Rod Picott

Event information

Rod Picott is the songs he sings. Since before Woody Guthrie songwriters have soaked their public image in the sepia tones of the working life but Picott bears the real life scars of living that life. Rod Picott's songs are inhabited by sheetrock hangers, drinkers, circus hands, boxers and working girls and he sings about his characters with intimacy. Listening to a Rod Picott album you can smell the gasoline on a mechanics hands and the perfume of lovers in dark corners.

The son of a welder and former Marine,
Picott grew up in the small mill town of South Berwick, Maine. His father's record collection spanned Ray Charles to John Philip Sousa and James Brown. His older brother introduced him to the punk poetry of Lou Reed and Patti Smith. The tall, wiry framed Picott worked construction jobs from his high school graduation until the release of his first cd, Tiger Tom Dixon's Blues in 2001.

In the Folk and Americana world Ray Wylie Hubbard, Slaid Cleaves, Fred Eaglesmith have been declared some the best writers working and they have all recorded songs written or co-written by Rod Picott. Picott's "Broke Down" released on Rounder Records by co-writer and artist Slaid Cleaves became the most played song on Americana radio and was awarded the song of the year award at the Austin Music Awards. In 2010 "Broke Down" found new life in the soundtrack to the Brian Koppelman written and directed film Solitary Man starring Michael Douglas. In that same year Picott's song "Circus Girl" was featured in the PBS documentary Circus.

Rod Picott has released five solo cds and one cd with sometimes duo partner Amanda Shires-- all to excellent reviews and extensive touring. Picott has been featured in No Depression magazine, on BBC 2 Radio London, Sirius/XM Radio and in Maverick magazine (U.K.) Picott has produced a CD for Rounder Records, toured as opening act for Alison Krauss and Union Station and played the prestigious Shrewsbury Folk and Maverick festivals in England and the Take Root & Blue Highways Festivals in Holland. The very definition of a modern troubadour Picott tours the U.S. in a Jeep Cherokee with a current odometer reading of 276,300 miles. Picott also tours annually in Europe and the U.K. to the tune of 130 plus shows yearly. Picott is lauded for his narrative and melodic songwriting, passionate delivery and darkly humorous onstage storytelling.

Rod Picott's 2011 release Welding Burns spent 10 straight weeks on the AMA chart and reached #1 on The FAR Chart. Picott was voted #1 Songwriter of the year #1 Male artist of the year and Welding Burns was voted the #5 CD release of 2011 by the FAR Chart reporters.


Doug and Telisha are based out of East Nashville, the new Bohemian Mecca of the South. They’re a restless sort, though, and more than anything, they call the road their home. The past few years have been filled with hundreds of shows and thousands of miles for Doug and Telisha. They’ve traveled from Florida to Alaska and Michigan to Texas, hitting 47 US states and six Canadian provinces. They’ve played with some of their most beloved heroes - Lucinda Williams, Darrell Scott, Charlie Louvin, and Joe Ely.

Doug and Telisha write songs about a place where old time religion, superstition, run down bars, gravel parking lots and boarded up factories all mingle together. How could they not? They’re both originally from a small town in the shadows of the Blue Ridge Mountains that’s suffered with 20.2% unemployment. When you hear them sing songs about a couple of hard luck kids who made some bad decisions and wound up in jail, you’ve got to remember that Doug & Telisha are still good friends with those kids' family.

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