His new album, Minute By Minute, is with The James Hunter Six, but some lucky WFUV members and I were treated to a few of the songs solo when James stopped by Studio A with just his guitar in tow. He also performed an FUV favorite from his 2006 U.S. debut, the title track of People Gonna Talk.
Sam Beam is the mastermind behind Iron & Wine, and he released his first record back in 2002, called The Creek Drank the Cradle. It was an intimate and mostly acoustic affair, but over the years, Sam has expanded his sound. He's now on his fifth full-length Iron & Wine album, Ghost On Ghost, and it features backing vocals along with string and horn sections.
Sam brought his whole crew to Studio A when he recently stopped by WFUV to talk with me about the new album. See video of the live performances right here, and catch Iron & Wine at The Beacon Theatre tomorrow and The Capitol Theatre this Sunday.
Pesky J. Nixon, an acoustic group with roots in the Boston area, takes their name from favorite favorite Red Sox players (sorry, Yankees fans), Johnny Pesky and Trot Nixon. The two leaders, Ethan Baird and Jake Bush first met at Brandeis University, where they were part of an a capella group. They maintained a sense of harmony and humor ever since. Both were on display when they came to Studio A for a Sunday Breakfast session.
When Irish-born Aoife Clancy (daughter of Bobby Clancy of The Clancy Brothers) met the young Australian singer-songwriter Kath Buckell in Israel, they hit it off, and Aoife told Kath to look her up if she ever moved to the U.S. A couple years later, Kath did just that, and one night they teamed up with Rhode Island singer-songwriter Becky Chace for a concert that had instant chemistry. Soon the Israeli flutist Hadar Noiberg joined them, and The Jammin' Divas became a group, which draws on their diverse backgrounds and exquisite harmonies.
Richie Havens was a friend of WFUV, but also the folk community and, thanks to his iconic performance at Woodstock, the whole world. His passing on April 22 of a heart attack at age 72 was profoundly sad for his many fans. I think of Richie as both a mensch and a mystic - with a down-to-earth sense of humor and yet cosmic wisdom. He was a generous, open-hearted man and one of the most riveting performers you'll ever see.
After taking some time off from music to advocate for the rights of women prisoners in California, Thao Nguyen returned to music with a renewed sense of optimism and hope. It's reflected on her latest album, We The Common, and Thao brought The Get Down Stay Down along to perform a few of the new tunes in Studio A.
The Waterboys first shaped the poems of W. B. Yeats into song 25 years ago on Fisherman's Blues, and now a lifelong labor of love brings us a full album of that combination on An Appointment With Mr. Yeats. After its live U.S. premiere at Town Hall, we were lucky enough to have Mike Scott and bandmate Steve Wickham stop by FUV where they talked about the long-awaited project and treated us to some duo performances.
After many years as part of the New York music scene, Amy Speace relocated to Nashville 3 years ago and has already become a vital part of the community there. Her brand new CD, "How to Sleep in a Stormy Boat," includes co-writes with Mary Gauthier, Robby Hecht, and Sally Barris, and a duet with Grammy nominee John Fullbright. It's a very personal album, reflecting the challenges she's faced the last couple of years, and also a very literate one, with a Shakespearean passage setting up each song.
Alabama native and current Brooklyn resident Matthew Houck has been releasing music under the moniker Phosphorescent ever since 2003. He's now on his sixth album, Muchacho, and we think this is some of his best work yet. After I caught up with Matthew at SXSW, the whole band made the trip to FUV for some great live performances in Studio A.
Caitlin Canty and Brad Cole have both made their way to New York from other parts of the country. Caitlin grew up in Vermont and while majoring in biology at Williams College took a course in songwriting that changed her life. She came to NYC after graduation to work for the Artist's Den, but now does music full-time, with both her solo career and the side projects Darlingside (a string band) and Down Like Silver (a duo with Peter Bradley Adams of eastmountainsouth fame). Brad grew up in Chicago and from the 90s on was part of that fertile music scene (Smashing Pumpkins, Wilco, etc).
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