Womenfolk
Podcast Description
Womenfolk tells the fascinating stories of women working in roots music, both on stage and behind the scenes. Maria Wallace hosts interviews with female artists and creatives across roots music genres, highlighting the interconnectedness of artists and folk traditions around the world. Maria has been a grassroots music promoter under the name True North Music for over 10 years, hosting concerts in Yorkshire and booking UK tours for some of the finest artists in folk-roots, bluegrass and Americana. Maria won the Yorkshire Gig Guide’s Outstanding Promoter Award in 2017, attended the Leadership Bluegrass programme in Nashville in 2019 and was nominated for the International Bluegrass Music Association’s IBMA’s Industry Involvement Award in 2021. She is also a singer and songwriter herself, and is passionate about championing women in roots music. We want to acknowledge the support of Arts Council England, whose Developing Your Creative Practice grant enabled Maria to bring you this pilot season (4 episodes) of Womenfolk.
Podcast Insights
Content Themes
The podcast's content centers around women in roots music, showcasing topics like the dynamic experiences of female musicians, the evolution of folk traditions, and exploring personal journeys within the industry. Episodes may include insights from successful artists like Hannah Read and anecdotes about the historical significance and influence of women in genres such as bluegrass and Americana.
Womenfolk tells the fascinating stories of women working in roots music, both on stage and behind the scenes. Maria Wallace hosts interviews with female artists and creatives across roots music genres, highlighting the interconnectedness of artists and folk traditions around the world.
Maria has been a grassroots music promoter under the name True North Music for over 10 years, hosting concerts in Yorkshire and booking UK tours for some of the finest artists in folk-roots, bluegrass and Americana. Maria won the Yorkshire Gig Guide’s Outstanding Promoter Award in 2017, attended the Leadership Bluegrass programme in Nashville in 2019 and was nominated for the International Bluegrass Music Association’s IBMA’s Industry Involvement Award in 2021. She is also a singer and songwriter herself, and is passionate about championing women in roots music.
We want to acknowledge the support of Arts Council England, whose Developing Your Creative Practice grant enabled Maria to bring you this pilot season (4 episodes) of Womenfolk.
My guest on this episode is Brandi Waller-Pace. Based in Texas Brandi (she/they) is the founder and organiser of the Fort Worth African-American Roots Music Festival (FWAAMFEST). Brandi also founded the nonprofit organization Decolonizing the Music Room in 2019, with a mission “to center Black, Brown, Indigenous and Asian voices in music education, research and performance.” Brandi holds Bachelor and Masters degrees in Jazz Studies from Howard University, and taught music to elementary school children for over a decade.
Brandi does an incredible amount of fascinating and important work as an educator, event organiser, speaker and musician. We discuss how Brandi came to old time music and why she has a keen interest in the history of the banjo, as well as finding out more about her experiences as a Black woman working in music. Brandi also told me a bit about HBCUs (Historically Black Colleges & Universities) in the US and how attending an HBCU benefited her own development as a young adult. This was a thoroughly absorbing, eye-opening conversation – I learned a lot and I hope you will too.
Podcast theme music (”The Old Ways – instrumental”) was written by Maria Wallace with musicians Jay Bradberry (fiddle) Mike Giverin (mandolin) Lucille Williams (double bass) & Phil Stott (guitar). Copyright © and ℗ 2025 Maria Wallace. All rights reserved. This episode also features unreleased clips of Brandi Waller-Pace playing & singing the traditional (public domain) song Red Rocking Chair, with her permission.
Links:
https://www.brandipacemusic.com/
https://www.decolonizingthemusicroom.org/
Follow Brandi on social media:
https://www.instagram.com/brandipacemusic/
https://www.instagram.com/decolonizingthemusicroom/
https://www.instagram.com/fwaamfest/
https://www.facebook.com/DecolonizingtheMusicRoom
https://www.facebook.com/fwaamfest
Check out Brandi’s singing and playing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8wEV9pzmdM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwwIVHCrtZ4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAtbuLYR2vA
True history of the banjo:
Uncovering the History of the Banjo with Rhiannon Giddens: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RiP8Tfa8bB8
Why this instrument explains Black American folk music, with Jake Blount:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrRfOzhM2AE
An article by Martin Urbach (on DTMR website) about harmful songs:
More on the history of HBCUs:
https://hbcufirst.com/resources/hbcu-history-timeline
90min PBS documentary film:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FscDlqZg5dk
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