Making Festival Goers Sing and His Banjo Ring: Brian Swenk

October 4, 2022

For a place as remote as Ashe County, NC, you could be forgiven for overlooking it as a wellspring for musical talent. But music seems to flow naturally out of the Appalachian mountains in and around towns like Sparta, NC, where artists like Brian Swenk grew up. Our recent episode on banjo player Tray Wellington gives another example of how the region punches above its weight with its long track record of producing great roots music artists: Frank Blevins and his Tarheel Rattlers, the Carolina Night Hawks, Clarence “Tom” Ashley, and Ola Belle Reed all hail from Ashe County as well.

Even though many artists mentioned above moved away, they never forgot their homeplace. Recently I witnessed both Tray Wellington and Brian Swenk returning to the mountains to make music and give back to the cultural traditions that gave them their start, when both were a key part of the inaugural Boonerang Music & Arts Festival in nearby Boone, NC in June 2022. There, Brian came back to the town where he attended Appalachian State University as a key part of the team that produced the festival, which went swimmingly. Town Mountain and Acoustic Syndicate, both featured on previous episodes of this series, were headliners, and along with many other artists and bands with connections to the region, they helped make the weekend a winner with fans and critics alike. Brian’s work was all behind the scenes there, but he is no stranger to the stage, with years of experience playing banjo in the band Big Daddy Love.

Here, Brian talks about the music business, his rock and roll roots and how they find their way into Big Daddy Love’s music, we pick up on a conversation started in our episode on Tray Wellington with the influence of rap and hip hop in roots music, and more, including Brian’s story about how a painting of his band playing live sold for six figures. Plus, we sample several songs by Big Daddy Love, which describes itself as an “Appalachian Rock” band.

Songs heard in this episode:

“Smoke Under The Water” by Big Daddy Love, from This Time Around

“Down From the Mountain” by Big Daddy Love, from Let It Grow, excerpt

“Air Bellows Gap” by Big Daddy Love, from Let It Grow

Thank you for listening to this episode, and we would be even more grateful were you to share this with someone. It is super easy to follow us on your podcast platform of choice, and then it will only take a minute to give it a good rating, and on platforms with the option, a review. Great ratings and reviews will make Southern Songs and Stories and the artists it profiles more likely to be found by more people just like you.

Southern Songs and Stories is a part of the podcast lineup of Osiris Media, with all of the Osiris shows available here. You can also hear new episodes of this podcast on Bluegrass Planet Radio here. Thanks to Corrie Askew for producing the radio adaptations of this series on public radio WNCW, and to Joshua Meng, who wrote and performed our theme songs. This is Southern Songs and Stories: the music of the South and the artists who make it. - Joe Kendrick

Melody, Nuance and Innovation on the Banjo With Tray Wellington

September 20, 2022

Years ago, when the tenth anniversary of the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack was the topic on my WNCW talk show What It Is, writer and editor Kim Ruehl remarked that the movie made an indelible mark on the music scene by taking heretofore uncool hillbilly music, putting it in the mouth of George Clooney, and exposing all the punk and rock and roll kids to a style which could be truly offensive. It was a hilarious, spot-on statement, and indeed many a rough hewn, banjo-fronted band was born in the wake of the film’s massive success. O Brother was an inflection point for roots music like old-time and bluegrass, becoming a lens for discovering and interpreting a culture and its go-to musical styles for the broader public, akin to Deliverance a generation before.

Even though banjo sales jumped and the instrument became more prominent in settings both acoustic and otherwise, its perception did not change wholesale throughout our culture. Even though banjos enjoyed a renaissance in places before, like with Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, and would go on to become essential to the sound of folk-pop stars like Mumford & Sons, the instrument was still firmly anchored in music traditions born of its mostly White, Appalachian origin story. But what happens when you realize that story is only part of the history?

Tray Wellington Band performs at the Boonerang Music & Arts Festival 06-18-22 in Boone, NC

The banjo’s origin story, and how it moved into almost exclusively White contexts is touched on in this episode on Tray Wellington. The young artist from North Carolina also talks about his new album, Black Banjo, where he takes the instrument into a musical territory that borders bluegrass, old-time and jazz, while never staying so long in any one place that things get predictable. Tray talks here about how he cut his teeth playing at old-time music jams as well as other banjo players he looks up to, plus his love of making rap beats on the side. That and more at the link below and on podcast platforms everywhere.

Songs heard in this episode:

“Strasbourg/St. Denis” by Tray Wellington, from Black Banjo

“Gibbous Moon” by Tray Wellington, from Uncaged Thoughts, excerpt

“Naima” by Tray Wellington, from Black Banjo, excerpt

“Half Past Four” by Tray Wellington, from Black Banjo, excerpt

“Wasted Time” by Tray Wellington, with Tim O’Brien, from Black Banjo

Side Hustles, part one: For Musicians, The Gig Economy Is Nothing New

May 24, 2019

It is a common fantasy to dream about being on stage, playing music in front of adoring fans, making meaningful art, traveling around the world, and getting fat paychecks along the way. People often think that being in a band means you get “money for nothin' and your chicks for free”, like the Dire Straits song says. But talk to musicians and artists and you quickly find out that this is, and never was, the case. Their stories paint a completely different picture than what we likely had in mind. Maybe you are like me, and you know a bit about how hard it is to make it in the arts world. I have been around musicians for decades, and thought I knew a lot about what they deal with on a day to day basis, but after preparing for and talking with artists in this episode, my eyes were opened even wider than before.

Mike Sivilli (left) and Dan Lotti (right) of Dangermuffin interviewed in the Nap Shack at the Albino Skunk Festival, April 11 2019

In this podcast, the first of a two part series, we hear from bands and music artists about how they keep their heads above water, and how they find balance in this upside down equation. And we get at some of the larger questions involved, like why they often are not paid the equivalent of minimum wage. As always, there is lots of music along the way, including songs from our guests Dangermuffin (an acoustic cover of the Phish song “Back On The Train'“), Elizabeth Cook, Brian Swenk, David Ball and Warren Hood.

Elizabeth Cook performs on the Americana Stage at MerleFest 4-26-19. Photo: Ken Banks

I’m pretty sure you love music, so please support the music of the artists you enjoy hearing here. Would you help spread the word about this independent project? The easiest way to help is by subscribing, rating and commenting on the show where you get your podcasts. Becoming a patron is even better. You can find out more on our Patreon page here. -- and you can keep up with us on our Facebook page, on twitter and Instagram, all linked in the banner at the top of the page. Send me an email, and I will be glad to get back to you from southernsongsandstories@gmail.com. This series is available on most every podcast platform, as well as on Bluegrass Planet Radio. Stay tuned for part two of this episode, which will feature conversations and music from The Deer, members of the band The War and Treaty, and Dan Fedoryka from Scythian. Thanks for listening! - Joe Kendrick

Artist stereotypes do not apply

How many times have parents cringed when their children fell in love with a musician? Let's be honest, the world has looked askance at artists of all stripes (with notable exceptions) for most of our history. Musicians tend to be thought of as people who may be great at their art but who are nonetheless pretty bad at life skills like paying bills, getting to work on time, and sticking with the missus.

Aaron turns all those stereotypes on their head; he is not only a fantastic songwriter and musician, but he also runs his own construction business and is a devoted family man living a stone's throw from where he grew up in the western NC mountains. He is as meticulous and intense about his guitar and ballads as he is about his green built homes and raising his two girls.

As you'll see in our pilot episode, Aaron does both life and art exceptionally well. The folks around him are a big part of that.