672. Rhiannon Giddens

August 28, 2025 ~ ernopepper ~ Leave a comment

(August 2025) Episode 672 of the “opus project” is RHIANNON GIDDENS. It is both impossible and unfair to apply a simple label to her music. It’s folk unbounded by convention, Americana unlimited by geography, and old-timey music beyond mere reinterpretation. On All the Pretty Horses she brings in British/Irish folk elements; on the two albums with Francesco Turrisi, Italian songs. Freedom Highway explores the African-American experience. You’re the One is more pop, while on What Did the Blackbird Say to the Crow, Giddens returns to her fiddle & banjo roots. And she co-wrote an opera (Omar) with Michael Abels. I covered is just the listed solo work; there is a multitude of collaborations beyond. Whatever the style, it’s usually an interesting listen. My one fault is that her strong voice can tend to overpower songs that recommend a softer touch.

Favorite song: Freedom Highway

Favorite song: At the Purchaser’s Option

Compared to expectations: ↑

Recommendation: Freedom Highway is the strongest album, but There Is No Other and They’re Calling Me Home (both with Turrisi) are the most interesting.

641. Jason Isbell

April 8, 2025April 8, 2025 ~ ernopepper ~ Leave a comment

(April 2025) Episode 641 is JASON ISBELL. I had conceived this episode within the “country” genre, but quickly realized Isbell performs in that big space variously called Americana, southern rock, root-rock, alt-country. It might conclude signing in a Southern twang (he’s from northern Alabama) is a reflexive signifier. Whatever the label, Isbell is a gifted songwriter for melody and turn of a phrase, and he has gained wide fame because of it. I tend to prefer his solo recordings to the ones with his band, the 400 Unit, especially his most recent, all-acoustic release, Foxes in the Snow.

Favorite album: Foxes in the Snow

Favorite song: Miles*

Compared to expectations: ↑

Recommendation: Something More than Free, Reunions, Weathervanes, Foxes in the Snow

* not characteristic of most his work, but the opening riff’s homage to Down By the River got me.

256. Emmylou Harris

March 22, 2020April 16, 2020 ~ ernopepper ~ Leave a comment

(March 2020) Episode 256 is EMMYLOU HARRIS. In my effort to expose myself to country music, I turn next to Emmylou Harris, on the perception that she does not confine herself to the country genre that made her famous. So it’s not surprising that I prefer her folk- and bluegrass-influenced songs, for which I find her wonderful voice more suited, and her later-career Americana and country-folk albums. While most of her famous songs were written by others, I like better the albums where she wrote most.

Favorite album: Red Dirt Girl

Favorite “country” album: Roses in the Snow

Favorite song: The Stranger Song

Favorite song (written by EH): Prayer in Open D

Compared with expectations: same

EmmylouHarrisRedDirtGirl

243. Johnny Cash

December 13, 2019April 16, 2020 ~ ernopepper ~ Leave a comment

(December 2019) Episode 243 is JOHNNY CASH. If there were a Mount Rushmore of the Voices of America, he would be on it. I appreciate the independent, even rebellious, spirit of his long and storied career – resisting capture by corporate Nashville, collaborating with artists across genres (U2, Ray Charles, Bob Dylan, etc.), exploring concept albums. I love his musical expression of a personal ideology that defied political categorization: respect for the forgotten/downtrodden/persecuted man (exemplified by “Man in Black” and “Bitter Tears”) – a rare wokeness for its time and his genre. But most of all his songs are just plain enjoyable (even though I’m not a fan of country music). This was a long one, at ~80 albums.