Music City Roots
100 episodes - English - Latest episode: almost 6 years ago - ★★★★ - 35 ratingsMusic City Roots: Live From The Factory is a weekly concert and live radio show that broadcasts every Wednesday night (7PM CST) on WMOT Roots Radio 89.5 FM in Murfreesboro-Nashville, Tennessee, and worldwide at www.musiccityroots.com. It's hosted by Grammy-winning artist Jim Lauderdale, legendary radio announcer Keith Bilbrey and show journalist/interview guy Craig Havighurst. We feature leading lights and new discoveries in Americana, blues, rock and roll, gospel, jazz, rockabilly, bluegrass, newgrass, western, folk, singer songwriter, country, soul, vintage, ragtime, cow punk, honky tonk, big band, swing, acoustic, celtic, and more!
Since going on the air in 2009, Music City Roots has built a worldwide community of lovers of hand-made, real music. We showcase the finest artistry working in or passing through the dynamic Nashville music scene. With old-school radio presentation before a large live audience, artist interview and great audio, MCR is one of the best ways to get a weekly fix of roots music.
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Episodes
Roots Rewind - Singular Songwriters
June 28, 2018 22:01 - 1 hour - 98.9 MBIt's a rewind show featuring four singular songwriters - Nashville artists doing what Nashville does best. We launch the show with our own in-house master, the country/Americana/bluegrass song decathlete Jim Lauderdale from 2017. And we close by throwing way back to 2011 with the serene and sophisticated Matraca Berg. In a similar vein, Berg's close friend and colleague Gretchen Peters plays songs from her album Blackbirds in 2015. From that same year, Louisiana native and bayou roots poet...
Roots Rewind: Where Were They Then? w/ Sturgill, Margo, St. Paul...
June 08, 2018 22:10 - 1 hour - 98.9 MBA Rewind show we're calling Where Were They Then? Five artists who've become stars of Americana playing the MCR stage on their way up. The explosive New South soul of St Paul and the Broken Bones, in their first show outside of their AL home from 2012. Margo Price leads the Price Tags and talks about her transition from rock and roll to country, from 2014. And from 2013, an up and comer named Sturgill Simpson. Also Los Angeles dynamo Sam Outlaw, just before he released his debut and a band w...
Roots on the Road 5.16.18 w Travelin' McCourys, Nora Jane Struthers, Joe Mullins and Emma Hern
June 05, 2018 22:21 - 1 hour - 124 MBThe show returns to the road. Not a very long road though. We're back in downtown Nashville at the City Winery with a lineup split in two chapters. In the first half, it's Americana rock and soul with Nora Jane Struthers, offering material off her acclaimed album Champion, and newcomer Emma Hern with a sultry and exceptional voice. Then it's bluegrass, traditional form with Joe Mullins and the Radio Ramblers and in the more exotic, adventuresome form with the Travellin' McCourys. And father ...
Roots Rewind - 11.21.12 w/ Jim Lauderdale and Buddy Miller, etc.
May 15, 2018 15:42 - 1 hour - 98.9 MBWe rewind, all the way back to Nov. 21, 2012. It was an historic occasion too, celebrating the release of a long awaited album, one of the consensus best of that year, and it involved our fantastic musical host with his longtime friend and partner, but it was the first time they'd recorded a full project as a duo. Jim Lauderdale and Buddy Miller. Also on this epic bill, The Church Sisters with breezy bluegrass, pure country by the master of song Shawn Camp, the roots and groove of Nashvill...
April 11, 2018 w/ Kathy Mattea, Tim O'Brien, Connie Smith and more
April 24, 2018 22:51 - 1 hour - 98.9 MBThe show is live and back on the road to yet another treasured venue, the Nashville Palace, a big old honky tonk near the Grand Ole Opry. And it's an Opry worthy evening as we pay tribute to Little Jimmy Dickens and the musical legacy of West Virginia. We hear sets from Country Music Hall of Famer Connie Smith, bluegrass icon Tim O'Brien and the divine folk and country star Kathy Mattea. Also on the bill, West Virginia Hall of Famer John Ellison who wrote the song 'Some Kind of Wonderful' pl...
MCR Rewind - 7.22.15 w/ Mike Henderson and more
April 18, 2018 00:40 - 1 hour - 98.9 MBAn absolutely classic MCR from July of 2015. This memorable night featured Nashville's deepest electric blues and one of the nation's most important new acoustic folk duos. The former is legendary guitarist and songwriter - icon of the Bluebird Cafe - Mike Henderson, with new music. The latter is the Woodstock NY power couple Larry Campbell and Teresa Williams. Also on the bill, we'll hear head turning juke joint funk from his and her duo Smooth Hound Smith. Plus the remarkable voice and com...
Roots Rewind - Women Who Killed And Thrilled
April 12, 2018 21:38 - 1 hour - 98.9 MBIt's a Roots Rewind show where we mine our tape vaults for standout performances by women who killed and thrilled between 2013 and last year. We'll hear Memphis bass player and torchy songwriter Amy LaVere, the sublime and uncategorizable Kristina Train, humanistic humorist Susan Werner and a closing set of songs in Spanish and English from Austin's remarkable Carrie Rodriguez. We hear as well from mountain modernist folk artist Dori Freeman from VA and Leah Blevins from KY. They're voice yo...
Rewind: Great MCR Guitarists
March 27, 2018 00:54 - 1 hour - 98.9 MBWe rewind our way through the years of great performances by the best guitarists from and passing through Music City. It's a tribute to the instrument that made Nashville possible, drawing on electric and acoustic masters. Featured are bluegrass rising star Molly Tuttle, the jazz ease of Pat Bergeson, country twang from Kenny Vaughan, plus all around mastery of Jim Oblon and the always in-demand Guthrie Trapp. The show closes with a full set by the fiery young Englishman reviving 1970s blues...
March 1, 2018 Roots on the Road with Kevin Gordon, Katie Pruitt, Lillie Mae and DADDY
March 19, 2018 23:14 - 1 hour - 124 MBMCR is back on the Road with an all new show from that famous Nashville crossroads and musical watering hole known as 3rd & Lindsley. It's a night heavy on traditional rock and roll, with a sweaty but poetic opening set by Louisiana raised, Nashville based Kevin Gordon. And the night closes out with Will Kimbrough, Tommy Womack and the other mega talents who make up Daddy. In between, two incredibly talented young women each on their way in their own way. Katie Pruitt is a newly signed son...
Roots Rewind: Texas in Tennessee
March 12, 2018 22:59 - 1 hour - 98.9 MBIt's a decades old relationship, not without it's marital squabbles, but who can deny that Nashville has been made all the richer by the two way highway between Music City and the Lone Star State. This show offers a wide range of sounds and styles, starting with the surprising soul of Austin's Greyhounds. And we close with contemporary country in a classic vein by Sunny Sweeney. In between, short sets from folk master Ruthie Foster and icons Asleep At The Wheel. Plus an early set from 2011 b...
Roots Rewind - Great String Bands
March 06, 2018 17:49 - 1 hour - 124 MBAn archival Rewind show where the string is the thing. String bands on our stage between 2011 and 2017, featuring a wide range of what modern day musicians are doing with the bedrock beneath traditional country music and bluegrass. We'll open with The Wilders, that late great band from Kansas City. And we close with the sophisticated but earthy sounds of an all star band led by mandolinist Andy Statman. In between, the satisfying intensity of Portland Oregon's Foghorn String Band. And down...
Roots Rewind - Jamgrass Special
March 01, 2018 22:41 - 1 hour - 98.9 MBThis new Roots Rewind show features the best in newgrass and jamgrass, from founding fathers to favorite sons. Sam Bush and John Cowan were in New Grass Revival together in the 70s and 80s. We'll hear from their respective bands, Cowan in 2012, Bush just last year. Leftover Salmon shows how far other bands took the newgrass idea in Colorado. And we close the show with second generation superstars the Travelin' McCourys.
Jan. 27, 2018 - Roots on the Road w/ John Oates, Greg Garing, Derek Hoke and Ms. Adventure
February 12, 2018 23:57 - 1 hour - 98.9 MBCheck out our first live show of 2018 and the first from our Roots on the Road series, as we stage Roots at leading venues all around Nashville TN. This one comes from the City Winery with a lineup that's loaded and very Music City. We open with new music from smooth rocking country soul man Derek Hoke. And we close with a celebration of the new album Arkansas by rock and roll hall of famer John Oates. In between, fresh bluegrass as the harmony focused Ms Adventure plays its debut show in ...
Roots Rewind - Songwriter Arrivals
February 03, 2018 18:12 - 1 hour - 99 MBWith Music City Roots on limited run this winter and spring as we work toward moving into a new venue, we're offering up Roots Rewind shows pulled from the audio vaults of the show's 8+ years on the air. This episode took place August 24, 2011 at the Loveless Barn and featured a night curated by songwriter, roots rocker and raconteur Marshall Chapman. She had just published 'They Came To Nashville' featuring interviews with major artists and writers about their arrival stories in Music City....
Dec. 13, 2017 w Suzy Bogguss, Anthony DaCosta, Whiskey Gentry and Dawn Landes
January 30, 2018 00:23 - 1 hour - 98.9 MBIt's a year-end feast of sound and celebration as Roots closes a four year run at the Factory, with a gorgeous and wide ranging lineup. Modernist songwriter Anthony DaCosta pairs his spectral guitar and keening voice with the fiddle of Kimber Ludiker to open the show. And we close the night with another gorgeous voice - heck maybe the most gorgeous voice in roots music - the hit-making and heartwarming suzy Bogguss. In between, the elegant and talented Dawn Landes with music she's been worki...
Dec. 6, 2017 w Billy Burnette, Hannah Aldridge, Mike Younger, Maybe April
January 26, 2018 14:25 - 1 hour - 98.9 MBNashville, Muscle Shoals and Memphis are all represented on a Tennessee Wednesday night. From Music City we'll hear the sweet trio harmony of country music new comers Maybe April. And From Memphis, the first son of rockabilly music. He's got a new album reviving his extensive song catalog and a new book documenting his amazing life in rock and roll. He's Billy Burnette. Also on the bill, Hannah Aldridge is a daughter of the Muscle Shoals studio world, though she's found her voice in dark a...
Nov. 29, 2017 w/ Cordovas, Darrin Bradbury, Alex Williams, Lost Hollow
December 20, 2017 20:57 - 1 hour - 98.9 MBHard core country music is finally back on the radar of at least some of the major labels on Music Row, and we'll open this week's show with discovery and Big Machine Records artist Alex Williams. We'll close the show with decidedly indie, Grateful Dead inspired country rock by Nashville's much admired Cordovas. In between, the rough hewn, sardonic and evocative songs of Cafe Rooster recording artist Darrin Bradbury plus the refined, stage-honed sound of some Music City veterans - husband an...
Nov. 22, 2017 w/ Radney Foster, Jimmy Hall, Ashley Cleveland, John Berry
December 12, 2017 23:15 - 1 hour - 98.9 MBThis week on MCR our cup runs over with stories and soul as the mood turns to the holidays and an attitude of gratitude. We open with the sincerity and show stopping voice of country star John Berry who offers an acoustic band set. The show closes with a songwriting legend from Texas who's a newly minted author of a short story collection. It's a dual release book and album by Radney Foster. In between, two volcanic vocalists with deep roots in southern music and an impeccable way with a s...
Nov. 15, 2017 w Scott Miller, Eric Brace, Rose Cousins and David Childers
December 05, 2017 16:09 - 1 hour - 98.9 MBThis week on MCR, sets that swing from the refined to the rustic and back again. The show opens with a remarkable flight of imagination by Last Train Home founder Eric Brace. He's teamed up with master Nashville multi-instrumentalist Rory Hoffman to make Cartes Postales, an album of French songs from the obscure to the classic. And we end the night with new music from the rocking country song poet from Swoope, VA we know and love as Scott Miller. In between, the craggy and truthful songs of ...
Nov. 8, 2017 w Christian Lopez, Leah Blevins, Lauren Alexander and Greg Hall
November 27, 2017 14:54 - 1 hour - 98.9 MBThis week on MCR, a West Virginia songwriter steps up on the big stage with chops in songwriting, singing and stagecraft that are rare for anyone , let alone a 22 year old. His sophomore album Red Arrow is making waves at Americana radio and he has mainstream appeal too. He's Christian Lopez. Also on the show, folk singer and comedian Greg Hall keeps the crowd off balance and in stitches. Newcomer Lauren Alexander shows off flair for folk with a pop sensibility. And the bewitching indie po...
Nov. 1, 2017 w Amy Black, Donna Ulisse, Guthrie Brown and archival James McMurtry
November 20, 2017 22:38 - 1 hour - 98.9 MBThis week on MCR, songs in brown and black, from bluegrass to southern soul. The night starts with IBMA songwriter of the year and charming vocalist Donna Ulisse. And we close with new songs that sound like standards from an ever- evolving Amy Black. She's got a new album made in, and titled, Memphis. In between, the feel good and tuneful songs of Nashville's Guthrie Brown. And we dip into the show's archives for a set by the inimitable Texas songwriting legend James McMurtry. Peter Cooper...
Oct. 25, 2017 w Davy Knowles, Emi Sunshine, Hugh Masterson, Blank Range
November 09, 2017 23:04 - 1 hour - 98.9 MBThis week on MCR, three from Nashville and a one man British invasion. The celebrated band Blank Range demonstrates exquisite song craft and harmony vocals in a shaggy indie rock style. Hugh Masterson, a recent transplant from Wisconsin, delivers straight up country rock and well told stories. And from a literal isle in the British Isles, emerging blues star Davy Knowles. Also on the bill, a return visit from hard country phenomenon Emi Sunshine. She played Roots when she was ten years ol...
Oct. 11, 2017 w Compton/Newberry, Suzanne Santo, Mike Barnett, Jason Eady
November 07, 2017 22:24 - 1 hour - 148 MBThis week on Music City Roots, string bands and songwriters who show off the range and depth of Americana music. Mike Barnett proves why he's the most acclaimed young fiddler in bluegrass with a band of Nashville All-Stars. And we close with two veteran traditionalist who only recently discovered that maybe they should've been making music a long time ago. Mike Compton and Joe Newberry. Also on the bill, the stunning voice and songs of Los Angeles-based Suzanne Santo, taking a break from h...
Oct. 4, 2017 w Cooper/Brace/Jutz, Iron Horse, Charley Crockett, Blue Side of Lonesome
October 25, 2017 00:43 - 1 hour - 148 MBThis week on MCR, two wildly different takes on bluegrass from two sides of the world. The show opens with The Blue Side of Lonesome, a quintet from Japan that's become a shining example of that country's love affair with sound birthed by Bill Monroe. They're really good. And we close with a long running group from Muscle Shoals that's made its name and living giving the bluegrass treatment to favorite rock and roll songs and albums. Iron Horse. Also on the bill, Charley Crockett brings us...
Sept. 27, 2017 w Gary Nicholson, Travis Meadown, Jon Latham and Erin Rae
October 19, 2017 21:35 - 1 hour - 148 MBThis week on MCR, guys who get cuts. Songwriting cuts. You may not have heard of Travis Meadows but his songs have been all over the radio by the likes of Dierks Bentley and Eric Church. His own renderings are taught, emotional, edgy and intense. And the show closes out with a Nashville legend who's ridden the line between country and R&B over a long career, Gary Nicholson. Also on the bill exciting new roots rock from East Nashville with Jon Latham and an archival set of dreamy new folk by ...
Sept. 20, 2017 w Lee Roy Parnell, Danny Burns, David Luning, All Our Exes Live In Texas
October 12, 2017 22:27 - 1 hour - 148 MBThis week on MCR, two takes on Texas, one of them from Australia. Do you know the all female vocal quartet from Sydney called All our Exes Live In Texas? You will after this episode from Liberty Hall. They're a lot of fun. And we take in the very soul of Texas roadhouse blues, country and R&B with the great Lee Roy Parnell. He's got his first new album in 11 years and we'll hear songs from that. Also on the bill a surprising take on acoustic newgrass by red-headed Irish folk singer Danny B...
Sept. 14, 2017 AmericanaFest w Ray Wylie Hubbard, Angaleena Presley, Cactus Blossoms, Pony Bradshaw, John Paul White
October 10, 2017 22:16 - 1 hour - 247 MBThis week on MCR, our 2017 AmericanaFest showcase from a one-time only pop up venue in the heart of downtown Nashville. It's a five ring circus under our own big top with a sampling of what's going on in the Americana field today, closing out with the fiery, funny and fatalistic songs of Ray Wylie Hubbard. The bill kicks off with newcomer and Rounder Recording artist Pony Bradshaw from Georgia. Angaleena Presley brings unbridled, insightful songs from her acclaimed Wrangled album. The Cact...
August 23, 2017 Mandolin Mania w Bobby Osborne, Andy Statman and more
August 30, 2017 22:35 - 1 hour - 148 MBThis week on MCR, it's Mando Mania as we assemble a multi-generational gathering of some of the finest mandolin pickers on Earth. Nashville native Casey Campbell, who grew up at and around the GOO and the elite of bluegrass curates an evening of mando solos, duos and full band performances. With Tim O'Brien, Sam Bush, Mike Compton and the man who brought us Rocky Top, Bobby Osborne. Also an extraordinary ensemble set on a rare visit to Nashville by the one and only mandolin stylist Andy St...
Aug. 16 w/ Pedal Steel Masters, Tracy Nelson, Charlie Worsham, Jon Randall
August 23, 2017 15:24 - 1 hour - 98.9 MBBefore Nashville, I’d never lived in a place where part of the regular conversation and social/cultural goings on was to figure out the essence of that place and to take active steps to get closer to its heart and soul. There was never a big emphasis on what does it mean to be from Chicago or Washington DC or Durham, NC, three of my other home bases. There is such a conversation about New Orleans and Austin. Music cities are like this. But I wonder if there’s any place more probative of its ...
Aug. 9, 2017 w/ Tommy Emmanuel, Seth Walker, The Cleverlys, Ele Ivory
August 16, 2017 16:33 - 1 hour - 98.9 MBThis week on MCR, smooth grooves, flying fingers and some country comedy gold at Liberty Hall. We open with the incomparable roots soul of Seth Walker, who brings touches of all his music city bases to bear - Austin, Nashville and New Orleans. The laughs come from The Cleverlys, who bring string band and top 40 pop together in unholy alliance. And we close the show with the mind boggling skill and showmanship of Australian/Nashvillian acoustic guitar star Tommy Emmanuel. Also on the show, ...
Aug. 2, 2017 w/ Jim Lauderdale, Sherman Holmes, Ralph Stanley II and Catie Offerman
August 08, 2017 10:53 - 1 hour - 98.9 MBFamily ties are part of the fabric of American roots music. How often have we read (and for Pete’s sake how often have I written) that Artist X “came from a musical family”? The connection among siblings and the passing of ideas across generations might be the central reason this music sustains, and that in turn sustains us. Wednesday night offered up heart lifting performances by a first son of bluegrass and a first brother of Americana soul, plus a delightful country newcomer and a set by ...
July 19, 2017 w Jerry Douglas Band, Billy Strings, Jill Andrews, Birds of Chicago
July 31, 2017 13:18 - 1 hour - 98.9 MBThere was a festival atmosphere in Liberty Hall on Wednesday night and not just because the crowd was large and loud (though that helped). There was also that ineffable flow and unspoken dialogue among the four bands, softly conveying the spirit of roots music in all its complimentary forms. The timeless but mysteriously innovative folk/gospel flavor of Birds of Chicago gave way to the pure mountain-tinged songwriting of Jill Andrews. The bluegrass second half paired young and hungry Billy S...
July 12, 2017 w Tim O'Brien, Greg Garing, Chelle Rose, Allen Thompson Band
July 18, 2017 14:35 - 1 hour - 98.9 MBLike a meal in four courses that compliment but don’t overlap, Wednesday’s Roots delivered exquisite versions of four stages of country music evolution. From the sturdy and often elegant string band sound of Tim O’Brien we hyped things up a bit to a (drumless) electric honky tonk vibe with Greg Garing. Chelle Rose, East Tennessee’s answer to Townes Van Zandt, delivered literate, narrative-heavy songs with drums and measures of grungy power. And while less twangy or bluesy than the rest of th...
June 21, 2017 w Delbert McClinton, Danny Barnes, Quiles & Cloud and a Mac Wiseman tribute
July 10, 2017 22:32 - 1 hour - 98.9 MBThis season closing show brought together all the vibes and individual craft that makes Music City Roots go, with a new folk discovery, a heartfelt bluegrass tribute and two true icons of American roots music. We start with the moody beauty of Bay Area folk group Quiles & Cloud. An all-star gathering of Nashville pickers pay tribute to Mac Wiseman, including Sierra Hull, Shawn Camp, Justin Moses, Thomm Jutz and Peter Cooper. Next, Danny Barnes performs solo on the banjo, showing what a uniqu...
June 14 w Walter Wolfman Washington, Sean McConnell, Adrian and Meredith and Mark Robinson
June 19, 2017 20:11 - 1 hour - 98.4 MBOur crew and a nice large crowd assembled for a progression from vintage sounding folk through contemporary songwriting and on to two flavors of the blues. I found this evening of live music revelatory for a few reasons. I'd never seen Walter Wolfman Washington before and he's quite something. The New Orleans icon supplements his solid and timeless blues guitar with layers of jazz sophistication. His band laid down grooves as syncopated nad funky as anything we've heard this year. He's our v...
June 7, 2017 w Rhonda Vincent & Daryle Singletary, Beppe Gambetta, The Wooks, Jon Byrd
June 16, 2017 13:27 - 1 hour - 98.9 MBNashville is en fuego. The city’s filling up for the CMA Music Festival. The airport and highways are busily channeling music freaks out to Manchester for Bonnaroo. And everybody is flipping out about the Nashville Predators who will play for the Stanley Cup on Sunday night at home on Lower Broadway. It’s bigger, wilder, louder and richer than I ever imagined the city would be when I moved here twenty years ago. And it’s amazing. There’s just a glow and a wonder for most people, and if you w...
May 24, 2017 w Will Kimbrough & Brigitte DeMeyer, Mipso, John Nemeth and Matt Urmy
May 29, 2017 18:51 - 1 hour - 98.9 MBWednesday night’s gathering of the Roots clan will be an opportunity to reflect on the life and legacy of Cowboy Jack Clement, the kindly and eccentric genius songwriter and producer who passed away in 2013. One of our guests, the songwriting entrepreneur Matt Urmy, was a great friend and protégé of Jack and arrives with an album Jack produced before his studio burned up in a bad fire. For a while, we explored the idea of a night formally paying tribute to Cowboy Jack but the right mix didn’...
May 17, 2017 w David Mayfield, Yarn, The Railsplitters, Sally & George
May 24, 2017 19:34 - 1 hour - 98.9 MBAs far as I know there’s only one figure in the contemporary roots music community who can pick “Blackberry Blossom” like a boss and also do a tumbling run that ends in a cheerleader split (not at the same time, but I wouldn’t put it past him). If David Mayfield came into your mind just now then you get an Americana cookie, because that’s who I was thinking about! It’s been too long since we saw and heard from the bearded weirdo, but he brings his always explosive sense of entertainment to t...
May 10, 2017 w Tony Furtado, John Jorgenson Bluegrass, Curtis McMurtry, Gipsy Moon
May 20, 2017 20:20 - 1 hour - 98.9 MBWe know a classic when we see one, hear one, feel one. Forgive me for sounding like a Cadillac ad voice over or something, but seriously, sometimes there’s just an ineffable sense that something beautiful and meaningful is unfolding. And while we can’t pull that off every single week, we try to put the pieces in place for a chemical reaction. And this week it happened. There was combustion and satisfaction. We ranged across the country and across roots music terrain with acoustic grand maste...
May 3, 2017 w Great American Taxi, Dori Freeman, Colter Wall, John Carter Cash
May 09, 2017 15:29 - 1 hour - 98.9 MBSo did y’all catch that news about the Fyre Festival? As good people, we try not to indulge in schadenfreude, but sometimes man, wow, it’s hard. In short, a rap celebrity and a dudebro with a track record of over-selling and under-delivering promised a glamour-packed, celebrity-stoked par-TAY on a remote island and promoted it by paying other celebrities to post on Instagram about it. It was a fiasco, not because the whole premise was culturally bankrupt and morally suspect (which it was), b...
April 26, 2017 w Sam Bush, Stray Birds, Front Country, Chris Jones
May 03, 2017 19:05 - 1 hour - 98.9 MBIt’s not as easy to go to Merlefest as it used to be in my footloose, sleeping-on-the-ground-is-fine days. So it’s wonderful to annually have a mini-Merlefest of our own at Music City Roots. The sampling of Merle-bound artists always refreshes and always seems to spotlight the very best of progressive traditional music. This week’s heavily attended show was no exception.
April 19, 2017 w Sunny Sweeney, Rev Peyton's Big Damn Band, Blackfoot Gypsies, Bella Hardy
May 02, 2017 02:14 - 1 hour - 147 MBHistorians can and do debate the circumstances under which rock and roll was born, but there’s no debating the fact that modern-day rockers who capture the excitement of that initial blast are rootsy as all get-out, nor that said beginning was propelled by a mix that included plenty of blues and hillbilly progenitors. This week’s show covered a couple of bases with Sunny Sweeney’s nothing-but brand of country and Bella Hardy’s evocative British folk, then took a turn into the front porch blu...
April 12, 2017 w Malcolm Holcombe, Kenny & Amanda Smith, Ana Cristina Cash, La Terza Classe
April 18, 2017 21:08 - 1 hour - 98.9 MBA special charismatic energy always attends the arrival of La Terza Classe, the old time string band quintet from Naples Italy. I’ve rarely seen people who seem so glad to be alive, on the road, playing music. And they were just part of a gathering tribe of visitors on a rapturously gorgeous spring evening this week. Beloved Nashville bass player Dave Roe and drummer Rick Lonow were on hand. Friendly Mike Webb was in the green room too. My good Tulsa-based friend Jared Tyler was in town to p...
April 5, 2017 w/ Lonely Heartstring Band, Carolyn Wonderland, Driftwood and Western Centuries
April 12, 2017 13:23 - 1 hour - 98.9 MBIt’s a big country, this America, and Americana music is concomitantly enriched by its host nation’s geography and diversity. That was on display Wednesday night as Roots hosted artists from New York, Texas, Massachusetts and Washington. Strings were stretched, along with rules and genre boundaries. There’s no point in reaching for a fancy way to say it. This one was a delight and the crowd seemed to agree, what with all the frequent standing and applauding.
March 29, 2017 w/ Kingsley Flood, Lowland Hum, Hayley Reardon and The Harmaleighs
April 03, 2017 13:00 - 1 hour - 98.9 MBThere’s a new eatery in The Factory at Franklin that’s offering what is, for Williamson County, a slightly exotic new pre-show dinner option. Funk Seoul Brother has a hip hop esthetic and a Korean/Japanese menu with poke (PO-kay), the rice bowl featuring raw fish. My tuna and seaweed this week was zesty and contrasty and a tiny offering to the gods of global cultural exchange. With the right taking illiberal positions against pluralism and the left taking illiberal positions against what it ...
March 22, 2017 w/ Guy Davis, Beth Bombara, Silences, Fox & Bones
March 31, 2017 15:32 - 1 hour - 97.8 MBSpring springs eternal, and it was renewing to return to the Factory with the recent freeze behind us and new sprouts sprouting for some of our kind of living roots. It was a night that left some of our regulars buzzing with the sweet feeling of trust and vindication. I mean they may not have known most of the artists on the bill, but they gave of themselves and met these artists halfway and found charm, grit and beauty over two and a half efficient hours. I got to speak at length with Gu...
Feb. 15 ,2017 w/ Nikki Lane, Michaela Anne, Paul McDonald and
March 20, 2017 21:18 - 1 hour - 148 MBI don’t often lead these reports with our Nashville Jam, but sometimes our show-closing, all-hands feature goes exceptionally well. And this week it felt like some cathartic starburst that brought together all of the energies and chemistries of the nights four acts. And that is exactly what it’s supposed to do under ideal circumstances. The song was “Why You Been Gone So Long?” from the pen of Mickey Newbury. A lot of us bluegrass heads glommed on to the song as recorded by Tony Rice. But my...
March 1, 2017 w/ April Verch, Reuben Bidez, Sam Bush, Dead 27s
March 07, 2017 22:17 - 1 hour - 148 MBSome artists who write instrumental tunes claim that naming them is difficult. I don’t know. I’m always coming up with weird phrases that seem to have no other purpose on Earth other than to be a jazz or fiddle tune, some of which are named with surreal panache. Consider two of the tunes April Verch played in her show-opening set of Canada-inspired traditional music: “Spider Bit The Baby” and “Joke On The Puppy.” One has to wonder what circumstances way back wherever in time led somebody to ...
Feb. 22, 2017 w/ Girls Guns & Glory, Gibson Bros., Newtown, Becky Warren
March 02, 2017 17:52 - 1 hour - 148 MBEven with all of the cool country music fashion we’ve seen over the years, Jim Lauderdale’s Manuel suits included, nobody has ever made me drop my jaw and exclaim out loud like Ward Hayden’s Tex-Mex suit of flowers and jewels on Wednesday night. It was black with tightly embroidered vines and blooms and just covered like a mirror ball with rhinestones. He wore it well and led Girls Guns and Glory in a set that easily justified the audacious accouterments. It was one quarter of a night that d...
Feb. 8, 2015 w/ Chuck Mead, Govt. Cheese, Hailley Whitters, Amelia Eisenhauer
February 24, 2017 16:15 - 1 hour - 148 MBLater this month (2/23), the series SUN Records premieres on CMT, with music supervision by friend of the show and friend of hillbilly music Chuck Mead. We’ve been thrilled to follow Chuck’s journey on this unexpectedly large gig. Years ago he was hired to keep the music real in the then off-Broadway production of Million Dollar Quartet. It grew into a global award winning phenomenon. This week we got to hear Chuck perform his own music again for the first time in a while, and he was part of...