The Woodsongs Old Time Radio Hour Podcast

VINTAGE WILDFLOWERS is a Tulsa Oklahoma-based trio of women that has developed an enthusiastic legion of fans with their vibrant blend of Celtic harp, Irish flute, fiddle and harmony vocals. Mix in bits of mandolin, whistle, guitar and banjo and you have an idea of what it's like to spend an evening with these women. Their second CD, "Lovely Madness" was released in the spring of this year. HOOTS & HELLMOUTH is a Philadelphia-based roots music act whose music brings together the passion of alt-country and the rustic tone of acoustic folk, merging them with loping jam band grooves. Sean Hoots and Andrew Gray (aka Hellmouth) were both veterans of the Pennsylvania alternative rock scene when they began making music together in 2005. After a breakthrough appearance at the 2006 Philadelphia Folk Festival, the group established a loyal following. The band's latest is an EP called "Face First in the Dirt."

BLAME SALLY is one of the most powerful word-of-mouth success stories in recent years.. Each of the four women put her individual career aside to start Blame Sally in the San Francisco Bay-area when they were in their late thirties and forties--the age at which bands are traditionally supposed to break up and begin solo careers. Their latest CD is "Speeding Ticket and a Valentine" released on Ninth Street Opus. THE TWILITE BROADCASTERS continues the longstanding tradition of two part rural harmony vocals with simple acoustic string instrument accompaniment once common in the Southern part of the United States (starting in the 1930's). Their influences include The Monroe Brothers,The Louvin Brothers, The Stanley Brothers, Jim and Jesse, and more but have a sound that is uniquely theirs. Adam Tanner and Mark Jackson formed the group in 2009 in Weaverville, North Carolina. They have just released a new recording called "The Trail of Time."

ROCKIN' ACOUSTIC CIRCUS are building quite a buzz in the world of bluegrass and have quickly become one of Oklahoma's hottest up-and-coming bands. They are turning heads with an over-flowing talent pool and musicianship beyond their years. Comprised of four teens (one a female cellist) and a musical veteran, this ensemble is wowing crowds and critics alike. Quickly morphing from a popular regional favorite into a group with nationally recognized aspirations, the band was recently named as one of eleven "Artists to Watch in 2011" and selected as a 2011 IBMA Official Showcase Artist. RAC's newest CD is 'Lonestar Lullabye.' KJ DENHERT is a unique artist, singer, guitarist and songwriter who calls her music Urban Folk and Jazz. KJ, born Karen Jeannne to parents from the island of Grenada, was the first US citizen born to a small family. Her special blend of urban folk & jazz has earned her four Independent Music Award nominations and in '09, she was named as one of Jazz.com's top female vocalists. This New York City artist has just released her ninth release aptly titled Album No.9, with nine songs including her remarkable version of Deep Purple's "Smoke On The Water."

PETER "PUMA" HEDLUND is considered Sweden's leading traditional player of the modern chromatic nyckelharpa, having won the title World Champion twice, in 1992 and 2000. The nyckelharpa is a traditional Swedish instrument that has been played for more than 600 years. Peter just won Sweden's most prestigious folk award, Zorn badge in Gold "for masterpiece, brilliant and tradition consciously key harp playing." MAEVE GILCHRIST is a master of the Celtic harp. She was born and raised in Edinburgh, Scotland, daughter to an Irish mother and Scottish father she grew up immersed in traditional folk music. From thirteen onwards, Maeve was an in demand member on the traditional music scene in Scotland and at seventeen, she received a full scholarships the Berklee College of Music in Boston. She just released her second album 'Song of Delight' that fuses her Scottish roots with the colors and freedoms of jazz. ANDY COHEN will be playing the Dolceola, a small piano-like instrument that was made in 1905. Andy was inspired to follow, study, perform and promote the music of the southeast quadrant after seeing Rev. Gary Davis perform when he was sixteen. He sets are made up of material from before the twenties to about the fifties. DICK BOAK will be performing the traditional autoharp. Dick is bit of a Renaissance man. This Pennsylvania-based artist, writer, woodworker and musicians built and designed geodesic domes in the late 60s and for the past 32 years he has worked at Martin Guitar. He wrote book called 'Martin Guitar Masterpieces' about the formation of Martin's Artist Relations Department and the conception of more than one hundred and forty signature guitar collaborations with the top musical talents of our time. Dick is also a folk musician and will be performing the autoharp on the show.

DOYLE LAWSON & QUICKSILVER are one of Bluegrass' most honored and revered masters. He got his start in bluegrass music in 1963 when he played banjo for Jimmy Martin. In 1966, he started working with JD Crowe in Lexington, KY where he played guitar and later switched to mandolin. In 1971, Doyle formed his own band, Quicksilver. This award winning ensemble has picked up the IBMA Award for best vocal group an unprecedented seven years in a row. Doyle is also the recipient of the National Endowment for the Arts' National Heritage Fellowship, the Endowment's highest honor granted to traditional and folk artists for career accomplishments. He and his band are back to introduce songs from their new album called 'Drive Time' on Crossroads Music. KIDS OF BLUEGRASS! Here are three young musicians that are rising stars in the bluegrass community. Daniel Patrick is a 16 year old banjo player and plays in his family band with his 13 year old sister, Samantha, who plays mandolin. Both started playing music at a very early age, and their group has performed at many Bluegrass festivals, churches, and community events. Kyle Ramey is 9 and is a hot shot mandolin player. He has already shared the stage with bluegrass legends like Daily & Vincent, The Grascals and JD Crowe. Daniel, Samantha &" Kyle will be performing together to show the incredible talent of the next generation of bluegrass of musicians.

CAROLYN WONDERLAND is a musical force equipped with the soulful vocals of Janis Joplin and the guitar slinging skills of Stevie Ray Vaughn. She is a multi-award winning artist from Texas recently named Austin's Best Blues Band at the 2009 Austin Music Awards where Carolyn picked up the award for Best Female Vocalist! She's performed with Bob Dylan, she's toured with Buddy Guy and Johnny Winter. Carolyn has seven releases of her own including her latest 'Miss Understood' produced by nine-time Grammy-Award-Winner Ray Benson. THE DAVID MAYFIELD PARADE is fresh off a performance at Bonnaroo and David is a Grammy-nominated musician and producer. His energy and out and out enthusiasm for performing music are evident at every show whether it's with his former band mates Cadillac Sky, The Avett Brothers, Jessica Lea Mayfield or his own band. Growing up in Kent, Ohio, he was surrounded by bluegrass music. While on the road with his sister Jessica that Avett Brothers, Scott and Seth took notice of Mayfield's musicianship and the three quickly developed a friendship, leading them to invite David to sit in with them dozens of times including their 2010 Bonnaroo & Merlefest sets.

GUITAR SHORTY is a giant in the blues world. Credited with influencing both Jimi Hendrix and Buddy Guy, Guitar Shorty has been electrifying audiences for five decades with his supercharged live shows and his incendiary recordings. Through the years, Shorty has performed with blues and R&B luminaries like Ray Charles, Sam Cooke, B.B. King, Guitar Slim and T-Bone Walker. His recordings all received massive critical acclaim, and his renowned live performances have kept him constantly in demand all over the world. His latest release on Alligator Records "Bare Knuckles" was nominated for two Blues Music Awards. TRACY NELSON has one of the signature voices of her generation.A fierce singer of truth, a fountain of the deepest heartache, she is an ultimate communicator and has regularly captivated audiences across decades of performing. She is one of the few female singers who has had hit records in both blues and country genres, performing with everyone from Muddy Waters to Willie Nelson to Marcia Ball and Irma Thomas, with Grammy® nominations for both her country and blues efforts. With "Victim of the Blues" (Delta Groove), her 26th album in just over five decades, she has circled fully, back to the original music from South Side Chicago that mesmerized her teenaged mind in the mid-1960s.

RHONDA VINCENT AND GENE WATSON have two of the greatest voices in both country and bluegrass music. Each possess an impressive list of credentials with Gene Watson's 23 Top 10 & 6 Number One Country Hits. Rhonda Vincent as the Most Awarded Artist in Bluegrass Music with over 80 awards; including a record breaking 10 consecutive SPBGMA Entertainer of the Year Awards and 7 consecutive IBMA Female Vocalist of the Year Awards! The "Queen of Bluegrass" (as crowned by the WALL Street Journal) and the "King of Country Soul" Gene Watson are releasing a all duet project call "Your Money and My Good Looks." It's a powerful album of fresh new songs, perfectly combined with familiar classics.

THE BLIND BOYS OF ALABAMA return to the WoodSongs stage with a brand new album "Take The High Road." The Blind Boys of Alabama are recognized worldwide as living legends of gospel music. Celebrated by The Grammys and The National Endowment for the Arts with Lifetime Achievement Awards and winners of five Grammy® Awards, they have attained the highest levels of achievement in a career that spans over 60 years and shows no signs of diminishing. The new CD is a country/gospel album co-produced by Nashville star and good friend Jamey Johnson. "Take The High Road" features country legends Vince Gill, Willie Nelson, The Oak Ridge Boys, Leann Womack, Hank Williams, Jr., and Jamey Johnson.

TOMMY EMMANUEL is one of the true master guitar players in the world and returns to the WoodSongs stage with The Australian All-Star Band featuring his brother, Phil Emmanuel. Tommy left Australia nearly fifteen years ago to tour the world relentlessly as a solo guitarist. What most fans outside Australia don't know is that his career began playing alongside his equally talented older brother Phil. The Emmanuel Brothers are celebrating 50 years of performing music. This dynamic show premiered in Australia in December and is playing to sold-out crowds across the country. Tommy's latest album is "Little by Little." Tommy was also featured on the late Michael Jackson's new album, playing on the track "MUCH TOO SOON". If you love the guitar and want to go on a six-string rocket ship ride with us, don't miss this broadcast!!!

MILKDRIVE is an Alt-folk-progressive acoustic string band that is generating quite a buzz in the Austin music scene. The band features several award winning musicians. Dennis Ludiker, who has toured with Asleep at the Wheel, won the 2009 RockyGrass Mandolin Contest and holds titles as the 2010 World Fiddle Champion, 2009 and 2008 Texas State-Fiddlers Frolics and 2002 Walnut Valley Music Festival Winner. Brian Beken was 2004 Texas Flatpick Guitar Champion. Noah Jeffries won a Lionel Hampton International Jazz Festival Jazz Guitar Competition. With the addition of bass player Matt Mefford, who was in South Austin Jug Band with Ludiker and Beken, the band was complete and became MilkDrive two years ago. The band has put the finishing touches on its debut studio album, ROAD FROM HOME. BETTYSOO & DOUG COX might seem an unlikely pair. One hails from songwriter's heaven in Austin, Texas, the other from the paradisaical reaches of Vancouver Island, British Columbia. The two musicians met while teaching at Acoustic Alaska Guitar Camp, where they discovered a shared fondness for good songs. They decided to create a project built around the stories and work of their mostly-unsung heroes. With two voices, a guitar and a Dobro, their CD "Across the Borderline" gathers different places and sounds: low and high, north and south, hope and heartbreak.

JANIVA MAGNESS returns to WoodSongs on the heels of FOUR major Blues Awards for 2011 including: BB King Entertainer Of The Year, Album Of The Year, Contemporary Blues Female Artist Of The Year, and Contemporary Blue Album Of The Year. Although Magness is now a bona fide blues star, her rise to the top was far from easy. She has been performing for almost three decades, logging thousands of miles on the road and appearing 150 nights a year at clubs, theaters and festivals all over the world. Janiva and her full band will be supporting her latest CD on Alligator Records called "The Devil Is An Angel Too." In addition to her musical accomplishments, Magness is reaching out to help others. She is a National Spokesperson for Casey Family Programs (her fourth consecutive year), promoting National Foster Care Month. THE HONEY DEWDROPS make their home in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Charlottesville, Virginia. Laura Wortman and Kagey Parrish have been playing music in some capacity for over 15 years, but honed in on their natural duet abilities 7 years ago when they met for the first time in college. It was their love of folk music that brought them together and has since taken them out on the road to tour full-time as the award-winning duet they are today. After their appearance and first place win on a 2008 talent show broadcast of NPR's "A Prairie Home Companion", the Dewdrops began their careers as songwriters and have since released two critically acclaimed albums.

ACOUSTIC EIDOLON is Joe Scott on double neck guitjo and Hannah Alkire on cello. They are from Colorado and have graced stages throughout the US, Europe, Australia, Canada, and are a WoodSongs fan favorite. With nine CDs and a DVD to their credit, these masterful artists continue to captivate audiences throughout the world with their signature "new acoustic" sound and boundless possibilities in blending Celtic, Folk, World & Latin music influences, something that Dirty Linen Magazine praises as "a sumptuous musical feast." Their new CD is Friends Across The Ocean. HYMN FOR HER is Lucy Tight & Wayne Waxing, a band that hails from anywhere they can park their trailer ...t hey live, tour and record in their 16 foot, 1961 Bambi Airstream (comes with dog and baby). Their new release, ‘Lucy & Wayne and THE AMERICAN STREAM’ was entirely recorded in their classic trailer on a coast to coast U.S tour. They stopped at various campgrounds and friends' driveways between shows, set up their gear in their Bambi/home recording studio, rolled tape and rocked out. Armed with 2 bullet mics, a three-stringed broom handle/cigar box, banjo, dobro, bass drum, hi-hat, and harp, this ‘lil duo causes massive earthquakes wherever they play. hymnforher.com

HOLLY GOLIGHTLY started her musical career in the United Kingdom as a co-founding member of all girl garage band Thee Headcoatees. Holly made her first solo album, The Good Things, in 1995. After playing with The White Stripes in the USA, and supporting them at a few London shows, Holly and her long-time US band mate Lawyer Dave, have a new side project under the guise of Holly Golightly and The Brokeoffs. The two will be performing material from their new CD called "Medicine County" which is chock-full of ghostly blues, gut-bucket slide guitar, with a smattering of ol' time country. LIPBONE REDDING is an inventive singer/songwriter and former subway musician who creates original songs that effervesce with New Orleans swing, Memphis grooves and New York City style. Known for his ability to use his vocals to sound exactly like a trombone, it's hard to tell the difference -- unless you witness the phenomenon live. Lipbone and his two-man orchestra (the Lipbone Orchestra) make for a show greased with uncanny riffs of vocal trumpeting, booming mouth percussion, hilarious side moments and esoteric lyrics.

AMANDA SHIRES is a singing fiddle-playing Texan who just released her second solo CD called "Carrying Lightning." She deftly employs her fiddle/violin, ukulele and even whistling ... the resulting sound is a beautiful but woozily surrealistic swoon. Amanda was also recently seen in the recent Hollywood movie Country Strong where she played the fiddle player in the band. BEN HALL is a 22-year old multi-talented National Thumbpicking Champion from Okolona, Mississippi. Ben has also been recognized nationally as a singer/songwriter who prefers traditional styles of music. While attending Belmont University, Hall has managed to perform at some of Nashville's most famous venues including the Grand Ole Opry and the Country Music Hall of Fame. Although he makes frequent appearances as a soloist, Hall has worked the stage as a sideman for legends such as Jeannie Seely, Jan Howard and Charlie Louvin. Ben has recorded with Louvin, Kurt Wagner & Cortney Tidwell, and Candi Staton. In 2011 Tompkins Square will release a new Ben Hall album full of guitar tunes heavily influenced by his heroes Merle Travis and Chet Atkins.