Basic Folk

Cinder Well, who is California-born Amelia Baker, makes spooky folk songs in the Irish music tradition. Amelia grew up in Santa Cruz, California in a non-religious Jewish family. Her parents always had music on the stereo: Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell and The Grateful Dead. Music was always on in the house. From a young age she was drawn to the vibe and the strange stillness of abandoned houses, which somehow has translated into her music. In high school, she discovered the joy of writing and recording music. She found that writing put her in touch with the humanness of her favorite musicians.

Amelia earned her masters in Irish Traditional Music Performance at the University of Limerick. While in school, she would visit the nearby town of Ennis, first being attracted to the fiddle tunes. She talks about what it was like to be able to play fiddle with the local musicians and how their practice of listening to each other changed her own musicality.

Her latest album, the much lauded No Summer, was recorded in a church north of Seattle. Among original songs, there are few traditional tunes on the record. She says: “I gravitate towards ballads from a strong female perspective, usually about critiquing men and marriage, and about the struggle and desperation of being a woman in older times.” Makes total sense

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Canadian songwriter Rose Cousins hates small talk. She'd much prefer to get down to the bone of your humanity and know about your struggle than talk about the weather. Raised in the tight-knit community on Prince Edward Island, at a young age, Cousins had the sense of helping out others and lifting up others instilled in her. She also spent a lot of time alone working to process her deepest feelings. We talk about how the piano served as a way to express herself through music, which led to playing guitar and writing. In university, Rose studied kinesiology, which has made her aware of her own body and is something she thinks about and uses everyday. At one point, she was on her way to becoming a strength and conditioning coach, but music took off for her in unexpected ways. She's thrived and grown through her musical communities, particularly through the Cambridge, MA scene surrounded by Club Passim. She credits Rose Polenzani, Jennifer Kimball, Kris Delmhorst and (of course) Passim's Managing Director Matt Smith for their encouragement in developing herself musically.

Rose's latest album, Bravado, contains multitudes within the writing. She talks about how she has grown closer to her truth and being able to express that through the songs. I am particularly taken with the brilliance of "The Benefits of Being Alone" in its ability to make you laugh and cry so hard within the span of minutes. Rose has been a dear friend for a long time, so this was particularly meaningful to talk to her through this medium AND I'm so pleased that this is our 100th episode with such a special artist!

Auyon Mukharji, of the Massachusetts spacey-folk band Darlingside, grew up in Kansas with first generation immigrant parents. Nature, music and sports all played a big role in his formative years. He ended up studying biology at Williams College, where he met his future bandmates in Darlingside. He joined an a capella group with members of the band and that allowed the guys to formulate their freaky harmony connection that is so well on display in the band's recordings and shows. Auyon talks about finally connecting with singing through songwriting, overcoming chronic pain in his 20's and how friendship and humor play an important role in the band.

Rhythm plays a big role in the new album Fish Pond Fish and in our conversation, Auyon explains that intentionality. As per usual, nature shows up a lot in the songwriting, which is split evenly among the members of the band. He says “It’s like you’re searching through three-fourths of foreign consciousness. Bringing you to a place you couldn’t imagine. You move beyond yourself.” He goes on to talk about what it's like to be so close to other people’s consciousness in that kind of intense environment. Enjoy Auyon! He is a first class gem.

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The one and only Chris Smither! Influenced by Mississippi John Hurt and Lightnin' Hopkins, Smither's guitar playing is centered around the beat and around the groove. He mics his feet during concerts and loves being able to sound like several different instruments as his heroes did. Smither says “Groove is the essence of engagement.” He's lived an extraordinary life that started off moving around due to his linguistic parents' careers. He ended up in New Orleans for the bulk of his childhood, with a short stint in Paris, that allowed him to become fluent in French (among other languages). Something notable about Smither: as a songwriter, he has the hardest time with the lyrics, which is strange as the son of language professors. He talks about the impact of their work in his own songs. 

We also get some great stories from Smither: like showing up at Eric von Schmidt's house in Florida that eventually led him to moving to Cambridge, MA. Once he arrived, he started hanging around incredible musicians. A young musician named Bonnie Raitt in particular took to his song "Love You Like a Man," and recorded it. Nearly 40 years later, it's still a staple of her live sets. We get to hear about the kind of career that Chris had envisioned for himself and why his alcoholism held him back for over a decade. Smither also talks about his relationship with his father, particularly through his song "Father's Day." He re-recorded that and 8 other of his older songs for his latest album More from The Levee, which also includes one brand new song, "What I Do." Chris Smither is a treasure! Enjoy!

The music of Kevin Morby has colorful textural layers much like the human who creates it. On his newest album, Sundowner, Morby is embracing a mellow, yet dramatic sound that runs parallel to his current surroundings of his hometown, Kansas City. He moved back to a house he purchased in 2015 recently and has been working on music relentlessly since then, which is what produced the songs on the new record. He recorded the album in Texas with Brad Cook in order to capture the essence of the midwest. After living and making music on both coasts, he wanted to create something that was entirely landlocked. On Basic Folk, we talk about the process of writing and creating this new album. Morby also talks about his experience with panic attacks as a young man and his current relationship with fear and anxiety. He talks about the death of musician Jamie Ewing, who was his best friend. Jamie died of an overdose 12 years ago, but has had a huge impact on shaping Kevin's life.

Morby also talks about how his partner, Katie Crutchfield, who is known as Waxahatchee. This is the first record that Katie's been in Kevin's life for the entire creation of an album. It's interesting to hear the effect they both have on the other's music! I also got him to talk about his painting, which you can find at KevinMorbyArtsnFarts on Instagram. Kevin's a friendly, insightful and sensitive person, which is reflected in everything he creates. I am grateful he found time for the interview! This is a good one!!!

Around age 10, Lizzie No was getting tired of the violin. The Princeton-born No picked the harp after seeing it being wheeled into an elevator on 'Diff’rent Strokes.' It was the weirdest instrument that she could have imagined. While attending Stanford, she took on a job as a research assistant where she could listen to music for hours at a time while at work. Over time, she started to realize that she was far more interested in the music that she was listening to than the research that was being conducted. Music kept calling and gnawing at her to a degree where she finally allowed herself to give music a chance. As a songwriter, she works to evoke writers with important messages, particularly Bob Dylan, who became a true north after she learned a whole set of his songs on the harp and became in awe of the writing and morality tales in his political songs.

Lizzie shares her experience of being a Black folk singer in that she thought if she were to play country and folk that she would be taking someone else's music as her own. She didn't yet know that folk and country came from African musical forms that came to America because of slavery. She felt like she was fighting her way into something that she didn't have a right to. Once she started getting to know the Black artists that are in folk right now, she realized that she did belong and began to learn the history. Lizzie is whip-smart and her perspective on this topic could unsurprisingly fill an entire podcast episode on it's own. AND we talk about EGO and narcissism, which encompasses her latest album Vanity. Her insight on the different sides of the ego is fascinating. Literally could talk to Lizzie No everyday. 10/10! Please enjoy!

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Lori McKenna is on Basic Folk talking about her new album The Balladeer. Lori's been a huge part of the New England folk circuit for over two decades and for the last ten years has been a much in-demand songwriting in Nashville thanks to Faith Hill, Tim McGraw and Mary Gauthier. Lori grew up (and still lives) in Stoughton, Mass (where the Ikea is!) and she talks about her complicated relationship with her hometown and discovering how her home life are the secret ingredient to her incredible writing. Lori's a great storyteller and we get a lot of stories about her brothers and sister, her dad, her husband, her kids and of course, Mandy Moore.

Lori talks about developing her confidence in songwriting. She didn't leave the house with her music until she was in her late twenties, even though she had been writing since she was a young teen. She talks about the first song she wrote and played for her brother about a rodeo. It was the late 70's and she had never been exposed to rodeos and still has no idea where that came from. I did the math to even make sure she couldn't have absorbed it from any Garth Brooks' rodeo songs. From there, Lori just wrote to express herself. The new album is filled with personal songs as well as one character song, which happens to be the title track. Lori McKenna is a songwriting giant who has been hugely historical in my life, so it was an absolute honor to have her on the podcast.