I wrote here in January about the newly energized Nashville Blues and Roots Alliance, a non-profit dedicated to cultivating blues careers and spreading its history through public schools. The group had just held its first-ever local competition to nominate contestant artists at the 2024 International Blues Challenge in Memphis. And in a nice Music City surprise, the NBRA’s delegate in the band category, Piper And The Hard Times, went to Memphis during the coldest week of the year, put on several sizzling sets, and came away with the grand prize. In this hour, we meet Al "Piper" Green and his bandmate/guitarist Steve Eagon to talk about their game changing win. Up first, Gulf Coast blues and R&B icon Marcia Ball talks about fifty years of rocking roadhouses and the occasional blues cruise.
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Suzy Bogguss started playing and performing on a hand-me-down guitar from her sister in small-town Illinois. After almost a decade making a living out west playing at ski lodges and smaller venues, she moved to Nashville, where she carved out a special place in 1990s country music. Amid a time of diversity and vibrancy in the format, her sweet, folky voice took flight when she found the right songs, including the career-makers “Someday Soon” and “Outbound Plane.” She’s toured steadily ever since, though recordings have been selective since 2000. During the pandemic though, she took on her first album of new material with last fall’s Prayin’ For Sunshine, the first where she’d written all of the songs. In this hour, we cover every key stage of this award-winning career. -
The Wonder Women of Country, a side project of busy Americana songwriter/artists Brennen Leigh, Kelly Willis and Melissa Carper, started in 2021 as a touring vehicle for three friends with compatible visions of country music. Fans have been loving it, and naturally they started asking if there was a recording to take home. The WWOC have made good on that desire with a self-titled EP, released on March 15. -
After more than a decade helming her progressive acoustic band The New Hip, bass player Missy Raines has reconfigured and turned back to the music she was raised on and the genre for which she’s been named Bass Player of the Year by the International Bluegrass Music Association ten times, most recently in 2021. Her new band is called Allegheny, and her new album Highlander finds her singing about the lonesome wind, fast-moving trains, and more weighty and contemporary subjects in the old school style.
LINER NOTES
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A closer look at the three bands performing Wednesday night from 7 to 9pm at Tennessee Brew Works for WMOT's Local Brew Fifth Anniversary show. -
Jessie Scott sat down with Willi Carlisle at The Fitting Room Studio in Madison, as he is getting ready to play the Basement East on April 13. -
Jessie Scott sits down with Grammy winner, Cedric Burnside for a WMOT Words & Music session.
WMOT VIDEO: LIVE SESSIONS ON NPR MUSIC
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Last Friday, Allison Russell was honored with an exhibit at the National Museum of African American Music. To note the occasion, she was interviewed by Alice Randall and her daughter Caroline Randall Williams. Watch the full interview and performance here. -
The Reverend Shawn Amos performed "Weight of the World", "Stranger Than Today" and "Revelation" at a beach house turned studio in Florida for WMOT's 2024 30A Songwriters Sessions. -
Click here to watch Sarah Jarosz and John R. Miller LIVE at Riverside Revival for WMOT's Wired In series on April 3rd at 7 p.m. CST. -
Last week, Alex Harris and Katie Pruitt performed new music at Riverside Revival for WMOT's Wired In series. Watch highlights from their sets here.
NPR Top Stories
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Fentanyl made from Chinese chemicals is killing tens of thousands of Americans. A House committee report found new evidence the Chinese government supports tax breaks to subsidize the drug trade. -
Redbone's hit cracked the Billboard Top 5 this month in 1974. It was a first for a band with all Native and Mexican American members — but the song itself had a quietly political message, too. -
Suicide is the leading cause of gun-related deaths in the United States. But it's often only an afterthought in the public debate about gun violence.
Win a pair of tickets to The Robert Cray Band at the CMA Theater on April 25, 2024
Win tickets to Ghost Hounds at Cannery Hall’s Mil Room Thursday April 25th.
All good things don’t have to come to an end! Give your used vehicle new life when you donate it to WMOT. Donating is easy, the pick-up is free, and your gift is tax-deductible.
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