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Roots Music Rambler

Francesca Folinazzo & Jason Falls

Where there are people, there is music. In our celebration of melodies and lyrics, harmonies and riffs, we typically focus on the songs or the people who wrote them. We often overlook the where.
Join Francesca and Falls for Roots Music Rambler, a podcast exploration of the where as much as the who or what. We’ll interview emerging and established artists, fans and others in Americana, Outlaw Country, Bluegrass, Blues, Roots, Soul, World and beyond. But we will always get to the stories of where they’re from and how that impacted the music we know and love.
It’s more than just their influences. It’s their families. Communities. Cultures. This show is a fun combination of music, travel, history and more. We dig into the stories from artists, musicians, songwriters, producers, fans and beyond, that don’t just expose their musical influences, but their life influences.
Music follows the path of human movement. We trace the steps to bring better understanding to what we hear today and why we love it.
Join us for the exploration of the real roots of music on Roots Music Rambler.

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  • 30 episodes
  • weekly
  • Avg 53 min
  • English

Episodes 30

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  • #96
    October 9 · 1 hr 3 min

    British singer-songwriter Jack Browning brings country songs and a painter’s eye to Painted Skies

    Jack Browning doesn’t think country music needs a particular zip code. The British singer-songwriter grew up on his dad’s records, climbed the furniture to borrow a Johnny Cash CD, and eventually found that pedal steel and fiddle fit the stories he wanted to tell. The accent might surprise you. The songs make perfect sense. Browning joined Frank and Falls this week to talk about his new album Painted Skies and the unlikely road that led to it.

  • #95
    October 2 · 1 hr 8 min

    Singer-Songwriter David LaMotte talks songs that stay with you and the small steps that change the world

    Falls first heard David LaMotte in a Birmingham bookstore café more than 20 years ago. He was working in college sports public relations, spending much of his life on the road, and “Northbound” sounded like somebody understood. The song, from LaMotte’s album Corners, has been a favorite ever since. After promises to do so, Falls finally tracked LaMotte down to join Roots Music Rambler. He did so this week to talk about writing songs that leave room for the listener’s own life.

  • #94
    September 18 · 1 hr 7 min

    Raised in Mississippi, living in Texas and loving the Tulsa Sound, Jason Eady makes real roots music

    Ask Jason Eady to put a label on his music and he’ll take you to the back porch. If it works without electricity, it fits. The Mississippi-raised, Texas-based singer-songwriter has plenty of country in his catalog, but the blues and a laid-back Oklahoma groove are never far away. Eady joined Frank and Falls this week to talk about that mix, his latest album Tulsa Turnaround and what makes the Tulsa Sound tick. The hosts first caught him at Crossroads Acoustic Fest in April, where his songs and t

  • #93
    September 11 · 1 hr 18 min

    Well-travelled and settled, Erinn Peet Lukes is leading Thunder and Rain to bluegrass stardom

    If you’ve heard much thunder around the bluegrass space of late, it’s likely due to the growing presence of Thunder & Rain. Erinn Peet Lukes’s new grass band has been around for more than 10 years. It has shape-shifted through a few different members, inner-circle romantic relationship issues and Lukes’s move from Denver to Nashville. But now Lukes is settled in Music City and Thunder & Rain’s latest four-piece, all-female bluegrass roster is primed for the big time. Lutes (vocals and guitar) is

  • #92
    September 4 · 37 min

    Cincinnati-based folk rock band Barnweaver guitarist Brandon Scott Coleman talks band, album and more

    Welcome to another in our Backstage episode of Roots Music Rambler. These are short interviews Frank and Falls are able to grab backstage (or just somewhere in person rather than on our virtual, longer-form interview episodes) and catch up briefly. This week, Falls caught up with his fellow Pikeville, Ky., product Brandon Scott Coleman, a multi-genre virtuoso guitarist who plays said instrument for the new Cincinnati-based folk rock band Barnweaver. They released their self-titled debut album th

  • August 31 · 16 min

    GIVEAWAY! We've got a 2-day pass to Evanston Folk Festival for one lucky listener!

    Pardon the interruption on the podcast feed with a special announcement, but we think you're going to love this! To start the celebration of Roots Music Rambler's 100th episode (coming soon), we're launching a Patreon community to give you all kinds of member benefits. More on that in a moment, though, because in order to encourage you to join the Patreon community (we're calling it getting a Backstage Pass to Roots Music Rambler), we're giving away a two-day pass ticket to the upcoming Evanston

  • #91
    August 28 · 56 min

    Independent folk artist Julia Sanders offers deep introspection in cross-continent creative process

    Long-time listeners to Roots Music Rambler know we love to focus on the sense of place and how it impacts the songwriting and music influences of our artists. Every now and then, one comes along that brings an interesting confluence of places to the table. Julia Sanders certainly fits that bill. Based in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, but also often calling Asheville, N.C., home, Sanders creates alongside her band and production team … from hundreds of miles away. While she does call both places

  • #90
    August 14 · 54 min

    Sam Morrow returns to Texas, Rock & Roll with Southern Boogie

    The music business has had ups and downs for Houston native Sam Morrow. He’s bounced around geographically and within his own sound through a decade or more and a half dozen studio albums. But his recent return to his home state of Texas, reconnecting with an old flame who is now his wife, and his clarity on what he wants to do musically produced a dandy of a Southern rock offering called Southern Boogie. Morrow joined us on Roots Music Rambler to dig into the changes in latitude and attitude th

  • #89
    August 7 · 25 min

    We’re witnessing the rocket ship that is Hunter Flynn

    Welcome to another in our Backstage episode of Roots Music Rambler. These are short interviews Frank and Falls are able to grab backstage (or just somewhere in person rather than on our virtual, longer-form interview episodes) and catch up briefly. This week Falls got a chance to catch up with the rocket ship that is becoming Hunter Flynn before a recent show he did in Louisville. Falls met Hunter in February on the set of another podcast: Listen Honey! With Katie Combs and the two planned for F

  • #88
    July 31 · 1 hr 8 min

    Blake Christiana chats about 20-plus years of Yarn, new album and more

    Rock, rhythm and blues band Yarn made a triumphant return to the Americana charts this spring with their new album Saturday Night Sermons. The lead single, “Good Things,” spent several weeks in the AMA’s top 20 singles chart and the band is back on the road supporting their 11th-ish album. Founder and frontman Blake Christiana joined Roots Music Rambler this week to talk all about the album, the songs, guitarist Andy Thomas’s new solo project and how it affects the band and more. Yarn’s first al

  • #87
    July 24 · 19 min

    Roots Music Rambler Backstage with West Virginia Singer-Songwriter William Matheny

    Welcome to another in our Backstage episode of Roots Music Rambler. These are short interviews Frank and Falls are able to grab backstage (or just somewhere in person rather than on our virtual, longer-form interview episodes) and catch up briefly. This week, we share a recent chat Falls had with West Virginia-based singer-songwriter William Matheny. He hails from the Morgantown area of West Virginia where Falls spent time in graduate school. So, the two mucked it up a bit with some casual Morga

  • #86
    July 17 · 1 hr 7 min

    Logan Mac Pours His Heart Into Debut Album Til the Ground

    It normally only takes a song or two for anyone to get sentimental or teary-eyed at a Logan Mac show. Frank and Falls saw it first-hand at this year’s Crossroads Acoustic Fest in Seymour, Indiana in April. Mac’s deeply emotional music and raw reality-of-life stories are moving. Mac joined us to talk about his songwriting, songs and new album Til The Ground this week on Roots Music Rambler. And what you’ll quickly discover is the hurt and longing you hear in his music comes from an ironically jov

  • #85
    July 10 · 17 min

    Roots Music Rambler Backstage with Robby Chadwell from Flood With Love

    Welcome to another in our Backstage episode of Roots Music Rambler. These are short interviews Frank and Falls are able to grab backstage (or just somewhere in person rather than on our virtual, longer-form interview episodes) and catch up briefly. In this case, we wanted to make sure everyone out there knew about Flood With Love, a music festival happening on Saturday, July 25 at The Burl in Lexington, Ky. Not only does it have a killer, and Roots Music Rambler friends-of-show heavy lineup, bu

  • #84
    July 3 · 57 min

    Adam Chaffins doubles down on Trailer Trash with Doublewide

    Adam Chaffins has spent more than a decade and a half in Nashville, playing in bands, picking up tours with other artists, writing, producing and occasionally releasing an album, several singles and, last year, an EP. Sure, he also happened upon fellow Kentuckian Brit Taylor, whom he married along the way. Adam plays in her band, co-writes and produces some of her work. But 2026 is proving to be worth the weight, ups and downs of the journey. On August 21st, his 2025 EP Trailer Trash gets a full

  • #83
    June 26 · 13 min

    Roots Music Rambler Backstage with Shelby Lore

    Welcome to another in our Backstage episode of Roots Music Rambler. These are short interviews Frank and Falls are able to grab backstage (or just somewhere in person rather than on our virtual, longer-form interview episodes) and catch up briefly. In this case, Falls was able to catch Kentucky singer-songwriter and guitar virtuoso Shelby Lore for a virtual conversation.  He’s the man behind the Shelby Lore Band which is based in Northeastern Kentucky in Carter County. That’s a little more than

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