Posted in On Air

History and a New Style of Blues Take Life Through “Amateur Music Anthropologist” Jontavious Willis

Jontavious Willis is a leading voice in acoustic blues who describes the format as “close to religion.” He’s also a self-described amateur music anthropologist who interviews older blues musicians in his spare time.

“I didn’t know it had a name, but I knew I liked it,” Willis said. “I knew I liked to hear where songs came from, how people pick up songs, how they relate to the folks around them, and how they put themselves in their music.”

I interviewed Willis with more or less those intentions. During our conversation, he came off as tremendously knowledgeable, almost like an encyclopedia, assuming an encyclopedia could display emotions like passion and humor. I had to bleep him more times for radio than any of my other 200 something guests by a factor of about three, yet he knew enough about the format to insert his own public service announcement for the suicide hotline into our discussion on “Ghost Woman.” In an understandable burst of emotion, he revealed that he would have killed if facing the conditions that Black Americans were subjected to before the end of slavery. In over a decade of doing these interviews I haven’t experienced many conversations this dynamic. 

His new album, West Georgia Blues, is also the name of a style he’s developing. Jayy Hopp, who played second guitar on much of the album, is a fellow practitioner and Willis’ mentee. Willis performs as though the British Invasion never occurred, preferring to draw his modern influences from more local sources.

“You’re going to get hip-hop out of Georgia,” he said. “You’re going to get gospel out of West Georgia for sure. I don’t use pop music as a standard. I’m paying homage to the past, but also, I’m doing it now.”

A line from the title track sums it up nicely: “Some people sing the blues just ‘cause they know the song/But we singing these blues to carry tradition on.” 

The album still presents diverse sounds within those parameters. “Ghost Woman,” a throwback to 1920s style laments and the longest track on the album, borrows lines from a number of songs from the era and repackages them into a coherent story. The warble in Willis’ voice came naturally at first, he said, but he exaggerated it to match the old recordings. The requests by the narrator for a ghost to stop haunting him and for a river to wash him away are desperate and powerful.

“Keep Your Worries On the Dance Floor” sounds like the sort of soul that would be at home in the 50s or 60s. It also spells out one of the things that makes blues so appealing by offering to help alleviate pain through good music with frank lyrics.

 “I try to make it intimate, I try to make it personal, I try to talk to folks and not just shred and make the show all about me,” Willis said of his shows. “I want to get folks involved in my music, whether it’s listening or dancing. I want there to be a relationship for the time that we have.” 

West Georgia Blues sounds almost experimental on “Time Brings About a Change” as Willis spits about a butterfly talking to a dying caterpillar about the future it might have with wings. The idea that those who embrace change can evolve while those who don’t are stuck in a more infantile state was striking. 

I was curious how Willis, keenly aware of Black and American history through his musical knowledge and conversations with elders, would interpret the times we were living in. Like the butterfly he is, Willis said not everything needs to be perfect for him to appreciate the 160 years of change since the blues emerged from newly freed Black Americans.

“We’re living in a mighty fine time, and I’m glad to be alive right now,” Willis said. “Politics is always going to be politics, and we have further to go, but we’re always going to have further to go. Humans can’t live in harmony with themselves, so you know they ain’t gonna be able to live in harmony with people that don’t look like them or talk like them.” 

Above is the full episode as aired on WUSB’s Country Pocket, including both my interview with Jontavious Willis and the songs we discussed, starting with “Keep Your Worries On the Dance Floor,” which illustrates the relationship Willis has with his audience. The interview begins with the second video in the playlist. You can hear the show live every Tuesday at 12pm on WUSB 90.1 FM or check the blog to watch it as a YouTube playlist. Visit http://www.WUSB.fm and http://jontaviouswillis.com for more.

Posted in On Air

Kaia Kater Discovers Her Characters Need Agency on Strange Medicine

Kaia Kater has covered a lot of traumatic topics on her past albums, and to some extent that pattern continues on Strange Medicine. But she’s coming at it from a different perspective now. 

“There was this feeling that if I want to write a song like ‘Both Sides Now’ or ‘Clouds,’ I have to put myself through hell. If I want to write anything good, I have to be traumatized,” Kater said. “In 2016 I wrote a song called “Rising Down” which was about police violence against black people. That was a really important song to me and to a certain extent it was very cathartic to write, but I also didn’t think about the fact I’d have to sing it each night.”

She’s progressed on this album as a result of reexamining her assumption. In “Floodlights,” Kater dredges up an age gap relationship she entered as a 17 year old. But this time, she’s on stage singing and able to move past spotting a man who had once caused her pain. She’s also learned the difference between songs she wants to release and songs she writes simply to help her process things. They don’t necessarily all need to be released. A key test she’s instituted involves how she portrays the protagonists in her songs.

“I think I’m much more keen to give whatever character it is in my song some kind of agency, so that when I sing it each night there is more of a 3D look at what life experience is. It’s complicated.”

It’s that type of reframing that makes Strange Medicine go down a lot easier for both Kater and the listener. The targeted woman in “The Witch” is standing up to her accusers, something that feels pointed even with the sweet harmony vocals of Aoife O’Donovan. Burned to death, the character still lets off lines like “I’ll stitch myself back together again” and “I’ll see you soon and hunt you then.” 

“Fedón,” which tells the story of a Grenadian abolitionist and revolutionary, does not focus on the fact his revolution failed. Instead, it spotlights his bravery, ingenuity, and the eventual triumph of his ideals. “Something’s blooming/I can hear it,” Kater sings.

“It had to have this pulsing war-like energy and it had to have forward momentum. It had to be something you look to when you feel discouraged,” Kater said of the song, noting that it feels good to share a story of a marginalized person standing up to the system rather than suffering under it. “Maybe what he really understood is that in 300-400 years his mission would be accomplished. It’s this kind of faith that you lose the battle but not the war.” 

“Maker Taker,” the song that frames Kater’s prior need to highlight trauma in her songs as pressure from record executives and critics, is an airy battle cry: “I’ll starve those hungry ghosts/Play what I know about hope/and confusion and laughing in tour vans.”

“In Montreal,” a highlight featuring fellow Canadian Allison Russell, presents that hope through growth. Kater sings to her younger self about ways she could improve, it’s implied that growth has occurred because she’s the one suggesting it. And therefore her problems in the present day seem likely to be solved. 

Perhaps certain critics may prefer unadulterated trauma, but pay attention to popular culture and it’s full of stories more like strange medicine. The average movie certainly has trauma or danger to overcome, but for the most part, the audience craves stories where the good guys win. People are looking to live vicariously through those victories, to be inspired by those coming of age stories like “In Montreal.”

There is one song on the record that breaks with the theme of agency. “Often As The Autumn,” a ghost story about a shadowy force picking off livestock one by one repurposed by Kater, takes us back to a time when not many of us had much control over what was going on.

“I think at that point we were three years deep into the pandemic,” Kater said. “I was 26 and I had all these plans and I felt like it was so unfair that there was so much death all around me. I was in New York when it started and I remember seeing those trucks. I felt like I was a human subjected to some biblical wrath. I think I needed something scary to recon with.”

The sound of the track is ridiculously cool, built from an untuned viola and a children’s sized pump organ and a vocal track without and room sound. Kater still gives agency to one character in the song, though it’s not the terrified women or the sheep. 

“I wanted this one to be the listener sitting with the inevitability of death. I think the creature is particular because it’s not motivated by good and evil,” Kater said. “I actually have a lot of affection for the creature. Whenever I sing, I feel conviction kind of like I identify with the protagonists in the other songs. I think the creature is telling it like it is, and there’s something cool about that.”

Above is the full episode as aired on WUSB’s Country Pocket, including both my interview with Kaia Kater and the songs we discussed, starting with Maker Taker, in which Kater explores and rejects the notion that she has to write songs from a place of trauma. The interview begins with the second video in the playlist. You can hear the show live every Monday at 11am on WUSB 90.1 FM or check the blog to watch it as a YouTube playlist. Visit http://www.WUSB.fm and https://kaiakater.com for more.

Posted in On Air

Steve Dawson Processes Discord, Loss, and Idaho On “Ghosts”

Steve Dawson, like many other songwriters, is an empath. And like many other songwriters and empaths, he has a way of processing losses at a personal and societal level at the same time. Take “Sooner Than Expected,” a song that mourns everyone from relatives who passed on to the increasingly hostile climate. Both were things Dawson knew would happen, but both seem to be occurring on an accelerated timeline.

It’s a gorgeous song, one of a few that shows Dawson only gains strength when he sings more softly. His vocals have a quality that allows for slight breaks on sensitive topics and he’s an expert highlighting them with sparse instrumentation. 

In our conversation, Dawson discussed facing the anxiety of a rapidly changing world, specifically when it comes to forces like death and climate change that no individual songwriter has the power to battle. 

“I try to take deep breaths and enjoy what I’m doing for the day,” Dawson said of his coping mechanisms. “Other days I’m filled with anxiety. It’s very helpful to talk in real time breathing the same air. Focusing on my insignificance is actually helpful to me.”

Still, he worries about those forces and about a population that seems indifferent to destroying our institutions. 

“When I see that half of the country is desiring retribution and this authoritarian world, it makes me very angry,” Dawson said, contrasting his “reasonable” liberal community in Chicago with his upbringing in Idaho. 

“Leadville,” a scorched-earth song documenting the questionable behavior that went on in his small town, was written as an answer to songs that idolize small town life.

“It’s a reaction to a lot of mythologizing that goes on in a lot of Americana and country songs about small towns and how those people are better than others,” Dawson said. “There’s plenty of horrible people in small towns just like everywhere else.”

“Try that in a Small Town,” a violent Jason Aldean song with a music video that featured racist undertones, was the first that came to Dawson’s mind that fit the description. The bad behaviors mentioned in “Leadville” feel so believable both because of how specific the descriptions are and how much some of the characters could’ve been ripped from a recent news story. Some of the offenders, like a handsy principal, probably get a pass due to their politics. Others, like the hedonistic restaurant employees, are just being ‘good old boys’ without realizing that their lifestyle isn’t exactly kind to the women they brag about.

Idaho was not exactly the ideal place for Dawson to grow up. He very much had different values than people around him and was bullied. 

“I kept to myself,” He explained of his childhood. “That’s where I learned guitar.” 

“Leadville,” with its angry drive and its increasingly less matter of fact tone, is the most compelling up tempo song on the album. But it’s the quieter songs and ballads where Dawson is absolutely unreal. 

“A Mile South of Town” is an intimate and detailed look at an accident scene he came across years ago in Idaho. While driving, he came across a man, once riding a nearby motorcycle, and a deer laying in the road dying. 

“That image has just stuck with me my whole life,” Dawson said. “I got out of my car and I did look at the deer and its eyes were open and it was breathing fast and I got the sense that it was panicking. I probably made more of a connection with the deer, because the guy was passed out and clearly had been drinking pretty heavily.” 

Dawson makes the bold stylistic decision to sing from the perspective of the man who crashed. Since he never learned who the man was or what his ultimate fate was, Dawson invented details of his life that sound broadly believable for the community he lived in. The narrator’s calm observations, prediction of being discovered too late, and empathy for the deer all heighten the atmosphere around the unusual and dark situation. There’s no anger toward the deer that essentially ended both their lives; it’s just a simple and deep connection between an animal scared to die and a man processing it a bit easier. 

Lighter tracks like “Time to Let Some Light In” and “I am Glad to be Alive” bring some much needed balance to the album, but the lyrics aren’t quite as unique or powerful as some of the darker songs or mood pieces. “Weather in the Desert,” which details a friend’s failed suicide effort, move from a respectful acknowledgement of what happened (“It was a solid plan”) to a desire for small talk. Here Dawson’s rambling style works better. The anchor of near tragedy means that any awkward moments or lost threads feel like a natural part of a conversation. “Walking Cane,” a song that documents repeated failures to wrestle climate change, feels the most urgent. “Oh, California” has the strongest harmonies. But it’ll be the thought of looking into those deer’s eyes and surrendering that will stay with listeners the longest.   

Above is the full episode as aired on WUSB’s Country Pocket, including both my interview with Steve Dawson and the songs we discussed, starting with A Mile South of Town, which mines a strange subject for one of the most striking images painted by a song. The interview begins with the second video in the playlist. You can hear the show live every Monday at 11am on WUSB 90.1 FM or check the blog to watch it as a YouTube playlist. Visit http://www.WUSB.fm and https://stevedawsonmusic.com for more.

Posted in On Air

Steele Creek Elevates Discussion of Family, Work, and Self Care to a High Art

Work-life balance is a difficult struggle to capture in an album, much less a soaring classic. Phil Cramer of Steele Creek is more than up to the challenge on a superb sophomore outing that regularly uses nature to explain complex ideas. It’s a beautiful piece that declares that challenges and the grind worth enduring, but not at the cost of missing the rest of life.

There’s a strange duality about life that “Ridgeline” manages to capture with a unique scene featuring a man pushing a rock up the hill. It’s emblematic of the complex mediations on work, domestic, and mental health topics Cramer explores through metaphor and deep thought on Toward The Light. On the one hand, there are “hard forevers” we have to deal with. Work. Chores. Other obligations. It takes up most of our time pushing that rock up the hill and breaking the momentum for a little inner peace can make it all the harder to continue on our way. But the view is breathtaking. Family is much more important. Cramer is perfectly happy to let that stone roll down the hill in exchange for time with his son or a chance to rest and take it all in. 

“It’s not a linear path,” Cramer said. “The stone’s gonna keep rolling down that hill. But if we want to get over the mountain and see the other side, we gotta keep pushing it up there.”

“Ridgeline” doesn’t just set the tone for the album ahead. The imagery of pushing a boulder up a hill and the views worth resting for conjure a strong image that’s timeless, clear, and gorgeous. And to compare something that big with a kid playing in the park is an effective way to establish the value of family life.

“Yes, we can pursue whatever’s on the other side of the mountain, or even that sense of peace, but it it’s coming at the detriment of of spending time with family, that’s when it starts to become a concern,” Cramer said, noting his family that includes three young children. “Helping them on their journey is the most important thing.”

“Marrow” continues to explore this topic. Its lyrics of missing family while away from them are a bit simpler than the opening song, but the melody is catchier and gives Cramer a better chance to flex his vocal might. “Resurrection Fern” is a metaphor for a relationship as it ages and is based on a New Orleans plant non-natives might not be familiar with. Galleries of hanging ferns there can look dead after a period of drought but spring back to life when the rains return. It’s hard work, according to Cramer.

“It’s in a place where you have to find each other again and again,” Cramer said of a maturing love. He explained that at that point, love isn’t so much a promise but something that actively needs to be nurtured. “The point is how I’m going to show up today for you. I’m gonna keep trying.”

A standout line in the song flashes back to when Cramer was “young enough to make plans as the universe unravels.”

“I think it’s a blessing that each new generation comes with its fresh energy and wants to reinvent the world anew,” Cramer said. “You make lots of big plans then, but it does get harder and more complicated as you have more responsibilities.” 

Another highlight on the album is “Tidewaters,” a song that sees an older person wade into the ocean and contemplate relaxing, something they haven’t done much of in their life. Cramer feels it’s quite important to relax a little, as well as find some form of wholeness. He chose the ocean setting for the way it makes him feel.

“If there’s any place that’s gonna put you in touch with the rhythms of the Earth and some kind of divine spirit it’s sitting out there watching the waves crash in both powerfully and indifferently,” Cramer said. “It’s one of the vastness of the universe moments for me. It becomes a moment when I’m most centered and rooted.”

The character in the song either seems ready to enter retirement or is already there and struggling to adjust.  

“It could be someone dealing with the wreckage of having worked so hard for so long and trying to find what’s left at the end of that,” Cramer said. “Culturally, we make it pretty hard for ourselves.”

There are plenty of other strong tracks on the album, including the incredibly relatable “Serpent’s Prayer” that talks about racing thoughts haunting us in the night. “Towards the Light” has perhaps the most compelling line in the album, where Cramer says he’d “lay down like a stone inside the stream” to give his children a chance to walk across him safely. 

Cramer explained he wrote the line “having had my own struggles with mental health and anxiety in particular and then looking at my son and first of all hoping that he doesn’t face those same problems, but also knowing those problems will come because we’re human and we’re all dealing with our own struggles.”

“I want him to be able to learn from what I’ve been through. At the very least wanting him to grow from the point where I left off.”

Above is the full episode as aired on WUSB’s Country Pocket, including both my interview with Phil Cramer and the songs we discussed, starting with Ridgeline, which turns work-life balance into an epic struggle on a mountain through metaphor. The interview begins with the second video in the playlist. You can hear the show live every Monday at 11am on WUSB 90.1 FM or check the blog to watch it as a YouTube playlist. Visit http://www.WUSB.fm and https://steelecreekband.com for more.

Posted in On Air

Marley Hale’s Tough Conversation With Herself Is Riveting on By My Own Ways

“Won’t you leave me alone, there’s nothing to find/but I’m afraid of what you might see in my eyes,” sings Marley Hale on the first track of her brilliant EP By My Own Ways, warning men that she’ll waste their time and she’s not what they’re looking for. 

“It’s the perfect way to start the EP,” Hale remarked. “Are you sure you want to know? Then the whole EP is kind of a self exploration. 

Well of course I want to know. Someone with doubts and angst swirling all around may not make the best date, but if they’re honest and insightful enough to admit it and a good enough songwriter to convey it, they’ll absolutely make for a good listen. 

By My Own Ways really is that kind of vulnerable EP. A good deal of it plays out as a conversation Hale is having with herself about failures, the need to cut and run, the desperation she was showing by hanging out too late at a bar. Her jaded view on love and herself is incredibly relatable to anyone who’s ever suffered through a breakup and sworn off ever trying anything like that again. 

“To Those At My Window” is indeed a perfect way to start things off, and not just because reverse psychology can occasionally be effective. Hale drops hints throughout the song that this view she’s taken of herself is a result of someone else putting her down. It feels quite likely that her line about wasting men’s time was the result of that idea being planted by a disappointed man.

Much to my surprise, Hale meant it quite literally when she pointed out that there were so many other ‘ripe young flowers’ to choose from.

“I was staying in this little cabin and there were a few bees that kept buzzing at the windows of the cabin,” Hale said. As for the bees choosing her over the flowers outside: “I felt like it was a perfect metaphor. People don’t know who you are and don’t want who you actually are.” 

“Drunk On You” is a necessary introduction to a souring relationship. Comparing addiction to alcohol to addiction to a person is not exactly novel, but it’s powerful for someone who’s lived it like. Though she’s since sobered up, Hale was at one point the target of “Dear Girl”‘s speech about a reckless girl at a bar determined to “take the night home.” No lyrics were quite as compelling as when Hale expressed anger at herself for drawing questionable men into the bar. 

“I think that song came from a place of shame and frustration with myself that I hadn’t been the person I wanted to be,” Hale said softly. “I hadn’t cared for myself the way I wanted to care for myself.” 

“On Your Knees” and “Good Man” conclude the story with Hale moving toward both personal growth and a breakup. Her repeated use of the phrase “good man” was meant genuinely, even if not all his actions had good outcomes.

“I had men in my life who by all accounts were good people,” Hale said. “And they are good people. But just because someone is a good person doesn’t mean they’re going to treat you well all the time or treat you the way you want to be treated. It was the realization that to be treated well I had to respect myself and it didn’t matter how good a person anyone around me was. That respect came from myself first.”  

One of the nicest touches in “Good Man” is that it features another woman encouraging Hale to raise her standards. It’s a nice contrast to the angrier self talk of “Dear Girl” and gives me hope that Hale may be kinder to herself in the future. Because while her disappointment in herself may make for a fantastic song, it can’t be easy for Hale to have that sort of scorn directed at herself. 

Above is the full episode as aired on WUSB’s Country Pocket, including both my interview with Marley Hale and the songs we discussed, starting with To Those At My Window, which is dedicated just as much to bees at it is men. The interview begins with the second video in the playlist. You can hear the show live every Monday at 11am on WUSB 90.1 FM or check the blog to watch it as a YouTube playlist. Visit http://www.WUSB.fm and https://marleyhale.com for more.

Posted in Uncategorized

Stephanie Sammons Becomes Whole After Time and Evolution

“It was like everything I was raised to believe in and thought was true was picked up in a tornado and thrown out into a foreign land,” Stephanie Sammons said of discovering she was queer in a faith-based community. “It was a very cataclysmic event for me.”

On Time and Evolution, Sammons documents a difficult growth process that took her from evangelical in her faith, to queer and questioning, and finally back to a more healthier relationship with the Almighty. While the album is meditative, personal, and largely positive, Sammons does feel some anger toward those who took a message of love and charity and turned it into something uglier.

“The Evangelical Christians have hijacked everything,” Sammons said. “Even Christianity itself. The church, the Bible, the country. And if you don’t share their exact world view or share exactly how they think, then you’re evil and you’re going to hell. To me, that’s a message of discrimination, it’s preaching hate, and it ultimately leads to death. Physical death or the death of someone’s soul.” 

Nowhere does Sammons better illustrate the dichotomy of those views than on “Billboard Sign.” In addition to detailing having to leave her family, Sammons reminds us all that the Bible has more to offer than evangelicals might seem to think. It simply has the words “Jesus Saves” written on it. It’s a brilliant reminder that the Bible is more about forgiveness for imperfections than the punishment of them. If Jesus is as described in the good book, would he not save both Sammons and her family? The disgraced preacher may well be entitled to forgiveness as well, depending on where he goes from here. The theme of the Bible, as a work of literature, is hardly the minor commands that take up a couple of sentences. 

It’s a tricky song to write while still attempting to maintain a relationship with the subjects. 

“I do listen to the other side, globally and within my immediate family. I don’t want conflict. Maybe this is why I put it into song. It’s my way of expressing my feelings about these things versus just having an outright heated conversation. And believe me, there are members of my family who are really gunning for that.” 

“Year of the Dog” captures an interesting mix of appreciation and resentment for the people in Sammons’ life who both helped her grow, gave her a roadmap to salvation, and eventually showed her that love isn’t unconditional. It’s a useful song for queer listeners who have complicated feelings toward their family or first love. It gives you an idea of why Sammons stays in touch with her family but refuses to engage them in certain ways. She’s able to tolerate a little abuse without having her core beliefs shaken. Her relatives, too, have to take on a little discomfort to make the relationship work.

“We are all worthy of being here, Sammons said. “We are all worthy of the beliefs we have.” 

“Innocence Lost” is perhaps the most affecting song on the album. It starts with the stunning image of a young Sammons shooting a bird out of a tree and suddenly having to grapple with a whole new set of emotions.

“She’s looking up at me blinking her eyes and then she dies,” Sammons recalled. “I witnessed the death of this beautiful creature and I didn’t realize the magnitude of what I had done until I saw it happen. Now I don’t care about roaches or things like that, but I realized I’m an empath, almost to a fault, and I think a lot of songwriters are.” 

Sammons brilliantly describes the shame of losing her first queer relationship — the one she sold her soul for, according to her religious upbringing — before coming to terms with all of it.

“Blind faith that’s shaken by the truth/ is like seeing the stars instead of the moon,” Sammons sings. And as Sammons opens her mind, it’s clear she’s finding love and peace from realizing there are other truths out there in the universe, including hers.

Our discussion came around to recent attacks on the LGBTQ community Sammons and I are a part of from the right-wing faith communities she left. Sammons revealed that when her wife tunes into the nightly news, she leaves the room to avoid exposure to political stunts designed to inflict pain. She’s aware it’s bad, but hasn’t given up yet.

“We at least currently have the freedom to decide and be who we are,” Sammons said. “It’s not 100% safe for many people, by a long shot. But I don’t think we can give up. I think it’s destructive to individually be consumed by everything going on around us that we have no control over. It can be soul crushing.” 

When Sammons asks “How will we ever mend?” on her album, it’s a question she offers no answers to. The question of her faith, however, resolved. 

“Holding on to Jesus” is unlike the rest of the album in that Sammons doesn’t feature as the main character. It’s a heartwarming tale of an older married couple who get by on their faith and love in each other. Considering the album started with a song expressing doubts about both, it’s a strong message to send. Despite all the difficulties her rift with her family caused, Sammons is keeping the faith.

Above is the full episode as aired on WUSB’s Country Pocket, including both my interview with Stephanie Sammons and the songs we discussed, starting with Billboard Sign, which reflects on what should be the non-controversial statement “Jesus Loves.” The interview begins with the second video in the playlist. You can hear the show live every Monday at 11am on WUSB 90.1 FM or check the blog to watch it as a YouTube playlist. Visit http://www.WUSB.fm and https://stephaniesammons.com for more.

Posted in Uncategorized

Creekbed Carter Shines with Profound Transformations and Quirky Humor

Creekbed Carter Hogan pulls off many transformations on his self-titled album. One minute he’s imagining that he’s a gun or an apiary and the next he’s a scorpion or tumbleweed. While it’s not unusual for a songwriter to step outside themselves and take on another perspective to tell someone else’s story, Hogan seems to be diving deeper into his own and his relationship with the world around him. 

“If I Was” is a hypnotic heartbreaker that quite reasonably imagines he’d be given more care and value as items like a gun, a coin, or a doll. It’s a completely reasonable assumption on both a personal and societal level. Laws and rulings in recent years have shown immense preference for the rights of guns, gender norms, and big money, especially when compared with a trans Texan. But there’s also a smaller scale truth to be gained here. We all know the hobbyist who devotes a little too much time to loving something that can never truly love them back. Say, an impressive folk music collection. It can’t feel good to be the human being also vying for their attention. Hogan wrote the tune with his father in mind.

“It’s a very capitalist relationship,” he said. “As long as I’m a product that can do what he wants me to do and be what he wants me to be, we have a relationship. But when I’m not doing those things, there is no value for me. It’s a very cold way to describe it and it’s a very cold feeling.”

“Lord, Make Me A Scorpion” relies on a similar device. Hogan asks for divine intervention to get over someone. He sees strength and the ability to move on in the desert environment around him. It’s a ruggedness that few introspective folkies possess, but the observations are gorgeous. A thunderstorm as a good cry. A rattlesnake as a fresh start. It absolutely works as the most traditional song on the album. Hogan thanked teachers in their life for helping them see value in everything.

“They taught me to see beauty and communication and language and interest and value in everything.” Hogan said. “I think a lot of that is indigenous knowledge. As a white person who grew up in Oregon, there were animals that were good and animals that were bad. You were afraid of the bad animals and protected the good animals. When I think about scorpions and rattlesnakes, they’re extremely beautiful objectively. They’re so interesting, they’re so resilient. I think being curious about the world is how you find value in everything.” 

“Sycamore” feels like the most personal track on the album. The trans songwriter discusses the struggles of trying to conform to gender roles for the sake of others with a delicate touch vocally. It’s a powerful contrast between the first “prayed for the day to be over” to the last “form of eternity.” The former is perhaps sweeter and more feminine than Hogan usually presents and the latter is a beautifully placed sour note, perfectly imperfect. Queer folk fans are going to feel that growth and share in the joy.

“I actually think most of us are outside in some small way.” Hogan said. “I think people are more related to each other in terms out outsiderness than they realize. That fear that someone will discover that outsider quality and lock you out for good is what keeps people separate. I think writing and performing Sycamore is a way for me to present my very small thing at the feet of everyone else and to try as hard as I can to invite them to find their small thing and bring it to the table. 

Creekbed Carter is certainly a more interesting album because there’s another role Hogan plays quite comfortably: the quirky humorist. “Through With Lovin’” is almost more comedy act than musical performance with its silly lyrics, tempo changes, and ability to skewer both form and self. “The Relic Song” is a similarly-styled history lesson that takes aim at the medieval church. Hogan grants the corrupt practices a measured amount of legitimacy while throwing in a Pokemon reference. There’s definitely some provocative intent behind this one, but it’s lighthearted enough to only offend those looking to be offended. The two tracks are certainly outliers in terms of the tone and depth of the album but are almost perfect for closing out a radio hour with a laugh. 

Above is the full episode as aired on WUSB’s Country Pocket, including both my interview with Creekbed Carter and the songs we discussed, starting with If I Was, which has some profound and upsetting things to say about value. The interview begins with the second video in the playlist. You can hear the show live every Monday at 11am on WUSB 90.1 FM or check the blog to watch it as a YouTube playlist. Visit http://www.WUSB.fm and https://www.creekbedcarter.com for more.

Posted in On Air

Jesse Lynn Madera Knows Love Can Be Complicated. She’s Not Going To Let It Stop Her.

“I don’t think it’s our perfections that attract us to one another. I think it’s our flaw patterns, kind of like the way a key would fit in a lock,” Jesse Lynn Madera said while discussing her album Speed of Sound.

Madera discusses different relationships throughout the album from the teenage lust of “Austin” to the serious attempt at love she had with an isolated older man. While many stories come from Madera’s own life, others come from observing friends. What they all have in common are the contrast between a complicated situation and straightforward love involved. 

“Last Call” describes a woman who clearly values a man more than he does her. “Sweet Pretender” features a cheating man and a woman still trying to recapture his heart. Madera said she’s seen friends in situations like these and has tried to understand where they’re coming from. 

“I think it all comes down to pride,” she said. “To have that attention pulled away so quickly, I think it’s just searching for self worth.”

The title track describes a particularly consequential relationship Madera had with a man a decade her senior. He was “parentified” in some ways, she explained, but ultimately preferred isolation and was often unhappy. 

“I felt like I had the job of being the sun, being with someone who rarely smiled,” said Madera. “He taught me a lot about work ethic and discipline. He taught me a lot about cooking. Something good comes out of every relationship.”

The song is tender and dramatic and captures her uncompromising desire to meet his needs. Much like in other songs, Madera seems fully aware of his difficulties and that she might not be the best fit for him. But the decision to continue to love him feels urgent and simple.

“I love New York City,” Madera explained. “New York City is dirty and full of rats and not always safe. And I love L.A. despite its reputation for being shallow. I moved around a lot in life and I can celebrate the good even while noticing all the negative aspects.”

The conscious decision to look beyond red flags rather than ignore them or dilute their meaning is the most fascinating part of the album. Right up there is Madera’s belief in a type of fatalism with love. “Ten Miles Down” describes a relationship doomed from the beginning but an attraction so strong that it will catch fire anyway.

Luckily, Madera has found her key. She’s happily married and considers her current relationship to be worlds apart from the painful ones that populate the album.

“You gotta swing the bat a few times in order to hit a home run,” Madera said of her husband. “He set the standard. And not just with loving relationships but with friendships and familial relationships and what I expect.”

Above is the full episode as aired on WUSB’s Country Pocket, including both my interview with Jesse Lynn Madera and the songs we discussed, starting with Ten Miles Down, which dives headlong into a doomed relationship. The interview begins with the second video in the playlist. You can hear the show live every Monday at 11am on WUSB 90.1 FM or check the blog to watch it as a YouTube playlist. Visit http://www.WUSB.fm and https://www.jesselynnmadera.com for more.

Posted in On Air

The Posthumous Release of Quilt Floor Shows We Still Need Mama Zu

It may have taken the combination of a global pandemic and a broken finger from a dog attack, Linwood Regensberg finally found time to finish Jesse Zazu’s final album. Quilt Floor spans a range from folk to punk and features sharp feminist and political lyrics.

The former Those Darlins bandmates were working on a new project, tentatively titled Mama Zu, before Zazu’s untimely death from cervical cancer in 2017 at only 28. The album was something that at first, Regensberg was reluctant to return to. 

“When Jessi passed away it was shocking because no one in our circle thought it would happen,” Regensber said. “Even when things looked bad she would bounce back. I would get stressed out about what the toll might be of having to suffer through something that’s going to make you feel things. You get over all these little speed bumps and traumas and stuff along the way.”

While it took seven years to release, Quilt Floor is sadly just as relevant today as it was at the beginning of the Trump era. “Emotional Warrior” is about the man himself, though the thin line between making crass jokes about sexual and acting on it explored on “Make a Joke” may have just as much to do with him. 

Zazu and Regensberg switch genres effortlessly from the Bangles-esque sound of “Make a Joke” to the slower country tune “Guitar World,” which criticizes the sexism present in Nashville. Again, the album is seven years old but hasn’t aged a day. 

“She’d ask a question and they’d talk to her like she’s a child or they’re looking over at me,” Regensberg said of their time in a Guitar World. “It’s comical in a way because it’s so absurd. But somebody who’s working at the guitar store is going to talk down to someone who’s on tour and selling tickets.”

Zazu’s lyrics are feisty, funny, and always happy to punch up. Besides Trump and sexism, Zazu targets topics as small as someone who won’t shut up and as large as capitalism. 

“I was always really jealous of how good she was with lyrics,” Regensberg said. “She could cut the fat out of things and get to a point. In songwriting it’s really tough to do especially on topical things. She could sum things up in a way that was both poignant and kind of funny. She’s somebody that stands for truth and fairness and treating people with kindness. And anything that doesn’t fall in line with that she’s going to speak out.”

A viewpoint like that is still necessary in 2024. Zazu was never more fierce than as Mama Zu and it’s tragic to know it’s never coming back. Regensberg’s reluctance to work on finishing the album came in large part due to his busy touring schedule with other fantastic indie-Americana acts like Low Cut Connie and Tristan. It also had to do with the difficulty of exploring the emotions of that loss and the awkwardness of making changes to the art of someone who isn’t there to defend it. But ultimately, he didn’t regret it.

“Some feelings will come back and maybe it’ll bring some tears,” he said. “But at the same time the joy was bigger than everything else. This is one way I can spend time with somebody that’s gone.”

Above is the full episode as aired on WUSB’s Country Pocket, including both my interview with Linwood Regensberg and the songs we discussed, starting with Four Leaf Clover, a cover song on which he duets with Zazu. The interview begins with the second video in the playlist. You can hear the show live every Monday at 11am on WUSB 90.1 FM or check the blog to watch it as a YouTube playlist. Visit http://www.WUSB.fm and https://mamazu.bandcamp.com for more.

Posted in Uncategorized

Ismay Leaves Behind Dopamine and Ranch Life for the Real World on Desert Pavement

Ismay is ready to face the real world. The non-binary ranch hand turned folk singer may have spent a lot of time with animals and streaming television during the pandemic, but they’re now fully focused on a music career and learning how to cope with well, everything. 

Desert Pavement makes a strong argument for trading in vices and isolation for genuine experiences. It comes with an appropriate overhaul of Ismay’s sound. What on previous releases used to be almost monasterial finger picking has become more accessible strumming. If Ismay means to encourage more interaction with others, that’s a strong first step. 

It’s also an album deeply rooted in nature and ranch life, which makes sense for someone who spent a decade working more closely with animals than fellow people. One of Ismay’s great strength is capturing an animal’s point of view, be it the nervous shrew, curious raccoons, or shy coyote. That level of understanding makes them full characters in a song and turns something oriented in observation into relatable actions

“When you work on a piece of land you have to understand what you’re surrounded by from its own perspective in order to know what you’re doing,” Ismay said during a WUSB interview.   

Ismay takes a similar route to understanding people. Interestingly it was reading about dopamine that sent them in the direction Desert Pavement ultimately took. Ismay came to realize just how unnatural smartphones and instant gratification has made modern life and how much we rely on vices to numb discomfort. 

They explained that while everyone is entitled to some enjoyment, something becomes a vice when it’s used to fuel disengagement. Ismay used their own love of television comedies as the basis for “Streaming Family,” which showed someone relying on the company of a work of fiction instead of actual people. 

“We’re isolating ourselves and numbing our feelings it’s because it’s overwhelming to accept and address the complexity of the real world,” Ismay said. “I think that we nowadays don’t spend as much time with other people or being bored. We don’t spend enough time allowing our emotional waves going up and down. I have to be more willing to deal with the emotional roller coaster of being a person.” 

It speaks to how developed Ismay’s ideas were that they also included somewhat of a counter argument on the album. Some characters, especially the shrew becoming exposed to predatory birds and the family encountering a “Stranger in the Barn” are going to face genuine danger in the process of opening themselves up to the real world. Sure most of it will come in the form of stress and disappointment and we as people don’t have to worry about birds swooping down the eat us, but the discomfort can be real. It’s something Ismay certainly understands as an artist who’s performed before audiences and a panel of reality show judges. 

“I’m not really the most intrinsically confident person,” Ismay said. “Getting to see myself on those platforms talking about my lack of confidence was an opportunity for me to realize that I had to move past these insecurities and grow into the person that I really wanted to be.”

“Stranger in the Barn” winds up being about a drifter who just needed some shelter and was friendly to his unwitting hosts. The song is a parable meant to show that the unknown isn’t always scary, but even people without social anxiety know that situation can end up badly.  

“I would hope that my best self would go out and deescalate the situation, but I’d probably freak out,” Ismay admitted.  

Luckily there is, for most of us a place between befriending intruders and relying on the canned laughter of a sitcom for company. A place that can grant us the enjoyment a vice brings without relying on it to the point we can’t ride the wave. And while Desert Pavement points quite clearly to those lessons, I’d urge listeners to take note of the way understanding the perspectives of ranch animals makes for rich, positive interactions. That might have some applications for people too. 

Above is the full episode as aired on WUSB’s Country Pocket, including both my interview with Ismay and the songs we discussed, starting with The Dove, the Shrew, & the Raccoon, which does a pretty good job of capturing animal personalities. The interview begins with the second video in the playlist. You can hear the show live every Monday at 11am on WUSB 90.1 FM or check the blog to watch it as a YouTube playlist. Visit http://www.WUSB.fm and https://www.ismaymusic.com for more.