Listen. Repeat.
Posted: September 19, 2012 Filed under: Folk Music, Southern Musicians - Georgia, Southern Musicians - Mississippi | Tags: Camilla, Caroline Herring, civil rights music, Folk Music, Marion King 2 Comments »I’m really, really hooked on Caroline Herring‘s new CD, CAMILLA. Prepare to be moved by the title track, Camilla, in the video above. Herring’s songs are haunting, and her stories have meaning. Trust me on this, you won’t just listen to this once.
Folky Town
Posted: November 29, 2011 Filed under: Folk Music, New Music Excitement, Southern Musicians - Georgia | Tags: Amy Andrews, Chattahoochee Folk Hour, Nervous But Excited, Smith's Olde Bar Leave a comment »
Hey, mark your busy calendars for Sunday, December 11th for a great night of folk music here in Atlanta. While it may be a little out of the way for those of us accustomed to taking in folk music in homey downtown Decatur, heading to Midtown to Smith’s Olde Bar will be well worth it, even on a school night. Local singer-songwriter Amy Andrews will be sharing a stage with Michigan-based folk duo Nervous But Excited to take y’all down to folky town.
I interviewed NBE recently and learned a lot about their life on the road, so I’m excited that their travels are bringing them down South. They picked a local rising star to round out the night with some amazing acoustic sounds. Amy Andrews performed in a Baltimore-based classic folk duo before relocating to Atlanta. She recently won a local competition at Eddie’s Attic and sang it out country style for the Texaco Country Showdown on the big stage at Stone Mountain. To get a preview of her beautiful voice, listen in as she launches her new project, The Lovely Drifters, playing original songs on the folk and bluegrass radio show The Chattahoochee Folk Hour. She’ll join host Ralph Taylor on Monday, December 5th, from 6-7pm, on 89.1fm, which you can catch streaming live here or available as a free downloadable podcast: here.
Tickets for the show at Smith’s Olde Bar are on sale now for $8 + two cans of food in advance, or $10 + 2 cans at the door. So go mark your calendars. While you’re up, grab two cans out of the pantry and put them by the door.
An Interview with Mount Moriah
Posted: October 10, 2011 Filed under: Bands Who Rock, Brilliant Folks I've Interviewed!, Country Music, Folk Music, Music Venues, New Music Excitement, Southern Musicians - North Carolina | Tags: Amy Ray, Arvada Center, Boba House, Bottletree, Cat's Cradle, humble tripe, indigo girls, Laughing Seed, midtown dickens, Mount Moriah, NJ, NPR, Rosetta's, Scottish Rite Theater in West Collingwood, The Grit, The Remedy, Toast 2 Comments »Mount Moriah is a North Carolina band in the thick of things. They are an alt-country/folk/bluegrass/rock band at serious work – touring and recording and opening for fantastic acts all over the country. Last week one of their recordings was named song of the week on NPR, garnering the band even more national exposure. Heather McEntire and Jenks Miller are the core duo of the group, and McEntire was kind enough to answer some of my uneducated questions about her band and favorite venues. She even indulged my gratuitous comment about her pooch, so I really appreciate that.
BB: Mount Moriah has really hit its stride this year, and you have totally snuck up on me. Tell me the
story of how and where y’all met?
MM: Jenks and I first met while I was living in this co-op style house that would throw basement shows and his band performed there. Soon after, we worked together at this record store in Chapel Hill, NC. We quickly became very close.
BB: You spent this summer on the road with the Indigo Girls and last fall with Amy Ray’s band too. I imagine most emerging musicians have that on their bucket list. What about those experiences was the most unexpected?
MM: We definitely feel grateful for those opportunities, and to now be friends with Amy and Emily. They are amazing people, and have taught us a lot. I think we all feel a sense of pride about the South, and really support each other. Looking back, I did find it surprising that they took a chance on our little band that didn’t have a label, or even a record out yet. Even our band membership was in flux. They really believed in us from the start, and I’ll always remember that. We would never have been able to play zoos and meet all kinds of animals, and play to such large audiences at those gorgeous theaters and amphitheaters on our own.
BB: What else is on your musical bucket list?
MM: I’d like to keep touring with folks who inspire me, mentors and strangers and musicians I admire. If I were to name them, the list would be very long. In general, Jenks and I would like to make a living making music in Mount Moriah. Keep making records, collaborating with others, touring the world, performing…not having to work as many odd jobs to keep everything together. I’d be pretty happy if we could swing all that and sustain it.
BB: On your website you have several really nice music videos by Hueism Pictures, and I’ve posted a couple of them here. I think they are great assets to your music and to your image. Each sets a different mood, but all with a dark tone. They all seem to be shot at night. Was that by choice or by chance?
MM: Wow, I never noticed that. There are some daylight scenes in “The Letting Go”; it’s a documentary-style video of us on tour last fall with the Indigo Girls. There are bits of me in my friend’s house where we have a screen printing setup together, and that happened during the day. “Lament” was shot at night on a parking deck in Durham NC. And “Old Gowns” was filmed in an abandoned tobacco factory in Durham during the day, but it was very dark in there. I loved working with Hueism so much that I now work part-time for them, organizing collaborations. Read the rest of this entry »
