In a bit more than a decade in Nashville, Kyshona has become a figure respected for her wisdom and valued as a songwriter/artist. Her 2020 album Listen, released just before the Covid shutdown, captured the zeitgeist of that troubled and strangely inspiring year, in part because a key part of the artist’s background and calling is music therapy. Her ethos of continuity and community continues on the magnificent album Legacy, where her research into her family history blossoms into songs that draw from soul, folk and gospel. This is a wide ranging talk with a woman who approaches all that she does with a desire and a plan to leave the world a bit wiser and kinder than she found it.

Ellen Angelico has emerged in the past few years as a go-to stringed instrument musician in the Americana and indie sectors of Nashville. Raised in Chicago, she was gigging in her teens, attended Berklee College of Music and came to Music City in 2010 with a full-time indie rock band gig. As she grew into more of a freelance life, Ellen carved out a niche and earned a ton of admiration earning an Americana Instrumentalist of the Year nomination in 2020. Her recent credits include shows and sessions with Cam, Adeem the Artist, Kyshona, Brandy Clark, Mickey Guyton and more. In this endearing hour, Ellen talks about getting established in Nashville, her high-visibility former job with Fanny’s House of Music in East Nashville and a card game about bro country lyrics that has to be heard to be believed.

In this special edition of The String, an audio postcard from Athens GA, a city of about 125,000 people just east of Atlanta that for forty years has been punching above its weight as a music city. As a teenager in the mid 1980s, I loved the B-52s and I about worshiped REM, and ever since, I’ve wondered what kind of place could produce those wildly different, highly progressive bands. My curiosity only grew as Athens continued to be a hotbed of art-forward rock and roll and creative roots music over the next forty years. So I came to listen and ask questions. We meet label owners George Fontaine Sr. and Jr., leading producer David Barbe, 40 Watt talent booker Velena Vego, artists Spencer Thomas and Hunter Pinkston, and more.

Cris Jacobs has been tagged the “King of Baltimore rock and roll” by a leading local publication, but a quick look at his catalog and certainly his newest album suggests there's more. He made his name as a guitarist, songwriter and singer with The Bridge, a soulful jam band that toured the nation and overseas between 2000 and 2010. His solo projects have been well regarded, but he’s not been a force in Americana until recently. After a bit of a mid-life crisis, he turned to his first love - bluegrass - and pulled together a wonderful album called One Of These Days, with the Infamous Stringdusters as his band and Jerry Douglas as his producer. It landed Cris a debut on the Grand Ole Opry. How did he get here? We find out. Also in the hour, some of my recent catch-up with roots power couple Larry Campbell and Teresa Williams.

I first heard Chris Smither as a fingerstyle guitar master who wrote good songs. With time I realized he’s a great songwriter who happens to be a standout guitarist. While never a household name, this 60-year veteran has long been a cherished icon of American folk and roots. His peers celebrated him in 2014 with the release of Link of Chain: A Songwriters’ Tribute to Chris Smither, featuring interpretations of his work by Dave Alvin, Peter Case, Patty Larkin, Mary Gauthier, Jorma Kaukonen, and Tim O'Brien. Now on the eve of his 80th birthday, Smither came by the studio to talk about his origins in New Orleans, his friendship with Bonnie Raitt, his boom times in the 1990s, and his newest album All About The Bones.

It’s one thing to get applause for your songs, and it’s another to get laughs. John Craigie of Portland, OR has quietly built a robust touring career because he’s an excellent songwriter who also keeps his audiences in stitches between songs. His newest album is a collaboration called Pagan Church with TK and the Holy Know-Nothings, the Portland band fronted by admired songwriter Taylor Kingman. We talk about how Craigie developed his stagecraft under the influence of artists like Arlo Guthrie and his friend Todd Snider, as well as his unlikely path to performing while getting a math degree in California. No surprise, it’s a lot of fun. Also in the hour, Dave Wilson and John Teer reflect on 25 years as Chatham County Line and the new directions baked into the new album Hiyo.

Maggie Rose returns to the String for a full hour this time, because her new album No One Gets Out Alive marks yet another leap for this magnificent singer and songwriter from Nashville. As we heard back in Episode 180, the Maryland native was scouted by major labels while still in college, leading to a country deal in the early 2010s. She fell through the cracks in that restrictive format but regrouped as a fully indie artist working as a business team with her husband. She’s built a following by working the road and a series of albums that split the difference between soul, country, pop, and rock and roll. And as the host of her own podcast, she’s also a great conversationalist.

For a duo called the Secret Sisters, Laura Rogers and Lydia Slagle let their relationship hang right out there on stage. At a packed late April show at Nashville’s Basement East, amid masterful renditions of their new and familiar songs for a spellbound audience, the sisters niggled each other, rolled their eyes, and came off at times like siblings who’d maybe been cooped up together in a van too long. And at the same time, this banter, which gets laughs, is an endearing part of their show and their relationship with their fans. On record and in performance, the Secret Sisters have been all about harmony since launching on their rollercoaster ride in the music business around 2010. But in Episode 283 of the String, we get into the unique challenges and blessings of sharing everything with each other and the audience, year in and year out.

For twenty years, Duluth, MN troubadour Charlie Parr has been touring every corner of the nation, sleeping in his van and living lean, to bring his unique take on the country blues to the people. Reserved, cerebral and devoted entirely to his own vision, he’s one of our finest folk artists and a lyricist well worthy of a certain other Minnesota songwriter who so famously blended poetry and the blues. He took a new tack with his latest album on Smithsonian Folkways, tapping producer Tucker Martine and his studio friends for a contemplative and immersive album of ruminations, pictorials, and stories. For someone who’s not comfortable in interviews, he spent a convivial hour at my studio and left behind a remarkable conversation.

There are countless reasons to pay homage to the legacy of country music and almost as many different ways to do so. Canadian artist Bahamas and Nashville’s Kelsey Waldon are doing just that in their own ways with recent projects. At a time when country traditions are strong across the Americana landscape, Bootcut by Bahamas and There’s Always A Song by Waldon demonstrate the power of devotion to a craft on one hand and celebration of heroes on the other.