed to get by was naive enthusiasm. Good thing to keep in mind. Love the mandolin riff.

Ha Ha Tonka on iTunes

taprootradio.com road song play list in Spotify

 

Howdy,

Had the great pleasure to see the Lyle Lovett/John Hiatt tour when it came through Durham a few days ago. hey are two very different performers. Lyle Lovett is much jazzier, has much more complex music and literary lyrics. Joe Henry has much simpler, direct lyrics that everyone can relate to. It was amazing to see these two guys share a stage. Just them, a couple of guitars and the occasional harmonica. Trading songs back and forth. The John Hiatt highlight for me was “Thing Called Love” because he played the bridge of the song that Bonnie Raitt left out when she made it so popular. The Lyle Lovett highlight for me, hmmm, I guess it was “My Baby Don’t Tolerate Nashville.” I definitely recommend the show if you get a chance to see it in your area.

The Possum Jenkins band, based out of North Carolina, wasn’t content to just label themselves “Americana.” They were keenly focused on the musical roots coming out of the North Carolina mountains and have been developing a signature sound which draws from country, gospel, Piedmont blues, folk and soul, not to mention good old fashioned southern rock. Their latest CD, Carolinacana puts the finishing touches on their signature sound, which is sure to please any americana fan. Highlights for me are “Copper Coin,” “Been There Before,” and “All Is Not Lost.”

The self-released CD, It’s High Past Time, from JWW and The Prospectors reminds me of the happy upbeat Western Swing my grandparents generation used to dance to. Sometimes we think of old school country as full of heartache and woe, and it’s CDs like this that remind us that there was plenty of upbeat dance music for country fans back in the day. This stuff will make you tap your feet if not want to sign up for swing lessons. Entertaining from front to back. Highlight tracks are “It’s High Past Time, “What Have I Done That Made You Go Away,” “Live And Let Live,” and “Big Bend Boogie.”

It’s not often a folk duo with little more than guitar and drums can keep me mesmerized all the way through a CD, but Joy Williams and John Paul White manage to do just that on The Civil Wars’ first major release, Barton Hollow. The chemistry between the two and the interplay of their voices pulls out deep, entrenched humanity coming to the surface. Highlights for me are “20 Years,” “I’ve Got This Friend,” “Poison & Wine,” and “Barton Hollow.”
On episode 79 of the Taproot Podcast, Snatches of Pink front man Michael Rank and Marc E Smith join Calvin in the studio live to play some acoustic versions of songs from Kin, the debut release from Michael Rank and Stag. Michael talks about the amazing line up of area musicians he’s got on the new CD, why he decided not to do this as a CD as a Snatches of Pink CD, the challenges of coordinating so many band mates when recording the tracks, writing songs for both acoustic and full band performances, and how he finally caught up with Taylor Swift in the break up CD department.

On episode 78 of the Taproot Podcast, Tommy Womack talks about he was motivated to start writing songs about himself and “from the gut” on There I Said It and how he continues to write peronal songs on Now What because he could never go back to writing third person songs. his role of patron saint of 50 year olds with kids who don’t make it to as many shows as they used to; the structure of the CD Now What in terms of song arrangements and sequence; Tomy’s habit of referencing other musicians in his song names and lyrics; and his favorite covers of his songs.

Dig Deep,
Calvin

See the bottom of this newsletter
for all the links and social network stuff.

Taproot Road Song of the Week

Probably the best cover of “Long Tall Sally” ever ever amen is  Jerry Lee Lewis’ performance at the Star Club in Hamburg Germany. Full on. No holding back.

Taproot Road Songs on Spotify.

Recent Adds

All Is Not Lost / Possum Jenkins / Carolinacana / 2:14
It’s High Past Time / JWW And The Prospectors / It’s High Past Time / 3:37
What Have I Done That Made You Go Away / JWW And The Prospectors / It’s High Past Time / 3:29
Live And Let Live / JWW And The Prospectors / It’s High Past Time / 2:51
Big Bend Boogie / JWW And The Prospectors / It’s High Past Time / 3:07
I’d Leave Me Too / Audrey Auld / Resurrection Moon / 2:24
Run Down The Rails / Cornflower Blue / Run Down The Rails / 3:03
Fisherman’s Blues / Cornflower Blue / Run Down The Rails / 4:54
Shooting The Breeze / Some Velvet Evening / Ain’t No Law Against Talking / 3:05
Still Have Your Hat / Some Velvet Evening / Ain’t No Law Against Talking / 1:50
20 Years / The Civil Wars / Barton Hollow / 3:02
I’ve Got This Friend / The Civil Wars / Barton Hollow / 3:24
Poison & Wine / The Civil Wars / Barton Hollow / 3:40
Barton Hollow / The Civil Wars / Barton Hollow / 3:26
A Man Needs Love mp3 / L.P.O. / What You Been Missin’ / 2:28
Dirt On My Hands mp3 / L.P.O. / What You Been Missin’ / 3:05

Taproot Music Show Recent Episodes

See a list of all episodes on the episode index page.

Episode 75 – Laurie MacAllister, Abbie Gardner, and Molly Venter of Red Molly talk about their music backgrounds, the appeal of female trios, the excitement of playing Merlefest, the appeal their music has for the NYC coffeehouse crowd, and the stories behind three of their songs on the CD Light In The Sky.

Episode 76 –  Brandon Sampson from Six Mile Grove and Bob Wootton tell the story of how they met and began their long time musical collaboration, talk about their mission to keep the Johnny Cash sound alive, give us a preview of Six Mile Grove’s upcoming CD Secret Life In A Quiet Town, and explore the existential question of free will and predestination.

Episode 77 - Becky Warren of The Great Unknowns talks about why there’s almost always a geographic reference in all of her songs; her experience driving the Lewis and Clark Trail and what it mean to her; the long wait between their first and second CD; writing a song about a band that doesn’t become that famous; the new line up; and plays three tracks from their new release, Homefront.

Episode 78 - Tommy Womack talks about he was motivated to start writing songs about himself and “from the gut” on There I Said It and how he continues to write peronal songs on Now What because he could never go back to writing third person songs. his role of patron saint of 50 year olds with kids who don’t make it to as many shows as they used to; the structure of the CD Now What in terms of song arrangements and sequence; Tomy’s habit of reference to other musicians in his song names and lyrics; and his favorite covers of his songs.

Episode 79 - Snatches of Pink front man Michael Rank and Marc E Smith join Calvin in the studio live to play some acoustic versions of songs from Kin, the debut release from Michael Rank and Stag. Michael talks about the amazing line up of area musicians he’s got on the new CD, why he decided not to do this as a CD as a Snatches of Pink CD, the challenges of coordinating so many band mates when recording the tracks, writing songs for both acoustic and full band performances, and how he finally caught up with Taylor Swift in the break up CD department.

WCOM Play List

The Taproot Radio show airs live on Monday nights at 9pm Eastern. Local listeners in Chapel Hill can tune in to WCOM at 103.5FM.  Everyone else can tune in to the WCOM.webcast stream.

This Monday only, Taproot Radio will be on WCOM from 7-9pm Eastern time. So adjust your clocks accordingly.

7:00 Hour

1. Lucero – Juniper (4:43)
2. Jackstraw – Just Another Way To Go (2:52)
3. Hymn For Her – Montana (3:37)
4. Chris Castle – Trees Fall Every Day (3:09)

*** Special Guest: The Parlor Soldiers ***

5. Patty Griffin – The Cape (3:27)
6. Maynard and the Musties – After the Game (3:16)
7. Lincoln Durham – Love Letters (2:57)
8. Thieving Birds – Home (4:42)
9. The Parlor Soldiers – Mess (2:55)
10. Mike June & The Wilson Street Refugees – Miss Lavelle White Blues (3:33)
11. Beth McKee – Same Dog’s Tail (3:36)
12. Ray Wylie Hubbard – Henhouse (4:30)
13. Westbound – Somethin’ in the Water (2:47)
14. Andre Williams – Dirt (3:13)
15. Drew Nelson – Danny and Maria (3:20)
16. The Far West – Nothing (2:37)
17. Michael Rank and Stag – on the bleed (4:51)
18. The Great Unknowns – A Bad Way (3:04)
19. Lyle Lovett – White Boy Lost In The Blues (3:32)
20. Joel Dasilva And The Midnight Howl – Try (2:34)

8:00 Hour

1. Chris Castle – Dirty Water (4:21)
2. The Damn Quails – The Damn Quails – Fool’s Gold (4:14)
3. Lucero – Like Lightning (4:15)
4. JWW And The Prospectors – It’s High Past Time (3:37)

*** Special Guest: Beth McKee ***

5. The Great Unknowns – Love Song (2:46)
6. Joe Ely – Dublin Blues (4:24)
7. Muddy Waters – Still A Fool (3:19)
8. Ray Wylie Hubbard – Coricidin Bottle (1:59)
9. Nicole Willis & The Soul Investigators – If This Ain’t Love (Don’t Know What Is) (3:28)
10. Steve Cropper, B.B. King & Shemekia Copleland – Baby Don’t Do It (2:51)
11. The Border Blasters – (In The) Next Life (2:12)
12. Cary Ann Hearst – American Made Machine (2:38)
13. Nick Lowe – American Squirm (2:31)
14. Otis Spann – Must Have Been The Devil (2:40)
15. Son Volt – When The Wheels Don’t Move (3:21)
16. Possum Jenkins – Copper Coin (2:45)

This Week’s Webcast Rotation

Listen to the week’s rotation on the taprootradio.com current rotation play list on Spotify.

1. Elvis Costello & The Attractions – Mouth Almighty (3:05)
2. Ha Ha Tonka – Usual Suspects (Album) (3:32)
3. Otis Spann – Must Have Been The Devil (2:40)
4. Nicole Willis & The Soul Investigators – If This Ain’t Love (Don’t Know What Is) (3:28)
5. The Black Crowes – High Head Blues (4:01)
6. Jerry Lee Lewis – Money (4:38)
7. Cary Ann Hearst – American Made Machine (2:38)
8. The Blasters – Cryin’ For My Baby (5:26)
9. Wilson Pickett – Ninty-Nine And A Half (Won’t Do) (2:43)
10. Drive-By Truckers – Perfect Timing (2:58)
11. The Border Blasters – (In The) Next Life (2:12)
12. Ben E. King – Its All Over (3:12)
13. Wilco – Hate It Here (4:33)
14. Joe Henry – Some Champions (4:32)
15. Muddy Waters – Still A Fool (3:19)
16. Nick Lowe – American Squirm (2:31)
17. Mary Wells – What Love Has Joined Together (2:56)
18. Doc Watson With Merle Watson – Southbound (2:41)
19. Percy Mayfield – Gone Astray (3:13)
20. Gram Parsons – Buckaroo (2:34)
21. Greg Brown – ‘Cept You & Me Babe (4:28)
22. Steve Cropper, B.B. King & Shemekia Copleland – Baby Don’t Do It (2:51)
23. Son Volt – When The Wheels Don’t Move (3:21)
24. Joe Medwick – I Cried (3:27)
25. Heavy Trash – Isolation (3:24)
26. Michael Rank and Stag – straw man (3:23)
27. Joel Dasilva And The Midnight Howl – Boogie Real Low (3:59)
28. Andre Williams – Jaw Dropper (2:05)
29. Mike June & The Wilson Street Refugees – Babe I Ain’t Perfect (3:19)
30. Lyle Lovett – Brown Eyed Handsome Man (3:36)
31. Chris Castle – Dirty Water (4:21)
32. Lincoln Durham – Love Letters (2:57)
33. The Great Unknowns – Love Song (2:46)
34. The Parlor Soldiers – Mess (2:55)
35. Jackstraw – Sunday Never Comes (3:35)
36. Lucero – Like Lightning (4:15)
37. The Damn Quails – Fool’s Gold (4:14)
38. Westbound – Makin’ Time (2:54)
39. The Civil Wars – 20 Years (3:01)
40. Possum Jenkins – Copper Coin (2:45)
41. Ray Wylie Hubbard – Coricidin Bottle (1:59)
42. Joe Ely – Dublin Blues (4:24)
43. JWW And The Prospectors – It’s High Past Time (3:37)
44. Maynard and the Musties – Rock This Little Boat (3:12)
45. Beth McKee – Shoulda Kept on Walkin’ (2:57)
46. Cornflower Blue – Run Down The Rails (3:03)
47. Audrey Auld – I’d Leave Me Too (2:24)
48. Big Joe Duskin – Beer Drinking Woman (3:20)
49. The Avett Brothers – I And Love And You (5:08)
50. L.P.O. – A Man Needs Love mp3 (2:27)
51. Jerry Lee Lewis – Long Tall Sally (1:51)

All The Links You Need

Taproot Radio Live on WCOM

Monday nights at 9pm Eastern time. Tune in to the WCOM webcast.

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Taproot Road Songs on Spotify.

I don’t think there’s a video of his performance that night. But here’s one to keep you going until you can get the CD.

The Civil Wars on iTunes

JWW and the Prospectors in iTunes

TPR#79 Michael Rank and Stag (MP3)

Sponsor

North Carolina Hops and Roots Fest

Show Notes:

• Michael Rank and Stag on iTunes
• Michael Rank Music web site

Interview Recap:

Michael Rank and Marc Smith open the show with an acoustic version of “Straw Man” from Stag’s first CD Kin]

Michael Rank talks about “Straw Man.” John Teer from Chatham County Line plays fiddle and mandolin on the song.

Michael Rank says the last time he did a solo album  it was for Caroline records about 17-20 years ago and he decided to do another “solo.” But the backing band, Stag, has a who’s who of area rock stars as guests on the CD. He talks about the band members including duo drummers with John Howie Jr (Two Dollar Pistols, John Howie Jr and the Rosewood Bluff,) and Sara Romweber (Dexter Romweber Duo), Marc Smith (Patty Hurst Shifter, Snatches of Pink) on lap steel and slide guitar, Daryl White (Trailer Bride) on upright bass, John Teer (Chatham County Line) on fiddle and mandolin, Alex Iglehart (Calico Haunts) on electric guitar, Nathan Golub (Rosewood Bluff) on pedal steel, and of course Michael Rank on vocals, piano, and guitar. Recording duties were split between Jessie Huebner (Maldora, Small Ponds) and Rick Miller (Southern Culture On The Skids).

Michael Ranks set up “On The Bleed” and says there’s a video for the song on You Tube and it’s one of his favorite songs on the CD.

[plays “On The Bleed” from the CD]

Michael Rank talks about the ache in “On The Bleed” and how this CD was born out of starting to write music again after having become a father five years ago and having his wife walk out on him. He says it’s in some ways a cliché’ break up album and that “break up albums aren’t just for Taylor Swift anymore.”

[Michael Rank and Marc Smith play an acoustic version of “The Goat” from Kin.]

Michael Rank talks about how he does an acoustic version and full version of the songs. He and Marc play a lot of acoustic shows together. He subscribes to the idea that if you can sit on a stool and perform a song acoustically, it’s a song.

Michael Rank sets up the song “Arrowheads” from their first CD, Kin

[Plays “Arrowheads” from CD]

Michael Rank talks about coordinating so many people on a CD. He talks about how he creates demo tapes and shares them around with the band mates. Or in some cases he springs it on them at the studio. He talks about the advantages of playing with people who are “above your weight division.” He tells the story of how he emailed some demo tapes to John Teer but “Arrowheads” somehow got lost. In the recording studio John Teer had never heard the song but was able to pick it up as they played along the first time.

Michael Rank mentions the CD release party at The Station in Carrboro on Saturday March 10^th. He says it’s their favorite venue in Carrboro and that members of Magnolia Collective will open for them.

Michael Rank set up “Numb Into You” from the Snatches of Pink CD, Love is Dead.

[Michael Rank and Marc E Smith play an acoustic version of “Numb Into You”]

Michael Rank talks about the Love Is Dead CD being the highlight of the Snatches of Pink era, at least musically.

Michael Rank sets up “The Eye Teeth” from the CD Kin, notes that Nathan Golub plays pedal steel on this track.

[plays “The Eye Teeth” from the CD]

Get More!

• The episode index page lists the guests for all episodes and has links to the episode pages.
• You can receive email notifications of future episodes by signing up for the free Taproot News email newsletter.
• Taproot Radio Podcast page on iTunes so you can subscribe in iTunes
• Subscription page for other podcast players
• Taproot Radio Home Page

Legal

The Taproot Radio Podcast is copyright 2011 by Taproot Media. The music and interviews in this episode are used with permission of the artists. The Taproot Theme music is called “Meltdown Man” by Derek K. Miller of Penmachine.com. The episode as a whole is copyright 2011 by Taproot Media.
Photo Credit: Annabel Braithwaite

Feedback

If you have any feedback for this episode or any other episode, please send mail to feedback@taprootradio.com.

Howdy,

Imagine a duo that writes songs with the grit of Drive-By Truckers and the intensity of The Civil Wars and you’d have a fair approximation of the  Parlor Soldiers‘ CD, When The Dust Settles.  Alex Culbreth and Karen Jonas write songs with such detail and authenticity you’d swear every single one is about them.  Highlights for me are “Shallow Grave, “When The Dust Settles,” “Crazy,” and “Mess.”

The thing that consistently amazes me about Lyle Lovett and his band is how they can take musical cliches and tropes you’ve heard a thousand times before and breath new life into them. You’ll hear those two short fiddle bursts and think “Oh No, Not another Honky Tonk  song,” and by the end of the song you want want to shake Lyle’s hand for being so amazingly inventive. On Release Me, he covers several country and jazz standards with his amazingly musical band you can tell right away these guys are master craftsmen. The originals are Lovett’s slice of Texas life, idealized, but no sappy. Highlights for me on his new CD,Release Me, are “White Boy Lost In The Blues,” “Brown Eyed Handsome Man,” “One Way Gal,” “White Freightliner Blues,” and “Release Me.”

On episode 77 of the Taproot Music Show, Becky Warren of The Great Unknowns talks about why there’s almost always a geographic reference in all of her songs; her experience driving the Lewis and Clark Trail and what it mean to her; the long wait between their first and second CD; writing a song about a band that doesn’t become that famous; the new line up; and plays three tracks from their new release, Homefront.

Dig Deep,
Calvin

See the bottom of this newsletter
for all the links and social network stuff.

Taproot Road Song of the Week

Ok I know I know I’ve been falling all over myself to push Ray Wylie Hubbard’s latest CD, Grifter’s Hymnal, but let me put in just one more plug with a foot stomper from the Grifter’s Hymnal CD, “Coricidin Bottle” as road song of the week. Try to keep up and watch out for the vocabulary lesson he sneaks in there…..

Recent Adds

On The Beltway / Karen Collins & The Backroads Band / No Yodeling On The Radio / 2:49
Walking Papers / Cole Mitchell / The Valley Of Want / 5:00
Hog And Sheep Going To The Pasture / Mariel Vandersteel / Hickory / 2:28
White Boy Lost In The Blues / Lyle Lovett / Release Me / 3:32
Brown Eyed Handsome Man / Lyle Lovett / Release Me / 3:36
One Way Gal / Lyle Lovett / Release Me / 2:59
White Freightliner Blues / Lyle Lovett / Release Me / 5:06
Shallow Grave / The Parlor Soldiers / When The Dust Settles / 4:00
When The Dust Settles / The Parlor Soldiers / When The Dust Settles / 4:32
Crazy / The Parlor Soldiers / When The Dust Settles / 3:00
Mess / The Parlor Soldiers / When The Dust Settles / 2:55

Taproot Music Show Recent Episodes

See a list of all episodes on the episode index page.

Episode 73 – Lincoln Durham talks about his residency at Gruene Hall, why he can’t write love songs, his long path from playing fiddle to Son House and Fred McDowell, and why he wrote a creepy songs about ne’er-do-well characters playing forty

Episode 74 – Lucy Tight and Wayne Waxing from Hymn For Her, how they met and started making music together; their evolution from folk duo to lo-fi rock band; and recording in their airstream trailer.

Episode 75 – Laurie MacAllister, Abbie Gardner, and Molly Venter of Red Molly talk about their music backgrounds, the appeal of female trios, the excitement of playing Merlefest, the appeal their music has for the NYC coffeehouse crowd, and the stories behind three of their songs on the CD Light In The Sky.

Episode 76 –  Brandon Sampson from Six Mile Grove and Bob Wootton tell the story of how they met and began their long time musical collaboration, talk about their mission to keep the Johnny Cash sound alive, give us a preview of Six Mile Grove’s upcoming CD Secret Life In A Quiet Town, and explore the existential question of free will and predestination.

Episode 77 – Becky Warren of The Great Unknowns talks about why there’s almost always a geographic reference in all of her songs; her experience driving the Lewis and Clark Trail and what it mean to her; the long wait between their first and second CD; writing a song about a band that doesn’t become that famous; the new line up; and plays three tracks from their new release, Homefront.

WCOM Play List

The Taproot Radio show airs live on Monday nights at 9pm Eastern. Local listeners in Chapel Hill can tune in to WCOM at 103.5FM.  Everyone else can tune in to the WCOM.webcast stream.

On this week’s show I’ll be covering for the DJ before and after me which means 4 hours of great music! I can’t wait. Here’s the planned play lists for all 4 hours.

7:00
Cartoon Gold / Drive-By Truckers / Go-Go Boots / 3:14
Glory to Glory / Pieta Brown / Mercury / 3:23
When It’s Over / Don Varner / Sweet Sounds Of Muscle Shoals: Vol. 1-Tear Stained Soul / 2:12
I’ve Lost My Heart To You / Dexter Romweber / Blues That Defy My Soul / 2:49
I Burn Today / Frank Black / Honeycomb / 4:06
Stay On The Ride / Patty Griffin / Children Running Through / 5:18
Engine Joe / Slobberbone / Barrel Chested / 2:27
Needed You Tonight / Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals / Lifeline / 2:46
How You Make Me Feel / Shelley King / Welcome Home / 2:52
A. On Horseback / Charlie Pickett / Bar Band Americanus / 4:00
I’m Dreaming Of Your Demise / Mary Flower / Misery Loves Company / 4:05
Unrepentant Sinner’s Last Prayer / Doug & Telisha Williams / Ghost Of The KnoXVIlle Girl / 4:51
Gal Youngin / Mofro / Lochloosa / 4:34
Blanket Gray / Two Cow Garage / Three / 3:54
Danny and Maria / Drew Nelson / Tilt-A-Whirl / 3:21

8:00pm
The Levee’s Gonna Break / Bob Dylan / Modern Times / 5:43
He Made A Woman Out Of Me / Bettye LaVette / Take Another Little Piece Of My Heart / 2:35
You’Ve Got The Papers(I’Ve Got The Man) / Ann Peebles / Handwriting Is On The Wall / 2:57
Faulkner Street / Hayes Carll / Trouble In Mind / 3:26
If I ever Needed Someone / Choosy Beggars / Bring It Back Alive / 3:56
Pay The Devil / Van Morrison / Pay The Devil / 3:03
Walt Whitman Bridge / Marah / If You Didn’t Laugh You’d Cry / 3:06
It’s All Fun And Games (Til Someone Breaks A Heart) / Two Dollar Pistols / Hands Up! / 4:18
Been Down Too Long / Scott H. Biram / Blooshot Records Sampler #8 / 3:45
Barrel Chested / Slobberbone / Barrel Chested / 4:15
Stake Your Claim / Eli “Paperboy” Reed & The True Loves / Roll With You / 2:48
Ain’t Got No Honey Baby Now / Elizabeth Cotten / Freight Train And Other North Carolina Folk Songs And Tunes / 0:57
Worried Life / Asie Payton / Worried / 4:05
Chicken Wire / The Felice Brothers / Yonder Is The Clock / 2:44
Love In Vain / The Rolling Stones / Let It Bleed / 4:23

9:00pm
Henhouse / Ray Wylie Hubbard / The Grifter’s Hymnal / 4:30
A Bad Way / The Great Unknowns / Homefront / 3:05
Miss Lavelle White Blues / Mike June & The Wilson Street Refugees / Exile On Wilson Street / 3:33
Trees Fall Every Day / Chris Castle / Last Bird Home / 3:10

*** Special Interview Guest: Joe Maynard from Maynard and the Musties. ***

Lorena (America) / Johnny Cash / Come Along And Ride This Train [Disc 3] / 1:52
(Hey Baby) Que Paso / The Texas Tornados / KGSR Broadcasts Vol. 18 (Disc 2) / 3:33
Dark End Of The Street / The Flying Burrito Brothers / Sacred Hearts And Fallen Angels: The Gram Parsons Anthology (Disc 1) / 3:59
A Mighty Long Way / Eddie Bradford / Sweet Sounds Of Muscle Shoa : Vol. 4-More Power To Ya! / 2:35
Rose La Rose / Miller Brothers Band / Tales From Foundry Town / 4:34
Somethin’ in the Water / Westbound / Blackjack Road / 2:48
The Gardens / Freddy Fender / The Man Of Somebody’s Dreams: A Tribute to the Songs of Chris Gaffney / 3:16
Walking Papers / Cole Mitchell / The Valley Of Want / 5:00
Love Going South / Jo Serrapere / Love Going South / 4:16
Flying Shoes / Glory Fountain / The Beauty of 23 / 3:33
Love Letters / Lincoln Durham / The Shovel Vs. The Howling Bones / 2:58

10:00
White Boy Lost In The Blues / Lyle Lovett / Release Me / 3:32
Same Dog’s Tail / Beth McKee / Next to Nowhere / 3:37
Just Another Way To Go / Jackstraw / Sunday Never Comes / 2:53
Juniper / Lucero / Women & Work / 4:44
Mess / The Parlor Soldiers / When The Dust Settles / 2:55
Home / Thieving Birds / Thieving Birds / 4:43
Nothing / The Far West / The Far West / 2:38
on the bleed / Michael Rank and Stag / Kin [Disc 1] / 4:52
Sugar Sweet / Muddy Waters / His Best: 1947 To 1955 / 2:32
I Drink Alone / George Thorogood & The Destroyers / Greatest Hits: 30 Years of Rock / 4:32
The Shade / Malcolm Holcombe / Gamblin’ House / 2:37
The Sun Is Shining Down / Mofro / Country Ghetto / 5:58
Oh Little Boy(What Did You Do To Me) / Mary Wells / The Ultimate collection / 2:40
Try / Joel Dasilva And The Midnight Howl / Joel Dasilva And The Midnight Howl / 2:35
Coricidin Bottle / Ray Wylie Hubbard / The Grifter’s Hymnal / 2:00

This Week’s Webcast Rotation

Listen to the week’s rotation on the taprootradio.com current rotation play list on Spotify.

Alphabetically by artist:

• Dirt / Andre Williams / Hoods and Shades / 3:13
  Same Dog’s Tail / Beth McKee / Next to Nowhere / 3:37
  Trees Fall Every Day / Chris Castle / Last Bird Home / 3:10
  Walking Papers / Cole Mitchell / The Valley Of Want / 5:00
  Cry Like A Man / Dan Penn / Do Right Man / 4:03
  Danny and Maria / Drew Nelson / Tilt-A-Whirl / 3:21
  A Mighty Long Way / Eddie Bradford / Sweet Sounds Of Muscle Shoa : Vol. 4-More Power To Ya! / 2:35
  Nothing / The Far West / The Far West / 2:38
  Dark End Of The Street / The Flying Burrito Brothers / Sacred Hearts And Fallen Angels: The Gram Parsons Anthology (Disc 1) / 3:59
  The Gardens / Freddy Fender / The Man Of Somebody’s Dreams: A Tribute to the Songs of Chris Gaffney / 3:16
  I Drink Alone / George Thorogood & The Destroyers / Greatest Hits: 30 Years of Rock / 4:32
  Flying Shoes / Glory Fountain / The Beauty of 23 / 3:33
  Ambiguous / Graham Parker / Don’t Tell Columbus / 4:30
  A Bad Way / The Great Unknowns / Homefront / 3:05
  Crazy As A Loon / Greg Humphreys / Trunk Songs / 2:43
  Montana / Hymn For Her / Lucy & Wayne And The American Stream / 3:37
  Just Another Way To Go / Jackstraw / Sunday Never Comes / 2:53
  Love Going South / Jo Serrapere / Love Going South / 4:16
  Try / Joel Dasilva And The Midnight Howl / Joel Dasilva And The Midnight Howl / 2:35
  In Nashville, Tennessee / Joey Allcorn / 50 Years Too Late / 4:20
  Lorena (America) / Johnny Cash / Come Along And Ride This Train [Disc 3] / 1:52
  On The Beltway / Karen Collins & The Backroads Band / No Yodeling On The Radio / 2:49
  Love Letters / Lincoln Durham / The Shovel Vs. The Howling Bones / 2:58
  El Microscopico Bikini (Dizzy Miss Lizzy) / Los Straitjackets / Rock en Español Vol. One / 2:51
  Juniper / Lucero / Women & Work / 4:44
  White Boy Lost In The Blues / Lyle Lovett / Release Me / 3:32
  The Shade / Malcolm Holcombe / Gamblin’ House / 2:37
  Hog And Sheep Going To The Pasture / Mariel Vandersteel / Hickory / 2:28
  Oh Little Boy(What Did You Do To Me) / Mary Wells / The Ultimate collection / 2:40
  After the Game / Maynard and the Musties / Cheap Cigar / 3:17
  on the bleed / Michael Rank and Stag / Kin [Disc 1] / 4:52
  Miss Lavelle White Blues / Mike June & The Wilson Street Refugees / Exile On Wilson Street / 3:33
  Rose La Rose / Miller Brothers Band / Tales From Foundry Town / 4:34
  The Sun Is Shining Down / Mofro / Country Ghetto / 5:58
  Sometimes / The Mountain Firework Company / A Rough Guide To Feeling Rough / 4:34
  Sugar Sweet / Muddy Waters / His Best: 1947 To 1955 / 2:32
  Some Place Along The River / Overmountain Men / Glorious Day / 4:59
  Mess / The Parlor Soldiers / When The Dust Settles / 2:55
  The Cape / Patty Griffin / This One’s For Him: A Tribute To Guy Clark [Disc 2] / 3:27
  Texas / Po’ Girl / Home To You / 4:40
  Coricidin Bottle / Ray Wylie Hubbard / The Grifter’s Hymnal / 2:00
  Henhouse / Ray Wylie Hubbard / The Grifter’s Hymnal / 4:30
  Mattie / Sally Spring / Made Of Stars / 3:19
  I Want A Tall Skinny Papa / Sister Rosetta Tharpe / The Gospel Of The Blues / 2:52
  Susie Q / Sleepy LaBeef / Greatest Hits / 2:31
  Strawberry Lady / The Soul Of John Black / Good Thang / 4:18
  I Do / Steve Cropper & Brian May / Dedicated – A Salute To The 5 Royales / 2:48
  Resting Place / Terry Robb / It’s All Connected / 3:21
  (Hey Baby) Que Paso / The Texas Tornados / KGSR Broadcasts Vol. 18 (Disc 2) / 3:33
  Home / Thieving Birds / Thieving Birds / 4:43
  Somethin’ in the Water / Westbound / Blackjack Road / 2:48

All The Links You Need

Taproot Radio Live on WCOM

Monday nights at 9pm Eastern time. Tune in to the WCOM webcast.

Taproot Music Show

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Send your feedback and suggestions to director@taprootradio.com

TPR#78 Tommy Womack – Interview and Music (MP3)

Sponsor

North Carolina Hops and Roots Fest

Show Notes:

• Tommy Womack on iTunes
• Tommy Womack Web Site

Get More!

• The episode index page lists the guests for all episodes and has links to the episode pages.
• You can receive email notifications of future episodes by signing up for the free Taproot News email newsletter.
• Taproot Radio Podcast page on iTunes so you can subscribe in iTunes
• Subscription page for other podcast players
• Taproot Radio Home Page

Legal

The Taproot Radio Podcast is copyright 2011 by Taproot Media. The music and interviews in this episode are used with permission of the artists. The Taproot Theme music is called “Meltdown Man” by Derek K. Miller of Penmachine.com. The episode as a whole is copyright 2011 by Taproot Media.
Photo Credit: Annabel Braithwaite

Feedback

If you have any feedback for this episode or any other episode, please send mail to feedback@taprootradio.com.

Ray Wylie Hubbard on iTunes

Ray Wylie Hubbard web site.

“What Did I Used To Be” is available on iTunes

Hear more music and hear Tokyo Rosenthal talk about the stories behind his songs on episode 50 of the Taproot Music Show.

#ows #occupy

See the bottom of this newsletter
for all the links and social network stuff.

Howdy,

Ray Wylie Hubbard has found his way out of the backwoods again bearing his new CD, Grifter’s Hymnal, in one hand and a bunch of chicken bones tied up with guitar strings in the other, muttering something about finally understanding the relationship between the Devil, God, and Man. You want to call this music the blues, just to try to connect it to something earthly. You know that ain’t quite right, but that’s the best you can do. You kinda want to call it rock, but not that kind of rock that makes kids jump around, the kind that makes kids go slack-jaw. You might even want to call it gospel, but it would raise the question of just whose side is Hubbard on, anyway.  Stand out tracks for me are “Coricidin Bottle,” “South Of The River,” “New Year’s Eve At The Gates Of Hell,” “Mother Blues,” and “Henhouse.” CD comes out on March 27th but you can hear tracks from it on the Taproot rotation starting March 5.

By popular demand (who knew?) the Taproot Road Song Play List on Spotify will now have all of the songs on it instead of just the most recent week’s song. I’m gonna try to make the play list reverse chronological order so that the most recently added songs are first on the play list.

I’m excited to announce that Michael Rank and Mark Smith formerly of Snatches of Pink and now of Michael Rank and Stag are going to be my guests on the live show this week. They will be playing cuts from the new band’s first CD, Kin, and also playing a live acoustic version of a couple of songs. So tune in Monday night at 9pm eastern. See below for the webcast link.

Dig Deep,
Calvin

Taproot Road Song

Going a few years back on this one, “One More Time” by Alejandro Escovedo is one of my all time favorite road songs. The way the lyrics kinda skid around against the beat brings to mind a car careening dangerously near the guard rail, but barely staying between the lines.

Couldn’t find a decent video of the song, but as always you can listen to “One More Time”  on Spotify at the Taproot Road Songs play list.

Recent Podcast Episodes

For the full episode list, visit the episode page or follow the Taproot Music Show episodes on Pinterest.

Episode 72, Lee Briante of The Far West talks about the importance of having video and internet media available for today’s audience; how it made him feel to move to Los Angeles; and how recording in an American Legion hall brought their debut self-titled CD to life.

Episode 73 – Lincoln Durham talks about his residency at Gruene Hall, why he can’t write love songs, his long path from playing fiddle to Son House and Fred McDowell, and why he wrote a creepy songs about ne’er-do-well characters playing forty

Episode 74 – Lucy Tight and Wayne Waxing from Hymn For Her, how they met and started making music together; their evolution from folk duo to lo-fi rock band; and recording in their airstream trailer.

Episode 75 – Laurie MacAllister, Abbie Gardner, and Molly Venter of Red Molly talk about their music backgrounds, the appeal of female trios, the excitement of playing Merlefest, the appeal their music has for the NYC coffeehouse crowd, and the stories behind three of their songs on the CD Light In The Sky.

Episode 76 –  Brandon Sampson from Six Mile Grove and Bob Wootton tell the story of how they met and began their long time musical collaboration, talk about their mission to keep the Johnny Cash sound alive, give us a preview of Six Mile Grove’s upcoming CD Secret Life In A Quiet Town, and explore the existential question of free will and predestination.

Recent Adds

• Junker / Brendan Hogan / SilverQuick / 3:26
• Money / Loretta Hagen / Mud And Stone / 3:10
• My Liver’s Bad – My Life’s A Mess (And I Blame You Sweetheart) / Michael And The Lonesome Playboys / Last Of The Honky Tonks / 3:36
• Coricidin Bottle / Ray Wylie Hubbard / The Grifter’s Hymnal / 2:00
• South of the River / Ray Wylie Hubbard / The Grifter’s Hymnal / 4:07
• New Year’s Eve at the Gates of Hell / Ray Wylie Hubbard / The Grifter’s Hymnal / 3:31
• Mother Blues / Ray Wylie Hubbard / The Grifter’s Hymnal / 5:57
• Henhouse / Ray Wylie Hubbard / The Grifter’s Hymnal / 4:30

The Week’s WCOM Play List

The live show is on Monday Nights at 9pm Eastern time on WCOM. Listen to the webcast stream.

• New Year’s Eve at the Gates of Hell / Ray Wylie Hubbard / The Grifter’s Hymnal / 3:31
• On the Verge / Beth McKee / Next to Nowhere / 4:16
• Pretty & Cryin’ / Maynard and the Musties / Cheap Cigar / 4:41
• How Does A Crow Fly / Lincoln Durham / The Shovel Vs. The Howling Bones / 2:36

*** special interview and in studio performance by Michael Rank and Marc Smith ***

• Bird / Chris Castle / Last Bird Home / 1:47
• Cave / Hymn For Her / Lucy & Wayne And The American Stream / 2:28
• Save My Soul / Thieving Birds / Thieving Birds / 4:45
• Halfway House / Arty Hill and the Long Gone Daddys / Another Lost Highway / 3:55
• Better Place To Stop / The Damn Quails / Down the Hatch / 3:20
• Bound to Lose / The Far West / The Far West / 2:41
• The Prisoner / Mike June & The Wilson Street Refugees / Exile On Wilson Street / 3:33
• Sunday Never Comes / Jackstraw / Sunday Never Comes / 3:36
• I’m Gonna Get My Heart Broken / The Great Unknowns / Homefront / 2:59
• Sometimes / Lucero / Women & Work / 4:53
• One More Time / Alejandro Escovedo / With These Hands (Expanded Edition) / 4:06

This Week’s Rotation

This week’s play list on Spotify

Alphabetically by artist:

• One More Time / Alejandro Escovedo / With These Hands (Expanded Edition) / 4:06
• Jaw Dropper / Andre Williams / Hoods and Shades / 2:06
• Halfway House / Arty Hill and the Long Gone Daddys / Another Lost Highway / 3:55
• On the Verge / Beth McKee / Next to Nowhere / 4:16
• Dim Lights, Thick Smoke / Bill Kirchen / King Of Dieselbilly / 3:54
• Junker / Brendan Hogan / SilverQuick / 3:26
• Everybody’s Up To Somethin’ / Brian Setzer / 13 [Bonus Track] / 2:47
• Since You Been Gone / Bucktown Kickback / Speakeasy / 5:59
• Back To Santa Rosa / Carolann Ames / Laurel Canyon Road / 3:40
• Can’t Give It To Me / Choosy Beggars / See The Lovers Right On Time / 3:26
• Bird / Chris Castle / Last Bird Home / 1:47
• Better Place To Stop / The Damn Quails / Down the Hatch / 3:20
• Lessons / Drew Nelson / Tilt-A-Whirl / 4:13
• The Wallflower (Dance With Me Henry) / Etta James / Gold / 2:59
• Bound to Lose / The Far West / The Far West / 2:41
• La Hawaiana / Flaco Jiménez / Tex-Mex Party / 3:13
• Hickory Wind / Gram Parsons / Under Your Spell Again [Disc I] / 4:37
• I’m Gonna Get My Heart Broken / The Great Unknowns / Homefront / 2:59
• Madalyn’s Bones / Gurf Morlix / Diamonds To Dust / 3:33
• Cave / Hymn For Her / Lucy & Wayne And The American Stream / 2:28
• Sunday Never Comes / Jackstraw / Sunday Never Comes / 3:36
• Green Grow the Lilacs / Johnny Cash / Come Along And Ride This Train [Disc 2] / 2:47
• Oil & Water / Les Sampou / Lonesomeville / 3:47
• How Does A Crow Fly / Lincoln Durham / The Shovel Vs. The Howling Bones / 2:36
• The Light Gets In The Way / The Long Ryders / The Long Ryders Anthology: Looking for Lewis and Clark [Disc 2] / 3:54
• Money / Loretta Hagen / Mud And Stone / 3:10
• Sometimes / Lucero / Women & Work / 4:53
• Do America / Mark Knopfler / Sailing to Philadelphia / 4:12
• Two Can Play Your Game / Marquise Knox / Here I Am  / 4:06
• What’s Easy For Two Is So Hard For One / Mary Wells / The Ultimate collection / 2:53
• Downward Road / Mavis Staples / You Are Not Alone / 3:08
• Pretty & Cryin’ / Maynard and the Musties / Cheap Cigar / 4:41
• My Liver’s Bad – My Life’s A Mess (And I Blame You Sweetheart) / Michael And The Lonesome Playboys / Last Of The Honky Tonks / 3:36
• The Prisoner / Mike June & The Wilson Street Refugees / Exile On Wilson Street / 3:33
• Papa’s Got A Brand New Bag / Otis Redding / Live On The Sunset Strip (disc 2) / 10:08
• Color Of The Blues / Patty Loveless / Sleepless Nights / 3:06
• Glory to Glory / Pieta Brown / Mercury / 3:23
• Rollin’ On Again / Planetary Nights / Today Ain’t Too Late / 3:38
• Mississippi / Ray Bonneville / Bad Man’s Blood / 2:33
• You Can Bring Me Flowers / Ray LaMontagne / Till The Sun Turns Black / 4:12
• New Year’s Eve at the Gates of Hell / Ray Wylie Hubbard / The Grifter’s Hymnal / 3:31
• I Will Walk With You / The Resentments / Switcheroo / 2:49
• Bad Reputation / Reverend Horton Heat / Holy Roller / 2:24
• Over The Waterfall / Robert Earl Keen / Picnic / 4:33
• Texas 1947 / Robert Earl Keen / This One’s For Him: A Tribute To Guy Clark [Disc 2] / 3:58
• Cocaine And Ashes / Son Volt / American Central Dust (Amazon MP3 Exclusive Version) / 4:31
• Come On & Save Me / Steve Cropper, Dylan Leblanc & Sharon Jones / Dedicated – A Salute To The 5 Royales / 2:58
• Save My Soul / Thieving Birds / Thieving Birds / 4:45
• Delta River Line / Westbound / Blackjack Road / 3:42
• I’m Lonely (But I Ain’t That Lonely Yet) / The White Stripes / Get Behind Me Satan / 4:20
• Good Hearted Woman / Willie Nelson / Willie & Family Live / 2:59

All The Social Stuff

The Live Show

Monday Nights at 9pm Eastern time on WCOM. Listen to the webcast stream.

Podcast of The Taproot Music Show

On the web

Subscription info

On Pinterest

Webcast

Weekly rotation on Spotify

Taproot Road Songs on Spotify

Social Networks

The Blog

Facebook

Twitter

Newsletter

Email

director@taprootradio.com

TPR#77 Becky Warren from The Great Unknowns – Interview and Music (MP3)

Sponsor

North Carolina Hops and Roots Fest

Show Notes:

• The Great Unknonws on iTunes
• The Great Unknowns web site

Get More!

• The episode index page lists the guests for all episodes and has links to the episode pages.
• You can receive email notifications of future episodes by signing up for the free Taproot News email newsletter.
• Taproot Radio Podcast page on iTunes so you can subscribe in iTunes
• Subscription page for other podcast players
• Taproot Radio Home Page

Legal

The Taproot Radio Podcast is copyright 2011 by Taproot Media. The music and interviews in this episode are used with permission of the artists. The Taproot Theme music is called “Meltdown Man” by Derek K. Miller of Penmachine.com. The episode as a whole is copyright 2011 by Taproot Media.
Photo Credit: Annabel Braithwaite

Feedback

If you have any feedback for this episode or any other episode, please send mail to feedback@taprootradio.com.

Photo Credit: MChavez

Going a few years back on this one, “One More Time” by Alejandro Escovedo is one of my all time favorite road songs. The way the lyrics kinda skid around against the beat brings to mind a car careening dangerously near the guard rail, but barely staying between the lines.

Couldn’t find a decent video of the song, but as always you can listen to “One More Time“  on Spotify and the Taproot Road Songs play list.

CD comes out on March 27th but you can hear tracks from it on the Taproot rotation starting March 5.

Ray Wylie Hubbard on iTunes

Ray Wylie Hubbard web site

See the bottom of this newsletter
for all the links and social network stuff.

Howdy,

There’s a great moment in the movie The Big Chill when “Nick,” played by William Hurt, is being faux-interviewed by one of his friends in a mock TV interview. His friend is running down a list of half finished projects, abandoned careers, and miscellaneous dodgy dealings. Nick abruptly interrupts and says indignantly, “I was evolving, I’m still evolving.”

That’s kinda how I feel about Taproot Radio and especially the podcast. It’s evolving, still evolving. So yeah, I’m changing the name (again) to The Taproot Music Show. Yes, it will still primarily be delivered as a podcast. So all you podcast fanatics don’t hafta worry. But I wanted to drop Podcast (and Radio) from the name so it wouldn’t be so weird as I explore new ways to deliver the same great interview show. Not sure exactly where that’s going to lead, but I’m actively looking at alternate ways to get the show into more ears. Got an idea? I’d like to hear it.

In a meager attempt at being hip, I’ve joined Pinterest and have created a pin board for the Taproot Music Show episodes. I’ll still be announcing new episodes here, on the blog, on the Facebook, and the twitter. But if you’re into Pinterest you can follow there too. So there’s really no excuse not to listen. heh.

And on to music! Dang! I actually caught up with auditions last week. So if you’re a label rep waiting to hear about a CD you sent in, better drop me a line. I got nothing in the queue right now. Wouldn’t be the first time I lost a CD. Sorry in advance. And weirdly enough, not a single CD showed up in the mail box this week. Can’t remember the last time that happened!

But now, as of this afternoon, I understand why. It was kinda like the Red Seas parting to make way for the arrival of….drum roll please…. THE NEW BETH McKEE CD!!!! Pick your favorite superlative for Next To Nowhere because it will fit. She hits just about every style of southern music on this CD, from torch singer blues, piano bar romps, R&B ballads, southern rock, gospel-inspred anthems, a little cajun/hippie and I don’t know what all else. This CD made my day and I know it will put a little oomph in your day too. Drop what you’re doing and check it out as soon as possible.

On episode 76 of the Taproot Music Show, Brandon Sampson from Six Mile Grove and Bob Wootton tell the story of how they met and began their long time musical collaboration, talk about their mission to keep the Johnny Cash sound alive, give us a preview of Six Mile Grove’s upcoming CD Secret Life In A Quiet Town, and explore the existential question of free will and predestination.

My interview guest on the live show this week is Mike June from Mike June and the Wilson Street Exiles. So tune in to the WCOM web stream at 9pm eastern time to hear him tell the stories behind his music.

Dig Deep,
Calvin

Taproot Road Song

Speaking of southern soul, blue-eyed soul, whatever you want to call it. I decided to put George Soulé’s “Take A Ride” up for the Road Song of the week. After last week’s kick ass road song from Lucero, this adds a smoooooooth kinda road song into the mix.

Recent Podcast Episodes

For the full episode list, visit the episode page or follow the Taproot Music Show episodes on Pinterest.

Episode 72, Lee Briante of The Far West talks about the importance of having video and internet media available for today’s audience; how it made him feel to move to Los Angeles; and how recording in an American Legion hall brought their debut self-titled CD to life.

Episode 73 – Lincoln Durham talks about his residency at Gruene Hall, why he can’t write love songs, his long path from playing fiddle to Son House and Fred McDowell, and why he wrote a creepy songs about ne’er-do-well characters playing forty

Episode 74 – Lucy Tight and Wayne Waxing from Hymn For Her, how they met and started making music together; their evolution from folk duo to lo-fi rock band; and recording in their airstream trailer.

Episode 75 – Laurie MacAllister, Abbie Gardner, and Molly Venter of Red Molly talk about their music backgrounds, the appeal of female trios, the excitement of playing Merlefest, the appeal their music has for the NYC coffeehouse crowd, and the stories behind three of their songs on the CD Light In The Sky.

Episode 76 –  Brandon Sampson from Six Mile Grove and Bob Wootton tell the story of how they met and began their long time musical collaboration, talk about their mission to keep the Johnny Cash sound alive, give us a preview of Six Mile Grove’s upcoming CD Secret Life In A Quiet Town, and explore the existential question of free will and predestination.

Recent Adds

• Next to Nowhere / Beth McKee / Next to Nowhere / 3:04

• On the Verge / Beth McKee / Next to Nowhere / 4:16

• Shoulda Kept on Walkin’ / Beth McKee / Next to Nowhere / 2:57

• New Orleans to Jackson / Beth McKee / Next to Nowhere / 4:44

• Same Dog’s Tail / Beth McKee / Next to Nowhere / 3:37

The Week’s WCOM Play List

The Live Show

Monday Nights at 9pm Eastern time on WCOM. Listen to the webcast stream.

• Next to Nowhere / Beth McKee / Next to Nowhere / 3:04

• Green, Green Grass Of Home / Johnny Cash / Sunday Morning Coming Down / 2:35

• On My Way Downtown / Lucero / Women & Work / 4:29

• Take A Ride / George Soule / Take A Ride / 3:20

*** Special Interview Guest: Mike June ***

• Dirty Water / Chris Castle / Last Bird Home / 4:21

• Knockin’ Over Whiskeys / Hayes Carll / Trouble In Mind / 2:56

• Losin’ Boy / Eddy Giles / Deep Soul Treasures 2 / 3:15

• Slow Death / Charlie Pickett / Bar Band Americanus / 3:49

• Another Story / The Damn Quails / Down the Hatch / 3:33

• Into The Mystic / Mike McClure Band / Camelot Falling / 4:46

• Just Another Way To Go / Jackstraw / Sunday Never Comes / 2:53

• Love Letters / Lincoln Durham / The Shovel Vs. The Howling Bones / 2:58

• tenderhook / Michael Rank and Stag / Kin [Disc 1] / 4:26

• Ain’t Got No Troubles / Eden Brent / Ain’t Got No Troubles / 5:09

This Week’s Rotation

Taproot Play Lists on iTunes

This week’s play list on Spotify

• Next to Nowhere / Beth McKee / Next to Nowhere / 3:04
• A Bad Way / The Great Unknowns / Homefront / 3:05
• On My Way Downtown / Lucero / Women & Work / 4:29
• Dirty Water / Chris Castle / Last Bird Home / 4:21
• Hu-matic Man / Andre Williams / Hoods and Shades / 3:13
• tenderhook / Michael Rank and Stag / Kin [Disc 1] / 4:26
• Delta River Line / Westbound / Blackjack Road / 3:42
• Rock This Little Boat / Maynard and the Musties / Cheap Cigar / 3:13
• Hangin On / Joel Dasilva And The Midnight Howl / Joel Dasilva And The Midnight Howl / 2:39
• Promised Land / Drew Nelson / Tilt-A-Whirl / 3:38
• Just Another Way To Go / Jackstraw / Sunday Never Comes / 2:53
• Another Story / The Damn Quails / Down the Hatch / 3:33
• Love Letters / Lincoln Durham / The Shovel Vs. The Howling Bones / 2:58
• Stuck In Memphis / Thieving Birds / Thieving Birds / 3:05
• Randall Knife / Vince Gill / This One’s For Him: A Tribute To Guy Clark [Disc 2] / 4:34
• I’ll Never Drink Again / The Far West / The Far West / 3:12
• Slips / Hymn For Her / Lucy & Wayne And The American Stream / 2:41
• Dedicated To The One I Love / Steve Cropper, Lucinda Williams & Steve Winwood / Dedicated – A Salute To The 5 Royales / 3:15
• You Better Pray / Marquise Knox / Here I Am  / 4:45
• Big Drops of Trouble / Arty Hill and the Long Gone Daddys / Another Lost Highway / 3:49
• Mocha Jaydene / Planetary Nights / Today Ain’t Too Late / 4:36
• The Train That’s Bound For Glory / Garrison Starr / Amateur / 3:41
• Angel Of Death / New Country Rehab / New Country Rehab / 2:52
• Blues for Big Bill / Chris Cotton / It’s All Connected / 3:23
• Pony Blues / Bluff City Backsliders / It’s All Connected / 4:11
• Take A Ride / George Soule / Take A Ride / 3:20
• Wild Horses / The Flying Burrito Brothers / Sacred Hearts And Fallen Angels: The Gram Parsons Anthology (Disc 1) / 6:24
• New Shoes / Caleb Klauder / Dangerous Mes And Poisonous Yous / 3:11
• You Left The Water Running (Live) / Dan Penn & Spooner Oldham / Moments From This Theatre / 3:24
• 7 Months, 39 Days / Hank Williams III / Lovesick, Broke And Driftin’ / 3:27
• Down To The Wire / Son Volt / American Central Dust (Amazon MP3 Exclusive Version) / 4:20
• Fooled Around And Fell In Love / Mickey Thomas / The Bluesmasters Featuring Mickey Thomas / 4:20
• Final Wild Son / The Long Ryders / The Long Ryders Anthology: Looking for Lewis and Clark [Disc 1] / 2:40
• Losin’ Boy / Eddy Giles / Deep Soul Treasures 2 / 3:15
• Man of Somebody’s Dreams / Los Lobos / The Man Of Somebody’s Dreams: A Tribute to the Songs of Chris Gaffney / 3:59
• I Can’t Turn You Loose / Otis Redding / Live On The Sunset Strip / 6:20
• Green, Green Grass Of Home / Johnny Cash / Sunday Morning Coming Down / 2:35
• Piss & Moan Blues / The Gourds / Dem’s Good Beeble / 3:16
• Everything’s Alright / The O’s / Between The Two / 2:21
• Tennessee Waltz / Ruth Brown / More Dirty Laundry: The Soul Of Black Country / 4:15
• Money / Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kin… / I Learned the Hard Way (Bonus Version) / 3:22
• The Ballad of Elano DeLeon / Reckless Kelly / Somewhere In Time / 3:26
• Lucky Man / Ronnie Wood / Lucky Man / 3:53
• Get On The Bus / The Bottle Rockets / Lean Forward / 3:51
• Honey Now / Gillian Welch / Hell Among The Yearlings / 1:52
• Into The Mystic / Mike McClure Band / Camelot Falling / 4:46
• Slow Death / Charlie Pickett / Bar Band Americanus / 3:49
• Ain’t Got No Troubles / Eden Brent / Ain’t Got No Troubles / 5:09
• Handcuffs / Sodajerk / Sodajerk / 3:01
• Knockin’ Over Whiskeys / Hayes Carll / Trouble In Mind / 2:56
• Angels On A Passing Train / Marah / Angels Of Destruction / 4:06

All The Social Stuff

The Live Show

• Monday Nights at 9pm Eastern time on WCOM. Listen to the webcast stream.

Podcast of The Taproot Music Show

• On the web
• Subscription info
• On Pinterest

Webcast

• Weekly rotation on Spotify
• Road Song Of The Week on Spotify

Social Networks

• The Blog
• Facebook
• Twitter
• Newsletter
• Email