Category: Podcasts

Gustafson staked his claim as one of the area’s premiere songwriters back in 2009 with his debut LP Donkey, but in the four years between his first and second full-length he had his hands in many a pot. Gustafson played with the likes of Max Indian, The Love Language, Mandolin Orange and The Human Eyes all whilst working on instrumental work as well. But when Gustafson announced his return to songwriting with The Dead Tongues it felt like the region let out a collective cheer. Desert was one of the most well received albums of 2013 and Gustafson has stayed busy at work since the album’s release.

Throughout the hour I spoke with Ryan Gustafson about his songwriting origins, the lapse between full lengths, all of the roles he’s been filling around the area and importantly what’s to come from the songwriter in 2014. Amidst all of the conversation Gustafson performed two new songs in the studio as well as a track from Desert. Fans of the songwriter can dig deeper into his psyche and get a stripped down treat of some new and old favorites with this session.

Taylor and Hirsch have released 4 albums as Hiss Golden Messenger including last year’s Haw.  Named for the river that strikes right through the heart of North Carolina, the album is their most adventurous to date as the duo expanded and enlisted the help of some old friends.  The band consisted of Megafaun’s Phil Cook, The Black Twig Picker’s Nathan Bowles, and William Tyler.  Each of these men is a great musician in their own right and came together to round out Taylor’s incredible vision perfectly.  Like their previous albums, Haw brought together wide array of different genres including folk, blues, country, and soul.  While Hiss Golden Messenger is a champion of an older country era, the music is universal and draws people that have never before been a fan of these genres.  As such, Haw was incredibly well received by people of all genres as it made the rounds on both local and national end of year lists.

On January 14th, their second album Bad Debt is being reissued after coming to an untimely end.  All copies of the original CD edition were destroyed in a warehouse fire during the London riots in 2011.  Bad Debt was written during the time of the collapse of the global economy.  Now after its symbolic demise, these songs will see the light of day 5 years later.  While we may not know what the future of the global economy may hold, these songs still hold weight as we look towards the not entirely cheery future.  But the future may be a bit brighter with Hiss Golden Messenger reminding us we aren’t alone in our struggles.

Tune in to hear our interview with Hiss Golden Messenger during Carolina Grown on January 17th as we discuss what lies ahead for them.

Check out a review and listen to a track off of Bad Debt on Pitchfork.

After the interview, they stepped out of the studio and into the lounge, where they performed “Faithbreaker” and “Golden Age” as part of WKNC’s “The Lounge” video series.

And did we mention The Love Language is headlining the first night of WKNC’s Double Barrel Benefit 11 on Friday, Feb. 7 at Cat’s Cradle?

Throughout the hour I spoke first with Kenny Roby about the differences between approaching his songs as a solo artist as opposed to a member of a full band. Roby performed an intimate take on “Tired of Being In Love,” before the focus switched over to the folks in Magnolia Collective. We then spoke a bit about the inception of Magnolia Collective and how it’s grown from their humble start with weekly jams at Carrboro’s The Station. Magnolia Collective then performed a brand new track from their forthcoming full length, set for release sometime next year.

Lastly, we moved onto the newest band of the bill with Texoma. Texoma’s songwriter Zach Terry was one of the original members of Magnolia Collective and we spoke about the differences between working with such a large group as opposed to a “dust-rock” trio. Texoma recently released a self-produced self-titled EP, and having only been a band for 2 months we naturally discussed the difficulties and excitement that comes along with being in such a swiftly moving project. To close out the hour Texoma performed an unreleased track titled “Mary Anne.”

This fresh purveyor of bedroom pop joined me this past week on Carolina Grown to talk a little bit about the inception of this project and how it’s grown from a self-contained bedroom project to a full-fledged band. Franklin and I discuss the transition from solo arrangements to vivacious live shows and the difficulties in bearing your innermost thoughts and feelings before an audience, which when your music is as visceral as Bridges’ must be a bit of an emotional exercise.

To top it all of Franklin performed a few stripped down takes of some tracks from Glass Mask, including “Never Loved You” and “End of the Road.”

This fresh purveyor of bedroom pop joined me this past week on Carolina Grown to talk a little bit about the inception of this project and how it’s grown from a self-contained bedroom project to a full-fledged band. Franklin and I discuss the transition from solo arrangements to vivacious live shows and the difficulties in bearing your innermost thoughts and feelings before an audience, which when your music is as visceral as Bridges’ must be a bit of an emotional exercise.

To top it all of Franklin performed a few stripped down takes of some tracks from Glass Mask, including “Never Loved You” and “End of the Road.”

Your standard Magpie Feast song feels reminiscent of a dirty southern take on Devendra Banhart. These tracks are firmly based in blues-rock stylings while interspersing traditional folk melodies, yet they somehow find their way into sprawling territory that gives this music a modernistic hue. Magpie Feast’s most recent release Out of the Womb sheds the lo-fi veil in favor of a much more dynamic and engaging approach, taking this already riveting sound and piling on layers to enrich the experience. 

On Friday, December 13 I’ll be joined by Magpie Feast to discuss the evolution of this promising and under-appreciated act and to find out where they stand amongst a crowded North Carolina scene. Magpie Feast will be performing some stripped down takes on tracks from Out of the Womb, so tune in from 6-7 for our last Artist of the Month feature before the new year begins!

Upon hearing Haskins’ song, acclaimed North Carolina artists Caitlin Cary (of Whiskeytown) and Jon Lindsay decided to band together and form the NC Music Love Army, a project that snowballed into something far more encompassing than anyone could imagine. Within the 6 months since the Moral Monday protests, the NC Music Love Army has already written, recorded and now released a full-length album of protest songs geared towards the N.C. state legislators. Last week I spoke with Caitlin Cary, Jon Lindsay and Skylar Gudasz about the formation of the Love Army, some of the pitfalls that they’ve come across since its inception, and where the project will go from here.

This past Saturday (Nov. 30) the group celebrated the album’s release at Cat’s Cradle, a show that was filled with protest anthems both new and old, along with a slew of special guests. During our conversation, we speak about these member’s favorite protest songs, what listeners could expect from the show and heard an unreleased song from the Love Army, “Dear Mr. McCrory.”