It’s not really fair to lump Michigan Rattlers into the world of country music. While elements of that genre are certainly present, it’s more by association that through intent. Beneath the harmonies and great stories lies a folksy sensibility that has more to do with rural American side roads than the beer-soaked streets of Nashville. […]

Joe Anderl is the front man for the band The 1984 Draft. They have been making music in Dayton, Ohio since 2013. Their latest release “Makes Good Choices” features some of the strongest songs the band has ever released. Joe talks about the new album, the origins of the included track “Honest” and his love […]

Billy Swayne is the leader of the Neo American Pioneers. That group is preparing to release their sophomore album “Beginning to Unfold.” Billy stopped by to talk about the new album, his approach to songwriting and we focus on the 2008 debut album from The War on Drugs titled “Wagonwheel Blues,” which is celebrating its […]

In his triumphant return to the show, Travis Talbert has a lot to say about Eric Clapton. Talbert is the lead guitarist for Frontier Folk Nebraska, and we talk about their latest EP “Foolish Frank.” He also lets us in on the band’s upcoming full-length release. The Clapton conversation centers around the recent documentary “Life […]

Charlie Jackson and the Heartland Railway released their debut effort in March of 2018. After years of self-recording solo efforts, Jackson hooked up with Brad Bowling, Denny Cottle and Ricky Terrell for a more fleshed out sound. He was kind enough to perform “Days of Wine and Roses,” the opening track from the album. We […]

Tim Pritchard has been making music for a long time. In 2005, his band Flyaway Minion released “Fair Travels.” He released a solo album in 2012 titled “It Shall be Revealed” before forming The Boxcar Suite. The band released their latest record “Further In and Farther Out” in April of 2018, their first foray into […]

After a long break, the podcast is back!!! This week, I go at it alone and talk about the 1998 release from Bob Dylan “Bootleg Series Vol. 4: Live 1966.” I also talk about a few concerts I’ve been to recently and my Record Store Day purchases. As always thank you to Frontier Folk Nebraska […]

Travis Talbert has been the lead guitar player for Frontier Folk Nebraska for more than a decade. He also has released the album “Louisville via Boston” with his project Mavis Guitar. He tells us about FFN’s 2017 release “WARPIG” (2:19) and talks about going into the studio for some 2018 releases (4:26). We tackle the […]

My series of pods focusing on music that matters to me comes to a triumphant conclusion with a Leon Russell monologue. After a recent purchase of the documentary “A Poem is a Naked Person,” I felt like this was the most natural way to wrap up the music that formed me. I talk about that […]

On this edition of “Side Tracks with Rusty Pate,” I talk about “Tommy” by The Who. Rather than focusing on the 1969 album version, I look at the 1975 soundtrack for the Ken Russell film. I talk about the strange and disjointed story (15:00) the questionable inclusion of torture and molestation imagry (21:25) and Pete […]