Tasty Brew Music

Every so often an artist or group circles in the periphery of my musical consciousness…recommended by peers or supporters…I may hear a snippet of their offerings or perhaps forget to check them out altogether. Such is the case with Barnaby Bright, an indie folk duo comprised of marital team Becky and Nathan Bliss, from Kansas City. As their online bio reveals, Nathan and Becky Bliss have made some cool Americana records, lived in Brooklyn and Nashville, toured coast to coast, run out of money, toured Europe, run out of money again, won high-falutin' prizes for songwriting in New York, generally not argued with each other,  built an audience, been named one of Amazon's Top 100 albums of the year, played Lincoln Center & NPR's Mountain Stage, eaten copious amounts of vegetarian food, attracted 19k+ listeners a month on Spotify and opened for Norah Jones & the Lumineers.

My friend, Karin Bauer, has been extolling the virtues of Barnaby Bright for YEARS and I had all but ignored her calls to action to dig into their catalogue. I was wrong to have done so; I had missed out on some true sonic treasures but I’m relieved to say that is no longer the case. My friend and colleague, Sam Wisman, a world class percussionist in his own right, had recently played a livestream show when Barnaby Bright was a guest of Becky’s brother Ben Bliss, a critically acclaimed operatic tenor. Sam asked me to consider interviewing them to help promote the audio re-broadcast of that program “Holiday Bliss” on KKFI.

Still in lockdown, I reached out to Becky Bliss and she graciously agreed to a Zoom session to have a conversation. By the time we met virtually, I felt like we had already been introduced. We have tons of mutual friends and they could not have been more gracious in telling a portion of their story.

As you will hear, I am very interested in why our world class, in many cases classically trained artists like Becky and Nathan, leave the Heartland to pursue their dreams. It is heartwarming and reaffirming to know they can and will come home.

This episode of the Tasty Brew Music podcast is a wide-ranging conversation with the very talented Chis Hudson recently tapped as the Heartland Song Network’s November 2020 Artist of the Month. Chris is a singer, songwriter and composer, with a passion for various forms of American folk music and finger style guitar. Involved with Heartland groups Gullywasher, The Bard Owls and The Multiverse.  Chris has released full length CD recordings that include experimenting with new forms, instruments, electronic synth, music genres and experimental video soundscapes.

Chris received his Bachelor of Music in 1996 from the University of Missouri Conservatory of Music. He has given solo performances in various concert series through the Kansas City Guitar Society including the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, the Downtown Library Series and Guitars in the Garden at Loose Park. As a gifted and compassionate instructor and performer for over 25 years, Chris has a reputation for being a great source for music instruction in all styles. He is a laid-back, comfortable and very approachable person.

Chris has been a teacher with Kansas City Missouri Young Audiences since 2004, working at the Community School of the Arts. In 2007, Chris received the Kansas City Young Audiences Lighton Prize for Teaching Artist Excellence for his work with children, inspiring their love of guitar and musical collaboration in the Garage Band classes. He believes in giving back to the community what he has learned as a working musician and teacher, and performs regularly at various fundraisers for KCYA and the Community School of the Arts, encouraging volunteerism, community involvement, and funding for student scholarships for families with low incomes. Chris performs during the school year in local Kansas elementary schools for Arts Partners with the Kansas Settlers Band teaching Kansas Cultural History to 4th graders.

Chris even became the interviewer toward the end of this conversation asking me my musical background and my process for putting together my Tasty Brew Music Radio Show. Enjoy my conversation with educator, collaborator and musical mentor…Chris Hudson.

This episode of the Tasty Brew Music Podcast is a conversation between my better half and co-founder with me of the Heartland Song Network, Danny Powell and multi-instrumentalist Michael McClintock. Danny conducted this interview at our home in connection with Michael serving as the October 2020 Artist of the Month for the Heartland Song Network, a nonprofit whose mission is to elevate the art of the song through education, collaboration and mentorship.

Michael, from the bustling metropolis of  Neosho, Missouri, graduated in 2006 from the University of Missouri Kansas City Music Conservatory with a Bachelor of Music in classical guitar performance. His first professional musical project was playing flamenco music. He quickly branched out into multiple genres of music and now performs with Ensemble Iberica, highlighting the music of Spain and Portugal and the colonial Americas, Cubanisms (the music of Cuba), Slim Hanson and the Poor Choices, a traditional Country Band and now the FM Duo, a new project with fellow Jazz enthusiast and guitarist Jeff Freling. It was with Ensemble Iberica that Michael started to introduce the Cuban Tres, a guitar unique to the island, in different styles of music such as Jazz, Fado, Tango, Bossa Nova, Ginga, Flamenco. Michael along with his Cuban born wife, Dalida, have formed the project “Cubanisms”, to spread the culture of Cuba in the United States by performing Cuban-Latin songs arranged by Michael. They also provide travel guided services to Cuba.

Enjoy this conversation with a man with small town Missouri roots now playing music at a world class level around the globe.

Cubanisms:

Michael McClintock – Cuban Tres

Fedra Cooper Berrera – Vocals

Bruno Bessa – Vocals

James Isaac – Saxophone

Forest Stewart – Bass

Miko Spears – Percussion

Robert Beasley – Percussion

John Currey - Percussion

Well it finally happened. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, I conducted my first Tasty Brew Music Podcast conversation with a subject online via Zoom. This episode features Elexa Dawson,  native of the Citizen Potawatomie Nation and amazing vocalist and songwriter. As you will hear in our conversation, Elexa was chosen as the Heartland Song Network’s Artist of the Month for August 2020 so you will hear references to that organization and a songwriting exercise they initiated called “Covid Collaborations.” I am a Co-Founder and Director of that non-profit with a mission to elevate the art of the song through education, collaboration and mentorship.

Elexa first caught my ear listening to the River Trade Radio Program on KKFI probably in early 2019. She lives with her young daughter in rural Chase County, Kansas in the beautiful Tallgrass Prairie of the Flint Hills. When she was touring the Heartland before the lockdown, I made sure to catch her shows whenever she made it to the Kansas City Area. Her latest cd, “Music is Medicine” recorded by Peter Oviatt at Moonflower Sounds in Taos, New Mexico and released by Lost Cowgirl Records is a delight; however, it turns out that work was not the first time I heard Elexa. She also performs with The Weda Skirts, a 5-piece acoustic lineup, whom I had seen performing at past Kansas City Symphony in the Flint Hills events. They play conscious, original acoustic music from the Heartland written by Elexa Dawson. Dawson is a member of Heyleon, a group that describes themselves as “taking a deep space acoustic flight where space time as we know it goes away…a Trans-Apocalyptic Pagan Gospel Super Group formed in the Pecan Grove at Walnut Valley Festival.”

At the end of the day, Elexa is an extremely talented artist living in the Flint Hills…using this time of enforced isolation to reflect, reclaim and re-invent herself. I think she’s going to be just fine and I cannot wait to see and hear what’s next. Enjoy my conversation with the amazing Elexa Dawson.

There are beautiful, amazing and talented people in this world. Sometimes you have to travel to a music conference in Montreal to find out one of them, Kelly Dougherty, has lived a few houses down the street from you for years. Until recently, Kelly served as the Communications Director for Folk Alliance International…an organization whose mission is to serve, strengthen, and engage the global folk music community through preservation, presentation, and promotion. She was poised to be instrumental in organizing and managing the annual Folk Alliance International Conference as it returned to it’s home base in Kansas City, Missouri in 2021.  The Conference was cancelled due to the COVID 19 pandemic and the fallout has led to FAI staff cuts that included Kelly.

We recently sat down for a conversation in my home, physically distant but close enough to record a wide ranging conversation that included discovering she started her music career as a young child performing pantomime, ala Marcel Marceau, in beauty pageants in Wyoming, followed by a stint singing and dancing with her dad’s honky tonk band in Western saloons, meeting the likes of country stars like Johnny Cash during Cheyenne’s Frontier Days. As an adult she has discovered and curated a love and respect for Irish music and culture, volunteering heavily at Kansas City’s Irish Center, Irish Fest and tending bar occasionally at Browne’s Irish Marketplace.

Kelly actively volunteers in the dog rescue community and has teamed up with another talented neighbor, Jill Westra, performing locally as “Distant Cousins.” As you listen to Kelly’s story, I’m certain you will agree she has what it takes to come back stronger and engaged more than ever in the community she loves. And if I ever get to travel to my ancestral home….Ireland… I want Kelly to be my guide. Enjoy this sheltering in place conversation and musical interlude from Kelly's CD "Dair" courtesy of my friend and neighbor, Kelly Dougherty.

Being sheltered in place due to COVID 19 has presented a unique and unusual challenge to continue to conduct conversations with artists and industry insiders. One of the benefits of being isolated is taking time to do some housekeeping of computer audio and video files. I literally stumbled across what you will hear next…my very first on air radio interview in 2011… and it was a precious one…  with Grammy nominated songwriter Iris Dement. Iris and her husband Greg Brown were coming to Kansas City to headline a fundraising concert in support of a local nonprofit’s child services program.

Iris, born in Paragould, Arkansas is the youngest of 14 children raised in the Dement’s Pentecostal household. As you will hear in this conversation, Iris' mother had harbored dreams of going to Nashville and starting a singing career. Although she put those plans on hold to get married, her singing voice was an inspiration and influence for her youngest daughter Iris. Iris spent nearly 20 years in Kansas City…played her first open mic here as she slowly but surely navigated her way into the musical family that has become known as Americana.

Perhaps best known for her song “Our Town” and her duets with the legendary John Prine, Iris’ body of work deserves close and focused attention. It runs the gamut with songs of love, redemption, religious skepticism, introspection, small town life, and protest with topics as diverse as sexual abuse, religion, government policy and warmongering.

Iris could not have been more gracious and kind in this interview conducted very very early on a Tuesday morning. I have been and always will be a fan. Enjoy this short…but lovely conversation with Iris DeMent!

Sheltering in place during the COVID -19 pandemic of 2020 made it necessary to utilize other resources to bring you content for this podcast. The following is the audio from a magical night in the studios of 90.1 FM KKFI when I brought together two completely different artists who just happen to share the name Kelley/Kelly Hunt. Before this evening on March 1, 2018, these women had never meant.   I've known "Piano" Kelley Hunt for over 20 years.  When I first met "Banjo" Kelly Hunt a few years ago, I just KNEW I had to get them together...whether they performed at the same time or not.  After this radio appearance, they have in fact become friends in music and in life…another unexpected by-product of that evening… Al Berman, "Piano" Kelly’s husband and manager, is currently acting as "Banjo"Kelly’s manager as well.  And that recording project "Banjo" Kelly was talking about....it became "Even the Sparrow" nominated for Folk Alliance International's 2019 Album of the Year!   I thought it could be a special evening of music and conversation. I was right. Please enjoy this special edition of the Tasty Brew Music Podcast.

Mary Bragg, a lovely woman from Georgia that crafts beautiful songs from her home base in Nashville, was another one of those serendipitous Folk Alliance finds discovered in the wee small hours of a Conference private showcase. When I caught a show she did in Kansas City as part of the “First Friday” events hosted at the Folk Alliance HQ last August, I knew I wanted to have a sit down with her for this Podcast. We had that opportunity in New Orleans on an afternoon when we were both running on empty but still managed to have an easy going, wide ranging conversation that covered topics like sound engineering, publishing, performing arts organizations,  record deals, distribution, “flying in” tracks, and oh yes…songwriting, the art of the song, and how living in Nashville has taught her how important it is to “lean in” and own the ability to translate emotion and humanity into a song. As we agreed, if the song and performance isn’t stellar, it doesn’t really matter that much whether you have the so-called best hardware and software.

“Writing is the most vulnerable state that I’m ever in,” says Mary Bragg. “But there can be a real beauty in that vulnerability when you know you’ve written the strongest thing that you can, when you’ve paired a killer melody with a meaningful lyric that says exactly what you wanted to say.”

And that is why I love supporting songcrafters like Mary Bragg. What she writes is meaningful for me and verbalizes thoughts and feelings I have myself. You are on the Right Track Mary Bragg...stay there…please… and thank you!

Folk Alliance 2019 in Montreal did not pan out exactly as I planned…I caught some wonderful music and some audio for this podcast but for the most part, I spent the entire week trying to navigate and operate with incredible back and hip pain…what I thought was sciatica turned out to be, among other things, a couple of stress fractures in my lower back. I will always be most grateful for two things from that trip...the kindness and assistance shown to me by my travelling Kansas City music family and the discovery of the musical tour de force known as Rising Appalachia.

As world travelers for nearly two decades, Rising Appalachia are now merging multiple global music influences with their own southern roots. Founded by sisters Leah Song and Chloe Smith, the band has established an international fan base due to relentless touring, tireless activism, and no small degree of stubborn independence. But it wasn’t always so. The sisters have morphed into this musical life coming to realize that performing could be just one component of a greater overall vision – one that includes advocating for social, racial and environmental justice, and Indigenous rights.

When I discovered that Rising Appalachia would again have an Official Showcase at Folk Alliance 2020 in New Orleans, I knew I had to try and have a conversation with at least one of the sisters for this podcast. Ironically within a few days of that discovery, Rising Appalachia’s team reached out to me as a registered Folk DJ at the conference, asking if I wanted an interview opportunity in New Orleans. Leah Song aka “The Hustler”  and I did sit down late one afternoon for a lovely chat. She could not have been more engaging and accommodating. Enjoy this conversation that highlights the dynamics of being a female led band, the importance of stewardship and cooperation from the male band members, creating a complete aesthetic by adorning themselves with wearable art made by friends and fans, and the band’s commitment to what they call the “slow music” movement. Enjoy my time with Leah Song of Rising Appalachia.

As a music business professional, Brad Paul has actively promoted a wide variety of music genres through his work as a radio promoter, radio host and producer, concert promoter, video producer and director. I first met Brad nearly 10 years ago at my first Americana Music Association conference in Nashville after I had just gotten on the air on KKFI with the Tasty Brew Music Radio Show. He has been at every AMA and Folk Alliance International conference I have attended since that time…advocating on behalf of his clients and very often serving on multiple radio-centric panels.

Brad graduated from Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts with a BS degree in communication. While at Emerson he co-created the popular morning show The Coffeehouse on Emerson’s student run radio station WERS, where he also served as Program Director. He was responsible for bringing Live At Passim to WERS and produced and hosted the program for three years from the venerable music venue in Harvard Square.

Brad hosted and produced “The Folk Show” on WEVO (New Hampshire Public Radio) from 1988 to 1991 and Folk On WGBH (Boston's NPR affiliate) from 2004 to 2009. He is a founding member of the Americana Music Association and has served on its Board of Directors for thirteen years, with three years served as President of the Board

As VP of Promotion for Concord Music Group/New Rounder/Village Roadshow and SVP of National Promotion for Rounder Records he promoted artists as diverse as Alison Krauss, Robert Plant, Steve Martin, Paul Simon, Gregg Allman, Willie Nelson, John Mellencamp, The Chieftains, Alejandro Escovedo, Raul Malo and many more to a variety of radio formats including AAA, Americana, country, folk, and syndicated programs from National Public Radio and Public Radio International.

Since its inception in 2013, Brad Paul Media, a full service radio promotion and artist development consulting company whose goal is to help artists increase their brand awareness through radio exposure and develop their career by tapping into his network of music industry professionals, has scheduled over 1000 radio in-studio appearances and garnered tens of thousands of radio spins for over one hundred clients.He has sent me some amazing talent over the years that I have had the privilege of introducing rather exclusively to a Kansas City radio and KKFI streaming audience.

When he reached out to gauge my interest in interviewing his 2020 talent slate in New Orleans at Folk Alliance, I responded sure I would love to but only if he agreed to sit down with me for a chat also. Many thanks to Brad for arranging my subsequent interview with Chris Masterson and Eleanor Whitmore aka The Mastersons and anchor of Steve Earle’s touring band, The Dukes.  Enjoy my conversation with a bonafide music industry insider, Brad Paul.