Southern Songs and Stories
by Joe KendrickSouthern Songs and Stories is a documentary series about the music of the South and the artists who make it. We showcase their performances and discover the stories behind their songs with a look at their lives on stage, in the studio and at home as well as the family, friends, fans and music professionals around them.
Copyright: Southern Songs and Stories
Episodes
Striking the Eternal Chord of Cosmic Country With Daniel Donato
37m · PublishedFrom Beethoven to Emily Dickinson and Earl Scruggs: The Musical Archaeology of Tony Trischka
27m · PublishedIt is natural that a second generation bluegrass banjo player would have soaked up as much of Earl Scruggs’ style on the five string as possible when starting out; it is just as natural that they would push outside of those boundaries of the territory staked out by their pioneering forebears. In Tony Trischka’s case, part of this instinct to turn bluegrass on its head early on in his career involved doing things like adding saxophone to an instrumental version of “Roll In My Sweet Baby’s Arms”, which began with a cacophonous drum solo. Now, we find the habitual trailblazer discovering and reinterpreting never before heard jams from none other than Earl Scruggs himself. It is a bit of a full circle moment, although that is not to say that Tony Trischka ever left the traditional bluegrass fold, either. He is and always was a banjo renaissance man, respected by fans of the roots music avant-garde and the three finger roll alike.
In the past couple of years in his now nearly sixty year career, Tony Trischka has been excitedly traveling down an even deeper Earl Scruggs rabbit hole than even he could ever have imagined. Already at work on another book of re-transcriptions of Earl Scruggs' music, which had previously been transcribed by guitar players, a friend named Bob Piekel sent Tony over 200 home recordings of Earl made by John Hartford, which included other greats like Tony Rice, Mac Wiseman and Del McCoury playing for fun over many years in the 1980s and 1990s. These tapes revealed a side of Earl’s playing, both in style and repertoire, that no one outside of those small circles of musicians ever heard, including multiple versions of songs like "Gentle on My Mind" and "Here Comes the Bride"; Earl playing blues licks on “Cripple Creek”; syncopations that he used only in those private settings. Brimming with inspiration, Tony Trischka crafted an album based on the John Hartford tapes, bringing in players like Sam Bush, Molly Tuttle, Michael Cleveland, Billy Strings and Mark Schatz, to record his new collection titled Earl Jam: A Tribute To Earl Scruggs.
Tony Trischka plays banjo alongside Darol Anger on fiddle
Just after Earl Scruggs’ 100th birth anniversary, and just ahead of his own 75th trip around the sun, I sat with Tony Trischka at the Earl Scruggs Center following his performance at the Remembering Earl concert, which included the Travelin’ McCourys and Jerry Douglas. This episode contains the bulk of that conversation, which was also partially excerpted in our earlier episode titled “An Update, and Two Quick Takes With Tony Trischka and Travis Book”, which includes a portion of Tony’s interview that does not appear here.
Songs heard in this episode:
“John Henry Medley: John Henry/Bonaparte’s Retreat/Twists and Turns” by Tony Trischka, from Territory
“Roll In My Sweet Baby’s Arms” by Tony Trischka, from Heartlands, excerpt
“Quite Early Morning” by Pete Seeger, from Pete Seeger: The Smithsonian Folkways Collection, excerpt
“Dooley” by Tony Trischka, featuring Molly Tuttle and Sam Bush”, from Earl Jam: A Tribute To Earl Scruggs
Thank you so much for visiting! We are grateful that you took time to listen, and hope you can help us by spreading awareness of what we are doing. It is as easy as telling a friend and following this podcast on your platform of choice. From there it takes just a moment to give us a top rating and a review. It makes a great difference because the more top reviews and ratings we get, the more visible we become to everyone on those platforms, which means that more people just like you find musical kinship with artists like Tony Trishcka, and legends like Earl Scruggs and Pete Seeger. I would love to hear your comments about that sort of thing and all things Southern Songs and Stories -- you can drop me a line at [email protected], and I will be glad to reply. Speaking of Earl Scruggs, check out our episode titled The Humble Genius of Earl Scruggs, which is chock full of interviews with bluegrass artists sharing their memories of Earl and how he impacted their lives.
This series is a part of the lineup of both public radio WNCW and Osiris Media, with all of the Osiris shows available here. You can also hear new episodes on Bluegrass Planet Radio here.
Thanks to Mary Beth Martin and Zach Dressel at the Earl Scruggs Center in Shelby, North Carolina for all their help in setting up my interview with Tony Trischka, and to Corrie Askew for producing the radio adaptations of this series on public radio WNCW, where we worked with Joshua Meng, who wrote and performed our theme songs. This is Southern Songs and Stories: the music of the South and the artists who make it. - Joe Kendrick
Revisiting a North Carolina Massacre: Shelton Laurel, Part One
27m · PublishedGoing Solo, With Soul: Travis Book
30m · PublishedTeaching the Art of the Bluegrass Jam: Pete Wernick
39m · PublishedWhat connects you to the year 1946? Think of the time immediately following World War II, and perhaps black and white images of men in fedoras and women in long dresses come to mind. Maybe you have parents or grandparents who were born around that time, or maybe you know someone who lived then and has past on. It is an era that now seems quite distant for most of us, a kind of abstraction that can be read about but which remains present only in its dusty tomes and mono records. But like all eras of our past, the time when bluegrass music was born remains with us in tangible, even impactful ways. In 1946, Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys recorded their first songs with new members Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs, and a new genre of music was born. Born that same year in New York City was Pete Wernick, who came to know all of the Blue Grass Boys as well as most if not all of the other first-generation stars, and played with many of them eventually as well. He remains one of the few people today who embodies a direct link to this era, making it leap from the pages of history across the decades and get us tapping our feet to bluegrass music that is still being born.
Pete Wernick
Songs heard in this episode:
“Waiting For Daylight” by Pete Wernick & Flexigrass, from What The
“Powwow the Indian Boy” by Hot Rize, from Hot Rize, excerpt
“Untold Stories” by Hot Rize, from Untold Stories, excerpt
“Spring Break” by Pete Wernick, from On A Roll
Thank you for visiting us and giving this podcast a listen! This series is a part of the lineup of both public radio WNCW and Osiris Media, with all of the Osiris shows available here. You can also hear new episodes on Bluegrass Planet Radio here. Thanks to everyone at IBMA for their role in making this episode possible, and you can listen to more episodes on this series on artists interviewed at previous IBMA conferences, like Sierra Hull, Bela Fleck, Stephen Mougin and Ben Wright (Sam Bush Band and Henhouse Prowlers respectively), and C.J. Lewandowski (Po’ Ramblin’ Boys), to name a few. Thanks to Corrie Askew for producing the radio adaptations of this series on public radio WNCW, and to Joshua Meng, who wrote and performed our theme songs.
Southern Songs and Stories is currently ranked #13 in Southern podcasts here on feedspot.com, and moved up to a top 2.5% globally ranked podcast by Listen Notes, which makes us smile.
This is Southern Songs and Stories: the music of the South and the artists who make it. - Joe Kendrick
Blurring Lines and Packing a Punch With Stillhouse Junkies
30m · PublishedDiversifying and Exporting Bluegrass With Dark Shadow Recording’s Stephen Mougin and Ben Wright
34m · PublishedAn Update, and Two Quick Takes With Tony Trischka and Travis Book
16m · PublishedGravy: King Biscuit Time
28m · PublishedFinally, A Country That Welcomes Her: Rissi Palmer
31m · PublishedImagine getting your dream job and immediately being scrutinized for your appearance; being asked to wear a wig that was nothing like your natural hair; being quizzed on obscure bits of the history of your field; being asked whether you took the job as a stepping stone to another one. Imagine getting lots of hate mail about the fact that you look different than everyone else with that job. What about being stopped by security when they did not believe that you were really supposed to be in front of people at your own event? Would you stay in that job? I would not. And neither did Rissi Palmer, at least for a time. Fortunately, she came back in a few years, and she has a remarkable tale to tell, which is reflected in her latest album, Revival.
Palmer tells us about that comeback, which began in earnest with the 2020 debut of her Apple Music series Color Me Country Radio With Rissi Palmer; the love she has for her adopted hometown of Durham, NC; hints of what is to come in her next album, and much more in this episode which features excerpts of her music both live and on album.
Rissi Palmer performs at Earl Scruggs Music Festival 09-03-23 (photo: Joe Kendrick)
Songs heard in this episode:
“Seeds” by Rissi Palmer, from Revival
“I’m Still Here” by Rissi Palmer feat. Miko Marks, excerpt
“Summerville” by Rissi Palmer, live at Albino Skunk Music Festival 05-12-23
“Speak On It” by Rissi Palmer, from Revival
Thank you for visiting us and giving this podcast a listen! This series is a part of the lineup of both public radio WNCW and Osiris Media, with all of the Osiris shows available here. You can also hear new episodes on Bluegrass Planet Radio here. Thanks to Corrie Askew for producing the radio adaptations of this series on public radio WNCW, and to Joshua Meng, who wrote and performed out theme songs.
This is Southern Songs and Stories: the music of the South and the artists who make it. - Joe Kendrick
Southern Songs and Stories has 110 episodes in total of non- explicit content. Total playtime is 57:59:09. The language of the podcast is English. This podcast has been added on December 31st 2023. It might contain more episodes than the ones shown here. It was last updated on May 22nd, 2024 19:40.