Emily Nenni didn't fall in love with country music and then move to Nashville. She did the reverse, using the city's honky tonks and local haunts like a country music college. And instead of chasing the allure of the CMA Awards, the Bay Area native dove fully into the traditional end of the pool. Her sparky voice and detail-rich songs grabbed the attention of New West Records, which released her breakout album On The Ranch late last year.
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Artists have come from the West, South, and East to make this week’s Finally Friday possible. We’ve set up a particularly interesting trio of musical concepts as we feature the hard swinging cowboy country of Wylie Gustafson, the blues-drenched slide guitar of Jeff Plankenhorn, and thoughtful commentary on Appalachia from native son Erik Vincent Huey. -
Nashville musicians are champs when it comes to putting together artist-driven benefit concerts to help others, but the recent Love Rising show set a new bar for speed, intensity and participation. As soon as Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed Republican-led laws that targeted the LGBTQ community, leading artists like Allison Russell and Jason Isbell started rounding up friends and a team to stage a full-scale arena show at Bridgestone in a matter of days. This slide show of the event featuring Allison Russell, Jason Isbell, Hozier, Sheryl Crow and more, comes from veteran Nashville music photographer Ed Rode.
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She sounds like she was born into a country music family, but Sunny Sweeney was actually a late and somewhat reluctant bloomer as an artist. Her friends had to beg her to record her first album when she was playing bars in Austin. Then that record got picked up by a Nashville label and got her to the Grand Ole Opry. The major label system was a bad fit, but Sunny has pursued an exemplary indie career in the years since. Her mix of smarts, sass and lonesome blues infuses her latest album Married Alone.
LINER NOTES
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Touring in a band since he was 17 years old, Nashville's Elliott Blaufuss has learned a lot about life. He's gained insight into human nature, life on the road, isolation. Lots of fodder for songwriting, including how to love a "Dive Motel", as he describes in the first single released from his debut full length album, The Sea Between Us, out tomorrow. His album release show is tonight at The Dive Motel in Nashville.
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I wrote in January about the important but hidden connections between Americana music and jazz, and little did I know at the time that an exemplary recording had recently been released. Now I’ve discovered Sweet Tooth, a mostly instrumental suite for jazz sextet from bass player and singer Mali Obomsawin. Folk music fans may know her as a member of the excellent former trio Lula Wiles (with Eleanor Buckland and Isa Burke), but with this debut project, Obomsawin proves she’s also a visionary composer. She steps into the spotlight with a story to tell about her roots in the Abenaki First Nation at Odanak, part of Canada’s Wabanaki Confederacy.
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Most knew him as a sideman, a drummer whose contributions elevated those he performed with such as Morphine, Treat Her Right, Jeffrey Foucault and Chris Smither among others. He was also a songwriter. Billy Conway passed away in December of 2021 and shortly thereafter, a group of close friends and collaborators gathered to pay tribute and record some of the songs he left behind. That recording, Further On: The Songs of Billy Conway is out today.
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WMOT VIDEO: LIVE SESSIONS ON NPR MUSIC
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Cristina Vane performs live for WMOT's Wired In series at The Skydeck in Nashville, TN on June 26, 2022. -
Host Jessie Scott sat down with The Zombies' Rod Argent and Colin Blunstone to discuss their new album 'Different Game' and their new documentary Hung Up on a Dream.
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Hall of Fame songwriter Rodney Crowell joined us for an intimate performance at the comfortable and stylish Star Rover Sound in Germantown on March 22. Tommy Tutone founder and esteemed musician Jim Keller opened. Thanks to our crew and Wired In members for making it a special night.
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Val Hoeppner/WMOT/Watch the WMOT 30A Songwriter Sessions with Americana singer/songwriters like Adia Victoria, Eddie 9V, Amanda Anne Platt and the Honeycutters, Ruthie Foster, Chuck Prophet and more. The sessions were filmed in the living room of a beach house turned studio near Santa Rosa Beach, Florida in January 2022.
NPR Top Stories
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Evan Gershkovich, a U.S. citizen, was on a reporting assignment in the Ural mountain city of Yekaterinburg when he was detained by agents from Russia's Federal Security Services.
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Taiwan's president is in the United States as part of a multi-day itinerary that will take the leader of the Asian democratic island through Central and North America.
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European Union states agreed to a plan after adding an exemption for cars that run on e-fuels. In the U.S., efforts to phase out gas-powered cars include future bans in several states.
Win a pair of tickets to see Hot Tuna, with Jack Casady and Jorma Kaukonen April 12, 2023 at the CMA Theater inside the Country Music Hall Of Fame.
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