The String

Episode 132: The timing was right to split the hour between two exceptional emerging artists making hard country music in the outlaw tradition. As you'll hear, Jesse Daniel and Jaime Wyatt have lived…

Episode #131: Two of the most exceptional and provocative songwriters of their respective generations take on America's political divide and inject some radical empathy in the red/blue schism. Steve …

Episode 130: She's a daughter of Grand Ole Opry royalty, but Pam Tillis found her own way to the music business and the top of the country charts in the 1990s. She's long been one of Music City's mos…

Episode 129: Lilly Hiatt put in a lot of work at the local and regional level, including releasing two albums, before her third, Trinity Lane, met the moment and became a breakout work. So a lot of e…

Episode 128: Katie Pruitt has been known as a phenom ready for big things in Nashville for a few years now. With patience and enough maturity to get the music exactly as she intended, Pruitt has now …

Episode 127: Paul Burch moved from Indiana to Nashville in 1994 when his friend Jay McDowell (BR549) told him about the burgeoning indie country music scene on sleepy Lower Broadway. In the 25 years …

Episode 126: This Spring, many of the outstanding women of roots music have released new albums, and here we catch up with two of them. Jessi Alexander, native of Jackson TN, moved to Nashville at 18…

Episode 125: Recording producers are often the best people to speak with to gain extra insight into what makes some music more effective than others. And that's what we do this episode with two Nashv…

Episode 124: Caleb Caudle grew up in rural North Carolina outside of Winston Salem, captivated by music far beyond what his school peers cared about - English punk, folk music and Bob Dylan among the…

Episode 123: Ron Pope is a case study in good indie art and commerce. He's an admired songwriter with an avid following for his cathartic, detail-laden songs and his range across a bunch of roots and…

Episode 122: Living the road life makes for tight musical couples. And in this split episode, I speak with a new mom who tours and duets with her husband and a couple that's been touring for a decade…

Episode 121 is a field trip to Asheville, NC, which Rolling Stone last year touted as one of the best music scenes in the country. We who visit regularly already knew that, and this week's show surve…

Episode 120: Vince Herman and Drew Emmitt met in 1985 on Vince's first night in Boulder, CO and formed a lifelong musical bond. With banjo player Mark Vann they merged two bands into one and became L…

Episode 119: Four virtuoso string band musicians well known for their work with other bands are taking instrumental acoustic music to new heights in the band Hawktail. They are fiddler Brittany Haas,…

Episode 118: Marcus Finnie is one of Nashville's most admired drummers, with a background spanning gospel, roots, pop and jazz. Mabel Pleasure is a lifelong Hammond organ player who rocks Sunday morn…

Episode 117: Often when songwriters talk process, we hear the same few nuggets about craft on repeat. Nashville Songwriters Hall of Famer Beth Nielsen Chapman though has a deeply considered take on t…

Episode 116: Fiddler, songwriter, singer, bandleader and folk music scholar Michael Doucet is synonymous with Beausoleil the neo-traditional Louisiana band he co-founded 40+ years ago. But this artis…

Episode 115: To start the new year, a full-hour with one of the certified icons of roots/Americana music and Nashville songwriting, John Hiatt. We cover a lot of ground, from getting launched out of …

Episode 114: They grew up in Nashville in the home of the legendary preacher and singer Rev. Sam McCrary, a key member of the Fairfield Four and a major figure in gospel music. They've sung, together…

Episode 113: Allison Moorer emerged around the year 2000 as one of the most profound and beautiful voices in true country music. As she grew in stature and acclaim, it emerged that she's suffered an …