Open Mic Spotlight

On this week’s Open Mic Spotlight podcast, Barrett Maury and Dakari Kelly of Caney Village drop by the studio to talk with Heather about the ways in which the band has changed over the years, how their parents have influenced them as musicians and why it’s always good to have a locater app on your phone. From the band’s earliest days as a folksy outfit following the work of bands like First Aid Kit and Lily & Madeleine to their most recent incarnation as a rockier, more electrified version of its former self, they’ve always concentrated on distinguishing real emotion from false sentiment. And when Maury and Kelly (minus band member Chris Blankenship) sit down to reinvent Tom Waits’ “Goin’ Out West” or rail against the inequities of Wal-Mart, there is still that need to find the honesty behind their words and music.

After talking a bit about how their parent’s helped to guide them in their musical studies during their formative years – Maury’s mother was a fixture in a handful of local bands when he was younger while Kelly’s father was a member of Chattanooga funk-soul band The Malemen – Maury and Heather get into a discussion about the merits of Creed and how she once lost a drummer due to her dislike of the Scott Stapp-fronted band. Eventually the talk circles back around to Caney Village, and they discuss the various influences that have helped to define the band.

They also manage to work their way through an instrumental version of Hall and Oates’ “I Can’t Go for That (No Can Do).” They recall a time in Los Angeles when they had booked a room through Airbnb but found out that the place was most definitely not as advertised. Finally, they recall an incident where their truck filled with the band’s gear was stolen and how they used a locater app on their phone to chase the thief around Soddy Daisy. Thankfully, there is a happy ending…sort of. It involves a 200 foot ravine and numerous police cars.

Thank you to Billy Campbell for mixing this epiosde. Thank you to Joshua Pickard for the episode summary. 

On this week’s Open Mic Spotlight podcast, Chattanooga singer-songwriter Derick Anderson embraces the realities of his newfound fatherhood and brings his son, Jack, to spend time with Heather in the studio. Anderson had been living in Washington for some years before moving down to Chattanooga to attend Southern Adventist University for their music program. Having been raised in a very religious household, he decided that he needed to find some answers on his own, both in terms of his faith and secular life. He talks about almost getting caught listening to the “Mortal Kombat” soundtrack when he was a kid – this being while his father was out of the house. His original songs cover substantial emotional ground, including stories of personal religious struggles, the need for companionship and the Chattanooga Choo-Choo.

Anderson also brings a first to Open Mic Spotlight: a cover of a song by The Foo Fighters, specifically “Times Like These.” And throughout all his performances, you can hear the coo and laughter of his son providing an innocent accompaniment. Discussing his influences, he counts artists like Ryan Adams, Jason Isbell and Andrew Duhon among those from whom he’s drawn particularly strong inspiration. He also talks a bit about his current project of forming a band called No Good Deeds with some local musicians and how they’re testing the waters a bit, writing and performing together to see how to best compliment one another’s styles. A discussion about the effects of red wine and sad songs is also broached. And with just an acoustic guitar and a voice filled with history, he conjures stories of love, ache and faith with a rare ease.

On this week’s Open Mic Spotlight podcast, Chattanooga musician, Austin Sawyer, the main songwriter and member of Drumming Bird, stops in to talk with Heather about his studies at MSTU (where he founded the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity last year), his days performing with High Meadows Communion and how he got famous on Twitter for tweeting about the lack of college parking. Tackling a couple of original songs and a few covers – most notably “Angel From Montgomery” by John Prine and “Tear Down the House” by The Avett Brothers – Sawyer manages to distill the acoustic essence of these tracks and filter it through his own distinct musical perspective. Between his impressive fingerpicking skills and a knack for inverting familiar melodies, he creates a warm and natural atmosphere in the studio.

Briefly touching on his interest in copyright law and music publishing, he subsequently speaks about his experiences at Americana Fest, where he was a red carpet escort and had the opportunity to meet bands like The Lumineers and Old Crow Medicine Show. This happened through connections with one of his professors and led to him being a seat filler for the Americana Awards. Prior to his work as Drumming Bird, Sawyer performed in High Meadows Communion, a local folk rock band whose music dipped into a landscape of rural rhythms and pastoral phrasing. As Drumming Bird, he reveals that he derives a great deal of inspiration from artists like Father John Misty and Jason Isbell. 

Thank you Jesse Jungkurth for mixing this episode. Thank you to Joshua Pickard for the write up about this episode.

On this week’s Open Mic Spotlight podcast, the Americana-varnished duo Nick and Luke stop by to talk with Heather about some of their more unusual experiences while touring, their desire to use music as a means to facilitate human-to-human interaction and how their sound shifts from day to day as their focus narrows and becomes clearer with each performance. With just some acoustic guitars (Gibson’s from the ‘30s and ‘40s), Nicholas Horner and Lucas Chohany create a roaring, harmony-soaked folk and country rumble that brings to mind the work of The Everly Brothers and The Stanley Brothers.

Their influences shine bright and are given full expression through their use of frenetic, finger-picked rhythms and emotional vocal interplay. Nick and Luke talk briefly about times on tour when their vehicle had damage to its exhaust pipe, and they stopped to play at a local technical college where the welding students were more than happy to fix the car. They also mention the time that they introduced some hip-hop rhymes to their set when a venue turned on the house music outside during their set.

They see their rural narratives and melody-rich songs as an extension of their inclusive attitudes, with each track offering a conversation between themselves and their audience. They also discuss how they approach these specific sounds and how they’ve continually adjusted the ways in which they express these individual inspirations. Nimble and grounded in an acoustic atmosphere, their work recalls the vibrant sounds of Willie Nelson and the lyrical associations of Merle Haggard. They also perform a roaring cover of “Johnny B. Goode” by Chuck Berry and a soothing ruminative version of Gillian Welch’s “Dear Someone.”

Thank you to Jesse Jungurth for mixing this episode. Thank you to Joshua Pickard for the write up about this epiosde.

On this week’s Open Mic Spotlight podcast, Chattanooga musician Derek Wayne Martin spends some time with Heather in the studio to talk about the ways in which he’s trying to help build the local music scene through his work at The Camp House, how his mom and dad met in a college rock band and why the best purchase of his life was a 1971 Ventura guitar he bought at The Picker’s Exchange. With his acoustic guitar in tow, Martin rambles through a couple of original songs while still paying homage to some of his influence by performing covers of songs by Ryan Adams, David Ramirez and Walt Aldridge. Careening through a folk-styled landscape of burnished harmonies and insistent strums, he shows that there is still much to learn from the unexplored cracks and crevasses of the singer-songwriter genre.

As the City Engagement Coordinator for The Camp House, Martin discusses his role in shaping the future of the Songwriter’s Stage contest (previously known as Songwriter Shoot Out) and how other local events there are helping to create a wider appreciation for different musical styles. He speaks to being surrounded by music from an early age, revealing that his mom and dad met when they were both performing in a college rock band—his mom was the drummer, and his dad was the guitarist. He also divulges that there was a history before his current folk fascination; namely, that he went through a bit of an angtsy alt-rock period before settling into his latest musical digs. And he briefly touches on the instrument of his music, a 1971 Japanese-made Ventura guitar that he purchased at The Picker’s Exchange and which has been the anchor to his most recent musical divergences.

Thank you Jesse Jungkurth for mixing this episode. Thank you Joshua Pickard for writing for this episode. 

On this week’s Open Mic Spotlight podcast, Pattee Wilbanks and Robert Lovett of Mountain Creek House Fire stop by the studio to talk with Heather about their collaborative process, some of their favorite places to play in Chattanooga and how their respective creative impulses compliment each other perfectly. Their music is drawn from the winding twin histories of folk and country music but is given new breathe and life through their effortless interactions. With just an acoustic guitar and mandolin, they spark a gorgeous series of stories that could be told on front porches or large stages across the country. Dipping into a well of bucolic experiences, their work possesses a vivid and affecting emotionality.

There’s a gentle simplicity inherent in the work of Mountain Creek House Fire, a rambling folk shuffle that eases down deep into your bones. Whether they’re discussing their admiration for local open mic nights or the time they were almost rained out at Nightfall, they evince an earnest sentimentality, one that doesn’t cater to rote instincts but seeks out new experiences in an effort to broaden its emotional perspective. They perform covers of “Honeysuckle Rose” by Fats Waller and “It Hurts Me” by Julie Miller, as well a few original songs that easily hold their own in that formidable company.

After Wilbanks talks a bit about her time dog-sitting, they announce that they have a new video coming out soon for “That Dog is Crazy,” which features clips of dogs that fans have sent in specifically to be included in the visuals for the song. Recalling the jaunt and sincerity that was common to the folk music of the early 20th century, they imbue these sounds with a modern tenacity and present them as a viable means for expression—a stringed rural ideology wherein they can conspire with anyone within earshot.

On this week’s Open Mic Spotlight podcast, Chattanooga pop-rock trio Midnight Promise drop by the studio to talk about the process for how they collaborate on each track, the familial atmosphere that the band cultivates and how their differing musical tastes push them to experiment with various sounds. With influences as disparate as ‘80s metal, Pink Floyd and Rihanna, the band’s work doesn’t easily fit into any one category but runs through a collection of pop and rock inspirations that shake and rattle the bones of their collective musical histories. Expressing a certain universal emotionality, the band doesn’t shy away from grand statements but embraces the overarching sentiments which guide their music.

The band winds through a collection of eclectic and surprising covers including “Liza Jane” by Vince Gill, “You Don’t Know How It Feels” by Tom Petty and “Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love” by Van Halen. Their original songs feel just as unexpected and free from the sort of banal aesthetic that functions within the typical mainstream pop-rock landscapes. You can also hear percussionist Gene Ingram talk a bit about his years spent playing vintage 1864 bare-hand baseball. The band creates a casual and effortless acoustic rhythm in the studio, paring down some of the rockier elements of their music as they re-envision their songs in this specific environment.

Thank you to Jesse Jungkurth for mixing and editing this episode. Thank you to Joshua Pickard for writing for this episode.  

In this week’s Open Mic Spotlight podcast, Chattanooga musician John Cotton of No Thank You, John drops by to talk with Heather about how he first got into recording, the trials of listening to contemporary Christian music and how he got involved with charity work in Uganda. Cotton moved to Chattanooga 9 years ago from Marietta to attend Lee University, and while he intended to study music, he wound up focusing on communication and audio/video production. Using what he learned in his classes, he now works as a freelance video producer and also handles various digital productions online. When not working his trade, he slips into the guise of an electro-pop artist and creates an electronic pop synthesis that fuses different influences into an elastic outlook on the movements of modern music.

With 3 EPs under his belt, Cotton has experimented with various genres in an attempt to harness the inherent unpredictability of his inspirations. Early on, he spent time working with his brother’s digital recorders, laying down some guitar lines and sounds from a Yamaha keyboard that he owned. Drawing away from the indie rock sounds of Oh So Cavalier, his first band in college, Cotton looked to an analog synthesizer he purchased as a means to reinvigorate his love of music. No Thank You, John was born out of a need to break free of genre and production rules and to keep the studio editing to a minimum.

He talks briefly about growing up listening to Christian music but admits to digging through his dad’s collection of Fleetwood Mac and Led Zeppelin records when he got a little older. He performs a few original songs as well as a minimalist electronic cover of Arcade Fire’s “Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains).” He drifts away from music for a bit when talking about his passion for Simone’s Kids, a non-profit organization that helps to fund various schools in Uganda. He closes out the set by talking about his want to incorporate a visual arts aspect to his new music, perhaps looking to bring in a selection of DIY lights and optic projections to his future live performances.

In this week’s Open Mic Spotlight podcast, Chattanooga singer-songwriter Hailey Miller stops by the studio to discuss how she first learned how to play the guitar, the experiences that have shaped her music and how she hopes to continue pursuing music as she attends Belmont University in Nashville in the Fall—she recently graduate from Baylor. She quickly reveals a diverse cast of influences as she shares covers of “Stand By Me” by Ben E. King and “Can’t Hold Us” by Macklemore. She easily brings out the soul of King’s words as well as the hip-hop rhythms of Macklemore’s work, highlighting just how versatile her talents really are. She first picked up a guitar at the age of 8 and has been interested in theater and dance ever since.

Miller’s music revolves around the emotional weight of her words moreso than any overly complicated arrangements. Her voice lays across the strums and plucks of her guitar as various stories spring to life. It becomes apparent rather quickly that she would be just as at ease on stage as she is recording a podcast—and that sense of casual familiarity comes across in her relaxed manner and conversational ease. She debuts a new song and features a couple of tracks from her recently released EP, “One Way Home.” She dips back into her inspirations by covering “No Diggity” by Blackstreet, molding its R&B melodies into the frets of her acoustic guitar. She mentions artists like Colbie Calliet, Sara Bareilles and The Fugees as direct links to her musical development and delivers a selection of songs whose histories are as varied as you could imagine.

Thank you so much to Jesse Jungkurth for editing and mixing this episode. 

Thank you to our sponsor, the Blast From the Past Podcast. 

On this week’s Open Mic Spotlight podcast, singer-songwriter Nate Currin joins Heather in the studio to discuss how a religious upbringing drove him to seek out secular music and the deep influence that those bands would go on have on his own music in later years. Tasked with extolling a deep emotional canvas with just a voice and an acoustic guitar, Currin easily invests his work with an earnest and evocative twang and echo. He explores some of his influences by wandering through a stripped down version of “Wild Horses” by The Rolling Stones and subsequently channels the spirit of Ryan Adams on “Oh My Sweet Carolina” without breaking a sweat.

While chatting about the details of his current tour, Currin reveals the various places that he has lived, including 3 years spent in an RV camper. Between discussing stints working as a freelance graphic designer and how a mutual childhood friend of Mandy Moore’s tried to get his music into her hands, he talks about his continuing love for Van Morrison, Jason Isbell and Counting Crows. Over the last 8 years, he’s released 4 full-length records and 3 EPs and is currently spending a little time away from the studio to focus on touring and composing songs that may, at some point in the future, find themselves on a new album. Delicate in their emotional intonations, but resilient in their heart-on-sleeve longing, his songs shake and shimmer with an acoustic effortlessness.