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Squared Roots: BJ Barham x Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Springsteen. What, really, is there to write about him that hasn\’t been written thousands of times? He\’s a working-class hero, a thinking-man\’s poet, an activist-artist, a national treasure, and a songwriter\’s songwriter with 18 albums and millions of record sales to his credit. Over the past five decades, Springsteen has witnessed and documented in…
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Five Questions: Glen Phillips
Since bursting onto the pop-rock scene some 25 years ago with Toad the Wet Sprocket\’s third album, Fear, Glen Phillips has established himself as one of the most heartfelt songwriters on the folk-rock block. His solo albums, and Toad reunions, all showcase the work of someone who feels passionately and thinks deeply. Over the past…
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With Headphones on the Floor: A Conversation with Chely Wright
Though singer/songwriter Chely Wright made her name on the country charts back in the \’90s and had a big coming out party in 2010, her new album\’s quiet confidence showcases what is probably the truest side of her: a conscious and caring, creative and compassionate soul rooted in faith and family above all else. Produced…
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Five Questions: Jonah Tolchin
A skinny white kid from New Jersey though he may be, Jonah Tolchin grew up with a love and reverence for the blues that rivals any kid from Chicago or Memphis. That passion was made clear on 2014\’s Clover Lane, but is brought into even sharper focus on his latest release, Thousand Mile Night. Working,…
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Gregory Alan Isakov: "The Stable Song"
More so than many of his peers, Gregory Alan Isakov has a magical, mystical way with a folk song. There\’s a tenderness to his approach that never tips into the abyss of corniness that befalls so many others. His new collaborative album, Gregory Alan Isakov and the Colorado Symphony, is a perfect example, as the…
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The Past Isn't Finished: An Interview with Blind Pilot's Israel Nebeker
For Blind Pilot\’s third record, front man/songwriter Israel Nebeker had no choice but to dig deep, having just come through the death of his father and the end of a relationship. Moments like those tend to make or break a person. Certainly, Nebeker let the whims of the grief that followed bend him, but he…
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Courtney Marie Andrews: "Rookie Dreaming"
Somewhere, somehow, between being born in Arizona in 1990 and moving to Washington in 2011, singer/songwriter/guitarist Courtney Marie Andrews managed to spend some time in Laurel Canyon in the early 1970s… at least metaphorically. And her new album, Honest Life, seems to be the result of bending that space-time continuum because, while she keeps company…
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Five Questions: Sara Watkins
A lot of roots music lovers have watched Sara Watkins (and her brother Sean) grow up, personally and professionally, over the past couple of decades. As members of Nickel Creek and the Watkins Family Hour band, the two are bound together in many hearts and minds. But they both have solo careers, as well, and…
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Squared Roots: Ryley Walker x Ali Farka Touré
Dubbed “the African John Lee Hooker,” Ali Farka Touré rose out of obscurity, in terms of Western recognition, with a little help from Ry Cooder, when the two joined forces for Talking Timbuktu in 1994. Many more collaborations and accolades followed in the wake of that project, but Touré\’s success back home in Mali was…
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Lori McKenna: The Bird & the Rifle
When talents as enormous as Lori McKenna and Dave Cobb come together in a studio, the resulting record is bound to be special. Exhibit A: The Bird & the Rifle. Both music-makers have been riding high lately, with hit records and Grammy Awards to spare. But, if any two folks ever deserved such accolades, it\’s…