Laura Cantrell's "States of Country"

In this monthly series, country singer Laura Cantrell takes the stage at Sid Gold's Request Room with a crack band and special guests to explore country songs and sounds from different regions of the United States.

Hailing from Nashville, Tennessee, Cantrell first gained notice as the host of the Radio Thrift Shop on Jersey City's WFMU, where she often mused on country music's durability in big cities like New York. "From the moment I first stepped into Sid Golds Request Room, Ive been meditating on a country show for that room. I love the intimacy of the space, the prominence of the piano and the focus on songs, delivered in their elemental form. I look forward to focusing on a different region of the US each month, from where country music flourished in its early years to where it bubbled under and reinvented itself up until the current day."