This weekend I got to experience “Catfish Music” from it’s creator, Jimbo Mathus. Most people know Jimbo from his days fronting the Squirrel Nut Zippers, but let me tell you what he’s been doing for the last decade plus as a solo artist and with his band The Tri-State Coalition will blow your mind.

Jimbo and the band took the stage at the Rumba Cafe in Columbus, Ohio and tore it up for just over an hour. His self proclaimed Catfish Music is a blend of Southern rock, country and blues and he and his bandmates know how to play it. Featuring Matt Pierce on lead guitar and Eric Carlton on keys as well as a damn fine rhythm section, Mathus and the band didn’t let a light crowd damper their spirits. They still played their collective asses off and the people that were there definitely appreciated the show.

I can only hope that next time Mathus hits Columbus, the city will turn out to see the show. Prior to playing Jimbo was kind enough to take a seat with me and share some stories and songs, including an unreleased gem, “Medicine”.

We discuss the origin of Catfish Music, his childhood nanny, and his current record label, Fat Possum Records among other things. I hope you enjoy this show as much I enjoyed recording it.

As always if you like what you hear, share the link, leave a review on iTunes and if you’d like drop a few dollars in the donation jar on the right.

I’d also like to thank this week’s sponsor, Graham’s Corner Store in Corinth Mississippi. Check out Graham’s at www.GrahamsCornerStore.com

Learn more about Jimbo at www.JimboMathus.com

Last Thursday night at the Red Door Tavern in Columbus, Ohio 40 of us were treated to one of the most amazing concerts I have seen in quite some time. Eric Taylor completely destroyed my expectations and left me in complete awe.

Nearly every singer / songwriter tells stories between songs, I have never seen one where the stories and the songs are of equal importance. The entire crowd was sitting anxiously awaiting every word, every song every perfectly timed silent pause.

Although he only played an hour and a half, I know everyone in attendance felt they more than got their money’s worth. Highlights of the show included the song “Bill” about Taylor’s departed friend and folk singing great Bill Morrissey, “Prison Movie” and a rare encore of Dylan’s “I Shall Be Released”.

I must also mention the great opening set by Columbus residents, Bejae Fleming and Jackie Blount. I had heard their names around and never had the opportunity to catch them live, and I am certainly glad I got there early this time around. I’m hoping to have Bejae on the podcast in the near future so look at for that.

A few hours prior to the show, Eric was kind enough to take a seat and have this conversation with me. We discussed his decision to not release his newest record digitally, moving to Houston in the early ’70’s and how you kept a job in Lightning Hopkins’ band among many other things. While Eric did not play any live songs, he did give me permission to use a couple tracks off of his brilliant new record, Studio 10 so opening the podcast is “String of Pearls” and closing it is “Cover These Bones”.

I hope you enjoy the conversation as much as I did, and as always share the link, tell a friend, leave a review on iTunes and all of that other stuff. Thanks everyone.

Find out more about Eric at www.BlueRubyMusic.com

This week’s podcast includes a special guest host. Our favorite Canadian, George Douglas sat down with fellow Canadian, singer / songwriter Brock Zeman.

Brock had finished a house concert at George’s and somewhere around 3 am they sat down to record this podcast. Brock was on the short list of songwriters that I wanted to have on this show when I started, so I am really happy that George got him to do this.

They discuss everything from Brock’s upcoming record to the time he opened for Toby Keith. Brock also shared a couple songs from that record as well.

I hope you all enjoy the podcast, I know I did and as always if you like what you hear, spread the word, share the link, leave a review on iTunes and if you feel really good about it drop a few dollars in the donation box to the right.

Find out all about Brock on his website here.

Special thanks to George and I hope you enjoy the show:

Last week, I got the chance to sit down with one of my favorite local singer/ songwriters, Joshua P. James. Joshua fronts the Paper Planes, who are one of the hottest bands in Central Ohio’s Americana scene. Known for blistering live performances and stellar songwriting James and the Paper Planes are poised to move up to national notoriety.

My wife had asked me about which artists from Ohio I’d like to have on the show and the list I gave her was fairly small and Joshua’s name was at the top. The Paper Planes debut record, Please, Please has been heavy in my rotation, since its 2012 release and I generally just dig James’ sound and style.

We met up at a mutual friend’s house in Columbus to record this podcast, we talk about his post collegiate travels, the forming of the Paper Planes, and many other things. Joshua was kind enough to share three songs including a yet to be released gem at the end of the show.

As always if you dig what you hear, help support the show and the site, by sharing the link, telling your friends, leaving a review on iTunes or if you feel really strongly leave a donation at the right hand side of the page.

To find out more about Joshua P. James and the Paper Planes go here.

Hope you enjoy:

This past Monday,  Kurt Marschke and JD Mack of The Deadstring Brothers were kind enough to spend a little time with me. We sat down prior to their show at the Rumba Cafe in Columbus, Ohio.

Kurt played a few songs and the three of us talked about the making of Cannery Row, their beginnings in Detroit, JD joining the band among other things.

We recorded this on the patio so there is some background noise on the recording including planes coming in to land at the Columbus Airport.

You can learn more about the Deadstring Brothers here.

As always if you enjoy what you hear, share the link, tell your friends and leave a review on iTunes. Also feel free to drop a donation on the side of the page if you are so obliged.

Enjoy:

This past Saturday I got to experience Grant Peeples live for the first at the Red Door Tavern. Grant played about an hour and a half set to a fairly good crowd that could not have been more enthralled.

Grant’s songs ran the gamut of politically charged to very personal in nature. His in between song banter ensured the audience’s attention would not wander.

The set was highlighted by a few sing alongs, notably “Sunshine State” and two songs that he brought out Rachel Baker, a lady which Grant had never met before, to sing with him. Peeples had sent her the songs in advance and she absolutely nailed them. This would seem to be a gimmick but, did not come off that way at all, the female voice filled out the two songs and one of them, “Slave to Your Imagination” may have been my favorite tune of the night.

After the show was over, I was completely sold on Grant and his music and I’m fairly certain I was not the only one. If I had to throw out a comparison, I’d say his stage presence and a little of his sound reminded me of fellow southerner, Paul Thorn.

After the show Grant was kind enough to spend some time with me recording this podcast. During the podcast we discuss his work saving turtles in South America, his decision to become a performing songwriter, and a certain singer who played his night club in the 80’s and was not the nicest person.

I really hope you all enjoy the show and as always share the link, leave a comment here or on iTunes, tell your friends and if you really like what you hear leave a donation on the right hand side of this page.

I want to give a couple shout outs as well, first of all to Bob Teague and Chip Kobe at the Red Door for their hospitality. Second to multi-instrumentalist and songwriter, Dan Walsh for providing the bed to the intro.

Find out more about Grant Peeples here.

Find out more on Dan Walsh here.

Last Friday night I packed up the recorder and headed back to the Woodlands Tavern in Columbus, Ohio to see Chicago Farmer and Great American Taxi.

It was the second time this year I had the chance to see Chicago Farmer open a show and once again I was blown away by his songs and stage presence. Cody played an hour long set filled with originals and humorous stories.

After seeing him open twice I am more than ready to see a headlining show from Chicago Farmer. Highlights of his set included, “Assembly Line Blues”, “I’m Working On It” and when he brought out Taxi’s drummer Chris Sheldon to play a banjo turned into a percussion instrument.

Cody also made an appearance during Taxi’s second set sharing vocals with Vince Herman on spirited versions of Willie and Waylon’s “Good Hearted Woman” and The Band’s “Up On Cripple Creek”.

Prior to the show we sat down to record this podcast in the backstage bathroom. We discuss his moniker, opening for Gene Ween and multiple other things.

As always if you like what you hear, leave a comment or rating on iTunes, share the link and tell your friends. Also if you feel so inclined hit the donate button on the side of the site to help us out with bandwith and such. Thanks for listening and I hope you enjoy the show.

Saturday June 1st I finally got the opportunity to see Peter Case live. I was certainly not disappointed. Through a 2 hour plus set at Natalie’s Coal Fired Pizza and Live Music in Columbus, Ohio, Case played songs from every era of his 40 year career.

Case switched back and forth between the 6 and 12 string guitars and more than lived up to his reputation as a phenomenal performer. Highlights of the show for me were when he played my request of Blind Willie Mctell’s “Broke Down Engine”, “I Hear Your Voice” from 2002’s Beeline and the first of two encores, “Beyond the Blues” which he performed unplugged in the middle of the audience.

Prior to the show Peter was kind enough to sit down with me for a few minutes and record this podcast. We were a little pressed for time so it’s a shorter podcast than usual, so I added a track that I recorded during his performance that night.

I’d like to mention how much I loved the venue, as well as the owners of the place. It was my first time visiting Natalie’s and it was a great experience from the food to the staff. I would definitely suggest anyone in the Columbus, Ohio area to make it a point to visit this place.

I hope you enjoy the podcast, as always help spread the word, share the link, leave a comment and if you feel so obliged drop a few bucks via the donate button on the side of this page to help us out with the bandwith and such on the site.

Find out more about Peter Case on his website.

This past Saturday I had the opportunity to see Rod Picott open for Mary Gauthier as part of the Six String Concert Series in Columbus, Ohio. As many of you know Rod is one of our favorite songwriters here at Broken Jukebox. This was the first time I have seen him live.

The all too short 30 minute set started with Rod welcoming us to the Rod Picott Heartbreak and Misery Circus. He told the audience if they woke up and wanted to hear songs about unemployment and welding, then he was their guy.

The set was filled with humorous banter that nestled nicely with the heavy themes of the songs he played. He opened with the title track of 2011’s Welding Burns followed by “Rust Belt Fields” from the same record.

In the middle of the set, he broke out his one happy wedding song, “Angels and Acrobats”, explaining that if he were to write more love songs his wedding gigs would become more work.

He ended the set with two more songs from Welding Burns, “Your Father’s Tatto” and “410”.

The show was over way too soon, and left me wanting to see him play a full show for sure. I’m hoping that this will lead to more trips to Columbus for Mr. Picott.

After the show he was kind enough to sit down back stage with me to record a podcast. The audio levels were a little tricky on this one, so I apologize for any loud spots. During the podcast Rod discusses his introduction to songwriting in Nashville, his upcoming album and working with R.S. Fields.

Enjoy and as always spread the word, leave a comment on iTunes, or donate a few dollars on the right side of the page to help with bandwith. Learn more about Rod here: www.RodPicott.com

Last week I posted the Jon Dee Graham podcast that was recorded after a show at the Woodlands Tavern. This week is Graham’s tour mate, Mike June. Prior to the show I was very unfamiliar with June’s work, but I was sold halfway through the first song in his set.

Throughout his hour on the stage, June played tunes that had a social ring to them as well as more personal material.  He leaned heavily on tracks from the two records that he released last year, Exile on Wilson Street and Talkin’ Revolution Blues, and after hearing them live, I was convinced both of those records were excellent (I now own the latter and my assumptions were overwhelmingly correct).

After the show Mike was kind enough to wait until the taping of the Graham podcast was over and sit down with me to record another. We found the common ground of 80’s baseball, talked about his self imposed exile in Austin, Texas and the recording of the album that was born from it.

I hope you enjoy this podcast as much as I enjoyed getting to know Mike and his music. Go to his website : www.MikeJune.com and buy a couple records. If you enjoy this podcast or anything else you read or hear on this site, leave a comment, rate us on iTunes, share the link and if you feel so inclined hit the donate button on the right hand side of this page.

Thanks and enjoy.