Live In The Library

Merry Christmas, everyone!

From the studio in the public library, we have a joyous celebration of the season featuring first:

The CCA Choir directed by Neshawn Calloway followed by Allie Levanway AKA Lady Chapel, my friends Nina Ricci and Rachel McIntyre Smith, and closing with a set by one of my favorite Chattanooga singer/songwriters Katrina Barclay with the excellent Joel Beaver Band.

From the studio on the second floor of the public library downtown this is a session from the gifted songwriter and storyteller from Lexington, Kentucky - Stoll Vaughan. The influence of Townes Van Zandt, John Prine, and Bob Dylan is evident in his writing

American Songwriter declared, "With deep and reflective lyrics, a sense of place and time, Stoll Vaughan is a songwriter's songwriter.” A deeply philosophical and optimistic lyricist, he wants to, as he told an interviewer, “recognize the pain, but really,” he said, “I’m trying to highlight the hope.” He’s a pretty good guitar player too. Live in the library, this is Stoll Vaughan.

Russell Cook & the Sweet Teeth began as a two-guitar and drums juke-joint style trio, before gradually morphing into an exploratory rock band featuring the sparkling guitar work of Scotty Knight and ace drummer Jeremy Clark. The Sweet Teeth play new songs, traditional songs, as well as playing songs drawn from the extensive catalog of music written by Russell for the Little Country Giants. They try to push the music to see where it will go, using songs as the structure, but staying open to improvisation and playing in the moment. Russell Cook & the Sweet Teeth use sharp-edged songwriting to open up a vein of Americana that veers from electrified country blues to bombastic cosmic rock. This is Russell Cook and The Sweet Teeth.

Before she began writing and singing songs, Kelsi Westfall was a poet. This poem, Which Way Will You Go, published on the net in 2013, alludes to the many challenges she faced after leaving home when she was still a teenager.

"sometimes the silver lining's thin
but if its there you count it as a win
remember that for some
their lining will never silver become

everything is perspective
when held in their place respective
sometimes you don't even know the good
until the good is gone

you climb a ladder to
get to the top
but if you try to make it without one
you won't make it at all

something better
can't really be so
if theres not something worse
to compare it to

so if you're wondering how
you'll make it out
remember that the light at the end is a fork in the road
which way will you go"

In many ways, the poem is a precursor to the lyrics she writes now. This is her second session in the library. The first was recorded almost exactly a year ago.

The Reverend Freakchild has been a guest both in the studio at the radio station and the downtown public library. To be honest I prefer hosting the always garrulous Reverend in the studio in the library because he plays a lot more music when he is in the studio by himself. When he's in the radio studio with me he tends to talk more than play and while his uber-caffeinated, free-style reflections on any number of topics are always entertaining, there's no substitute for The Reverend Freakchild and his guitar. If you're familiar with him, you know what I mean, but if you're lucky enough to be hearing him unleashed in the studio for the first time prepare for the hurricane.

Check him out here.

From the studio in the Chattanooga Public Library, this is a session featuring Secondwave Radio. The band is Tony Perri and Travis Avery playing guitars with Gio Giotti playing bass and drummer Cameron Fowler.

In the studio on the second floor of the Chattanooga Public Library, our guest this week is the gifted guitarist Alan Shikoh.

Alan will be playing a solo show in Barking Legs Theater on Dodds Avenue on Wednesday, November 8th. Writing about the upcoming concert, Bruce Kaplan noted that “Alan was rigorously trained in classical guitar, and that technique remains at the heart of his guitar playing. His musical interests have always been broad—he toured for several years with a metal band—and his primary project has been to apply his classical chops to jazz standards. While for most of us, the heart of jazz to explore its harmonic and melodic structures through improvisation, Alan’s investigations enrich these structures through highly imaginative compositional permutations. The results are absolutely beautiful.”

To purchase tickets to see Alan's performance at Barking Legs, click here.

From the studio on the second floor of the public library downtown, this week we have a session from The Scarlet Love Conspiracy, five friends whose music, by their account, defies easy description. Suffice it to say it’s fun and it rocks.

"My name is Brownie Lee Hamilton. I had a speech impediment when I was young. I stuttered, had a speech impediment, couldn’t roll or pronounce my R’s, and was bullied for it but with determination and persistence. Anything can happen if you believe and have faith!

I have a 6-year-old daughter named Anavay! We live in Chickamauga, Ga.…

At the young age of 10 music was a part of my heritage and everyday life, starting out learning guitar seriously at 16 when Grizzly Fowler gave me my first guitar.

In addition to my years of onstage experience and behind-the-scenes, technical experience, and know-how has led me up to this point to produce and record my first album."
- Brownie Lee Hamilton

From the studio on the second floor of the public library downtown at its new time on Saturday evening we have a session from Frog Kabob, a young band in every sense, they’ve been making music together for about six months.