Basic Folk 231 – Jenny Owen Youngs

Podcaster, #1 hit songwriter, human and dog mother, gay icon Jenny Owen Youngs returns with her first full length album since 2012! In the last decade plus, Jenny has experienced a wild ride of changes like divorce, extreme grief, moving across the country, remarrying, etc. Her main project while not writing, recording and tour, she…

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Basic Folk 230 – Buffalo Nichols

Milwaukee singer-songwriter Buffalo Nichols returns to Basic Folk today to talk about his new album, ‘The Fatalist,’ out September 15 from Fat Possum Records. We picked up where Nichols’ debut album left off, traveling the world hot on the heels of the blues. Following a profound tradition can be just as frustrating as it is…

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Basic Folk 229 – Rising Appalachia

Sisters Leah Song & Chloe Smith grew up in Urban Atlanta, they also lived in New Orleans and outside of Asheville. The pair are deeply rooted in their Southern identity as evidenced in their band, Rising Appalachia. Although their parents are not professional musicians, music was a constant part of the family. Their parents were…

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Basic Folk 228 – Nina de Vitry

Lancaster-born, Nashville-based Nina de Vitry‘s debut album, What You Feel is Real, shines while showcasing her passion for jazz and folk music. de Vitry’s name may sound familiar, as she comes from a musical family and is the youngest sister of folk superstar Maya de Vitry (formerly of The Stray Birds). She grew up fiddling…

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Basic Folk 227 – Ben Harper

Ben Harper has this deep connection to music through his family, who own a very special music store in the Inland Empire of California. The legacy of the store is founded on ensuring its community always has access to music. That legacy has deeply impacted the type of person Ben Harper continues to be throughout…

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Basic Folk 226 – Taylor Ashton

Canadian-born, New York based banjo person Taylor Ashton’s second solo album, Stranger to the Feeling, was recorded on a coast to coast road trip during 2021. These were the two weeks post-vaccine where we thought everything was A-OK, so Ashton and producer Jacob Blumberg set out on a recording adventure that included collaborations with friends…

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Basic Folk 225 – Raye Zaragoza

The headline for Los Angeles-based Raye Zaragoza‘s new album Hold That Spirit is that after she broke off her engagement, she used her wedding budget to fund the recording. She wrote the songs the year she turned 30 while she was thinking of the expectations placed on women in society to have everything together at…

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Basic Folk 224 – Meg Hutchinson

It’s been ten years since Boston-area Meg Hutchinson has released an album and she did it super quietly, so no shade if you didn’t realize that your favorite middle sister is back with some seriously devastating songs. Meg grew up just outside of Great Barrington, MA where she had an idyllic childhood surrounded by woods…

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Basic Folk 223 – Molly Tuttle

Basic Folk is thrilled to interview The Bluegrass Situation’s July 2023 Artist of the Month: Molly Tuttle! Quickly becoming The Bluegrass American Idol, Molly Tuttle’s new album City of Gold is hot off the heels of her Grammy-award winning 2022 record Crooked Tree, which also got her a nomination in one of the coveted “Big…

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Basic Folk 222 – Kara Jackson

Kara Jackson has a mind like a diamond and a voice like maple syrup. She has always been drawn to music as a medium, but you probably first heard of her as the National Youth Poet Laureate. Cutting her teeth as a performing poet gave Jackson a huge public platform as well as a sense…

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