Joan Shelley

Hear Bonnie Prince Billy, Freakons, The Rheingans Sisters on “The Kingston Coffee House”

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WRIU Kingston Coffee House 10/28/25

By Mike Stevenson

On tonight’s KINGSTON COFFEE HOUSE, you’ll hear songs about heroic union organizers, deadly mine disasters, wailing orphans, and coal mining’s grim history of economic and ecological devastation in a set we call Dark As a Dungeon. We feature the wonderful collaboration between Freakwater and The Mekons! (“Freakons”, of course!)

In hour two, we will be taking a deep dive into the music of Will Oldham (aka “Bonnie Prince Billy”)

In the third hour, we play a set called Little Devils and Dark Angels – haunting music for the Halloween season provided by Faun Fables, Lankum, The Rheingans Sisters, Josienne Clarke and Róis 

Along the way, you’ll hear some classic Greenwich Village folk music from Fred Neil, Tim Harden and Karen Dalton

PLAYLIST

Ann Sheridan – Coffee shop banter from “They Drive by Night” (1940)
Freakwater – “Waitress Song” (Old Paint, 1995)
Rod Stewart – Tomorrow Is a Long Time (Dylan) Every Picture Tells a Story, 1971

DARK AS A DUNGEON
Merle Travis – Dark as a Dungeon (Folk Songs of the Hills, 1947)
[From the LP Freakons, 2019:]
Freakons – Blackleg Miner (traditional)
Freakons – Abernant 84/85 (The Mekons)
Freakons – Dreadful Memories (Sarah Ogan Gunning)
Freakons – “Corrie Doon”/”A Coal Miner’s Lullaby” (Matt McGinn)
Cowboy Junkies – “Mining for Gold” (traditional)
The Journeymen – “Dark as a Dungeon” (Travis) Coming Attraction: Live! 1962

GREENWICH VILLAGE FAVORITES
Fred Neil – Everybody’s Talkin'(Fred Neil, 1967)
Fred Neil – Ba Di Da (Fred Neil, 1967)
Tim Hardin- “Misty Roses” Tim Hardin #1 (1966)
Karen Dalton – “Something On Your Mind” (Dino Valenti)
Bobby Darin “If I Were a Carpenter” (Hardin)
Rod Stewart “Reason to Believe” (Hardin) Every Picture Tells a Story, 1971

Featured Artist: Will Oldham
Will Oldham/Palace – “New Partner” Viva Las Blues (1995)
Will Oldham/Palace – “Oh Lord, Are you in Need?” (There Is No-One Who Will Take Care of You, 1993)
Bonnie Prince Billy – The Dragon Song (from the film “Pete’s Dragon”, 2016)
Bonnie Prince Billy – “Intentional Injury” (from the film “True Detective”)
Bonnie Prince Billy & Dawn Landes – “Dark Eyes” (Bob Dylan)
Bonnie Prince Billy & Dawn McCarthy -“What Am I Living For” (What the Brothers Sang, 2013)
Joan Shelley “The Fading” (Like the River Loves the Sea, 2019)
Trembling Bells & Bonnie Prince Billy – “I’ll Be Looking Out for Me”
Bonnie Prince Billy “One of These Days” (The Purple Bird)
Johnny Cash “I See a Darkness”(American II; Solitary Man, 2000)

The HOBBLEDEHOY SET: Little Devils and Black Angels
ROIS – “Angelus II” (Mo Léan, 2024)
Jean Ritchie – “The Little Devils” (traditional)
ROIS – “Caoine” (Mo Léan, 2024)
The Rheingans Sisters – “Devils” (Devils, 2025)
ROIS – Oh, Lovely (Mo Léan, 2024)
Lankum – Fugue
Faun Fable “Black Angels” (Counterclockwise, 2024)
Lankum “What Will We Do When We Have No Money?” (Cold Old Fire, 2017)
The Rheingans “The Great Devil / Mr. Turner’s (Devils, 2025)
Josienne Clarke “The Madler Horror Story” (Far From Nowhere)

Listen to “The Kingston Coffeehouse” with tributes to Sonny Curtis and David Bromberg

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The Kingston CoffeeHouse WRIU 9/23/25

PLAYLIST:

  • JESSE WELLES “War Isn’t Murder” (J Welles)
  • I’M WITH HER “Send My Love (To Your New Love)” [Adele]
  • NORA BROWN “Jenny Put the Kettle On” (Traditional)
  • BELA FLECK & THE FLECKTONES “Sunset Road” (Fleck)
  • LEO KOTTKE “In Christ There Is No East or West” (Alexander R. Reinagle)
  • LEO KOTTKE “You Don’t Have to Need Me” (Kottke)
  • I’M WITH HER “Ancient Light” (Jarosz, O’Donovan, Watkins)
  • THE McCRARY SISTERS “What Good Am I?” (Bob Dylan)
  • JESSE WELLES “The Great Caucasian God” (Welles)
  • PAUL SIEBEL “My Town” (Siebel)
  • MJ LENDERMAN “You Don’t Know the Shape I’m in” (Lenderman)
  • SIERRA FERRELL “Jeremiah” (S. Ferrell)
  • GILLIAN WELCH & DAVID RAWLINGS “Empty Trainload Of Sky”
  • GILLIAN WELCH “Dear Someone” (Welch/Rawlings)
  • CAT CLYDE & JEREMIE ALBINO “Been Worryin'” (Clyde/Albino)
  • WILLI CARLISLE “Beeswing” (R Thompson)
  • RICHARD THOMPSON “1952 Vincent Black Lightning”
  • GWENIFER RAYMOND “Jack Parsons Blues” (G Raymond)
  • CERYS HAFANA “Helynt Ryfeddol”
  • ZOE BASHA “Dublin Street Corner Blues” (Z Basha)
  • SYMBIO “Soul Siblings”
  • OLAF ARNALDS “Tar i Morgunsario”
  • JOSIENNE CLARKE “Most of All” (J Clarke)
  • JOAN SHELLEY “Everybody” (J Shelley)
  • JOAN SHELLEY “The Fading” (J Shelley)
  • JOAN SHELLEY “Haven” (J Shelley)
  • BONNIE PRINCE BILLY, DAWN MCCARTHY “Kentucky” (Karl Davis)
  • JAKE XERCES FUSSELL “Love Farewell”
  • THE EVERLY BROTHERS “Walk Right Back” (Sonny Curtis)
  • THE CLASH “I Fought the Law” (Sonny Curtis)
  • SONNY CURTIS “Love Is All Around” (Sonny Curtis)
  • SONNY CURTIS “Straight Life” (Sonny Curtis)
  • NANCI GRIFFITH with SONNY CURTIS “Well, Alright” (Sonny Curtis)
  • BUDDY HOLLY “Rock Around with Ollie Vee” (Sonny Curtis)
  • DAVID BROMBERG “The Joke’s On Me” (Bromberg)
  • DAVID BROMBERG “Spanish Johnny” (Paul Siebel)
  • DAVID BROMBERG “Mr. Blue” (Dewayne Blackwell)
  • SIERRA FERRELL “Seven Spanish Angels” (Troy Seals, Eddie Setser)

Serenity Now: Music And A Conversation With Joan Shelley

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The Hobbledehoy is vey much looking forward to hearing Joan Shelley perform in Boston on Friday night. Though she hails from Kentucky, Joan’s music borrows quite a lot from British traditional folk sounds, and English vocalists like June Tabor, who she frequently cites as a major influence. Give a listen to NPR’s All Songs Considered interview below.

In this All Songs Considered guest DJ session, Joan Shelley talks about her latest album, Like the River Loves the Sea and shares songs by some of the other artists who’ve inspired her over the years.

Joan Shelley makes music that lulls my soul. Her new album, Like the River Loves the Sea, is a serene experience. It’s music with a deep connection to British folk music from the ’60s and ’70s but with influences from this side of the world and her home of Louisville, Kentucky.

On this edition of All Songs Considered, Joan Shelley is joined by her musical partner and Louisville companion, guitarist Nathan Salsburg to play DJ. You can hear the roots of the music they make in the songs they chose to share, from American banjo legend Roscoe Holcomb to English folk singer June Tabor and the contemporary music of Bonnie “Prince” Billy.

Joan Shelley tells the story of recording Like the River Loves the Sea in Iceland and how they had to forgo adding banjo to the album because they couldn’t locate one in Iceland. We also hear Joan Shelley’s early trio called Maiden Radio, Joan and Nathan’s new collaboration with Bonnie “Prince” Billy and how she met him at an ugly sweater party in Kentucky [ . . . ]

LISTEN TO THE INTERVIEW with JOAN SHELLEY at: Serenity Now: Music And A Conversation With Joan Shelley