Former Stray Birds frontwoman, Maya de Vitry joined us in the studio to share some eye-opening thoughts about what it really took to put together her debut solo album, Adaptations, during a recent session in Nashville, Tennessee.
Winnipeg duo, The Small Glories' (JD Edwards & Cara Luft) new album, Assiniboine & the Red, is a collection of collaborative songs of strength, resilience, and connection. They joined Folk Alley at the Lake Flower Landing in Saranac Lake, NY to talk about their history, their music, and their very exciting plans for the future.
The FreshGrass Band Award recognizes and rewards an unsigned, up-and-coming band from the U.S. and beyond who offers a fresh take on the tradition of bluegrass. This year's award finalists included Meadow Mountain (Denver, CO,) The Trailblazers (Wilkesboro, NC,) and this year's award winner, AJ Lee & Blue Summit from Santa Cruz, CA.
Watch performances of the three FreshGrass 'No Depression' Singer-Songwriter Award finalists - Anna Tivel, Abigail Lapell, and Raye Zaragoza - captured at this year's FreshGrass Festival at Mass MoCA in N. Adams, Massachusetts.
What happens when a group of talented musicians get together for a short period of time in a small space with a gigantic wood stove? Musical magic, according to Kris Delmhorst. She talked about this and the making of her 2017 album, 'The Wild' when she and her husband and musical partner, Jeffrey Foucault stopped by Beehive Productions studio for an exclusive Folk Alley Session.
In order to embrace change and in order to embrace her own voice as a songwriter, Courtney Hartman knew she needed to get away from a lot of the noise in her life. And so she set off on a truly epic, hundreds-of-miles-long trek, accompanied only by the lightest guitar she could find. Hartman shares insights into her epic journey - which turned into a new album, Ready Reckoner during our exclusive Folk Alley Session.
During an exclusive Folk Alley Session that North Carolina progressive sting band, Mipso, did for Folk Alley, the group eloquently talks about "the how and why" of their evolution as a band and the decision to push their musical boundaries in the first place.
Sarah Lee Guthrie has been on stage almost since birth. But she has never been up there alone. She started (and still performs) with her father, Arlo, and the rest of her talented family. Sarah Lee partnered with her husband, Johnny Irion, and even though they had great success, there was a folky voice that wanted to be heard. Now, she's out solo for the first time, giving full and glorious attention to the folk music that is her birthright. She sat down with Folk Alley at the 2017 30A Songwriters Festival to play some songs and talk about this exciting new turn in her life.
When you combine the transcendent poetry of Bob Dylan with the gritty, real-world rock-n-roll storytelling that Bruce Springsteen made so famous, and then add a dash of the political activism embodied by Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger, you’ll have Irish singer-songwriter Pat Byrne. Known for creating a rootsy, Americana sound that has a unique Irish twist, Byrne now lives part-time in the US (he calls Austin, Texas home) and his newest recording, Rituals, reflects his multiple geographical identities. In January of 2019, Folk Alley caught up with Pat Byrne at the 30AFest in Florida.
The rain was coming down hard one day in April in Upper Jay, New York. And that’s the day Ana Egge, along with Alec Spiegelman (keyboards, bass clarinet) and Dave Cole (drums) showed up to play songs from her album, White Tiger, at the pop-up studio our friends at Beehive Productions Studio set up at The Recovery Lounge.
