Thao & The Get Down Stay Down In Town Tonight – August 4, 2016

When I spoke with Thao on a lovely afternoon in Austin during SXSX in March, she said that the new record A Man Alive was a much more personal album than she and the band had intended to make but she’s glad it unfolded the way it did. She explained how she put herself in a vulnerable position exploring the grief, sadness, anger – and whatever was there – in the relationship with her father. Thao pointed to her close friend and producer Merrill Garbus (she of Tune-Yards) as a key to finding the fearlessness required for tackling that kind of lyrical content. She also affirmed that she and Merrill share the same taste in health food.

Sonically, Thao said the plan was to rely on beats and bass and loops as a foundation and introduce other elements like her guitar playing almost as if they were being sampled. This gave her the chance to acknowledge the influence that hip hop has on her that past albums have not. It also was the perfect complement – one with, in Thao’s words: joy and vitality and that people could dance to and connect with on a physical level – to the cadences that have always been a strength of her talk-singing and singing.

Tonight’s show should be memorable as Thao is sharing the bill with the super fab Lucinda Williams as well as iLe, a.k.a. Ileana Cabra Joglar, who went by PG-13 when she performed with the hip hop crew Calle 13. The show is free! The Damrosch Park Bandshell is the place at Lincoln Center. It’s an NPR event and some Q&A with the artists will also be part of the program. Here is a flashback to my chat with Lucinda, along with her performance, at the WFUV Holiday Cheer show four years ago. The free action continues tomorrow and through the weekend with AmericanaFest which features a tribute to 40th anniversary of The Last Waltz. M Ward, Margaret Glaspy, Patty Griffin, Buddy Miller, and Larry Campbell will all be performing.

Justin Townes Earle was part of AmericanaFest NYC at Lincoln Center earlier this month.  The singer-songwriter has added significantly to his impressive body of work recently with Single Mothers followed closely by Absent Fathers that was recorded in the same sessions.  Here’s a taste of the performance and our conversation which featured the best remarks about NYC I’ve heard since Jesse Malin’s delightful rant on this town back in April.

Amazing night Outdoors At Lincoln Center on Saturday 8/8/2015 as an all-star band (Smokey Hormel, David Garza, Benmont Tench, Al Kooper, etc) played Bob Dylan’s Highway 61 Revisited for the second annual AmericanaFest NYC.  Watkins Family Hour, the long running side band of Nickel Creek’s siblings Sean and Sara Watkins and these days featuring Fiona Apple, anchored the show as artists like Shawn Colvin, The Both (Aimee Mann & Ted Leo) and Pokey LaFarge took turns on vocals.  Watkins Family Hour has just released their eponymous debut album.

Flashback to last year’s AmericanaFest NYC with Old 97s HERE…Enjoy a chat I had with Shawn Colvin 3 years ago for WFUV radio by following this link.

The first annual AmericanFest NYC brought Old 97’s to Lincoln Center Out of Doors.    The alt-country band seemed inspired by the occasion and were in excellent form.  Here’s a peek at the performance plus Rhett Miller and Murry Hammond of the band speaking about their latest disc (a must-hear) Most Messed Up.