St John’s NF singer-songwriter Peter Willie Youngtree specializes in gritty thought-provoking country songs that he delivers with a wonderful world weary old time country voice that feels like it comes from another place and time. Peter Willie joins us on Episode 392 of Folk Roots Radio to chat about his forthcoming album “Musical Chairs” with his band The Blooms, the follow up to his critically acclaimed 2015 album “Country Hymns”. Peter Willie also plays three new songs live for us. It’s a great interview – definitely worth sticking around for. We also have new music from Jon Brooks, Jory Nash, Kellie Loder, The Jeremiahs, Tim O’Brien, Andrew Collins Trio, Annie Lou, Ian Reid, David Stone and David Davis & the Warrior River Boys. Check out the full playlist below.
Interview
Peter Willie Youngtree sat down with Folk Roots Radio in the mobile studio at the 2017 Folk Music Ontario conference. At the time of the interview, the upcoming album was expected to be released in the spring under the title “Ten Million Ways to Decay”. Well, as often happens in the gestation of a new album, the title of the project has now been changed to “Musical Chairs” and it will be released under the name Youngtree & The Blooms to reflect the full band’s contribution to this new recording. The new album, which is being produced by award-winning producer and songwriter Chris Kirby, is now expected this fall.
About Musical Chairs
In 1990, Raymond “Ray” Wakeham, uncle of Peter Willie Youngtree, penned a song entitled “Musical Chairs” that used the children’s game of Musical Chairs as a metaphor for life and death. Ray Wakeham actually never performed the song for his nephew, but did give him his notebook with the lyrics inside. While the notebook was sitting on Youngtree’s desk in April 2015, Ray fell over drinking coffee in the Placentia Bay morning sun, dying of a heart attack on his kitchen floor.
The debut album of Youngtree and The Blooms, Musical Chairs, explores the theme of mortality through both the personal and the universal. With equal parts gravity and humour, it explores mysticism, macabre, and the divine, at times treating death light-heartedly and at times seeking to expound the importance of living meaningfully before we die. For example, Youngtree writes about losing one of his caregivers as a toddler and its effect on his life choices in the anthemic “Why Didn’t You?” while he rapidly enumerates the many ways to die, with tongue in cheek, in the upbeat “Ten Million Ways to Decay.”
The title track, “Musical Chairs” was re-written and set to music by Youngtree after his uncle Ray passed away as a tribute to its original penman and to acceptance of fate. The album cover (designed by Pepa Chan, see front page of this submission) shows a toddler-aged Youngtree surrounded by images of his dead relatives in a cornfield, with empty chairs nearby. In many ways, this album is a document of Youngtree’s journey to understand mortality since he was a child.
To learn more about the music of Peter Willie Youngtree, visit him online at pwyoungtree.com.
Show Notes
Notes about some of the new music on our radar that made it into Episode 392 of Folk Roots Radio.
[coming soon]
That’s all we have time for, this time around. Thanks to all the artists who share their music with us, and thank you for listening. We have a lot of great music and interviews to bring you on future shows. I hope you’ll join us!
Listen
You can listen to this episode again on Soundcloud by following the link below. You can also listen to episodes of Folk Roots Radio, on demand, via iTunes, Stitcher and Tune-in Radio. (Click on the highlighted link to reach your chosen platform.)
[coming soon]
Playlist
Nicolas & The Iceni (Theme)
Lucy She Rises (Demo)
Roll Right (Pre-release, self)
Jon Brooks
01
No One Travels Alone (2018, Borealis Records) CDN
Jory Nash
Dark Matter
Wilderness Years (2018, Thin Man Records) CDN
Kellie Loder
Molded Like A Monster
Benefit Of The Doubt (2017, Self) CDN
The Jeremiahs
Summer Night
The Femme Fatale Of Maine (2017, Self)
Peter Willie Youngtree
Musical Chairs (Live)
Interview: Peter Willie Youngtree recorded live at the 2017 Folk Music Ontario conference.
Peter Willie Youngtree
Ten Million Ways to Decay (Live)
Peter Willie Youngtree
Dirt Party (Live)
Annie Lou
Witty Girl
End Zone (2018, Self) CDN
Andrew Collins Trio
Katy Dear
Tongue (2018, Self) CDN
Tim O’Brien
Poor Ellen Smith
Epilogue – A Tribute To John Duffey (2018, Smithsonian Folkways)
Ian Reid
Monsoon
More Tiger Tracks (2018, Self) CDN
David Stone
The Wasp
Alright EP (2018, Self) CDN
David Davis & the Warrior River Boys
Leaving Home
Didn’t He Ramble: Songs Of Charlie Poole (2018, Rounder Records)
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