The Warming House

Ep. 5: Looking back and looking forward

Charley Pride performs onstage during the 2018 CMA Music Festival
This week's vinyl pick, by co-host Sean McPherson was an album by another musician we lost in 2020: Country music legend Charley Pride.
Jason Kempin | Getty Images 2018

Welp. We made it. It's 2021 in The Warming House, and everywhere else for that matter. If you tuned in to the show and are here to relive the toasty memories, you probably noted some music by "Minnesota's First Lady of Song" Debbie Duncan tucked in like a little New Year surprise toward the end of the hour. We lost her, like so many others, in 2020 and were happy to talk a little bit about her life and legacy in the Jazz community. But before her rendition of "Suitcase Blues," we had a whole bunch of other stuff...

This week's vinyl pick, by co-host Sean McPherson was an album by another musician we lost in 2020: Country music legend Charley Pride. He was a trail-blazing Black performer who was a member of the Grand Ole Opry and the first Black member of the Country Music Hall of Fame. Sean said about the album, "What Charley Pride delivers is this honest clear voice that brings you the story without much distraction. I love Johnny Cash for the same reason. I can’t tell you what makes Johnny Cash’s voice so perfect, but I hang on every note. That’s what I hear on these recordings: an artist speaking right into the heart of a song."

Note: We tweeted this out, too, but it's worth saying here: the show ended with a Hank Williams cover by Charley Pride that exploited the stereotypes of Native Americans. Had air time not run out on us, we would have provided context and talked about how it's not at all OK.

For our relationship advice segment with The Current and Purple Current's Sanni Brown, we talked about the importance of a good-fitting mask. Especially for folks who wear glasses, it can be tricky. The fog is real, folks. It's real!

In our latest installment of Go Big & Go Home: Co-host Nina Moini talked with Chef Gustavo Romero from Nixta in northeast Minneapolis about heirloom corn and what it's like to open a restaurant during these challenging times. He's also got great meal kit options and to-go tortillas, if you want to bring a little authentic Mexican cuisine home this week! Check out Nixta's weekly menus here

In Silver Linings, Nina caught up with Budah Tye and talked about juicing and how his own personal health journey led him to create super-fresh, hand-squeezed delights. The amount of ginger he's juiced in the last nine months is staggering — and oh, so yummy!

The owners of Pimento Jamaican Kitchen and Rum Bar in Minneapolis played a little "jerk" trivia with Sean and talked with co-host Nina Moini about how hard it's been to stay open and positive. They're doing it, though, and that's just another reason to stay positive in 2021! Onward, friends!

Guests:

  • Yoni Reinharz and Tomme Beevas, Owners of Pimento Jamaican Kitchen & Rum Bar in Minneapolis

  • Budah Tye, owner of Budah Blends in Minneapolis

  • Chef Gustavo Romero, owner of Nixta Tortilleria

  • Jazz bassist Gary Raynor