Shinyribs frontman Kevin Russell has made a career out of writing soulfully obscure rock with a distinctively Texan stamp. Throughout his 18 years as co-leader of Austin's legendary alt-country outfit the Gourds, Russell's warm, throaty drawl has hooted, warbled, and crooned its way through an immense catalog of bizarre and uniquely crafted songs. Alongside co-frontman Jimmy Smith, the Gourds carved out a sort of alternate-dimension Texan mythology that Russell continues to expand with his second Shinyribs release, 2013's Gulf Coast Museum. Pulling together tattered bits of soul, gospel, blues, and rock, Russell applies his bearded charm to nine songs that play like a road trip though his Gulf Coast roots. The wonderful opener "Sweeter Than the Scars" rides a mysterious mandolin/Wurlitzer groove to its guttural, chanting conclusion. The band swings lazily through "Take Me Lake Charles" before a languid trip back to West Texas on "Limpia Hotel (Chihuahua Desert)." If this kind of material hasn't already been covered by Russell in some way or another over the years, it certainly feels like a natural and familiar extension of his previous work. The barroom rave-up "Bolshevik Sugarcane" and the weirdly tender "Sweet Potato" both seem like vintage Russell, but it's on the two largely acoustic ballads where he shows a softness and subtlety that really work for him. The lovely "Somebody Else" is a classic slow country waltz and the gentle, unexpected ukulele cover of Harold Melvin's classic soul ballad "If You Don't Know Me by Now" closes the album on a graceful note. Throughout his Gourds tenure and now with Shinyribs, Russell seems to be the kind of prolific artist who delivers a steady stream of reliable albums to a core group of loyal fans. His style is certainly his own, and he's got plenty of originality left in the tank as evidenced by this Gulf Coast Museum.
We're sorry to say there's been more DDOS attacks today. We haven't known an outage like this in over 5 years. We appreciate your frustration and hope you can bear with us while we await our providers to sort the issue.
We don't have an SLA sorry.TME radio will be back to normal some time in the near future.
“The more you listen, the more there is to discover.” Bob Harris
Steve Tilston is one of our most celebrated songsmiths, widely recognised within the world of folk and contemporary music; the words, arrangements and subtle, quite superb guitar playing could be no one else.
The story of Steve’s “lost” letter from John Lennon is the inspiration for Danny Collins, a new film starring Al Pacino. On general release in the UK at the end of May 2015.
Steve’s brand new CD Truth to Tell is out now.
The writer of the classic songs The Slipjigs and Reels, Here’s to Tom Paine and The Naked Highwayman, has also turned author. Steve has published his first novel All for Poor Jack – full of colourful characters it is an historical tale set in Bristol and the New World. It’s a mighty good read and has been enjoyed by the likes of Bob Dylan no less!
In 2007 a 5 CD boxed-set was released Reaching Back: the Life and Music of Steve Tilston by Free Reed, the company behind the Richard Thompson anthology. In 2009 his early career was hi-lighted in a book Bristol Folk, the story of Bristol’s powerhouse folk & blues scene in the 60s & 70s. His 2011 release The Reckoning garnered 4-star reviews in the Guardian, the Observer and the Scotsman, a guest appearance on Later with Jools Holland and the BBC Four Songwriters’ Circle series, plus a Folk Award win: “best original song”. Followed, in 2013 by the highly acclaimed trio album Happenstance. Steve was also commissioned to write for the Olympics Radio Ballads series and the Harbour of Songs project.
Born in Liverpool and raised in the Midlands, Steve made his recording debut in 1971 with the classic An Acoustic Confusion and has been turning out quality albums ever since. Life by Misadventure, And So It Goes, Solo Rubato and Such and Such all featuring first-class song- writing, quintessentially English in style and typically Tilston, marking him out as one of this country’s finest writers. Whilst the instrumental Swans at Coole is testament to his guitar virtuosity. Though known as a songwriter, Steve has always had an ear for the tradition and included new interpretations of old favourites on his original recordings. Of Many Hands is his first “all-traditional” album; with unique arrangements of timeless classics. There’s also a “best of” anthology, The Greening Wind and a live album Live Hemistry recorded on tour with Fairport Convention. Back on song-writing form, he released Ziggurat in 2008 from which A Pretty Penny made it into Acoustic Magazine’s top 50 songs.
He joined an illustrious band of guitarists including Martin Simpson, Michael Messer and Wizz Jones, when he was invited to contribute to the Guitar Maestro series of DVDs; a combination of live studio performance and interviews, revealing the real passion behind these talented musicians…If anyone ever deserved the moniker Guitar Maestro, it’s Steve Tilston!
He’s toured with John Renbourn’s Ship of Fools, in a stunning partnership with traditional singer Maggie Boyle (producing the classic recordings Of Moor and Mesa and All Under the Sun), as guitarist with Ballet Rambert, with Maartin Allcock and Pete Zorn in WAZ! with Brooks Williams in A Transatlantic Song-Swap and with his daughter Martha, in the charming “like father, like daughter…” show. For recent collaborations he teamed up with Yorkshire alt- country band The Durbervilles and old Bristol pals Keith Warmington and Stuart Gordon as the Steve Tilston Trio. His latest project is Writes and Songs with fellow songwriter Jez Lowe.
A celebrated artist in Britain and abroad, winning accolades in Europe, Australia and the USA, others have also recorded his songs. Here’s to Tom Paine is the adopted theme song for the Tom Paine Society of America and it’s rumoured, has featured in Bruce Springsteen’s live set.
I Walk the Road Again' is a breathtaking collection of bittersweet
country-folk and blues tunes. ...the effort boasts brilliant
arrangements of a host of old favorites from Happy's voluminous
repertoire. A low-key masterpiece, this album demonstrates that it's not
the pace that matters so much as the road itself. It's a road we're
glad to see Happy Traum walking so well again
It's an old album from 2005. Did you know they are still doing shows? Their schedule is available in their web page.
The Soorleys are a family band from Newcastle, Australia, consisting of four sisters, two significant others and a bass player.
Instead of each going their own way, they decided to merge their respective solo projects, and join forces, creating a fun, unique and sometimes random dynamic.
All the band members are pastor's kids, and grew up in Pentecostal churches
You will hear the usual chaos of a family reunion; tiny riots of laughter that reduce the span of absence to a distant memory. You’ll hear the in-jokes, the memories and the recalling of age-old embarrassments. These are all the sounds of home.
The Soorleys are a tousled bohemian outfit. Sisters Beth, Laura, Shelley and Millie are up front, with husbands Sam and Christopher in tow, rounded out by an evolving list of friends and stragglers – when it comes to bands, few people can boast such familial chemistry.
The daughters of a travelling preacher, Beth, Laura, Shelley and Millie were never far from an impromptu knees-up. There were hastily arranged renditions of ‘Edelweiss’, or the gospel sway of Sister Act’s ‘Joyful, Joyful’ – one that still gets wheeled out at family gatherings. It wasn’t long before the sisters were finishing each other’s musical sentences, creating four part folk harmonies that channeled vocal groups of the 60’s.
Love did the rest of the work. Childhood sweetheart Sam was drafted in on drums, raised on a trans-Tasman diet of Crowded House and Aussie folk-rockers Goanna. Lured from across a crowded bar by Beth’s pitch-perfect rendition of ‘Summer of 69’, multi-instrumentalist Chris joined the family soon after.
Together, they are The Soorleys.
The moniker is a tip of the hat to a mother’s maiden name; the music is a family jamboree. They call it ‘fun folk’; the raw stomp of their Irish ancestors and the pop sensibilities of Fleetwood Mac. The Soorleys are here to get you dancing. There’s no shoegazing here; onstage the sisters spin, hoot and holler with joy and abandon. “Thunders roar, we dance, we’re chasing all our fears away,” they sing, chanting incantations atop folk rhythms.
You will hear the usual chaos. The four part harmonies, the jangle of banjos and the thump of the floor tom. The reckless spirit of a big tent revival.
Even on their more upbeat tracks, there’s a shot of melancholy running through Moonsville Collective’s Heavy Howl. Moonsville Collective is a California-based, seven-piece Americana group—including two generations of the same family—playing the sort of music that one might expect hill folk to play, but with the occasional harder edge. Heavy Howl showcases some excellent playing. Mandolin player Matthew McQueen, in particular, has some incredible moments, like on the instrumental “Chickens Hate Heat.” His nimble work is a highlight on a track where most players (all of whom are quite wonderful) get a moment in the spotlight on this old-school, wildly lively song. McQueen’s mandolin line on the chugging road song, “End Of The Line” is especially lovely. The opening track, “Blue Money Grove” features some acrobatic mandolin playing. The song is dark, urgent, threatening, and heavy. Mandolin and fiddle swirl like autumn leaves on a sidewalk, elegant and fluid. Vocalists Corey Adams and Ryan Welch make some fine, husky harmonies. It’s a must listen.
Songs on Heavy Howl range from the old school jam session of “Chickens Hate Heat,” to the very modern Americana feeling of “Rollin’ In Paradise.” Banjos chug along under chunky guitars, and Corey Adams’s voice is gritty and right. It sounds much like a Blitzen Trapper song, if a bit slight lyrically. Heavier, lyrically, is the appealing “Chicago,” a yearning story of the hope of building a life together (“We can start a family and build a home” is repeated and heart tugging). It’s an honest, lovely song, with subtle drum rolls all the way through thanks to drummer Drew Martin’s effective playing. You can’t help but hope things work out for the couple in the song, because they certainly didn’t for the sad narrator of “Nowheresville.” Doomed relationships, life passing by, it’s all here and heartfelt. The production is wonderful: careworn vocals, a spacious piano sound of simple ringing chords. It’s all spare and quite moving.
The charmer “Big Jimmy” feels like an ancient song catapulted to modernity. The harmonies are sublime on this character study and the chorus is frightfully catchy. “Cow And The Cream” is an elegy about a fading way of life: farming. The lonesome harmonies and sad fiddle (Sean Kibler’s playing is spot on and perfectly melancholic) make the track evocative. Heavy Howl is a satisfyingly rootsy, sometimes twangy album. Moonsville Collective have made a timeless record that, while dipping toes into different branches of the Americana stream, find that the waters all flow from the same place. It’s an album steeped in a rich history of American music, with just enough variation to keep things lively.
British singer-songwriter Tom McRae with his regular touring musicians: The Standing Band, has been quietly moving up the ranks of the most respected songwriters in the world today after releasing 6 critically acclaimed studio albums over the last 15 years and writing for a variety of artists and singers.
McRae’s eponymous debut album in 2000 was nominated for a The Mercury Prize, a Q Magazine Award, and a Brit, and the subsequent two years of touring cemented his reputation as one the most entertaining and powerful artists touring today.
Just Like Blood, his second album was released to wide acclaim, especially in America, where every track was licensed for tv and film use, his style of music fitting perfectly the more darker output of LA’s film studios.
In 2004 McRae moved to LA, and while making his third album, All Maps Welcome, began playing regularly at The Hotel Café venue in Hollywood. The connection McRae made with fellow musicians led to the Hotel Café Tour, a travelling revue show featuring dozens of artists, which annually tours the USA coast to coast, as well as occasional forays into Europe. The tour is something of a phenomenon in the states, providing a forum for new talent that may otherwise be unable to reach a live audience on such a scale.
After signing to V2 in 2006, the following year McRae released King Of Cards, a more upbeat offering than previous albums. The demise of the label during the promotion phase didn’t diminish Tom’s enthusiasm for the fight, and he toured the album twice that year, proving a huge hit at festivals across Europe, recruiting more fans everywhere he went,
After a year away from touring, during which Tom moved back to London from Brooklyn, he recorded his fifth studio album, The Alphabet of Hurricanes. An album in two parts, he released the first in February 2010, with the second volume, From The Lowlands, following in April 2013. Recorded over three years in studios, hotel rooms, and backstage both in the US and UK and completely self-produced, he worked with The Standing Band to hone the sound. A collection of incredible musicians and loyal friends, The Standing Band are based as far afield as Los Angeles, Texas …and Wakefield and every tour or recording session is a riotous reunion.
McRae relocated again, to Somerset and set up Buzzard Tree Studios where he took charge of the production, once again with his haunting melodies and poetic lyrics given a new sonic palette in an eclectic selection of powerful songs.
Tom toured From The Lowlands solo for over two years around the UK and Europe whilst writing for various artists, including Marianne Faithful, who called their collaboration on her acclaimed new album, her favourite.
He then headed back into the studio with the boys and now the new Tom McRae & The Standing Band album is due for release in Spring 2015.
For an artist working in a genre often considered by the music press to be “sensitive and self-indulgent” he can take the roof off a venue with his passionate performances, as well as forging a strong humorous bond with his audience.
The ‘Did I Sleep And Miss The Border’ Autumn Tour and album look set to further add to the cult that is rapidly springing up around this talented and dedicated artist and his ragtag band.
‘One of the best festivals on the planet!’ Mike Harding
CRACKING FIRST HEADLINERS FOR 2016 ANNOUNCED: SETH LAKEMAN, SHOW OF HANDS, SHARON SHANNON & BAND, MARTIN SIMPSON & DOM FLEMONS, SHOOGLENIFTY, KATHRYN TICKELL & SUPERFOLKUS, JOHN McCUSKER BAND, LE VENT DU NORD, OYSTERS 3, BLAZIN’ FIDDLES, THE WATERSHED BAND FEATURING PHILLIP HENRY & HANNAH MARTIN, BLACKBEARD’S TEA PARTY, RICCARDO TESI & BANDITALIANA, NANCY KERR & JAMES FAGAN, ANNA & ELIZABETH, THE YOUNG‘UNS, BOB FOX, ROBIN DRANSFIELD, WHAPWEASEL, LADY MAISERY and many, many more.
PHENOMENAL PRE-FESTIVAL CONCERTS ANNOUNCED:
Thursday 28th 2.30pm PAM AYRES – one of the nation’s most popular poets and comics.
Thursday 28th 8pm STEELEYE SPAN – pioneers of folk-rock
Friday 29th 3pm PORT ISAAC’S FISHERMAN’S FRIENDS – back due to popular demand after last year’s sell-out.
BOOK NOW! - GRAB BEST TICKET DEALS NOW, WHILE STOCKS LAST!
SUPER EARLY BIRD DEAL! Limited numbers of all our great season tickets at the lowest possible prices. You won't get them any cheaper than this! Available from 14th December and when they're gone, they’re gone. Get in early! Applies to all Week, Weekend and Day tickets.
BULVERTON BONUS DEALS: We are launching a brand new Bulverton-In-One (BiO) Week Ticket which includes all events at Bulverton Marquee including 8 evening shows, 8 Late Night Extra Ceilidhs, daytime workshops and early and late night sessions in Betsy’s Lounge. Plus Free Camping! Limited numbers of these special rate tickets are available, with an extra special deal for 18 – 25 year olds.
FOLK DANCE REVISITED: The new chapter in folk dance at Sidmouth FolKWeek unfolds with challenging American and English morning workshops, variety-based afternoons, beginners workshops and fun-filled evenings!
WEEK CAMPING PRICES REDUCED: Adult prices reduced by 10% at the Festival Campsite.
Explore the programme pages of the website now and then head to the tickets page to grab your Super Early Bird Tickets before they go!
Sounding in passing a little bit like Nickel Creek blended with Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, Lancaster, Pennsylvania's Stray Birds are one of the folk- and bluegrass-influenced string bands reshaping the sound and feel of modern Americana, grounded in traditional elements recast in a 21st century light. Comprised of classically trained multi-instrumentalists Maya de Vitry, Oliver Craven, and Charlie Muench, and featuring two distinct and fully complementary songwriters in de Vitry and Craven, and highlighted by gorgeous harmonies (all three sing), Stray Birds have enough melodic pop DNA to feel fresh and new even as they also sound at times like they're from a previous century. Best Medicine is the trio's second full-length, following 2012's critically acclaimed and self-titled Stray Birds (the group released an EP of covers, Echo Sessions, in between in 2013). All but two of the dozen songs here were written by either de Vitry or Craven, and if de Vitry is the more strikingly literary of the two, Craven's songs are every bit as graceful and sturdy. One of the covers, a version of the traditional "Who's Gonna Shoe Your Pretty Little Feet," here just called "Who's Gonna Shoe," is a clear highlight, as is de Vitry's "Best Medicine," "The Bells," and "Black Hills," while Craven's "Stolen Love" and "Simple Man" are wonderful pieces, both timeless and graceful. The two songwriters did write one of the songs here together, the lovely and delicate "Feathers & Bones," a piece that shows the quiet strengths of both.
Tia McGraff is an internationally renowned and award winning Americana/Country songstress from Port Dover, ON, Canada. With Scottish/Transylvanian roots running through her songwriting and voice, Tia’s talent has been described as “haunting and soul-gripping.”
6 international cd releases, 4 videos on CMT Canada, various film/tv placements, and numerous nominations and awards (including 2010 Hamilton Music Awards), have earned Tia a respect in the music industry and a global fan base that continues to stretch beyond demographics.
Tia’s latest cd release, Crazy Beautiful, was released in spring 2015, and immediately impressed Americana and Country radio programmers in the USA/Canada/ Europe, resulting in significant chart action.
Produced by Colorado native, Tommy Parham, Crazy Beautiful is being described as “Tia’s break- through album.”
Tommy moved to Nashville, TN in 1998, with a staff songwriter deal in hand, and soon became one of music row’s sought after hit melody makers. His catalog credits include cuts with major label artists, including Lee Greenwood (Rocks You Can’t Move), and film placements in movies starring Ashley Judd, etc.
After moving to Music City, USA in 1999, Tia was introduced to Tommy by his music publisher. They began songwriting together, broke their rule of “never date a co-writer,” and on June 4, 2006 the couple were married in Savannah, Georgia. In Tia and Tommy fashion, they celebrated their wedding by performing a concert for their fans!
Their love and passion for each other- their music -their fans, continue to grow, win hearts, and make them one of Americana Music’s favorite sweethearts.
On listening to Seth Avett & Jessica Lea Mayfield Sing Elliott Smith, fans of the deeply introspective singer/songwriter who died in 2003 may be relieved to discover that the progressive folk and indie rock pair makes the songs the stars of this collection; it's not an album of reinvention or updating but of reverence. Though Smith often double-tracked his voice or much more rarely had guest backing vocalists, the male-female duo approach does make these songs less profoundly solitary, particularly compared to the first half of his solo output. However, their objective was doubtfully to try to match the haunting, intensely moving quality of Smith's recordings, but rather to maintain the emotional essence of his songs. With a 12-song selection reaching across Smith's entire seven-album output (including the two posthumous releases of original material), the sequencing of the album is first-rate, mixing source albums, tempos, and energy, keeping the selection from getting too sullen, even in context of such melancholic material. Some of their versions are very loyal, with only minor changes to tempo or arrangements, such as their fully acoustic "Fond Farewell" [sic]. "Let's Get Lost," off of the posthumously released From a Basement on the Hill, is a nearly identical redo with Avett on lead vocals. Alternately, "Somebody That I Used to Know," a McCartney-esque acoustic ditty from Smith's fifth album, Figure 8, is fleshed out to a fully arranged rock band, with strings joining the denouement. Perhaps thankfully, perhaps surprisingly, "Pitseleh" is the only song that gets the banjo treatment, played by Seth's Avett Brothers bandmate and brother, Scott Avett, though it's performed subtly. The brooding revenge fantasy "Roman Candle" from Smith's 1994 debut is brightened by jangly guitar, feedback, and drums, with the plot slightly altered by Mayfield being the one to sing "I want to hurt him, I want to give him pain." The slight twang of both artists sits nicely on these tunes, especially their stripped-down "Ballad of Big Nothing." If there's a takeaway from this project, it's likely about Smith rather than the performers here: the power of his songwriting bursts through the arrangements. The experience of this album is to have listened to an Elliott Smith record and not an Avett project or to anyone else -- a testament to Smith, certainly, but also to Avett and Mayfield's tasteful if fail-safe renditions.
In this, their 6th year as a band, Maiden Radio brings us the gorgeous new collection, Wolvering. Pulled from an ever-deepening exploration of traditional Kentucky and Appalachian music, Wolvering shines a light on some dark and lovely early-American songs. There are also a couple breath-taking originals, everything being done in their trademark 3-part harmony.
The album derives its name from the place where it was recorded. The trio spent a week of January tucked away in remote Wolverine, Michigan, where these songs were captured, mostly live, by engineer Shane Leonard. When on the third day the access bridge flooded and iced over (with the fuel tank soon to run out as well), the fireplace became an essential part of the session (of life!); you can hear the crackle sometimes as the songs fade in and out.
Easing in with acoustic guitar before a ridiculously catchy guitar hook comes in to drive the song forward (along with a huge backbeat in the chorus) with a train-evoking rhythm,Title track Glory bound is a great way to introduce yourself to The Grahams.
Katie Burns is a singer songwriter from Omaha, Nebraska. Known for her simple, poetic songwriting, finger style guitar and her angelic vocals.
Katie grew up listening to her parent’s Simon and Garfunkel and Peter Paul and Mary records. She remembers being struck by a vocal when she heard Sinead O’Connor’s first hit song. Katie started to pay more attention to vocalists as a teen and was strongly influenced by 10,000 Maniacs, The Sundays, Cranberries and Omaha’s indie scene. At the age of 16 she began to play at local venues in Omaha and in Kansas City.
After attending college on a writing scholarship, Katie spent time teaching inner city high school kids in Chicago and now has three young children of her own that she home schools. She says she believes in the here and now. She tries to live her life and let the songs follow.
In 2013 she released her debut album, You’ll Find Your Way. The album was recorded in Katie’s hometown, Omaha, Nebraska at ARC Studio’s and was produced by Ben Brodin. This intimate album has themes of friendship, parenthood, and daily life. It holds quiet acoustic songs that are accented by beautiful piano and cello parts.
In 2014 she released her second album, Throw the Flowers Down, also recorded at ARC Studios and produced by Ben Brodin. This album explores similar themes. It begins with a song about family ties and ends with burying those ties.
Katie currently lives in Mineral Point, Wisconsin with her husband who is an artisanal cheese maker and her three children.
Her brilliant new album was released on the 12th of December.
This is a heartfelt and emotional collection of mostly original songs written and performed by Sarah Sellari and Chris Henry with several special guests helping on the instrumentation. Styles ranges from old-time to Americana with rare, soaring harmonies.
This collection encompasses an affinity for old-time, folk, spiritual, and bluegrass music delivered through a focused and charming lens. Sarah Sellari has one of the best voices on record and the harmonies with Chris Henry deliver rare and special moments. The songs are memorable and hold up well on many repeated listens allowing the listener to go deeper in the sonic landscape to find nuanced and subtle layers of creativity.
In a career that has already spanned a half-century, Jorma Kaukonen has been
one of the most highly respected interpreters of American roots music, blues, and
Americana, and at the forefront of popular rock-and-roll. A member of the Rock &
Roll Hall of Fame and a Grammy nominee, he is a founding member of two
legendary bands, Jefferson Airplane and the still-touring Hot Tuna. Jorma
Kaukonen’s repertoire goes far beyond his involvement creating psychedelic rock;
he is a music lehttps://youtu.be/WDi0NwdpFOYgend and one of the finest singer-songwriters in music.
Jorma currently, as he has for many years, tours the world bringing his unique
styling to old blues tunes while presenting new songs of weight and dimension.
Jorma is releasing his next solo album, Ainʼt in No Hurry, early in 2015 on Red
House Records.
The son of a State Department official, Jorma Kaukonen, Jr. was born and raised in
the Washington D.C. area, with occasional extended trips outside the United
States. He was a devotee of rock-and-roll in the Buddy Holly era but soon
developed a love for the blues and bluegrass that were profuse in the clubs and
concerts in the nation’s capitol. He wanted to take up guitar and make that kind of
music himself. Soon he met Jack Casady, the younger brother of a friend and a
guitar player in his own right. Though they could not have known it, they were
beginning a musical partnership that has continued for over 50 years.
Jorma graduated from high school and headed off for Antioch College in Ohio,
where he met Ian Buchanan, who introduced him to the elaborate fingerstyle
fretwork of the Rev. Gary Davis. A work-study program in New York introduced the
increasingly skilled guitarist to that city’s burgeoning folk-blues-bluegrass scene
and many of its players. After a break from college and travel overseas, Jorma
moved to California, where he returned to classes at Santa Clara University and
earned money by teaching guitar. It was at this time, that he met Paul Kantner and
was asked to join a new band. Although Jorma’s true passion was roots music, he
decided to join. That band was the Jefferson Airplane.
Jorma invited his old
musical partner Jack Casady to come out to San Francisco and play electric bass
for Jefferson Airplane, and together they created much of Jefferson Airplane’s
signature sound. A pioneer of counterculture-era psychedelic rock, the group was the first
band from the San Francisco scene to achieve international mainstream success. They
performed at the three most famous American rock festivals of the 1960s—
Monterey (1967), Woodstock(1969) and Altamont (1969)—as well as headlining the first Isle
of Wight Festival (1968). Their 1967 record Surrealistic Pillow is regarded as one of the key
recordings of the "Summer of Love". Two hits from that album, "Somebody to Love" and
"White Rabbit", are listed in Rolling Stone's "500 Greatest Songs of All Time".
Jorma and Jack would jam whenever they could and would sometimes perform
sets within sets at Airplane concerts. The two would often play clubs following
Airplane performances. Making a name for themselves as a duo, they struck a
record deal, and Hot Tuna was born. Jorma left Jefferson Airplane after the band’s
most productive five years, pursuing his full-time job with Hot Tuna.
Over the next three and a half decades Hot Tuna would perform thousands of
concerts and release more than two-dozen records. The musicians who performed
with them were many and widely varied, as were their styles—from acoustic to long
and loud electric jams but never straying far from their musical roots. What is
remarkable is that they have never coasted. Hot Tuna today sounds better than
ever.
In addition to his work with Hot Tuna, Jorma has recorded more than a dozen solo
albums on major labels beginning with 1974’s Quah and continuing with his recent
acoustic releases on Red House Records—2007’s Stars in My Crown and River of
Time, produced by Larry Campbell and featuring Levon Helm.
But performance and recording are only part of the story. As the leading
practitioner and teacher of fingerstyle guitar, Jorma and his wife Vanessa Lillian
operate one of the world’s most unique centers for the study of guitar and other
instruments. Jorma Kaukonen’s Fur Peace Ranch Guitar Camp is located on 125
acres of fields, woods, hills, and streams in the Appalachian foothills of
Southeastern Ohio. Since it opened in 1998, thousands of musicians whose skills
range from basic to highly accomplished gather for weekends of master instruction
offered by Jorma and other instructors who are leaders in their musical fields.
A multitude of renowned performers make the trek to Ohio to teach at Fur Peace
Ranch and play at the performance hall, Fur Peace Station. It has become an
important stop on the touring circuit for artists who do not normally play intimate
200-seat venues, bringing such artists as David Bromberg, Roger McGuinn, Arlo
Guthrie, Dave Alvin, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, Warren Haynes, Lee Roy Parnell, Chris
Hillman and more. Students, instructors, and visiting artists alike welcome the
peace and tranquility -- as well as the great music and great instruction -- that Fur
Peace Ranch offers. There they have opened the Psylodelic Gallery, a museum in
a silo, which celebrates the music, art, culture, and literature of the 1960's, tracing
important events and movements of the psychedelic era.
Jorma Kaukonen is constantly looking to take his musical horizons further still,
always moving forward and he is quick to say that teaching is among the most
rewarding aspects of his career. “You just can’t go backward. The arrow of time
only goes in one direction.”
New Folsom Prison provides the starting point for new Linda McRae album
California’s Folsom State Prison occupies a hallowed place in the history of country music. As the location of several Johnny Cash performances and the subject of his song “Folsom Prison Blues,” it has become a symbol of the “outlaw” element of outlaw country. Now, some 60 years after Cash first put it on the map, the California State Prison complex has had a transformational impact on another country roots musician: Canada’s Linda McRae.
After answering a call to host a song-writing workshop at New Folsom in 2011, McRae and her husband, James Whitmire, were moved to develop song-writing workshops for at-risk youth – to try and prevent them from ending up behind bars in the first place. Her new, Steve Dawson-produced album, Shadow Trails, is inspired by that work.
Though perhaps best-known for her eight-year tenure as a member of the platinum-selling band Spirit of the West, Linda McRae had already raised a daughter and performed for more than ten years with west coast punk and roots outfits before joining Spirit. In fact, the band members were regulars at shows by her previous roots rock band, Terminal City. She joined Spirit in 1988 and is heard prominently on two of its most famous and enduring songs, “Home for a Rest” and “If Venice is Sinking.” In 1995, she and the band performed and recorded with Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and released the resulting recording, Open Heart Symphony.The following year, she left the Spirit to launch a solo career and has been charting at folk and roots radio ever since.
In 2006, McRae found love and much more with James Whitmire, a retired American rancher who had recently discovered his voice as a poet, and who put his skills to work trying to woo her. He told her he’d move wherever she dreamed of living, so the couple settled in Nashville, and Whitmire – who she pays tribute to on the album with the song “My Man” – became her manager, collaborator, and constant source of moral support while she’s out on the road. A recovered addict, who’s been clean for more than 25 years, Whitmire has life experience that many incarcerated individuals and at-risk youth relate to, and that has helped the couple build trusting connections through their therapeutic song-writing workshops.
That work, in turn, has inspired McRae, whose new album is chalk-full of raw, honest reflections on hardship delivered with a rough-hewn authenticity.
Here's a little about a few of the songs:
“Flowers of Appalachia” features a wistful, insightful poem by elderly New Folsom inmate Ken Blackburn set to a tender mostly-acoustic backdrop of banjo, guitars and bass.
“Sidewalk Princess,” inspired by another poem by a Folsom inmate, is the fictionalized account of a homeless woman in Vancouver.
And “Jesus or Jail” drew its inspiration from the film “Searching for the Wrong-Eyed Jesus” and the message McRae took away from it: If you’re poor in the south, you have two choices: Jesus or jail.
Other stand-out tracks on the album include “Why Can’t Waylon?” a fabulous outlaw country-style song that borrows an even more fabulous outlaw country –style utterance from the young son of McRae’s friend: “If Jesus can come back, why can’t Waylon?”
There’s also a stirring cover of Willie P. Bennett’s never-recorded number “When Love is a Game,” featuring beautiful pedal steel by Dawson.
And then there’s “Singing River,” which tells the story of Teh-la-nay of the Yuchi nation. The nation called the Tennessee River the singing river because they believed a woman who lived in the river sang to them. When the nation was forcibly relocated to Oklahoma in the 1830s, Teh-la-nay walked for five years to return because she missed hearing the river’s song. The ancestral home of the Yuchi nation lies across the river from Muscle Shoals, Alabama, home of the legendary Fame recording studio, and some say the stream of seminal recordings that came out of Muscle Shoals can be attributed to a certain something in the water.
The magic was all there right from the start; long before they started co-writing or even fell in love. Miranda Dawn and Chris Hawkes first met in 2010 when he crossed an Austin barroom floor and asked her to dance. A modest beginning became an undeniable attraction the first time they sang together.
Hawkes, a budding producer and touring artist, had a handful of solo records, while Dawn a burgeoning singer-songwriter was hosting her own songwriter group showcases, literally setting the stage for their fateful convergence. “I went every week to Miranda’s showcase to hear friends play their new songs. That’s where I really heard Miranda’s lyrics.” Hawkes recalls. “One night, after closing time, a few of us were still sharing songs, and a great mandolin player — who I later learned was Miranda’s dad — asked her to play her song called ‘Forever Happily.’ It felt familiar so I picked up a guitar and played along.” Miranda Dawn admits “Our harmony just fell in and that was the moment we both felt that we should sing together. Something happened and it was as if there was suddenly this third voice.” She continues with more than a hint of genuine wonder “I’d sung harmony with other people before, but this was definitely its own beast.”
Dawn asked Hawkes to record her debut solo album and he joined her onstage at the 2012 Kerrville Folk Festival where Dawn was a finalist in the prestigious New Folk Songwriting Competition. Their first duo effort, Golden Heart EP, released shortly after, kicked off a whirlwind three years of constant cross-country touring, co-writing, and even a run on The Voice. Judge Adam Levine called their version of the Beatles’ “I’ve Just Seen a Face” his “favorite performance on the show - ever” and the single reached No. 1 on Billboard’s rock chart. Their original music followed climbing to No. 25 in Billboard’s Folk chart and landing at No. 2 in iTunes singer-songwriter albums. Likening it to playing one of the biggest festival bills in the world, they seized the opportunity to perform in front of millions. “In the end, it put more wind in our sails” Hawkes says of the experience, “but we’ve still got the same boat - and we have to keep our oars in the water.”
Together, they kept following the tide. After filming, Dawn and Hawkes headed home to their humble studio abode in Austin Texas and immediately set to work recording Yours and Mine in between tour dates with the likes of Dawes, Patty Griffin, Chris Isaak, Jim Lauderdale, Robert Earl Keen, Valerie June, and showcasing at festivals including Austin City Limits, Folk Alliance, South By Southwest and TEDx. “We'd tour, come home inspired, record a song, tour, rinse and repeat” explains Dawn.
With a constant tour schedule, “free time” to record a full-length album was relatively rare, yet Yours and Mine never sounds rushed or compromised. The majority of the songs are co-writes, conceived in real-time while the couple’s relationship bloomed from friendship to lovers and the record stands as an unfiltered chronicle tracing a pair of hearts stumbling, floating, and sometimes soaring through life together. Though not without moments of sobering reflection, Yours and Mine is foremost a celebration of life’s beautiful moments that make us want to take another breath and another step - despite uncertainty.
“We were cynical about love before each other,” concedes Dawn, “...but maybe that’s actually why we’re able to sing about love the way we do today. In the past, I’d sing a heartache song and I’d see people who really needed some of that hope brought by the light at the end of a sad song. I’d never thought the same relief could come out of a love song, but the response to us sharing our lives has been overwhelming. Maybe people need to hear about a little hope and love out there.”
Deeply personal and moving, melodic and uplifting and lyrically rich – these are the songs that will tear your heart out, one note at a time, master storyteller and multi-instrumental performer Gordie Tentrees has arrived.
Yukon based, Ontario raised, farm boy, golden glove boxer, school teacher, youth counsellor turned folk artist Tentrees has released 6 records touring North America, UK, Australia and Europe up to 200 concerts each year, nominated for Western Canadian Music Awards, International Song Competitions and toured with Kelly Joe Phelps, Fred Eaglesmith, Steve Poltz and Mary Gauthier. He offers the perfect example with his sixth album, Less is More, presenting an incredible soundtrack to a storied past with songs of triumph, heartache and redemption. Produced by Juno award winner Bob Hamilton who also contributes textured beauty with tasteful tones, the album features Tentrees blend of folk, roots and blues sounds on 11 tracks including “Camelot Hotel“, written by Mary Gauthier. Tentrees plays dobro, guitar, harmonica, with stellar accompaniment from Aiden Tentrees on upright bass & Fabian Brook on guitar and fiddle. The album also includes guest appearances by Patrick Hamilton, Annie Avery, Lonnie Powell and the voice of east coast darling 2015 Juno winner Catherine MacLellan.
In the three years since his last release North Country Heart, Tentrees wrote more than 30 songs for his new album, mercifully letting most of them die before hitting the tape. Says Tentrees, “I was selective. I wanted to make an album I knew I could make, if I invested all my time and energy.” New album keepers include “Somebody’s Child”, written after watching the bombs go off at the Boston Marathon, all while wondering if his wife had crossed the finish line, and “Tired of Time“, the heartbreaking story of a man who dies of brain cancer years before his prime, while watching his family grow. Themes of despair turn to courage in “Wheel Girl”, an ode to northern hero Jessica Frotten who went from accident victim to wheelchair athlete. Tentrees’ attraction with the downtrodden human continues in “Broken Hero”, a collection of vivid shots of everyday heroes, and include the story-driven hit “Love in Ink“, co-written with childhood friend Oliver Greer. Love rings true in ‘Keno City” and “Wrong Town”, and album highlight “Dead Beat Dad” may be the first recorded confession of a struggling father urging on his male mates to make a difference.
Most of Tentrees’ past three years were spent on the road, with concert dates from Spain to Texas, which keeps through in the title track “Less is More”, written in Holland after sleeping in the same bed as Townes Van Zandt on his last European tour before he passed. Dancing outside the music industry box against all odds, there is no end in sight for Tentrees with upcoming 2015 performance around the world.
A show played perfectly to an empty bar. A singer with life and death on his shoulders, swinging a microphone like Samson swung a jawbone. The real ones who die with nothing half the time. With SALT AS WOLVES, Jeffrey Foucault gives us in sound and image what poet and author Chris Dombrowski calls in the album’s liner notes, “that rare artistic combination of a voice and a world”: a tough, spare collection of darkly rendered blues and ballads, like a field recording of a place that never existed. In a series of letters to lovers, friends, heroes, and family, Foucault deftly weaves together disparate strands of sound and experience, raw love, and hard wisdom.
One of the finest songwriters of his generation, Jeffrey Foucault has taken, in his own words, ‘the small roads;’ building a brick and mortar independent international touring career of ten studio albums, countless miles and critical accolades.
He’s been lauded for Stark, literate songs that are as wide open as the landscape of his native Midwest (The New Yorker) and described as Quietly brilliant (The Irish Times), while catching the ear of everyone from Greil Marcus to Don Henley (who regularly covers Foucault in his live set), to Van Dyke Parks (who offered to play on Foucault’s 2011 offering, Horse Latitudes, after catching a live radio interview). ‘Salt as wolves’ is a line from Othello describing boldness; a fitting title to frame a record of blues played bold and loosely, without rehearsal or cant. With his fifth collection of original songs Foucault stakes out and enlarges the ground he’s been working diligently all the new century, quietly building a deep, resonant catalog of songs about about love, memory, God, desire, wilderness and loss. SALT AS WOLVES gives us Jeffrey Foucault at the height of his powers, fronting an all-star band, turning the wheel of American music.
Jeffrey Foucault was 17 when he learned to play all the songs on John Prine's eponymous debut on his father's mail-order guitar, spending long evenings in his bedroom spinning piles of old records on a hand-me-down turntable, lifting the needle to transcribe every line of ‘Desolation Row’. At 19 he stole a copy of Townes Van Zandt: Live and Obscure from a friend, and a few years later, having quit school to work as a farm-hand and house-carpenter Foucault began writing the songs that became his first record (2001’s Miles From the Lightning). Since that release he’s been everything from solo country-blues troubadour to frontman for a six-piece rock 'n' roll band, along the way compiling a discography remarkable for its visceral power and complex poetics. Yet it wasn’t until he paired with former Morphine drummer Billy Conway that the final piece fell into place and Foucault found the Luther Perkins to his Johnny Cash: the truly sympathetic collaborator to both frame and fire his terse brand of minimalist Americana.
Since 2013 Foucault and Conway have toured across the United States and overseas together, refining a primal, stripped-down stage show: two men, two chairs; a Sears Silvertone electric tuned low and played through a 5-watt amp; a suitcase kick drum, a low-boy cymbal, a snare drum. The pair play only what they can carry into the club alone in one trip, and cover all the territory from blues and country, to rock 'n' roll and folk with a laconic ferocity and timeless cool. Their dynamic partnership - as nimble as it is sonically powerful - is the bedrock from which SALT AS WOLVES builds an eerie and muscular existential blues.
SALT AS WOLVES is not an exploration but a statement: here is the man in full, extending his musical reach in the toughness and precision of his electric guitar work (as he distills a modal, hypnotic electric blues reminiscent of John Lee Hooker and Jessie Mae Hemphill), in the mature range and depth of his singing, and in the intimacy and vulnerability of his songwriting. Cut live to tape in just three days in rural Minnesota, SALT AS WOLVES moves like a vintage Chess record, with an openness and dimensionality that beckons the listener further in. In language richly simple and profound, Foucault plumbs the implications of a life spent looking for the Real, in a series of epistolary songs that locate the transcendent moment or its seeking, the love we don’t understand, the thing that is lost when a great spirit dies. At the heart of the record the song ‘Slow Talker’ frames the whole in its refrain: ‘There’s one note / If you can play it / There’s one word / If you can say it / There’s one prayer / If you can pray it / And each one is the same.’
SALT AS WOLVES reunites Jeffrey Foucault with legendary electric guitar player Bo Ramsey (Lucinda Williams, Greg Brown), and bassist Jeremy Moses Curtis (Booker T, Cold Satellite), as well as longtime drummer and tour partner Billy Conway (Morphine, Cold Satellite). Caitlin Canty, whose breakout 2015 release, Reckless Skyline Jeffrey Foucault produced and played on, joins the band on backing vocals. It’s a hand-picked lineup whose natural affinity - Ramsey’s economy of phrase and raw simplicity the perfect complement to Foucault’s elegant lines and weatherbeaten drawl - is evident from first moment, the whole ensemble notable for an instinctive restraint and use of negative space. These aren’t kids copping riffs: these are grown men drawing from the deep, strange well of real American music, and they have nothing to prove.
Singer-songwriter Steve Forbert released his 16th studio album, Compromised, on November 6, 2015, via Rock Ridge Music (with distribution through ADA). Recorded in Woodstock and Cape Cod and produced by Forbert along with John Simon (who helmed Forbert's breakthrough sophomore album, 1979's Jackrabbit Slim), Compromised is anything but what its title suggests. Its aggressive, roots-rock stylings are reminiscent of Forbert's 1992 album The American in Me.
From the rambling piano and horn-driven swing in "Big Comeuppance" to the seductive twang in "Devil (Here She Comes Now)" to the ironic romanticizing of Altamont in "Welcome the Rolling Stones," Forbert has followed his muse to the hilt. "It's all about the songs," Forbert acknowledges, "and the songs are about the inspiration. For me, if you have the inspiration, then you have to make the commitment to getting the song as good as you know it should be. Then making an album-a finished product-is your next challenge."
Compromised collaborators include bassist Joey Spampinato (NRBQ), drummer Lou Cataldo (The Freeze), pianist/trumpeter Kami Lyle, and keyboardist Robbie Kondor, the latter of whom played on Forbert's classic 1978 debut, Alive on Arrival. "I recorded with the band that did the Arrival and Jackrabbit anniversary tours with me in 2013 and 2014," Forbert says, "where we played those albums in their entireties. It just seemed natural to say, 'Okay, we're going to rehearse for this tour - but let's record an album together, too.' And it was great reconnecting with John Simon again after all this time."
Compromised seems to be a fairly ironic title, given the nature of its contents. "If people ask me why it's called Compromised, well, that's the first song on the record, and it's pretty true to my style," Forbert admits. "But to put it simply, I've been dealing with the changes we've all been going through and what we live with in life today. Clearly, we're going through something new because of the digital revolution. We have so much intensity in the air now - that cliché of too much information."
In today's overload-of-information age, Forbert recognizes the value of having a "calling card" song in his arsenal - "Romeo's Tune," his indelible pop hit that reached #11 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1980. "That song took on a life of its own," he says. "Did I become a household name? No. But you write the songs, and you record the songs. As long as you have the inspiration, you keep on going." A testament to his songwriting prowess, Forbert's songs have been recorded by several artists, such as Keith Urban, Marty Stuart, and Rosanne Cash. His 2002 tribute album to Jimmie Rodgers (entitled Any Old Time) was nominated for a Grammy in the best traditional folk category in 2004. Born in Meridian, Mississippi, Forbert was inducted into the Mississippi Music Hall of Fame in 2006.
The Holcombe Family String Band are a Leeds based band influenced by the ragtime, hot jazz, hokum and western swing of the 1920's and 30's.
Following prestigious supports opening for the likes of CW Stoneking, Sheesham & Lotus & Son, Curtis Eller's American Circus, Simone Felice, The Dad Horse Experience and The Stray Birds, numerous festival appearances and plays on BBC Radio 6 Music and BBC Introducing, The Holcombe Family String Band have won over fans of traditional and early roots music, taking something steeped in the past and highlighting the perpetual relevance of a music often thought of as primitive or archaic.
"It’s ridiculously infectious stuff. A set of beautiful, authentic and fun songs. The Holcombe Family String Band offer a fully immersive experience for a time we all carry a kind of collective, cinematic nostalgia for. Absolutely faultless." - Soundblab
"The country quartet play it like they mean it, and have a genuine feel for the genre." - Culturefly
"Their sound is as infectious as the Memphis Flu" - Fatea Magazine
A proper artist struggles to influence life’s signal to noise ratio. Under the right kind of concentration, the static grows quiet. The extraneous and the superficial are pared away. And precious human qualities are held still, carefully turned over and inspected for illuminating details. In Robby Hecht’s case, this effort emerges as music that invites and even induces the listener to a similar place of serenity, clarity and patience.
“When I’m writing by myself something can take three years until I get past my own self-editing phase,” says Hecht about his meticulous approach. “Everything I write I’m trying to capture some kind of truth that I haven’t heard anyone say in that way before.”
And that’s what we hear on Hecht’s third album, a self-titled collection of twelve lovely and insightful songs. Those who give it time will be seduced by a quality that fellow songwriter Steve Poltz once compared to “a warm blanket that wraps itself around you.” And Poltz is but one of many peers in the folk music community who’ve testified to the magnitude of Hecht’s talents. Catie Curtis, Anais Mitchell, Julie Lee and others have gushed about the “natural beauty” of Hecht’s tone, the “honey in his voice” and his “authentic gifts” as a lyricist. Prizes from songwriting contests at Kerrville and Telluride have further confirmed Hecht’s stature as a musician’s musician. Now, with several circuits of the nation under his belt and a widening base of support in the songwriter world, Hecht is worthy of wider recognition by fans of observant, immersive music.
Raised by Midwestern Jewish parents in the conservative South, he became accustomed to – but never comfortable with – frequent questions about which (Christian) church he attended. His tastes in music in his teens ran the gamut from Def Leppard to The Grateful Dead. More songwriter-centric material took root a little later, and at age 18 he made a “strangely confident and final” decision to commit to music as his calling and career. At college in Madison, Wisconsin his class notebooks became scratch pads as he poured out his first wave of ideas. As he approached performing though, there were doubts. As fascinated as he was by a life in music, he couldn’t shake the feeling of being a stranger and an outsider – even to himself.
It was not until the mid 2000s – after travels in Europe, a time in San Francisco where he formed the duo AllDay Radio, a move back to his hometown of Knoxville and a final shift to Nashville – that he made the most significant discovery of his life as a person and an artist. Thanks to insights from the woman who was on her way to becoming his wife, he learned he’d been suffering for years from bipolar disorder. Besides a large measure of personal contentment, dealing with that head on had truly practical implications for an aspiring performer.
“My condition made it hard to really commit to anything,” Hecht says. “It made it hard to want to record a record. It made it hard to tour or to co-write with somebody. Because at some subconscious level, I didn’t know what version of myself I was going to be when I showed up.”
Robby’s newfound consistency and stability were rewarded with a rush of opportunities and victories. He placed second at the prestigious Telluride Troubadour Contest, a contest he would later win. He took a title at Kerrville New Folk Competition, a national nerve-center of contemporary songwriting. These and other contests were, Hecht says, “an entry point to the world of performing. They put me in front of people on a bigger stage than I had been able to book by myself. And they made me feel like I could perform in front of a lot of people and it would be okay.”
It was more than okay. Hecht’s debut album Late Last Night, made with notable Nashville friends and colleagues such as singers Mindy Smith and Jill Andrews plus producer Lex Price, was flagged by numerous critics and colleagues as a top release in its genre. Maverick magazine called it “gorgeous” and one blogger flagged it as one of his five favorite discs of all time. The album’s lovelorn tone gave way to a brighter mood on its follow-up, Last Of The Long Days in 2011, which was tapped by CMT as a “mellow and beautiful effort.” The buzz around Hecht was substantial, but the world, as we established earlier, is a noisy place and the path to the top in contemporary folk music is long and steep.
Now comes a third album, self-titled as if to announce a true arrival. Again Hecht turned to Nashville’s Lex Price, a low-key sonic master who’s worked with with k.d. lang, Mindy Smith and others, as producer. The honestly recorded, elegantly mixed record is well positioned to stir the hearts that have been stirred before and more besides.
Some songs here feel chiefly the product of craft, while others the product of heart. Among the former is the allegorical song of impossible love called “The Sea & The Shore,” a co-write with Nashville writer Amy Speace. Working under self-imposed rules about symbolism and rhetoric to maintain a consistent voice, they worked over several sessions and many weeks to compose this finely honed masterpiece. Another craft song is “Soon I Was Sleeping” which has the shape and cunning of Hank Thompson or Harlan Howard and the melancholy honesty of Townes Van Zandt. Steel guitar comes out from the background here to give the record a country ease and sway.
The heart songs include “Feeling It Now,” a deceptively simple profile of that evanescent mood when you’re heading out for a night among friends and all is clicking. It’s a celebration of life and more personally a retrospective of the manic experience. And then there’s “Cars And Bars,” a bittersweet postcard from an encounter that promised romance but which became a mere one-off memory.
There are many moments like that on Robby Hecht – moments that provoke recognition and memories of our own. It’s not a debut album per se, and yet for many, it will introduce an important artist who’s hit his stride and learned a lot about teasing out meaning in a noisy world.
Bryony Griffith is an English fiddle player and singer from Huddersfield in West Yorkshire with a rich repertoire of English dance tunes and songs.
Her career in folk music started in the acclaimed ceilidh band Bedlam in her teens and took her all over the UK festival scene. She later became musician for Dog Rose Morris, appearing on Jools Holland, and for one of the premier rapper teams, The Newcastle Kingsmen. She sang in the much-missed a cappella group The Witches of Elswick, but is best known for her role in the BBC Folk Award-winning Demon Barbers and their current touring shows ‘DBXL’ and ‘The Lock In’. In 2011 she and her husband Will Hampson released their first duo album ‘Lady Diamond’ which received 5 star reviews and award nominations, winning ‘Best Debut’ in the 2012 Spiral Earth Awards.
Bryony’s debut solo album ‘Nightshade’ was released in Summer 2014 and sees her stepping away from the comfort of a band to showcase solo fiddle tunes and songs. With only occasional accompaniment from Jack Rutter (Moore, Moss, Rutter, The Seth Lakeman Band) on guitar and herself on piano and strings, the arrangements are intimate and honest.
Traditional tune sets reveal Bryony’s passion for delving through the fiddle manuscripts of her native Yorkshire and the northern counties for uncommon, hidden gems, while her talents as a tunesmith are displayed in the sensitive wedding waltzes and vibrant rapper set.
Bryony’s distinctive vocals feature on 4 of the 11 tracks and show her ability to tackle a range of styles and subjects with a conviction that makes each tale believable.
Nightshade placed in the Top 10 Folk Treats in The Telegraph and is a runner-up in the 2014 fRoots Critics Albums of the Year.
“A solo album of great power and magnificence. She sings beautifully and knows how to kick out a song and does it brilliantly. Wow, what a great voice.” Mike Harding
“Fantastic! Such a lovely style and choice of material.” Norma Waterson
My Politic is an indie/americana trio hailing from Nashville, Tennessee. The musical stories they craft have drawn comparisons to songwriting greats such as John Prine and Townes Van Zandt, and to contemporary artists like The Avett Brothers and The Milk Carton Kids. Tight harmonies, intelligent songwriting and their obvious passion for live performance have become integral to their musical identity.
It all began back in 2003 when Nick Pankey and Kaston Guffey met in the small town of Ozark, Missouri and played in several bands before forming My Politic in 2007. They recorded their first album, "A Few Words I Couldn't Find Yesterday" in 2008. After playing for years in the Springfield, MO area they decided to move to Boston, MA and try their luck on the East Coast. In 2012,
"Could You Come Home" and "Oh My Love" from the Album "Younger Still," released in 2010, were featured on the Real L Word on the Showtime network. In 2013 their song "A Name For You and Me," also from their "Younger Still" album, was featured on MTV's Buckwild. In 2013, the band released their fifth album "Love and A Motor Home.” Since forming the band has played countless shows across the US, which has helped solidify their Americana sound. My Politic made the move to Nashville, TN in the Fall of 2013 where they met their newest member Wilson Conroy, who has helped the band further realize their sound. The New Album "Anchor" is available now, wherever music is sold.
"She is not just a songwriter, nor accomplished musician, nor poignant entertainer - I have been awed by the soul-punching talent of Krista Detor.." - WNC Magazine (Feb. 2015)
MusicDish magazine calls her work: "..like Richard Wright’s 'Manchild in the Promised Land' or the musical equivalent of Akira Kurosawa’s 'Dreams';" The Allmusic Guide calls her “An artist of rare ability with a deep poetic gift,” and Rolling Stone, "A small miracle." Krista Detor’s solo albums have reached national and international prominence, including #1 on the Euro-Americana Chart, and placement within the top 10 of the U.S. Folk and Independent Music charts, but she is no ordinary songwriter: Detor has been involved in several award-winning collaborations, including the highly-acclaimed 'Wilderness Plots,' (PBS national), for which she and fellow writers, including American College of Arts & Letters inductee author Scott Russell Sanders, were recognized by the Indiana Legislature for contributions to the arts (2010), and which resulted in (2) Emmy nominations and a Golden Eagle award.
She was the only American woman invited to The BBC's Darwin Songhouse Project, Shrewsbury England (2009); Says Neil Pearson, Producer of the project: “Krista is one of the very finest modern songwriters at writing within character; and her ability to convey the emotions of the people that inhabit her songs is utterly convincing and believable.. The compelling way the narratives are delivered make one of the most flexible and empathetic writers. Her understanding of the human condition and her ability to express the motivation for her characters give her songs real impact and resonance with the listener.”
She has been commissioned to write musical theatre for The U.S. Dept. of State in New Delhi, India (2012); For the Indiana Arts Commission ('The Breeze Bends the Grass,' Musical Theatre collaborative project, 2013); and has written commissioned choral pieces for several national and int'l choirs. In addition, she's been a returning presenter at Stanford University, wherein, her album, 'Chocolate Paper Suites' was a multi-year ‘required reading’ assignment for the literature course, "The 'isms of Modernism," in which students sought to explore modernism's impact on, and negotiation with, contemporary culture and art. Says Dr. Rod Taylor of the album, “This album provides an excellent example of how the most salient elements of modernist art and philosophy persist in postmodern culture. Its poetic and intertextual lyrics, captivating melodies, meaningful organization, and complex narrative thread will undoubtedly lead to rich discussions among my students.” She has conducted songwriting seminars, performances and presentations at universities and arts centers throughout the world, including Ireland's prestigious IMRO performing rights organization. Most recently (Feb. 2015), she was Artist-in-Residence at the prestigious Hedgebrook foundation. Krista will tour Europe and the UK with her new album, 'Barely,' beginning Sept. 30th, 2015, and continues to tour the U.S. all the while. She's shared stages with Victor Wooten, Chuck Rainey, Loudon Wainwright, The Neville Bros. and Suzanne Vega, among many others. Krista lives in Bloomington, Indiana.
Smokin’ Novas consists of Andrew Hyra, Brian Bristow and Don McCollister, all veterans of the Atlanta music scene. Prior to forming Smokin’ Novas, Hyra, with Kristian Bush of Sugarland, comprised Atlantic Records recording artist Billy Pilgrim. The duo enjoyed both national and international acclaim and received a four star review in Rolling Stone for their debut album. Bristow was a founding member of regional favorites The Tastemakers and most recently Athens, GA based The Highlanders, which released an all-star laden album in 2010. McCollister is a two-time Grammy® winning producer/engineer who has worked with a roster of artists including Third Day, Sister Hazel and Shawn Mullins to name a few.
The self titled debut album, Smokin’ Novas, opens with the infectious track Sunrise, highlighting an all-star backing band including legendary Athens, GA producer/musician John Keane and GA State Fiddle champion Andy Carlson. Hyra sings “such a joyous sound” and it’s impossible not to let them take you on their musical journey. Next up is Crooked Smile that effortlessly takes the listener down a musical path that brings in elements of their influences, yet always leave you feeling you’re in the present.
Consisting of 10 tracks and clocking in just under 40 minutes, the album is in the mold of the classic records from the 70s with not a filler track in sight.
One of the early standouts is The Heights, which appears destined to be the first single released. Here is where the rhythm section of McCollister on bass, Gerry Hansen on drums and Marty Kearns on accordion propel the band to arena-like stature. The meshing of Hyra’s mandolin and Bristow’s resonator guitar lay the groundwork for Hyra’s voice, having been described as “a force of nature”. From there the Novas move along with some of the most beautiful and well thought out arrangements in Wildflower Honey, which could easily be heard coming out of Nashville and Nightdriving that screams to be heard cruising in a convertible going down a back road.
Others have described them as “smooth Americana-Bakersfield sound with pop sensibilities” and you can see why at this point in the record. As the band smokes the instrumental Monteverde Ride, you can just imagine the musical satisfaction of such a tight knit group and can almost see the expression on their faces. The band truly shines here and is highlighted by the guitar/pedal steel/fiddle interplay between Bristow, Keane and Carlson.
And then Don’t Count Me Out arrives…
“Set this heart that’s pounding free” For all of you that are not yet familiar with the Smokin’ Novas well then “Wake up…we’re going rise up!” sings Hyra. And you know what, I believe him.
The final three cuts of the album are the perfect trio to complete the ride. Up On The Mountain offers a spot not yet explored and feels oh so good. New Morning Light provides the listener the opportunity to sing along with something new yet familiar and Rosemarie is the send off that sets you back down nice and easy while painting a picturesque landscape of sounds.
This is the album I’ve been wanting without knowing I even wanted it. Which makes it all the more sweet when it arrives.
