Tasty Brew Music

Debbie Cole is a classically trained violinist with over 35 years of experience as a musician. She plays “by ear”, is proficient in and is a fan of multiple genres of music. In 2014, she started playing the acoustic guitar;  it proved to be a pivotal point in her musical growth. Playing the guitar led to the discovery of her actual voice and empowered the composition of original music. Debbie, now branding herself as “ColeBrood” sent me an email in my capacity as a DJ/Programmer on KKFI’s Tasty Brew Music and Siren Song Radio Shows…sharing with me three newly penned and home studio recorded songs. I liked them….alot. I was enchanted by her back story and felt compelled to get her on the radio right away…as it turns out, it was her first radio interview. As always, I treat these interviews as conversations…seeking to get to know as much of the person as I can in the very short period allowed. I look forward to following Cole’s progress and believe she has the talent and drive to succeed! Enjoy this introduction to Debbie Cole also known as Colebrood!

I receive dozens of new music submissions and requests for radio interview every week. I do my best to respond to or sample them all.  It doesn’t take long to get way behind in the exercise. One such request for a phone interview came to me on behalf of the renown fiddler in the Irish tradition, Martin Hayes. I had not heard of Martin (shame on me) and my direct contact with Irish traditional music was rather limited even though I had a basic understanding that most of so-called Americana and Folk Music was rooted in Irish and Celtic music forms. I’ve been to the massive Irish Fest and the Irish Center here in Kansas City… my local pub Conroy’s even has live traditional Irish music from time to time. These touchpoints do not begin to honor what awaited me when I went down the Martin Hayes’ rabbit hole …diving into the stories, catalogues and career of Martin and some of his colleagues past and present. I am so very glad I did not scroll past the initial request and instead took the opportunity to spend some one on one time with a musician that, in his sphere of influence, should come to be compared to the likes of Miles Davis and Jimi Hendrix. Enjoy my conversation with the virtuoso player and stellar human being, Ireland’s Martin Hayes.

Some years ago, I went to Knuckleheads’ Gospel Lounge in Kansas City to see a song swap with all female songwriters. I was very familiar with the line up but for a young woman named Jenna Rae. When that song swap was over, I remembered thinking this young lady’s voice is uniquely suited to country music but the ease with which she told stories and engaged the audience with a wonderful sense of humor would be the envy of any performer of any genre of music. In the intervening years, as you’ll hear in this conversation conducted live on the radio in April 2022 to celebrate the release of her solo album “Country Lo-Fi." Jenna Rae and I have stayed in touch. Despite our 40 year age difference, sharing space and time comes pretty naturally to us. She and her musical and life partner, Martin Farrell, Jr. are part and parcel of what makes the Heartland Roots Music scene so fresh and so worthy of support. Join me in celebrating my young and talented friend, Jenna Rae!

I have been a fan of Jeff Black’s songwriting for many years. He was born in Kansas City, Missouri and grew up in Liberty, Missouri.  In the 1980’s Black began performing at Blayney's, a blues club here in Kansas City where he also worked as a bouncer. Jeff began touring and eventually relocated to Nashville where he re-connected with Kansas City friend, Iris Dement lending some backing vocals on DeMent's 1992 debut album, Infamous Angel).

Black's own first album, Birmingham Road, was recorded with the members of the band Wilco, minus lead singer, Jeff Tweedy. Those songs have been described as "fine portraits of American life without the sappiness or self-consciousness often attributed to the singer/songwriter genre.”

Sam Bush has championed him with recording many of his songs including "Same Ol' River" and "King Of The World". Jeff co-wrote the title track to Sam's Grammy nominated album "Circles Around Me". His songs appear on recordings by Alison Krauss, Waylon Jennings, Jerry Douglas, Dierks Bently, John Oates, Blackhawk, Jo-el Sonnier and the soundtracks of "The Thing Called Love" The acclaimed PBS documentary "The Appalachians" and Sundance Film Festival's Grand Jury Prize Winner "Steel City". WUMB Boston listeners voted Black one of the top 100 Folk artists of the last 25 years.

His intimate live shows provide a master class in songcraft appreciation, tempo and audience interaction. After a two year pandemic induced hiatus, I was finally able to welcome Jeff back into the KKFI studios for a sit down conversation and private mini concert in support of some recent Midwest gigs. We talked about music education, or the lack thereof, the pandemic, of course, collaboration, mentorship and the value (or not) of songwriting workshops.

Enjoy this musical conversation and performance with the lyrical and very talented Jeff Black.

I first became aware of Songwriter Terry Klein in 2018 when Radio Promoter Adam Dawson of Broken Jukebox Music sent me Terry’s sophomore effort, “Tex”. I saw that Walt Wilkins produced the album and that’s really all I needed to know to be intrigued enough to give it a full and complete listen.

He has garnered high praise from two of my musical heroes, Mary Gauthier and Rodney Crowell as well as press and radio outlets across the United States and Europe.

For his third album, Terry went to Nashville and worked with producer,  multi-instrumentalist and award winning songwriter in his own right, Thomm Jutz.  Good Luck, Take Care is described as a raw, visceral departure from the work he’s done before. Ten dynamic songs that take hold from the first measure, knock you off balance, and won’t let go without a fight.

Adam contacted me in early 2022 to see if I might be of assistance in getting Terry a Kansas City gig because the postponement of Folk Alliance International’s Music Conference here until May 2022 was going to leave a big whole in his touring schedule to promote “Good Luck, Take Care.” Terry was able to find a Kansas City gig and I was only too happy to have him on the Tasty Brew Music Radio Show the day before he was to appear in our town. Enjoy this on air conversation where we extoll the virtues of leading a lyrical life from Boston to Austin, collaborating with some of the best producers and songwriters in Americana/Roots Music and the importance of investing in your craft through co-writes and workshops.

My friend Rex Pryor grew up in a small northwestern Missouri town… you become aware of these roots very quickly when listening to his songs. We met through a mutual friend, the late Scott Ford, who tragically passed away New Year’s Eve 2021. Although now retired from a storied career in corrections and law enforcement, Rex remains busy writing and performing music and serving on the Board of Directors of the Heartland Song Network, a Kansas non-profit dedicated to empowering the art of the song through education, collaboration and mentorship.

Rex recently joined me on KKFI’s Tasty Brew Music Radio Show to feature songs and stories from the Exit 13 Duo new release “Flatlands.” As is the case with many songwriters in the Heartland, Rex is self-taught on the guitar (he picked it up at the age of 45). He really is enjoying leading a lyrical life in the Heartland performing as a solo, as a duo with his nephew and with his Band, Exit 13. Enjoy this conversation with Rex Pryor about music education, collaboration and travelling the Flatlands!

This edition highlights one of my most favorite things to do….have an aspiring and supremely talented young songwriter live in the studio with me on my radio program…. a “get to know each other” chat which may or may not include the world broadcast premiere of originally penned songs.

Leah Sproul is most known for her work in the Heartland with a Western Swing outfit called Cowtown Country Club. Although her bandmate, Greg, accompanies her most expertly on guitar and harmony vocals on the broadcast, the songs you hear are her own as she launches this solo project. I am always humbled when an artist honors me with being the first to play their original music on the radio.

I was not kidding when I said at the beginning of this conversation that Leah’s voice reminds of Leanne Rimes and Patsy Cline. It’s that good in my ears. Her personality (charming) and energy level (high) is what we dream of in a radio interview. The woman has a PHD in music composition for crying out loud. We may be 40 years apart chronologically but I believe Leah’s soul to be an old one and I look forward to following her lyrical life.

Enjoy this introduction to Dr. Leah Sproul.

I first met Fred Wickham at the old Coda venue here in Kansas City as the lead guitar player for Country Band The Naughty Pines. I subsequently learned of and became a fan of his band Hadacol and now the Fred Wickham Caravan.

Hadacol was around in the late 90s and early 2000s with Wickham, bassist Richard Burgess along with Wickham’s brother Greg. They recorded two critically acclaimed albums and toured extensively across the nation. The music critic writing for Salon Magazine once called the band’s brand of country “so tough they don’t have to prove it.”

An attorney by day, Fred has never abandoned his role as a generative/working musician in the Heartland.

The Fred Wickham Caravan now blends country, soul and rock and roll into a sound that fits nicely under the Americana umbrella. Comprised of some of Kansas City’s finest roots musicians, the Caravan originally formed to support Wickham’s 2017 solo release Mariosa Delta. Produced and recorded by the late, great Lou Whitney in Springfield, Missouri, the album received widespread critical acclaim both nationally and abroad. No Depression called Mariosa Delta “a sparkling gem of an album…a great record, part document, part tragedy, all heartbreak,” while PopMatters said the album was “reminiscent of rambling folk and country legends like Dylan and Cash.”

For the Caravan record recorded in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, Town without Soul, Wickham and Burgess have recruited some of their favorite musicians and best friends to form a six-piece band capable of jumping from one musical style to the next while maintaining a sound that is all their own. Guitar legend Marco Pascolini lends his unmistakable stylings on electric and pedal steel guitar. Cowboy Bart Colliver, Kansas City’s most soulful keyboardist, adds accordion and great harmony vocals. Matt Brahl, one of KC’s finest drummers and an old friend who actually played with Wickham and Burgess during the final days of Hadacol, jumped right in after original drummer Sam Platt departed. Rounding out the ensemble is Wickham’s son, Fred Jr., who had become an accomplished mandolin player while no one was watching.

I’m pretty certain I met Rigby Summer in 2017 in connection with the Monday@ Modella songwriter pop-up and the All Music Starts Local Initiative she started in Stillwater Oklahoma after a 5-year hiatus from the music scene. Our paths have crossed numerous times since then in Kansas City but also on the road in Oklahoma and even as far away as Montreal, Canada. While returning from the 2019 Folk Alliance Conference in Montreal and suffering from debilitating back pain, Rigby helped me navigate customs and connecting flights including pushing me around in an airline wheel chair.

Rigby is one of the hardest working, independent, do it yourself roots musicians I know. She has a lovely, mature voice and writes songs that are relatable and thoroughly engaging…reflecting the road she has traveled from Kansas to California to Wyoming to the red dirt roots of her current home in Stillwater, Oklahoma. In these intervening years she has shared the stage and has learned from a myriad of local and touring artists.

In the Fall of 2020 she produced a short cover EP "Dancing Alone" with Kyle Reid and released it in November 2020. Production is now complete on her first full-length album “Geography," recorded at Naptime Studio in Norman, Oklahoma, with Kyle Reid at the helm. She recently joined me on the radio on Geography’s release day. Enjoy my conversation with Rigby Summer.

I was introduced to Oklahoma City based songwriter Carter Sampson some years ago after she played a gig at Kansas City’s Knucklehead Saloon. I was very impressed by her command of the stage and storytelling. We briefly crossed paths multiple times in Nashville during Americanafest, in Oklahoma during Woodyfest and in Kansas City for occasional gigs at the Westport Saloon and again at Knuckleheads. She had been booked to play several Kansas City gigs in early 2020 that got cancelled either because of bad weather or the Covid-19 pandemic. I tried multiple times to schedule conversations with her since 2018 for this podcast and we just couldn’t make it happen. The stars aligned and we were finally able to get Carter back to Kansas City for an intimate show at Mike Kelly’s Westsider as part of the Bloody Mary Morning Listening Room Series presented by the Heartland Song Network. This episode is a portion of the conversation we had on air via my Tasty Brew Music Radio Show on 90.1 FM KKFI just before she hit the road for Kansas City.

Carter has released five studio albums and is working on her latest record with Oklahoma producer Kyle Reid. Her 2016 release Wilder Side received international attention and was No. 3 on that year’s Euro Americana year end chart. She is the founder and director of The Rock n’ Roll Camp for Girls OKC, a nonprofit volunteer run organization that empowers girls through music education. She is a proud member of the Citizen Potawatomie Nation.

I love everything about Carter Sampson. Her clear and present voice, wordcrafting, guitar skills, artistic visual aesthetic, and work ethic. She is as equally adept at fronting a full band on the main stage of a music festival as she is keeping a small room of dedicated listeners completely captivated for hours. She was meant to lead a lyrical and musical life and that is what she has done, is doing and will do moving forward. Enjoy my long awaited one on one with Carter Sampson….to be continued somewhere down the road… most likely in Oklahoma.