Folk Roots Radio Episode 307: International Women’s Day

We’re all about the music of female artists on Episode 307 of Folk Roots Radio as we celebrate International Women’s Day with an hour of the latest new releases, from a female perspective. Check out the full playlist below.

Show Notes

Notes about the some of the new music on our radar that made it into this episode.

We started off the hour with Scarlett Jane’s Andrea Ramolo with a stripped down version of “Wild Town”, from “Da Sola”, her completely solo companion album to new album NUDA (2017, Fontana North). Da Sola was produced by Faye Blais and features Andrea alone, playing either baritone or acoustic guitar.

Laurenn Marchand, from Cape Breton released her first E.P. “Ghosts in the Garden” in 2015. Somehow slipped by without us noticing which is a shame as it is quite good. On this episode we play the atmospheric “Nighttime Mistakes”, a song she wrote with Barbara Cameron. Recorded in the picturesque Gaspereau Valley in Nova Scotia, “Ghosts in the Garden” is a great introduction to her music. We’ll dip back into it on a future episode.

Montreal born Singer/songwriter Beyries battled breast cancer twice in her twenties, before being able to focus on her music. She’s just released a fabulous debut album “Landing”, recorded with producer Alex McMahon. “Making music my trade was never an option for me. It has always been something personal that I didn’t share much with the people around me.” An inspiring story. Here’s hoping she has a very successful music career. She deserves it.

Elizabeth Anne Jones from Liverpool in England makes music and art as Elfin Bow. She’s just released her self titled debut of pastoral psych folk. Elizabeth left a career in teaching to move down into North Wales, to focus on her music. Listening to the album, I think it’s a great thing she did that – although I’ve got to be honest there must be some kids in Liverpool missing out on a very creative teacher!

New Jersey based Sharon Goldman started out in music at the open mics in New York City before finding her inner voice, and developing a strong reputation as a songwriter on a series of fine albums that married catchy melodies to thoughtful lyrics on songs about love, life and the little things that make the world go round. Her latest album, “Kol Isha (A Woman’s Voice)” is somewhat of a departure in that it takes as its theme, her own life experience – growing up in an orthodox Jewish family on Long Island, and her own journey of self-discovery within an ancient religious tradition steeped in ritual. You can check out our interview with Sharon Goldman HERE.

Rachael Sage has just released “The Tide”, a four song E.P. of issue based songs. On this episode we play “Disarm Distrust”, a song she wrote in response to the mass shooting in a gay night club in Orlando last year. We’ll dip back into the album on a future episode. All net proceeds from its sale will be donated to ArcRelief.org (American Refugee Committee), one of the world’s leading international refugee assistance organizations.

Seattle based singer/songwriter and sometime Band of Horses drummer Sera Cahoone has just released a new album that’s all about growing up, “From Where I Stand”. On this episode we play “Ladybug”, a song about the tragic story of Cahoone’s cousin, who was murdered by her partner. From Where I Stand is a great album. More from that on a future show.

Singer/songwriter Meg Braun released “Restless Moon” in 2015, song-stories about women molded by the choices they made or the choices that the world made for them. On this episode, we play her version of the Carter Family’s “The Storms Are On The Ocean”, a song that also features Pat Wictor from Brother Sun on vocals.

New Brunswick’s Lisa Leblanc is a singer-songwriter, guitarist and banjo-player known for her high-energy live shows. Her latest album “Why You Wanna Leave, Runaway Queen?” has been nominated for Contemporary Roots Album of The Year at this year’s Junos.

Rose Cousins took a complete break from touring before starting work on her latest album “Natural Conclusion” (2017, Outside Music). She needed to work out where she wanted to go with her music, and so spent the time working on several different projects – not just her own music – before settling down in the studio with Joe Henry in the producer’s chair.

“It is liberating to spend a year making music that isn’t billed for me as an artist,” says Cousins. “Some for film, TV, or even for someone else to sing. Freeing to walk into a room as a writer. To wake up, have a morning, meet people, make something that didn’t exist and get to bed at a decent time. Read more books. Creating feels like a good use of my time and this is the first time I’ve ever allowed it to be my focus, counter-intuitive considering songs are what my career is built on. Songs and photographs have always explained better, what I mean and how I feel.” Natural Conclusion really takes her music to another level. I’m sure the album will be there or thereabouts when next year’s award season comes around.

Cassie & Maggie – Nova Scotian sisters Cassie & Maggie MacDonald have released a beautiful album of contemporary Celtic roots music “The Willow Collection” (2016, Self) that really shows the breadth of their musicianship. It’s a recording that takes as its inspiration, the Willow Tree – a prominent symbol of love, bereavement and death in traditional folk music.

Caroline Doctorow‘s latest album is a recording of songs from classic 60s and 70s songwriters revisited. On this episode we play her version of Bob Dylan’s “Time Passes Slowly”, which I’m sure you know, never happens on Folk Roots Radio!

And that’s all we have time for this time around. Thanks to all the artists who share their music with us, and thank you for listening. We have a lot of great music and interviews to bring you on future shows. I hope you’ll join us!

Listen

You can listen to this episode again on Mixcloud by following the link below. You can also listen to episodes of Folk Roots Radio, on demand, via iTunes, Soundcloud, Stitcher and Tune-in Radio. (Click on the highlighted link to reach your chosen platform.)

Folk Roots Radio Episode 307 Playlist

Nicolas & The Iceni (Theme)
Lucy She Rises (Demo)
Roll Right (Pre-release, self)

Andrea Ramolo
Wild Town
Da Sola (2017, Fontana North) CDN

Laurenn Marchand
Nighttime Mistakes
Ghosts in the Garden E.P. (2015, Self) CDN

Beyries
You Are
Landing (2017, Self) CDN

Elfin Bow
The Wisdom
Elfin Bow (2016, Self)

Samantha Robichaud
Irish Jig Set
Simplicity (2016, Self) CDN

Meg Braun
The Storms Are On The Ocean
Restless Moon (2015, Self)

Sharon Goldman
Song Of Songs
Kol Isha (A Woman’s Voice) (2016, Self)

Jessie Smith
Take A Chance On Me
Like The Sun (2017, Self)

Rachael Sage
Disarm Distrust
The Tide (2017, Mpress Records)

Lisa LeBlanc
City Slickers and Country Boys
Why You Wanna Leave, Runaway Queen? (2016, Bonsound) CDN

Sera Cahoone
Ladybug
From Where I Stand (2017, Galaxy Dog Music)

Rose Cousins
Like Trees
Natural Conclusion (2017, Outside Music) CDN

Kayla Luky
Swaying
Back to Dirt (2017, Self) CDN

Cassie & Maggie MacDonald
The Willow Lullaby
The Willow Collection (2016, Self) CDN

Caroline Doctorow
Time Passes Slowly
Dreaming In Vinyl (2016, Narrow Lane Records)