Bella White’s music seems to have come to me fully formed as a mature singer songwriter despite the fact that “Just Like Leaving” is a debut work from a young artist. The songs show a maturity and wisdom one doesn’t find in musicians many years her senior. While the song’s themes tend to be sad they show insight into relationships and emotions rarely found in writers of any age.

And that voice! She embraces the twang from the Appalachian roots of her father’s favorite country and bluegrass collection. That collection has influenced Bella who spent her youth in Calgary, Alberta singing Stanley Brothers, Bill Monroe and Doc Watson songs. Inspired by the prairie and western Rocky Mountain landscapes of her youth, this batch of brilliant songs find her successfully translating modern experiences into timeless ancient sounds.

The set opens with “All I Gave To You” which is a great example of the craftmanship of creating a seemingly effortless song out of a teenager’s difficulty in an early relationship. Bella translates this personal struggle into a more universal statement because “all of us want to feel revered and deeply loved”. Wise yet gentle and it sets the listener up for a very fulfilling batch of songs about loss, love and struggle; certainly not new themes. But rarely is there such consistently beautifully drawn examples of these emotions displayed throughout this collection. I consider it one of the best releases of the year, in any genre.

Our chat touches on her stellar band including fiddler Julian Pinelli and mandolinist Reed Stutz along with bass player Robert Alan Mackie. Lonely Heart Stringband’s own Patrick M’Gonigle helps in the studio as well as singing with a bit of fiddling too.

There’s lots of reasons that Rolling Stone calls the album “sublime Appalachian heartbreak” and an “Artist to Watch”. Specifically, there’s nine great reasons on this remarkable debut. We finish our segment with Bella describing the circumstances surrounding the first single from “Just Like Leaving” called “Broke (When I Realized). I add the title cut to finish a great interview with a musician whose remarkable voice and songwriting skills leave us wanting more; always a good sign.

Bronwyn Keith Hynes is an award-winning bluegrass fiddler who plays in the progressive Boston-based outfit, Mile Twelve. She has relocated to Nashville and her new release,”Fiddlers Pastime” feels like a love letter to her new home.

The tune we open the segment with is called “Open Water” and is a ferocious mandolin-fiddle collaboration with Sierra Hull. The origin of this tune (the first written for this album) was Raleigh NC’s IBMA bluegrass conference when Bronwyn found a quiet corner of the conference (a difficult task). As she describes it ,”I think it captures something I love in bluegrass music which is that combination of haunting melody and rocket-like propulsion.”

While Sierra Hull came to mind when Bronwyn wrote this track, many young luminaries from Bronwyn’s era litter these tunes; from Sarah Jarosz to Chris Eldridge, Wes Corbett to Laura Orshaw.

Our conversation covers a lot of ground. We talk about her early lessons in Vermont and her continuation in Charlottesville Virgina. She dove deep into Irish fiddle for a time before discovering bluegrass while jamming with others who were studying at Boston’s Berklee school of Music. Off on scholarship to Berklee herself, she immersed herself in the acoustic music scene in Boston eventually forming Mile Twelve.

We talk about the difficulty of writing original material as opposed to concentrating on her fiddling. Bronwyn wrote four original tunes for “Fiddlers Pastime”. The segment includes a dynamic version of twin fiddling with Laura Orshaw on the Bill Monroe/Vassar Clement’s title cut.

Give the segment a listen and check out her website for more details, BronwynKeithHynes.com

Stephen Mougin has done many things in the music business. He runs  a recording studio, he’s an in-demand sound engineer and producer. He’s a songwriter and guitarist but the role Mojo takes the most pride in; is “teacher”. He gained those skills and confidence while attending U Mass Amherst where he degreed in Music Education. Stephen was awarded an”IBMA Mentor of the Year Award” for his work in 2016.

Born and raised in South Ashfield Ma, Stephen experienced an early omen. While attending the Peaceful Valley bluegrass festival in 1988, he sat in on a workshop with none other than Bill Monroe! Bill showed an interest in this youngster and his mandolin, so much so that the “Bluegrass pioneer” used young Stephen’s mandolin for the entire workshop!

We talked about his early bluegrass band, Thunder Mountain Bluegrass Band and his move to Nashville, Tn.  Eventually, contacts got him a gig with the Sam Bush Band ,a role he’s “picked” since 2006. Our discussion ranges from his Dark Shadow Recording studio to his hope for a July 31 release party for his first solo album, “Ordinary Soul”.

Of course there is plenty of music in the segment with a healthy dose of the new disc. We include “New Beginning”, “A Place for a Fool” with the Gibson Brothers, “I’m Gonna Ride” with the Sam Bush Band. We add a new tune from Sam’s band called “On the Road”. The segment finishes with Dark Shadow artist, Becky Buller, nominated for an IBMA for her song, “The Barber’s Fiddle”. Two new songs from “Ordinary Soul” finish the segment including Stephen’s favorite on the disc, ” A Song That I Call Home” and “Railroad Man”.

Jake Blount visited on Nine Volt Heart to discuss his recent release, “Spider Tales”. It was a fascinating discussion on race, activism as well as music’s role in educating the listener on topics sometimes difficult to broach in other situations. The material on “Spider Tales” is superbly researched and curated from centuries of old time music with a focus on the black and indigenous roots of the music. The songs have themes which unfortunately remain stubbornly relevant including oppression and resistance to power.

Our conversation touches on the role of traditional African American dance as well as this old time stringband music. I ask Jake about his research process and the excavation of these tunes and their selection appropriate to the theme of Anansi the Spider, whose fables are handed down from one generation to the next. In much the same way, these songs and tunes have been preserved and researched through Jake’s field research.

We talk about his top notch band for “Spider Tales” which include Tatiana Hargreaves on fiddle, Rachel Eddy on guitar, Hase Ciacco on bass, Nic Gareiss on dance/percussion. The Horseflies’ Judy Hyman and her husband Jeff Claus add their instrumental and production help.

Jake and most of his band are part of special online stream put together by “BluegrassPride” which will offer ten hours of live music dedicated to the cancelled San Francisco Pride Day. It is called “Porch Pride” and airs on 6/27 and 6/28 on bluegrasspride.net The event also features NineVolt favorites  Joe Troop from Che Apalache,Rachel Baiman and George Jackson, Front Country, Molly Tuttle, Sam Gleaves, Della Mae, and Amythyst Kiah.

Of course, the segment includes four of the tunes off Jake’s new release. We start the segment off with “Roustabout”, “Move, Daniel” and “Where Did You Sleep Last Night” and we finish the segment with the compellingly chilling “Mad Mama’s Blues”.

Nate Lee soars on the mandolin. His fingers take flight in every tune he plays. His latest effort, “Wings of a Jetliner” features an all star cast from Tennessee including members of the award winning Becky Buller Band, Wyatt Rice (Tony Rice Unit), Todd Phillips (Far too many collaborators to mention) and Bronwyn Keith-Hynes (from Mile Twelve). Produced by Dan Boner from the esteemed E.T.S.U music program, Nate Lee sings, plays fiddle, banjo and mandolin.

Our conversation covers some of his biographical information, his early influences, his teaching and practice regimen, as well as the tunes from this upcoming release.

The segment includes “Chinqaupin Hunting” from Nate’s first solo EP, the latest from Becky Buller, “The Barber’s Fiddle”, and the first single from Jetliner called “Love Medicine”. Our interview finishes with Nate introducing his latest single, “Serenity”.

Corey Laitman was my guest on Nine Volt Heart on 2/15/20. They are a recipient of 2018 Passim Iguana Fund to help fund their latest project. The songs on their latest release are “lush, compelling and deeply human”We talked quite a bit about songwriting and poetry focusing on their latest release called “Seafoam”released in 2018.

Our set of music included “Marching Band” from Seafoam, a live in-studio version of “Carnival”, “The Well” from the latest release, a gorgeous version of “Tuscon” live. The CD version of “Barn Owl” is followed by a new song on ukele called “Soft as the Mouths”.

Corey is curating a series of live shows at Northampton’s Majestic called “Shut Up and Listen to the Music”; the next one happening on 2/20  along with Sister Jawbone and Julie Cira and the Wake. Corey also appears at Greenfield’s Root Cellar on 2/22,and Cambridge’s Club Passim on 2/25.

Dominick Leslie is one of the bright young mandolinists of his generation. Selected to be one of the Young American Mandolin Ensemble representing in France, Dominick has studied with the very best. David Grisman, Sam Bush, Chris Thile, Andy Statman, Mike Compton and countless others have made him one of the “go to” mando played for many a spontaneous ensemble. Last summer’s Green Mountain Bluegrass and Roots festival included Dom in their all star “Strength in Numbers” tribute, for example. Dominick is a highly sought-after collaborator as evidenced by his numerous side projects including Sam Reider and His Human Hands, Phoebe Hunt and the Gatherers, The Bee Eaters, Missy Raines and the New Hip, Grant Gordy Quartet, and The Deadly Gentlemen.

This month he’s touring with the fabulous instrumental quartet, Hawktail. The band also includes Brittany Haas on fiddle, Paul Kowert on bass and Jordan Tice on guitar. They will be appearing at The Academy of Music’s Back Porch Festival on Saturday 2/29 as part of the bluegrass bill with the Travelin McCoury’s and Della Mae. Hawktail will also be performing a Parlor Session on Sunday 3/1 at Northampton’s Parlor Room.

Our interview includes a trio of tunes from the recently released album “Formations” including Annbjorg,Dandelion and Last One on the Line.

Tim Eriksen is a local treasure in our Pioneer Valley but there aren’t too many chances to see him perform. Next Sunday 2/9 is just such an opportunity at Northampton’s Parlor Sessions. Tim has taught at Amherst College, Hampshire College and presently teaching Shape Note Singing from The Sacred Harp tradition at Smith College. He’s been active in providing music for theater (“Refugee”) as well as documentaries (“Behold the Earth”)recently ; but this work goes back to his role in the Academy Award nominated film, “Cold Mountain” back in 2003.

Tim will bring his music to the Parlor Session for an evening of stories , songs, and Magic Lantern projections from an imaginary New England village. Peter Irvine, long time collaborator from Tim’s Cordelia’s Dad days joins him as well as painter Susan Brearey who is working with the old school technology of the Magic Lantern projections.

Our conversation touches on his work on the film “Cold Mountain”, training the cast including Alison Krauss and Elvis Costello, in the Shape Note tradition. We discuss New England’s role in this traditional style of singing and preview the Parlor Session on next Sunday. The evening also will give tribute to John Cohen of the New Lost City Ramblers. Tim is a natural born story teller and he gives us a number of fascinating glimpses into what the Parlor Session will be like. The segment includes a handful of Tim’s music, of course, including  “Better Days Are Coming” from the Soul of January Hills CD, “Am I Born to Die” from the Cold Mountain soundtrack as well as “Gabriel’s Trumpet” from Josh Billings Voyage.

The trio of celtic wonderlings KALOS were my guests yesterday on my radio show Nine Volt Heart. Jeremiah Mclane on accordion, Ryan McKassen on fiddle along with Eric McDonald on guitar are working on a brand new release as a trio.They will be part of 2/16 Parlor Session in a fabulous series of music designed to chase away the winter doldrums. These gentlemen’s music will surely do that. We had a long discussion of their acculmulated influences and experience and it is broad and diverse. They have experienced a lot in their musical wanderings and this expansiveness is apparent in their music. Our segment includes two recent tunes, “Brooke Leigh” and “Mark the Hard Earth”. Give it a listen or better yet get yourself down to Northampton’s Parlor Room on Sunday February 16th.

[/audio)

Chris Brashear and John Benjamin played an entertaining set of music in anticipation of their hosting duties at upcoming Parlor Room events. John Benjamin and Max Wareham will be hosting the Parlor Sessions for select Sunday shows this winter. Chris Brashear will be teaching a workshop along with Matt Flinner on 2/29 as part of the Back Porch Festival. Chris will also be hosting the Townes Van Zandt tribute night on 2/27 along with a host of singer/songwriters. Details for these events can be found at Signature Sounds Presents website.

Their set of music included “Lil’ Joe”, “The Road to Columbus”,and “The Midnight Special” live as a first time duo! The segment also includes Chris’ “Tell All My Pickin’ Friends Goodbye”, Matt Flinner’s “Inferno Reel”, Townes Van Zandt’s “To Live Is To Fly” as well as a cut from Chris’ collaboration with the Piedmont Melody Makers, “Just Keep Waiting Till the Good Times Come”.