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.
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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.
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Few pickers have toured harder or traveled farther than jamgrass veteran Vince Herman, who co-founded the iconic Leftover Salmon 34 years ago in Colorado. Yet there are always new things to try, so he’s added the band The High Hawks to his list of collaborations. Our sit-down visit was sparked by that band’s album Mother Nature’s Show doing so well on the Americana chart and by his own recent move from Colorado to Nashville, where he’s become a hub of the picking scene and an avid co-writer. We cover a lot of ground from his origins in Pittsburgh and West Virginia to the everlasting desire to play the next show. Also in the hour, progressive banjo player Kyle Tuttle calls in from a fishing trip to talk about his years with Molly Tuttle and his new solo album Labor Of Lust.
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John Leventhal is one of the quiet achievers of American roots music going back more than 30 years. Early on as a guitar player in his native New York City, he connected with Jim Lauderdale and Shawn Colvin, co-writing and producing their debut albums. He met his wife Rosanne Cash as they worked on the pivotal album The Wheel. He’s produced some epic albums since then for William Bell, Sarah Jarosz, and others, winning numerous Grammy and Americana awards in the process. At last, he lent his guitar and studio skills to making the solo debut album Rumble Strip. Rosanne is there for some duo vocals, but otherwise it’s warm and tuneful instrumentals that foreground some of the lovely textures and grooves that have been behind so many albums we’ve loved.
LINER NOTES
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Hear Larry Campbell & Teresa Williams' performance from their 30a session with WMOT.
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Grace Potter stopped by and performed a set for WMOT during this year's 30A Music Festival.
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Tinsley Ellis with Jessie Scott on March 6th.
WMOT VIDEO: LIVE SESSIONS ON NPR MUSIC
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Charlie Mars and Jobi Riccio are kicking off the new year with solo sets at Riverside Revival for WMOT's Wired In concert series. Click here to watch the show live!
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Joanne Shaw Taylor joins host Jessie Scott to discuss her upcoming album, discovering the blues, being a female guitar player, and working with Joe Bonamassa.
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Joe Bonamassa chats with host Jessie Scott about his Keeping the Blues Alive Foundation, the seeds of blues in other genres, and his label Journeyman Records. Plus, watch clips from his 2023 ACL Live performance.
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Kevn Kinney closed out 2023 with two sets of music with Nashville friends Mike Farris, Erin Rae, Chuck Mead, and Aaron Lee Tasjan. Watch highlights from the performance here.
NPR Top Stories
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Our most memorable and useful expert advice from Life Kit's March episodes, hand-picked by the editors.
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The debris that saved Rose's life in Titanic — and sparked a quarter-century of debate — fetched over $718,000 at an auction of iconic Hollywood movie props last week. It's based on a real artifact.
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Biden officials approved proposals for the U.S. census and federal surveys to change how Latinos are asked about their race and ethnicity and to add a checkbox for "Middle Eastern or North African."
Win a pair of tickets to Drive-By Truckers at Ryman Auditorium on November 24, 2024.
The Malpass Brothers at The Franklin Theatre on April 13, 2024.
Win a pair of tickets to The Wood Brothers at Ryman Auditorium on April 4, 2024.
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