Folk Alley Sessions

In 2018, Mary Gauthier joined Folk Alley for an exclusive session at the 30A Songwriters Festival in Florida. Here she talks about working alongside combat veterans and with the SongwritingWith: Soldiers organization to share their experiences. Listen to the interview and watch performances of songs from her album, 'Rifles and Rosary Beads.'

In late March of 2019, guitarist extraordinaire and songwriter, Molly Tuttle came by the studios of Beehive Productions in Saranac Lake, NY to share some thoughts about her musical history and to perform songs from her debut full-length album, 'When You’re Ready' for Folk Alley.

(This Folk Alley Session was originally published in November, 2014) - What happens when two greats join forces? Well, in the case of Béla Fleck and Abigail Washburn, a whole lot of banjo playing. For their 2014 eponymous duo album, Fleck says the main conceit was that "it would just be the two of us all the way," and not just in the studio. They also wanted to be able to tour the project properly, honorably, as a duo. But, as musicians are wont to do, Fleck explains, "As we got into it, we realized we really wanted to have different colors. So, we started pulling out all the banjos we had and looking at them and thinking about what went together in different ways." The resulting soundscape is painted with cello banjos, ukulele banjos, and even a bass banjo borrowed from Victor Wooten. Both pickers make the instruments earn their keep with Fleck, in particular, churning our superlative runs and riffs all the way through. But they also use the banjos in more measured ways to fold percussive rhythms into the mix and flesh out the sound because, as Washburn points out, "The truth is, a banjo head is a drum head."

(This Folk Alley Session was originally published in November, 2013) The wonder of the North Carolinian duo, Andrew Marlin and Emily Frantz and the music they create as Watchhouse (formerly Mandolin Orange) is the beauty and ease with which they come together vocally and musically. The songs are haunting in their simplicity - a quality that instantly connects with audiences. Hear the duo's performance recorded for Folk Alley in October, 2013 at the Pond House in Saranac Lake, New York by our partners at Beehive Productions.

Digging into the Folk Alley Sessions archives to revisit one of our all-time favorite exclusive performances. In 2013, Brown Bird (the late David Lamb and MorganEve Swain) stopped by the Folk Alley studio at WKSU in Kent, OH just as their album, 'Fits of Reason' was being released. The duo, influenced by a variety of world music, uses their tight harmonies to add the spirit of these sounds to an Americana roots flavor. In this interview with Matt Watroba, he says Brown Bird's music seems to have "ghosts" of other places and times drifting through its songs. Enjoy this FA Session, plus bonus videos from our "backstage session" from the 2012 Green River Festival.

On a wintery January day in 2019, Kieran Kane & Rayna Gellert invited us to their cozy lake-side cabin in the Adirondacks of New York for an intimate Folk Alley Session. Here they perform songs from their release, 'When the Sun Goes Down.'

Sam Bush is a hero to multiple generations of folk fans - from those that remember his breakthrough work with the New Grass Revival to his current status as king of the summer festival circuit. His enthusiasm for the music and his continuing efforts to stretch the reach of the mandolin make him one of the most popular folk artists working today. In October, 2010, Sam and bandmate Stephen Mougin stopped by Folk Alley to talk to Jim Blum about baseball, the Nashville flood, and life on the road.

In the summer of 2016, folk powerhouse duo The Small Glories (Cara Luft and JD Edwards) stopped in at Beehive Productions in Saranac Lake, New York for an intimate performance, and to talk about becoming a band and their album, 'Wondrous Traveler.'

(This Session was originally published in March, 2014.) The folk and roots music world is full of cross-generational collaboration. But it usually takes the form of folksingers pairing up with other folksingers, borrowing from a long musical tradition. It's another thing altogether to take words written long ago and give them musical life. Leyla McCalla does just that on her album, 'Vari-Colored Songs: A Tribute to Langston Hughes.' Though the collection includes a balance of her original arrangements with Haitian folk songs, what's most intriguing is the way she built many of the songs around Hughes' poetry. Leyla paid a visit to Folk Alley in February of 2014 to perform songs from 'Vari-Colored Songs' live in the Beehive Productions studio.

(This Folk Alley Session was first published in February, 2011) Guitarist Frank Vignola has been mastering his craft since before he was big enough for a standard-sized instrument. Known as one of the best in the business, he's played with names like Les Paul, Ringo Starr, Donald Fagen and Mark O'Connor. The native New Yorker stopped by the Folk Alley studios in early 2011 to tell host, Jim Blum the benefits of beating the pavement in search of a gig and developing a recognizable sound. He also performed a few songs accompanied by guitarist, Vinny Raniolo.