Atlanta-based indie-folk collective the Good Graces was formed by singer-songwriter Kim Ware in 2006. Since their inception, they have performed up and down the east coast, in California, and at such festivals as 30A, NXNE, and the Athens Pop Festival. Their new single “The First Girl”, from their upcoming The Hummingbird EP, strikes an unflinchingly introspective chord and is both atmospheric and intimate. Take a listen to the song below then read on as front woman Ware answers her Essential 8 and talks embracing imperfections, her favorite podcasts and more.

Do you write about personal experience, the experience of others, observations, made-up stories, something else or a combination?
Yes! All of these. Mostly personal experience – I’d say that’s the case about 70% of the time. But sometimes a lyric will just pop into my head and I’ll play around with that until a story comes out, and it might have aspects of my own experiences, but perhaps also include bits of stories I’ve heard from others or just general observations. It’s almost always based on something real though. There is one song on The Hummingbird, “Waiting,” that was based solely on a story a friend told me. One morning she called me up, told me about something that happened the night before, and that day I wrote a song about it. I think that’s the first time I’ve had a song start out that way.

What’s the best advice you have ever gotten from another musician?
Over the past few years I’ve had more than one person tell me how important it is to be honest and vulnerable when writing songs, as well as with things like vocal delivery. I finally started to believe it while working on Set Your Sights, I think because often times the imperfections that bugged me about my singing was what Jonny (co-producer & guitarist) and Tim (who engineered a good bit of the tracks) liked most about it. Once I finally took that to heart, it was like a weight lifted because I could just embrace those imperfections and even sometimes use them to my advantage.

What’s the best advice to give to a musician just starting out?
I’d say this for just about any sort of art – find what makes you, you and just try to sell that thing, and don’t worry so much about the parts you think you aren’t good at. With me, I think my lyrics are what my strongest asset, so I just really try to focus on that more than anything else. If you can be really good at one thing, then usually you can find other people to help you with the others.

North Carolina-based guitarist and singer-songwriter Alan Barnosky sits nestled within the realms of bluegrass, folk, and country blues, writing songs and flatpicking melodies with admiration and respect for the American roots traditions of years past. On November 10th, he released his debut full-length solo album, Old Freight, a stripped down outing that balances nuanced and subtle acoustic instrumentation with genuine songwriting to deliver ten songs that are raw and real. Here, Barnosky answers his Essential 8 and touches on his album's title, songwriting, and much more.
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What’s the story behind your album’s title?
The title track Old Freight is a melancholy reflection of times that have long since passed, or maybe never existed at all. It is an idealists’ search for something pure, something real, spoken through the imagery of the traditional American train song. Themes of struggle and longing are common in traditional folk and bluegrass music and also in many of the songs I write as well, so titling the album after this song just seemed to make sense.

Where do you draw inspiration from when writing?
I take a lot of time to learn songs. For me these are often traditional folk songs or songs from the writers I admire. I work up solo arrangements where I’ll change the keys, try different chord voicings, mess with vocal phrasing, and play around with tunings to mold them to fit my style and abilities. Sometimes I play them at live shows, though usually not. By becoming well versed in these songs and making them my own, I absorb tons of ideas to bring to my own material. When it does come time to write, I usually can’t tell specifically where new ideas come from, but I do know that I become more creative after I learn a handful of new tunes.

When/where do you do your best writing?
At home and late at night with nobody close by to hear all the bad ideas that need to run their course before something decent can come along.

Do you write about personal experience, the experience of others, observations, made-up stories, something else or a combination?
It’s a combination of all of these, and always through the lense of personal experience.

​Hailed by Roots magazine earlier this year as “a genius”, the award-winning folk singer-songwriter Luke Daniels brings an intriguingly varied selection of smart new songs on Singing Ways To Feel More Junior. Each of the twelve tracks carves out its own unique space through the clever use of children’s rhymes and female allegory. Issues of gender equality, addiction, and child consumerism are all explored via acoustic folk encompassing humble woodnotes to syrupy synthesized twists. Here, Daniels answers his Essential 8 talking topics from the album, to drinking at gigs, touring tips, and more! 

What’s the story behind your album’s title?
Singing Ways To Feel More Junior is an album for grownups everywhere whose songs make use of children’s rhymes and female allegory to explore adult themes which range from child consumerism, addiction, gender inequality to Donald Trump’s childhood
 
What’s the best advice to give to a musician just starting out?
Always try and create music that you think you’ll be proud of in future, never try to adapt what you do to copy what might be working for another artist. The only sound that will work for you and resonate with your audience is your sound.

Do you have any touring tips?
When touring in US one time I bought a small fridge and electric wok that enabled me to buy, keep and cook my own food in my hotel rooms. This was the end progression of a teasmaid cookbook developed with band mates that included among other recipes banger and mash. Happy times.
 
How do you kill the long hours in the van?
I’ve recently started to listen to audio books as I find a break from music can sometimes be a good thing in between shows. I’m an impatient reader so fair much better when I can work through literature at a set pace and tackle books that otherwise I’d never manage such. Mainly science, sociology and classic novels.

A finalist in the Texas Heritage Songwriters' Association's 2015 Texas Songwriter U Competition, Mark Currey is a Little Rock singer-songwriter whose roots run through North Texas and Southeast Arkansas. Inspired by roots rock, classic country, folk and Americana music as well as southern gothic literature, Mark is a storyteller searching for an honest expression of his own southern voice which is evident on his latest album, Tarrant County. Here, Currey answers his Essential 8 talking about the album, meeting one of his heroes, and more.

Did you have a musical mentor? If so, who was it and how did they influence you?
My grandfather. He gave me my first guitar and taught me G, C, and D. He loved Hank Williams and Jimmy Rodgers. I was never around him when we did not pull out the guitars and sing and play; right up until he died. I also have an old Martin acoustic that was, at different times, in both his and my father’s possession.

With “All I Needed”, what was the “a-ha” moment when you knew the song was completed and perfect?
My wife of over 30 years jokingly reminded me that I write a lot of sad songs and that maybe I should write something so folks wouldn’t worry about our marriage! I wrote the song pretty quickly but it didn’t come fully into focus until I decided to change the final chorus. The previous choruses were past tense… looking back. I decided to switch the last chorus to the present tense. That’s when I knew. The song closes the record and every show I have played for the last 3 or 4 years.

What’s the story behind your album’s title?
I was born in Ft. Worth, Texas (Tarrant County) and even though my mom moved us to Arkansas after they divorced, my dad lived there until he died. My story starts there and in so many ways remains connected to that place. “Tarrant County” is the second track on the record and always seemed like the obvious album title. The album cover is a picture of the old Dallas/Ft. Worth Turnpike that closed in 1978.

With the release of her third album, Hearts In Need Of Repair, Minnesota singer-songwriter Sarah Morris offers eleven new songs spanning the Americana sonosphere, blending folk-rock and country influences. Hearts In Need Of Repair showcases Sarah’s signature vocals and conversational lyricism, exploring vulnerability, heartbreak, and grown-up, imperfect love. Here, Morris answers her Essential 8 and talks the story behind her album's title, early morning writing, and much more.

​What’s the story behind your album’s title?  
I belong to a summer songwriting group, where we each write a song a week based on a prompt.  I wrote the song "Hearts in Need of a Little Repair" inspired by the word glory.  This was summer of 2016 - I'd been struggling with my health all summer, I had friends who were struggling with loss, awful things kept appearing in the news - it felt like the world was breaking a little.  My husband is really good at fixing things, but he often laments how things aren't manufactured to BE fixed anymore, they're made to be thrown away.  So I thought about how that relates to a 'broken' heart, and as soon as the title for the song came to me I had the A-HA moment that this was the title for my next album.  I write all around the big and little ways that hearts can feel broken - this song felt like the perfect umbrella to put all those other stories under.  

When/where do you do your best writing?   
I'm a mom with young kids, so the only time my house is quiet enough for me to put a cohesive thought together is in the early morning, before they wake up.  I'm up around 5:30am making coffee, and then I sit down with my notebook and write 3 pages of freeform writing - sometimes I  just write the same few lyrics over and over until something new pops up, other times I use it more as a journal.  I get ideas through the day, but I flesh them out in the morning pages.  

What’s your favorite food on the road?   
Good Coffee!   And raw almonds.  And I will always search Yelp and Google to find a really solid breakfast. Breakfast on the road is special to me because I actually get to sit down and eat it, rather than standing at the counter at home shoving toast in my face while packing the kids lunches!   (ha!  Have I overshared now?)

Do you have any touring tips?  
Get those compression bags that let you bring more stuff but in a small compact space!  And bring your own pillow!  (and put that in a compression bag!!)

Kris Delmhorst is an American songwriter, singer, and instrumentalist who has released six full length records as well as a panoply of EPs, side projects, and collaborations. A wide-ranging, eclectic artist, her recordings have included intimate acoustic sets, rock band renderings, home-recordings, and works of classic poetry refigured and set to music - not to mention an all-acoustic collection of covers of songs by new-wave masters The Cars.
A constant collaborator, Delmhorst has appeared on vocals, cello, and fiddle on records and stages with fellow songwriters Anais Mitchell, Lori McKenna, Chris Smither, Mary Gauthier, Erin McKeown, Winterpills, Peter Mulvey, Gregory Alan Isakov, and many more.
Delmhorst's newest album, THE WILD, was released in October 2017. Co-produced with her husband, songwriter Jeffrey Foucault, and featuring a band drawn from players they share long history with as bandmates and friends, the album merges Delmhorst's sophisticated melodies and hauntingly open voice. Here, Delmhorst answers her Essential 8.

What’s the story behind your album’s title?
It’s about exploring the wildness of our basic nature as well as the wildness of the interior of our hearts.

When/where do you do your best writing?
I can start a song anywhere anytime. To finish them I need to hole up and buckle down.

What’s the best advice to give to a musician just starting out?
Collaborate. Listen to everything. Push out of your comfort zone as often as possible. 

What’s your favorite food on the road? Coffee. Also chocolate, and anything containing vegetables.
Do you have any touring tips?
Make sure to leave time to experience something other than the inside of a club, a hotel room, or the van.