Interviews
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Restoration and Revival: An Interview with Wynonna Judd
To hear (or read) the name \”Wynonna Judd\” instantly elicits a reaction from pretty much everyone. And, rightfully so. For the past 30+ years, the country superstar with the big voice and brash style has topped charts and made headlines with every move she\’s made. But, forget what you know — or think you know…
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Squared Roots: Lissie x Bobbie Gentry
Bobbie Gentry is one of those artists whose legend all-too-often overshadows her artistry. With the surprise — and massive — success of \”Ode to Billie Joe,\” Gentry made a name for herself in multiple music circles. The chart-topping, Grammy-winning song — like so many in her catalog — drew its inspiration from the hard-scrabble lives of her Mississippi homeland.…
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Nashville Ballet Teams Up with Bluebird Café for 'Attitude'
The Nashville Ballet has never shied away from an artistic challenge. Quite the opposite, really — they continually seek out new paths to blaze, often incorporating the work of local musicians. For the past few years, their Attitude series has been at the forefront of that particular movement, turning to artists like Matthew Perryman Jones…
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Five Questions: The Cactus Blossoms
As their new album starts to make the rounds, the Cactus Blossoms — aka Page Burkum and Jack Torrey — have been garnering more than a few comparisons to the Everly Brothers. The duo\’s honey-sweet harmonies and yonder-days vibe certainly warrant the invocation, but this is just as much a band for — and of…
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Five Questions: Sierra Hull
When bluegrass giants like Alison Krauss, Ron Block, and Béla Fleck take an artist under their wings, the talent must be off the charts. Such is the case with Sierra Hull, the young roots music phenom who branches out on her fourth record, Weighted Mind, under Fleck\’s watchful eye. Like many of her contemporaries, Hull…
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Five Questions: Birds of Chicago
Birds of Chicago — the duo of JT Nero and Allison Russell — have never made big splashes with their music. They prefer small ripples… the kind that undulate out as far as the eye can see. Their subtle brand of artistry was put into the hands of producer Joe Henry and came out all…
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Squared Roots: Sam Lee x Alan Lomax
In his work collecting field recordings and documenting oral traditions of roots music, Alan Lomax captured the history of a nation — of a world, really — as it was happening. Lomax learned the trade from his father, John, and carried the torch forward, moving in circles that included Woody Guthrie, Lead Belly, Pete Seeger, Burl…
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In the Tradition: An Interview with Sam Gleaves
Whether you grow up in the mountains or the city, the geography of your youth never really leaves you. It informs and influences you, even when you might not think so. Sam Gleaves certainly knows this to be true. His southwest Virginia upbringing defines almost everything he is and wants to be. As a songwriter,…
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The Power of Reflection: An Interview with Natalie Merchant
Natalie Merchant was only 18 years old when she first joined 10,000 Maniacs back in 1981. A handful of years later, the politically inclined folk-rock ensemble was taking the world by storm as part of a generation of musicians who used their art as activism. When Merchant departed the band in 1993, it was to…
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Salt of the Earth: An Interview with Jeffrey Foucault
Listening to Jeffrey Foucault\’s records — even just perusing his album covers — gives the sense that he\’s the kind of guy who lives close to earth, unafraid to get his hands dirty … literally or metaphorically. It\’s easy to imagine him standing in a river or driving down a highway contemplating capital “l” Life. That…