“I first saw Ray perform Trouble on BBC 2’s Later… with Jools Holland, and I was instantly captivated. Jolene from that album struck a chord with me due to its rawness and soulful melancholy. When I played it with my band, we infused it with an Americana, country roots vibe while striving to maintain the original’s intensity and soul.”
Watch @SmallTownJones cover @raylamontagne for @TheInfluences during Kilkenny Roots festival in Ireland, May 2024. Full session and interview at www.theinfluences.com/small-town-jones
Meet @louien- a Norwegian artist whose musical roots run deep. Growing up in a family steeped in creativity, Live Miranda Solberg developed a love for harmonies and songwriting and honed her craft from a young age. We’ve been waiting for about five years for the chance to meet up and film something, so you can imagine my delight when we met at the Volkshotel in Amsterdam a couple of weeks ago.
For The Influences, she played covers of Blaze Foley’s 'If I Could Only Fly' and @larsenmarit's 'Morgan, I Might'and her own 'Let Go' - and talked about her musical journey, the inspiration behind her songs, and the lessons she’s learned along the way.
Thanks to @VolkshotelAmsterdamfor hosting us.
Is there anything better than getting to travel to another country to film with musicians there? Not when one of those artists is @gemmahayes . During Kilkenny Roots Festival in May 2024, Hayes joined The Influences in Kilkenny and recorded her song At Constant Speed and two covers of Sparklehorse’s Sunshine and Jackson Browne’s These Days.
Find the full session on the channel or theinfluences.com/gemma-hayes
Last Friday, May 10th, Dublin singer-songwriter Conor O’Brien returned with the seventh @wearevillagersofficial album, named 'That Golden Time'. A couple of weeks prior, I met up with O’Brien in an old school gym in Utrecht, and filmed breathtaking renditions of @Radiohead 'Pyramid Song' and his own new songs 'You Lucky One' and 'I Want What I Don’t Need'.
It won’t be any surprise that a session with Villagers – whose first ever single 'Becoming A Jackal' was released during the first year of @theinfluences’ existence – has been on my wish list ever since first hearing that song, and the new record truly is one of his strongest. So, it is with a profound sense of gratitude and pride that I present you 2024’s 15th session and – an excerpt of – the interview we did.
Full session: theinfluences.com/villagers
#radiohead #villagers #music #cover
Well, KilkennyRoots, that was a pretty special weekend. Thank you to all of the musicians who took the time and effort to record sessions, thanks to the festival and Gary at Rollercoaster Records for the collaboration, to Bridie's, Langtons, Cleere's and Pembroke for hosting us, and to David (& family) for arranging a bunch of stuff and helping me record these. Thank you Arlo for lending us your tiny amp to use as a monitor.
Here's the photos of Sundays sessions for you to enjoy while I catch up on some sleep on the plane home. All of these sessions will be published at some point this year, at least 2 Irish sessions will be online this month!
I'm on route to beautiful Kilkenny, Ireland again as I write this, to film 10 sessions in the next 3 days! Big thanks to Kilkenny Roots for the collaboration and Gary at Rollercoaster Records and David for arranging anything I couldn't from another country.
All of these will appear on the channel at some point this year.
The Influences went to Kilkenny, Ireland during Kilkenny Arts Festival and invited local musicians to join them in the tower of the monumental Kilkenny Castle to record sessions. And they did. One of the days started with real Irish music by fiddle virtuoso Aoife Ní Bhriain, recently named as ‘RTE Radio 1 Folk Instrumentalist of the Year 2024‘. Just before taking a train back to Dublin, Ní Bhriain played four pieces and made our day. Let her make yours as well, forget about everything in the world for about twenty minutes and watch these four videos with slow airs, reels and marches.
Watch it all on theinfluences.com and please remember to like, share and subscribe so others can experience this. Thank you.
#fiddle #irish #irishmusic #ireland
Omar Velasco & Alela Diane - 'Paperweight'.
“Lyrics are just kind of taking center stage, so the music is almost secondary. And I think you need to have confidence or be sure enough to allow yourself to do that, I guess. I think it took me having a couple kids and, you know, losing my dad and just getting older, you know? To a degree, I’ve always been a really late bloomer. I’m 40 now and I feel like with this latest album I’m just barely getting closer to where I want to be.”
Watch the full session by @omarvelascomusic on the channel and read our interview on theinfluences.com. There’s also covers of Leonard Cohen and Silvio Rodriguez. And @AlelaDianeWildDivine sings on 2 of the songs! What more could you ask more. Indeed: nothing. So go watch and don't forget to like and subscribe please. Thank you.
Ever since 2016’s Cautionary Tale, @dylanleblancofficial has been on The Influences’ wish list. The American songwriter released multiple beautiful records since, like 2019’s Renegade, 2021’s covers EP Pastimes and his best work to date: 2023’s Coyote. His voice never disappoints, but I feel like on this record every aspect of his songwriting and sound blend perfectly. At TakeRoot, we met up and filmed the title track and covers of John Prine’s Hello In There and Lindsey Buckingham’s Big Love.
“I found this song is such a killer guitar part and it’s not the easiest song to play. Lindsey is one of my favorite singer/songwriters and so underrated as a guitar player. His ear for guitar parts and his taste has always appealed to me. He never plays more than what’s necessary for the song while being thoughtful and ingenuitive . I always respect that in any player. And I love the melody of the song.”
Find all three videos on the channel or theinfluences.com/dylan-leblanc
There is no better way to discover music than watching great musicians cover the songs they love. Songs that influenced them and their work. The Influences has been producing these videos ever since 2008.
From The Tallest Man On Earth, Damien Jurado, The Staves, Molly Tuttle, Anaïs Mitchell, Josh Ritter and Keaton Henson to Peter Broderick, from Tim Knol, Moss and Bertolf to Bettie Serveert, and from Daniel Romano, Courtney Marie Andrews, Blitzen Trapper, The Low Anthem to Allah-Las or Hiss Golden Messenger; they and hundreds of others were more than willing to pay tribute to the songs that inspire them.
The Influences - also known under its original Dutch title Onder Invloed - has been growing steadily for over a decade, run by me. The first book ‘Onder Invloed’ - featuring profiles on seventeen Dutch musicians - was published in January 2012 by publisher L.J. Veen.
Please visit www.theinfluences.com