Born in 1980 in the nomadic Tuareg encampment Tidene, just outside Agadez, Niger, Bombino (born Goumour Almoctar, also known as Oumara Moctar) came of age during much political upheaval, fleeing with his family to Algeria by 1990, teaching himself guitar by watching videos of his heroes Jimi Hendrix, Dire Straits, Ali Farka Toure and Tinariwen, and returning to northern Niger's largest city, Agadez, seven years later, when he took on music professionally.

Guitarist Matthew Montfort was the inaugural performer of a series of online Alternate Reality Concerts from the Ancient Future on his birthday in February 2021. Ancient Future’s last pre-pandemic performance was in September 2019 at the Kentucky Mine Amphitheater in Sierra City, California.

GRAMMY® Award-nominated songwriter, producer, and guitarist extraordinaire Cory Wong has united with Portland, OR-based electronic music artist Big Wild for a brand new collaboration. “Crisis (Feat. Big Wild)” premieres today on all DSPs and streaming services. An official live performance video – originally featured earlier this week in the second season premiere of Wong’s inventive online musical variety series, Cory and the Wongnotes – is streaming now at YouTube.