Dec 20, 2017
American Folk, a feature film that's already won numerous jury prizes at film festivals, starts its theatrical run in late January of 2018. First time writer/director David Heinz wanted true-life folk singers to play the lead characters, rather than actors playing at folk singing. And Amber Rubarth is a certified folk...
Dec 16, 2017
The plan was to spend an hour with David Rawlings, an artist who’s releasing brilliant folk albums, touring to huge acclaim and driving a new string band agenda. The plan was to ask him about his emergence in recent years as a leader and artist of note after so many years of playing the not silent but often unbilled...
Dec 5, 2017
Blessed are the storytellers, and this week we’ll visit with two of them from the world of roots music. Thirty years into his recording career, Radney Foster is a certified star of Texas songwriting and authentic country music. Always intellectually restless, Foster has widened his scope in recent years by songwriting...
Nov 23, 2017
It’s a love story, with an all banjo soundtrack. Hollywood would never buy the pitch. But it’s better that it’s real life. Béla Fleck is the most famous banjo player of his time, a searcher who’s played and preserved traditional bluegrass while innovating on his instrument in jazz fusion and classical concert...
Nov 7, 2017
It’s hard to over-state the importance of Norbert Putnam to Southern music. As a teenager he was one of a handful of guys who built the legendary recording scene in Muscle Shoals from scratch. Working with a young Rick Hall and Tom Stafford, plus some fellow musicians, they figured out how to make records and then how...