JPR Live Sessions

Since we first began hearing Larkin Poe several years ago your Open Air hosts have been big fans. As they've honed their skills, each new release has been greeted with popular support and critical acclaim. In 2020 their album Venom and Faith was nominated for a Grammy for best contemporary blues album.

Their latest - Blood Harmony - came out last fall.

Hear about their early life in Georgia, their new hometown of Nashville, their social media presence during lockdown, their writing and creative process, and hear songs from Blood Harmony and Self-Made Man recorded live in the JPR Steve Nelson Performance Studio.

This JPR Live Session is made possible with support from The Talent Club - presenting live music in a casual atmosphere in downtown Talent, Oregon. Find their event schedule at talentclublive.com

Known for his intricate guitar work and his powerful voice, Matt Andersen's style incorporates rock and roll, blues, soul and gospel.

Hear him discuss his new album recorded with a full band, his time on the road, and hear songs from his new release The Big Bottle of Joy.

Matt joined us solo acoustic for this JPR Live Session and played songs from the new album as well as one from his 2022 release House to House.

This JPR Live Session is made possible with support from The Talent Club - presenting live music in a casual atmosphere in downtown Talent, Oregon. Find their event schedule at talentclublive.com

Melissa Carper and guitarist Doug Strahan joined us on the West Coast leg of her tour in support of her latest release, Ramblin' Soul.

“Not unlike Loretta Lynn, Melissa Carper is giving us scenes and stories and vignettes that kind of play out between home and the honky-tonk.” - NPR

“Melissa Carper is one of the greatest classic golden era country singers and composers of this generation. A new batch of songs from Melissa Carper is something to smile and rub your hands together about like waiting for permission to cut into an apple pie.” - Saving Country Music

Hear her play songs from the new album and talk about her life and career in a JPR Live Session.

This JPR Live Session is made possible with support from The Talent Club - presenting live music in a casual atmosphere in downtown Talent, Oregon. Find their event schedule at talentclublive.com

Will Hoge's two previous albums, Tiny Little Movies released in 2020 and My American Dream released in 2018, are laden with biting political commentary. His new record, Wings On My Shoes released in August, takes a turn toward the personal and introspective.

In this podcast, he spoke about his relationship with southern culture, the recording of Wings on My Shoes and about writing from a more vulnerable point of view.

Emerging Americana artist Emily Nenni wrote the songs from her new album On The Ranch while staying at a ranch in Colorado surrounded by female wranglers. Her song-writing is pure honky-tonk but with an empowered woman's point of view. Her new song In The Mornin' is a feminists answer to the Faces classic Stay With Me — just as suggestive, but from the standpoint of a woman who calls her own shots.

Growing up in the Bay Area in California, she attended her first concert in utero — Bruce Springsteen, and attended numerous concerts with her family. Her father worked in radio while she was growing up and exposed her to a wide variety of music.

Joining her on tour and in this live session is guitarist Sean Thompson. They stopped by on the west coast leg of her tour supporting Kelsey Waldon and just wrapped up a series of dates supporting recent JPR Live Session guest Charley Crockett.

Martin Sexton is a perennial favorite on Open Air. After getting his start busking in Boston, he released his first album on cassette in the late 1980s. It sold 15,000 copies before being re-released. He wrote and recorded his latest release, an EP called 2020 Vision, while staying in his cabin in the Adirondacks with his family during the pandemic. It's a collection of songs about getting through the hard times and connecting with family.

Hear about his early career, his family, and his craft, as well as some tunes recorded in the JPR Steve Nelson Performance Studio.

Originally from Senegal but now calling Maui his home, Yousshoupha Sidibe studied at the National Conservatory of Music in Senegal. He blends traditional African music with western influences to create a unique sound.

The kora, or African harp, is a 21-string instrument with a round hollow body that resembles a sitar. Youssoupha explains its origins and the interconnectedness of African music and spirituality.

Hear a few of his songs recorded in the JPR Steve Nelson Performance Studio and his conversation with Danielle Kelly in this JPR Live Session.

Andrea von Kampen grew up in a musical family. She says "music is just what we did." The singer/songwriter who grew up in both Ann Arbor, Michigan and Seward, Nebraska released her debut EP in 2015. She submitted the single Let Me Down Easy, as an entry to the NPR Tiny Desk Contest in 2016 that wound up being shared on All Songs Considered.

Growing up, she says, she absorbed the music of Ella Fitzgerald and Etta James and more contemporary pop performers like Paul Simon and James Taylor. You can hear those influences in her thought provoking lyrics, expressive guitar playing and vocal stylings.

After a string of EPs, her first full length release was 2019's Old Country, after which she began work on That Spell, recorded during the pandemic and released in 2021.

Recently she has toured with Avi Kaplan and joined us during her west coast run in support of Darlingside, and she's starring in the indie film A Chance Encounter.

Find more information about Andrea von Kampen at her website https://andreavonkampen.com/

Listen to her discuss her work and play some songs in a JPR Live Session.

Grant-Lee Phillips has been making music since the 1980s. He performed in a band called Grant-Lee Buffalo in the '90s. He played Grant - the town troubadour in the TV show Gilmore Girls in the 2000's and has just released his 11th solo album All That You Can Dream.

Supporting him on tour is Jarrod Dickenson a singer/songwriter from Nashville and his wife Claire. He has a new album expected out in February of next year.

Hear Grant-Lee Phillips perform a few songs solo, talk about his career, his new album, and painting cows. Jarrod and Claire perform a Jarrod Dickenson original and join Grant for one of his songs in a JPR Live Session from the JPR Steve Nelson Performance Studio on the campus of Southern Oregon University.

Amy Lou Keeler and Lisa Maria drove from Montreal to Nova Scotia in 2014. They spent the time discussing music, and by the time they arrived, the idea for Mama's Broke was born.

They just released their second full length album Narrow Line, a follow up to the 2017 release Count the Wicked. The duo perform folk music but draw influence from their pasts playing bluegrass, doom metal and punk. Their multi-cultural approach to folk music has been described as "from everywhere and nowhere" and "music without borders."

Mama's Broke talked with us and performed in the Steve Nelson performance studio on the campus of Southern Oregon University.

More information about Mama's Broke is available at their website.