The Jim Motavalli Interview Podcast

Robbie Fulks is a native North Carolinian who has bluegrass and country as a default position, but also revels in many other musical styles. A stint at Columbia University in New York probably helped broaden his world view, but there's something of an auto didact about him, too. Music came naturally, as his father played guitar and his aunt banjo, which he started playing at age six. Skipping ahead, In 1987, he joined The Special Consensus Bluegrass Band, where he showcased his unique guitar flatpicking style. In the early 1990s he performed in the musical Woody Guthrie's American Song. Fulks writes some very funny songs that, as one critic noted, "subvert the country tropes," but his music also delves deep.

Murieann Bradley is a 19-year-old acoustic guitarist/singer from Ireland who specializes in the fingerpicking styles of the 1920s, 30s and 40s, citing influences such as Mississippi John Hurt, Reverend Gary Davis, and Elizabeth Cotten. She learned to play largely from her father, a blues enthusiast. After a breakout performance on the BBC's Jools' Annual Hootenanny in 2023, she has toured the world, including a performance at the Big Ears Festival in Knoxville, Tennessee on March 28. Her debut album, I Kept These Old Blues, was released on Tompkins Square Records and later reached the top ten of the UK Albums Download Chart. She signed with Decca Records in late 2024.

Melanie D.G. Kaplan talks to Jim Motavalli about her book Lab Dog: A Beagle and his Human Investigate the Surprising World of Animal Research. She explores the ethics and future of animal experimentation through the story of her rescued beagle, Hammy.

Jim Motavalli talked to Sam Beam, a/k/a Iron & Wine, a master of brilliant, hushed Americana music and a collaborator par excellence (particularly with amazing women). In the interview, we talk about Beam's work with Fiona Apple, Jesca Hoop, I'm With Her and others, and also about his new album Hen's Teeth (2026).

Alex Manos says he's the country's number one buyer of classic cars. He buys European and American cars nationwide, and would love to talk about buying your old vehicle.

Two Crows for Comfort is a Canadian folk and Americana duo based out of Manitoba, composed of Erin Corbin and Cory Sulyma. Known for their rich harmonies and poignant storytelling, they have been a full-time touring act since early 2020, living on the road in an 18-foot camper with their rescue dog, Elliot. They talked to Jim Motavalli for WPKN

British jazz singer Emily Masser is only 21, but shows a mature command of her art, inspired by her saxophonist father, Dean Masser. Pianist Horace Silver wrote the beautiful "Song For My Father," but Masser made a whole album called Songs With my Father (with dad playing his horn).

John Gennari's profusely illustrated book The Jazz Barn (Brandeis University Press) traces the history of a short-lived but vital institution in the history of music. Music Inn, in Lenox, Massachusetts near Tanglewood, took jazz seriously and brought musicians to a bucolic setting for teaching, concerts and building bridges to what eventually became the classical-jazz fusion known as Third Stream. With many photographs by Holocaust survivor Clemens Kalischer.

Encountered recently at the Scandinavian Club in Fairfield, Connecticut, Sweden's Frander combines roots in traditional Swedish folk with an ear to progressive rock--but all with acoustic instruments.

Iowa-based Americana duo, Weary Ramblers bring years of experience to the stage with award-winning songwriting and chemistry. Chad Elliott (Woody Guthrie Song Contest & Kerrville Finalist) and Kathryn Severing Fox (DownBeat winner & international touring artist) showcase multi-instrumental performances with tight harmonies and great storytelling. Fox has played, toured or recorded with George Benson, The Beach Boys, The Eagles, Pharrell Williams, Gloria Estefan, Natalie Cole, Osmond Brothers, Gloria Gaynor, Chick Corea, Bobby McFerrin, Kenny Loggins, The Marley Family, Mark O’Connor, Ryan Montbleau, Seth Walker, Ben Sollee, Edgar Meyer and Joshua Bell. Chad Elliott, known as "Iowa's Renaissance Man," has written 2,000 songs and toured with Odetta, Tom Paxton, Loudon Wainwright III, R.L. Burnside, Greg Brown, Ruthie Foster, Verlon Thompson, Jimmie Vaughan, Bo Ramsey and Mary Gauthier.

Eric O'Neill, a former FBI agent who led the capture of notorious spy-for-Russia Robert Hanssen, is the author Spies, Lies, and Cybercrime. It's focus: teaching readers how to defend against digital threats like hackers and scammers, blending thrilling anecdotes with practical advice. The book details tactics used by adversaries and provides actionable steps (Prepare, Assess, Investigate, Decide) for personal digital safety.

Americana singer-songwriter Gann Brewer doesn't seek the shiny neo-retro town malls where the selfie slick hipsters air their spanking new tattoos but rather, it's the half spaces, the unremarkable edges of town, where he finds those nuggets of truth--or at least enough gas to get to the next town. From the liner notes to Brewer's fourth album, Highway Lullaby, under discussion with Jim Motavalli on this podcast.

Bryce Edwards is a musician and cabaret artist reviving traditional jazz and popular music from the early 20th century. A vaudevillian troubadour, Edwards is a unique vocalist that takes equal cues from the crooners and soft singers of the late 1920s and early 30s and from the bombastic voices of the acoustic phonograph era, as well as an instrumentalist who plays banjo, ukulele, tenor guitar, and mandolin in the modernistic jazz idiom. Leading a hot combination featuring the talents of extraordinary jazzman Scott Ricketts (cornet) and Grammy award winner Conal Fowkes (piano, upright bass), Edwards revels in the idiosyncrasies and eccentricities of the sweet and raucous music of the 1910s, 20s, and 30s; Bryce brings his singular verve and sensibility to songs made famous by great artists such as Cliff Edwards, Gene Austin, Jack Teagarden, Rudy Vallée, and Bing Crosby.

Singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Sam Amidon comes from a New England family deeply involved in old-time music, and he remains devoted to that form--but fused with just about everything else, including jazz and avant-garde music. Amidon, who began playing fiddle at age 3, has recorded in Iceland collaborated with artists as diverse as drummer Milford Graves and guitarist Bill Frisell. As a sideman, he's appeared on albums by Tune-Yards, The Blind Boys of Alabama, The National, and many more. In talking to WPKN December 8, 2025 the talk was about his latest album, Salt River, which contains a take on Ornette Coleman's "Friends and Neighbors." Along with traditional songs, of course.

This broadcast features the first half hour of an interview with Nate Soares, executive director of the Machine Intelligence Research Institute (MIRI), conducted by Alice Horrigan and Jim Motavalli on October 16, 2025 and aired on WPKN-FM. The conversation explores the safety limits of current AI engineering and the broader implications for humanity’s future. For the full hour, watch the video on YouTube: https://youtu.be/u-22jwE4GZU . Also, read Alice Horrigan’s accompanying book review in The Berkshire Edge: “If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies: When the AI Engineers Are in Over Their Heads”

S.G. Goodman lives in rural Kentucky farm country, and grew up attending church three times a week, with limited exposure to secular music. That experience colors her deeply grounded (in place and time) new album, Planting by the Signs. Fellow Kentuckian Bonnie Prince Billy is featured in this richly evocative collection.

George Pelecanos is the author of 20 crime novels, and a regular writing collaborator with David Simon on projects, including The Wire and Treme. Pelecanos' books ofteh catch Washington, D.C.'s denizens at the moment they hover between a life of crime and straight society. They are moral tales, as well as fast-paced thrillers.