Roots Music Rambler

Roots Music Rambler

Where there are people, there is music. In our celebration of melodies and lyrics, harmonies and riffs, we typically focus on the songs or the people who wrote them. We often overlook the where. Join Francesca and Falls for Roots Music Rambler, a podcast exploration of the where as much as the who or what. We’ll interview emerging and established artists, fans and others in Americana, Outlaw Country, Bluegrass, Blues, Roots, Soul, World and beyond. But we will always get to the stories of where they’re from and how that impacted the music we know and love. It’s more than just their influences. It’s their families. Communities. Cultures. This show is a fun combination of music, travel, history and more. We dig into the stories from artists, musicians, songwriters, producers, fans and beyond, that don’t just expose their musical influences, but their life influences. Music follows the path of human movement. We trace the steps to bring better understanding to what we hear today and why we love it. Join us for the exploration of the real roots of music on Roots Music Rambler.

Episodes

Magnolia Boulevard has emerged from adversity with its “Dream Team” and new music coming

July 25, 2025 • 50 mins
In 2018, a group of southern rock, soul and funk loving musicians from Lexington, Ky., got together to form a new band called Magnolia Boulevard. They quickly gelled and his momentum before the pandemic interrupted what seemed to be a sure rise to prominence in the emerging Americana blend of genres popular in today’s clubs and music festivals.  As the COVID-19 fears subsided and they returned to the stage, their original drummer ...
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One of the Best Music Festivals of the Summer is In Manchester, Kentucky and It’s Free!

July 11, 2025 • 56 mins
Did you know there’s a music festival coming Labor Day weekend that features an incredible roster of singers, songwriters and bands in the Americana, country, folk and bluegrass space and the tickets to said event are absolutely free? You do now.  The Manchester Music Fest is in its seventh iteration in eight years (damnit, COVID) and has always been completely free to the public to attend. Yes, you have to get there. Manchester i...
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Nicholas Jamerson offers new, meditative album through life and loss

June 27, 2025 • 73 mins
Nicholas Jamerson is regarded as one of the finer songwriters in the current Americana, folk and country scene. His heartfelt lyrics of love, loss and lamentation born from the hills of Eastern Kentucky were the foundation of the success of Sundy Best, his award-winning band and collaboration with Kris Bentley. But after its temporary break-up/hiatus, Jamerson continued writing and recording as a solo act, often backed by the Morn...
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Ben Chapman drops surprise news including new album and collaboration hints on RMR

June 13, 2025 • 56 mins
Roots Music Rambler is not designed to be a breaking news outlet, but don’t tell Ben Chapman that. In our recent sit-down for Roots Music Rambler the Georgia-native and standout singer-songwriter dropped news item after news item. Chapman, who recently tied the knot with longtime girlfriend and fellow songwriter Meg McRee shared the news of their upcoming first child (which they’d already shared on social media), but then told of ...
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Irishman Mark Geary mixes delightful melodies with dark melancholy

May 30, 2025 • 64 mins
For Ireland’s Mark Geary, America was everything. He moved to New York in the 1990s and cut his teeth in the music business alongside legendary artists like Jeff Buckley. Thirty years later, his songs continue to paint pictures of the modern Irish experience, especially as it relates to America. Geary sat down with Roots Music Rambler before his May headline show at The Monarch Music Community in Louisville, Ky., to talk about his...
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Logan Ledger brings California Country Cool to the Americana Scene

May 2, 2025 • 51 mins
If you’ve listened to Roots Music Rambler much at all you know Frank and Falls are suckers for the new wave of retro-sounding Americana and Country artists. (See our previous episode with Kimmi Bitter.) When we first heard Logan Ledger, the same fascination kicked in.  With sounds reminiscent of Marty Robbins, Jim Croce and The Byrds, it was easy to see why this Bay Area product was reclaiming the title of purveyor of California C...
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Storyteller Gabe Lee talks songwriting, family and growing up in Nashville

April 18, 2025 • 72 mins
Songwriters and storytellers are at the core of Americana music. Few conversations in the genre go very long without the mention of names like John Prine, Jason Isbell, Gillian Welch and others. Most of those folks flocked to Nashville at one time or another to get a publishing deal, cut some records and try to make it in music. Gabe Lee never had to flock to Nashville. He was born and raised there. The son of Taiwanese immigrants...
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Cait Justice Debut Reveals a Fresh Voice from Appalachia

April 4, 2025 • 69 mins
The mountains of Appalachia have produced some of the most memorable music in recent memory. From Dwight Yoakam to Chris Stapleton and Sturgill Simpson to Tyler Childers, plus up-and-comers like Brit Taylor and Leah Blevins, there’s beautiful tunes in “them-thar hills.” Cait Justice’s debut album Angel Teeth from sonaBlast Records offers a new entry in the fresh voices from Eastern Kentucky. The 20-something college student from P...
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The Mallett Brothers Band is back with Higher Up in the Hills

March 21, 2025 • 71 mins
Folk rockers The Mallett Brothers are back with a new album on April 4 called “Higher up in the Hills.” Luke and Will Mallett joined us on Roots Music Rambler this week to talk about the album, the first couple of singles from it, 15-years of making it in independent music without leaving their home state of Maine and more.  The brothers who front the band are actually from folk music royalty. Their father, David Mallett, is a wel...
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Flatpicker Tyler Grant talks about his journey, new songs, album

March 7, 2025 • 77 mins
There’s nothing we love more on Roots Music Rambler than digging into the stories behind songs, albums and artists, especially when geography and place have an impact there. That’s why this episode stands out as one of our favorites as Tyler Grant joined us to talk about his new album, his journey through bands and solo work and more. No one digs into a story as well as Grant does and you’ll note that right away as we talked about...
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Have Music Festivals Jumped the Shark?

February 21, 2025 • 69 mins
It’s no secret that the Roots Music Rambler team loves a good music festival. But as we’ve discussed before, there are perhaps too many of them and the costs continue to skyrocket for fans. It just so happens that there exists an entire podcast and YouTube show dedicated to music festivals and its host, Nate Riggs, is a friend of the program. This week on Roots Music Rambler, Frank and Falls dig in with Riggs to talk about the sta...
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Shepherd Hits 2025 with a new single, plans for lots of new music

January 31, 2025 • 60 mins
There are few artists out there who fit the Americana music label by decidedly not fitting in any single box better than Jeff Shepherd. The northern Indiana native has been called rock, blues, outlaw country and punk. His music harkens back to 70s rock but has enough country influences to draw comparisons to southern rock and outlaw country artists, alike. Shepherd, which he now goes by as a single-named moniker, joined us on Root...
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Roots Music Rambler’s Top 10 Songs & Albums from 2024

January 3, 2025 • 82 mins
Well, 2024 is in the books and what a year we saw in Americana and Roots Music. From Sierra Ferrell’s explosion to Beyonce’s Cowboy Carter and crazy collaborations to new music from artists like Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, The Secret Sisters, Marcus King and Dwight Yoakam, the year was one for the books. Since this was the first full calendar year Roots Music Rambler existed (we debuted in September of 2023), we thought we w...
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Inside the Stories and Experience of Singer-Songwriter Margo Cilker

December 20, 2024 • 72 mins
It’s not often Rolling Stone compares a singer-songwriter to John Prine. But they did just that when they heard “Steelhead Trout” by Margo Cilker. The Oregon-based artist’s first two albums have turned her into an emerging star in the Americana music scene.  Pohorylle, her debut, was so good, the UK Americana Music Association nominated it for Album of the Year alongside Brandi Carlile, Robert Plant & Allison Kraus and Charley Cro...
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Celebrating Bluegrass, Harmony and Family with the Bibelhauser Brothers

December 6, 2024 • 83 mins
Few musicians today stay as busy as Aaron Bibelhauser. Not only is he a prolific songwriter and one half of the twin brother-led bluegrass band called The Bibelhauser Brothers, but he hosts a notable bluegrass music radio show, collaborates with several other artists on albums and singles and leads a community jam session periodically in his home city of Louisville. The only mystery about Aaron is when does he sleep? Aaron and his...
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Kindred Valley’s Appalachian roots and stories garnering quite a following

November 22, 2024 • 83 mins
When Blake Lacy, Noah Freeman and Brett McCoy met and discovered each other’s musical tastes, they did what college students do: They started a band. A few iterations of an expanded friend circles later and the trio evolved to a six-person offering called Kindred Valley.  The band came on the Roots Music Rambler radar opening for Brit Taylor (Episode 16) at The Burl in Lexington, Ky., in February of 2024. A few months later, they ...
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Bluegrass mainstay Dave Adkins talks new album, band geeks and more

November 8, 2024 • 62 mins
Dave Adkins has already had a fantastic career as a bluegrass artist. He was nominated for Male Vocalist of the Year by the Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass Music of America in 2022, which was the second time he earned that nod. He’s also been nominated for awards like the International Bluegrass Association Emerging Artist of the Year and Inspirational Bluegrass Artist of the Year.  In 2020, Adkins contributed lead vocal...
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George Ducas returns with Pete Anderson-produced Long Way From Home

October 25, 2024 • 91 mins
George Ducas is back with a new album, but a decidedly elevated sound thanks to him luring legendary Bakersfield sound producer Pete Anderson back to the country studio. He sat in with Roots Music Rambler this week to talk to Frank and Falls about the new album, the day-to-day of being a Nashville songwriter and a lot more. Ducas even made a public promise to try and get Anderson to come on the show! (We’re giddy over this!) As i...
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Ghost of Paul Revere frontman Griffin William Sherry emerges with solo album

October 11, 2024 • 70 mins
The Ghost of Paul Revere announced its breakup in April of 2022 and fans of the Maine-based folk trio were heartbroken. The band said it had become more difficult to make records and tour while maintaining their friendship and the latter was more important. But 2024 brought about two rays of sunshine in the world of Ghost fans: The band has released a 10th anniversary, 180-gram vinyl reissue of its most successful release, Believe...
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From Mennonite Church to Celtic Punk and now Country and Folk, Brandon Good has seen it all

September 27, 2024 • 75 mins
Brandon Good’s early days in music were in the Mennonite Church. Later, in a Celtic punk band. Nowadays, the Chicago-based singer-songwriter is expressing his love for harmonies and melodies through more country and folk, singer-songwriter type tunes while unifying several genres into an interesting blend of tunes. Good joined Frank and Falls on Roots Music Rambler this week to talk about his previous work in albums like The Anvil...
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