Bluegrass

Damn Tall Buildings: Getting Back to Roots

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Damn Tall Buildings

Damn Tall Buildings are not your grandpa’s bluegrass band. Hailing from all over the US of A but coming together at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, this foursome defies classification by making what they call “Guerrilla Roots.” More a movement than a genre, Guerrilla Roots rejects musical homogenization by offering a pastiche of bluegrass, blues, jazz, and western swing. Though they use traditional bluegrass instruments, their sound is fully modern.

Mandorichard and Sara Sajer had a damn good time talking to Damn Tall Buildings. The band goes in depth about the spirit behind Guerrilla Roots, their modern approach to bluegrass and other roots music, and their collective desire to change the world through music.

The Interview

Damn Tall Buildings (Recorded live 7/21/15)
30:25
29.2 MB

The Music

Artist / Song / Album  / Year

Damn Tall Buildings / Goodbye / Damn Tall Buildings (EP) / 2015

Damn Tall Buildings / The Ballad of Nigel Williams / The Loft Sessions (Video) / 2013

Damn Tall Buildings / Born to Lose / Damn Tall Buildings (EP) / 2015

 

Tommy: A Bluegrass Opry!

Richard Gordon

Hillbenders & Pete Townshend

Left to right: The HillBenders’ Gary Rea, Mark Cassidy and Nolan Lawrence, Pete Townshend,
The HillBenders’ Chad “Gravy Boat” Graves, “Tommy: A Bluegrass Opry” producer Louis Jay Meyers and The HillBenders’ Jim Rea. (photo courtesy of The HillBenders)

When The Music Room‘s primary host, Mandorichard, started out in radio on WNHU in Connecticut, he found a bluegrass song that literally began with a shotgun blast: “Red Stains” by The Hillbenders, a hot contemporary bluegrass band from Springfield, MO.

Come 2015, and The Hillbenders put out an audacious new release: Tommy: A Bluegrass Opry. Yup, they did a bluegrass version of The Who’s classic Rock Opera. Turns out Pete Townshend loved the project and invited the band to one of his shows in Nashville.

You’ll have to listen to this interview with Nolan Lawrence of The Hillbenders to find out the answers to burning questions like

  • Who sang Tina Turner’s part on “Acid Queen”?
  • Where’d the band get the idea of doing a version of Tommy?
  • Does “Red Stains” tell a true story of heartbreak and murder at the wedding altar?

It’s a fun interview–and if you get a chance to see The Hillbenders, grab it.

The Interview

Nolan Lawrence of The Hillbenders
(Recorded live 5/19/15; host: Mandorichard), 22:32, 21.6 MB.

The Music

The following music is heard in this episode of The Music Room:
The following playlist reflects the radio broadcast. For the podcast, for copyright reasons, we provide excerpts only of three of the songs.

  • Artist / Song / Album (or note) / Date / Notes
  • The Hillbenders / Overture / Tommy / 2015 (Excerpt)
  • The Hillbenders / Red Stains / Down to my last Dollar / 2011
  • The Hillbenders / Pinball Wizard / Tommy / 2015 (Excerpt)
  • The Hillbenders / Walking in my Sleep / Can you hear me? / 2013 (Excerpt)

Donna Ulisse: A Trinity of Genres

Richard Gordon
Donna Ulisse

Donna Ulisse

Today on The Music Room, our guest Donna Ulisse confesses she may be something of a workaholic. Well, she’s certainly keeping herself busy. Tomorrow, she has a photography session with Bryan Sutton for their new album, and will pick up a copy of her new book, The Songwriter in Me, from the press. Given the prevalence of her own lyrics in that book, she is making a 24 song CD to include with its release, and is spending 2 hours a day composing an accompanying workbook. She has an upcoming songwriting session with Jerry Sally, and in July will continue her monthly collaboration with Songwriting Escape, spending three days in July, September, and October in Yorktown, VA, Texas, and Chicago, respectively.

She’s also touring with her band The Poor Mountain Boys, and continuing to write songs.

Hailing from Nashville, TN, she says her hometown is not complete without its songwriters, and even her husband, Rick Stanley, has helped her co-write multiple songs, including “Wilma Walker,” based on a billboard the two saw, and prompting a discussion on titles, pronunciation difficulties, and how Doyle Lawson gets hug-tackled.

Her 2013 album Showing My Roots explores the various musical influences on her career, and we even delve into her past as a 1990s “country diva,” exploring her challenges, regrets, triumphs, and eventual shift to bluegrass and gospel.

So we are certainly grateful that she could appear on the show today, and we are very excited to hear that she is coming to DE for the first time…this Saturday, March 21st, at Crown Plaza Wilmington North, for the Wilmington Wintergrass Festival: 2 shows at 2pm and 8pm and a 90 minute songwriting workshop at 3pm open to anyone with a paid band. Take a little time from your schedule, and come check it out…you won’t regret it!

The Interview

Donna Ulisse
(Recorded live 3/17/15; host: Mandorichard), 31:12, 30.0 MB.

The Music

The following music is heard in this episode of The Music Room:

  • Artist / Song / Album (or note) / Date / Notes
  • Donna Ulisse / Showin’ My Roots / Showin’ My Roots / 2013
  • Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver / Wilma Walker / In Session / 2015
  • Donna Ulisse / Everything Has Changed / Walk this Mountain Down / 2008
  • Donna Ulisse (with Sam Bush) / Take this Hammer (Excerpt) / Showin’ My Roots / 2013

Photo courtesy of donnaulisse.com