The members of The Civil Wars are Joy Williams, and her Alabaman partner, John Paul White, who my friend insists looks like Johnny Depp. There is a great magic between these two, which seeps into their music and live performance. John Paul describes their meeting as “kismet,” and these two were extremely humble and grateful. He says they “can not make music like this with anyone else.”

Adele recently proclaimed The Civil Wars as one of her favorite groups. Steven Tyler is also an admirer. They notice that the famous people who like their music are also humble. John Paul says about making music, “we decided only to please ourselves.” Sometimes they will do open mics and not tell anybody. They seem to believe they knew each other long ago. “Like in a past life or something…we did this,” says John Paul. “It’s that thing we can’t put a name on.” They believe strongly in “paying it forward.”

They feed off each other’s looks and energy when they sing, and Joy never stops smiling. This is an awesome cover tune. Joy says, “when you strip it down and really listen to it, it’s really well-written and tormented!”

Joy speaks of their writing combo being a great approach, and notices that the male and female aspect of seeing the world can be completely different. John Paul says, “we are married, but not to each other.” He also stated, “If you want to be happy in a relationship, you can’t always be totally honest.”

Tim pointed out that the interplay of their voices is pretty remarkable. Early in their career they made a free show available. Tim suggested they had “chutzpah,” they corrected him and called it “naiveté.”  Click on the “free” tab to download a live show!

One of our winners said to me after their haunting in-studio performance, “I think I may leave my husband.” I joked and said, “for which one?” She said, “doesn’t matter.”

Ken chatted The Civil Wars up about places they had lived in Tennessee. A place where apparently the KKK originated. John Paul said before the interview, “it’s funny, you don’t think of it as the place something as evil as the KKK is from, it’s just a place I grew up playing basketball when I was a kid.”

This song is about a place near Loretta, Tennessee. John Paul says, “people don’t go there to do anything legal.” It is also the title track to their CD.

The name Iron & Wine is taken from a dietary supplement named "Beef Iron & Wine" that Sam Beam found in a general store while shooting a film. He was raised in South Carolina, and lives in a cool Texas town now named “Dripping Springs.”

He has a bachelor’s degree in Art, an MFA from film school, and his brother is the lead singer for Band of Horses.

He has a home studio, which he recorded all of his last album at and ½ of his current release, “Kiss Each Other Clean.” He has a wife and 2 girls at home. He says a home studio is both a blessing, and a curse. He doesn’t record much at home anymore. “There are stories about why. My wife could tell you all of them.”

Sam Beam had a very talented band around him, and some new backup singer friends who held their notebooks closely until popping them open when it was time to sing. We were treated with guitar, clarinet, flute, banjo, mandolin, and a surprise instrument you’ll see at the end of this blog.

Iron and Wine’s singer likes listening to some Harry Nilsson these days, he says it’s fun to bring artists out later and listen to them again. Sam Beam was playful, when Tim asked him who he’d like to collaborate with, he said “how about you?” Tim was for a moment, without words!

Now the best for last…Finally, a harmonica that’s AWESOME to hear in your headphones! Check out this Double Bass harmonica, they have 2 layers and have about 39 holes to play through, some of them run about a thousand dollars! The live sound from these is an amazing, deep growl that’s creepy-cool. It was a real treat to see a new instrument today, and Iron and Wine's show sold out in Boise. Hopefully they will return to play for those who missed it, meanwhile...we have videos!

This Seattle band has and will play many shows in the Treasure Valley. They played at Nampa Flying M Coffee Garage and were discovered there by the Sub Pop label! They’ve also played Neurolux, Bouquet,Record Exchange, and soon will open for Iron and Wine at the Knitting Factory on Memorial Day Weekend. The Head and The Heart were great to work with, and during sound check they wanted to do a vocal practice. They looked around for a place to go, I was excited to direct them to our stairwell on the side of the building. The reverb in there has always amazed me, cinderblock and space all arranged perfectly by chance for great sound. They practiced acapella harmonies in there, it seriously was angelic!

The Head and The Heart like to write songs with too many harmonies, then weed out the unnecessary vocals to fine tune things. 2 of the 3 members save song ideas on their phones, and one member just purchased an old-school digital 8-track Tascam recorder. These 3 are natural at harmonies, and it’s obvious they love what they do.

Off-mic, they joked about listening to their music on high speed “like it was on 45,” and they actually thought the songs sounded better! The band says that Boise is like their second home, and they humbly asked if they could just attend the in-studio for Iron and Wine when they are here. “We don’t have to play again or anything, we’d just love to sit in the audience.” What a nice band! Of course we’ll let them sit in, and if all goes well maybe we can twist their arms to jam a little with Iron and Wine? Be listening on the 30th, you never know what might happen…

The song above was written to the woman Mat was engaged to, and who is the woman he is married to now.

Mat Kearney last visited us from Oregon, the pickup he was traveling in broke down in Boise and he ended up sleeping in someone’s lawn overnight. Now he has moved to Nashville to write music, and has many new tales to tell. He stopped by our studios, not with any show in town, but just to catch up with us.

Before going on the air, a listener offered to take him skydiving. Mat says he has no desire to jump out of a plane, but did when he was younger. Funny, I’ve recently had this same conversation with a couple of friends. He heckles us a bit about our blue turf at BSU, saying “on tv, I always think I need to adjust my hue a little bit!” He then goes on to tell us our new microphones smell weird, kind of “effervescent.” (?) “It smells kind of like a brand new mattress with spray paint on it.” He keeps sniffing it, and playing with the windscreen.

Things are different now for Mat, very recently married. His new album is going to be called “Young Love.” He says this album is exciting, because he fell in love.

“Want to win out an insecure artist? Just IGNORE them. That’s what happened to me. Then I married her.”

Hmmmm. Why does it always have to work like that?

(He had kicked his pedal off to tune and didn’t realize it, until the middle of the song. We always hide an ambient mic in the room for emergencies like this, you can see and hear Mat realize in the middle of the song that it’s off, hit the pedal and look at me to see if it’s okay!)

He spoke with pride about his family history, coming over on the Oregon trail. Mat was especially proud of his grandfather from the east coast. He owned a fake cigar shop which covered for an illegal gambling ring. The Mob got involved, he was arrested, and then “followed Pink Floyd around the world for a while.” Eventually he met the woman he would marry, she was “a mermaid on a glass bottom boat.” He wrote the above song for his grandfather.

Mat remembered me when he came in, even that he had met me a couple of times. He told Tim later that he has a photographic memory, and that it drives people crazy. Wish I had that problem, it would save me the exasperated looks from people who tell me I have met them 3 times. Wish I knew how to fix it, and wish I knew why instead I will ALWAYS remember your dog’s name. Anyway…

(His voice cracked on a line about 3 minutes into the song above, I snuck in a magic edit just this once.)

One of Mat’s new songs is “Runaway,” it is featured on the movie “Soul Surfer.” He tried to play a sample, but hadn’t learned it on his acoustic yet. He is really excited about the movie, says he used to surf with the girl the movie is about. She had her arm bitten off by a shark and has an amazing story. Here is the trailer.

Soon Mat will be performing on the “Best Cruise Ever.” He joked about how he swore he’d never play another music cruise, after doing the Rock Boat. “It swayed 30 feet in every direction, there was like, throw-up everywhere. It was awesome!”

Here’s why we love Mat. He says he is done writing songs, and is ready to write more stories. “If I don’t bleed a song, I’m not gonna write it.” He is still genuine. He is still brilliant. We love his boots.

This song above made it as a demo on “CSI New York.” It was a great break for the UK band Scars on 45, who played in the River studio for us, with no other shows scheduled in town. The band jokes about being made up of failed bands and football stars, the lead singer is a former pro soccer player.

The band was friendly, had thick British accents, and I was taken aback to be greeted with a stubbly kiss on the cheek from the keyboard player. I’m wondering to myself, “how many years has it been since I’ve felt a stubbly kiss on my cheek?” I tried to act cool, like it’s a greeting I do all the time, but I blow it and let a nervous giggle escape as I return to the recording room. WHY can’t Americans greet this way? The world would be a better place. I’d take a kiss on the cheek over a wimpy 2-finger handshake any day!

Scars on 45 had no name for a while, Emmylou Harris helped them come up with a name. They fell in love with Tim during the interview. The singer said, “I love your radio voice, It’s so relaxing!” We loved their accents, hearing Amy talking about the “snah” (snow) falling on their drive over, was lovely.

If you’ve not heard of Scars on 45, you soon will. Their full album will be out the first part of May, but an EP is available for now.

The band credits Stevie Nicks as a great influence. As for songwriting, singer Danny Bemrose says he records ideas on a “dictaphone,” and works things out later.

“Give Me Something” is the single we’ve been playing from Scars on 45. Danny says it’s about the testing times of a relationship. He says if we let people know how important they are to us, things usually work out alright. He says the problems happen when we start bottling things up.

The band took photos, signed autographs, then took turns putting equipment in the van. The keyboardist, David “Nova” Nowakowski, likes to take his shoes off while he plays because the carpets have so much static electricity. He turns his back long enough for another band member to hide his shoes, which he thinks are packed away in his keyboard case. They have a good laugh, good time, and give great appreciation for playing for us. It was a pleasure to work with such cool people. As they leave, I ask if they have a Facebook page and they do. Drummer Chris Durling thanks me, and I’m met with my second scruffy kiss on the cheek of the day. I’m left smiling and thinking how normally we have a physical boundary for strangers… but sometimes it’s REALLY OKAY to do some things differently.

He wrote the song above when he was 17, and is 26 years old now.

It’s been 3 years since their last release, Augustana dropped in to visit us and had no other shows in town. They’ve seen us many times, this time Daniel seemed exhausted. He said it has been the most stress he’s felt in years. He said it’s really hard to survive between albums, saying, “This had better work out,I used to work at McDonald’s, and only lasted there 4 days.”

Tim told him to be more optimistic. Daniel was obviously a little torn between rockstar life, and family life. He has a 4 ½ year old girl, and a one year old boy.

Their new record is not out yet, but they spoiled us with a couple of live tracks to preview.

Daniel says about his writing process, “the more songs you write, the more you analyze them."

The band was great to work with. Before sound check, I grabbed a sandwich and went into the mixing booth. There’s always a chance of a gruff sound tech wanting to get involved in the mix, and we never really know until the session is happening if this will be the case. As the door closes, I turn around to see a man standing in my room with his arms folded. I tensed right up. Who is this guy?! He says, “oh cool, how did you know I wanted a sandwich?” I don’t think I even laughed, went out of the room to stop some recording I had going on in the River studio. When I came back in, prepared to protect our recording ground, engineer Rocky was grabbing some cords and I asked, “who was that?” He answers….”the printer guy.”

Ooops :)

April 26th is the release date of Augustana’s upcoming cd. Daniel feels good about it, as Tim reminds him to be hopeful, Daniel says, “It feels good to know you have a pair of aces, and nobody else knows.”

About this new song, Daniel says, “It’s a love song, one of those where you have your hands in the sky and you’re not gonna take no for an answer.” This song could sound cool as a mash-up with the Stones’ “You Can’t Always Get What You Want.” This will be a big year, and a big album for Augustana!

Shawn Mullins Pre Concert For Cause in the Moxie Java Listener Lounge!


After a more than decade hiatus from the city of trees, Shawn Mullins finally returned to headline our annual Concert for Cause.

But before the Concert for Cause, he appeared in our very intimate Moxie Java Listener Lounge.  The man has a voice that's smoother than smooth... check it out here:

Alpha Rev Stops by for an excluive performance in the Listener Lounge

Alpha Rev has had nothing short of an incredible year.  And although a tour stop in Boise for a full show wasn't included in their magnificiant and impressive 2010, they STILL stopped by to play in our Moxie Java Listener Lounge.  No where else, just for us.  Click here for all the pics, and don't forget to read about the behind the scenes awesomeness on Roxx's Session Chatter.

KT Tunstall Performs in the Moxie Java Listener Lounge

That pic above?  That's a small bit of the gadgets KT uses to be a one woman band.  It's incredible.  Watch the video below to see her record her own background vocal loops live, then weave the entire song together one piece and one pedal at a time.  Extremely impressive.  For those who have been in a band, or are just technically inclined, you gotta see the details of her setup at Roxx's Session Chatter.

Tyrone Wells BACK in the Moxie Java Listener Lounge.

And to think, this time he didn't even jump out of a plane.  Tyrone Wells played our Moxie Java Listener Lounge just hours before he took the stage once again in Boise.  For the full report, see Roxx's session chatter.  For pics?  Just click on Tyrone above!