Joan Osborne plus Louis Michot

03/02/22 • 58 min

Episode 200: Joan Osborne became a star on the strength of a controversial song and a Grammy-nominated major label debut album in 1995, but when you scan her catalog, it becomes quickly clear that she has one of the most powerful and nuanced voices in popular music. Her range and intimacy is quite clear on her new release Radio Waves, which compiles radio station performances and demos she found in her closets during the pandemic. It becomes a great vehicle to talk about her rich and varied vocal pursuits. Also, a Mardis Gras season visit with Louis Michot, founder and fiddler in the Lost Bayou Ramblers, a powerfully inventive progressive Cajun band near Lafayette, LA.

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Luther Dickinson plus Jutz/Rogers

Episode 199: Guitarist and songwriter Luther Dickinson, founder of the North Mississippi All-Stars, returns to the String to talk about two albums, each with its own story to tell about blues and roots music. Up And Rolling from 2019 was a deluxe CD package with extensive memoir liner notes by Luther and photographs of he and his brother Cody in 1996 just before the band formed. It's a celebration of the hill country blues tradition they inherited. Now they're out with Set Sail, a pandemic-created album with more orchestration and complexity than anything they've done, plus the contributions of singer Lamar Williams Jr. Also, an excerpt from my recent visit with bluegrass songwriting stars turned recording duo Tammy Rogers and Thomm Jutz.

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Steve Poltz

Episode 201: Friendly and funny, enthusiastic and energetic, Steve Poltz has released his tenth album Stardust & Satellites as he embarks on another year of intense touring. In a conversation at his home in East Nashville, Poltz speaks with Craig about his surprise embrace of Nashville co-writing, his wild experience writing one of the 90s big hits and the pot brownies that showed him the way to performing solo, which he does so well.