Summer is here, which means that music festival is also here. With that in mind, I thought it would be interesting to do a musical-tangent sort of episode. This time out, we'll be talking to Matt Semonsen, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and Executive Director of the American River Music Festival, which is celebrating its fourth year this September 17-19 in Lotus, CA.

The festival uses the American River as its centerpiece and offers river rafting and hiking in addition to a full weekend of music (morning workshops, mainstage shows during the day, and evening performances in the three campgrounds that connect to the festival). I'll talk to Matt about the origins of the festival, the kinds of artists who make a good "festival act", and who's on the lineup this year. We'll also chat specifically about the Friday night "Open Mic Showcase", which I'm hosting again this year.

More pics from the American River Music Festival

(Tickets are available as single-day or with camping included. More info is here on the festival's Ticket page.)

Songs and Stories" #92 includes a clip of Slaid Cleaves' "Green Mountains and Me", off his latest release "Everything You Love Will Be Taken Away". Along with folks like Jesse Winchester, Karla Bonoff, Kenny Edwards, and Nina Gerber, Slaid is one of this year's featured performers. (He plays at Camp Lotus on Friday evening and again on the main festival stage on Saturday afternoon.) This episode also includes "The River Song" off the new CD from MTWallets (Matt Semonson's band.)

Click the red podcast button below to hear episode #92 (time = 41:57, size = 38.5 mb)

This podcast is sponsored by Audible.com. Go to audiblepodcast.com/stories, sign up for a 14-day trial, and receive a free audiobook just for checking it out. (If you cancel the trial, you still keep the book.)

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Last week, a good music pal of mine asked, "what songwriters influenced you the most, and/or who would you most like to emulate"? This is a great exercise. After careful thinking (and lots of follow-up discussion), I came out with some surprising (and perhaps some not so surprising) answers. I hear "you sound a lot like Dylan" quite a bit. To be totally honest though - it's just us reading this, right? - Dylan isn't really much of an influence (gasp!). Aside from a fondness for wordy, hard-to-sing lyrics, I'd argue that my real similarity to Dylan is more the result of a couple of bad vocal habits I'm trying to shake.

So who inspires me? John Mellencamp and John Hiatt. Great storytellers, and they're very centric to the kind of small-town America tales I often shoot for. I particularly love anything Hiatt does. Even his quirky vocal delivery. I also get a lot of rhythmic ideas from putting Hiatt on shuffle mode when the iPod's in play.

Who else? Early Warren Zevon (no surprise). Jackson Browne. Louden WainWright III. Do you see a late-seventies singer/songwriter thread emerging? I did, too. And not just for writing, but for vocal style and clarity. Speaking of, we can't forget Graham Parker. Best known for tunes like "Local Girls" and "Passion Is No Ordinary Word", Parker's still cranking out brilliant work some thirty years into his career. I've been a fan forever. And when I wrap it back to the "what and who inspires me" motif, I love Parker's sense of humor and attention to detail (same reason I'm a huge Zevon fan).

Graham Parker's "Imaginary Television"

Parker was approached a year or two back by a big company who wanted him to write songs for TV shows. Not the greatest of experiences, it turns out, but it resulted in his latest release, "Imaginary Television", an album of theme songs he wrote to nonexistent television shows. The album even includes synopses to the fake shows. In this interview in Entertainment Weekly, Parker chronicles the whole process in trying to write for television. I particularly appreciated (and somewhat related to) this statement on songwriting:

"I’m usually writing bits of songs and getting nowhere, and finally I have a song in front of me, and it’s like a breakthrough moment, and then I will write another song, maybe, if I’m lucky. And then I’ll drag the whole process out for like six months because I’m scared to pick up the guitar and see if I can actually finish the job off. I’ve been doing this for years. And somehow people call me prolific."

Time for a little more inspiration. Think I'll put Parker on shuffle mode this time.

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In some ways, podcast episodes are like songs: The latest one is always my favorite. This round of "Songs and Stories", however, will likely remain at the top of my list for awhile. I recently had the chance to sit and chat with singer/songwriter David Wilcox before his show at TrueWind Music (a bay area series run by fellow songwriters Bev Barnett and Greg Newlon). David and I talked about his new release "Open Hand" and discussed why he chose to record it on analog tape.

Click for more David Wilcox photos


After David played a few tunes from that record - and explained the stories behind them - we veered into a discussion of songwriting. David explained that if you haven't written for awhile, it's simply a matter of rediscovering that path so you write again. The point? It's not about "getting a lot of songs", but just being able to connect with that part of you where songs come from. I came away incredibly inspired. I think you will, too.

"Songs and Stories" #91 includes live performances of "Modern World", "Open Hand", and "Vow of Silence" off "Open Hand". Click the red podcast button below to hear episode #91 (time = 40:32, size = 37.2 mb)

This podcast is sponsored by Audible.com. Go to audiblepodcast.com/stories, sign up for a 14-day trial, and receive a free audiobook just for checking it out. (If you cancel the trial, you still keep the book.)

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The same folks who make jokes about banjos and accordions often have the same jaded opinions about the lowly bagpipe. But to those enlightened of us who know better - if you're reading this, you count - you know a good thing when you hear it.

And you'll hear plenty of it next Wednesday, June 30, in a Celtic Concert at the Prunedale Library. David Brewer (bagpipes) and Pete Hawath (bouzouki), both of local band Molly's Revenge, will be joined by songwriter Chuck McCabe. David played on Chuck's Sweet Reunion album, so we'll hear a bit of that, along with a great evening of traditional Irish music.

A $10 donation gets you in the door, and seats are going fast. And not like when we have plenty of room and say "seats are going fast" just to try and drag you to a show. Seats really ARE going fast for this one. As of this morning, there were only 5 or so slots left. For reservations, email the Canyon Acoustic Society or call 831-663-2292. The Prunedale Library is at 17822 Moro Road in Salinas.

Note: If you can't get enough of Chuck McCabe (and honestly, who can't?) he's joining me and Nancy Cassidy at next month's "Evening of Songs and Stories" at the Corralitos Cultural Center on July 25th. Details are on my Shows page.

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We had a blast playing at the rebirth of the Redwood Mountain Faire in Felton CA last weekend. Years ago this was held down the road in Ben Lomond at Highland Park. After a year and a half of planning and fund raising, the festival was brought back as a one-day event at Roaring Camp.

Yes, steam trains chugged by and blew smoke/steam during our set. I just pretended we were playing in a really big coffeehouse with a REALLY big espresso machine in the corner.

Here's a clip of us playing "Highway 17", along with the story about how I received my first ASCAP statement with real money on it. (Note: The statement was for $0.08. Seriously. Getting rich in folk music is a long-term process, people.)

Eight Cents from ASCAP

Wanna see more? There are also clips from the show of "Gettin' to My Glory Days" and "My Ride's Here" up on my YouTube page.

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File this under "careful what you ask for". My friend Edie and I thought it would be fun to ask a few folks what she should name her new baby donkey. So we ran this contest, with a "Got Mule?" t-shirt going to the winner. And I ended up spending more than a few hours sifting, sorting, and spread-sheeting (yes, it's now a verb) all the submissions.

And the winner is...Molasses (or "Moe" for short) Plus, it works in the meaningless bonus points for having "ass" in the name. This was actually suggested by six different people, but JoAnn K (of Muldrow, OK) got her entry in first and gets a "Got Mule?" t-shirt. Jeff S (Santa Cruz, CA), Gail H (San Jose, CA), Pete K (Redlands, CA), Lisa M (Orlando, FL), and Misty P (Azle, TX), who sent in "Molasses" after JoAnna will get a few MP3s as a sort of runner-up prize.) Big thanks to everyone who entered. This was a fun little exercise (spread-sheeting notwithstanding, of course.) I'm sure I'll do something like this again in the near future.

Baby Molasses

In the meantime, here's a big, blocky list of all the names that were submitted:

DennASS, Jack (Ass), Kong (as in "Donkey"), Wyatt, Donkey-Hotey, Spring, Preciass, ASStronomic, ASSmygrass, Saint NickolASS, PicASSo, Elvis, Blackie, Buddy, SASSafrASS, CompASS, No HASSles, ClassicAss, Cassanova, "Holly's Ass, Hollyson, Li'l Bit, Jehosephat, Assan, Cass, Jack, Kassi, Henry, SassafrASS, Buck, Buddy Holly, OBSIDIAN, Jassper the Jackass, Cassper, cASSidy, Sassafras, Baby, Assinus, Sassy, Boji, Vegass, Victoriass, Assimillion, Assifeller, Spyglass, Chassis, Asstronaught, Grasshopper, St. Subasstian, Passtor, Fred ASStaire, FASST Talkin' Frankie, MavelASS, Pinnochio, Dodge, Eugene, Trigger, El Culo Negro, PhineASS Thomas ("PT for short"), Feassta.

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Edie W., one of my favorite equestrian folks from back east, emailed me this morning with the proud news that last Saturday evening she and her husband became the owners of a brand new male donkey. He's the third generation for their stock. His mother is Holly. (She was born near Christmas a few years back.) And his grandmother is Sara. This little guy's name is...well, that's where you come in.

(More pics of Holly and baby)

Edie wrote me and said, "you're the writer. You think of something. Or better yet, run a contest." So we're running a contest. Think of a name for this cute little one. Email me your ideas, and I'll forward them to Edie. And after a vigorous and completely subjective and slanted voting method (Edie picks the name she likes), I'll send a "Got Mule?" t-shirt to whoever thinks up the winning name. (Bonus points for anyone who can work "ass" into the little guy's name.)

I'll take submissions for a few weeks and then announce the winner in my next newsletter. (Sign up here if you'd like to receive it.)

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Okay, "stalked" is a bit much. Maybe just "smitten" by? It just seems that lately the cello is my new favorite instrument. It also seems like I can't play or talk music without the cello somehow coming into the conversation. (That's a good thing.) Here are a few recent cello chance encounters:

* The idea of using cello on a song or two have mine has been in conversation around house for awhile. Then a few nights ago, I was practicing one of my newer songs (a horse ballad). It's a waltz. Halfway through, my wife looked over and realized, "THERE'S your cello song". She's good with insight like that. I'm sure (hopeful, anyway) that I'll cross paths with the instrument whenever work on the next CD begins. And I'm fortunate to know more than a few cello players. Steve U? Chris K? Martha? Any of you reading this?

* In the last two episodes of the "Songs and Stories" podcast, Sharon Allen talked about how she was thrilled to have cellist Barry Phillips play on her debut CD, "Along the Way". She was able to get him in the studio just days before he started a long tour with Ravi Shankar.

Crooked Still

* Most recently, I was revisiting the lineup for the upcoming Strawberry Music Festival and saw that Crooked Still is playing the main stage on Sunday night. If you're not familiar with them, they were one of those "up and coming bands" a few years back. They've now just released their fourth CD. They're ridiculously talented: Lead singer Aoife O'Donovan sounds more than a little like Alison Krauss. The whole band is classically trained. And band member Tristan Clarridge proves that the phrase "bluegrass cello" is not an oxymoron. (Have a listen for yourself.)

And I've just confirmed that on the Sunday of the festival, sometime between their revival and mainstage sets, I'll be sitting down with Crooked Still for a podcast interview. Should be the perfect capper to a great weekend.

(If you want to hear a bit more about Strawberry, check out "Strawberry Strolling", one of my favorite podcast episodes, from a few years back.)

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Back in episode #42, singer/songwriter Sherry Austin referred to Sharon Allen as "Santa Cruz's own Emmylou". After listening to these next couple of episodes, you'll probably agree. I met Sharon about nine years ago when she was still singing with local blues band The Firebirds and had just started playing a bit with Sherry. These days she's part of Sherry's band *and* has just finished her first solo CD, "Along the Way".

In this "Songs and Stories" two-parter, Sharon talks about her journey from growing up in Maryland to living here on the west coast and how music's always been a part of that. She also explains the approach that she took when recording her first album...and we end up with the best look at the entire process (from pre-production, recording, mixing, to the final packaging decisions) that I think I've ever heard.

Show update: Sharon and her band will be at the Redwood Mountain Faire in Felton, CA on Saturday June 5th. (And by complete coincidence, I've just been added to the bill.) For more info, check out Sharon's calendar, my Shows page, or just head to redwoodmountainfaire.com.

In episode #89, we hear Sharon's story about growing up back east, how she's always loved to sing and dance, how she found her way to California, and what led her to decide to make her own solo record. We also reminisce about the time she and Sherry dropped into our camp at the Strawberry Music Festival. Click the red podcast button below to hear episode #89 (time = 40:16, size = 36.9 mb)

Episode #90 includes live performances of "Jarrod's Song" a cover "Live Forever" and a bit of "Take My Hand" from the new record. We also continue our chat about how her new CD found its way into the world. Click the red podcast button below to hear episode #90 (time = 33:03, size = 30.31 mb)

New sponsor (and a free downloadable audiobook): I'm trying out a new podcast sponsorship through audible.com. Go to audiblepodcast.com/stories, sign up for a 14-day trial, and receive a free audiobook just for listening. If you cancel the trial, you still keep the book. (Listen to these two episodes to hear Sharon's recommendations.)

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