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Basic Folk — Music
Basic Folk

Basic Folk features honest conversations with folk musicians hosted by Cindy Howes and Lizzie No. We approach interviews with warmth, humor and insightful questions. Since 2018, this podcast has dignified under the radar roots musicians by providing a platform that they might not otherwise have. You’ll hear interviews from Three-time Grammy-winning guitar gods like Molly Tuttle, Haitian American folk legends like Leyla McCalla and deep feelers like songwriter John Hiatt.

Basic Folk is dedicated to showcasing the best in folk, bluegrass, acoustic and americana including Black, Brown and Queer folx who have been excluded, or felt like they did not belong, in the folk world. Cindy & Lizzie each bring a unique perspective to these honest conversations with folk musicians. We are equally dedicated to repainting the broad landscape of folk music as we are to tearing down the ivory towers of the music industry. What would Bruce Springsteen do if he ever got the keys to that mansion on the hill? Let's find out together on Basic Folk.

Basic is an official production of The Bluegrass Situation. Thanks for listening.

Welcome to Basic Folk.

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Latest Episodes:

Alex Cuba, ep. 127 Jul 22, 2021

Show notes

Alex Cuba grew up 50 minutes west of Havana immersed in the music of his town Artemisa. His father, the musician Valentin Puentes, is a household name in the country and prioritized Cuban music in the house growing up. When Alex was six years old, Valentin told his son not to sing, leading Alex to concentrate on his bass guitar playing. As a teenager, Alex rebelled and started soaking in the sounds of American music; blues, jazz, rock and funk. This has lead him to develop a unique style of Latin music that crosses cultures and appeals to people who don't even speak his language. He sings English, but is most comfortable singing in Spanish. We talk about how even though a lot of his fans are English speakers, they often have an emotional reaction to his music even though they don’t know what he's saying. He expands on how emotions transfer via music no matter what language.

in 1995, Alex was allowed to tour in Canada with his dad's band and met someone who would forever change his life, his future wife Sarah Goodacre. They eventually ended up married with children and living in Cuba. After awhile, they moved closer to her family in Smithers, B.C., where they have single handedly created a Latin music industry in the small Canadian mountain town. Despite not being able to work with major record labels due to the Cuban Embargo with America, Alex has thrived as an independent artist with 4 Latin Grammys, 3 American Grammy nominations, 2 Junos and numerous other accolades. We talk about what changes he experienced in himself while recording his latest album 'Mendó’ during the pandemic. Alex, like many musicians, was forced to change plans and ended up working on the album at his house, while collaborating with other guest musicians remotely. We also talk about how he wanted the cover to reflect his African heritage. Brianna McCarthy, an artist from Trinidad and Tobago, illustrated the cover and Alex talks in depth about its meaning and importance.

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Mali Obomsawin of Lula Wiles, ep. 126 Jul 15, 2021

Show notes

Mali Obomsawin is the mighty bassist/songwriter/singer from Lula Wiles, whose musical talents run tandem to her activist spirit. She really had no choice in the matter, seeing that her parents met through their advocacy for Abenaki and First Nations sovereignty battles. Mali's dad is a member of the Odanak Abenaki Nation and her mom at the time they met, was following and supporting tribal land claim initiatives. Along with Lula Wiles, her solo career (which is a bit of a new venture for Mali) and her sideplayer gigs, Mali works with several racial and environmental justice organizations based in Wabanaki homelands, and is the founder and executive director of Bomazeen Land Trust. She is a crucial voice when it comes to speaking out for First Nation representation and justice in the roots music world and beyond. She is generous with her knowledge, but also as her Twitter profile reads: "pay me for educating you." Which you can do! She has her PayPal linked right there.

Mali grew up in rural Maine among five siblings and was constantly surrounded by music in her family. Her dad is a musician and Mali was always the performer as a little kid, constantly trying to make people happy and laugh while being a goofball. She was also made aware of the cruel stereotypes and racism in the world at an early age through mainstream culture. As she became older, she gravitated towards the upright bass and talks in the pod about her jazz sensibilities and what drew her to the instrument. She talks about how she came to songwriting last, but has managed to successfully combine a very rad sweepy dream-like style while "punctur[ing] the dream-haze of our apocalyptic capitalist world." On the new Lula Wiles album, Shame and Sedition, Mali's songs really shine through with highlights being "Everybody, (Connected)" "Do You Really Want The World to End" and "In Dreams." I look forward to more conversations with Mali, hopefully about a solo record... No pressure, Mali :)

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Joe Pug, ep. 125 Jul 08, 2021

Show notes

Joe Pug explains that the venn diagram of his fans and the people he'd like to have a beer with is almost exactly a single circle. The prolific troubadour has been organically gaining admirers one by one throughout his entire musical history. When he began, the Maryland songwriter would not only give away copies of his music, but he would send multiple copies to Joe Pug converts, so they could distribute among their friends. This and many other similar acts have earned him a loyal fanbase that allow him a career in music (versus carpentry, which is his other trade). His success can be attributed to learning to "keep it skinny" in terms of preserving resources in his work in addition to his timeless charm and sharp sense of humor. Not to mention, his songwriting is reminiscent of some of literature's finest like Walt Whitman, John Steinbeck, Raymond Carver and Cormac McCarthy, who he counts as large looming influences.

There is a legendary tale about the night Joe Pug quit college and ran off to Chicago to pursue his musical dreams. It was the eve of his senior year at University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, where he had been studying playwriting. Pug experienced this intense feeling that he just needed to go to Chicago and write songs and play music. He speaks to how that moment translated into the mystical for him and how his relationship to his intuition has been since that moment. He also speaks about touring with Steve Earle, one of his early big breaks, and what he's learned about keeping it clean and sober on the road, something he still struggles with. We talk about his incredibly adored podcast "The Working Songwriter," where he talks shop with some of today's finest songwriters. And we get into his latest, The Diving Sun, a collection of various studio sessions with producers Duane Lundy and Kenneth along with new songs recorded in quarantine. I loved talking to him... hope you enjoy Joe!

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Amythyst Kiah, ep. 124 Jul 01, 2021

Show notes

Editor's note: we're pleased to welcome guest host Lizzie No to Basic Folk for her debut episode with Amythyst Kiah! Lizzie will be on the podcast interviewing folk musicians once a month. We're thrilled to bring her perspective and insight to our listeners. Enjoy!

Amythyst Kiah is a star rising so quickly in the roots music universe that it is almost impossible to keep up with her. Raised in Johnson City, Tennessee, Amythyst taught herself guitar and banjo before studying the bluegrass tradition at East Tennessee State University. She released two solo albums, both rich with her bluesy guitar playing and affecting vocal performance.

In 2019 Amythyst grabbed the attention of the folk music community as a member of the supergroup Our Native Daughters alongside Rhiannon Giddens, Leyla McCalla, and Allison Russell. Their captivating album, ‘Songs of Our Native Daughters,’ tells the often-ignored stories of Black women in American history in the language of traditional folk.

Amythyst’s new album ‘Wary + Strange’ is her first record released with Rounder Records, and includes the Grammy-nominated anthem “Black Myself.” I couldn’t wait to discuss this genre-fluid exploration of loneliness and loss with Amythyst. We also got to talk about anime, the marvel cinematic universe, touring with her dad, fashion, and the nitty gritty of how Amythyst recorded, then re-recorded, and then re-re-recorded, this phenomenal album

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Denison Witmer, ep. 123 Jun 24, 2021

Show notes

Denison Witmer's music is gentle and kind, he's a skilled woodworker, an avid birdwatcher and until 2020 hadn't made a record for 7 years. Growing up in Lancaster, Denison was lucky enough to get some guitar lessons from Don Peris of The Innocence Mission, a well loved indie-folk band. This led to one of many lasting relationships in music as Don went on to produce some of Denison's early projects. He also counts Sufjan Stevens and Rosie Thomas among his friends and long-time collaborators, with Sufjan signing Denny to his label and saying something to the effect of “I don’t care if you never sell one album, releasing your music is a public service.” Rosie Thomas, who is the only person, I guess besides me now, that calls him Denny, has experienced life and career in parallel. He talks about what it's been like to have someone to grow up with like Rosie.

Denison has a beautiful skill in that he is able to truly notice and truly see others. He gets into how this skill has made him a better person and a better songwriter. His latest album, American Foursquare, is written in tribute to his hometown Lancaster, PA, which he and his wife moved to in 2013 and where they have decided to raise their family. Denison talks about raising kids, calling it "the most creative thing that I can do." He has also been working on songs for a side project called "Uncle Denny," where he wrote a song for every day of January 2020. That project has produced some beautiful songs and is available on Bandcamp, a must listen!!

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Sunny War Track x Track, ep. 122 Jun 17, 2021

Show notes

Sunny War goes through her new album Simple Syrup track by track on the pod! Talking to Sunny is an absolute trip: she has lived through incredible trauma and addiction, but approaches life with a sharp sense of humor. This is all coming through on the new record, which was recorded in her usual spot in Venice Beach with producer Harlan Steinberger. Sunny's deeply rooted in Los Angeles where she started a Downtown LA chapter of food not bombs, giving out a weekly lunch to homeless folks on skid row during the pandemic. This has made her think differently about food preparation, which is something she's pretty passionate about. She talks about what it's been like to make so many lunches at a time and how this process of coming together weekly feels like church.

And then we dig into this record, which contains songs about lucid dreaming, sober living, the military industrial complex, adult men acting like babies and her self realization that she's not going to stop drinking right now even though she's an addict. One album highlight, Like Nina, a song about Black women: four different archetypes: Nina Simone, Aretha Franklin, Tina Turner and Beyonce. Sunny writes them as personality types and “the only four I'm allowed to choose from.” Sunny, of course, aligns herself with the archetype of Nina Simone: kind of crazy, introverted, a weirdo. I can't wait to talk to this weirdo again. She's unlike anyone else. Enjoy!

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Phil Moore of Bowerbirds, ep. 121 Jun 10, 2021

Show notes

Bowerbirds have been off the radar musically since 2012's The Clearing. Lots has changed for the B-Birds, which now centers solely around Phil Moore since his bandmate and former partner Beth Tacular has left to concentrate on her own artwork. 2021 sees a new Bowerbirds album, becalmyounglovers, and a new version of Phil himself. He writes to his fans “It’s been 8 years since you’ve heard new Bowerbirds music and you and I have changed in ways that we couldn't have imagined back then.” Phil's intense connection to nature remains, as he has always been drawn to the outside world starting as a kid, going to college for biology and moving to North Carolina in 2005 for a job as a bird tracker. In our conversation, we probably spend way too much time talking about birds and birdwatching. I came to find a real appreciation for the activity hearing about it through Phil's experience and just might be inspired to pick up a field notebook and night vision monocular myself. It seems like a very calm and grounding experience, which can also be said for the music of Bowerbirds.

There's also a deep dive into different kinds of anxiety that Phil experiences, which seems to be mostly logistical/non performance panic. He talks about different ways he understands and manages fear and anxiety. I also basically give him a lecture about how important his music is to people because it has meant so much and helped me through so much. Helping people has been one of Phil's main objectives for Bowerbirds and I'm here to tell him straight to his face that he's doing it. Now let's all go birding. Phil is so good. Thank you Phil.

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Oliver Wood, ep. 120 Jun 03, 2021

Show notes

Growing up, Oliver Wood thought he'd try the bass guitar, but after 6 months, he handed it to his younger brother Chris. That's right, *the* Chris Wood, virtuosic bassist of acclaimed Medeski Martin and Wood. Even at a young age, the brothers' styles were pretty clear. While Chris was getting intense about the bass, Oliver was meandering on the guitar and forging his own musical path. He ended up in Atlanta and eventually got a spot in Tinsley Ellis’ band, a very well respected blues player. Oliver was playing guitar and singing background vocals, but soon enough he was shifting to the spotlight. It turns out that Tinsley was a really important mentor for Oliver: he taught him the ins and outs of the business and encouraged him to sing. After touring hard for 15 years, Oliver and his brother met up again at a fateful shared 2004 bill. He sat in with MM&W and the brothers immediately felt that familial connection through their performance. They decided to keep up playing together and formed The Wood Brothers.

Coming together in the band, Chris and Oliver discovered that the music of their folk-singing father, Bill Wood, was acting as a huge inspiration. Bill spent time on the folk circuit surrounding Cambridge, MA in the 1950s, performing with legends like Joan Baez. He would settle down with a career as a biology teacher, but kept the spirit of folk music alive for his boys. Oliver talks about how forming a band around that sound made him appreciate his father in new ways. Seven albums later and The Wood Brothers are one of the most beloved bands in the Americana community. Oliver, who is motivated by connection and community, spent 2019 co-writing with various touring musicians making their way through Nashville. While this project was just for fun, he found the results inspiring enough to make a solo album during the 2020 pandemic, resulting in his debut album, Always Smiling. Oliver talks about choosing joy, connection and feeling grounded through meditation, which has helped him immensely through the last 14 months. Thank you, Oliver!

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Katy Kirby, ep. 119 May 27, 2021

Show notes

Raised outside of Austin, Texas, Katy Kirby grew up homeschool, enamored with Jesus and was rocking out to Christian Contemporary Music from the late 90's and early 2000's. BUT THEN: she went to college in Nashville and her world opened up. She started questioning everything she believed about God and the church. She fell in with a crowd of musicians who were going through similar situations. She had a lot to let go of when it came to her high school education. Her parents sent her to a private conservative Christian high school. Once she was out of it, she realized how backwards her education was: how racist and close-minded the experience had been. She began writing her way to an understanding. She calls that time “the weirdest and one of the darkest experiences that I’ve had – trying to rewire my brain to not have a loving God that’s ever-present in it.”

She fondly looks back on her experience of learning how to play music in the church. She was 13 years old and playing bass for the first time in the church band where she was the youngest person by 25 years. The relationships formed with the adults in the band were fundamental, especially in introducing Katy to the world of secular rock and pop music. The music of Peter Gabriel, Led Zeppelin, Sufjan Stevens all came to her through the other members of the band. Her debut album Cool Dry Place really relied on her intuition to figure out what worked best for the songs, she talks about how that experience impacted her confidence. The record is rad and I think her intuition is spot on. Keep following it, Katy!

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Allison Russell, ep. 118 May 20, 2021

Show notes

Allison Russell's story is unreal and it's hard to know where to begin. Unfathomable childhood abuse: sexual, physical and emotional abuse (at the hands of her white supremacist step-father) is chronicled in searing detail for the very first time on her debut solo album Outside Child. Up until now she was not able to honestly address this story in her other projects: Birds of Chicago (with husband JT Nero), Our Native Daughters (with Rhiannon Giddens, Leyla McCalla and Amythyst Kiah) and Po' Girl (with Trish Klein and Awna Teixeira). These days, Allison recognizes that she needed the support system in her life in order to process and use her gift to share her story through music. That support system, which she calls "The Magic Circle," includes her partner JT and her daughter Ida, her chosen family of musicians, her newly found biological father and extended Grenadian family and her ancestors. Mainly learning about her many times great-grandmother, Quasheba, and the extreme hardships she faced as a stolen slave in Grenada. Quasheba's survival allowed Allison to realize that she also had the strength to reclaim agency over her story and break the cycle of abuse.

We talk about her learning where her abuser came from, a sundown town in Indiana, where being Black was basically illegal. Her abuser also made life difficult for Alli's mom, who was struggling with schizophrenia, but loved music. The song "Kathy" talks about her mother putting the music away and she talks about the impact that had on her and on Allison. She ran away at 15 and started living on the streets on Montreal, until she made her way to Vancouver to connect with an uncle and an aunt who supported her interest in music. She began performing on the folk circuit, formed Po'Girl, met JT and started Birds of Chicago, had her daughter, Ida, and joined Our Native Daughters. She talks about how being a mom to Ida really was the catalyst of wanting to end the cycle of abuse and face her trauma. She actually ended up charging her abuser, facing him in court and seeing him sentenced. It was a light sentence, but it validated that what happened to her was wrong. The new album is joyful, which is intentional, everything about the new record is very intentional. Alli thrives in community and has chosen to remain positive and filled with light through this music. Thank you, Alli!

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