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The Geography of Sound: An Interview with the Ting Tings’ Katie White
When most bands knock a surprise hit out of the park, they\’ll do everything they can to replicate that success on their next at-bat. But the Ting Tings aren\’t most bands. After they scored big with “Shut Up and Let Me Go” and “That\’s Not My Name” off their first album, 2008\’s We Started Nothing,…
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Focus On: Béla Fleck & Abigail Washburn
What happens when two greats join forces? Well, in the case of Béla Fleck and Abigail Washburn, a whole lot of banjo playing. For their eponymous duo album, Fleck says the main conceit was that “it would just be the two of us all the way” — and not just in the studio. They also…
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Jennifer Knapp Turns Love and Faith Inside Out
Jennifer Knapp\’s story is one that many in the LGBT community can relate to. Growing up in small-town Kansas as the sister of a twin and the daughter of divorced parents, she sought refuge in the pages of a journal that she wrote in code so no one could read her deepest secrets. But a…
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Five Questions: Shawn Mullins
Although he\’s most known for, basically, a pop hit, Shawn Mullins is one of those singer/songwriters who spins old-school yarns with his words, telling tales of hard-lived lives and hard-fought battles. Some of his characters are real, some aren\’t… but they are all true. And it\’s that focus, that care which sets Mullins apart. His…
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Five Questions: Michael Franti
Having just caught his breath after undertaking the Soulshine Tour this summer, Spearhead front man Michael Franti is now ramping up to do his first-ever acoustic run in November. But, from Vancouver in the north to Solana Beach in the south, only the west coast gets this little bit of Franti love. The tour accounts…
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The Capaciousness of Butterfly Boucher
Australian singer/songwriter Butterfly Boucher is one of those rare talents who can play pretty much any instrument you put in front of her which is exactly what she did on Flutterby, her 2004 debut — she sang and played almost every note on the record, save drums and cello. One critic called the effort a…
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The Qualities of the Modern: An Interview with Bruce Hornsby
In an age when so many pop stars are auto-tuned, if not ghosted, it is refreshing to see true musicians out there still striving for more, still pushing for better. Piano man Bruce Hornsby, even when he was riding high on the charts, has always challenged himself and his audiences. Before the drum groove and…
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A Lesson and a Gift: An Interview with Lisa Fischer
Very few people can hold their own against the likes of talents as huge as Mick Jagger, Tina Turner, Sting, Chris Botti, Luther Vandross, Roberta Flack, Chaka Khan, Anita Baker, and so many others. Singer Lisa Fischer can… and has… and will again. Featured as one of the voices in 20 Feet from Stardom in…
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Five Questions: Josh Rouse
Across continents and decades, singer/songwriter Josh Rouse has spread his own feel-good brand of soft rock for deep thinkers. Though he would sidle up alongside classic songwriters like Harry Chapin and Jim Croce, Rouse is also uniquely contemporary — especially in his trans-continental geography. A Nebraska boy who logged a lot of hours in Nashville, Rouse…
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Five Questions: Mary Gauthier
There\’s something incredibly poetic about Mary Gauthier, and it infuses everything about her. It\’s in her language and diction, it\’s in her work, and it\’s in her life — past, present, and future. The thing is, poetry isn\’t always red roses and blue violets. Sometimes, poetry is a teenage runaway who falls into addiction and…