Woodsongs Vodcasts

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WoodSongs 975: Watermelon Slim and Lovers Leap Apr 16, 2020

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WATERMELON SLIM has built a remarkable reputation with his raw, impassioned intensity. He is one of the most authentic bluesman in the world today. Born in Boston, raised in Ashville, NC, a Vietnam Veteran, fisherman, baseball fan, truck driver, currently farms watermelons in his home state of Oklahoma, Slim taught himself upside-down left-handed slide guitar on a $5 balsawood model using a triangle pick cut from a rusty coffee can top and his Army issued Zippo. He’s garnered over 20 Blues Music Award nominations. His latest album is ‘Church of the Blues.’ LOVERS LEAP is a roots music supergroup from Hot Springs, NC made up bassist Shelby Means (Delta Mae), clawhammer banjo picker Mary Lucey (Biscuit Burners), guitarist Joel Timmons (Sol Driven Train), and innovative slide guitarist Billy Cardine (Acoustic Syndicate, Biscuit Burners). Collectively the bandmates have presented their sound from the Kennedy Center to Bonnaroo, Merlefest to Telluride, and across Europe, Asia, Australia and the Caribbean. They each have been musical ambassadors and have taught workshops throughout the country and internationally on their respective instruments. Their self titled debut EP was recently released. WoodSongs Kid: Savannah Reeves is a seventeen-year-old county singer from Lexington, Kentucky.

WoodSongs 974: The Chuck Wagon Gang and The Small Glories Apr 16, 2020

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THE CHUCK WAGON GANG has entered its 75th year of singing the old songs, and singing them the way 'Dad Carter' taught his kids. A simple style, yet distinctive sound, is credited with helping preserve the legacy of the music so many love. Over the years, the group has managed to record well over 800 songs, and sell 40 million records worldwide. ‘The Legacy Lives On’ is documentary film that aired on PBS a few years ago that explores the history, legacy, and contemporary relevance of the Gang in America’s Gospel Singers. The band’s latest project is a tribute to The Carter Family.
THE SMALL GLORIES are Cara Luft & JD Edwards, a musical tour-de-force partnership planted on the Canadian Prairies. With a stage banter striking a unique balance between slapstick and sermon, this roots powerhouse duo have a way of making time disappear, rooms shrink, and audiences feel as they are right there on the stage with the band. Luft, one of the original members of folk trio The Wailin’Jennys, and Edwards duplicate and reinforce each other’s many strengths and yet allow their distinct personalities to shine through. Their highly anticipated sophomore album “Assiniboine & the Red” will be released on Compass/Red House Records. WoodSongs Kid: Eli Patrick is a fourteen-year-old banjo picker from West Liberty, Kentucky.

WoodSongs 973: Shane Hennessy and Al, Alice & Ruth Apr 16, 2020

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SHANE HENNESSY is a virtuoso guitarist, composer, and songwriter from Ireland. Known for his unique virtuosic approach to the acoustic guitar, his musical style has won praise from musical giants Nile Rodgers of CHIC and guitar legend Tommy Emmanuel, with whom Shane has shared the stage. At the young age of twenty-five, Shane has sold out a solo concert in the National Concert Hall, released two highly praised albums, has worked with Bill Whelan (composer of Riverdance) and has done extensive international touring across Europe, The United States, and Russia. Shane will be premiering material from new album set for release in June. AL, ALICE & RUTH bring new life to old music, and make new music sound vintage. This trio has a musical history that is enviable. Alice and Ruth are sisters, growing up in the mountains of eastern Kentucky, performing nationally and internationally with their family, The McLain Family Band. Al grew up in New Mexico, from a long line of family musicians, performing in the west, before heading east to join the Bluegrass Alliance, and then (after marrying Alice) joining the McLain Family Band. The trio has released several projects on their own and toured. WoodSongs Kid: Ben Kennington is a Young Thumb guitar picker from Middleton, Florida.

WoodSongs 972: Si Kahn & Friends Apr 16, 2020

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SI KAHN is a folk, bluegrass and roots music legend, once described as “a rumor in his own time.” At 75 years old, he is at the peak of his powers as performer, songwriter, recording artist and playwright. His songs of family, community, love, work and freedom have been recorded and performed by hundreds of artists in North America and Europe. For 52 years, he’s worked professionally as a civil rights, labor and community organizer. On this Special Event Broadcast of WoodSongs, we are honoring this American Folk legend. Guests appearing with Si:THE LOOPING BROTHERS are a German bluegrass trio that have recorded a new album of songs written by Si called ‘It’s Dog’s Life.’ to honor his 75th. MATT WATORBA is a veteran performer, teacher, radio host, songwriter and more. Matt discusses his Community Sings project. VIVIAN NESBITT is an acclaimed actress that has appeared in on hit TV shows like Breaking Bad, The Night Shift, Longmire and the theatre. Vivian is currently on tour with Si Kahn's ‘Mother Jones In Heaven’ ~ a musical one-woman show about the legendary labor organizer Mary Harris "Mother" Jones. With musical accompaniment by John Dillon, Vivian performs an excerpt from the play on WoodSongs. SISTAH LALA is a classically trained Contralto who has been sharing her gifts with the world for over three decades She has participated in national and international tours singing many genres of music including Spirituals, Opera, Jazz, and Gospel. Spirituals In Motion is Sistah LaLa’s response to the call of the Ancestors. Using the history, and power of this work, she is on a mission to use her talents to inspire, educate and galvanize others through music.

WoodSongs 971: Baby Gramps and Lula Wiles Apr 16, 2020

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BABY GRAMPS is an energetic humorously entertaining performer with an endless repertoire. He plays a National Steel guitar, and sings his own unique arrangements of rags, jazz, & blues from the 20's & 30's, and many originals with wordplay, humor, and throat singing. According to an article in Seattle Metropolitan Magazine, Baby Gramps is acknowledged as one of the top 50 most influential musicians in the last 100 years. This past year Baby Gramps was asked to be part of three films. LULA WILES is the trio made up of Isa Burke, Eleanor Buckland, and Mali Obomsawin and came of age in Boston, in the practice rooms of Berklee College of Music and the city’s lively roots scene. Anchoring the band’s sharp, provocative songcraft is a mastery of folk music, and a willingness to subvert its hallowed conventions. They infuse their songs with distinctly modern sounds: pop hooks, distorted electric guitars, and dissonant multi-layered vocals, all employed in the service of songs that reclaim folk music in their own voice. ‘What Will We Do’ is the trio’s sophomore album and out Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. WoodSongs Kids: The Grandview Pickers are an up-and-coming bluegrass band from Grandview, Tennessee

WoodSongs 970: Scott Mulvahill and New Reveille Apr 16, 2020

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SCOTT MULVAHILL is a world-renowned upright bassist, multi-instrumentalist,frontman and singer-songwriter. For the past decade, Mulvahill has left his unique mark on the intersecting worlds of Americana, bluegrass, folk, jazz, rock & roll, and roots music. Already acclaimed for his work alongside icons like Ricky Skaggs and Bruce Hornsby, he turns a new page with ‘Himalayas’, a versatile solo album that celebrates the full spread of his abilities. NEW REVEILLE is a Raleigh, North Carolina Americana band whose distinctive talents find common ground in traditions that stretch back to and beyond early America. On that foundation, through their varied gifts, they build a unique sound that encompasses the virtues of music that came before and the promise of what it might yet become. Rolling Stone Country named them as one of the “10 New Country Artists You Need to Know,” and described their sound as, “Twangy, truck-driving music that runs on classical gas.” The band’s latest album is ‘The Keep’. WoodSongs Kid: Lafayette Saxophone Quartet are accomplished high school musicians hailing from Lexington, Kentucky..

WoodSongs 969: Sugaray Rayford and Liz Brasher Apr 16, 2020

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SUGARAY RAYFORD is a Texas-born soul blues singer nominated for two blues music awards in 2019 including B.B. King Entertainer of the Year. Possessing a magnetic personality, and an old school vocal style that echoes Muddy Waters, Otis Redding and Teddy Pendergrass, Rayford is also a stellar dancer with moves reminiscent of the Legendary James Brown. ‘Somebody Save Me’ on Forty Below Records is an ambitious album that slides gracefully between the new blues of Gary Clarke Jr. and Fantastic Negrito, the rock & soul stylings of The War & Treaty and the vintage Daptones soul of the late Charles Bradley and Sharon Jones, bringing a fresh take to classic sounds. LIZ BRASHER makes her own kind of southern music. She's a soul singer. A guitar-playing rocker. A one-woman girl group. A gospel revivalist who sings the praises of secular bands like the Box Tops. It's a diverse sound rooted in the influence of Brasher's two homes: her adopted hometown of Memphis, where she recorded her debut LP, Painted Image, for Fat Possum Records; and her childhood stomping grounds in rural North Carolina, where she was raised in a musical, multi-ethnic household. WoodSongs Kid: George Fields is a twelve year old banjo picker from Stamping Ground, Kentucky.

WoodSongs 968: Cherish the Ladies and Tim O'Brien Band Apr 16, 2020

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CHERISH THE LADIES are the long-running, Grammy-nominated, Irish-American super group that formed in New York City in 1985 to celebrate the rise of women in what had been a male-dominated Irish music scene. The group has since toured the world, played the White House and the Olympics, recorded 17 outstanding albums including a live recording, “An Irish Homecoming,” which was simultaneously videotaped for a Public Television Special that aired across America and won an Emmy. Under the leadership of All-Ireland flute and whistle champion Joanie Madden, named by The Irish Voice Newspaper as one of the Top 25 most influential Irish Americans of the past quarter century, these ladies create an evening that includes a spectacular blend of virtuoso instrumental talents, beautiful vocals, captivating arrangements, and stunning step dancing THE TIM O'BRIEN BAND features the five piece acoustic lineup of Tim on vocals, guitar, mandolin and fiddle, Mike Bub bass and vocals, Shad Cobb fiddle, Jan Fabricius vocals, and Patrick Sauber banjo, guitar and vocals. Tim has walked many musical paths in his career from singer songwriter and honky tonk crooner to Celtic troubadour and old time cultivator. Tim first toured nationally in the 1980s with Colorado bluegrass band Hot Rize. Kathy Mattea scored a country hit with his song and soon more artists like Nickel Creek and Garth Brooks covered his songs. Kathy Mattea Tim lands with two feet squarely back in bluegrass on the band’s new self titled debut album. WoodSongs Kid: Caleb Moore is a nine year old piano player from Lexington, Kentucky.

WoodSongs 967: Catherine Britt and Lockwood Barr Apr 16, 2020

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CATHERINE BRITT is an award winning Australian singer/songwriter. Raised in regional Australia (Gunnedah, NSW), Catherine made the move to the home of country music at just 17 years old after recording her debut album, which garnered the attention of Elton John and RCA Records. The critical acclaim for her albums and reputation as a performer has seen Catherine tour and perform with some of the biggest names in music, including Sir Elton John, Don McLean, Keith Urban, Dolly Parton, and more. Her recent album, ‘Catherine Britt & The Cold Cold Hearts’, is an album that rattles and rolls with life, energy and honest, autobiographical songwriting. LOCKWOOD BARR is a Tiburon, Calif. native songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. Her successes include CMA Emerging Artist, an Independent Country Music Association Award as banjo player for the Nashvegas Ramblers, and a 2016 Music Row Magazine Discovery Award for her song “Forgotten How to Cry.” With a mother who performed with John Hartford and the Dillards, a dad who taught her banjo, and a cousin, Al Barr, who fronts the Dropkick Murphys, she can’t remember a time she wasn’t around music. With bluegrass in her blood and determination second to none, she has crafted a unique sound that is here to stay: unapologetically bold yet playfully relatable. WoodSongs Kid: Candice Gunn is 8 years old, lives in Benton, Kentucky and loves to yodel.

WoodSongs 966: Button Apr 16, 2020

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BUTTON is a new trio made up of John Cowan (Doobie Brothers/New Grass Revival), Ed Toth (Doobie Brothers/Vertical Horizon) and Keith Howland (Chicago). Plus, Lou Pardini (Chicago) joins this hillbilly progressive rock super group in a rare broadcast featuring new music from their debut album.

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