Monthly Archives: January 2020

Episode #95 featuring Tylor Ketchum of Tylor & The Train Robbers

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Tylor Ketchum joined the podcast crew at Landmark Saloon in Portland to talk about his band’s awesome 2019 and their plans for the year ahead. Photo by Anne Marie for Local Hero Media.

Stream or download Episode 95: Episode 94 featuring Tylor Ketchum

Finding the right balance of work life and family life is a challenge most folks face every day, and for working/touring musicians, the struggle is very real.

For Tylor Ketchum, music and family have been intertwined since he was a young boy in Eastern Oregon picking up a guitar first owned by his uncle and then his mother. As he’s grown into a career as a country music songwriter and a band leader, family has remained at the heart of the band’s mission and at the root of his artistic vision.

Joining our team for Episode #95 of That Much Further West Podcast ahead of Tylor & The Train Robbers’ show last week at Landmark Saloon in Portland, OR, USA, Tylor shared stories about the evolution of the Boise, Idaho-based band and how the focus on family has allowed it to become one of the hottest hard-touring acts in alt-country.

The Train Robbers feature a rhythm section made up of Tylor’s brothers Jason and Tommy Bushman (bass and drums, respectively). The band’s terrific lead guitar player, Johnny “Shoes” Pisano, is Tylor’s father-in-law. And much of the subject matter in Tylor’s songwriting comes from his family history and the joys and struggles of trying to make it in the music business with the full-fledged backing of the people closest to him — his family.

Tylor Ketchum and his trusty Gibson J45, performing live at Landmark Saloon for Episode #95 of That Much Further West Podcast. Photo by Anne Marie for Local Hero Media.

For this episode, Tylor talks about the impact of heavy touring, the splash made by the band’s stunning 2019 album “Best of the Worst Kind” and how networking across the country ironically has made it easier to keep things close to home and hold on to the things that matter most.

He also shares a couple of solo acoustic performances that delighted our team and the folks who gathered at Landmark ahead of the band’s killer show that night.

So give it a listen. Here’s a list of the songs on Episode #95 of That Much Further West Podcast:

Fumblin’ For Rhymes, Tylor & The Train Robbers
Storyteller (Live At Landmark), Tylor Ketchum
Good At Bad News (Live At Landmark), Tylor Ketchum
These Eyes (Live At Landmark), Tylor Ketchum
Best Of The Worst Kind, Tylor & The Train Robbers

Wildwood ’19 Sessions — Drunken Prayer

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Morgan Geer of Drunken Prayer debuts a new song, “Nachos For One,” in the podcast RV at last summer’s Wildwood MusicFest & Campout. Video courtesy of Local Hero Media

Stream or download Wildwood ’19 Sessions — Drunken Prayer: Wildwood ’19 Drunken Prayer

There are a lot of great memories to unpack from last summer’s Wildwood MusicFest & Campout, but certainly one of the best was Drunken Prayer’s Friday night headlining set.

Flanked by a cast of talented Portland-based musicians, frontman Morgan Geer whipped the crowd into a frenzy while delivering tunes from the band’s spectacular breakout album of 2019, Cordelia Elsewhere.

The next day, the crew from That Much Further West Podcast welcomed Geer into the festival podcast RV to talk about the performance and get up to date on all things Drunken Prayer. Geer was in the midst of a cross-country road trip, traveling from his home in Asheville, N.C., along with his wife Krista and 6-year-old son Leon, covering thousands of miles and performing dozens of shows over a 75-day stretch.

He also shared a couple of performances on acoustic guitar, including a brand new song called “Nachos For One” (see video above) that he wrote while on the road in Europe opening for The Handsome Family.

Whenever Morgan and co-hosts Eric Kotila and Mike Lee get together, a lot of laughs ensue. So give it a listen and stayed tuned for more sessions from the RV at Wildwood in coming weeks as we try to shake off the winter doldrums and look ahead to warm, sunny days ahead.

Morgan Geer salutes the crowd after delivering the festival-opening blessing alongside Malachi Graham of Small Million at last summer’s Wildwood MusicFest & Campout in Sheridan, OR, USA. Photo by Anne Marie for Local Hero Media.

50 Podcast Picks from 2019

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Have we seen the last of the Turnpike Troubadours? Here’s hoping for a revival and return to form in 2020 for the Oklahoma Red Dirt legends.

Stream or download 50 Podcast Picks from 2019: 50 Podcast Picks from 2019

After a maddening period that saw at least half a dozen stop and starts (cancelled shows, shaky performances, etc.), the Turnpike Troubadours — the rising Oklahoma-based band which seemed destined for big things — finally suspended all group activity in 2019. Some members turned their focus to other projects, while mercurial frontman and main songwriter Evan Felker retreated underground, leaving many to speculate that his personal problems threw the group’s future into jeopardy.

But late in the year, a new single by Felker emerged from Austin, TX, USA, where veteran singer-songwriter and producer Bruce Robison pinned down Felker to perform a few tunes in the studio for his burgeoning Next Waltz multimedia project. The song and video (see below) for “Whiskey In Your Water,” with Carrie Rodriguez singing a dual vocal, shows Felker in fine form and hints at exactly why he is so beloved by fans of the Troubadours and why concern for his well-being remains at the forefront of their thoughts.

We decided to kickoff our 50 year-end podcast picks with the tune in hopes that we haven’t seen the last of Felker and possibly the Turnpike Troubadours as a unit. It’s one of the songs from artists who made a big impact on the ears of our podcast producers in 2019.

Along with a bunch of great new discoveries this year, our podcast picks are highlighted by several career-best moments by some of our favorites, including many from friends and folks who have been guests on our show in the past.

So give it a listen with an ear toward finding your next favorite Americana or Roots act. We bet herein lies the fix you’re looking for in 2020. Here’s the playlist:

Whiskey In Your Water, Evan Felker with Carrie Rodriguez and The Next Waltzers
What You Don’t Know, Caroline Spence
Cordelia, Drunken Prayer
Good at Bad News, Tylor & The Train Robbers
Cheap Silver, Mike and the Moonpies
The House That Built Me, Tanya Tucker
Hey, Heartbreaker, Matt Woods
Things Like This, I See Hawks In L.A.
Big Black Chain, The Jackson County Kills
56 Fury, Rodney Crowell
Walk Through Fire, Yola
Jesus & Elvis, Hayes Carll
All Your’n, Tyler Childers
Ian McLagan, Drivin’ N Cryin’
Downtown, The Cactus Blossoms
Doubt, Clara Baker
Cocaine Country Dancing, Paul Cauthen
Giving Up, Tim Barry
California State Line, The Long Ryders
Emmanuel, TK & The Holy Know-Nothings
Mississippi Nuthin’, Shovels & Rope
So Long To The Traveling Kind, Tom Vanden Avond
Strange Shadows, Aaron Lee Tasjan
Colorado, The Quaker City Night Hawks
Sam’s House, An American Forrest
That’s How I Feel, Dori Freeman
Kind Days, John Calvin Abney
Rolling Stone, Whiskey Myers
Letter To Madeline, Ian Noe
Division Lines, Fernando
Back Into This Church, Ron Rogers & The Wailing Wind
Ruby, Strand of Oaks
Right At Home, Daystar
Old Black Magic, Josh Ritter
The Imperial, The Delines
Hard Time With The Truth, Kendell Marvel
Wake Up Call, Rich Layton and Tough Town
Wildflowers & Wine, Marcus King
The Dream Is Dead, M. Lockwood Porter
Fenceline, Anna Tivel
Excuse Me, Charley Crockett
Blue Earth County, Silver Lake 66
Sad Songs, Kassi Valazza
East October, John Moreland
Just Trying To Love, The Lonesome Billies
Old Soul, The Highwomen
Where The Buffalo Roam, David Quinn
Beautiful and Kind, Ryan Bingham
Turn Off The News (Build A Garden) (Acoustic), Lukas Nelson and the Promise of the Real