Interviews
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Five Questions: Martin Sexton
Martin Sexton is one of those guys who has been slugging it out on the singer/songwriter circuit for 25 years. Though he dangled his toe in the major label waters in the late 1990s, Sexton has been, by and large, a fiercely independent artist. Defying anyone and everyone\’s attempts to pin him down — and…
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30 Years On: An Interview with Suzanne Vega
It was 30 years ago this year when the world-at-large first got an ear on Suzanne Vega with her self-titled debut album. Her “Marlene on the Wall” video became a mainstay on MTV and VH1 only to have its success topped two years later when “Luka” became about as ubiquitous as any song of that…
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Five Questions: Jorma Kaukonen
At 74 years old, guitarist Jorma Kaukonen shows no signs of letting up. One might think that founding two legendary bands (Jefferson Airplane and Hot Tuna) and being in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, as well as one of Rolling Stone\’s \”Top 100 Guitarists of All Time,\” would be enough for a guy,…
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Here I Am: An Interview with Kate Pierson
As the B-52s head toward their 40th anniversary next year, Kate Pierson is keeping herself busy this year with her first-ever solo album, Guitars and Microphones. The timbre of Pierson’s voice is so charmingly iconic that, even when applied to new material, it sounds thoroughly familiar. And her smart, catchy pop songs — crafted largely in tandem…
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Five Questions: Rhiannon Giddens
From her gig with the Carolina Chocolate Drops to her gigs with T Bone Burnett (The New Basement Tapes and Inside Llewyn Davis), Rhiannon Giddens has always held her own. In fact, she\’s held so firmly, so fiercely, that she\’s been added to a lineage of singers that includes Nina Simone, Rosetta Tharp, Odetta, and…
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Singers Gonna Sing: An Interview with Joan Osborne
Joan Osborne, man. Joan Osborne. She\’s a singer\’s singer… the kind who doesn\’t just love to sing, but knows how to sing. No matter the era, no matter the genre, any song she lays her voice upon is made that much more glorious by her presence. For the past couple of decades, she has proved…
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Five Questions: Nora Jane Struthers
With her latest outing, singer/songwriter Nora Jane Struthers is shaking things up. Not only did she recruit a new backing band — the Party Line — but she also took cues from the records of Americana stalwarts Hayes Carll and Jason Isbell when she went into the studio. Those two decisions melded together in her…
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Five Questions: The Stray Birds
A couple years back, the Stray Birds flew onto the folk music circle with their eponymous debut. The trio — Maya de Vitry, Oliver Craven, and Charlie Muench — came out of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, which is, by no obvious, account a hotbed for roots music. But the threesome found not only each other, but also…
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Nothing Personal: An Interview with Mary Lambert
Before July 18, 2012, few people outside of Seattle\’s hip hop and spoken word scene knew who Mary Lambert was. The, Macklemore and Ryan Lewis tapped the out gay singer for their “Same Love” single. A year-and-a-half later, Macklemore, Lewis, and Lambert were on stage at the Grammy Awards, along with Trombone Shorty and Madonna,…
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Five Questions: Caitlin Canty
Making her way from the clear and easy backroads of small-town Vermont to the rough and tumble streets of New York City, singer/songwriter Caitlin Canty took the long way around… through a job at the Artists\’ Den. Eventually, though, she started to explore the various rooms of her own artistry. Between side gigs with Down…