Welcome to my conversation with Melody Walker, a brilliant songwriter, singer and musician from California. Melody’s star is in the ascendant as an in-demand co-writer in Nashville, Tennessee, and she recently won a Grammy Award! Melody is a remarkable singer and performer with lots of interesting projects on the go, including the band BERTHA – Grateful Drag, which is causing quite the sensation. I’ve known Melody for a number of years and previously worked with her bluegrass-roots band Front Country. So it’s been fascinating to see Melody’s career blossom and develop. It was great to catch up with her for this interview, where we chatted about all these topics, as well as the value of building community in music, in all sorts of ways.

Womenfolk is a new podcast telling the stories of women working in roots music. Maria Wallace (True North Music) hosts in depth interviews with female musicians, songwriters, creatives and organizers. Please subscribe to the podcast and share the episode far and wide!

Links:

https://www.melodywalker.com/

https://www.gratefuldrag.com/

https://www.frontcountryband.com/

Follow Melody Walker and BERTHA: Grateful Drag on social media:

https://www.instagram.com/melodywritessongs/

https://www.instagram.com/gratefuldrag/

Listen to and buy Melody’s music:

https://frontcountry.bandcamp.com

https://melodywalker.bandcamp.com

BERTHA: Grateful Drag performance videos:

https://www.youtube.com/@GratefulDrag

For Nashville visitors/residents: Writer’s Kitchen every Tuesday at Jane’s Hideaway:

https://www.instagram.com/writerskitchenround

https://www.janeshideaway.com/music.html

Check out Melody’s most celebrated co-writes:

American Dreaming (Sierra Ferrell):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8e9nbsq-18

Crooked Tree (Molly Tuttle):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8lDUvDMoqQ

The podcast theme music ("The Old Ways - instrumental") was written by Maria Wallace and features Jay Bradberry (fiddle), Mike Giverin (mandolin), Lucille Williams (double bass) and Phil Stott (guitar). Copyright © and ℗ 2025 Maria Wallace. All rights reserved. This episode also features music clips from “Family Band” by Melody Walker and “Sake of The Sound” by Front Country, both written by Melody Walker. These were independent releases and the excerpts have been used with Melody Walker’s permission as the songwriter and owner of the publishing.

Welcome to Womenfolk, and my delightful conversation with Hannah Read, an acclaimed Scottish fiddle player, singer, songwriter and guitarist currently living in California. I first met Hannah around 10 years ago (the house concert we discussed was actually in December 2015!) and have always been blown away by her wide-ranging talent, her beautiful music and her zest for life. This conversation was recorded in late February 2025, and is published as Episode 2 of Womenfolk (the trailer was Episode 1).

Womenfolk is a new podcast telling the stories of women working in roots music, on stage and behind the scenes. Maria Wallace (True North Music) hosts in depth interviews with female musicians, songwriters, creatives and organizers. Please subscribe to the podcast and share the episode far and wide!

The theme music ("The Old Ways - instrumental") was written by Maria Wallace and features Jay Bradberry (fiddle), Mike Giverin (mandolin), Lucille Williams (double bass) and Phil Stott (guitar). Copyright © and ℗ 2025 Maria Wallace. All rights reserved. This episode also features some music clips from Hannah Read’s album The Fungi Sessions Vol 1, with her permission. Copyright © and ℗ 2023 Hannah Read.

Links:

https://www.hannahread.com/

http://isleofeigg.org/

Follow Womenfolk on social media:

https://www.instagram.com/womenfolkpod/

https://www.facebook.com/womenfolkpod

Follow Hannah Read on social media:

https://www.instagram.com/hanread/

https://www.facebook.com/hannahreadmusic

Listen to and buy Hannah’s music at

https://hannahread.bandcamp.com/music

Hannah Read official video for Silverphae from The Fungi Sessions Vol. 1:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qs6YXirGXA0

Hannah Read & Michael Starkey perform their version of Anaïs Mitchell’s Shenandoah:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biaQbyVU6Xw

Hannah Read performing with Julien Baker & TORRES on The Daily Show on US TV recently

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8HuGF4ac0E

A version of the tune about the session scene on the Isle of Eigg, Wes & Maggie’s Ceilidh Croft

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQbtIYjm07s

Womenfolk is a new podcast telling the stories of women working in roots music, on stage and behind the scenes. Maria Wallace (True North Music) hosts in depth interviews with female musicians, songwriters, creatives and organizers.

Maria has been a grassroots music promoter in Yorkshire, UK for over 10 years, hosting concerts and booking tours for some of the finest artists in folk, roots, bluegrass and Americana. Over the years she has formed friendships with many talented women who have so many interesting tales to tell. Join us on Womenfolk to listen in to these fascinating stories.

Theme music ("The Old Ways - instrumental") was also written by Maria Wallace and features Jay Bradberry (fiddle), Mike Giverin (mandolin), Lucille Williams (double bass) and Phil Stott (guitar). Copyright © and ℗ 2025 Maria Wallace. All rights reserved.