Bound for Glory is rebroadcasting the best of Bound for Glory shows…
…until we can safely get back to presenting live performances.
Each week we will be featuring a recording of a previous live show or music from a selected performer. Is there something you would like to hear? Email Phil here! Click here for ways to listen to the show.
On your radio May 21—Jonathan Byrd & the Pickup Cowboys
Originally broadcast 11/22/15
“So deeply rooted in tradition, yet growing in his own way.”—Tom Paxton
“I thought I was listening to a young Doc Watson.”—Jay Moulon, Southeast Magazine
Jonathan Byrd is “one of the top 50 songwriters of the last 50 years,” says Rich Warren of WFMT in the Chicago Tribune. Scott Alarik of the Boston Globe says, “This rootsy North Carolinian may be the most buzzed-about new songwriter in folkdom. He displays John Prine’s gift for stark little songs that tell big, complex stories, Guy Clark’s lean melodicism, Lyle Lovett’s wry mischief, and Bill Morrissey’s knack for the revealing image.”
Byrd grew up singing in the Southern Baptist church, where his father preached and his mother played piano. After four years in the Navy, he returned to home to play in rock bands. It was at an old-time fiddle festival in the mountains of southwest Virginia where his writing began to change. Assimilating the sounds of southern traditional music, Byrd wrote new songs in an ancient style. After 10 years as a full-time touring songwriter and 7 acclaimed albums, it seems this native of Cackalacky is getting the attention he deserves.
On your radio May 28—Davey O
Originally broadcast 4/16/17
“A journalist’s eye for detail and poet’s ear for the well-turned observation.”—Jeff Miers, Buffalo News
Armed with a steady, rhythmic pulse on his Gibson guitar, a battered straw cowboy hat, and a no apologies rust-belt work ethic, Buffalo, NY born and bred songwriter Davey O. is equal parts songwriter and storyteller. He has earned the respect of his peers for his dedication to the art of song craft. Davey crafts pure Americana that is not of social and political consciousness, but drawn from the well of experience and human emotion.
In 2012, Davey’s album “Testing For Rust” spent 11 weeks in the Top 25 on the Roots Music Report in New York State. In 2014 his seven-song EP, “No Passengers”, debuted as a Top 20 album on the Folk DJ Charts, and remained a Top 25 Contemporary Folk CD on the Roots Music Report for five months.
Davey is releasing his latest album, “A Bright Horizon Line” in 2017. He is joined on it by veteran folk artists Tracy Grammer (background vocals), and Pat Wictor (dobro), as well as up and coming artists Matt Nakoa (piano), and Eric Lee (mandolin, fiddle).
On your radio June 4—Larry Kaplan
Originally broadcast 10/27/19
“Larry’s themes address topics of concern to all of us who care about those with whom we share this planet. One of the best song-makers in the folk song revival.”—Sandy Paton, Folk Legacy Records
Larry Kaplan has been described as a keen and sympathetic observer of the human condition. He cares deeply and writes eloquently about the concerns of others, reflecting his profound respect for the farmers, fishermen, and the other hard working people of New England.
Originally from Boston, Larry spent many of his formative years in Maine. He helped restore, then crewed on the Schooner Bowdoin up there, and worked his way through college and graduate school. He spent some time as a night clerk in a New Orleans hotel and met his wife, Nora, one evening when he was singing in a Providence coffeehouse while doing further graduate work at Brown.
Larry has released four CDs through Folk Legacy Records, “Worth All The Telling,” “Songs For An August Moon,” “Furthermore,” and his newest, “True Enough”. No Depression, the Folk Roots Magazine, has called Larry’s music “some of the most finely crafted songs in folk music today.” He is the recipient of multiple best folk CDs of the year by leading folk radio programs across the US and Europe, and tours regularly in Europe as well as across the US.
Of his album, “Furthermore…”, reviewer Larry Looney said, “There is history and humanity and depth here just waiting to be heard….I think you’ll find yourself returning to it again and again.”
On your radio June 11—The Flywheels
Originally broadcast 9/1/19
The Flywheels are an old timey band. Except when they’re not. The Flywheels are a traditional bluegrass band. Except when they’re not. Cap Cooke (banjo and vocals) Liz Pickard (guitar and vocals), Sam Schmidt (fiddle and vocals), Jason Zorn (bass) make up The Flywheels.
Cap Cooke got his first banjo from his parents for his 13th birthday and found a liking for old-style bluegrass and old-time music. He has played with Barham Lashley’s Hilltoppers, Aaron Lipp’s Mount Pleasant Stringband, Uncle Joe and the Rosebud Ramblers, and other bands.
Cap met Sam Schmidt, when he first filled in with the Hilltoppers. They learned a lot playing together in the Hilltoppers, and had an idea to start their own band once that band disbanded. Cap met Liz Pickard at the Grassroots Festival, and was soon blown away hearing her old-school guitar playing and singing. They became friends, and Cap soon invited her to join their new band.
For the better part of a year, the three rehearsed numerous times and played a few gigs. They were also on the lookout for a bass player. Cap knew Jason Zorn played the bass as well as old-time fiddle, and after Jason played with them a on a couple dates became the fourth member of the band.
Their first digital album, The Back Porch Recordings, is available on their website.
On your radio June 18—Rod MacDonald
Originally broadcast 2/17/13
“A fine songwriter who never lets his message get in the way of making good music.”—The Boston Globe
Village Voice ascribes “politics, passion, and a sense of humor” to this Connecticut native, who began his singing career in the Greenwich Village music scene. Accompanying himself on guitar and harmonica, Rod sings a range of songs in traditional and contemporary styles. Some of his songs have been recorded by other artists; Garnet Rogers has put MacDonald’s “American Jerusalem” and “Dear Grandfather” on his albums.
Rod was the closing act of the 1998 South Florida Folk Festival. He’s also made the rounds of such festivals as the Philadelphia, Winnipeg, Kerrville, and Florida Folklife, and has toured Germany, Sweden, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Canada, the UK, and the Czech Republic.
He’s released eleven solo albums over a 35-year performing career. 2009’s “After the War,” was the first release on his own Blue Flute Music label since the mid ’70s, and he followed it up with the 2011 release of “Songs of Freedom,” a collection of political commentary.
On your radio June 25—
Andrew McKnight
Originally broadcast 11/8/15
“Blends wry and romantic stories with keen tuneful observations in a delicious mix of folk, blues and bluegrass… a man not to be missed!”—The National Theatre, Washington DC
Andrew McKnight writes, sings and speaks eloquently of the struggles and successes of rural America. Since permanently leaving his corporate environmental engineering career in 1996, award-winning folk/Americana artist Andrew McKnight’s musical journey has traced nearly a million miles of blue highways, and earned him a wealth of critical acclaim and fans for his captivating performances and seven recordings.
Andrew¹s powerful and entertaining show is like one-man theatre, delivered with warmth and down-home comfort. His finely crafted songs are woven together with humorous stories and poetic drama, while the musical soundscape traverses influences from Appalachia, tasteful slide and jazzy blues, feisty anthems, rustic folk, and even a little fancy flatpicking on a Carter Family tune. He has performed at many prestigious venues like the Kennedy Center, the International Storytelling Center and the Atlanta Olympics, has been part of the Rocky Mountain, South Florida, Boston and Delmarva Folk Festival lineups, and a guest on NPR’s “Art of the Song” and “River City Folk” shows.