Recently, I attended AmericanaFest in Nashville, a gathering for all in the music industry — musicians, record labels, radio stations, festivals, agents — to help keep the Americana genre alive and thriving.
During the week, I sat down with several musicians at a studio for a chat and to capture intimate and stripped-down performances from those artists.
Hiss Golden Messenger
MC Taylor of Hiss Golden Messenger is full of surprises. From his background in punk to getting a master's in folklore, the North Carolina musician keeps it interesting and thoughtful.
His latest album released in 2023, Jump for Joy, finds Taylor centering joy and hope, with his band bringing an upbeat energy to the recordings. In general, he finds that his songwriting resonates more when it’s intimate and personal; the smaller, more vulnerable songs often have a bigger impact because listeners connect deeply with relatable emotions, which he believes is his true artistic strength.
"I like the feel of my songs to be intimate and very personal," he explained. "And there's some kind of wild inverse relationship to that, in which the smaller a song is, sometimes it feels like the the bigger its impact can be because I think people hear these intimate, vulnerable moments and think 'that's what that feels like to me too.'
"And I respond that way also to music that feels very intimate emotionally."
Take a listen to the conversation above.
