Tasty Brew Music

My friend Beau Bledsoe, Artistic Director of the amazing nonprofit Ensemble Iberica, recently messaged me that Max and Josh Baca of Los Texmaniacs were coming to Kansas City for a show and wanted to come on the radio to honor the recently departed music icon, accordionist Flaco Jimenez.  I, of course, said yes!  They were delayed in getting to the station before I had to sign off but we were able to squeeze in the conversation and performance you are about to hear.

Los Texmaniacs are the Past, Present, And Future of ConjuntoMusic. Conjunto music may be a familiar sound to residents of Texas, but its worldwide appeal can be surprising. Conjunto is a uniquely American musical genre, originating in South and Central Texas, that blends European accordion music with Mexican rhythms and instruments like the bajo sexto. Combine a hefty helping of Tex-Mex conjunto, simmer with several parts Texas rock, and add a daring dash of well-cured blues and R&B riffs, and you’ve cooked up the tasty Grammy-winning Los Texmaniacs groove. Max Baca is a legend on thebajo sexto, a twelve-string guitar-like instrument, and his nephew, Josh Baca, is fast attaining legendary status on the accordion, with those two instruments creating the core of the lively conjunto sound. 

I’ve been privileged to see this amazing group play inKansas City, Montreal and early next year in New Orleans alongside some of my wonderful friends in Ensemble Iberica and Making Movies.  They are committed to their craft whilepreserving and protecting the music they so dearly love.  Icing on the cake -  Max co-wrote a song with my number onepretend boyfriend Joy Ely.

Enjoy this musical performance by and conversation with  Max and Josh Baca of Los Texmaniacs!

I have known songwriter Kristin Hamilton for 8 years now….Beginning with her membership in an amazing Americana band called Under the Big Oak Tree and continuing with her work with her daughter Lucy Gray, members of Cowtown Country Club and now as a solo artist. 

In addition to the Tasty Brew Music Radio Show, I host, in rotation with others, a live performance radio show on KKFI called MidCoast Live! shining a spotlight on local and touring artists from all genres of music.  I welcomed the opportunity to showcase Kristin as a solo artist on MidCoast Live!

Her music is folk country tinged with the sweet flavor ofbluegrass touching on topics of family & faith, grief & gratitude. Hamilton grew up singing at spontaneous musicalget-togethers on her family's farm in northwest Missouri. Extended family would gather under a big oak tree on summer nights to sing and play old country and gospel numbers. Being "the shy one" in the group, she was eventually brave enough to accept an invitation to sing at church that led to an additional invitation to perform accompanied by her father and accomplished guitar player, Rocky Cathcart.  That show was a great success and eventually led to the formation of Under The Big Oak Tree that included some of the best musicians in the area - Simon Fink, Doug Ward, and Jason Riley. Under The Big Oak Tree released three full length albums including the last release "The Ark" that earned repeated spins on local NPR and community radio stations.

In 2018 Kristin joined forces with the Lost Cowgirl Revue for a special tour of Germany, The Netherlands and France. The Revue included acclaimed singer songwriters and multi-instrumentalists, Julie Bennett Hume, Joy Zimmerman, and Jenna Rae with accompaniment by Chris Hudson, finger styleclassical guitarist all of whom get regular spins on the Tasty Brew Music Radio Show.

Enjoy this conversation and special musical performance byKristin Hamilton!

East Texas Songwriter Stefan Prigmore is another artist thatcame to me from multiple streams of connection as you’ll hear in the Summer 2025 conversation and musical performance.  His down home demeanor and Jon Dee Graham meets Skylar Hamilton meets John Prine vocal aesthetic is a wonderful combination. 

In Stefan’s own words: 

I make music because it helps me to process difficult and complex ideas, in a way that others also understand and can relate to. There’s a catharsis that happens when I see my understanding reflected back in another person when they hear one of my songs, that gives us both some comfort. It alsohelps me to lift up the beauty I see in this world, and has become a lens for seeing and understanding the world and my feelings. It generally all comes down to love, that I have and find when birthing a song, and that is reflected backwhen I share these songs with you.

As you’ll hear in our conversation, Stefan has been creatingand performing music since his teenage years, following his father into the business.  If you explore his catalogue,you will learn and understand the joy Stefan finds in the outdoors and the gratitude he shows on the stage are part of the same values reflected in his music. Stefan's sound is an approachable blend of Americana, folk, and roots.  Although some of his lyrics can be construed as dark, they are sincere and that soft/tender conversational voice is becomesquite dynamic and distinctive when he sings.

I’ve been around of while.  I’ve seen and heard hundreds, if not thousands, of live music performances.  Everything from my first concert in 1965 for The Righteous Brothers in St. Louis  to Loretta Lynn at the Ryman Auditorium inNashville, Tennessee. I’ve been present in locked fado clubs in Lisbon and Porto, Portugal witnessing some of the most profound and emotional music ever performed.    I’ve sat mere steps away from Guy Clark and Verlon Thompson, Rodney Crowell, Bonnie Raitt, John Fullbright, Steve Earle…. On and on.  I know myself to have been in the presence of folks at the pinnacle of so-called American Roots Music.

I felt no less inspired and awed on a Monday night in KansasCity with about 50 other folks listening to an 18 year old lyrical master from Ft. Worth Texas and his partner in music for the evening, Abe Partridge of Mobile, Alabama.

Jack started performing original songs at age nine and hasshared the stage with artists like Ray Wylie Hubbard and Wynonna Judd. His mature and heart wrenching lyrics, soulful voice and master guitar skills  pay homage to country music and blues influences. Inspired by legends like Townes Van Zandt, Guy Clark, and Johnny Cash, yet with a voice and point of view all his own, Jack is on track to have career thatwill only mature and flourish in the coming decades.  Do not miss an opportunity to see and support him.

We had a bumpy start trying to make the phone connection for this conversation but we finally got it together.  Enjoy my first interview with Jack Barksdale…. I hope to speak to him again someday and wish him nothing but the best. 

Danielle Anderson aka Danielle Ate the Sandwich is a very talented artist. She recently filled in as host for the Heartland Song Network’s monthly song salon (The Song Sanctuary)at Kansas City’s PH Coffee. A gentleman named Jesse Jack Sample from Toronto, KS attended and blew everyone, including Danielle, away with his amazing contributions to the afternoon. She immediately contacted me as she thoughtJesse was a great candidate for inclusion on the Tasty Brew Music Radio Show’s rotation. She was right and with some back and forth, we were able to come up with a date for Jesse to come in and share his stories with our KKFI audience.

Sample began his musical journey in the Wichita rock scenebut then paused to raise a family and live a quieter life. In recent years he’s found himself living in Toronto, Kansas a place more in tune with the country sounds heard on his album “King of the Plains.”

For a time he operated a bait shop/music venue in Toronto, adifficult venture to sustain in a small town. Building an audience is difficult within an urban center; super challenging from a place like Toronto, KS.

Enjoy this musical conversation and performance with JesseJack Sample… Dillon Boren on acoustic bass and Jack Riebel on fiddle…. Oh and grab a tissue for Jesse’s original composition “Juliet.”

One of many great joys in hosting shows on community radiois giving a voice to local musicians who, despite their amazing talent and songwriting ability,  are underserved or completely ignored by mainstream corporate media.  This episode of the Tasty Brew Music podcast features this show’s debut of Flanner Laycock and Schrock from Harrisonville,Missouri. With Dylan O. Flanner on lead guitar and vocals, Jesse Laycock on bass, and Aaron Schrock on guitars/vocals, this group of young songwriters serve up solid original tunes and faithful, yet unique covers of their favorite songs.  Their debut record with original material plus an amazing cover of the Kris Nichols tune “Everythings for Sale”, Postcards from Gehenna Missouri, is right on for any discerning fan ofAmericana/Red Dirt/Roots Music. 

Enjoy this live in studio performance captured  In June 2025 for the MidCoast Live! Radio Show on 90.1 FM KKFI. 

My connection with songwriting guitarist Rick Gibson goesback to about 2012 when he spearheaded a project with his “Peacemakers” band that featured my friend Tom Hall on vocals.   Rick recently visited the Tasty Brew Music Radio show to share the details and spin some tunes from his 2025 project “The Book of OzarK’ …part of his continuing legacy project “Ozark Anthology – the Life and Times of Curtis Lee” This work chronicles a young man’s courageous journey  from humble hilltop beginnings across the backdrop of a changing 20th century Ozark America, through personal tragedy, the depression, World War II and 1960’s racism.

 My friend Tom Hall has again lent his signature vocals to the project and Rick is working on fundraising to complete a screenplay and sound track, seeking a producer andscreenwriter for the film and to finalize recording, mixing and mastering of the sound track.

Enjoy this conversation and sneak peak into the Book ofOzark!

#roots music #ozarks #communityradio #tastybrewmusic

Welcome to the 101st episode of the Tasty Brew Music Podcast!

I first met Christian Dixon at a Sunday Heartland SongNetwork Song Sanctuary session at PH Coffee House.  Shortly thereafter I welcomed Christian on air for what I believe was his very first radio appearance.  I was honored to recently welcome him back to the airwaves as he was preparing to release his new work “Genetics.”

Christian is a middle born child from a small town in theMidwest…Hamilton, Missouri I believe. From a young age, he asked himself the big questions like "What is this all for?" As a pastor's grandson, faith and religion were inseparable from his upbringing. Scarcity and provision, mental health and illness, and shifting self-worth were also formative experiences that shape his life’s perspective. 

He is heavily influenced by the lyrics of Switchfoot lead singer Jon Foreman, and relates closely to the work of Matt Maeson and Noah Kahan. Christian wants his music to be meaningful, introspective, and authentic; he is unafraid to confront heavy subjects like family trauma, loss, doubt, and a longing to answer the question "What is this all for?"

Enjoy this follow up appearance on the Tasty Brew with Missouri son Christian Dixon.

To the best of my knowledge, Kris Schultz is the second“merch slinger” I’ve met that went on to pursue a lyrical life as a troubadour in her own right.  My first experience was with Texas songwriter Kayla Ray as she first visited KC slinging merch for Jason Eady. 

I love Kris’ trajectory…. check this out.  Growing up in Topeka, Kansas, Kris was obsessed at an early age with the country songs of heartbreak and loss on the jukebox at a bar she visited regularly with her parents.  At an early age, she showed promise in several sports, especially the field part of track and field eventually accepted a scholarship to throw Javelin at Kansas State University, where she majored in Radio/Television Journalism.  While competing in the Texas Relays during her college career, she fell in love with Austin, TX.  And soon moved there with only a box of books & CDs, a small stereo, and a bag of clothes.  She walked into the city-ran Austin Music Network TV channel, asked for an internship, and soon was spending her days proof-checking videos of local music and taking in every note. But she still hadn't thought of playing music herself. 

After years assisting musicians as merch slinger, roadmanager and van driver, but never playing or singing herself, Kris eventually  acquired a guitar and began writing songs.

She released her full-length album, Standard Issue Heart, inOctober 2021, has played such legendary venues as The Saxon Pub and Cactus Café in Texas, toured in the Midwest, Southwest and Southeastern US, has been featured in the live performance series “Songs In Places.”  Kris recently found herself in the Heartland and we connected to make an appearance on the Tasty Brew Music Radio Show happen.   Enjoy this performance and conversation with Austin transplant Kris Schultz. 

Tasty Brew Music Radio Show

"Showcasing the best of Americana/Roots Music in andfrom the Heartland!”

Fridays 10 AM to Noon CST on 90.1FM KKFI Kansas CityCommunity Radio !!

Since 2010, spinning a “tasty brew” of Americana/Bluegrass/Country/Roots Music… empowering the art of the song!

"How can I listen?"

Kansas City turn your radio dial to 90.1FM every Friday from 10 am to Noon

Around the world use your cellphone or computer to go to www.kkfi.org and click the red "Live" button on the top left of the screen every Friday from 10 am til Noon Central Standard Time

Missed it live? Or want to listen again? go to archive.kkfi.org to listen for up to 2 weeks from the date the episode aired!

KKFI has a mobile app!? Download the app to listen live and see the current playlist, listen to replays, and see the entire show calendar including bios for each show & DJ.

Tasty Brew Music with DJ Diana Linn

Fridays 10 am - Noon CST on

90.1FM KKFI Kansas City Community Radio

https://kkfi.org/program/tasty-brew/

https://kkfi.org/program/tasty-brew/

#tastybrewmusic #americanamusic #songwriter #rootsmusic #austinmusic

Cameron Keeling, one of the hardest working and accomplished musicians from the Heartland, learned to play and write songs around his hometown Kansas City MO.  He toured with bluegrass band Grassfed for 5-years, releasing 2 studio albums.  You can catch him these holding down the low end on the upright bass as well as singing and writing with the band Front Porch.  Cameron and his RunawayTrain bandmate Cory Clark recently came into the Tasty Brew to share stories behind and spin some tunes ("Off My Mind," "Ready to Go" and "Haystack") from the Runaway Train’s new 2025 CD “Kill Creek.” 

Enjoy my conversation with and selected selections fromCameron Keeling and the Runaway Train’s Kill Creek available on all the major streaming platforms and from the band at one of their many shows throughout the country during this summer 2025 festival  season.  For all things for a busy and prolific Cameron Keeling… check out https://cameronkeelingmusic.com.