Basic Folk

Betsy Siggins is a folk boss in charge, and we're beyond honored to welcome her as a guest on Basic Folk. Siggins has been an integral part of the folk music world since the late 1950's when she and her roommate, Joan Baez, starting hanging around the Cambridge scene at Club 47. She's work at the famous folk club until it closed in the 1960's, where after that she worked with The Smithsonian in Washington, D.C. and also paved the way for homeless shelters catering to AIDs patients in New York City.

In the "Field Music" series on Basic Folk, we talk to musicians about a particular song they have learned through aural tradition; through family, a teacher, friends or a perfect stranger. This episode features percussionist and rubboard player Paul "Bird" Edwards, from Eunice, Louisiana. We heard from his friends who were at the camp with us (like The Revelators) about how beloved Bird is in Louisiana.

Emily Mure is a real life New York native! She is a life-long oboist, who had big plans for a career in classical music. That all changed when she discovered the guitar, thanks to the encouragement of her grandfather. Emily excelled at songwriting and quickly dove into this brave new world. After college, she moved to Ireland for 6 months where she soaked up the busking community in Galway. She returned to her native Roosevelt Island and actually lives in her childhood apartment.

Recently, Chris "Critter" Eldridge won instrumentalist of the year at The Americana awards in Nashville. 2019 is proving to be a banner year for Critter, as his band The Punch Brothers won the Grammy for folk album of the year for their album All Ashore.  This week Critter talks about a mysterious tune that he learned from his mother and grandmother called, "The Glendy Burk." Later on he discovered this mysterious song was a Stephen Foster tune after googling some of the words.

Wallis Bird is a joyful musician who is an incredibly emotionally exciting live performer and songwriter. On Basic Folk we talk about her upbringing, her views on faith and spirituality and her immediate attraction to the guitar. We also get into her career talking about the publishing offers she started getting at 12 years old.

Molly Sarle of Mountain Man has been working on her solo record for a little while and it's finally out! The beautiful Karaoke Angel is the Santa Cruz, CA's native debut album. During our conversation on Basic Folk, Molly talks about her family and where music was in her life growing up. We dig into a few very interesting topics like religion! sex! and cats!

Joe Troop, frontman for the Buenos Aires "Latin-Grass" group Che Apalache, has loved bluegrass since he was 15. He kind of discovered that fact almost at the same time he discovered his attraction to men. As a North Carolina native, Troop is a proud out gay man in a world that doesn't always accept him: the rural south. Please enjoy and subscribe!

I recently came across an old interview with Tori Amos I did when I was a TERRIFIED 23 year old. Her album "The Beekeeper"  (that version I linked has the special Garland song that I asked her about!!!) had just come out along with her autobiography Piece by Piece that she wrote with the amazing Ann Powers. This is a pretty interesting Tori Amos interview talking about her album that came out around that time.

Amanda Shires, Texas born, Nashville based, sideplayer turned songwriter, turned force of nature in Americana, folk and alt-country world. Her partnership with Jason Isbell is legendary. Her most current project, The Highwomen, is well on it's way to legendary status.

David Huckfelt, founding member of the Minneapolis folk band, The Pines, emanates poetry in everything he does. From his solo work to his outlook on life, Huckfelt is living artwork. It was a real pleasure to speak with him about his Iowa upbringing, his connection to indigenous people and his two-week solitary writing retreat on the most remote and least visited national park in mighty Lake Superior.

Scottish-American songwriter Johnathan Rice might have first landed on your radar through his duo Jenny & Johnny with his former partner Jenny Lewis. Rice's story starts in Virginia and Scotland where he spent time going back and forth for his dad's work. Each place having its own effect on his young musicianship. Virginia embodied a typical mid-90's American teen experience. In Scotland, he was surrounded by a large family where music was front and center.

Basic Folk is Live at Club Passim! Alisa Amador grew up in Cambridge, MA surrounded by the influence of her parents' Latin group Sol y Canto. She has managed to cultivate a warm sound that walks the line of folk, jazz, blues, soul and Latin. One thing so apparent about these laid back, warm songs is their similarities to the human that's writing and performing them.

Basic Folk is live at Club Passim with Melissa Ferrick! The indie folk songwriter genius lesbian icon joins us for our very first live recording of the podcast. We get honest conversation and live music from Melissa, who had recently moved to Cambridge, graduated grad school at Harvard and got a new teaching job at Northeastern. She played songs from her latest self-titled album as well as a new song.

Songwriter, author and podcaster Ben Arthur did not know what he was in for on Basic Folk, but neither did I. Most times there is a plan when I approach an interview, however, every once in awhile the plan gets thrown out and we really dig into it. "I didn't expect all the psychological profiling that we're doing... but I'm into it" Ben says after a couple of minutes into the interview.

Bridget Kearney, bassist for Lake Street Dive, has been deeply immersed in studying music since childhood. From the "super nerds" she met at jazz camp to the nights in her parents' basement transposing songs, Kearney has dedicated herself to the betterment of her craft. In our conversation, we talk about how her experience in playing in orchestras prepared her for collaborative life in a band like Lake Street Dive.