Skip to content

This Moment in Music with Hal Walker

  • Home
  • About the Show
  • About Hal Walker
  • HalWalkerMusic.com

This Moment in Music with Hal Walker

a laid-back musical exploration of the creative process

Special Episode: Jayme Stone “Awake” – Album Release

September 8, 2020 by Hal Walker

Saturday, Sept 5, 8:00 pm EST

Jayme Stone is a musician, composer, instigator, producer, and educator. On any given day, you might find him in his studio reworking a little-known hymn learned from a field recording, producing a session with musicians from Bamako or New York, creating experimental soundscapes, or tucking his kids in on time so he can get back to writing the next verse of a new song.

As a young banjoist, Stone was obsessed with learning from both traditional players and modern masters. He quickly assimilated his endless fascinations—from learning an Ali Farka Touré song to playing free-improvised music. In his late teens, Stone spent hours at the headphone station of his local record shop listening deeply to different kinds of music. He was interested in the “heart and guts” of what he heard—the warmth and grit of folk songs, the camaraderie and risk in jazz, the dynamics of chamber music, the cyclical rhythms of West Africa—but no one genre felt quite like his own. He might’ve forever remained a listener were he not compelled to make the music he heard in his head.

Stone, a “consummate team player” (Downbeat), has developed a process of trawling for understudied sounds in the more arcane corners of the world to see how they’ll land in his musical universe. His many collaborators have included Margaret Glaspy, Moira Smiley, Tim O’Brien, Bruce Molsky, Julian Lage, Dom Flemons, Bassekou Kouyate, and more. Guided by his own aesthetic compass and a desire to let his collaborators “make the sounds that only they know how to make”, he has made a surprise album every two or three years—seven total. Albums like Africa to Appalachia, a polyrhythmic tale of two continents; the Lomax Project, which re-imagines songs collected by American folklorist Alan Lomax; and most recently, Folklife, a companion album to the latter that treats old field recordings not as time capsules, but as heirloom seeds planted in modern soil. It’s for this reason that Stone has also been called “a musical evangelist” who “loves using fresh approaches that get people hooked on wider musical traditions” (Edmonton Journal).

Stone has always drawn on tradition for his own revisionings, but in recent years he’s been drawing from a more personal well. In July 2017, his brother—Michael Stone, a well-known teacher of yoga and Buddhism—died suddenly and tragically. Grieving and grappling with Michael’s death led Stone to begin writing lyrics for songs unlike any of his previous compositions. Words have become windows through which Stone looks at memory, loss, and paradox. These words have also given Stone a reason to sing, along with playing guitar, banjo, and OP-1 (a synthesizer/sampler/drum machine).

On AWake Stone breaks new ground: from folk musician and composer to experimental pop singer and producer. A unique tonal palette blends with deft storytelling and disarmingly honest lyrics to create a sonic world both eminently engaging and full of nuance and surprise. Co-produced by David Travers-smith, AWake features Felicity Williams (Bahamas), Daniela Gesundheit (Feist), Jason Burger (Big Thief), Jason Linder (David Bowie), Shahzad Ismaily (Sam Amidon), and more. The album comes out on August 28, 2020.

60

SHARES
Share on Facebook
Tweet
Follow us
Share
Share
Share
Share
Share

Post navigation

Previous Post:

Episode 41 – Cameron Mack

Next Post:

Episode 43 – Sam Walwyn

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Get Weekly Updates

Upcoming

Past Shows

  • Episode 83 – Brendan Taaffe
  • Episode 82 – Rosemary Jane
  • Episode 81 -Jef De Lima
  • Episode 80 – Kevin Chambers
  • Episode 79 – JahVelle Rhone
  • Episode 78 – Ellie van Amerongen
  • Episode 77 – Matt Meyer
  • Episode 76 – Blake Rouse
  • Episode 75 – Layne Elizabeth
  • Episode 74 – Brandon Bailey
  • Episode 73 – J. David Moore
  • Episode 72 – Peter Bromann
  • Episode 71 – Melanie DeMore
  • Episode 70 – Lea Morris
  • Episode 69 – Carlynne Sutterfield
  • Episode 68 – Charlie Mosbrook
  • Episode 67 – Collin Vodicka
  • Episode 66 – Austin Archer
  • Episode 65 -Chinwe “Chichi” Enu
  • Episode 64 – James Peake
  • Episode 63 – Marissa Payne
  • Episode 62 – Sim Hamilton
  • Episode 61 – Mike Hovancsek
  • Episode 60 – Emma’s Revolution
  • Episode 59 – Ben Mather
  • Episode 58 – Chris Novy
  • Episode 57 – Spence Hood
  • Episode 56 – Moira Smiley
  • Episode 55 -Anthony Taddeo
  • Episode 54 – Deb Hardy
  • Episode 53 – Alan Rowoth
  • Episode 52 – Madelaine Turner
  • Episode 51 – Nico Cornelius
  • Episode 50 – Gary Eckert
  • Episode 49 – Elaine Romanelli
  • Episode 48 – Gabz Sunflower Ciofani
  • Episode 47 – Morgan Jay
  • Episode 46 – Peter Amidon
  • Episode 45 – Jim Cirillo
  • Episode 44 – Sarah Jebian
  • Episode 43 – Sam Walwyn
  • Special Episode: Jayme Stone “Awake” – Album Release
  • Episode 41 – Cameron Mack
  • Episode 40 – Malena Cadiz
  • Episode 39 – Chris Commisso
  • Episode 38 – Matt Watroba
  • Episode 37 – Dev Lemons
  • Episode 36 – Joe Culley
  • Episode 35 – Kwaician Traylor
  • Episode 34 – Alex Walker Smith
  • Episode 33- Laura Lewis
  • Episode 32 – Rupert Wates
  • Episode 31 – Julie Schatz
  • Episode 30 – Lara Troyer
  • Episode 29 – McCray Martin
  • Episode 28 – Joe Crookston
  • Episode 27 – Mark Mandeville and Raianne Richards
  • Episode 26 – Amanda Walsh
  • Episode 25 – Christopher Mark Jones
  • Episode 24 – Algie Powers
  • Episode 23 – Andrew Bonnis
  • Episode 22 – Rachael Wilson
  • Episode 21 – Michael Gilliland
  • Episode 20 – Nem Raps
  • Episode 19 – Rachael Kilgour
  • Episode 18 – Richard Shack
  • Episode 17 – Katie Figiel
  • Episode 16 – Todd Burge
  • Episode 15 – Thor Platter
  • Episode 14 – Jim Cruise on the Spoons
  • Episode 13 – Ture Butler
  • Episode 12 – Pace Randolph
  • Episode 11 – Nancy Kepner
  • Episode 10 – Amanda Udis-Kessler
  • Episode 9 – Naomi Sommers
  • Episode 8 – Inbar Heyman
  • Episode 7 – Rewildyoursoul
  • Episode 6 – Patti Broussard
  • Episode 5 – Leroy Horns
  • Episode 4 – Eric Noden
  • Episode 3 – Jarred Goldweber
  • Episode 2 – Cody Johnston
  • Episode 1 – Joel Chapman
© 2022 This Moment in Music with Hal Walker | WordPress Theme by Superbthemes