Basic Folk

Now based in Montreal, growing up in Northern Quebec. Beatrice Deer spent a lot of time outside in her Inuit community of Quaqtaq. Her village was small (population of about 350/400) and very tight knit. Raised in a big family, her parents brought music into their house and would often play around the house as well as expose Beatrice to music in their church where they served as pastors. Even though her town is so remote, you can only access it by plane, she had access to plenty of popular music: Disney soundtracks, Grease, Michael Jackson and so many music videos from MuchMusic (the MTV of Canada). Because MuchMusic was not available at home, she would tape videos while visiting Montreal. She sings in English and French, but she mostly sings in her native Inuktitut, which she feel most comfortable in expressing herself. Through the influence of her community and the pop music she loved growing up, she created a genre of music: "Inuindie" and has released three albums in that style.

Beatrice has overcome a lot in her life: sexual abuse, alcoholism, toxic relationships, depression and thoughts of suicide.  The starting point for her latest album, My All To You, was a desire to relive the moment in when she decided to transform her outlook and do some serious work on herself. Now an advocate for mental and physical well-being as well as for her Inuit community, she travels the North in Canada visiting First Nation communities. She plays with her band, performs speaking engagements about overcoming trauma and offers professional development training. I'm grateful to Beatrice for sharing her story on the podcast!

American Songwriter Podcast Network

American Songwriter Podcast Network

William Prince grew up with the influence of his father's gospel music, Johnny Cash, Kris Kristofferson and a deep love of connecting with family. His parents kept music at the forefront of his young life with performing music around the house and through their DJ business. The house was filled with records and music, so William always felt a strong draw to include it in his life. He also felt a pressure to be successful and able to take care of his family, which lead him to planning a career as a doctor. While that plan fell apart, music scooped him up. He focused on songwriting and performing for over a decade before he released his debut album, Earthly Days. Sadly, right before his album came out, his father passed away. He also ended a serious relationship with the woman who would give birth to his son. All of those major life events certainly impacted the writing for his latest album, Reliever. Even when he had been going through extremely hard times, William said “I had the faith for a better time. That’s all hope really is: borrowing from a time that things will be better." This led him to be more vulnerable in his writing and in many ways put him on the path toward healing.

William is fairly serious and soft-spoken in his answers, but he is so open about his experience. I especially appreciated his willingness to talk about becoming comfortable in his physical body. We also talk about the experience of growing up and attending high school on a reserve. His family moved from Selkirk, Manitoba to The Peguis First Nation when he was 12 years old. There he discovered all this family he had never known before. He has this lovely rhythm to his speech and I totally meant to ask him about it, but forgot in the middle. All I can say is listen to the rhythm in the way he talks and enjoy! Also I'm pleased to mention that for the very first time, William talks about his next album that will be out before the end of this godforsaken year!

Ever since I saw her playing with The Mammals in the early 2000'sies, I have had a healthy obsession with Ruth Merenda. She is very easy to obsess over: her soaring musicianship onstage and tape as well as the amazing community she's cultivated along with her husband (and bandmate) Mike Merenda through touring and through their bi-annual music festival, The Hoot. Raised basically with a fiddle in her hand, Ruth spent her childhood surrounded by professional musicians, which included her father, the much loved Jay Ungar, who, along with his wife and bandmate, Molly Mason, is probably best known for his song "Ashokan Farewell." In 1990, Ungar's song was used as the centerpiece to Ken Burns' nine-part documentary "The Civil War" (you are hearing that lonesome fiddle in your head right now, aren't you?).
Although Ruth loved singing and playing fiddle, she saw a different path for herself as an actress. She attended Bard College to study her craft and moved to New York City for a few years after that. There, she was introduced to a group of rabble rouser who loved traditional folk music, which was the music that Ruth had grown up with. What is so funny is that she never realized that other, younger people were interested in that kind of music. She stuck around that group and immersed herself in that style of playing again. Someone who made quite the impression on Ruth was a young indie rock drummer named Michael Merenda. The two started a personal and musical relationship, which eventually morphed into the Mammals. Eventually the pair moved back to Ruth's home in the Woodstock, NY area, took a break from The Mammals, got married, made duo records, had two amazing kids and started recording under The Mammals again (in just the last few years)! There is a lot of say about Ruth and a lot of questions to ask Ruth. We'll have to have her back on, because I was only able to ask about 40% of my questions. Ruth is a treasure and I'm grateful she appeared on the pod!

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The founder of Nobody's Girl (with Rebecca Loebe and Betty Soo) and daughter of beloved songwriter Pierce Pettis, Grace Pettis was raised in a "homogeneous community steeped in a traditional Christian faith." This led to some questionable decisions as a a young person, including not reacting in a loving way when her best friend, Landon, came out to her as a gay man. Fortunately, that frame of mind and that action do not define her. Through contemplation, information gathering and soul-searching, Grace landed in a different place. She realized how she had done Landon wrong and also knew she could only express it through song, which is how her new song "Landon" came about. Grace relates to and prefers brave songwriters and the new song certainly is brave. An interesting note to make about Grace is that even though her dad is a successful musician, Garth Brooks, Joan Baez and many others have recorded his songs, her parents did not want their children to pursue music. That all changed after Grace attempted to teach herself on a self-purchased cheap guitar. Her mom, seeing her daughter struggle, finally let Grace play her fancy Martin guitar. Eventually, her dad let her use one of his guitars and things began falling into place. She moved to Austin and started playing open mics and attending Kerrville Folk Festival. She even won the New Folk Award at Kerrville in 2011 (something her dad ALSO won in 1987). Grace is very open and honest in our conversation. She addresses questions ranging from how she is actively being anti-racist to her Star Trek podcast ("Troubadours on Trek"). We love Grace! Thanks for being on the podcast!

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Old time player Jake Blount and his sister were the first of his family (on his dad's side) to be born off the Virginia plantation where his ancestors were kept as slaves for as long as anyone can remember. That history was all around him as a kid and really hit him hard after the murder of Trayvon Martin in 2013. He had been under the impression that racism of that kind, a person could kill a 17 year old black child and get away with it, still existed. He dove into researching music of slaves: spirituals, gospels and didn't find what he was looking for until he came across the banjo and learned it's history. It's become more and more widespread information that the banjo's roots reside in Africa. It was taken across the Atlantic by stolen black slaves. Blount learned the history was directly tied to the slave communities around the Chesapeake Bay, who were his ancestors. Since then, he's received a BA in ethnomusicology at Hamilton College in New York and become a fervent researcher and sharer of black folk music.

His new album Spider Tales' title is a nod to the great trickster of Akan mythology, Anansi. “The Anansi stories were tales that celebrated unseating the oppressor.” These are mostly black traditional songs. The subversion in these traditional songs to help singers survive: these songs are full of coded messages and allowed them room to criticize the powerful without fear of retribution. Jake is also a young queer man in America, which makes its way into his music in interesting ways: he changed the pronouns of "Where Did You Sleep Last Night" to all male pronouns. His explanation of why he did that is heart-wrenching. Jake is smarter than everyone. He is my favorite person and he had the most fun lightning round ever. This person is amazing! I'm pleased to present this interview!

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Vermont-born Pete Bernhard (Devil Makes Three) was raised surrounded by art as all the adults in his life were either visual or musical artists. While his friends were obsessing over Metallica and Megadeath, Pete was captivated by old blues musicians. He found common ground with Cooper McBean growing up, who loved the same music he did and ended up becoming lifelong friends and musical partners in Devil Makes Three. Influenced by old blues and folk along with the energy they felt at punk shows they saw as teens, the pair made it their mission to create a fun, energetic live show in their performances. Devil Makes Three came together after Pete and Cooper moved to Santa Cruz, CA and teamed up with Lucia Turino. They toured and became and established band in the Americana world (and for some reason, the Jam band scene?).

Pete and I talk about his draw and interest in darker subject matter, particularly drugs and the opioid crisis. We also talk about Brown Bird, a band from Rhode Island that was very close with DM3 until the death of frontman David Lamb a few years back. Since then, David's widow and bandmate, MorganEve Swain has joined DM3 while Lucia takes a break from the road. And finally, we discuss how his new solo album, Harmony Ascension Division, features songs about friends he had in his teens and 20's. The record features Pete playing quietly, which is unlike a DM3 album and more reminiscent of his style when he first start playing music at that age: teens and 20's. Pete's thoughtful, generous and kind during this interview. Hope you enjoy!

Isa Burke, of Americana/folk trio Lula Wiles, is an opinionated white lady in America and I literally cannot get enough of her. The Maine native rebelled at a young age (under 10!) against her parents' folky disposition and devoured as much rock and roll as she could find. Eventually, her parents convinced her to attend Maine Fiddle Camp, where they attended as performers and teachers to campers of all ages (babies to grandparents). And what do you know? Isa love the hell out of fiddle camp and met some important friends while she was there: Eleanor Buckland and Mali Obomsawin, who, years later, came to form the trio Lula Wiles. Camp was also the first place that Isa saw young people taking on the folk tradition in a modern way. This excited her to no end thus began a life-long affair with traditional music.

Isa talks about the lessons she learned at Maine Fiddle Camp and how they are reflected in her musicality and in her band. It also rooted in her a a love of playing music for the sake of feeling good (vs playing to sell a lot of records). We also get into her lead guitar playing: what made her start, how she approaches her role and what it means to be a female lead guitarist in this patriarchal society. My favorite part of this interview (and maybe any interview, really) are Isa's candid comments about body image issues. She introduced my to the idea of "body neutrality" and talks about working to cultivate that and the struggle that comes along with trying to figure out how to feel about your body. Like I said, I can't get enough of her. Love her, would recommend talking to her for an hour.

American Songwriter Podcast Network: https://americansongwriter.com/american-songwriter-podcast-network/basic-folk-podcast/