An Extra Helping of the Blue Plate Special – Joe’s Truck Stop “I Don’t Need You Anymore”

Joe’s Truck Stop, from Cincinnati, Ohio, played some good old honky tonk for the Blue Plate Special. This tune is called “I Don’t Need You Anymore” and can be found on their 2014 “Free Showers” EP. Joe’s Truck Stop is: Joe Macheret, Aaron Cordell, Ben Sweeny, and Dave Hathaway. Connect with Joe’s Truck Stop on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/joestruckstop/

The WDVX Blue Plate Special is a live performance radio show held at noon, Monday through Saturday, at the WDVX studio inside the Knoxville Visitor’s Center. Come and play your part as an audience member in the radio show that’s popular worldwide! Listen live at http://wdvx.com/

An Extra Helping of the Blue Plate Special – Austin Lucas “Alone In Memphis”

Singer-songwriter Austin Lucas performed “Alone In Memphis” for the Blue Plate Special while in Knoxville on his latest tour. This song is from “Stay Reckless”, his fifth full length album as a solo artist, which came out in 2013. Lucas has a background in punk, but his voice has been compared to many of the country and western greats, and his appeal spans far beyond genre lines. He says he writes his songs on an acoustic guitar and takes inspiration from classic country and bluegrass music. Also be sure to check out his 2016 release “Between The Moon And The Midwest”. Learn more about Austin Lucas at http://www.austinlucasmusic.com/

The WDVX Blue Plate Special is a live performance radio show held at noon, Monday through Saturday, at the WDVX studio inside the Knoxville Visitor’s Center. Come and play your part as an audience member in the radio show that’s popular worldwide! Listen live at http://wdvx.com/

An Extra Helping of the Blue Plate Special – The Pine Box Boys “I Kept Her Heart”

The Pine Box Boys brought their unique brand of music to the Blue Plate Special stage – not exactly bluegrass—more like “bloodgrass.” This tune, “I Kept Her Heart”, is a love/breakup song in the true Pine Box Boys style. Find out more about the Pine Box Boys and their maniacal musical madness at http://www.pineboxboys.com/

The WDVX Blue Plate Special is a live performance radio show held at noon, Monday through Saturday, at the WDVX studio inside the Knoxville Visitor’s Center. Come and play your part as an audience member in the radio show that’s popular worldwide! Listen live at http://wdvx.com/

A Song & A Sip – Andrew Leahey & the Homestead

WDVX is thrilled to welcome Rockin’ Americana band Andrew Leahey & the Homestead of Nashville to the Tennessee Shines Radio Show August 3rd! The show, part of the band’s Skyline in Central Time CD release tour, will be just in time for the album’s release (Aug. 5th). You can get tickets here (or listen online or on the radio!).

In the meantime, enjoy this track called ‘Little In Love.’ Produced by  Ken Coomer, Wilco’s original drummer, Andrew wrote the song while driving home from SXSW a few years ago. The video was shot in one day in a miniature toy store in Berry Hill, just south of Nashville.

The new album, ‘Skyline in Central Time,’ being released by Thirty Tigers, is the first record that the band hasn’t released independently. Andrew Leahey says he’s really happy about that. Something else Leahey has to be happy about (and we’re also very happy for him) is that this is the band’s first release since he underwent a brain surgery operation in 2013 to remove a life-threatening tumor.

Also of note is that Andrew’s wife will be attending UT for the next four years in the veterinary program, which gives him lots of good excuses to spend more time in Knoxville. He considers himself a part-time Knoxvillian…given that they’ve played 5 Knoxville shows in 2016 already. So, in his words, “good stuff all around.”

This is the latest in our blog series, A Song & A Sip, brought to you in part from our friends at  Sugarlands Distilling Company. Each week, they share a great drink recipe as part of their #WhatToDrinkWednesday, and we thought it would be fun to pair the drinks with an amazing music performance. This week it’s the Blue Hawaiian!

Just like the song from Andrew Leahey and the Homestead, this concoction is a little sweet and definitely memorable. Now play the song again and whip up a Blue Hawaiian for a great combination of song & sip!

Tw-Tweet-1024x1024px-Blue Hawaiian

Blue Hawaiian:

2 oz Blueberry Muffin Moonshine
3 oz of Pineapple Juice
.5 oz of Silver Cloud Moonshine
2 oz of Coconut Cream

Combine Moonshine, coconut cream and pineapple juice in a shaker with ice. Shake well and strain over ice in rocks glass. Top with soda water and garnish with a pineapple leaf.

Sips up!

An Extra Helping of the Blue Plate Special – Joe’s Truck Stop “Lonesome Midnight Blues”

Joe’s Truck Stop describes themselves as having …”A unique sound characterized by traditional vocal harmonies, Bluegrass drive, Honky Tonk swing, Old Time fiddling, hot guitar picking, and doghouse slapping. Elaborating on those sounds, we include Country and Blues standards and obscurities mixed in amongst our original songs.” The Blue Plate audience found out first hand that Joe’s Truck Stop can mix obscure surf tunes with original honky-tonk! It’s two songs for one in this video, starting with “Quasimodo”, which morphs into “Lonesome Midnight Blues”. Connect with Joe’s Truck Stop at https://www.facebook.com/joestruckstop/

The WDVX Blue Plate Special is a live performance radio show held at noon, Monday through Saturday, at the WDVX studio inside the Knoxville Visitor’s Center. Come and play your part as an audience member in the radio show that’s popular worldwide! Listen live at http://wdvx.com/

Bullet Backstory – Greg Horne

gh_byBillFoster_nov2013_01The Greg Horne Band is performing on the Blue Plate Special (Tuesday, July 26th at noon). We hope you’ll join in on the radio or online, or come down to the studio and enjoy the show today!

The band has a new album, Working on Engines, which is out now. Learn more at http://www.greghornemusic.com/.

In the meantime, we sat down with Greg Horne to find out more about his backstory. He was kind enough to share his story, in his own words.

This is the latest in our Bullet Backstory series. Take it away Greg!

  • Biggest musical influences – To play well with somebody you have to listen a lot and try to understand what their music is about. A big chunk of my musical life has always been playing as a support musician for lots of other people, so those people are probably my biggest set of influences. As far as who I’ve listened to and absorbed into my own work, the list is too large to be reasonable. Scratching the surface: Bob Dylan, Warren Zevon, Joni Mitchell, Richard Thompson, Buck Owens and Don Rich, Mavis and Pops Staples, Michael Hedges, Neil Young, Tom Waits, Howlin’ Wolf, Billy Bragg, Tommy Jarrell, Lou Reed, Patti Smith…
  • What made you decide to pursue music as a career? – Through my school years I studied both music and art, bouncing between them. Eventually I found that music was sort of winning out for me in terms of time, focus and ideas. I studied music history and also learned a lot about teaching music from some great mentors. In my case music as a career involves performing and recording, but also teaching, writing and always learning.
  • What advice do you have for young musicians who are trying to hone their craft? What has helped me the most was listening to and studying so many different types of music as a young person. Find people you like and then find out who they based their art on, even if it’s in different genres than you are used to. Then take those interests and put yourself in as many musical situations as possible. And practice, of course. That’s a lifelong thing!
  • What’s your favorite thing to do in Knoxville? Playing gigs with my friends, like Jay Clark, R.B. Morris, and the Bearded, or hanging out and watching other friends play. Also listening to my wife Paige Travis when she’s on WDVX hosting Tennessee Shines!
  • If you could work with any musician (living or deceased) who would it be and why? There are so many folks I’d love to meet, not so much to get my own thing out with them but just to see them be the people they are. Booker T. Jones and Steve Cropper come to mind. They seem to be such cool people and have had such a huge positive impact rock, soul and blues. I’d also love to meet Doug Kershaw, the cajun fiddler. He’s 80 and as far as I know he’s still rockin’.
  • Anything else you’d like to share? Favorite WDVX memory, etc? My favorite WDVX memory is a tie between my trips to the camper to play in Studio C, and watching Buddy Miller and Jim Lauderdale play a WDVX anniversary show from the wings at the Bijou Theatre.

GregHorne_WorkingOnEngines

 

An Extra Helping of the Blue Plate Special – Jay Clark “Seeds Of Love”

Jay Clark has been a staple in the East Tennessee music scene for more than 20 years, and is a favorite with the Blue Plate Special audiences. Jay somehow manages to balance his musical career with an academic career as an adjunct professor in the Biology Department at Maryville College. He plays a number of his shows with the band you see in this video, Jay Clark & the Tennessee Tree Beavers, which features Knoxville’s own Greg Horne on lead guitar & Daniel Kimbro on upright bass. Jay recently released his fifth recording, “Of Mountains & Heartbreak” (2016). This tune, “Seeds Of Love” is from that album, and Jay explains in the intro how he wrote it about his grandmother. Learn more about Jay Clark and his brand of “Original Appalachian Folk” at http://www.jayclarkmusic.com/

 

An Extra Helping of the Blue Plate Special – The Pine Box Boys “Dog Named Death”

They got away with murder – and the audience loved it! The Pine Box Boys brought their unique brand of music to the Blue Plate Special stage – not exactly bluegrass—more like “bloodgrass.” Lester T. Raww started the Pine Box Boys in 2003, originally planning to perform new versions of old murder ballad classics like “The Knoxville Girl,” and “Fair Eleanor.” Soon, however, he found he was composing his own murder ballads. This song, “Dog Named Death” is from The Pine Box Boys’ latest release, “The Feast of Three Arms” which came out in April 2016. Find out more about the Pine Box Boys and their brand of musical mayhem at http://www.pineboxboys.com/

The WDVX Blue Plate Special is a live performance radio show held at noon, Monday through Saturday, at the WDVX studio inside the Knoxville Visitor’s Center. Come and play your part as an audience member in the radio show that’s popular worldwide! Listen live at http://wdvx.com/

Sarah Jarosz In-Studio Spotlight

WDVX is excited to welcome Sarah Jarosz Friday afternoon, July 22nd for an in-studio interview and special solo performance. Tune in online or on the radio to catch the show. Sarah will be taking the stage later Friday night at the Bijou Theatre so get your tickets now!

sarah jarosz

Sarah Jarosz grew up in Wimberley, Texas, and began singing during early childhood. She got her first mandolin for Christmas when she was just nine years old. Even at that tender age, she dedicated herself to mastering the instrument, along with the guitar and clawhammer banjo. At the ripe old age of eleven, she performed at the first bluegrass festival and quickly earned a reputation as a young phenom on the festival circuit. She quickly soaked up all the traditional influences surrounding her in that environment and merged her own unique sense of songwriting style with what she learned.

Says Sarah: “From an early age, I’ve had a strong desire to create music. I was also fortunate to be surrounded by older, accomplished musicians who were my mentors.  From the very beginning, all of my heroes looked out for me and challenged me in the best ways.  It was great being raised in music that way.  I always felt completely supported, and I think that that attitude affected the way I approach music now.”

In the summer of 2007, she met Sugar Hill Records A&R representative Gary Paczosa after performing at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival in Colorado. He was impressed enough to invite her to Nashville to do some recording. The next year when she was only sixteen years old, Sarah got the opportunity to sign with Sugar Hill and began the work on her 2009 debut album Song Up In Her Head. Her second album, 2011’s Follow Me Down grew her fan base and her relentless touring earned her fans from across the musical spectrum.

By 2013, Sarah had released her third album, Build Me Up From Bones, which earned her Grammy nominations for Best Folk Album and Best American Roots Song. Sarah toured for much of 2014, criss-crossing the United States and even making trips to England, Ireland, and Scotland. She also made an appearance at the Cambridge Folk Festival.

In 2015 Sarah toured as part of supergroup I’m With Her, which includes Sarah Watkins and Aoife O’Donovan.

“After singing my own songs for so many years, it was eye-opening to shift gears and be a part of something different. We’ve only been a band for a year, but I’ve learned so much from it already, and I definitely brought some of those lessons to Undercurrent,” says Sarah.

“I’m just trying to become more focused and more honest, and trying to be a better listener and observer of the world around me,” says Sarah.  “That’s what I tried to do on Undercurrent, and I’m really pleased with how true this record feels to me.  In some ways, it feels like my first record, in the sense that it was the first time I could focus all of my energy on it.  Everything felt like it was leading to this moment.”

Don’t forget to listen to Sarah on WDVX for the live in-studio performance, July 22nd!

An Extra Helping of the Blue Plate Special – Thomas Cassell Project “Chief Benge’s Saddle”

From Norton, VA, 18 year old mandolinist Thomas Cassell has just released (July 8) a solo EP called “Melliflous”. He brought a group of musicians to the Blue Plate Special stage, the Thomas Cassell Project, that are playing with him in support of this new effort. This group includes Julian Pinelli on fiddle, Angel Edgemon on bass, and Peyton Kendrick on guitar. The tune in this video is called “Chief Benge’s Saddle”, an original instrumental that is on the EP. You can learn more about Thomas’ new release and his upcoming shows athttps://www.facebook.com/ThomasCassel…

The WDVX Blue Plate Special is a live performance radio show held at noon, Monday through Saturday, at the WDVX studio inside the Knoxville Visitor’s Center. Come and play your part as an audience member in the radio show that’s popular worldwide! Listen live at http://wdvx.com/