#4547, The Folk Influence

Hear the influence of folk music associated with Appalachia and the British Isles, in music from Ireland’s Dave Flynn, Michigan-based fiddler and guitarist Laurel Premo, Rhode Island-based multi-instrumentalist and scholar Jake Blount, and New York-based bassist, composer, and arranger Devin Hoff

There’s new music from composer, arranger, and bass player Devin Hoff which reimagines songs by Anne Briggs, a songwriter and amateur musicologist on the 1960’s English folk scene who revived traditional English, Scottish, and Irish Traveler songs. Devin Hoff works with singers Julia Holter, Emmett Kelly, oud player Alejandro Farha, and drummer Jim White to recast these songs as a sometime “doomy quartet of basses,” with Holter’s voice on top, a different song with unpretentious bass as support for Kelly’s baritone, melodic Arabic modes on the tune anchored by the oud, and a bass-led mournful trio on another.

Then listen to thoughtful and spacious instrumental electric “roots guitar” from Laurel Premo, a Michigander who plays fiddle, clawhammer banjo, and guitar. Informed by these American traditional instruments, the music is a mix of “glowing, droning, tugging, scraping, revolving,” and could be described as “electric dirt, the golden loam layered by centuries of folk” [Bandcamp liner notes.] One of the tunes, “Hop High,” uses the percussive dancing talents of Nic Gareiss (of Michigan) in addition to Laurel Premo’s voice.

Also, hear music from fiddler, singer, banjo player and scholar Jake Blount, who has extensively researched Black and Indigenous mountain music, in a work from his record, Spider Tales. Then, listen to work by Irish composer Dave Flynn, as performed by the IMO Quartet, who are skilled traditional musicians in addition to accomplished classical players, together with Dublin-based piper Mick O'Brien.

There’s music from the trio Briars of North America (Vermont, Upstate NY, and Mexico City) who combine chamber music precision, the emotional transparency of folk, and the weight of ritual (Bandcamp bio). Plus, music from Bonny Light Horseman, the trio of Anais Mitchell, Hadestown songwriter; Eric D Johnson (Fruit Bats) and Josh Kaufman, who’s played with The National, Craig Finn, and many others. – Caryn Havlik

Program #4547, The Folk Influence (First Aired 10/08/2021)

ARTIST: Briars of North America
WORK: Same Old Lady [1:00]
RECORDING: Supermoon
SOURCE: Brassland
INFO: briarsofnorthamerica.bandcamp.com

ARTIST: Devin Hoff with Julia Holter
WORK: Let No Man Steal Your Thyme [6:22]
RECORDING: Voices From the Empty Moor (Songs of Anne Briggs)
SOURCE: Kill Rock Stars, due out Nov. 12, 2021
INFO: devinhoff.bandcamp.com

ARTIST: Devin Hoff with Emmett Kelley
WORK: Blackwater Side [5:45]
RECORDING: Voices From the Empty Moor (Songs of Anne Briggs)
SOURCE: Kill Rock Stars, due out Nov. 12, 2021
INFO: devinhoff.bandcamp.com

ARTIST:  Bonny Light Horseman
WORK: Magpie's Nest [5:00]
RECORDING: Bonny Light Horseman
SOURCE: 37d03d Records 
INFO: 37d03d.com

ARTIST:  Laurel Premo
WORK: Hop High [5:07]
RECORDING: Golden Loam
SOURCE: Free Dirt Records
INFO: https://laurelpremo.bandcamp.com/album/golden-loam

ARTIST:  Laurel Premo
WORK: On My Way to See Nancy [3:32]
RECORDING: Golden Loam
SOURCE: Free Dirt Records
INFO: https://laurelpremo.bandcamp.com/album/golden-loam

ARTIST:  Jake Blount
WORK: Rocky Road to Dublin [4:04]
RECORDING:Spider Tales
SOURCE: Free Dirt Records
INFO: https://smarturl.it/spidertales

ARTIST: Briars of North America
WORK: Same Old Lady [3:47]
RECORDING: Supermoon
SOURCE: Brassland
INFO: briarsofnorthamerica.bandcamp.com

ARTIST: IMO Quartet, Mick O’Brien
WORK: String Quartet No. 4, ‘The Cutting’ - II. Churning and Sliding [7:47]
RECORDING: Dave Flynn: Irish Minimalism
SOURCE: First Hand Records
INFO: firsthandrecords.com

ARTIST: Devin Hoff with Jim White
WORK: Willie O' Winsbury [2:23]
RECORDING: Voices From the Empty Moor (Songs of Anne Briggs)
SOURCE: Kill Rock Stars, due out Nov. 12, 2021
INFO: devinhoff.bandcamp.com