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For Folk’s Sake Interviews Van Plating

In 2019, Van Plating returned from a nine-year musical hiatus with her self-titled LP. Influenced by folk traditions and contemporary Americana alike, she wasn’t quite sure how her return would be received—both due to the length of time she’d spent away and for a change in musical styles. Prior to her hiatus, Van Plating was known as a headlight shone upon the indie rock scene with her band, Pemberly. Well, the history’s been written, and her return was well-received. Plating warm, eclectic songwriting and her masterful navigation of her music transcends genres. Today, she continues to impress, such as with her latest singles, ‘Fallin’ Angel’ and ‘The Way Down’.

Today, Van Plating joins our ‘FFS 5’ family, diving deeper into her new music, her influences, and the past year and a half or so.

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Under The Radar Premieres DL Rossi’s New Music Video

Michigan singer/songwriter DL Rossi returned this year with his third full-length album, Lonesome Kind. Following his 2019 record A Sweet Thing, Rossi’s latest offering saw him once again conjuring soulful, ‘70s tinged folk craftsmanship, with one of the record’s highlights coming with his single “Great Lakes State Line.” Now Rossi is back with a beautiful video for the track, premiering with Under the Radar.

For the new video, Rossi partnered with Brooklyn-based stop-motion artist Cressa Maeve Beer, who some may recognize from her short film Coming Out. The lovely video fits perfectly with the road-weary world of “Great Lakes State Line,” as Rossi’s warm vocals and soul-barring lyricism trace his homecoming to Michigan and the pain and hope found in looking back over life’s transitions. Meanwhile, the video tells the story of a different kind of homecoming.

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Riffs & Rhymes Interviews DL Rossi on Self-Forgiveness, Americana Music, and Recording an Album Over Zoom

DL Rossi is no stranger to picking up the pieces and starting anew. Growing up in Sterling Heights, a suburb of Southeast Michigan, he became deeply engaged in a religious upbringing in which he first began to pursue his passion for music. By the time he reached his twenties, the city was calling, Music City to be exact, and his first venture into the unknown unfolded quickly before him. Drawn to Nashville for its standing as an epicenter of talented creatives and songwriters, Rossi recorded his first project there in pursuit of the self-expression that eluded him in his church years. For the first time in his life, he was making music on his own terms and beginning to realize his own dreams.

Shortly into his brief career, Rossi encountered adversity of the most unexpected and critical kind. At 27, he received a diagnosis for testicular cancer – a life-altering event for anyone, regardless of age. In subsequent years, after battling cancer, he also went through a divorce, and amid all the hardship, suffered a nervous breakdown. Under the weight of these traumatic events, Rossi’s music took a backseat to dealing with things in his day-to-day life. Only in time did he recognize the vitality of his art and how his relationship with songwriting was a crucial component of putting himself back together and moving forward with his life.

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PopMatters Premieres new song from the Danberrys

Finding a way to stop the insanity of 2020 wasn’t easy for Ben DeBerry and Dorothy Daniel, the down-home, genuine, bona fide husband-and-wife singing-songwriting duo who combined their names and talents to become the Danberrys in 2009. During a year gone haywire by the global pandemic, the East Nashvillians watched their baby girl turn 1 year old in May and planned to give birth to a brand-new album around the same time. With moments of bliss and anguish intermingling before some light began to emerge near the end of a long, dark tunnel, they managed to ease their pain by singing other folks’ tunes.

The Danberrys’ soothing rendition of “Helplessly Hoping,” written by Stephen Stills for Crosby, Stills and Nash’s self-titled album that was released in 1969, provides more comfort and joy than a cozy quilt during a bleak winter blizzard. The harmonious roots couple, who officially arrived 40 years after the song from that classic album began making an impact as a B-side single, present their exclusive music video premiere of “Helplessly Hoping” today at PopMatters.

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Americana Highways Praises Van Plating’s Music

Americana Highways presents this premiere of Van Plating’s song “The Way Down,” produced by Bryan Elijah Smith with string arrangements by Rachel Van Plating.

“The Way Down” is Bryan Elijah Smith on bass, drums, guitars and backing vocals; and Rachel Van Plating on vocals, violin, and viola.  Turn up this sultry swagger and fall all ‘the way down’ with Van Plating.  The song has quite a backstory, and the automatic appeal of an instant hypnosis dream state.  

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Country in the UK Interviews Van Plating

Van Plating Essential 8 Questions

– What do you love most about being on the road?
Performing is a collaborative act between audience and artist, and every night is a one-off: a never-to-be-experienced-again moment in time that will stand still in the memory of both performer and concert-goers, if it’s a really good night (or a really not-so-good night). And all those nights, the good, bad, mediocre, and somewhere in-between are distinctly themselves, unable to be replicated or repeated because you can’t turn back the clock. I LOVE connecting with people through song. There is absolutely nothing else like it. No experience compares to that feeling when you’re baring your soul in melody and the audience is leaning in. When you’re winding down on a low, soft moment and they’re hanging on the melody and then the band explodes and they (the audience) explode with you. When you’re playing by your lonesome, just yourself and a guitar or piano and you can hear someone drop their drink in the back of the room bc everyone is holding their breath, experiencing the moment with you. You’re together, intimately together in the act of performance. I miss it deeply right now.  I miss the togetherness of it all.

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