ABOUT THIS EPISODE
The second installment of a five-part pilgrimage exploring the 2026 BIG EARS festival. The Welsh guitarist brought her "Welsh primitive" to a dive bar in Knoxville—Appalachian fingerpicking channeled through 90s punk energy, delivered barefoot and shredding by noon with thumb picks in hand. She discusses reinvention over preservation (tradition, she says, is just "good licks"), her first-ever pilgrimage to Appalachia (and its surprising links to Wales), last year's ACL-beloved Last Night I Heard the Dog Star Bark, her recent WFMU live album, and her surprisingly effective duo with the "diametrically opposed" Hayden Pedigo.Sound Propositions should be available wherever you get your podcasts, so please keep an eye out and subscribe (and rate and review, it helps others who might be interested find us). You can support Sound Propositions on Patreon if you are so inclined, or send a one-time donation via PayPal. The first two seasons are also available on Bandcamp. I’m very grateful for any support, which will help ensure future episodes.s
Interviews recorded in Knoxville, 29 March 2026Produced and mixed in St Louis, July 2026LINKSGwenifer Raymond
Big Ears
TRACKLISTARTIST – “TITLE” (ALBUM, LABEL, YEAR)
Gwenifer Raymond, “Worn Out Blues” (Strange Lights Over Garth Mountain, 2020)Orcutt Shelley Miller, “Unsafe At Any Speed” (Orcutt Shelley Miller, 2025)SP INTROGwenifer Raymond, “Bliws Afon Tâf” (Live at WFMU, 2026)Gwenifer Raymond, “One Day You’ll Lie Here But Everything Will Have Changed” (Last Night I Heard The Dog Star Bark, 2025)Gwenifer Raymond, “Requiem for John Fahey” (You Never Were Much of a Dancer, 2018)Gwenifer Raymond, “The Three Deaths of Red Spectre” (The Three Deaths of Red Spectre, 2018)Nirvana, “Where Did You Sleep Last Night” (MTV Unplugged in New York, 1994)Leadbelly [Huddie Ledbetter], “In the Pines” [1944] (Where Did You Sleep Last Night?(Lead Belly Legacy Vol. 1), 1996)[soundcheck]Mississippi John Hurt, “Frankie (And Albert)” (The Early Blues Roots Of Bob Dylan, 2020)Hayden Pedigo, “Smoked” (I'll Be Waving As You Drive Away, 2025)Gwenifer Raymond, “Eulogy for Dead French Composer” (Strange Lights Over Garth Mountain, 2020)Gwenifer Raymond, “Sometimes There’s Blood” (Sometimes There’s Blood, 2015)Gwenifer Raymond, “Bleeding Finger Blues” (You Never Were Much of a Dancer, 2018)Gwenifer Raymond, “Bonfire of the Billionaires” (Last Night I Heard The Dog Star Bark, 2025)—-Sound Propositions is written, recorded, mixed, and produced by Joseph Sannicandro.
