Few fully independent artists in any genre have been able to grow to the scale and influence that Cody Jinks has pulled off in the outlaw country space. He sells out iconic venues like Red Rocks in Colorado with a sound that layers his boyhood influence from Lefty Frizzell with the edge of the thrash metal rocker he once was. The Fort Worth native “put in the reps” for countless years in bars and honky tonks, nearly going broke, before albums like I’m Not The Devil and Lifers vaulted him to the big time in the years before the pandemic. He’s now out with In My Blood, an album that basks in his newfound sobriety and a new focus on himself and his family, making this a very candid and fascinating interview with a self-made country star whom mainstream radio virtually overlooks.
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Atlanta native Kristina Murray moved to Nashville in 2014 with a fresh and original debut album and steely determination. The country singer and songwriter carved out a respected space at honky tonks like Santa’s Pub and the American Legion. When hard work and critical acclaim for her two releases didn’t launch her career to a new orbit, it felt like defeat. That, plus the pandemic, fueled some challenging times and emotions that inspired her new one, Little Blue, a lovely, lament-filled album on New West’s Normaltown imprint. Murray is due for new waves of attention, and we talk about how hard that is to manifest in this edition of The String.
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I’m With Her, the sublime and award-winning trinity of Sarah Jarosz, Aoife O’Donovan, and Sara Watkins is back with their second album, after an eight year interim since their debut See You Around came out to great acclaim. The new Wild And Clear And Blue, written over several years and produced by multi-instrumentalist indie folk guru Josh Kaufman, arrived last Friday, and it’s sure to be one of the most celebrated recordings of 2025. Craig reviews the album and speaks with Sara Watkins about this special relationship, plus her ever-evolving work with Nickel Creek and the Los Angeles Watkins Family Hour collective.
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JD Clayton is one of the first emerging artists to release music in an era of new leadership at the historic Rounder Records in Nashville. He’s an open-hearted guy who got the songwriting bug growing up in Fort Smith, AR and who then found his songs and his way on stage led to organic growth. His 2023 album Long Way From Home got him out on the road in a big way and led to some high profile opening shows. He produced his new album Blue Sky Sundays, a fresh and catchy take on country rock, with his brotherly band. He seems to embody the ethos of his feel-good song “High Hopes & Low Expectations.”
LINER NOTES
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Jessie Scott sat down with Carlene Carter for a WMOT Words & Music session at Riverside Revival.
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Jessie Scott sat down with Judy Collins for a special Words & Music session at WMOT's Riverside Revival studio in East Nashville.
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Listen to Jessie Scott as she sits down with William Prince for a Words & Music session.
WMOT VIDEO: LIVE SESSIONS ON NPR MUSIC
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Ahead of their main stage performances at last week's Wired In at Riverside Revival, Anderson East and Hayes Carll dropped by WMOT's backstage studio to play a stripped-down set of songs from their latest records. Watch the full sessions here.
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Carolyn Wonderland stopped by the WMOT studio to perform "Texas Girl", "I Ain't Goin Back", and "Truth Is" for WMOT's Words & Music, where we invite artists to perform and discuss their latest projects. In an interview with Jessie Scott, Carolyn reflects on being the first female member of John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, the making of 'Truth Is' (produced by Dave Alvin), the Austin music scene, and more.
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Watchhouse is this week's guest on Words & Music, where we invite artists to discuss and perform stripped-down versions of their latest projects. The duo performed the title track of their latest record 'Rituals', along with "Shape" and "All Around You".
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Ahead of her main stage performance at last week's Wired In at Riverside Revival, Kristina Murray, one of Nashville's most respected country songwriters, stopped by WMOT's backstage studio. She and her guys played stripped-down versions of "Watchin’ the World Pass Me By," "Just A Little While Longer," and "Get Down To It" from Little Blue, her latest album and her first for New West Records' Normaltown imprint.
NPR Top Stories
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A federal appeals court ruled Friday to uphold a lower court's temporary order blocking the Trump administration from conducting indiscriminate immigration stops and arrests in Southern California.
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A three-day National Transportation Safety Board hearing on the deadliest U.S. aviation accident in decades dug into problems with altimeters, chopper routes and the busy Washington, D.C., airspace.
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A coalition of 16 states and D.C. argue in the lawsuit that the Trump administration is trying to effectuate a national ban on gender-affirming care for youth by intimidating hospitals and doctors.
Win a pair of tickets to A Prairie Home Companion Christmas at Ryman Auditorium on December 15, 2025
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