PLAY JEN OSHA INTERVIEW

PLAY JEN’S SONG SHUMATE DAM

Executive Producer Rich Reardin attended the first “Mountain Aid” benefit concert in Pittsboro, North Carolina on June 19th and 20th, 2009 in support of the movement to stop mountaintop removal practices of the coal mining industry in the Appalachians. Rich interviewed various musicians about songwriting in relationship with social activism. This interview is with Jennifer Osha, a songwriter, activist, and producer of a CD compilation of musicians that are using music to publicize the issue of mountaintop removal, and bring attention to the cause.

TO BUY “STILL MOVING MOUNTAINS” BENEFIT CD
A COMPANION WEBSITE “JOURNEY UP COAL RIVER”

LINKS FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT MOUNTAIN TOP REMOVAL

Aurora Lights

Coal River Mountain Watch

I Love Mountains

Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition

Sludge Safety Project

Pennies of Promise

Mountain Justice

Taking Mountain Top Removal Head-On, North Carolina Considers Ban
RAN to BOA: Stop Destroying Communities, Environment!
From West Virginia to Obama: STOP MOUNTAINTOP REMOVAL
Obama to Allow Mountaintop Removal Mining

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SONG: Tear Down the House

In Search of a Song executive producer Rich Reardin interviews The Avett Brothers at the Chicago Bluegrass and Blues Festival on November 22nd, 2008.  Sitting in David Grisman’s dressing room backstage, this is a great interview, and topped off with 3 songs played live, and spontaneously in the interview.  The Avett Brothers from Concord, North Carolina, have played and written music together “forever” according to them.  It was a pure pleasure to sit back and listen to them play.

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At the Chicago Bluegrass and Blues Festival

SONGS: St. Joesephs – Belladonna

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BIO: It is said that if you don’t know your past, you don’t know your future; well Groundation knows its past, and they’re stepping into the future. While capturing the essence of true roots reggae, internationally acclaimed Groundation aims to take the art of genre-bending to new heights by blending elements of both Jazz/Funk fusion and transcendental Dub in their amalgam of sound.The name ‘Groundation’ came from the Rastafarian ceremony of the same name. Its goal of trying to get everyone on the same level so people can communicate and feel free to educate each other while also learning from each other. Groundation was founded in the fall of 1998 when three long time musicians Marcus Urani (organ/keys/piano), Ryan Newman (bass), and Harrison Stafford (guitar/lead vocals) came together to form the core of the pioneering sound.

They were later Joined in 2000 by San Francisco based Jazz trumpeter David Chachere and the North Bay’s Kelsey Howard on trombone. Groundation saxophonist Jason Robinson has gone on to become the head of the Jazz program at UC San Diego as well as breathing new life into the Southern California Jazz scene. Drummer Paul Spina (Les Claypool, Will Bernard’s Mother Bug) has been with the group since taking over from original set player James Stafford in December 2001. Bay area percussionist Mingo Lewis Jr. brings Latin and African infused rhythms, adding heady layers to Groundation’s already stout syncopations. Jamaicans Kerry Ann Morgan and Kim Pommell, joining the group in 2006 and 2007 respectively, have already helped take Groundation’s harmonies and live shows to new heights.

Though Groundation has played in 30 countries on 4 continents in just the last few years (headlining huge multi-genre festivals in France, Italy, Morocco and Brazil to name but a few), Summer ’08 marks their first tour in the U.S. east of Colorado. Worlds will collide as Groundation’s internationally seasoned high-energy show style meets the American heartland, culminating in what will surely be a historic tour.

(www.Groundation.com/live.html)

June 2008 also marks the release of the first Groundation side project featuring Grammy-nominated Jazz guitarist Will Bernard (Stanton Moore Trio, Dr. Lonnie Smith) as well as Jamaican Reggae legend Leroy “Horsemouth” Wallace (Burning Spear, The Abyssinians the cult film “Rockers”) on drums. This album, already generating considerable buzz throughout the music industry, will surely go down as an early 21st century classic (www.Rockamovya.com).

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Guest Host Tim Grimm interviews Texas Troubador Eric Taylor in Bloomington, Indiana. Eric is a sage musician, a lyrical genius and a master of the guitar. If you’re familiar with the intricate Texas singer/ songwriter jigsaw puzzle, you probably already know a lot about Taylor. If you’re not familiar with Taylor by name, you’ve probably heard his songs performed by people such as Nanci Griffith and Lyle Lovett. He has created a multitude of fans and devotees that are legends themselves in the singer/songwriter realm, artists who have long considered Taylor to be a teacher and a lantern bearer whose time is long overdue. Taylor grew up in Atlanta, Georgia, and started playing soul music in his early years, steeping himself in the rich cultural heritage of the black South. “I’ve written poetry all my life,” Taylor recounts. “When I learned how to play guitar, it was a natural progression to write songs.” After high school, a brief stint at Georgetown University in Washington, DC, just “didn’t work out,” according to Taylor.

“Music lured me away,” says Taylor. “I thought I’d make my way to California like everybody else back then but I ran out of money and ended up in Houston.” It’s a good thing he never made it to California, because the musical environment in Houston during the ’70s was just what Taylor needed to inspire him.

Taylor learned intricate blues guitar stylings from music legends Lightnin’ Hopkins, Mance Lipscomb and Mississippi Fred McDowell while working at the Family Hand club. Later, he developed his own unique guitar picking style, that would be imitated by many of his contemporaries from the early Houston days, such as Guy Clark, Townes Van Zandt, Robert Earl Keen, Lyle Lovett, Steve Earle, and Nanci Griffith. “There were no lines drawn in the sand between musical genres in Houston back in those days,” Taylor remembers. “You were just a musician. I believe so many great writers came out of that scene because you could learn from others. Isn’t that the point of this whole thing?”

In 1977 Taylor was a winner of the “New Folk” competition at the Kerrville Folk Festival. Shameless Love, his first album, came out in 1981, and after a hiatus of almost 14 years, he returned with the self-titled Eric Taylor, released in 1995. His eponymous release was chosen as the 1996 Kerrville Folk Festival Album of the Year. Three years later he released Resurrect, and it was subsequently named one of the “100 essential records of all time” by Buddy magazine. Taylor has headlined the prestigious Newport Folk Festival, played National Public Radio’s “Mountain Stage” and has appeared on both “Late Night With David Letterman” with Nanci Griffith and “Austin City Limits” with Lyle Lovett, Guy Clark, and Robert Earl Keen.

“To say that Eric Taylor is one of the finest writers of our time, would be an understatement,” Nanci Griffith says. “If you miss an opportunity to hear Eric Taylor, you have missed a chance to hear a voice I consider the William Faulkner of songwriting in our current time.” Griffith has recorded several of Taylor’s songs, including “Deadwood,” “Storms,” “Dollar Matinee” and “Ghost in the Music,” which they wrote together. Lyle Lovett, who recorded Taylor’s “Memphis Midnight/Memphis Morning,” and with whom Taylor co-wrote the immensely popular “Fat Babies,” compares Taylor’s narrative voice to that of Bruce Springsteen. Iain Matthews claims, “Once you become a Taylor fanatic, it gives one immense joy and pride to be able to enlighten others to the man’s work.”

2001 brought forth Scuffletown, and shortly following its release, Taylor was a featured artist on “Austin City Limit’s” and NPR’s “Morning Edition.” The Kerrville Tapes (2003) is his first live album, recorded during three years of appearances at the prestigious Kerrville Folk Festival.

In 2004, heeding repeated requests by fans and media, Taylor re-mastered the vinyl Shameless Love and reissued it as a CD with 2 never-released-before bonus tracks.

In the spring of 2005, Taylor returned to Rock Romano’s Red Shack in Houston to record his 5th studio album, The Great Divide. Garnering rave reviews at home and abroad, The Great Divide quickly reached #3 on the Euro Americana Chart and in 2006 was named one of the Top Releases Most Played by Folk Radio.

And now we have Hollywood Pocketknife, a 10-song collection that shows Taylor in his prime as a writer and performer, with his exquisite narrative style, his keen, studied observation of the human spirit, and his intricate, roots-driven guitar work. Produced by Taylor, Hollywood Pocketknife also features a stellar cast of musicians, including Eric Demmer (saxophone), David Webb (keyboard, Hammond organ), Mathias Schneider (lap steel), James Gilmer (percussion), Vince Bell (vocals), Steven Fromholz (vocals), and Susan Lindfors (vocals).

In January 2008, Eric Taylor and Hollywood Pocketknife were nominated for FolkWax’s Artist Of The Year and Album Of The Year.

A mesmerizing performer, Taylor has toured extensively in the United States and Europe, playing notable venues such as Club Passim, The Bottom Line, Caffe Lena, The Bluebird Cafe, Eddie’s Attic, The Ark, CSPS, Freight & Salvage, Paradiso (Amsterdam), Theatre Kikker (Utrecht), The Real Music Club (Belfast), Hotel du Nord (Paris), Grey’s Pub (Brighton), and The Bein Inn (Perth). Festival appearances include Kerrville, Newport Folk Festival, Woody Guthrie Folk Festival, Take Root (The Netherlands), and Roots of Heaven Festival (The Netherlands).

He has taught at the Kerrville Song School, and has conducted songwriting workshops at the Fulston Manor Performing Arts Centre (Sittingbourne, England), CARAD (Rhayader, Wales), and the Plowshares Coffeehouse (Pennsylvania).

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