Editor’s note: Basic Folk is pleased to introduce our listeners to one of our favorite podcasts by sharing an episode in our feed! I am awestruck with the charm and charisma of Texas Country Musician Bri Bagwell - most impressively demonstrated on her podcast Only Vans, where she talks to her friends in her van (actually she recently upgraded to an RV, but it still counts) about the music industry along with her dog, Whiskey. Bri is a force to be reckoned with from her rousingly fun live performances to trailblazing recordings garnering her twelve #1 singles on Texas Country Radio and counting ..read more

Iowa folk music icon Greg Brown is living that retired life. After playing his farewell retirement concert in 2023, he's returned with a new book: Ring Around The Moon: A Songbook, which highlights a song selection personally picked by the songwriter himself, as well as family photos, personal anecdotes and self-penned drawings. The book features a foreword by Seth Avett (The Avett Brothers) who calls Brown's songs "plain ​spoken ​expression ​of ​the ​nearly ​inexpressible." In our conversation, we touch on topics like inner peace, happiness, personal growth and self-acceptance. He speaks of h ..read more

After banjo player Kaïa Kater attended Americana Fest in 2016, the music industry started telling her she was a part of the genre, which encompasses all kinds of roots music, acoustic music, folk music, singer-songwriter and alternative country music. She was singing about heavy themes like historical trauma, her cultural heritage (her father is from the Caribbean country of Grenada) and her music history. She confesses in our interview that she never felt comfortable in Americana, that she was always just on the outside never fully feeling accepted by this mostly white world. Kater has declar ..read more

Frontman ​Ryan ​Miller joins us ​to ​talk ​about ​all ​things ​Guster. ​From ​their ​tried ​and ​true ​collaborative ​writing ​process ​to ​the ​theatrical ​delights ​of ​their ​recent "We ​Also ​Have ​Eras" ​tour, ​to ​what ​it ​really ​looks ​like ​to ​make ​environmental ​sustainability ​a ​priority ​on ​tour. Guster ​has just released ​their ​9th ​studio ​album, ​Ooh ​La ​La. ​As ​we ​talked ​about ​the ​new ​record, ​Ryan talked ​about ​how ​these ​new ​songs ​touch ​on ​questions ​that ​the ​band ​has ​been ​asking ​throughout ​their ​over ​30 ​year ​career. For ​example, ​"Maybe ​We're ..read more

Barnstar!, Boston's premiere kinda bluegrass and definitely bombastic band, has released their new album Furious Kindness and we're #blessed to welcome Mark Erelli and Zachariah Hickman to the pod. Originally a fun side hustle and bluegrass vehicle for Zack, the group, which also includes Charlie Rose and Taylor and Jake Armerding, started very casually performing at the legendary local Cantab Lounge. Zack accurately likens the vibe of the place to a basement Star Wars Cantina full of bluegrass bands. In between their main gigs with performers like Josh Ritter and Lori McKenna and solo careers ..read more

Two long-time collaborators, cellist Francesa Ter-Berg and violinist Flora Curazon, Fran & Flora, have bonded over their obsession with ancient music, rooted in Eastern European and Jewish culture, for over a dozen years. Together and separately, the English musicians have been studying with teachers of ethnomusicology in places like Transylvania and Romania. There, they took in the music as well as the cultural influences. That's not to speak of their higher musical education, Francesca holds two masters in music (including ​in ​contemporary ​improvisation ​at ​the ​New ​England ​Conserva ..read more

Billy Bragg joins lizzie and Cindy on-board Cayamo to talk about songwriting, social justice, punk rock and, of course, The Little Guy (Bragg's nickname for Woody Guthrie). In our interview we talked about using humor as a way to connect to his audience, so that he can bring up his political activism like fighting for transgender rights, the importance of unions and abortion rights. It's interesting to hear how he wants the Americana audience to remain as relevant as he does. Billy talked about his place as a British ​artist ​in ​the ​genealogy ​of ​folk ​music and how working on Mermaid Avenu ..read more

Singer-songwriter Leyla McCalla and her band (bassist Pete Olynciw, drummer Shawn Meyers and guitarist Nahum Zdybel) join us onboard the Cayamo cruise to go through their incredible, righteous and fun new record Sun Without Heat. It is a Leyla McCalla solo album but no solo artist is an island! Once we saw Leyla perform with her band, with whom she has collaborated for the past six years, we had to get the whole collaborative outfit in on the interview. The sounds on the album are inspired by Afrobeat, Haitian Music, folk music, indie music, Americana music, Brazilian tropicalismo, amongst oth ..read more

Siri Undlin, better known as Humbird, is a talented singer-songwriter from the Twin Cities with deep roots in Minnesota music and the land that surrounds her. Growing up, she was a true cold weather kid who loved hockey during winter In Minnesota, but also loved music and feeding her vivid imagination. Her love of music was nurtured by her parents, religious music, church choir and also her Aunt Joan, who taught Siri guitar at age 12. Hockey actually led her to her first band Celtic Club, with a set of triplets. The band would play at Irish Pubs, talent shows and, of course, at the local hocke ..read more

We're live at sea! lizzie and Cindy recorded this episode onboard Cayamo, which is a singer/songwriter cruise that's been sailing yearly since 2008 and is one of the best music festivals we've attended. AND it's another edition of FOLK DEBATE CLUB. This time it's Community vs Capitalism! Our panel features Jenny Owen Youngs (musician and co-host of Buffy the Vampire Slayer podcast, Buffering the Vampire Slayer), Amy Reitnouer Jacobs (Co-Founder / Executive Director of The Bluegrass Situation) and Natalie Dean (Director of Events at Sixthman, which presents Cayamo). We talk about both through t ..read more