Ruthie Foster joins me on the show this week. I first met Ruthie about 20 years ago, when we were both playing at a Canadian folk festival. We had a few workshops together and really hit it off. She’s one of the most incredible singers I’ve ever heard - so powerful and soulful, but also totally open to jamming and opening things up in a cool way. We re-connected this summer at the Vancouver Folk Festival and had a blast playing together again after all those years.

Ruthie is a Grammy Award- winning recording artist (among many other awards!) who has an incredible new album out on Sun Records that she made here in Nashville with Tyler Bryant called “Mileage” - be sure to check it out! Ruthie came up singing in the church, performing all over Texas, and then had a stint in New York when she got signed to Atlantic Records. That didn’t really pan out and Ruthie stepped back from music for a while, joined the Navy, which led to joining the Navy band, which sort of got her back into performing music. After her time in the Navy, Ruthie re-committed to music and started releasing her first solo albums, of which she now has 11 or 12 out since about 1997. They’re all excellent, and Ruthie has always stayed true to her roots of blues, soul, gospel, folk and rock & roll. I got a chance to spend a bit of time with her here in Nashville during the Americanafest this year, and it was so great to hear her tell her story about her ineteresting path in the music world.

You can get all Ruthie’s current info and her busy tour schedule over at www.ruthiefoster.com

Please enjoy my conversation with Ruthie Foster!

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Drummer Gary Craig joins me on this show this week. Gary is an incredible musician who has gained the reputation as one of Canada’s finest studio and live drummers working today. He’s been at it for a long time and has maintained a number of long-term associations with artists like Bruce Cockburn, Anne Murray, Blackie & The Rodeo Kings and Jann Arden. Gary’s attention to detail, combined with a unique sense of groove makes him one of the more creative forces in modern roots drumming. Coming up in Toronto in the 70’s and 80's, Gary learned from some of the city’s great jazz drummers, but shifted his focus to roots, blues and rock bands that appealed to his taste more than jazz did. Landing the gig with Anne Murray, which he got at a young age, Gary stayed with her until she retired about 25 years later. His ability to hold on to gigs and manage juggling several of them at once is no small feat, but when you hear him play, you understand why artists will do what they need to to keep him on board. Gary’s also a great hang too, which I can attest to first-hand, and while that might not be the most important thing in keeping a gig, it’s probably the second most important! Gary and I get into his history, influences, his work with many of the artists that he is known for, and what he’s up to these days both on the road and around Toronto as a live player and studio musician.

Enjoy my conversation with Gary Craig!

This season is brought to you by our main sponsors Larivée Guitars, Audeze, Izotope, FabFilter, and Chase Bliss.

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Singer, songwriter, bandleader and founder of the legendary BR549, Chuck Mead, joins me on the show this week.

There’s some people that just have music in their veins and they can do things with it and within it that other people can’t - perfectly naturally with seemingly no effort. Well, Chuck is one of those guys. He just knows music. He understands country music and rock & roll in a deep way. He can sing it, feel and play it better than almost anyone. Chuck is known as the leader of the band BR549, which was a huge band in the alt-country scene in the 90’s before “Americana” existed. That band, almost single-handedly, turned Broadway in Nashville into a hopping live music scene, where there really was nothing much going on before they arrived. He’s also a fantastic solo performer and bandleader in his own right, as well as having a big part in the Broadway musical “The Million Dollar Quartet”.

Chuck was born in Missouri, but grew up in Kansas, where he started playing music in all kinds of country and rock bands, but also played in a family band, touring on weekends all through high school and cutting his teeth that way. His band, The Homestead Grays, had some notoriety around Kansas, but when that band broke up, he moved to Nashville in the early 90’s. Broadway at that time was just a sleazy street with a couple bars, some cool guitar shops, and not much else. But that all changed once Chuck and his band (which became BR549) started playing basically 6 nights a week at Robert’s Western World and Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge. Their notoriety led to them being put on the cover of Billboard magazine, which essentially started a label bidding war for the band and led to a deal with Arista records. The band made about 7 albums before splitting up. Since then, Chuck has made 4 solo albums, and played on the Grand Ol Opry a whopping 137 times. He’s been nominated for 3 Grammys and is still very active around Nashville. You can get all the latest onfo and find out when he’s playing at chuckmead.com

This season is brought to you by our main sponsors Larivée Guitars, Audeze, Izotope, FabFilter, and Chase Bliss.

He’s also a hilarious fellow and a great story teller as you’ll hear, so now please enjoy my conversation with Chuck Mead!

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