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This episode of Across The Margin: The Podcast presents an interview with Woodstock, New York via North Carolina singer-songwriter Kenny Roby. Roby is the former lead singer of 6 String Drag, which he formed with bassist Rob Keller in the early 1990s, a band which quickly became one of the more notable bands of the Americana movement. The band's style ranged from old style country with a hint of soul and gospel to rock. While 6 String Drag broke up in the late 1990s, Roby continues to make records and play live shows with the Mercy Filter, which includes Scott McCall of $2 Pistols. Roby has released seven solo albums, his latest album — the focus of the episode — is self-titled and written and recorded in Woodstock, NY. Throughout Kenny Roby, the gifted storyteller embraces the spirits of songwriters who once inhabited the very same hills like Fred Neil, Van Morrison, Tim Hardin, Karen Dalton, Bobby Charles, Levon Helm and, of course, Bob Dylan. Over the album's dozen tracks, Roby — supported by a cast including Daniel Littleton (guitars), Jeff Hill (bass), Tony Leone (drums) and superb guest vocals from Amy Helm and the legendary John Sebastian on harmonica — takes us on a sprawling walk through the neighborhood of his mind. In this episode host Michael Shields and Kenny Roby discuss Kenny Roby's genesis and the themes present in the album. They talk about the outstanding players on the album such as Amy Helm and John Sebastian while exploring how living in Woodstock, New York led to who contributed to the album's enthralling sound. They discuss Roby's friendship and working relationship with Neal Casal and the gifts that deep acquaintanceship still award Roby, and so much more. Our GDPR privacy policy was updated on August 8, 2022. Visit acast.com/privacy for more information.
Kenny Roby first met Neal back in 1997, when Kenny's Raleigh, NC based band, 6 String Drag, signed to Steve Earle's E-Squared record label and made their classic album High Hat. Neal and Kenny became great pals and Neal invited Kenny along to open a month of shows on his 1998 tour of the UK and France. They sang together every night and when the tour ended they came back to the states and recorded their duo album Kenny Roby & Neal Casal: Black River Sides. They stayed friends until Neal's passing in 2019 and Kenny recorded a fantastic version of Neal's song “Too Much To Ask” for the Highway Butterfly: The Songs of Neal Casal tribute album. Learn more about Kenny: https://kennyroby.net/ Song clips in this episode:6 String Drag Bottle of BluesAin't Got The TimeWhen I Loved You Silver MoonToo Much To AskNew Day Episode artwork photography by Neal Casal See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
John and Scott discuss some favorite singer-songwriters of the last 10 yearsJohn:2012- Turnpike Troubadours "Goodbye Normal Street"2012- Alabama Shakes "Girls and Boys"2014- Hard Working Americans "self titled"2015- Jesse Malin "New York Before the War"2017- Steve Earle "So You Wanna Be An Outlaw"2017- Jason Isbell "The Nashville Sound"2018- Ben De La Cour "The High Cost of Living Strange"2018- 6 String Drag "Top of the World"2019- Amy Lavere "Painting Blue"2019- Chris Knight "Almost Daylight"Scott: 2016 - Brian Fallon - Painkillers2015 - Andrew Combs - All These Dreams2016 - Brent Cobb - Shine On Rainy Day2013 - Jason Isbell - Southeastern2017 - Norah Jones - Day Breaks2017 - Delbert McClinton - Prick of the Litter2012 - John Mayer - Born and Raised2016 - Caleb Caudle - Carolina Ghost2019 - Dalton Domino - Songs from the Exile2012 - Father John Misty - Fear FunBecome a fan on Facebook at NMD podcast group.nmdpodcast@gmail.com and follow us on Instagram @nmdpodcast.Tell your friends!!Be sure to Like and Subscribe. Thanks for Listening!!
John and Scott discuss artists they feel should be household namesJohn:Big Back 40 "bested"6 String Drag "high hat"Love/Hate "blackout in the red room"Those Bastard Souls "debt and departure"Chris Knight "self-titled"Big Star "#1 record"Jesse Malin "the fine art of self destruction"Limbeck "hi, everything's great"Tragically Hip "up to here"*on list but not mentioned 6 Day Bender "e'ville fuzz"Scott:John Prine - Bruised OrangeThe DeRailers - Reverb DeluxeMiddle Brother - S/TImperial Drag - S/TRoss Cooper - I Rode the Wild HorsesShannon McNally & Charlie Sexton - Southside Sessions EPThe Great Affairs - Ten & 2Christian Lopez - Red ArrowReef - Glowalso mentioned XTC, Jellyfish, Sextus, Molly, 500 Miles to Memphis, The DuShanes.Become a fan on Facebook at NMD podcast group.nmdpodcast@gmail.com and follow us on Instagram @nmdpodcast.Tell your friends!!Be sure to Like and Subscribe. Thanks for Listening!!
Kenny Roby is a singer-songwriter who has had an accomplished 20 year career that includes his former band 6 String Drag. They were a southern alt-country outfit who were part of that scene that included Whiskeytown, The Drive by Truckers, Drivin’ & Cryin’ amongst others in the mid 90s. Since the dissolution of 6 String Drag, Kenny has been on his own, making records, and trading songs with Neal Casal. In fact, Resevoir was to be produced by the late Neal Casal who passed a month before the production was to begin. Dave Schools of Widespread Panic fame, but a great record producer in his own right, who knew of Kenny’s work through Neal, stepped in to produce the record with Jesse Aycock, John Lee Shannon, Jeff Hill and Tony Leone providing the backing band. The record is exquisite and deals with themes that were very personal to Kenny including his own mental health and substance abuse struggles, the break up of his marriage and ultimately getting through those challenges in hopes a better life. We caught up with Kenny Roby to talk about the album, and our conversation started when I asked him about how tragic Neal Casal’s passing was for him personally. First Song: 00:56: Old Love Interview Begins: 04:38 Extro Song: 31:34 - I'm Gonna Love Again See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
This weeks show features the Hillary Keane Project, The Wobblers, 6 String Drag, Paul McDonald, and Big Jesus.
I had the opportunity to chat with singer/songwriter Kenny Roby of the Alt-Country band 6 String Drag. Kenny was gracious enough to take a few minutes out of his touring schedule to talk with me about his music, and his band 6 String Drag. He's been a part of the music industry since 1993, and he's had an enormous influence on the Alt-Country scene. Kenny was easy going, fun to talk to, and had some great stories from his musical past. Enjoy!
Cult indoctrination, bachelorette parties; Von destroys a garage remote in the name of neighborliness. Get your tickets for Matt Woods here! Music in this episode: Michael Westbrook -- “Yesterday’s News” (Single) SH Sons Of Bill - “Before The Fall” (Well God Ma’am) Kimmi Bitter -- “Shine a Light” (West Side Twang) (SH) Six String Drag - “Small Town Punks” (Top Of The World) Andrew Bryant -- “I Am Not My Father’s Son” (Ain’t It Like the Cosmos) Curse Of Lono - “Blackout Fever” (As I Fell) Jennah Bell “3’59 (New York)” (Anchors and Elephants) Will Courtney - “Too High Now” (Crazy Love) Peter Berwick -- “Anyway” (Island) (SH) Jamestown Revival - “Crazy World (Judgement Day)” (Single) Rachel wrote a comic! Check it out here! Send us music via SubmitHub. Send us money via Ko-fi or Patreon. Contact Von via linktr.ee/vonreviews and say hi to Rachel on Twitter @adobeteardrops
Kenny Roby has been one of my favorite songwriters for the past twenty years, since I first interviewed him for a now defunct music magazine for the release of his excellent solo album, Mercury's Blues. That led me to one of my all-time favorite albums, High Hat, by his then former band, 6 String Drag. There is so much soul and musical diversity in that album – Americana that wanders from New Orleans to Texas, a bit of punk, with a ton of swing and bounce. Roby continued that roving sound on his solo albums, and I have remained a fan ever since. I was happy when the band got back together a couple of years ago, and I'm even more happy now that it has stuck. Earlier this year, the band released a re-mastered version of High Hat plus a great new album called Top of the World. It was the perfect opportunity to catch up with Roby and talk about the new album and High Hat. When I catch up with Roby, he has just gotten off work, and we talk about the work-life balance of an independent artist. As you'll hear later in the interview, Roby is working hard at tipping this much more toward the art, which isn't easy, even for someone with as wonderful catalogue as he has. One of the more interesting parts of the conversation came when we talked about internalizing influences, sounds, and riffs, and how impressionable your creative brain can be. “You've got to be careful,” says Roby, “if you listen to bad music, you'll write it.” We also talked about how some of the best music is meant more to be felt than understood. Explaining a song, as we talked about, can be like trying to figure out what the Mona Lisa is thinking. Our featured track this week comes from a new album from Domenico Lancellotti. Lancellotti, son of composer Ivor Lancellotti, is a multi-instrumentalist who has played with the likes of Gil Gilberto and Caetano Veloso, will release his solo album The Good Is A Big God on May 11. Enjoy this preview of the lead track, “Asas.”
Daniel Kraus has written a number of novels, including Rotters, a great horror novel I'm reading now. What puts him front and center right now is his work with Guillermo del Toro on the Oscar-winning story for The Shape of Water. Kraus had the idea years ago that he might want to do something about a love affair blossoming between a creature and an employee of a lab. He was already working with del Toro on the Trollhunters book, which became the series on Netflix. He mentioned the idea to del Toro, and that got the ball rolling. You'll hear more about that in the conversation. That opened up the opportunity for Kraus to work on his own version of the story in novel form. He used the backbone from the script and expanded the backstory and mythology to paint a fuller picture of the characters, most notably the heavy, Strickland, and his initial relationship with the creature. That was a large chunk of the conversation, but Kraus is currently working on another collaboration of sorts, finishing off a novel that George Romero had been working on that would span the history of his zombie movies. We also got to talk about horror in a more philosophical way, how the concepts of humanity and beauty work within that frame. Find out more about Kraus on www.danielkraus.com. After the conversation, our featured track this week is “Let's Fool Around Til the End of the World” by 6 String Drag from their new album Top of the World. This has been a great year for 6 String Drag fans. Not only did they release a remastered 20th anniversary version of their classic rock and roll Americana album High Hat, the put out the all-new album. You'll hear more about that next week, when 6 String Drag's Kenny Roby will be the interview guest. You can find the music at their website, https://6stringdrag.com.
On this week’s episode Calvin is featuring a doubleshot of country soul music from a fun band called the Yellow Bellied Sapsuckers. He also has the new rock & roll album from Ruby Boots which you will surely like. Plus there’s more new music from Szlachetka, Chris Smither, 6 String Drag, Harvey McLaughlin, and the Bindley Hardware Company. "Ep396 Yellow Bellied Sapsuckers" originated from Americana Music Show.
Calvin shares the new album of Cosmic Americana from the Milagro Saints. Their new album is called Signs On The Road and you’re gonna love to trippy roots sounds from them. Calvin is also featuring the new album from the Bindley Hardware Company and a wall of sound rock album from Lance Lopez. Plus there’s more new music from 6 String Drag, Chris Smither & The Wood Brothers. "Ep395 Milagro Saints" originated from Americana Music Show.
Hey NC! Kenny Roby of 6 String Drag stopped by today to talk about their new release out on 3/9, Top Of The World! Additional topics include the 20th anniversary of High Hat, nicknames and much more. We've included 2 tracks from it in this podcast! The legendary NC band is back with a raw rocking record that is sure to please old fans and appeal to other folks as well. If you're in Raleigh this Friday, March 9 check them out at their album release show at The Pour House with Two Dollar Pistols and Temperance League.
This week I'm featuring a double shot of the new Chris Smither album, plus the new album from 6 String Drag, a sneak peek at the upcoming Willie Nelson album, and more new music from The Wood Brothers. and H.C. McEntire. "Ep394 music episode" originated from Americana Music Show.
Show #307 Beth Bombara - Found Your Way (Beth Bombara) Aaron Burdett - Stark Raving Sober (Tinderbox) 6 String Drag - Choppin' Block (Roots Rock 'N' Roll) Ken Will Morton - Long Gone Daddy (All’s Fair in Love & War) (mic break) Jessi McNeal - Walk Me Out (Promised Land) Matt Keating - This Perfect Crime (This Perfect Crime) Parker McCollum - Meet You In The Middle (The Limestone Kid) Beth Bombara - Thunder and Rain (Beth Bombara) (mic break) Jason Titley - Ticking The Boxes (Still Rollin’) Aaron Burdett - Old Oak Table (Tinderbox) Justin Townes Earle - Someone Will Pay (Absent Fathers) Nikki Talley - Mockingbird (Out From The Harbor) (mic break) Beth Bombara - It Slips Away (Beth Bombara) Aaron Burdett - Write What You Know (Tinderbox)
Parker McCollum plays tracks from The Limestone Kid and talks about managing his first tour, shooting music videos, and keeping faith in his music. Also on this episode, new music from that Allison Moorer album and that Joe Pug album that’s just come out, garage hand-clapping garage rock from the Vespers, roots rock from The Mavericks, country rock from Whitehorse, blues from 6 String Drag, a foot tapper from Lily Hiatt, southern rock from The Beltways, western swing from that new Bob Wills tribute album, country rock from Marty Stuart and His Fabulous Superlatives. "Ep237 Parker McCollum drives a truck from the 70’s" originated from Americana Music Show.
BJ Barham plays American Aquarium’s Wolves, talks about their fan base, winning the Hardest Working Band award, and toasts the Old North State. Also on this episode, rock & roll from Ryan Bingham, swamp rock from JeConte, swing era jazz from Eilen Jewell, western swing from Asleep At The Wheel and Pokey LaFarge, blues from Rhiannon Giddens, blues from Ted Hefko and the Thousandaires, 70’s throwback from Jackie Stahl And The White Russians, and roots rock from 6 String Drag. "Ep236 American Aquarium gets hungry like a wolf" originated from Americana Music Show.
Anne McCue plays tracks from Blue Sky Thinkin’ and talks the sounds of Charlie Christian and Django Reinhardt and swing era music. Also on this episode, haunting soul from Rhiannon Giddens, New Orleans blues from Ted Hefko and the Thousandaires, roots rock from 6 String Drag, swamp rock from JeConte, country rock from Ryan Bingham, pub rock from The Beltways, country from DonPedigo, and country from Eilen Jewell. "Ep235 Anne McCue plays that Charlie Christian / Django Reinhardt guitar" originated from Americana Music Show.
Show #289 Anne McCue - Devil In The Middle (Blue Sky Thinkin') Josh Buckley - April Fool (Blind Side of the Heart) W.B. Givens - The Desert (Locomotion) Drew Holcomb & The Neighbors - Here We Go ((mic break) Gurf Morlix - Blue Smoke Eatin’ At MeOwl Country - Sacred Ground (Owl Country) The Last Hombres - Dreams (Odd Fellows Rest) Anne McCue - Little White Cat (Blue Sky Thinkin') (mic break) The Zuni Mountain Boys - Radio (The Zuni Mountain Boys) Scott Hrabko & The Rabbits - Died & Gone To Heaven (Biscuits & Gravy) The Loose Canyons - If We Don't Know (Striver’s Row) 6 String Drag - Drive Around Town (Roots Rock 'N' Roll) (mic break) Anne McCue - Save A Life (Blue Sky Thinkin') Twitter: @Fratrain Flipboard: Americana Boogie Music (Feb. 27th, 2015) Bill Frater
Dick LeMasters plays blues rock tracks from One Bird, Two Stones and talks about the songwriters he admires and the importance of perseverance. Also on this episode, rock & roll from Ryan Bingham, live music from Eilen Jewell, string band music from John Lilly, blues from 6 String Drag, Louisiana Swamp music from JeConte, beautiful music from Gretchen Peters, swing jazz from Anne McCue, and country rock from Parker McCollum. "Ep234 Dick LeMasters finds the power in The Blood and the power in The Snake" originated from Americana Music Show.
Kenny Roby talks about getting 6 String Drag back together after 15 years, his inspiration from Doug Sahm, and plays tracks from the new album. Also on this episode, rapturous soul from JJ Grey & Mofro, traditional bluegrass from Robert Earl Keen, poignant love song from James McMurtry, new Latin-pop from The Mavericks, blues from Steve Earle & the Dukes, a rare Lead Belly recording, deep twang from Jim Lauderdale, and alt-country from The Menders. "Ep232 6 String Drag gets their Roots Rock ‘N’ Roll groove back" originated from Americana Music Show.
Show #282 (2014 Christmas Show) THE DEPUE BROTHERS BAND - Linus and Lucy (When It's Christmas Time) (intro bed) BUCK OWENS - Christmas Time's A-Coming (Hillbilly Holiday) THE WHISKEYBELLES - Mama Never Liked Christmas (Nothin’ Says Christmas Like Whiskey) THE OLD 97’S - Here It Is Christmas Time (An Americana Christmas) THE RESENTMENTS - I Hate Christmas (The Resentments) (mic break) BLUE RODEO - Home To You This Christmas (A Merrie Christmas To You) JOHN REISCHMAN & THE JAYBIRDS - I Heard From Heaven Today (On A Winter’s Night) RIDERS IN THE SKY - Let It Snow/The Last Christmas Medley You'll Ever Need To Hear (Christmas the Cowboy Way) NIKKI LANE - FalalalaLove Ya (An Americana Christmas) (mic break) MAX GOMEZ - Season of My Memory (An Americana Christmas) OWL COUNTRY - Long Gentle Rain (Long Gentle Rain) DALE WATSON - Honky Tonk Christmas (Christmas in Texas) (mic break) PAUL THORN - That’s Not Why We’re Here (mic break) 6 STRING DRAG - Hey Santa Claus ROD PICOTT - Dad’s Drunk Again On Christmas (Decembersongs: An East Nashville Christmas) COLD BEER AND BROADS - Get Me Home By Christmas Eve THE X-MEN - The Little Drummer Boy/Linus & Lucy (Santa Is Real) RSS feed: http://ftbpodcasts.libsyn.com/rss Freight Train Boogie Americana Android App Twitter: @Fratrain Flipboard: Americana Boogie Music (Dec. 19th, 2014) Bill Frater
I had most of the original members in-studio to talk a bit about how this reunion came together and exactly where they'll go from here. As it turns out Roby has been storing up some songs that feel quite similar to Six String Drag, and while he hasn't specifically stated that it's going to turn into another Six String Drag album…the band is certainly all here. Throughout the hour we cover the looming question on everyone's mind (more music?!), run down what the band has been doing since their break up, speak of the preparation for the show and hear a slew of in-studio performances from their marquee album High Hat. The band even played a tune that may end up on their new recordings!