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Korby Lenker's Sneaky Good Folk Pop

The TR Agency
Download the podcast for a full hour with indie folk pop artist, Korby Lenker.

In this encore episode of IPR Studio One's "Java Blend," host Ben Kieffer will chat with Korby Lenker.

In case you're not familiar, Korby Lenker is a sneaky-good songwriter. And singer. And multi-instrumentalist.

An abbreviated list of Lenker’s achievements so far includes: a significant amount of airplay on the legendary Seattle indie rock station KEXP; a BBC 2 interview with Bob Harris, which is only about the highest honor a rootsy singer-songwriter touring the U.K. can get; opening slots for acts ranging from Willie Nelson to Ray LaMontagne, Nickel Creek, Keith Urban, Susan Tedeschi and Tristan Prettyman; a successful run with one of the hottest young West Coast bluegrass bands of the aughts; and wins in the Merlefest folk songwriting contest as well as the Kerrville Folk Festival’s elite New Folk songwriting competition.

Here's a bit of insight into the spontaneous spirit that makes Lenker's music so interesting: He picked up a bargain bin copy of the journalistic snake handling memoir Salvation on Sand Mountain, and, with that alone to go on, decided to drive until he found one of the mountain churches mentioned in the book.

Ben Kieffer is the host of IPR's River to River