SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
First song Aoife O'Donovan ever loved was this one by Nanci Griffith.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "FORD ECONOLINE")
NANCI GRIFFITH: (Singing) Her husband was a gambler. He was a Salt Lake City rambler, and he built a golden cage around his silver-throated wife.
AOIFE O'DONOVAN: It's hilarious that that was my favorite song, and it still is one of my favorite songs.
SIMON: "Ford Econoline" is no children's song, but it filled the heart of 9-year-old O'Donovan. Her mother took her to see Nanci Griffith at Boston Symphony Hall.
O'DONOVAN: I sent a request backstage to Nanci for her to play "Ford Econoline." And she came out on stage, and she read the note, and she said, this here is a request that a little 9-year-old sent backstage. And she played it, and it was just a really formative moment for me.
SIMON: O'Donovan's fellow band members - Sara Watkins and Sarah Jarosz of the folk trio I'm With Her - share similar experiences, and they recall them on the title track of their new album. It's called "Wild And Clear And Blue."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "WILD AND CLEAR AND BLUE")
I'M WITH HER: (Singing) Sunlight breaking through the blinds. Someone shouts, come on, it's time. Rushing out the door and buckle up.
O'DONOVAN: "Wild And Clear And Blue" is a song on our album that is inspired by our collective experience of really enjoying the music that our parents shared with us as children.
SIMON: Listen closely, says Sarah Jarosz, and you'll hear direct references to songs like "Love At The Five & Dime" by Nanci Griffith and "Paradise" by John Prine.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "WILD AND CLEAR AND BLUE")
I'M WITH HER: (Singing) Ooh, when I was 9, heard you singing about the five and dime. What's that? I asked and my mama...
SARAH JAROSZ: You kind of hear those woven into the choruses of these songs and connecting those songs to being in the car with our moms, when you're a kid, hearing these lyrics and maybe not knowing what they mean and asking, what is a five and dime? And, oh, mom saying, they were everywhere when I was a kid.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "WILD AND CLEAR AND BLUE")
I'M WITH HER: (Singing) Digging around in the tapes on the passenger side.
SARA WATKINS: We were writing this song with, like, very physical memories of feeling for cassettes and putting them in, and those buttons that you would press to rewind and try to find the song. And it feels like a victory when you, like, get it just right.
SIMON: That's Sara Watkins. All three members of I'm With Her grew up going to bluegrass festivals. And for Watkins, those trips began just before dawn to beat the Southern California traffic, her mother playing music as the journey rolled on.
WATKINS: "Linda Ronstadt Greatest Hits: Volume 1," and I remember listening to that record, my mom kind of challenging me to identify who was singing the high harmony part and then me guessing Emmylou. But, of course, it was Dolly. I'd listen to these old songs that my parents already knew, and I was just becoming introduced to and thinking, like, oh, wow, my mom has lived more life than I think she has. I think our parents give us our musical foundation.
SIMON: O'Donovan's parents were both musicians who welcomed Irish bands who were passing through Boston. Some nights turned into impromptu house concerts, her mother at the piano.
O'DONOVAN: That experience of seeing how much fun playing music could be, I think, really is part of the reason why I wanted to become a musician and part of the reason why I hope that my daughter will find it, as well.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "WILD AND CLEAR AND BLUE")
I'M WITH HER: (Singing) Tears cutting lines across my face. Now the static is slowing replacing the sounds of my childhood days.
WATKINS: The lyric just breaks my heart every time.
O'DONOVAN: It's almost like it's an acceptance of growing up and that we have to sort of fiddle with the dial a little bit to get back to those sounds. And sometimes it might not be - always be a clear broadcast. But it's in there, and you just really have to look for it.
JAROSZ: So much of this album is kind of acknowledging that past, accepting the future and real grief of losing loved ones or, in addition to loved ones, heroes and people that have influenced you.
SIMON: That's Sarah Jarosz with Aoife O'Donovan and Sara Watkins. I'm With Her's new album is "Wild And Clear And Blue."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "WILD AND CLEAR AND BLUE")
I'M WITH HER: (Singing) Sunlight breaking through... Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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