Currently eight months pregnant with her second child, Nikki Briar shows no signs of slowing down as she balances motherhood with her rising music career. Hailing from New Jersey, Briar attended Seton Hall University where she did musical theatre and chorus graduating with a degree in Special Education and a minor in music.  While she held various teaching positions over the years, Briar always felt the pull of music - even performing all the while she was teaching. When the school she was teaching at closed to merge with another, Briar decided the time was right to pursue music full-time. “Like any career, if you are going to do it, you have to be able to give 100%. It’s been six years now and things are going well.” 
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Briar grew up in New Jersey where her father was a drummer who would often fill in and play with Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. “He had the opportunity to go to college, but he turned it down so he could pursue music which he did until later in life when he did bookings and real estate. My Mom played piano and my uncle taught guitar, so me being involved with music was almost inevitable.” While her father leaned to Motown and jazz, her uncle, who taught her guitar, introduced her to country. “I was an extreme music lover from Whitney and New Kids on the Block to Shania, LeeAnn Rimes and Garth. I never categorized anything, I just liked what I liked. When taking a guitar lesson with my uncle, I mentioned that I liked LeeAnn Rimes’ version of “How Do I Live” and from there, he educated me on country music. The music and how the lyrics tell a story just engaged me and from there I became a huge country music fan.”  

Diamonds and Whiskey travel the country stomping and storming a sweet strong molasses of "Dark Country Voodoo," which is also the name of their upcoming debut album. A combination of barroom beauty and backwoods danger, Dark Country Voodoo is "a true-blood kind of sound," brought forth by Von Bury's finely chopped and grinding guitar riffs, Jennifer Lauren's swamp-siren vocals, and Christopher McKinney's beats and brushes. Here, Diamonds and Whiskey answer their Essential 8 and share the story behind their album's title, talk road life (playing DJ!), and more. 

Is there a story behind your album's title? 
Yeeesss.  Von Bury and I started this band together over a year ago.  He is a New Orleans boy who brings that swampy vibe to our sound.  When we went to Seattle to record our album at the Recovery Room with Graig Markel, we were going to dinner when we saw a tarot card reader.  We decided it would be fun to stop in. So, individually, we went into her back room with candles and this voodoo vibe, and she read our pasts and futures.  It was a crazy experience that left us amazed, as she hit the nail on the head with both of us. We left with chills and I left in tears.  It was profound, and much of what she told us has come true. On the plane home, I started writing a song about it.  While I was writing, someone asked Von how we would describe our sound, and being inspired by our visit and his New Orleans upbringing, he said hmmmm.... 'Dark Country Voodoo'.  I titled the song I was working on just that, and we decided it was a fitting title for the album, though that song will be on the next album.  It definitely fits our vibe.  Our music is not the new style of country on the radio.  It combines the old with the new, and incorporates rock and blues.  It is catchy enough to be mainstream, but leaves the pandering cliché behind. It is good ol' story telling at its best with a new twist that hopefully will be found irresistible. 

Where do you draw inspiration from when writing? 
Our songs are definitely based on life experience.  Every song tells a story or comes from a place in life. This is super important to us, as I feel that the art of story telling has been lost in much of the mainstream music we hear. Von and I write the music together for the most part, but I write the lyrics, and I can only write from truth and emotion.  It's funny, Von always says 'When you're comfortable in life, it's harder to write'.  This is so true.  I write best when things aren't going so smoothly, or when true emotion has taken me over.  For me, that is normally, anger, sadness, or excitement.  You'll find all of that in 'Dark Country Voodoo'. Each song takes you to a different place.  We want you to take that journey with us. 

Do you have any touring tips?  
Ah yes....be patient!!!  People always think being on the road is so fun.  But what they don't understand, is that it is a long and difficult ride between venues and shows.  And you are stuck with your band for almost 100% of that.  While you may love them, it will really show you how compatible you are.  Lucky for us, we are a tight group of musicians who are thoughtful of each other!

Previously the lead vocalist and singer-songwriter with the Knoxville, Tenn., band Tenderhooks, Jake Winstrom is gearing up for the release of his first solo album, Scared Away the Song, on May 25th. The now Brooklyn-based artist returned to Knoxville and settled in with producer Jeff Bills at Arbor Studios and the result is an album filled with terrific, quirky songs about relationships, good dogs, and music in the digital age that is sure to please. Here, Winstrom answers his Essential 8 and talks about the album, songwriting, a chance meeting with Elvis Costello, and more.

Is there a story behind your album’s title?
“Scared Away The Song” is something I'd been kicking around for a while. I'd heard a quote attributed to Frank Sinatra ( I think??) about singers needing to trust the song that they're singing, to trust the way it's been built and let it tell them where they need to go, as opposed to the opposite, trying to cram in a bunch of notes and push it as hard as they can. I think it's a cool philosophy and raises some interesting questions, and not just about music.


Why did you choose to anchor the album with the songs you did?
My favorite albums are the ones that pick you up in once place and drop you off in another. That tell a story. Or leave room for you to tell your own! So that was kind of what I was shooting for. To try to pick my favorite songs and arrange them in a way that hopefully made the whole feel greater than the sum of the parts. Whether we accomplished that or not, I don't know! But it was definitely a process we put a lot of thought into.

I'd built up a lot of material over the past 8 or so years. We had two versions of “From Here To The Moon”. It's a song I wrote after watching the great songwriters R.B. Morris and Marshall Chapman play an unforgettable show at the Laurel Theater in Knoxville where they kind of traded songs back and forth. It's about the intoxicating power of music, and kind of a scene-setter for the album. So I felt very strongly that it had to come first. We had two versions of it. One that was much quieter and ethereal, almost like a lullaby. The other is louder and kind of glam rock. My buddy Jeff Bills, who produced the album, was a staunch supporter of the quiet one. But at the end of the day I felt like the loud version was a better first chapter for the story I was trying to tell.

In mid-2014, Rebecca Dawkins and Tim O’Donnell, of The Nouveaux Honkies, hoisted anchor and set sail in their rebuilt RV journeying from South Florida to the Rockies, the Great Lakes, and Cape Cod, before returning south for the winter. It’s been somewhere around 150 thousand miles, 600 shows, and at least one million smiles that have influenced The Nouveaux Honkies and their latest recording, Loud in Here, which was released March 2, 2018.
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Recorded at The Zone in the Hill Country of Dripping Springs, Texas, Loud in Here is a culmination of the bonds they have made across the country with the community and the land. Featureing special guests including Bill Kirchen, Ephraim Owens, Nate Rowe, Chris Gage, Lloyd Maines, Pat Manske and Tim Buppert, the record spans a full emotional gauntlet from humor and quirky duets to innovative ballads and tender moments of reflection. Here, the duo answer their Essential 8 and talk about songwriting, meeting their heroes, John Prine, and more.

Where do you draw your inspiration from when writing?
TIM: Most of the writing that I feel is worthy is spontaneous.  I admire writers that can be given a topic and write.  For me, I feel when I do that I am trying too hard.  I think most great songs have been written forever and they are given to a vessel.  Einstein kinda time travel stuff.  Some people are way more receptive than others.  

With any song, was there an ah-ha moment when you knew the song was completed and perfect?
TIM: Writing songs is easy.  Finishing songs is hard.  I could rewrite the same song forever because I constantly change how I feel about the topic and that’s why it’s important just to put it down.  It’s never an ‘Ah-ha’ moment for me; it’s just putting a moment in time out there and letting it be in that moment.  If I didn’t approach it that way I would still be writing the same song and it would never be finished. 

Is there a story behind the title of your album?
TIM: “Loud In Here” is the story about when Rebecca and I first met.  It was the year Florida got pummeled by four hurricanes.  I had electricity for three days in September.  Rebecca had moved to Florida from South Carolina.  I had a business that got pummeled, a relationship on the rocks, and a great friend and musical mentor, Tommy De Stefano who was bitten by a brown recluse spider and sent to the hospital. I wasn’t playing music at the time, but my buddy Hawk was putting a fundraiser together to help him with his hospital bills. Tommy ended up dying from complications from the bite.  

Oh, and for the record, Rebecca did have toilet paper hanging off of her right Doc Marten the first night I met her. It's all in the song! 

Trevor and Sylvie first met each other at a little theatre in California where they had each been cast in the folk music musical Lonesome Traveler.  As fate would have it, they were both residing in Seattle at the time, and their interests and passions quickly developed into a deep love for one another.  As their lives intertwined so did their individual talents, and in 2013 Trevor and Sylvie moved to Nashville to begin focusing on writing and performing as a couple.  Deriving inspiration from the great poets of songwriting such as Patty Griffin and James Taylor, they cultivate their lyrics with an emphasis toward narrative.  Thoughtful, honest, and often subtly humorous, their songs are a perfect marriage of story and melody, rich in conversation and harmony that resound with the deep connection they share, inviting listeners in as friends, accepted as they are, and offered all the love and laughter of home.  ​Here, the duo answer their Essential 8 and speak about the meaning behind Time Is Free, eating healthy on the road, their favorite venue, and more.

​With any particular song, was there an “a-ha” moment when you knew the song was completed and perfect?  
“Love Don’t Run on Money” was one of our first really deliberate co-writes.  Before that we’d mostly written individually, with the other person throwing out ideas from the next room.  But this time we sat down together with the idea, and most of what we wrote that night is what you hear on the album.  The only thing that wasn’t quite right was the chorus.  I think it originally went, “Love don’t run on money and time ain’t free, but it can buy you some things that you need . . .”  We never did another official writing session on it, but the bonus of being married to your co-writer is that you spend a lot of time together.  Over the following days we’d toss around ideas as we drove around Nashville in our beat-up Toyota, Denzel Wagonton.  But the “ah-ha” moment came as we were cleaning the kitchen.  Trevor sang “time IS free” instead of “time AIN’T free,” and Sylvie answered “and that’s the only thing you need to spend on me!”  And we knew that was it.  Now if we’re stuck on a song we just get up and wash the dishes. 

Is there a story behind your album’s title?
The simple answer is that it’s a line from our song, “Love Don’t Run On Money.”  “Time is free, and that’s the only thing you need to spend on me.”  It’s true for us.  The time we spend together fuels our love and our music, and if our love ran on money our marriage would be in serious trouble.  So Time Is Free seemed right.  
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But we have a bit of a penchant for getting philosophical, and the more we thought about it the deeper the meaning seemed to run and resonate with the songs on our album. Time is dynamic: the briefest moment can be more meaningful than the longest day, so take note of the small things.  Time is wild: it cannot be captured or commanded, though we yearn to go back or rush forward.  Time costs nothing.  It’s available to everyone.  And you can’t save it for later, much as we wish we could.  All you can do with the time you have is spend it wisely.  Spend it on someone you love.  Spend it following your heart.  Because here’s the truth: time is free, but what you choose to do with it can make it priceless. 

What’s your favorite/”go-to” food on the road?
Honestly we could eat obscene amounts of our favorite snack which we call “Chips and cheese and wine” in that order,  but alas we try to limit that to once every couple weeks though we usually devour the entire bag of Kettle Brand Sea Salt Crinkle Cuts. Don’t judge.  Truly though we eat very thoughtfully and take food very seriously.  We stick to organic foods whenever possible and try to get fresh veggies in the summer months from the local farmers markets.  We make cooking and eating a huge part of our lives and actually do a lot of song writing in the kitchen with a wide range of styles; to wit: our Germin-ish sounding song about having one egg in the refrigerator done as an operetta called “Unen Einen Eggen”, or our gospel song “Where is the Lid?” about the frustrations of looking for matching tupperware, to the more serious “Rosalee” which was done with Sylvie on guitar and Trevor on cooking/shouting out lyric ideas to Sylvie in the other room. When we are on the road we travel with a large suitcase full of kitchen items from a well-seasoned cast iron pan, to a food-processor to knives and cutting boards, and you never know when you’ll want that handy melon-baller.

Hailing from Virginia, singer-songwriter Rob Cheatham recently released his new album, Villains and Ghosts, which paints detailed, real portraits of American life that connect with the listener. Here, Cheatham answers his Essential 8 and talks about songwriting, "mid-level band hell," Carole King, and more.

Do you write about personal experience, the experience of others, observations, made-up stories, something else or a combination?
All of the above.  My favorite songs are the really descriptive ones with lots of complete sentences and vivid pictures. So when I write, it usually starts with something from my own life, but then I pull from things I've seen or day dreamed about and I try to describe them with detail so you immediately know whats going on. 

What’s the best advice you have ever gotten from another musician?
My friend Peter Griesar told me not to worry about being interesting or hip.  "just do what you do, really well.  Just get really good at the thing you do."  I think he was absolutely right, be yourself and work hard at making that awesome. 

Do you have any touring tips?
So we've taken to calling it "Mid-Level band hell" -  playing medium sized clubs all over the place, looking for a little momentum. I have two pieces of advice on touring.  1. Advil.  2. Give it a few days before you freak out.  The first couple days are pretty shitty.  but, usually, after that, you kind of get used to things. so no big decisions in the first three days.

New England singer-songwriter Kerri Powers upcoming album, Starseeds (due May 4th), is a ten-track collection that boasts eight original compositions and two covers - Blind Faith’s “Can’t Find My Way Home” and Gene Clark's “Polly" - which demonstrate Powers' ability to authentically express sentiments that resonate with common appeal. In advance of the album's release, Powers took the time to answer her Essential 8 and spoke about the story behind Starseeds, her "must-have" albums for the road, being a mother, and more.
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With any particular song, was there an “a-ha” moment when you knew the song was completed and perfect?  Well, I don’t think any song I write will ever be perfect. I think the closest to this feeling I’ve ever come is with two songs; “Mine the River,” and “Old Shirt.” Conceptually, they both came quickly and I didn’t think twice about whether or not they were finished. It just happened, really, an organic process from start to completion.

Is there a story behind your album’s title?
​I decided to title the album Starseeds. A starseed is an empath and a healer from another dimension. When songs are written from an honest and vulnerable place, they are vehicles that have the undeniable power to connect and heal us and their origin is often inexplicable, thus making songs starseeds.
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Where do you draw inspiration from when writing?
I guess I’ve always written about what I know. The everyday seemingly mundane life stuff. I try not to veer from that path because what is authentic is most inspiring - the good, the bad and the ugly. Truth can be inspiring whether we like it or not.

Southern troubadour Boo Ray has forged his singular path in South Georgia honky-tonks, Gulf Coast jukes, Nashville nightclubs & L.A. music joints. In 2016 he released his third album, Sea of Lights, a project forged by intense lyricism, gritty melodies, and Ray's smoky drawl that found him receiving critical acclaim from numerous outlets, including Rolling Stone and No Depression.

Always continuing to flex his musical creativity, Boo Ray began Boocoo Amigos, a duet project which unites the singer-songwriter with a wonderfully diverse group of artists on originals and covers that are out of the box and unique. In October 2017, he paired with Lilly Winwood for their take on the Kenny and Dolly classic, “Islands In The Stream” and followed that up with the boozy holiday-themed tune “All Strung Out Like Christmas Lights" featuring Elizabeth Cook. Then, on April 13th, Ray reunited with Lilly for the release of “Hard to Tell” a sultry, blues-infused tune the pair wrote as the A-side to “Islands In The Stream.” Boo Ray says that “After doing 'Islands In The Stream', we decided we wanted to write some yacht rock disco tune like Eddie Rabbit in the 70’s. I had 'Hard To Tell', which at the time was in this drunk electric waltz style a la Rabbit’s 'Every Which Way but Loose', in my back pocket for three years; Lily and I fixed it up and flipped the beat to give it the Muscle Shoals, R&B shuffle that it has today.”  

And that shuffle sounds sweet on the 7-inch vinyl release, a partnership Ray entered into with Athens-based company Kindercore Vinyl which was instrumental in the inception of Boocoo Amigos. “Up 'til this point, I had never released vinyl. I was studying record making for quite some time and knew that an API console and an Antex tape machine are made for each other like salami and cheese, but even though I had digital and halfway analog recordings, I knew I didn’t have quite the right process of recording, in the right chain of command of equipment, to do a correct press. Then, Kindercore suggested doing a 7-inch single and the pieces fell into place. Before we hit record, we knew we were engineering all the Boocoo Amigos specifically to be listened to on vinyl. It took me all these years and I finally got it right.”

With two pairings thus far, Ray says that more are definitely planned. “We have a bunch of them recorded. The next one, which I am super excited about, will be two original singles I wrote with Sean Brock.” Brock, a professional chef, is also a singer-songwriter who Ray deems, “a fully formed artist;" adding further, “That applies to southern artists like James Willis, Elizabeth Cook, Cormac McCarthy, Nick Cave, and so on…they’re on the same bill, meaning it’s the way they live, they’re identity is tied up in creative dialogue.” 

That dialogue is a part of Boo Ray too. "I've been living out of suitcase and a flattop guitar case solidly since 2009. I don’t offer that as a complaint...it's a choice." Ray's story begins in North Carolina, a place he stayed until "I got a car and got out of there" leading him to stops in California and Athens where he released his first Americana record, Bad News Travels Fast, in 2010. ​"I scrapped together nine recordings from different studios and sessions, slapped them on a CD and sent out 130. I got a call back from one deejay who showed me how to send them out to radio – in lumpy packages so other mail won’t sit on top of them.”  So being the creative force he is, Ray packaged eighty-five miniature MoonPies along with a CD, a one-sheet, and stickers and sent them out - all from a halfway house in Athens on the house computer and phone line. “You do the best you can and sometimes that comes out weird and sideways.”

Utah-based singer-songwriter Cheri Magill celebrates motherhood with her upcoming release, Tour Guide, due May 4th. Produced in Nashville by Cason Cooley (Ingrid Michaelson, Ben Rector), Tour Guide features Magill's heartfelt lyrics in original tracks that shape the universal feelings of motherhood, from quietly reflective to outrageously joyful.
 
Cheri explains, "I felt drawn to write about motherhood because it has stretched me more than any other thing I've been a part of in life. I don't write about it because I believe I'm a perfect mother. I write about it because many times I've struggled and grasped at straws. I've locked myself in a closet, so I could cry and eat chocolates. I've wondered if I was doing it all wrong. But I have also found my heart bursting and doubling in size as I've watched my children grow and teach me how to love unconditionally.  I believe that mothers need to feel they aren't alone, and they need to know someone else feels the same way they do. I want this album to be that healing and nurturing power for mothers."

Ahead of the album's release, Magill kindly took the time to answer her Essential 8 where she shares the story behind the album's title, and talks songwriting, Richard Marx, and more!

With any particular song, was there an “a-ha” moment when you knew the song was completed and perfect?
When I finished “Tour Guide” I knew it was all done because when I played it for my husband and parents they cried…and so did I.  I wanted it to evoke the emotions of a parent watching their child grow up before their eyes and I was happy when that emotion came across for others.
 
​Is there a story behind your album’s title?
I’ve always said my favorite thing about motherhood is that I get to show my children the world.  I love the concept of being their tour guide, so when I stared this album that title just felt right.
 
When/where do you do your best writing?
I wrote most of this album at the library and at my church.  I would hire a sitter once a week to give me time to write, but I had to leave the house to do so.  That meant the library and my church were the only quiet places I could go and since the church has a piano that worked well.