Playlist

November 20, 2018

Listen

Bottle Rockets
Amy Helm
Alela Diane
John R. Miller & the Engine Lights
Hubby Jenkins

Playlist

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Hour

​Artist

Song

1

Hubby Jenkins

Cumberland Gap/Last Chance

 

 

Shake “Em on Down

 

 

The Cuckoo Bird

 

 

Parchman Farm

 

 

Banjo Jam

 

Julie Adams

*Shame Shame Shame*

 

John R. Miller & The Engine Lights

Holy Dirt

 

 

Red Eyes

 

 

Faustina

 

 

Comin’ Down

 

 

Whale Party

 

Alela Diane

Albatross

 

 

White as Diamonds

 

 

*Never Easy*

 

 

My Epitaph

 

 

Song for Sandy

2

Amy Helm

Mandolin Wind

 

 

Stones That I Throw

 

 

Michigan

 

 

Yes We Can Can

 

Bob Thompson

*Here, There, and Everywhere*

 

Bottle Rockets

Bit Logic

 

 

Highway 70 Blues

 

 

Lo-Fi

 

 

Maybe Tomorrow

 

 

*Way Down South*

 

 

Doomsday Letter

 

 

Stovall’s Grove

 

 

Silver Ring

 

Larry Groce & Company

Nothing Lasts Forever





             


*Podcast Only*

Recorded on October 21, 2018

*Podcast audio due November 20, 2018.

 

Press Release

 

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Formed nearly 30 years ago, the Bottle Rockets helped forge a now-popular subgenre—small-town, middle-class, Midwest American roots rock—part right-to-the-gut poetry, part rock ‘n’ roll, all truth. Bit Logic is a different sort of album for the St. Louis natives and shows them at their most self-aware, self-challenging, and socially alert.

 

Recorded in St. Louis at Sawhorse Studios, engineered by Mario Viele and produced by longtime studio collaborator Eric “Roscoe” Ambel (The Del-Lords, Steve Earle), the Bottle Rockets’ 13th album has them looking at their unique stylistic blend through a different lens. While one of the group's earmarks is constructing blue-collar anthems, Bit Logic has the quartet focusing outside themselves, at how change and adaptation affects the bigger picture.

 
Amy Helm's This Too Shall Light, due September 21st on Yep Roc Records, comprises 10 songs produced by Grammy-winning producer and songwriter Joe Henry. Helm left her home and comfort zone of Woodstock, NY, choosing to record in Los Angeles within the confines of just a four-day window. The musicians were directed not to overthink the songs, and Helm herself barely performed any of the selections while leading up to the recording. As a result, the sessions forced fast musical trust among the collaborators and yielded the vibrant instrumental improvisations heard throughout This Too Shall Light.

“This music is about motherhood,” Alela Diane says of her highly anticipated fifth album Cusp. “Even just by saying that, it feels like people will write you off. It’s like you’ve suddenly lost the charm of being youthful and even attainable––you’ve been commoditized as available. There is not a big place in the music industry for 30-something women with kids making music.” She laughs as she pauses, then adds, “Maybe we can create that space.” 

If anyone can carve out needed new territory, it’s Alela. Cusp may be a thematic departure for the Portland, Oregon-based artist, but the Argus-eyed writing and clear voice that have long-since wowed Pitchfork, NME, Paste, and other early adopters throughout Europe and elsewhere have never been stronger. 

John R Miller grew up in Hedgesville, a small town in the eastern panhandle of West Virginia where the mountains meet Interstate 81. A co-founding member of hard-traveling bands Prison Book Club and The Fox Hunt, and crafting a unique-and-familiar blend of country blues & folk, he has performed music in nearly all 50 states, Canada, Ireland, the UK, Japan, and much of Europe. He has twice appeared on NPR's Mountain Stage with The Fox Hunt. He has also been a featured songwriter and performer on the Travelin' Appalachians Revue. John can often be found performing solo, alongside fiddle player Chloe Edmonstone, or with his band The Engine Lights. New album The Trouble You Follow is available now via Emperor Records.

After years of busking around the U.S and making a name for himself, Hubby Jenkins became acquainted with the Carolina Chocolate Drops. From 2010 to 2014 he was an integral part of that Grammy award winning band. Since 2015, he is an active touring and recording member of the Rhiannon Giddens band. He was on her album “Tomorrow Is My Turn” in 2015 and in 2017 “Freedom Highway.”  And around these projects Hubby continues to make solo performances.
 

This episode will be distributed by NPR Music in November.