Timber! Outdoor Music Festival is more than a long lineup of bands. Timber! is an experience that could only happen in the Pacific Northwest. It's a festival that brings the audience outdoors, wrapping them in the lush forests and rivers of our home. Attendees at Timber! will do much more than listen to music. They'll hike, camp, swim, bike, run, kayak, and even stargaze on the sprawling grounds of King County's Tolt MacDonald Park (40 min from downtown Seattle). Each stage is nestled in its own grove, and as the music rings out they'll be able to soak up the sunshine, snuggle under the stars, or enjoy some family time with our family activities. Timber! Outdoor Music Festival is an innovative new model for music and community. This is something different, a way to rethink how we can enjoy music together.

Timber! Outdoor Music Festival 2014 in Carnation will take place in the rural splendor of Carnation, Washington, the result of a partnership with King County Parks. With the setting of a densely forested 574-acre park situated at the confluence of two rivers, Timber! is essentially a big neighborhood campout in the woods. Folks come from all over to camp under the stars, swim in the river, and lay out in the sun enjoying music from two primary stages. Ticketholders enter Timber! via a long suspension bridge, and during the day, the Mainstage rings out in a large sunny meadow. At night, the Campfire Stage, nestled among a tall forest of fir trees, becomes a sanctuary for serious listening. Timber! has a wide variety of options available for camping on site and food and beverages available throughout, plus a select range of merchandise vendors.

Activites at Timber!

-Northwest Record Store: We're inviting key Northwest record labels to help us put together a NW Record Store this year! There will be vinyl, CDs, cassettes, and shwag from record labels throughout the Pacific Northwest.

-Camp Counselors: We're asking folks to come forward with cool ideas for community activities at Timber! We'll be picking a few of these and making that person a camp counselor to facilitate the activity. So far we have: an unofficial 5k run, a sponsored Timber! bicycle team on the Seattle-Portland Bicycle Classic, and an outdoor movie Thursday night.

-Music in the town of Carnation: We'll be back in town during the day and in the evenings presenting live music at various local venues. Stay tuned for more info!

-Root Beer Garden for the Kids: It's back! The very popular root beer garden will return with local and craft brews of root beer for the little ones.

-Hiking, Swimming, Kayaking, Stargazing: Take advantage of the pristine beauty of King County's Tolt MacDonald Park and go roaming over the 574 acres of woodlands and meadows, or experience the cooling effect of the Snoqualmie and Tolt rivers.

Timber! Outdoor Music Festival Artists 2014:
CHARLES BRADLEY
J MASCIS
DAMIEN JURADO
ROCKY VOTOLATO
HORSE FEATHERS
CUMULUS
GRYNCH
BATTLEME
ELDRIDGE GRAVY & THE COURT SUPREME
SMOKEY BRIGHTS
THE PHYSICS
THE COMETTES
BENJAMIN VERDOES
THE SHIVAS
LONESOME SHACK
DENVER
TEA COZIES
1939 ENSEMBLE
HOUNDS OF THE WILD HUNT
FAUNA SHADE
MIKEY AND MATTY
JULIA MASSEY & THE FIVE FINGER DISCOUNT
CALICO
 

From the first notes of “Gospel Train,” as Melody Walker’s soaring voice entwines around the phrase “I woke up with heaven on my mind,” you’ll hear that Front Country isn’t your usual bluegrass band. When the fiddle and distorted acoustic guitar come crashing into the song like roaring waves, rushing back and forth with swelling ferocity, you’ll know that this is bluegrass unleashed, American roots music that refuses to be constrained. Each song on the album points to traditional influences, but it’s clear that Front Country views these traditions as a launching pad for grander explorations. On their highly anticipated debut full-length album, Sake of the Sound, Front Country blend everything from high-lonesome mountain music to new-wave power pop, newgrass picking, oldgrass harmonies, and just plain glorious musicality. This is Americana at its best: music with deep roots and wide-ranging vision.

Incendiary American roots duo Billy Strings & Don Julin tap into the vein of the earliest bluegrass music on their new album Fiddle Tune X, back when bluegrass was a rough-and-tumble art form pouring out of the Appalachian mountains, made with great virtuosity and huge attitude. With just two instruments (guitar and mandolin) and two voices, this duo has been tearing up stages across America and generating huge buzz based on their intense live shows. Drenched in sweat, grimacing like a banshee, howling like a bluegrass berserker, and picking with such ferocity that he’s been known to break three strings in one song, 22-year-old guitarist and singer Billy Strings could have tumbled out of coal country in the old mountains, tattoos and all, but actually hails from Michigan, where he met mandolinist Don Julin. Older in years and experience, Strings’ musical partner Julin has carved out a lengthy career at the forefront of acoustic mandolin music, known for his wide versatility, powerful picking technique, and remarkable creativity on this humble instrument. On stage, the two egg each other on to more and more intense riffs and improvised breaks, pushing harder and harder on their own abilities to try to break through to new levels of musicianship. There’s a reason that they were called “the unholy child of Pantera and Tony Rice” by The Bluegrass Situation, and they show this intensity on their new album, Fiddle Tune X.

There's something about living on the edge of the Western world that tends to encourage far-reaching perspectives. Canadian roots trio The Sweet Lowdown certainly understand this. All three members (Miriam Sonstenes, fiddle; Amanda Blied, guitar; Shanti Bremer, banjo) hail from Victoria, British Columbia, on Vancouver Island. With the rough waters of the Pacific behind them and the wilds of the Canadian North above them, The Sweet Lowdown have developed original acoustic roots music that draws from earth and sky for their third album, Chasing the Sun. Earth in the form of the Appalachian old-time stringband music that underpins and fuels their music, and sky in the form of the soaring harmonies that uplift their songs. This is mountain music to be sure; mountains tied to the natural environment of the Canadian Northwest. As such, you'll hear influences in this music as far-ranging as Celtic jigs, Scandinavian fiddling, and that particularly Canadian blend of driving tradition and ground-breaking originality made famous by groups like The Duhks and The Wailin' Jennys. The Sweet Lowdown draw from these influences, but are not beholden, instead blazing a new trail with original songwriting and innovative instrumental arrangements.

Born in Halifax, but raised in the little seaside village of Antigonish, Nova Scotia, within sight of both Cape Breton and Prince Edward Island, sisters Cassie & Maggie MacDonald are heirs to the traditions of Maritime Canada. On their new album, Sterling Road, they show a remarkable deftness for interpreting these traditions, from the fiery reels of Cape Breton to the lilting polkas of their home region, the old Irish and Scottish songs that nestled into the seabord towns on the coast, and the traditions of Scottish Gaelic that still have a home there. The MacDonald’s music is a beautiful blend of all these Celtic sounds, anchored by the powerful, lively fiddling of elder sister Cassie MacDonald and the beautiful guitar and piano work and clear-as-a-mountain-spring vocals of her younger sister Maggie MacDonald. This is the kind of family music that has always fueled the Maritimes, and there’s a very real closeness in this music that can only come from siblings making music together.

Sterling Road was produced with cutting-edge Canadian composer and roots musician Andrew Collins, who keeps the focus on the remarkable energy and power that Cassie & Maggie MacDonald put out on stage. It’s undeniable that Cape Breton fiddle and piano is some of the most rhythmically powerful traditional music in Canada, but Cassie & Maggie bring the same rhythmic punch to tunes of their own composition, like opening track “Jimmie’s” which Cassie wrote for her uncle Jimmie MacDonald and the family farm in Antigonish that’s been in the family since the 1800s, or “Hurricane Jane” which Cassie wrote as a nickname for her sister! One of the sweetest tracks on the album, the “Starlight Waltz” is done in homage to the sisters’ celebrated fiddling grandfather Hugh A. MacDonald, who recorded the tune on the “Celtic” music label in Montreal in 1935. Not many people can lay claim to a heritage like this that ranges from scratchy old 78rpm records to fireplace polka sets in a little village by the sea in Nova Scotia. It’s all part of the uniquely Canadian heritage that Cassie & Maggie MacDonald inherited and are now paying homage to on an international scale.

The other remarkable discovery on this album is the beautiful singing of both sisters. Maggie MacDonald, who leads the songs, has wonderful interpretations of traditional ballads like “The King’s Shilling,” which laments the cost of war, and the traditional Scots Gaelic milling song “Buain A’ Choirce” (Reaping the Oats). Maggie’s voice rings pure and clear, like the great singers of Scotland and Ireland, and together the sisters have the loveliest harmonies. Cassie MacDonald also contributes a song she wrote, the charming “Sweet Melodies,” and, together with Maggie, reworks the ending of “Sisters,” an ancient song of two sisters torn apart by the love of a man, which Cassie & Maggie tackle ironically. Sterling Road is a great joy to listen to, and its even greater joy is that the music of the MacDonalds still rings clear in Antigonish, Nova Scotia, and now throughout the world.

There’s California sunshine in the music of Los Angeles indie Americana band The Show Ponies, even a hint of that West Coast brand of optimism. Joined by special guest bluegrass banjo master Noam Pikelny, their new EP, Run For Your Life, showcases their driving hooks and good-humored harmonies, even while tackling tough subjects like life in the modern world. The Show Ponies tour hard, play hard, and take the business of their craft seriously. Each of their albums, including their new EP, have been crowd funded from their many fans and supporters, and they frequently tour to rapturous crowds. It helps that they have a fantastically entertaining live show, but what’s surprising is that they’re able to translate the intensity of their stage performances to the recording studio, a traditionally difficult feat. On Run For Your Life, The Show Ponies channel their bluegrass roots into a new kind of indie Americana, flush with racing fiddle lines, barn-burning banjo solos, and the kind of old-school harmonies that are still at the heart of American roots music. But they’re also children of a new century, and their songs are written for their new life on the road; each member of The Show Ponies has now quit their day job and the band is going full bore. This gives new meaning to the title of the EP, Run For Your Life!

Founded by lead singers and songwriters Andi Carder and Clayton Chaney, The Show Ponies includes guitarist and producer Jason Harris, champion fiddler Philip Glenn, and master percussionist Kevin Brown. The music they make now can be described as Bluegrass-Infused Americana, but really they’re just making songs that speak to their lives today. “Honey, Dog and Home” reflects the reality of hard-touring bands, as Carder sings of being 14 days on the road and how hard it is to keep up appearances. The title track, “Run For Your Life,” showcases The Show Ponies tight, complex arrangements and rollicking full band sound, but also speaks to our modern reality of debt-ridden malaise. The only way out is to “run for your life!” Using old-school call-and-response singing, the light-hearted “Stupid,” is a romp of a love song that’s brings in an early 1940s big band jazz sound. “Get Me While I’m Young” chronicles the struggles of translating young love into marriage, while the final track “Some Lonesome Tune” offers a deeply powerful perspective on modern faith.

The Show Ponies’ new EP is the perfect introduction to their music, and they couldn’t have made it without the help of banjo master Noam Pikelny. Noam came onboard to be a part of the EP, joining The Show Ponies on the songs “Honey, Dog and Home” and “Stupid.” Just a few weeks later, Noam was at the International Bluegrass Music Association Awards picking up Album of the Year and Banjo Player of the Year!

With Run For Your Life, The Show Ponies are crafting anthems for their generation, fueled by soaring vocals, ultra-tight picking, meticulously arranged instrumental parts, and masterful musicianship. This is a band that wears their hearts on their sleeves and is only looking for room to run.

British Columbian roots songwriter Anne Louie Genest a.k.a. ANNIE LOU has spent years chronicling the rural lifepaths of Canada, writing songs to tell the tales of the hard-hit, hard-won victories of these everymen and women. With her new album, Tried and True, she returns to these backroads again, bringing her knack for storytelling and her keen eye for the small details of Canadiana that give her songs such life. There’s not a song on the album that won’t get your toes tapping, and each is honed with the careful craft of powerful songwriting that has garnered Annie Lou international attention. Annie Lou’s songs move across the range of emotions, looking to touch on something deeper. As Anne Louise says, “This music has an edge to it – in the voices and in the playing is the lament we all carry as people trying to get by”, Genest says. “Joy and grief are two sides of the same coin. The older music expresses that tension so perfectly.”

On Tried and True, Annie Lou is joined by some of the best young roots musicians in the country, from Toronto banjo master Chris Coole to Canadian fiddle wiz Trent Freeman (The Fretless), bassist Max Heineman of The Foggy Hogton Boys, Yukon old-time/bluegrass vocalist Sarah Hamilton and more. Tried and True was produced by Toronto multi-instrumentalist and composer Andrew Collins, who’s long been at the forefront of Canada’s most cutting-edge roots music. The result is an album that moves far beyond Annie Lou’s old-time stringband roots. Tried and True touches on vintage honky-tonk and roots country (check out the pedal steel on “It’s Hard To Tell the Singer from The Song” or the harmonies on “Haunted”), Appalachian roots (the title track), fiddle-driven progressive trad (“In the Country”), old-school folk songwriting (“Roses Blooming”), even bluegrass gospel (“Weary Prodigal”) and old mountain ballads (“My Good Captain”). This wide range of influences wears so well on Annie Lou because she knows these traditions inside and out and is driven to pay homage to them. As she says, “With this album my goal was to explore the songs in a broader musical context, beyond strictly stringband instrumentation, while keeping them rooted in the older traditional music I love so well.”

Annie Lou carries the spirit of an old storyteller, creating songs steeped in old-time mountain, Appalachian, and traditional country and bluegrass music.

Historically, mountain ranges have been formidable barriers for civilization. But for the first settlers who passed through the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, those features gave way to a unique sense of independence and became insulators from the rest of civilization, with collaboration, rather than competition, as the prime virtue. Flash forward to 2015, and you can hear this dynamic at play on BRIGHTER EVERY DAY, the newest album from Denver indie-mountaingrass quintet TROUT STEAK REVIVAL. Produced by Chris Pandolfi of The Infamous Stringdusters, Trout Steak Revival’s new album comes on the heels of their breakout win at the 2014 Telluride Bluegrass Festival and showcases the band’s virtuosic original songwriting and masterful musicianship.

Trout Steak Revival’s five members – Steve Foltz (mandolin & guitar), Casey Houlihan (standup bass), Will Koster (dobro & guitar), Travis McNamara (banjo), and Bevin Foley (fiddle) – each contribute vocals and songwriting in their post-modern approach to American roots music. Their collaborative songwriting process operates more like a collective than a traditional band, with one member bringing an idea while the others flesh out the arrangement with personal touches of instrumentation and harmony. Where it’s easy to use the cold technical language of “tightness” to refer to the arrangements, a better descriptor here might be “close-knit.” Trout Steak Revival’s concise yet multi-layered arrangements are derived from their years of experience playing with and nurturing each other creatively. Like the many bends in the Colorado River, each of the instruments diverge and run their own course, but always end up curving back around to the same destination.

Most of the members of Trout Steak Revival originate from the Midwest, having moved west to settle in Colorado. Many of the songs on Brighter Every Day center on storytelling and the varying places and experiences they’ve each come from, echoing a tension between rootedness and wanderlust. The album opens with a petition to the Union Pacific railroad, reflecting on having seen everything from the “Mojave Desert” to “San Francisco Bay,” pining for home and pleading: “Won’t you take me down your track, let your whistle blow, and bring me back.” “Ours For The Taking” was originally written by Houlihan for his fiancé while “Wind On The Mountain” is about getting caught in a snowstorm during a backpacking trip. The title track, written by McNamara on piano for the wedding of two friends, was later brought to the band and arranged for a five-piece. While the piano is retained here, Trout Steak Revival turns what might have been a meditative processional into a full-fledged celebratory dance. Finally, the album closes with “Colorado River,” a gorgeously raucous ode to their Rocky Mountain home – “I’m swimming’ in my sleep, in the Colorado River deep.”

It’s not hard to see how integral the Rocky Mountain communal tradition is to the listening experience of Brighter Every Day. Grown out of fertile ground, Trout Steak Revival represents a sense of community that has become as unshakeable as the mountains themselves. In Colorado, the air is just a little thinner and colder, making Trout Steak Revival’s unique brand of bluegrass take on an exciting and pioneering timbre that is poised to keep listeners breathless for years to come.

LISTEN: 
https://soundcloud.com/dgramblewest/sets/brighter-every-day-2015/s-uYboj

In the summer of 2014, after a long stretch of living on the road, performing and writing across the U.S., Americana songwriters and Virginia natives Laura Wortman and Kagey Parrish, collectively known as THE HONEY DEWDROPS, decided to settle down in Baltimore, MD. "Touring is like collecting images of landscapes, sounds of voices, contents of stories, moods of plac-es and environments," says Wortman. "All of that can be useful. It tells you something about human nature, about how the world works, little by little.” And so the couple took their experiences on the road, and dug in to write and record their fourth album, TANGLED COUNTRY, in their new home. It’s a beautiful and engaging take on modern American roots music and the first album of theirs entirely written, arranged, and recorded in one place; a testament to the power of home.

Excellently produced, engineered, mixed, and mastered by Nicholas Sjostrom, who also joins The Honey Dewdrops on bass, piano, and Wurlitzer, the songs, all original compositions by Wortman & Parrish, tell stories that engage and resonate in a delicately creative way, blurring the line between narrative and prose. Wortman tells a story about a machine shop across the street from their house when they first moved to Baltimore. "Constant noise from power tools and what sounded like metal hammers banging out the shapes of giant steel swords, and with the regular hum of the city and traffic moving up and down the street, this took some getting used to." But then they noticed the times, sometimes lasting only seconds, sometimes hours, "where everything came to a stop, slowed down, became quiet, like everything was paused." This became the basis for Tangled Country's closing tune and only instrumental track, "Remington," as they tried to capture the feeling of "playing tunes together on the porch in those quiet moments in between” when the world seemed to have come to rest.

The closeness of sound and the musical compatibility that The Honey Dewdrops possess is unmistakeable. On Tangled Country, each share vocals and guitars, augmented by Parrish’s mandolin and Wortman’s work on banjo and harmonica. "I think it comes from spending a lot of time together and knowing the inner workings of each other creatively," say Wortman. And while comparisons to the music of Gillian Welch & David Rawlings are inevitable here, that’s be-cause there's something to this marriage of matrimony and music. Wortman and Parrish's musical chemistry is so vivid here in recorded form that it's not surprising to learn that their live performances are often described as "mesmerizing," "evocative," and “genuine." The culmination of three years of writing and arranging, Tangled Country captures and communicates this as the duo weave dynamics and harmonies from one track to another, proving that The Honey Dewdrops bear the mark of musical maturity – in performance, arrangement, and songwriting.

Throughout Tangled Country, Wortman and Parrish perform as if the most honorable thing to be is honest in themselves. In the song "Guitars," Wortman's voice considers the long lineage of songwriters and stewards of the American roots tradition: "We are born unto our own, sapling seeds from old growth...many hands and many years gone...everyone with a song to teach, some sing pain, some sing peace." But through this long convergence of tradition and history, the chorus makes clear the binding factor: "Sing we all true songs / We sing them right, we sing them wrong / Tuned up tightly and passed along / Like old guitars, we breathe songs." Tangled Country bears witness to The Honey Dewdrops' simply being themselves, stewards of the Americana tradition, having seen the world and grown a little older and now finally come home.

The Appalachian Mountains, perhaps the most iconic strongholds of traditional music in North American history, form a direct line running from eastern Canada down through Alabama. They are the backbone of a body of ballads and tunes that define Americana and have heavily influenced Canadian roots music as well. Few are more conscious and intentional in their journey through these Appalachian histories and musical treasures than KAIA KATER.  Born in Quebec of mixed Afro-Caribbean ancestry, she now resides in Toronto and spends extensive time in West Virginia, where she ardently studies balladry and traditional dance. As an original songwriter, she works to incorporate her perspective as one of the few people of color in roots music into the complex racial history of the traditions themselves. Her music combines beautifully subtle old-time banjo with soft sensibilities, mixing elements of both Canadian and American historical traditions with a decidedly modern sound.  Even now, preparing for her tour and the release of her first album SORROW BOUND in the US, she is high on the mountains, traveling deep into the wilderness of the past.

LISTEN to the album:
https://soundcloud.com/kaiakater/sets/when-sorrows-encompass-me

With a reputation as the epicenter for “NYC’s unexpected contemporary folk revival” (Wondering Sound), the Jalopy Theatre occupies a tiny corner of Brooklyn, an unshakable nod to New York’s past that recently gained notoriety from the Coen Brother’s film Inside Llewyn Davis. At the center of the Jalopy’s new folk revival is popular New York banjoist (and Jalopy instructor), Hilary Hawke and her collaborative musical partner, Brian Geltner. Their old-timey duo, DUBL HANDI, (pronounced “double-handy”) appropriately named after an old washboard company out of Columbus, OH, is releasing their second album, Morning in a New Machine. Setting rhythmic grooves to traditional, well-loved songs, Dubl Handi’s revitalized roots music has been drawing in new audiences with their upbeat, danceable arrangements that focus on the interplay between Hawke’s renowned banjo playing and Geltner’s diverse talents as a percussionist.

“We take old-time, bluegrass and folk tunes that we love,” Hawke explains, “the ones that we can envision people dancing to or feeling in their bones, and we make them meaningful to us by sometimes adding lyrics, changing the feel, and playing our hearts out”. Yet, Hawke and Geltner are doing more than repurposing old songs; they are also adding originals, like the lazy lullaby waltz “No Sleep” and tenacious train song “Drive Away the Blues,” to the mix, and radically re-envisioning the arrangements of the older songs. Dubl Handi experience roots music as a vehicle for creative expression and robust playfulness. By marrying Hilary Hawke’s bracingly rhythmic banjo and Brian Geltner’s percussive multi-instrumentation, the duo nod to the roots of the banjo’s percussive history in American roots music. With their new album, Morning in a New Machine, Dubl Handi set the ever-changing landscape of folk music in modern tones.

LISTEN:
http://dublhandi.bandcamp.com/album/morning-in-a-new-machine

The name that Canadian roots duo Karrnnel Sawitsky and Daniel Koulack chose for themselves is simple and straightforward: Fiddle & Banjo. That’s because they delight in the deeply subtle interplay between their two chosen instruments, and they recognize that this interplay is at the heart of American roots music. On their new album, Tunes from the North, Songs from the South, their goal is to unite the instrumental dance music of the Canadian North that they’ve known all their lives with the songs and tunes of the American South from which they’ve drawn so much inspiration. The music of Appalachian stringbands and blazing bluegrass bands has taken deep root in Canadian cities, and a new generation of artists like April Verch and The Duhks have long been fusing this American roots music with the old-time dance tunes of Canada. Fiddler Karrnnel Sawitsky is in a perfect spot to do this, having grown up immersed in Canadian old-time fiddling, particularly the barndance tunes of the Ukrainian communities he grew up a part of in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Sawitsky toured as part of a family band of fiddlers growing up, but is better known now for his boundary-pushing fiddling and compositions, as featured in his acclaimed Canadian fiddle ensemble The Fretless.

LISTEN:
https://soundcloud.com/devon-4-1/sets/karrnnel-sawitsky-danil-koulack-fiddle-banjo/s-RgH25

Released September 11, 2015 on Alternative Tentacles Records–Jello Biafra’s record label–this is Legendary Shack Shakers’ first release in five years, lands on the band’s 20th anniversary, and is their Alternative Tentacles debut (following releases on Yep Roc, Bloodshot, and Arkam Records). The Southern Surreal also features guest appearances by actor/musician and longtime Shack Shakers fan, Billy Bob Thornton, and Jesus Lizard guitarist Duane Denison. With The Southern Surreal, the Shack Shakers explode the ‘Southern Gothic’ concept, reaching so deep into the forbidden roots of Southern culture that the rich mud they bring forth is almost unrecognizable.

LEGENDARY SHACK SHAKERS TOUR DATES
w/Joe Fletcher

SEPT 17: Nashville TN
Americana Music Festival
 
SEPT 18: Phoenix, AZ
The Rebel Lounge

SEPT 19: Long Beach, CA
Folk Revival Festival
 
SEPT 20: Rosemead, CA
Spike's

SEPT 21: Las Vegas, NV
The Sayer's Club

SEPT 22: San Diego, CA
The Casbah

SEPT 24: Lancaster, CA
Moose Lodge 1926

SEPT 25: San Francisco, CA
Bottom of the Hill

SEPT 26: Santa Cruz, CA
The Atrium

SEPT 28: Williams, OR
Cocina 7
 
SEPT 29: Portland, OR
Dante's

SEPT 30: Seattle, WA
Tractor Tavern

OCT 1: Boise, ID
Neurolux

OCT 2: Hailey, ID
Sun Valley Brewery

OCT 3: Salt Lake City, UT
Area 51

OCT 4: Denver, CO
Hi-Dive

OCT 5: Fort Collins, CO
Aggie Theatre

OCT 7: Omaha, NE
Reverb Lounge

OCT 8: Columbia, MO
Rose Music Hall

OCT 9: Ames, IA
DG's Tap House 

OCT 10: Rockford, IL
Kryptonite Bar

Colorado roots band FY5–Finnders & Youngberg is coming to the Gold Hill Inn in Boulder, and they're bringing their own blend of progressive roots music with gritty honky-tonk/country songwriting. Led by Mike Finders, the songs on their new album, Eat the Moon, which just dropped a few months ago, range from swaggering 'back door man' whiskey swillers to delicately crafted ballads that reflect the cool open air of their Colorado home. It's complex music that spills beyond its roots, a testament to artists that can use their virtuosity to actually say something.

NOV 15: Boulder, CO
FY5–Finnders and Youngberg
Gold Hill Inn
401 Main St Boulder, CO 80302
$10 for the show
http://www.goldhillinn.com

MORE INFO:

For decades now, Colorado has been a wellspring for American roots music, combining the traditional Appalachian old-time and honky-tonk strains of the East with the spirit of adventure and openness of the West. Colorado has served as a magnet for musicians looking to find themselves, and it’s become a place for musical kindred spirits to commune and create. FY5 –Finnders & Youngberg  represent this pioneering spirit, and with their latest effort, Eat the Moon, we can hear a newfound maturity and purpose that comes with steady gigging, dedication, and a renewed sense of purpose. Bluegrass harmonies, crisp as a mountain stream, meld with virtuosic picking and fiddling and the kind of honest acknowledgment of the tough realities of life that’s best found in traditional honky-tonk. “We’re proud to have come from the traditional folk and bluegrass school,” says bandleader Mike Finders, “yet we put all that aside and do our best to build the songs honestly, creatively, with no predetermined agenda to play this or that kind of music.” With Eat the Moon, FY5 brings us a self-assured vision of American music, rooted in tradition, but pointing to new creative directions that make it vital and relevant in today’s modern world.

MerleFest, presented by Window World and slated for April 28-May 1, 2016, is proud to announce the music festival’s initial lineup. The four-day event, an annual homecoming of musicians and music fans, will once again take place on the campus of Wilkes Community College in Wilkesboro, North Carolina.

Tickets for MerleFest 2016 are on sale now, and may be purchased at www.MerleFest.org or by calling 1-800-343-7857. A three-tiered pricing structure will be offered for MerleFest 2016. The Early Bird Tier 1 ticket discount is available starting November 10 through February 15, 2016. An Early Bird Tier 2 ticket discount will run from February 16, 2016, through April 27, 2016. The third price tier will be gate pricing.

The initial lineup reflects the diversity and quality of performers who are the hallmark of the festival. MerleFest is known for its unique mix of traditional, roots-oriented music from the Appalachian region, including bluegrass and old-time music, Americana, blues, country, Celtic, Cajun, cowboy, zydeco, rock and many other styles that the late Doc Watson referred to as “traditional plus."

“We keep Doc Watson’s ‘Traditional Plus’ spirit alive each year at MerleFest by inviting artists that will showcase a wide variety of music from multiple genres. With artists and bands like John Prine, Dave Rawlings Machine, The Wood Brothers, Scythian, Jerry Douglas and Steep Canyon Rangers, it will be a weekend packed with great music,” said Steve Johnson, MerleFest artist relations manager. “As in years past, the lineup will continue to develop in the coming months. MerleFest fans have grown accustomed to the special ‘moments’ that MerleFest plans each year. And the possibility for ‘spontaneous special moments’ is highly likely given the combination of artists that are known to pull together onstage jams at MerleFest.”
 
“As MerleFest fans have learned, we release up-to-the-minute lineup additions and other festival news through our social media platforms; so staying in touch with us via our electronic newsletter, website (www.MerleFest.org), Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Twitter is crucial,” Johnson adds.
 
"It’s a thrill for us to announce the performers at MerleFest each year because we take pride in always presenting a lineup that is dynamic and diverse,” says Ted Hagaman, festival director. “It’s the quality of the artists and performances that our guests see over the four days of the festival that, in turn, creates another important element of MerleFest’s success: people truly feel that the festival is a great value. So many music fans and families return year after year, making MerleFest a regular spring tradition. We will always work to make that tradition continue.”

A rather literal translation of the phrase “break a leg” befell singer Sheena Rattai of Canadian roots trio Red Moon Road in 2012, forcing a tour cancellation and months of bedside songwriting. Though an unlucky break from a Frisbee-catch-gone-horribly-wrong, it brought their new album Sorrows and Glories to its explosive fruition. Sorrows and Glories is spun from the band’s diverse life-blood, an impressive and eccentric blend of swinging rhythmic bounce, beautiful vocals reminiscent of Sara Bareilles pop influences and Aretha Franklin soul, and songwriting that taps a deep vein of Canadiana. Two years since the accident and finally sans crutches, Winnipeg roots/folk-darlings Red Moon Road’s new album is influenced especially by the ups and downs of the healing experience. Songs like “Beauty in these Broken Bones” and “I’ll Bend But I Won’t Break” capture the process of recovery, while also meditating on the gifts this can bring. With such a depth in narrative, Sorrows and Glories is a continuation of the band’s signature storytelling ability, while also a step in a captivating, fresh direction.

Red Moon Road are the roots music linchpins of Winnipeg, their hometown and the cultural cradle of Canada. Diverse in its cultural populations, landscapes, and arts scene, Winnipeg is the perfect starting place for Red Moon Road; a group also known for collaging influences like jazz, folk, roots and country to make up their eclectic sound. All three members of Red Moon Road are multi-instrumentalists; Sheena Rattai sings while drumming on the snare, Daniel Jordan picks guitar and kicks the bass drum, Daniel Péloquin-Hopfner plucks banjo, mandolin, and pedal steel, and adds nuanced vocal harmony. Collectively their sound is remarkably full, much more like a band than a trio, while their songs channel Manitoban country, traditional folk storytelling, and gospel-inflected Americana.

In collaboration with the impeccable ears and deft fingers of multiple Juno recipient David Travers-Smith (Wailin’ Jennys, Ruth Moody), and legendary producer Murray Pulver (Doc Walker, Steve Bell), the trio delivers some of their finest songwriting to date. From the Beatle-esque pop of “Words of the Walls,” that muses on Winnipeg’s iconic Roslyn Apartment Complex, to “Sophie Blanchard 1778,” which relates the tragic story of an 18th century French aeronaut, to the full-on spiritual “Beauty in these Broken Bones,” Sorrows and Glories is an artful 11-song display of Red Moon Road’s original, diverse and innovative musical narratives. Each song offers a window into a different Canadian perspective, and though the music is informed by a wide range of North American roots, Red Moon Road’s album is an intimate and joyful look at their own journey, a path that may have been rough at one point, but is wide open to new horizons now.

MerleFest, presented by Window World and slated for April 28-May 1, 2016, is proud to announce additions to the 2016 lineup: Old Crow Medicine Show, Alison Brown, Peter Rowan and Doug Seegers. The four-day event, the largest roots and Americana music festival in the nation, takes place on the campus of Wilkes Community College in Wilkesboro, North Carolina, in the heart of Appalachia. MerleFest continues the legacy of Doc Watson and is a benefit for the college. The homecoming of roots music fans draws nearly 80,000 participants every year.

We'd love to talk about coverage for MerleFest 2016 and would be happy to put you in touch with artists or  festival organizers. Just let us know! These four artists join nearly 100 other artists already announced, including John Prine, Dave Rawlings Machine, The Wood Brothers, Steep Canyon Rangers, and more!

MerleFest, presented by Window World and slated for April 28-May 1, 2016, is proud to announce four more additions to the 2016 lineup: Brandi Carlile, Tim O’Brien, Sam Bush Band and Jim Lauderdale. These artists join over 100 other artists already announced, including John Prine, Old Crow Medicine Show, Dave Rawlings Machine, The Wood Brothers, Alison Brown, Peter Rowan, Doug Seegers, Steep Canyon Rangers and more! The four-day event, the largest roots and Americana music festival in the nation, takes place on the campus of Wilkes Community College in Wilkesboro, North Carolina, in the heart of Appalachia. MerleFest continues the legacy of Doc Watson and is a benefit for the college. This homecoming of roots music artists and fans draws nearly 80,000 participants every year.

Lonesome River Band had been established for nearly a decade when the band released its landmark album, Carrying the Tradition, in 1991. The critically acclaimed project ushered in a new era for Bluegrass by acknowledging tradition while introducing new elements that expanded the genre.

Now, 25 years later, this award-winning band is again set to build on the familiar while adding bold progressiveness to its legend with this latest release, Bridging the Tradition (Mountain Home Music Company).

The new album contains the familiar LRB groove but offers Grass versions of Country songs. The band covers the popular Waylon Jennings hit, "Rose In Paradise," making the tune all its own. A progressive and spooky rendition of the Old Time ballad, "Boats Up The River," is rendered with the familiar sound that LRB has perfected over the past quarter century, as is the working class anthem, "Real People."

Driving, in-the-pocket power Bluegrass is here as well. The Carter Stanley classic, "Rock Bottom," lives alongside the commanding, "Swinging Bridge." Both are examples of the finest Traditional Bluegrass being recorded today.

Bridging the Tradition is both familiar and progressive, with each track receiving just the right treatment. Some arrangements include the addition of masterful session drummer, Tony Creasman, who adds percussion in the most tasteful way to complement the rhythmic pulse that is a hallmark of the LRB sound.

"This album is different than anything we've ever done," says multi-award winning banjo player, Sammy Shelor. "The songs are ones that we are really personally interested in doing. What we came up with has once again helped to recreate our sound. All the while, we are being true to ourselves as musicians."

Lonesome River Band is continuing to evolve in the ever-changing landscape of Bluegrass and Acoustic Country music. With Bridging the Tradition, the band once again delivers incredible, ground-breaking music that is rooted in the tradition it began decades ago.

ABOUT LONESOME RIVER BAND

Since its formation 34 years ago, Lonesome River Band continues its reputation as one of the most respected names in Bluegrass music. Five-time International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) Banjo Player of the Year, and winner of the Steve Martin Prize for Excellence in Banjo and Bluegrass, Sammy Shelor leads the group that is constantly breaking new ground in Acoustic music. With two stellar lead vocalists, Brandon Rickman (guitar) and newest member Jesse Smathers (mandolin), and the impressive talents of Mike Hartgrove (fiddle) and Barry Reed (bass), the band seamlessly comes together, performing the trademark sound that fans continue to embrace.

Charismo is the Hackensaw Boys record you’ve been waiting to hear. The 11-track album feels like the zenith release of the band’s 17 years, gathering their diverse life experiences and myriad of roots influences, and crystallizing them into a magnum opus on the Hackensaw way of being. Traditional Appalachian and Delta music lay the groundwork, but it’s injected with a heavy dose of the contemporary, good-times-roll kind of spit and vinegar the band has become known for over the years.

Produced by Larry Campbell – who has lent his talents to Bob Dylan, Levon Helm, and countless others – Charismo sees the band reeled in and slightly refined, though still as spirited as ever. The songs (all written by longtime Hackensaws David Sickmen and Ferd Moyse) are tinged with an attitude of scrappy resilience, spinning tales and metaphors of everyday, working class struggles and triumphs. With Campbell’s production, the Hackensaw’s somewhat casual, porch-front aesthetic is sharpened around the edges, focusing in on the simple beauty of their melodies and the earnestness in their delivery.

LISTEN:
https://soundcloud.com/freedirtrecords/sets/hackensaw-boys-charismo/s-tCYw2

Acclaimed NY vocalist Eva Salina's new album takes on the legacy of the legendary Serbian Romani (gypsy) singer Šaban Bajramović. He was larger than life and known for his gritty love songs of mad women and tragic tales. Eva Salina's tribute to Bajramović is two-parts celebration and one-part subversion. To make the album she drew from New York's jazz and global scenes, including members of Slavic Soul Party!, Kultur Shock, and The Klezmatics (Frank London). She also traveled by special invite to a small village in Serbia to record the inimitable sounds of Balkan brass bands from Roma musicians. She sings in the Romani language throughout, subverting Bajramović's male voice with her own. It's a daring, gonzo album that pays as much homage to the sounds of Serbia in the 80s as it does to Romani music today!

LISTEN:
https://soundcloud.com/devon-4-1/sets/eva-salina-sings-saban-bajramovic-lema-lema/s-FZkfd

MerleFest, presented by Window World and slated for April 28-May 1, 2016, is proud to announce three powerful new additions to the 2016 lineup: breakout Americana star Jason Isbell, legendary Australian guitarist Tommy Emmanuel and inspiring gospel songster Mike Farris and The Roseland Rhythm Revue. These three new artists join over 100 other artists already announced, including John Prine, Old Crow Medicine Show, Dave Rawlings Machine, Brandi Carlile, The Wood Brothers, Steep Canyon Rangers, Tim O’Brien, Jerry Douglas, Sam Bush, Peter Rowan, Alison Brown, Doug Seegers and more! The four-day event, the largest roots and Americana music festival in the nation, takes place on the campus of Wilkes Community College in Wilkesboro, North Carolina, in the heart of Appalachia. MerleFest continues the legacy of Doc Watson and is a benefit for the college. This homecoming of roots music artists and fans draws nearly 80,000 participants every year.

The new album from North Carolina roots songwriter Andy Ferrell, At Home and In Nashville, is aptly named, for it points to a long lineage of artists traveling between their homes in rural Appalachia and the neon lights of country music’s capitol, Nashville, Tennessee. Born in Boone, NC, Ferrell grew up in heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains, the birthplace of Appalachian traditional music and the home of the great Doc Watson. Growing up in Watson’s shadow, and with a folk guitarist for a father, Appalachian roots play a large role in Ferrell’s music. What’s surprising about his new album is how far he has reached beyond these roots. On this album he focuses on country songwriting with a bittersweet edge, much like his heroes Hank Williams and Townes Van Zandt. Recording the album between Nashville and Boone, he blends old-time roots and folk songwriting with a more polished country sound that verges at times on Paul Simon-esque balladry. Sweet pedal steel rings through his sound, mixed in with rich vocal harmonies and songs that look to the hard truths of a working man’s life as much as to the vagaries of love.

At Home and In Nashville takes its name from the split nature of the album, in which the first half was recorded in Nashville’s Quad Studios with a full band and the second half was recorded in front of a live audience at The Jones House in Boone, North Carolina. Both of these settings show a different side of Andy Ferrell. As a confident bandleader, his folk songs nestle deeply into country settings in the first half. From the rolling blues of the opening song to the dancehall swagger of “Nobody to Answer To” or the barroom balladry of “Photographs and Letters,” Ferrell’s songwriting blends easily with the polish of a band of Nashville session leaders. For the second half, Ferrell delves deeper into his Appalachian folk roots, seasoned with a pinch of Woody Guthrie populism. Highlights like “Run Billy Run,” a pitch-perfect take on the old outlaw songs, and “The Price of Freedom,” a sadly knowing story about an old drifter, show that Ferrell’s a folk songwriter with an uncanny eye for stories new and old.
 
There’s a sense of travel in Ferrell’s new album, not least for it having been made between two states. He’s the kind of artist that needs to be in a constant state of motion. “I almost always have to be traveling to write good songs,” Ferrell admits. “It doesn't matter where, anything other than being in the town I live in usually works.” Time spent travelling cross-country and to Mexico have been productive moments for him, birthing some of his best songs. As if flashing by the windows of a moving train, At Home and in Nashville tells the stories of lovers lost, places left behind, and brighter futures ahead. Ultimately, it’s the story of a young man coming into his own as a songwriter on the road of life.

he great painter Georgia O’Keeffe once said, “When you take a flower in your hand and really look at it, it’s your world for the moment.” Americana songwriter Kelley McRae approaches songwriting the same way, immersing herself in the colors and meaning each song offers up. Her new album, The Wayside, released April 7^th, 2016, is a bouquet of blooming tone-paintings, each tender and intimate in their own right, exploring the rugged, unfolding experience of life on the road. McRae’s vision is completed by co-writer, guitarist and husband Matt Castelein, whose distinctive guitar work and vocal harmonies add nuance and energy to the album.
 
In 2011, McRae and Castelein traded their New York apartment for a VW van and decided to tour full time with their music, travelling extensively in American and Europe for performances, crafting new masterworks as they traveled. The Wayside is a testament to the inspiration inherent in the American landscape, the grief intrinsic to change, and the hope that comes with stepping onto unknown soil.

With only one week until the start of MerleFest 2016, presented by Window World, the town of Wilkesboro, N.C. is buzzing with activity. Starting next Thursday, April 28, at 2:30 p.m., and running through Sunday, May 1, approximately 75,000 participants will gather at this annual homecoming of musicians and music lovers at Wilkes Community College for the nation’s largest celebration of American roots music.
 
With over 100 artists on 13 stages throughout the college, participants at MerleFest know to expect the unexpected. Late night jam sessions, band competitions, special guests onstage, impromptu dance parties and one-time-only musical collaborations are all a part of the fabric of MerleFest – and a testament to the enduring vision of Doc Watson and the Watson family. A key part of this vision is Doc’s idea of “traditional plus” music. Taking traditional Appalachian music as the base, “traditional plus” incorporates the many forms of American music that came from Appalachian roots and expanding to include blues, country, Americana, rock and bluegrass. Today this “traditional plus” spirit means that Americana star Jason Isbell will rub shoulders with young bluegrass visionary Sierra Hull or John Oates of famed rock duo Hall & Oates can jam with “newgrass” pioneer Sam Bush. As the nation’s largest roots and Americana festival, MerleFest has room for all those who treasure the American traditions.
 
“In addition to the spectrum of genres offered at MerleFest, this year’s lineup speaks to the quality of music offered at the festival,” said Steve Johnson, artist relations manager for MerleFest. “On our stages we’ll have many Grammy Award-winners or multi-Grammy Award-winners, Americana Music Award winners, Country Music Association winners, and International Bluegrass Music Association Award (IBMA) winners, among many other local, regional, songwriting and instrument awards. I know that awards are only one way of recognizing outstanding talent, but these associations and their members invest a lot in considering artists to select the best of the best each year.”
 
Grammy Award Winners
Alison Brown, Jason Isbell, John Prine, Old Crow Medicine Show, Jerry Douglas, Jim Lauderdale, Tim O’Brien and Steep Canyon Rangers
 
Americana Music Association Winners
Jason Isbell, Old Crow Medicine Show, Jerry Douglas, and Gillian Welch and Dave Rawlings, who also won the AMA Lifetime Achievement Award
 
Country Music Association Award Winners
Gillian Welch, Old Crow Medicine Show, Jerry Douglas, John Prine, and Sam Bush
 
IBMA Award Winner
Steep Canyon Rangers, Jerry Douglas, Amanda Smith, Becky Buller, Junior Sisk, Tim O’Brien, Karl Shiflett, Bryan Sutton, Alison Brown, Peter Rowan, Sam Bush, Jerry Douglas, Scott Vestal, Kenny Smith
 
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
John Oates                                                            
 
Like many performers at MerleFest, Dan Fedoryka, a founding member of the MerleFest fan favorite band Scythian, knows that performing at this festival is a chance to pay homage to the greats who came before. "We play festivals all over the country ranging from Celtic to roots festivals, and I can say that MerleFest holds a special place in our hearts,” Fedoryka said. “It’s here that our eyes were opened to the living tradition in music: we got to actually meet the greats that up until then had been beyond reach, almost mythical. There are many things that give you a sense of accomplishment in a musical career, but to meet the greats, to shake the hands of Doc Watson, Levon Helm and others is something that stays with you and makes a difference in how you move forward as a musician. This respect for tradition is palpable and seeps into the audience. After eight years at MerleFest, we can say that we feel like family with the attendees and have seen many children grow up before our eyes, a truly unique environment that just can't be found anywhere else."
 
The complete lineup and stage schedules are posted at merlefest.org/lineup and available on the MerleFest mobile app; festival updates are delivered via Twitter (@MerleFest) and Facebook. Use hashtag #MerleFest to connect with other festivalgoers on social media, and be sure to take a picture with Flattop, MerleFest’s raccoon mascot.
 
On Thursday, April 28, MerleFest will feature performances by John Prine, Alison Brown, Steep Canyon Rangers, Shannon Witworth, Tellico, and others, as well as unique collaborations between artists, for example Donna the Buffalo with Peter Rowan and Jim Lauderdale. Earlier in the day, participants in Pete Wernick’s MerleFest Jam Camp will perform on the Cabin Stage, and North Carolina’s bluegrass-tinged joyride Love Canon will open up the dance tent at 9:30 p.m.

On Friday, April 29, MerleFest fans will enjoy performances by legendary artists like Old Crow Medicine Show, Peter Rowan and Jerry Douglas, festival favorites like Scythian and The Kruger Brothers, and MerleFest newcomers like Doug Seegers. The Brothers Comatose and Billy Strings, plus international artists Australian bluegrass singer Kristy Cox, and Irish banjo trio We Banjo 3 and Canadian artists The Slocan Ramblers and Kacy & Clayton. At 2 p.m, crowds will gather for the finals of the Chris Austin Songwriting Contest, hosted by Jim Lauderdale. The winners of the contest will perform at 7:30 p.m. on the Cabin Stage. This contest is renowned for discovering new talent and showcasing the next stars in American roots music.
 
Friday also offers the Doc and Merle Watson Performing Arts Showcase, hosted by Joe Smothers and Bob Hill of Frosty Morn on the Austin Stage. The series is intended as a diverse, eclectic sampling of local and regional talent, allowing festivalgoers to see the artists in a more intimate setting. Also in honor of the Watson family, Friday features the Docabilly-Blues Blowout featuring David Holt of the PBS series “State of Music,” Jim Lauderdale, T. Michael Coleman, Tara Nevins, String Madness and more. Closing out the night, Donna the Buffalo will light up the Dance Stage into the midnight hour.
 
On Saturday, April 30, festivalgoers will enjoy performances from icons like John Oates, Dave Rawlings Machine, Sam Bush Band and Jim Lauderdale, plus showcases from visionary roots bands and musicians like The Wood Brothers, Shinyribs, April Verch, Penny & Sparrow, Zoe & Cloyd, Lindsay Lou & The Flatbellys, Wood & Wire, Becky Buller and more.
 
Special events Saturday during the day include the MerleFest Band Competition; Mando Mania, a showcase of mandolin legends including Sam Bush and Tim O’Brien; and workshops and interpretive sets like “Learn to Jam” with Pete Wernick and “Songs of the Civil War” with Sparky and Rhonda Rucker. Of special note to MerleFest devotees is the Memories of the Watson Family workshop hosted by T. Michael Coleman with guests Sam Bush, Bryan Sutton, Jens Kruger, Jeff Little, Jack Lawrence, David Holt and other family friends.
 
The great MerleFest tradition of The Hillside Album Hour, hosted by The Waybacks, returns with guest vocalist Nicki Bluhm. MerleFest has been leaking hints as to which classic album will be reinterpreted for the Album Hour, but the album in question will remain a mystery up until the start of the set at 4:15 p.m. on the Hillside Stage.
 
In the late night hours, the crowd-pleasing Midnight Jam will raise the roof of the Walker Center. A separate ticket is required and available for purchase by 4-day and 3-day ticket holders and Saturday-only ticket holders. Hosted this year by Donna the Buffalo and sponsored by The Bluegrass Situation, this popular hootenanny gathers together many performers from the festival for impromptu artistic collaborations and one-of-a-kind superstar jams. Guests this year include Tommy Emmanuel, Peter Rowan, Mipso, Becky Buller, Jim Lauderdale and more, plus surprise special guests!
 
The final day at MerleFest, Sunday, May 1, begins with morning devotions at the Creekside Stage, gospel music with Jim Avett, the father of the Avett Brothers, and the uniquely American sound of shape-note singing with Laura Boosinger at the Traditional Stage. Throughout the day, festivalgoers will enjoy uplifting performances from artists Liz Vice, Annie Moses Band, The Bros. Landreth and Jonathan Byrd & The Pickup Cowboys, followed by show-stopping sets from artists Jason Isbell, Brandi Carlile, Tim O’Brien, Tommy Emmanuel and Sierra Hull. Other activities include the MerleFest Open Mic at the Plaza Stage where musical guests can join in the fun on stage and hear Carol Rifkin, Laura Boosinger, Sarah Osborne, Jeanette Queen and others sing and play traditional music.

MerleFest, presented by Window World, has wrapped up its 29^th year. Early estimates show that from its start on Thursday, April 28, to its close on Sunday, May 1, aggregate participation over the festival’s four days was approximately 74,500 participants. MerleFest, held on the campus of Wilkes Community College, is the primary fundraiser for the WCC Endowment Corporation, funding scholarships, capital projects and other educational needs.
 
Over 100 incredible performers contributed to the success of MerleFest 2016, including John Prine, Old Crow Medicine Show, Jason Isbell, John Oates, Brandi Carlile, Dave Rawlings Machine, The Wood Brothers, Tim O’Brien, Tommy Emmanuel, Sam Bush, Steep Canyon Rangers, Jerry Douglas, Peter Rowan, Jim Lauderdale, Alison Brown, Mike Farris and The Roseland Rhythm Revue, The Kruger Brothers, Scythian, Donna the Buffalo, The Waybacks, Doug Seegers and many more.
 
Every year, music fans at the festival experience what has become known as “MerleFest Moments,” special groupings of performances, jam sessions and events that get the whole festival talking and become legendary in the festival’s rich history.
 
Thursday night’s MerleFest Moment came when John Prine extended his set by 40 minutes. He was having so much fun onstage that he closed with a sing-along of his classic song “Paradise,” with special guest Jim Lauderdale. Earlier in the day, deep bluegrass roots artists Alison Brown and Steep Canyon Rangers brought creative arrangements and eclectic covers to push the tradition forward.
 
Friday afternoon, MerleFest was buzzing with praise for Nashville gospel-soul sensation Mike Farris & The Roseland Rhythm Revue’s performance that included a cover of Prince’s “Purple Rain.” Throughout the day, evidence of MerleFest’s international reach was heard, from the vibrant Irish musicians in We Banjo 3 to Canadian high-energy bluegrass band The Slocan Ramblers, who wowed fans throughout the festival. Old Crow Medicine Show closed out the night with songs from their new album and timely covers of Merle Haggard, Doc Watson and Willie Nelson.
 
On Saturday, leading up to his evening performance on the Watson Stage, Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame member John Oates joined the Sam Bush Band for an all-star jam of the “Merle-va-lettes,” named by T. Michael Coleman. The all-star jam included Jens Kruger, Jack Lawrence, Tony Williamson, Bryan Sutton, John Oates, Tim O’Brien, Jack Lawrence and Coleman. This was Oates’ first time at MerleFest, but he said playing the festival was a dream of his for years. At a press conference earlier in the day, Oates talked about playing with Doc and Merle Watson when he was a 17-year-old boy in Philadelphia. Even a heavy rainstorm did not dampen the spirit of fans who gathered to hear Oates’ performance. Following John Oates, Dave Rawlings Machine closed out the evening with a performance that brought four encores.
 
Sunday at MerleFest opened to rain, but closed to beautiful sunshine. Morning devotions on the Creekside Stage are an annual tradition, and The South Carolina Broadcasters opened up a set afterwards of Doc Watson’s Sacred Songs. In the afternoon, Australian guitar legend Tommy Emmanuel transformed his instrument with percussive drum brushes to the delight of the packed Hillside Stage crowds. For the festival finalé, Jason Isbell’s powerhouse set brought participants to their feet and showed the roots of Americana.  
 
MerleFest has always been known for discovering emerging talent in American roots music. From Old Crow Medicine Show to Gillian Welch, the Avett Brothers to Tift Merritt, careers blossom from breakout performances on our stages. The 2016 MerleFest lineup continues this trend, bringing together Kacy & Clayton, Liz Vice, Billy Strings, Penny & Sparrow, Jeff Scroggins and Colorado, The Brothers Comatose, High Plains Jamboree, Lindsay Lou & The Flatbellys, Seth Walker, The Slocan Ramblers, and Shinyribs, which drew the largest crowd ever at the Americana Stage.
 
The great MerleFest tradition of the Hillside Album Hour, hosted by The Waybacks, returned with guest vocalist Nicki Bluhm. MerleFest's bucolic Hillside Stage began filling with crowds two hours prior to the Hillside Album Hour. The Waybacks and Nicki Bluhm surprised the audience by starting off with a medley of songs by Yes, David Bowie and Prince as a tribute to the great artists who recently passed away. As the medley transitioned to The Eagles’ “Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975,” fans exploded in applause.
 
The Midnight Jam on Saturday, presented in partnership with The Bluegrass Situation and hosted by Donna the Buffalo, featured special guests Gillian Welch, David Rawlings, The Wood Brothers, Billy Strings, Peter Rowan, Jeff Scroggins & Colorado, Wood & Wire, Becky Buller, Tommy Emmanuel, Jim Lauderdale and more. Musicians and bands paired off for impromptu collaborations to create some great moments, such as Peter Rowan picking with David Rawlings and Gillian Welch; Billy Strings and Bryan Sutton dueling with guitars; Tommy Emmanuel and Jeff Scroggins trading licks on “Guitar Boogie”; and Donna the Buffalo’s Tara Nevins fiddling with banjo master Pete Wernick. All the musicians gathered onstage at 2:30 a.m. to finish up with a rousing singalong of “I’ll Fly Away.”
 
MerleFest continues to celebrate the life and music of Doc and Merle Watson because the legacy of their music is the artistic center of the festival. Musician, composer and storyteller T. Michael Coleman joined Doc and Merle to tour the world and help create countless Grammy-nominated and Grammy-awarded recordings. Coleman has joined the festival in its mission to keep Doc and Merle at the heart of MerleFest. His annual Saturday “Memories of Doc & Merle” set is part of that mission.
 
“Musicians and fans alike think of MerleFest as a way to come together as a family to pay tribute to these very special musicians. The ‘memories’ set is pretty much based around our connections with Doc and Merle,” Coleman said. “All the artists participating have a direct connection to Doc and Merle and were influenced by them greatly.”
 
T. Michael Coleman hosted the “Memories of The Watson Family” set, which included artists Sam Bush, Bryan Sutton, David Holt, Jack Lawrence, Alison Brown, Jeff Little, Pat McInerney, Jim Lauderdale, Mitch Greenhill, The Kruger Brothers, Joe Smothers, Lamar Hill, Wayne Henderson and Happy Traum. Everyone shared personal stories of their experiences with the Watson family.
 
Coleman continued, “We’re here because of these two musicians, and the guys on stage performing during the set are the closest you can get to them. It’s family. Doc and Merle were the nucleus to these friendships that have remained all these years. It’s a family reunion on stage that the audience just happens to be a part of. And for those of us on stage, it’s almost as if Doc and Merle are there on stage with us.”
 
The Asheville, N.C.-based “newgrass” band Fireside Collective won the MerleFest Band Competition held on Saturday. With deep roots in bluegrass and folk, the band’s creative arrangements and passionate energy carried to their subsequent set on the Watson Stage. They were discovered first by MerleFest Artist Relations Manager Steve Johnson, who heard them in Asheville and invited them to compete in the second MerleFest Band Competition.
 
In addition to promoting "traditional plus" music, a term coined by Doc Watson to describe the wide variety of musical genres and styles celebrated at MerleFest, the festival also featured heritage crafts demonstrations, instrument picking lessons and jam sessions, dancing, music education workshops and the Chris Austin Songwriting Contest. 
 
“What a great weekend!” exclaimed Festival Director Ted Hagaman. “With over 100 artists on 13 stages, representing everything from Americana and bluegrass, to gospel, rock, country, blues and zydeco, we feel that we succeeded again in providing our festival guests a great value for their entertainment dollars. We deeply appreciate the support of the great folks of the Northwestern North Carolina region, everyone who works at the college, and of course our volunteers and fans for making this possible. We’re already looking forward to 2017 as we celebrate MerleFest 30.”
 
MerleFest 2016 is presented by Window World. MerleFest is grateful to 90+ sponsors and advertisers for their support in making the event possible, including Belk, Pepsi, Charlotte and Greensboro area Burger King restaurants, G&B Energy, Tyson, InterFlex Group, Hardee's, Winston-Salem Journal, WXII 12, the Law Offices of Timothy D. Welborn, Bojangles', Carolina Ford Dealers, Carolina West Wireless, Lowes Foods, Wilkes Communications, Wilkes Regional Medical Center, Wells Fargo and Mast General Store.  A complete listing of all MerleFest sponsors and additional information about all aspects of the festival can be found at www.MerleFest.org.
 
MerleFest 2017 will be held at Wilkes Community College on April 27-30, 2017.

The worn floor of an old honky-tonk is not usually a place you’d think of as welcoming to bold new experimentation. If you’ve got something new to say, you’d better say it in the form of a brisk two-step that keeps the dancers moving. So it’s doubly impressive that Seattle country band Western Centuries is able to meld wildly disparate influences into an original honky-tonk sound that won’t make dancers miss a step. Formed originally under the name Country Hammer by Americana songwriter Cahalen Morrison, known for his innovative work as an acoustic duo with Eli West, Western Centuries revolves around three principal songwriters–Morrison, Ethan Lawton, and Jim Miller–each with a totally different perspective.

Here, Cahalen Morrison channels his New Mexico roots–he grew up exploring lost arroyos and playing drums in a conjunto band–into a kind of blood-red Western drawl. His songs are as influenced by cowboy poetry or his great-grandfather’s Scottish Gaelic poetry as much as his love of George Jones. Ethan Lawton came out of the rough, working-class streets of Seattle’s South end, working in hip-hop and punk before losing his heart to bluegrass. His bone-dry vocals meld intensely with the rocksteady back-beat of his country songs, born from his love of old Jamaican 45s mixed with early bluegrass. Jim Miller comes from the jamband circuit, where he ruled for decades as a founding member of the much-loved band Donna The Buffalo. Throughout, the dancefloor was his temple, and he cribbed ideas from Louisiana Zydeco all the way to the The Band. Western Centuries’ debut album, Weight of the World, released by Free Dirt Records on June 3, 2016, introduces a band of roots music mavericks bringing refreshingly new ideas to their country roots.

The new album from young African-Canadian roots phenom Kaia Kater couldn’t come at a better time. As a new generation takes the reins, American roots music is needed more than ever to remind us of the troubled pathways of our own history. Born of African-Caribbean descent in Québec, Kaia Kater grew up between two worlds: one her family’s deep ties to Canadian folk music in her Toronto home; the other the years she spent learning and studying Appalachian music in West Virginia. Her acclaimed debut album touched on this divide, but her new album, Nine Pin (set for release May 13, 2016 on Kingswood Records), delves even further, and casts an unflinching eye at the realities faced by people of color in North America every day. Her songs on the new album are fueled by her rich low tenor vocals, jazz-influenced instrumentation, and beautifully understated banjo, and they’ve got as much in common with Kendrick Lamar right now as they do with Pete Seeger. True to her roots in Appalachia, the title of the album comes from a traditional square dance formation in which a woman stands alone in the middle of a circle of people turning around her. As a double meaning, it’s also one of the pins in bowling that keeps getting knocked down. Surrounded yet alone, constantly in the line of fire, this album speaks beautifully to the seasons of a young woman’s life.

Recorded in just one day in Toronto, Nine Pin was produced by both Kater and acclaimed Canadian artist Chris Bartos (The Barr Brothers, Jonathan Byrd), who also produced her last album, Sorrow Bound (Kingswood Records). Few artists could pull off such a polished, cohesive album in one day, but Kater felt that this actually lent focus to the project. “This album was written to be something to listen to from start to finish,” Kater explains. As a concept album, Nine Pin weaves between hard-hitting songs that touch on modern issues like the Black Lives Matter movement (“Rising Down,” “Paradise Fell”) and more personal narratives speaking to life and love in the digital age (“Saint Elizabeth”). And while these larger stories are deftly crafted, this is really an album of moments. Kater’s a cappella voice speaking to the loneliness of a city in “Harlem’s Little Blackbird” while solo dance steps echo in the background, the muted hesitancy of Caleb Hamilton’s trumpet breaking the trance of “Little Pink,” the smoke of electric guitar that cuts through “Saint Elizabeth,” the wave-like ebb and flow of piano behind the plaintive love poem “Viper’s Nest…” All of these moments point to an artist wise beyond her years.

In 1940s Texas, if you wanted to court a girl after a long day on the Texas oil rigs, you sought out the nearest dancehall. Dusty, gin-soaked, and boisterous, the hall was driven by the Western Swing it bore; jazz, blues and swing standards melded with cowboy songs and electrifying old-time fiddle tunes. Legendary fiddler and band leader Bob Wills was king in this world and the dancehalls and theaters of Texas were buzzing with great fiddlers and singers, creating a new sound that would define Southwestern roots music for decades to come. More than seventy-five years later, The Western Flyers’ debut album, Wild Blue Yonder, explodes with the influence of this storied genre, and if Bob Wills was listening off-stage he’d be smiling in approval. Internationally-renowned guitar master Joey McKenzie drives the train with his powerful rhythm, reigning National Swing Fiddle champion Katie Glassman’s improvisation astounds, and world-class upright bassist Gavin Kelso adds fuel to the fire. A blending of tradition and innovation, Wild Blue Yonder is a singular music experience; a fresh take on a venerable American art form performed by three virtuosos of the genre.

Listen:
https://soundcloud.com/devon-4-1/sets/the-western-flyers-wild-blue-yonder/s-0aGUV

There’s a new generation of women burning down the Nashville music industry. Powerful voices like Margo Price and Nikki Lane have been rewriting the script, owning their own songs and vision. Now, add to this list Washington State Americana songwriter Courtney Marie Andrews. After a decade spent at the height of the music industry, touring solo and with large pop bands, she realized her desire for a place to come home to. She found that in a small rural town in the deep forests of Washington State. There, she posted up at a local bar, slinging drinks, basking in the simplicity and reflection it allowed. She has emerged in 2016 with a new fire on Honest Life, melding indie-folk and Americana with a rebellious country flavor reminiscent of her Southwestern roots.

-New Album Coming on Mama Bird Recording Co. (Vikesh Kapoor, Barna Howard)
-North American Album Release Date Aug 19, 2016
-Lead Guitar in Damien Jurado's Band
-Released on Loose Music in UK/Europe in Jan 2017
-"a phenomenal songwriter" - Ryan Adams

On their debut album, Dying Stars, Seattle band Evening Bell pours a razor sharp blend of classical training and unadulterated passion into eight psychedelic-country tunes. It’s the kind of album you might expect to come from Ennio Morricone and David Bowie watching Twin Peaks together. A collision of cosmic country and spaced-out psychotropic melodies. Cinematic lyricism meets Seattle barroom honky-tonk. The two principal songwriters in Evening Bell– Caitlin Sherman and Hart Kingsbery – transcend the constraints of nostalgia to create something truly different. Sherman’s interest in Film composition shines through these songs in a kind of cosmic-cowboy punk, while Kingsbery’s bittersweet country heartbreak brings a gravitas to the music. These aren’t dilettantes in Seattle’s Ballard country music scene, but two people who’ve lived hard and worked hard, bringing a stronger perspective to the hard realities they sing about in their music. To be released August 12, 2016, Dying Stars has the kind of self-assurance you usually find in veteran Americana bands, the kind of weight that comes from knowing your own vision of American music.

Hey folks, hope you're gearing up for a great long weekend! We're quite excited to have Red Tail Ring's new album out in the world today and we're celebrating with this gorgeous video of Laurel and Michael performing the title track off the album. You can click through the image below to get a taste of that and then indulge in the full album a little farther down in this email. If you'd like anything more feel free to shoot me an email! Enjoy!

The heart of traditional music is a living, beating thing, pulling fresh blood continually through its chambers, re-energizing and reinventing itself. Few duos today understand the inner workings of the heart of traditional American music like Red Tail Ring. Whether creating new songs, adding to old traditions, or blazing on banjo and fiddle tunes, they are always pulsing the tradition to new heights. Based out of Kalamazoo, Michigan, the songwriting duo of Laurel Premo (voice, fiddle, banjo) and Michael Beauchamp (voice, guitar, banjo) releases their fourth full-length album, Fall Away Blues, on September 2, 2016. Red Tail Ring’s tight harmonies and spare, deliberate instrumentation are the backbone of the album’s twelve tracks, a collection where original songs blend so seamlessly with their traditional counterparts to make the line separating the two indistinguishable. 

LISTEN:
https://soundcloud.com/devon-4-1/sets/red-tail-ring-fall-away-blues/s-Ncp9K

Join MerleFest on Thursday at AmericanaFest 2016 for a special Hot Chicken Lunch Party, featuring four powerhouse roots musicians: Ken Tizzard, Kaia Kater, Dori Freeman, and Alison Brown. You'll remember Alison Brown had some amazing sets at MerleFest 2016, so we're happy to have her representing for MerleFest at the Americana Music Association's annual festival and conference. Dori Freeman and Kaia Kater are two young female artists with deep ties to Appalachia and new albums that have been featured in publications like NPR, Rolling Stone Country, Garden & Gun, Huffington Post and many more. Ken Tizzard is an innovative roots-based songwriter from Canada with a rich past in rock ‘n’ roll as well. The Hot Chicken Lunch Party takes place Thursday, September 22, from noon to 2p.m. at InDo Nashville and is presented in partnership with IBMA (International Bluegrass Music Association), HearthPR, Free Dirt Records, and Quicksilver Productions. The event is open to participants at AmericanaFest.
 

Thursday, September 22
MerleFest & Friends
Hot Chicken Lunch Party
Noon-2 p.m.
InDo Nashville
632 Fogg St., Nashville, Tenn.
Featuring Ken Tizzard, Kaia Kater, Dori Freeman, Alison Brown.

MerleFest is proud to return to IBMA’s Bluegrass Ramble in Raleigh, North Carolina, as a sponsor of the Vintage Church for three nights. We’re excited to be highlighting artists and bands that are booked for MerleFest 2017 as well as new discoveries and old friends. These showcases are presented in partnership with IBMA, National Media Services, Cackalacky, Pinecastle Records, and Americana Rhythm Music Magazine.
 

Two legends of American folk music have reunited for their first album together since the 60s. Jim Kweskin and Geoff Muldaur were original members of the Jim Kweskin Jug Band, a band so important that they directly inspired The Grateful Dead (via Bob Weir), The Lovin' Spoonful, Country Joe & The Fish, heck Janis Joplin opened up for them in San Francisco during the summer of love. Now these two old-school masters of American folk are taking a bit of a victory lap through their favorite traditional songs with Down on Penny's Farm, releasing Sept 23, 2016 on Kingswood Records.

There are gates to the city of American roots music, entryways that lead in new generations every decade. One of these gates is the Grateful Dead, whose love of folk and roots music has led many younger fans back to the source. But what gates did the Dead themselves use to come to the city? The answer lies with Jim Kweskin and the Jug Band, whose rough-and-tumble roots music in the 1960s directly inspired countless bands like The Lovin’ Spoonful, Country Joe and the Fish, and The Dead via Bob Weir. In the early 1960s, Jim Kweskin and musical partner Geoff Muldaur (Maria Muldaur too and the other great musicians in the Jug Band) bounced between the Boston and New York folk scene, hanging out with Bob Dylan or Mississippi John Hurt at the Newport Folk Festival. Later in the 60s, they were at the summer of love in San Francisco, sharing stages with The Doors and having Janis Joplin with Big Brother and the Holding Company open for them. Together, they and other luminaries of the folk world in the 1960s dived into the jug band and country blues repertoire of early American music, riffing and playing with old themes and musical techniques. When you hear the LPs they cut for venerable labels Vanguard Records and Warner/Reprise at the time, you may be surprised to hear not swirling psychedelia, but hardcore old-time country roots and blues music from the American tradition, played with a raw-edged, frenetic energy that was impossible to resist. What compelled people to join the Jim Kweskin and Geoff Muldaur was a deeply subversive idea – that the roots of American music might already hold some of the wildest, craziest, most fun music ever made. It took these two guys and their friends from New England to find this out for their generation, but it’s a lesson that resonates even today. 

LISTEN:
https://soundcloud.com/devon-4-1/sets/jim-kweskin-geoff-muldaur-pennys-farm/s-dyVuX

MerleFest, presented by Window World and slated for April 27-30, 2017, is proud to announce its initial lineup of artists. 2017 will be a celebration of 30 years of MerleFest! The annual homecoming of musicians and music fans returns to the campus of Wilkes Community College in Wilkesboro, North Carolina, in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. The star-packed lineup for MerleFest 2017 will be announced over the next few months; today MerleFest made its first announcement for the 2017 lineup, including Zac Brown Band with a very special acoustic set, Del McCoury Band, Jim Lauderdale, Sam Bush, Jerry Douglas, Peter Rowan, Mountain Heart and many more.

MerleFest is proud to announce more than 75 artists who are part of the festival’s 2017 lineup. The initial lineup reflects the diversity and quality of performers who are the hallmark of the festival. MerleFest is known for its unique mix of traditional, roots-oriented music from the Appalachian region, including bluegrass and old-time music, Americana, blues, country, Celtic, Cajun, cowboy, zydeco, rock and many other styles that the late Doc Watson referred to as “traditional plus.”
 
Alberti Flea Circus, Todd Albright, Darin & Brooke Aldridge, Jim Avett, Banknotes, The BattleAxe Band, Bethel University Renaissance Bluegrass Band, Roy Book Binder, The Bluegrass Experience, Laura Boosinger & The Midnight Plowboys, Mark, "Brink" Brinkman, Zac Brown Band, Andy Buckner, Mark Bumgarner, Sam Bush Band, Chatham County Line, T. Michael Coleman, The Contenders, J.P. Cormier, Counterclockwise String Band, Dear Brother, Pat Donohue, Jerry Douglas, John Doyle, Eric Ellis, Flando Calrissian, Scott Freeman, Front Country, The Gravy Boys, The Green Grass Cloggers and Strictly Strings, Mitch Greenhill, Virgil Harden & the Appalachian Countdown, Nate Harris and Spice Creek Ramblers, Wayne Henderson, Bob Hill, David Holt, The Hook & Bullet, I Draw Slow, The InterACTive Theatre of Jef, Steve James, Chris Jones & The Night Drivers, Jim Lauderdale, Jack Lawrence, Jeff Little Trio, The Local Boys, Locust Honey String Band, Lydia Luce, Claire Lynch, Bill Mathis, Andy May, Del McCoury Band, Pat McInerney, Mountain Heart, Megan Nash, Carol Rifkin and Jeanette Queen, Roanoke, Peter Rowan, Scythian, ShadowGrass, Steve and Ruth Smith, Joe Smothers, Ed Snodderly, The Stray Birds, String Madness with Mitch Greenhill, Surry Line, Bryan Sutton Band, Swift Creek, 10 String Symphony, Ken Tizzard, The Trailblazers, Happy Traum, Uncle Joe and the Shady Rest, The Waybacks, The WBT Briarhoppers, Charles Welch, Pete & Joan Wernick, Uncle Ted White, and Tony Williamson.
 
Additional performers for MerleFest 2017 will be announced in the coming months. The lineup is viewable at MerleFest.org/lineup.
 
“Throughout the years, one of the major factors that has built and sustained MerleFest,” said festival director Ted Hagaman, “is the quality of the artists and performances our guests see over the four days of the festival. People truly feel the festival is a great value. That’s probably best expressed by the fact that so many music fans and families return year after year, making MerleFest an annual homecoming every spring. We’re tremendously proud of what we’ve collectively built over the past 30 years and look forward to celebrating this milestone April 27-30, 2017.”
 
For Steve Johnson, artist relations manager for MerleFest, much of the thrill of booking the festival comes from discovering new artists. “Working for MerleFest means I get to do a lot of traveling around the U.S. and Canada to various festivals and music venues,” Johnson said. “This year at MerleFest, we have some great artists I got to know in various ways, like I Draw Slow, a band from Dublin, Ireland; I met the band members while working with them on one of their first U.S. tours. Megan Nash is an artist I first heard at a music event in the town of Nokomis, Saskatchewan, in Canada. I was immediately impressed by her songwriting and vocal style. 10 String Symphony is a duo that I knew of from fiddler Christian Sedelmyer’s work with Jerry Douglas at MerleFest 2016. I then heard them perform in Nashville, Tennessee, and knew right away the MerleFest audience would enjoy their music!”
 
Tickets for MerleFest 2017 are on sale now and may be purchased at MerleFest.org or by calling 1-800-343-7857. A three-tiered pricing structure is again offered for MerleFest 2017. Early Bird Tier 1 ticket discount is available starting November 17, 2016, through February 12, 2017. Early Bird Tier 2 ticket discount will run from February 13, 2017, through April 27, 2017. The third price tier will be gate pricing. Fans are encouraged to take advantage of the extended early bird discount.
 
MerleFest, considered one of the premier music festivals in the country, is an annual homecoming of musicians and music fans held on the campus of Wilkes Community College in Wilkesboro, North Carolina. MerleFest was founded in 1988 in memory of renowned guitarist Eddy Merle Watson, the son of the late American music legend Doc Watson. MerleFest is a celebration of "traditional plus" music, a unique mix of music based on the traditional, roots-oriented sounds of the Appalachian region, including bluegrass and old-time music and expanded to include Americana, country, blues, rock and many other styles. The festival hosts a diverse mix of artists on its 13 stages during the course of the four-day event. The annual event has become the primary fundraiser for the WCC Foundation, funding scholarships, capital projects and other educational needs.

Personally speaking, this new album of Canadian banjo roots has been helping us feel better. The full-band arrangements of banjo-rooted music are just joyful in nature and even somewhat innocent. It's hard not to get swept up in the spirit of this album, and we think it'll lift your spirits too!

The banjo moves through a constellation of modes, meditations designed to be expanded upon. In his new album of original compositions, Frailing to Succeed, Winnipeg banjo master Daniel Koulack’s clawhammer style is the sun around which soprano saxophone, alto saxophone, clarinet, flute, violin, marimba, percussion, and drum kit—the tradition instruments of jazz—revolve. The result is a project that pushes traditional roles of a banjo through different instrumentation, improvisation, and counter-melodic explorations, an interplay that also parallels what makes Winnipeg, Manitoba, Koulack’s hometown, special. For instance, jazz guitar legend Lenny Breau lived in Winnipeg for many years and his rhythm section would work with him as easily as with Métis fiddle icon Reg Bouvette. The interconnected nature of the Winnipeg music scene has always meant that hard-gigging musicians are adept at switching between traditional, world, swing, and jazz music genres. Koulack himself has spent his career working with superb jazz, African, klezmer, French-Canadian, and classical musicians. He and his band bring this flurry of influences together in the most surprising ways on the cosmos that is Frailing to Succeed.

LISTEN:
https://soundcloud.com/devon-4-1/sets/daniel-koulack-frailing-to-succeed/s-ZxrCQ

MerleFest, presented by Window World and slated for April 27-30, 2017, has just announced five more artists added to the 2017 lineup: Marty Stuart & His Fabulous Superlatives, Sarah Jarosz, The Steel Wheels, The Kruger Brothers and Mipso. MerleFest 2017 will be the 30^th annual homecoming where musicians and music fans return to Wilkes Community College in Wilkesboro, North Carolina, in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Many artists who have graced the stages over the past three decades plan to return for the celebration! MerleFest has already announced over 75 artists, including Zac Brown Band with a very special acoustic set, Del McCoury Band, Jim Lauderdale, Sam Bush, Jerry Douglas, Peter Rowan, Mountain Heart and many more. The rest of the packed lineup for MerleFest 2017 will roll out over the next few months.

Tickets for MerleFest 2017 are on sale now and may be purchased at MerleFest.org or by calling 1-800-343-7857. A three-tiered pricing structure is again offered for MerleFest 2017. Early Bird Tier 1 ticket discount is available through February 12, 2017. Early Bird Tier 2 ticket discount will run from February 13, 2017, through April 27, 2017. The third price tier will be gate pricing. Fans are encouraged to take advantage of the extended early bird discount.

MerleFest’s lineup reflects the diversity and quality of performers who are the hallmark of the festival. MerleFest is known for its unique mix of traditional, roots-oriented music from the Appalachian region, including bluegrass and old-time music, Americana, blues, country, Celtic, Cajun, cowboy, zydeco, rock and many other styles that the late Doc Watson referred to as “traditional plus.” The developing lineup is viewable at MerleFest.org/lineup.

As Portland-based Americana songwriter John Craigie says, “It is the job of the folksinger to present someone to the audience that is relatable.  To dissolve the wall between performer and listener as much as possible. People want to hear your story, that in turn, is their story too. Music is not about making you feel better. It’s about making you feel that you’re not alone.” With the songs on his January 27, 2017 release, No Rain, No Rose, Craigie does just that—brings together talented friends, many staples of Portland’s music scene, beneath the umbrella of his cozy, well-crafted songs.

John Craigie’s life in Portland is the impetus for much of the material on No Rain, No Rose, which has the same easy and down-to-earth feel of the old Victorian home where Craigie gathered to record with his community: Gregory Alan Isakov, The Shook Twins, and Tyler Thompson and Jay Cobb Anderson of Fruition. Even the title of the album, No Rain, No Rose is an ode to Portland. “I took it from an old Buddhist saying ‘No Mud, No Lotus’, which basically means, you need the bad things to make the good things.  I changed it to reflect my rainy city of roses,” says Craigie.

If Rayna Gellert seems a preternaturally gifted songwriter, it’s because she’s seen farther into the old songs than most. Growing up in a musical family, Gellert turned to Appalachian old-time music at a young age, becoming a prodigious fiddler and leading a new revival of American stringband music through her work with the acclaimed American roots band Uncle Earl. Through the late nights at music festivals, the kerosene-lit jam sessions in campgrounds, the all-night sessions in a warm kitchen, the old songs have fueled her passion for the music. The Appalachian ballads leave so many parts unknown, so many stories half told, that it’s only natural she’d turn at some point to finishing the stories herself. What she found when she did was that she had an uncommon talent for songwriting that reads both as simple and accessible, but also heartfelt and profound. A great songwriter never overwrites a song, and that’s a lesson Gellert learned from folk song.

With her new mini album, Workin’s Too Hard, out January 20, 2017 on StorySound Records, she pulls from the tradition, but the songs are all her own and the arrangements are built on a collaboration with Nashville songwriter Kieran Kane (co-producer, mandolin, guitar, vocals). In the vein of other artists like Sam Amidon and Gillian Welch, Gellert’s roots in Americana run so deep that no matter what she writes, it will always have a timeless quality to it.  

These days it’s difficult to find much of anything that truly represents an American regional culture. That’s why a group like The Revelers stands out as much as they do. This Grammy-nominated band hails from what is arguably the most musically fertile area of the country, Southwestern Louisiana. They combine the different sounds of the region, characterized by Cajun, Zydeco, Swamp Pop, Honky Tonk, and even Rock 'n Roll with their own original material - to represent not only Louisiana’s musical traditions, but where things might be headed in years to come. Some have called The Revelers a “Louisiana supergroup,” since they were formed by founding members of both The Pine Leaf Boys and The Red Stick Ramblers (two of the most popular and highly regarded bands to come out of Louisiana). The Revelers, however, have gone beyond that hype by making a mark of their own, blazing a trail with their busy tour schedule and incendiary live show - and curating the ongoing popular Blackpot Festival held each year in Lafayette in late October. Their songs, sung in both in French and English, have become Louisiana dancehall standards, and have been featured on the nationally syndicated HBO show “Treme” as well as Anthony Bourdain’s hit show “No Reservations.” Linda Ronstadt, who has covered one of their original songs, is a big fan of the group. Their latest full length “Get Ready” was nominated for a Grammy this past year in the Regional Roots category, further establishing their reputation as a group to sit up and take notice of.

On this latest EP release, The Revelers play Swamp Pop Classics Volume Two, the Revelers revisit the genre of Swamp Pop, of which they have become the new torch bearers. Bringing like-minded songs into the genre is key to the evolution of the Swamp Pop tradition, and there are very few artists with the know-how and daring to pull off such an endeavor.  

LISTEN:
https://soundcloud.com/birdswordpr/sets/the-revelers-play-the-swamp/s-EfYjk

MerleFest, presented by Window World and slated for April 27-30, 2017, is proud to announce six more additions to the 2017 lineup: The Avett Brothers, Natalie MacMaster and Donnell Leahy, Chatham County Line Electric Holiday, Mandolin Orange, Steep Canyon Rangers and Sierra Hull. This year will be the 30th celebration of this homecoming of roots music artists and fans that draws over 75,000 participants every year. MerleFest has already announced over 75 artists for 2017, including Zac Brown Band with a very special acoustic set, Del McCoury Band, Jim Lauderdale, Sam Bush, Jerry Douglas, Peter Rowan, Mountain Heart and many more. The rest of the packed lineup for MerleFest 2017 will roll out over the next few months.

Tickets for MerleFest 2017 are on sale now and may be purchased at MerleFest.org or by calling 1-800-343-7857. A three-tiered pricing structure is again offered for MerleFest 2017. Early Bird Tier 1 ticket discount is available through February 12, 2017. Early Bird Tier 2 ticket discount will run from February 13, 2017, through April 27, 2017. The third price tier will be gate pricing. Fans are encouraged to take advantage of the extended early bird discount.
 
MerleFest’s lineup reflects the diversity and quality of performers who are the hallmark of the festival. MerleFest is known for its unique mix of traditional, roots-oriented music from the Appalachian region, including bluegrass and old-time music, Americana, blues, country, Celtic, Cajun, cowboy, zydeco, rock and many other styles that the late Doc Watson referred to as “traditional plus.” The developing lineup is viewable at MerleFest.org/lineup.

Nestled amongst the dense, sun-speckled pine forests of Eau Claire, Wisconsin, Blue Ox Music Festival welcomes thousands of roots music fans and musicians each June to the heart of Paul Bunyan country. Hosted each year by progressive Americana band Pert Near Sandstone, Blue Ox showcases the complex fabric that is American roots music, bringing some of the genre’s best artists to an intimate natural space.
 
Blue Ox Music Festival, set for June 8-10, 2017, is proud to announce their initial line-up, including: Punch Brothers, Greensky Bluegrass, Railroad Earth, Drive-By Truckers, Sam Bush Band, Son Volt, The Infamous Stringdusters, The Travelin’ McCourys, Jeff Austin Band, Horseshoes & Hand Grenades, Willie Watson, Split Lip Rayfield, and more. The full lineup is available below and more artists will be added soon. Talk to us to discover more about this great music festival!

The full lineup for the 2017 Blue Ox Music Festival is as follows: Punch Brothers, Greensky Bluegrass, Drive-By Truckers, Railroad Earth, Sam Bush Band, The Infamous Stringdusters, Son Volt, Horseshoes & Hand Grenades, Grateful Ball, Keller & The Keels, Jeff Austin Band, The Travelin’ McCourys, Dead Man Winter feat. Dave Simonett of Trampled by Turtles, The Steeldrivers, Split Lip Rayfield, Willie Watson (formerly of Old Crow Medicine Show), Fruition, Henhouse Prowlers, Rumpke Mountain Boys, Billy Strings, Colter Wall, Trout Steak Revival, Dead Horses, White Iron Band, Them Coulee Boys, Evergreen Grass Band, Joseph Huber, and Laska.
 
“We are excited for year three of the Blue Ox Music Festival,” says Jim Bischel, the festival's executive director. “Between the lineup, improvements and additions to our festival venue, and the incredible fans we have, it is going to be a fantastic year. We can’t wait until June!”
 
Tickets are on sale from now until January 26 at a special introductory rate. General admission three-day tickets are $145, and children under 13 are free with a paid adult. Unreserved tent camping and parking is included in the general admission pass. Reserved camping and RV space is available as well, to find out more please check the website: www.blueoxmusicfestival.com/
 
More Info on Blue Ox Music Festival
Blue Ox Music Festival, June 8-10, 2017, is one of the most intimate music festivals in the country, teeming with joy, friendship, and musical exploration, all set within the Whispering Pine Campground in Eau Claire, WI. Blue Ox was founded in 2015 when Jim Bischel, co-owner of Country Jam USA, imagined a smaller festival with a focus in roots, Americana and bluegrass music, inspired by the community surrounding progressive bluegrass band Pert Near Sandstone. Boasting some of the best talent in American roots music today, Blue Ox Music Festival strives to be a fun, inclusive, and sustainable space for everyone. Lush yet spacious, the Whispering Pines campground is an idyllic space for today’s best Americana music. The line-up is as committed to honoring tradition as it is to building upon it. This musical inclusivity and positivity permeates into the greater sense of community at the festival. Sitting among the verdant pastures and forests of Northern Wisconsin, listeners will be taken to new heights in musical creativity and ability. Festival-goers jam into the night with friends old and new, some of whom are festival performers mingling around the campgrounds after daytime festivities. Kid-friendly and environmentally-conscious, children under 13 get into Blue Ox for free with a paid adult. Food and drink vendors are available onsite, and camping is included with tickets. Blue Ox offers the quality of a large festival experience on a smaller scale, all set in beautiful Eau Claire, WI.

Many Canadian music fans know Joel Plaskett. Multiple JUNO Award winning songwriter. Multiple times on the Polaris Music Prize Short List. Sold out clubs and concert halls from one side of the country to the other. But in 2017 he’ll be sharing the spotlight with his earliest musical influence - his father, Bill Plaskett. Solidarity, to be released on Pheromone Recordings February 17, 2017, is the first full-length musical collaboration between father and son. The first single from the album dropped over on Exclaim! and American Songwriter will be featuring 'Blank Cheque' this Thursday.

"My father has certainly been one of my biggest musical influences," Joel said. "I grew up around him playing guitars and his love of folk music, particularly music from the British Isles and Ireland is something I've inherited from him – artists like Bert Jansch, Richard Thompson and Paul Brady. Conversely, I have introduced him to some of my favourite records by artists like Those Bastard Souls, Led Zeppelin and Gillian Welch."

Born in 1945 in London, England, Bill Plaskett spent the early 1960s playing tenor banjo (learned from his father) in a traditional jazz and skiffle band and later graduated to playing electric bass in a high-school rock and roll band called Section 62. In 1966, Bill traveled through the United States on a 99 days for $99 Greyhound bus pass. He immigrated to Vancouver, Canada in 1967 before moving to Nova Scotia where Joel was born in 1975. Through much of the 1980s the family lived in historic Lunenburg, a town transitioning from a fishing village to a tourist economy, where Bill played in an old time band called Starb’ard Side and helped found the beloved Lunenburg Folk Festival. Moving to Halifax in 1987, Bill immersed himself in the local folk music scene and watched with pride as his son picked up the guitar and eventually built a full time music career through the 90s with his first band. On Solidarity, father and son celebrate each other and the years of music that’s strengthened their bond.

Like the steady pendulum of a land oil rig, Americana songwriter Kory Quinn has tapped inspiration—and greater purpose—with his new EP, Black Gold Blues. Sharp and critical, Black Gold Blues swings between misery and pride of the working class. On the EP, which drops February 10th, Quinn explores the complex relationships inherent in the immorality of modern capitalism and the individual purpose found in the work. For instance, “Oh, the work ain’t done,” he sings, “I’m better off to my master as a dead man’s son.” It’s this cognitive dissonance that lies at the heart of Black Gold Blues. With uncanny awareness, Quinn understands the exact point where two disparate paradigms collide and he speaks to that, turning a critical eye to everything from capitulation to fossil fuel use, the silent injustice of dead peasant insurance, the exploitation of fear to maintain the status quo, and the warrior paradigm inherent in police brutality.

Black Gold Blues was recorded in Portland, OR, at Rose Leaf Recording, where Quinn brought together famed blues drummer Jimi Bott and his band, The Quintessentials. Bott’s punctuations add a juicy heat to The Quintessentials, further defined by the mixture of David Lipkind’s electric harmonica with Quinn’s grimy vocals. The potency of this combination is most prominent on the opening track, “Black Gold Blues,” where the high moan of the harmonica slices throughout, interplaying with lead guitar and vocals, and stoking the embers of the slow, meandering groove. It’s all bolstered by the highly political lyrics; capturing the critical intent of Quinn, who’s rooted in a deep desire to elucidate injustices lyrically, but not at the expense of the blistering energy of his bluesy Americana. Each track seems a continuation of this energy and quality, with a continuity to be found in Quinn’s vision and the slow burn of The Quintessentials.

The Black Gold Blues EP comes full circle, with one of the last songs being “Last Broken Town,” a culmination of Quinn’s warnings and anxieties around the state of the world. Yet still, Quinn and The Quintessentials play with slip into that familiar, mirthful groove, underscoring again how the EP is able to embody two extremes.  

Black Gold Blues bobs between the melancholy and the irrepressibility of humanity in the face of widespread corruption and exploitation, and the greater implications of society’s current reliance on oil and fossil fuels, corrupt political leaders, and fear. But even as it tackles such heaviness, it’s music is boisterous and driving, a perfect rallying call for humanity from the heart of a working man.

MerleFest, presented by Window World and scheduled for April 27-30, 2017, is proud to announce five more artists added to the MerleFest 2017 lineup: Leftover Salmon, Tift Merritt, Jorma Kaukonen, Donna the Buffalo, and John Driskell Hopkins Band! These artists join a list of performers already announced including Zac Brown Band, The Avett Brothers, Marty Stuart & His Fabulous Superlatives and many more. This year marks MerleFest’s 30th celebration. The annual homecoming of musicians and music fans returns to the campus of Wilkes Community College in Wilkesboro, North Carolina, in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Tickets for MerleFest 2017 are on sale now and may be purchased at MerleFest.org or by calling 1-800-343-7857. The festival is offering a three-tiered pricing structure. Early Bird Tier 1 ticket discount is available through February 16, 2017. Early Bird Tier 2 ticket discount will run from February 13 through April 27. The third tier will be gate pricing. Fans are encouraged to take advantage of the extended early bird discount.
 
MerleFest’s lineup reflects the diversity and quality of performers who are the hallmark of the festival. MerleFest is known for its unique mix of traditional, roots-oriented music from the Appalachian region, including bluegrass and old-time music, Americana, blues, country, Celtic, Cajun, cowboy, zydeco, rock and many other styles that the late Doc Watson referred to as “traditional plus.” The developing lineup is viewable at MerleFest.org/lineup.
 
The current lineup includes Alberti Flea Circus, Todd Albright, Darin & Brooke Aldridge, The Avett Brothers, Jim Avett, Banknotes, The BattleAxe Band, Bethel University Renaissance Bluegrass Band, Roy Book Binder, The Bluegrass Experience, Laura Boosinger & The Midnight Plowboys, Mark "Brink" Brinkman, Zac Brown Band, Andy Buckner, Mark Bumgarner, Sam Bush Band, Chatham County Line, T. Michael Coleman, The Contenders, Counterclockwise String Band, Dear Brother, Donna the Buffalo, Pat Donohue, Jerry Douglas, John Doyle, Eric Ellis, Flando Calrissian, Scott Freeman, Front Country, The Gravy Boys, The Green Grass Cloggers and Strictly Strings, Mitch Greenhill, Virgil Harden & the Appalachian Countdown, Nate Harris and Spice Creek Ramblers, Wayne Henderson, Bob Hill, David Holt, The Hook & Bullet, John Driskell Hopkins Band, Sierra Hull, I Draw Slow, The InterACTive Theatre of Jef, Steve James, Sarah Jarosz, Chris Jones & The Night Drivers, Jorma Kaukonen, The Kruger Brothers, Jim Lauderdale, Jack Lawrence, Leftover Salmon, Jeff Little Trio, The Local Boys, Locust Honey String Band, Lydia Luce, Claire Lynch, Natalie Macmaster & Donnell Leahy, Mandolin Orange, Bill Mathis, Andy May, Del McCoury Band, Pat McInerney, Tift Merritt, Mipso, Mountain Heart, Megan Nash, Carol Rifkin and Jeanette Queen, Roanoke, Peter Rowan, Scythian, ShadowGrass, Steve and Ruth Smith, Joe Smothers, Ed Snodderly, The Steel Wheels, Steep Canyon Rangers, The Stray Birds, String Madness with Mitch Greenhill, Marty Stuart & His Fabulous Superlatives, Surry Line, Bryan Sutton Band, Swift Creek, 10 String Symphony, Ken Tizzard, The Trailblazers, Happy Traum, Uncle Joe and the Shady Rest, The Waybacks, The WBT Briarhoppers, Charles Welch, Pete & Joan Wernick, Uncle Ted White, and Tony Williamson.
 

We're excited to announce that our own John Craigie, the Portland, Oregon Americana troubadour with a new album that just dropped in late January, just got picked by Jack Johnson to open for select dates on his 2017 Summer Tour! Yes, Jack Johnson of the banana pancakes fame (though I'm personally a big fan from his lovely work on the Curious George movie soundtrack). John and Jack met up just recently in Hawaii when John was touring over there last month, and the two hit it off onstage, with Jack sitting in with John's set. Now John Craigie's joining Jack on tour at some major venues (see below). The Avett Brothers will also be joining in for the 07/22 date!

Here's a note from John Craigie about this: "I tour Hawaii annually in the winter, but this year was incredibly special. Having Jack Johnson sit in and play during my encore was one thing, but more importantly, I got a chance to hang out with him on the north shore for a couple days after. I always respected him as a musician, but it was nice to get a chance to get to know the real Jack. Now I have the opportunity to join him and his band on their west coast tour this summer. These will be, hands down, the biggest venues and crowds I’ve ever played for. And another chance to hang out with Jack."

Just wanted to share the good news! Would love to talk about John's new album! Here's more info on that. Let me know what you think! Did you get a copy of the album? Let us know if not and you'd like a copy.

MORE INFO ON JOHN CRAIGIE'S NEW ALBUM - "NO RAIN, NO ROSE"
As Portland-based Americana songwriter John Craigie says, “It is the job of the folksinger to present someone to the audience that is relatable.  To dissolve the wall between performer and listener as much as possible. People want to hear your story, that in turn, is their story too. Music is not about making you feel better. It’s about making you feel that you’re not alone.” With the songs on his January 27, 2017 release, No Rain, No Rose, Craigie does just that—brings together talented friends, many staples of Portland’s music scene, beneath the umbrella of his cozy, well-crafted songs.

John Craigie’s life in Portland is the impetus for much of the material on No Rain, No Rose, which has the same easy and down-to-earth feel of the old Victorian home where Craigie gathered to record with his community: Gregory Alan Isakov, The Shook Twins, and Tyler Thompson and Jay Cobb Anderson of Fruition. Even the title of the album, No Rain, No Rose is an ode to Portland. “I took it from an old Buddhist saying ‘No Mud, No Lotus’, which basically means, you need the bad things to make the good things.  I changed it to reflect my rainy city of roses,” says Craigie.

Joshua James' new album looks into the darkness that we all flirt with, the things we think and dissect through our internal monologues but rarely share with others. Questioning core beliefs, faith in the micro and the macro, being uncertain. These are tenets of James' songwriting, and his life, and on his upcoming dark Americana album My Spirit Sister he looks to continue facing the unknown with a rabid curiosity.

The first single, 'Millie', written about grappling with himself while on the verge of having a child with his wife, premiered on Noisey last week, you can click through the image below to check out that track and his upcoming tour dates. You can also download and stream the full album after the blurb below that!

“Humanity,” said Dostoevsky, “is a mystery. It must be unravelled.” On his latest album, My Spirit Sister, Utah-based Americana artist Joshua James attempts to do just that, laying bare a narrative catalogue of his unraveling of the complexities and imperfections inherent in us all.

Joshua James was born and raised in Lincoln, Nebraska, where he found solace early on in old records. James moved to Utah for university, where he began writing songs while studying nursing. “Leaving your home, your family, and living somewhere without the support of that structure is going to cause you to change,” he says. “I suppose it caused me to expand my view of the world, people, culture, god, the pursuit of a "career,” money and its affect on a man.” These themes and the hard-edged, stark landscapes of these states seep into the compositions on My Spirit Sister, which are stunningly beautiful yet somehow perilous and harrowing in execution. James draws on inspiration from the untidy and unseemly parts of ourselves that we tend to hide even from the people closest to us. He may find more questions than he answers, but his ethos of working to be honest about his own weaknesses led to a chillingly engaging record. 

Upcoming shows:
4/2 - Maintenance Shop - Ames, IA
4/3 - City Winery - Chicago, IL 
4/4 - The Ark - Ann Arbor, MI
4/6 - The Haunt - Ithaca, NY
4/7 - Word Barn - Portsmouth, NH 
4/8 - Lizard Lounge - Boston, MA
4/9 - Parlor Room - Northampton, MA
4/11 - Higher Ground - Burlington, VT
4/12 - Mercury Lounge - New York, NY 
4/14 - World Cafe Live (upstairs) - Philadelphia, PA
4/15 - Jammin' Java - Vienna, VA 
4/20 - Altamont Theater - Asheville, NC
4/21 - Neighborhood Theatre - Charlotte, NC
4/22 - Roasting Room - Bluffton, SC 
4/23 - High Dive - Gainesville, FL 
4/24 - Jaeb Theater @ Straz Center - Tampa, FL 
4/26 - Eddie's Attic - Atlanta, GA

MerleFest, presented by Window World and scheduled for April 27-30, 2017, is bringing two bluegrass legends to the 30th celebration – banjo master Béla Fleck and The Earls of Leicester featuring Jerry Douglas, a supergroup homage to Flatt & Scruggs made up of several of bluegrass’s finest musicians. Both will be playing on Saturday. The inclusion of these two acts underscores MerleFest’s commitment to Doc Watson’s original vision for a “traditional plus” festival, an event that is open to the evolution of tradition and looks for artists that push boundaries, as these performers do. The remainder of the star-packed lineup for MerleFest 2017 includes other artists that embody this crossover, like Zac Brown Band, The Avett Brothers, Marty Stuart & His Fabulous Superlatives, Tift Merritt, Leftover Salmon and more.

In the olden days of American music, before radios, television, highways, and the internet homogenized everything, regional styles and traditions reigned. And yet, the rich regionalism of America continues today, fighting against the Walmart-ization of American culture. Columbia, MO trio The Hooten Hallers are out front of this charge, reclaiming the heritage of their Missouri roots. With their new self-titled album (to be released April 21, 2017 on Big Muddy Records), they continue their decade-long search for these roots, drawing from the surrounding agricultural lifestyles, the river communities, the college kids and the tweakers that roam Columbia, Missouri, all in the looming foothills of the Ozark Mountains. Other bands would have jumped ship for a metropolitan city long ago, but there’s a sense of pride in these stubborn personalities that tie The Hooten Hallers inextricably to their place. Their regional foundation inspires their music, from pre-war blues to New York Dolls-inspired punk rock to Legendary Shack Shakers-esque Americana Gothic, all of it tying them to the Missouri river and the new regional traditions being made every day. As they say in Missouri, it’s not quite the Midwest and it’s not quite the South. In the same vein, the Hooten Hallers’ music isn’t quite Americana and it’s not quite punk, but a bit of both, fused together in a drunken tangle.
 
The Hooten Hallers are known for hard-traveling and for busting tour vans–four since January of 2016– with their huge touring schedule, playing blurry back-room bars and rural dancehalls across the US. They’ve injected their new album with the stories and characters they’ve been meeting on the road all this time. The album opener “Charla” sets the scene in the oppressive summer heat of Lupus, MO (population 29) at the infamous annual chili festival. Sweet older hippy Charla hands you a mason jar full of moonshine before you pass out in the shed behind her house. It’s made even more palpable when you find out Lupus’ citizens, when the town flooded severely in the 90s, were offered a government grant to move but instead chose to put their houses on stilts. This kind of scrappy hometown pride is reflected in The Hooten Hallers’ ability to ride the line between DIY punk and American country roots music. It’s not uncommon to walk into one of their shows to see outlaw bikers dancing next to some college kids, dancing next to an aging hippy, dancing next to a couple parents with kids at home with the babysitter.
 
The Hooten Hallers’ new self-titled album, was a family affair, drawing from the band’s extended community in St. Louis, MO. Ryan Koenig, of Pokey Lafarge’s South City Three, makes numerous guest appearances on the album, and Kristo Baricevic, the heart and soul behind Big Muddy Records, co-produced the album with Johnny Walker of the Soledad Brothers. The trio set themselves up in a former Masonic lodge turned art collective over two weeks to fine-tune the music. New member Kellie Everett brought the deep rumble of her baritone and bass saxophone, pushing the trio towards the kind of rollicking street busking music that first inspired them. John Randall’s demonically-tinged vocals and blues-inspired, manic guitar, and Andy Rehms’ steady, pounding drum beat kept the band focused on their trademark blend of deep blues and country punk. With the amount of sound these three musicians put out, it’ll likely be a surprise to listeners to find out that they’re not a full band! When The Hooten Hallers come to town, you know it’s gonna be a party. Now, ten years later and with nothing to prove, they’re back on the road again with a new fire burning in their bellies.

MerleFest, presented by Window World, is going international for its 30^th celebration by hosting the The Transatlantic Sessions Tour live at this year’s festival. MerleFest 2017 is scheduled for April 27-30 at Wilkes Community College in Wilkesboro, N.C.

“Transatlantic Sessions” is a series of musical productions that brings together innovative Irish and Scottish artists with the best American roots artists, under the musical direction of American Dobro virtuoso Jerry Douglas and Scotland’s supreme traditional-style fiddler Aly Bain. The live concerts are typically recorded in beautiful and intimate spaces throughout the United Kingdom – primarily in Scotland – and are broadcast on public television in the U.K. and the U.S. This will be the first time a "Transatlantic Sessions" performance has taken place outside the U.K., and this lineup will not perform anywhere else. The Transatlantic Sessions Tour at MerleFest will feature hosts Aly Bain and Jerry Douglas with guests folk-rock legend James Taylor, Sarah Jarosz, Maura O'Connell, Declan O’Rourke, Karen Matheson and Joe Newberry.

In addition to the featured guests, each “Transatlantic Sessions” performance has a core group of musicians who form the “house orchestra.” At MerleFest, the Transatlantic Orchestra includes American bluegrass musician Russ Barenberg, Scottish fiddle legend Phil Cunningham, seminal Irish guitarist John Doyle, Scottish artists Donald Shaw and James MacIntosh of Capercaillie, premier Scottish fiddler John McCusker, British flute/whistle master Michael McGoldrick and British bassist Danny Thompson.
 
The Transatlantic Sessions Tour will take place Friday night on the Watson Stage from 6:30-8:30 p.m. Each guest will perform a small set of their own music, and then all guests and the hosts will join together on stage at the end for a grand finalé.
 
"We are very excited to host The Transatlantic Sessions Tour at MerleFest for our 30th celebration. This is a first for MerleFest and a first for ‘Transatlantic Sessions.’ We are especially grateful to MerleFest veteran Jerry Douglas, a 30-year MerleFest veteran, and his manager, D.J. McLachlan, for making this set possible,” said Steve Johnson, artist relations manager for MerleFest. “It's going to be a great Friday night on the Watson Stage as Jerry Douglas and Aly Bain invite special guests – some surprises and some fan favorites – to perform over the two hours. It's something we know Doc, Merle and Rosalee would appreciate, and we know the fans will as well."
 
Jerry Douglas – Internationally recognized as the world's most renowned Dobro player, Jerry Douglas undoubtedly ranks among the top contemporary maestros in American music. Douglas has garnered 13 Grammy Awards and numerous International Bluegrass Music Association awards, and he holds the distinction of being named Musician of the Year by the Country Music Association, the Academy of Country Music and the Americana Music Association.
 
Aly Bain – Aly Bain’s traditional-style fiddle playing is unique – driving, impassioned and pure – with vibrant, unmistakable tone that has earned him a following of ardent fans throughout the world. Born in Lerwick, Shetland, in 1946, Aly began playing the fiddle when he was 11. In his early 20s, his dramatic playing, with great tone and technical ability, brought early recognition as an outstanding musician of the folk music revival and almost overnight, raised the level of expectation for music lovers throughout the country. Aly embarked on a life of intensive playing, recording and travel that continues to this day. He helped establish the folk band Boys of the Lough with whom he toured extensively and recorded for many years. Simultaneously, Aly pursued a solo career in collaborative and television projects. Although Aly's musical base is in Scotland, his extensive travels have led to an appreciation and mastery of many kinds of music.
 
James Taylor – As a recording and touring artist, James Taylor has touched people with his warm baritone voice and distinctive style of guitar-playing for more than 40 years, while setting a precedent to which countless young musicians have aspired. Over the course of his celebrated songwriting and performing career, Taylor has sold more than 100 million albums, earning gold, platinum and multi-platinum awards for classics ranging from “Sweet Baby James” in 1970 to “October Road” in 2002. In 2015 Taylor released “Before This World,” his first new studio album in 13 years, which earned him his first ever No. 1 album on the Billboard Charts and a Grammy nomination for Best Pop Vocal Album. He has won multiple Grammy Awards and has been inducted into both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the prestigious Songwriters Hall of Fame. In 2012, Taylor received the distinguished Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters by the French government and the National Medal of Arts by President Barack Obama in a White House ceremony. In November of 2015, Taylor was presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor. In December of 2016 Taylor received the Kennedy Center Honors, which are presented annually to individuals who have enriched American culture by distinguished achievement in the performing arts
 
Sarah Jarosz – A gifted multi-instrumentalist, a singularly expressive vocalist, and a songwriter of rare insight, Sarah Jarosz has been described by the New York Times as “one of acoustic music's most promising young talents; a singer-songwriter and mandolin and banjo prodigy with the taste and poise to strike that rare balance of commercial and critical success.” After receiving a mandolin for Christmas when she was nine years old, Jarosz worked tirelessly to master the instrument and learned to play guitar and clawhammer banjo along the way. She performed at her first bluegrass festival when she was 11. Over the next few years, she gained an impressive reputation as a young phenom on the festival circuit, absorbing a world of traditional influences while honing her own highly original songwriting sensibility. Jarosz has achieved a lot in the music industry. She won two Grammy Awards in February: Best Folk Album for her album “Undercurrent” and Best American Roots Performance. In 2014 she was nominated for two Grammy Awards: Best American Roots Song for “Build Me Up From Bones” and Best Folk Album for the “Build Me Up From Bones.”
 
Maura O’Connell – Maura O'Connell affectingly renders songs that vary across genres. Some are from occasional tones of old Ireland to sparkling new jazz or pop; others are revisited classics by Van Morrison or Lennon and McCartney to songs of new American songwriters, unheard until she found them. There is at least one recognizable pattern in most all of them: lyrics that set the stage for the song, laying down a context in surroundings or mood or the passing of time, and then honing in on a very specific vignette of love and life.
 
Born and raised in County Clare, Ireland, she was the third of four singing sisters. But it wasn't ancient Celt folk tunes in which that household was drenched but their singing mother's collection of light opera, opera and parlor song records. Thus, O'Connell inhabits the song's situation. Seeing the songs as drama has led her repeatedly to certain writers, such as Patty Griffin, precisely because of their ability to create characters in swift strokes. All because the marriage of music and narrative was part of O'Connell’s world almost from the beginning.
 
Declan O’Rourke – Declan O’Rourke was a latecomer to the Dublin singer-songwriter scene. But, in his mid-20s, within months of discovering Dublin’s bustling songwriter open-mic circuit, O’Rourke found himself in the mix with the likes of Paddy Casey, Gemma Hayes, Damian Rice and many other Irish singer-songwriters. Such was the critical and commercial success of O’Rourke’s 2004 debut album, “Since Kyabram,” in Ireland that it opened the doors for him internationally, earning him accolades from the likes of Snow Patrol, Kate Rusby and deejays Jonathan Ross and Edith Bowman, each of whom were rapturous in their praise of Declan’s deep-honey voice and astute song writing abilities. O’Rourke’s songs have been recorded by a host of highly respected, successful artists like Josh Groban, Eddi Reader (MBE), and Swedish pop sensation Peter Jöback.
 
Karen Matheson – Widely recognized as the compelling vocals of Celtic supergroup Capercaillie, Karen Matheson’s life in the limelight began with her performing as a child in her local village hall in Argyll on the west coast of Scotland. There she was brought up immersed in the deep well of traditional songs that have been her inspiration for over 30 years of recording and performing worldwide. Fast forward to last summer where her stunning rendition of ‘Ae fond kiss’ stole the show at the closing ceremony of the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and to a televised audience of over a billion people.
 
Her new solo album, “Urram” (September 2015), is a musical love letter to her families’ Hebridean roots, with a collection of timeless Gaelic songs that evoke the character and atmosphere of island life through waulking songs, love songs, lullabies, mouth music and evocative poems to the surroundings.
 
Joe Newberry – Joe Newberry is a Missouri native and North Carolina transplant who has played music most of his life. Internationally known for his powerful banjo work, he is a prizewinning guitarist, fiddler and singer as well. Joe's songwriting is characterized by the same clean, elegant style as his banjo playing. Musicians in the folk and bluegrass world often record his songs. The Gibson Brothers’ version of his song "Singing as We Rise," featuring guest vocalist Ricky Skaggs, won the 2012 IBMA Gospel Recorded Performance award. A frequent guest on Garrison Keillor’s “A Prairie Home Companion,” Joe is a founder of the string band Big Medicine and, along with Mike Compton, performs with Bruce Molsky and Rafe Stefanini as the Jumpsteady Boys.
 
Joe grew up in a family full of singers and dancers. He took up the guitar and banjo as a teenager and learned fiddle tunes from great Missouri fiddlers. He came to North Carolina as a young man and quickly became an anchor of the incredible music scene in the state. Still going strong more than 30 years later, he does solo and studio work and plays and teaches at festivals and workshops in North America and abroad.
 
Tickets for MerleFest 2017 are on sale now and may be purchased at MerleFest.org or by calling 1-800-343-7857. An advance ticket discount runs through April 27, 2017. Gate pricing begins on the first day of the festival.
 
MerleFest’s lineup reflects the diversity and quality of performers who are the hallmark of the festival. MerleFest is known for its unique mix of traditional, roots-oriented music from the Appalachian region, including bluegrass and old-time music, Americana, blues, country, Celtic, Cajun, cowboy, zydeco, rock and many other styles that the late Doc Watson referred to as “traditional plus.” The developing lineup is viewable at MerleFest.org/lineup.

Like an oasis appearing to the lone, wearied cowboy, rebel-psych Americana group Modern Mal’s The Misanthrope Family Album dropping May 12^th 2017, is the meeting of traditional country with a mirage of tropical beach-psych. In the writing process, it seems the band’s northern Michigan songwriting pair of Rachel Brooke and Brooks Robbins, had a specific recluse in mind—a close family friend they recently took care of on his deathbed. A misanthrope with a unique way of looking at life; it’s his eerie polaroid portrait that adorns the cover of The Misanthrope Family Album, and his peaceful passage into the afterlife guides the spirit of the album. Though rife with his quirky melancholia and the grief inherent in loss, this album also celebrates their friend’s magic, and the magic of family. That is Modern Mal’s genius: the dark and the light balance each other out. Rachel’s high, floating vocals and Brooks’ dark, foreboding harmonies make The Misanthrope Family Album some twisted lovechild of Brian Wilson and Lou Reed, and the use of slide, surf guitar, ukulele, and 1950s doo-op influences make the album as sunny and intricately produced as it is dark and gritty.

Rachel and Brooks met playing shows together in Detroit. At the time, Brooks was a loner songwriter writing pretty, dark lullabies, and Rachel had been releasing her own gothic Americana—infused with punked-out murder ballads, rockabilly and early jazz. Hailed as an underground country queen, Rachel found her match with Brooks Robbins—who’s dark baritone voice and preoccupation with the mysterious complemented her artistic vision. In the meeting of their twisted, talented minds, Modern Mal was born.

The Misanthrope Family Album was recorded at Halohorn Studios in Traverse City, Michigan, with some of the people who are closest to Rachel and Brooks. For instance, Rachel’s brother Andy Van Guilder played drums, their best friend Nick Carnes and his first cousin Mike Cullen played played guitar on the album, and Rachel’s childhood friend TJ Rankin (bass, percussion) also made an appearance. Throughout the process of recording, Rachel and Brooks were careful to include the creative perspectives of all involved, which accounts for everyone’s disparate quirks and makes the new release feel authentic and alive.

“Brooks and I are the songwriters, and the orchestrators, but we believe in hearing out other people's ideas and interpretations,” said Rachel. “What really stands out to us is that most of the people on the record are all really close to us. Either family, or very close friends who all just happen to be brilliant people, and introverts... "Most of the songs are about feelings of sadness, inadequacy in love, exploration, introspection and self-reflection,” said Rachel.

The heavy subject matter is mesh ed with jangly harmonies and washed-out psychedelia—both Rachel and Brooks cite The Beach Boys as a major early influence—but with an eerie sci-fi element that underscores their collective fascination with the unknown. As Brooks so aptly said, “If we are the product of purposeful design, hopefully death will be a celebration,” and with The Misanthrope Family Album Modern Mal have indulged all the magical, quirky mystery inherent in death, and life.

Images of the American West are spread throughout the compelling new folk and Americana album, Down in the West Volume 2, from California songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Kyle Alden. Rivers running on, old growth redwoods, falling-down barns, horse stables... But there are really two Wests in this album: the Pacific coast of America and the West of Ireland, the sources of many of Alden’s musical inspirations. Here he blends the two worlds effortlessly, pulling additional ideas from that other source of Irish-influenced Americana: Appalachia. These three cultural touchstones all share the same rugged, pioneer landscape, reflected clearly in Alden’s music. Here, rough-and-tumble County Kerry Irish polkas, original and traditional, rub shoulders with newly composed cowboy songs that speak of the loss of the American West. Throughout, Alden’s wry sense of humor and rich folk baritone carry the songs into interesting new territory, pushing the tradition away from a sense of somber history and into a place that speaks to our modern world with old words.

In making Down in the West Volume 2, Kyle Alden brought great musical friends together in the San Francisco Bay Area. American Irish fiddler Athena Tergis (Riverdance, Green Fields of America) joins in on the tunes, along with San Francisco acoustic music vets like folk singer Rory McNamara, pianist David Smadbeck, pedal steel player Robert Powell (Peter Gabriel, John Lee Hooker), bassists Scott Thunes (Frank Zappa, The Waterboys, The Mother Hips), and Paul Eastburn (Spark & Whisper). These players join Alden’s own instrumental and vocal work on the album, which features him playing mandolin, tenor banjo, guitar, and bass. The songs on the album are drawn from a wide variety of sources. Alden’s original songs, like the twang-heavy folk song “Better Than New,” the Irish dancehall delight “The Nancy Song,” or the evocative ballad “Fall Day Gone,” combine with songs from traditional sources, like the Appalachian and Irish classics “Sail Away Ladies” and “Sam Hall,” or rarer sources, like the beautiful song “George’s Street” from San Francisco Irish songwriter Vince Keehan. In a nod to Alden’s 2011 album, Songs from Yeats’ Bee-Loud Glade, which featured the poetry of W.B. Yeats’ set to song, here Alden resets a poem from British poet W.H. Auden in a rolling folk-rock setting.
 
Down in the West Volume 2 is a snapshot of the wide-roaming mind of Kyle Alden, both as a songwriter and as a tunesmith/instrumental musician. The album effortlessly blends American and Irish traditions in a setting so natural that the listener would be hard-pressed to find where one tradition ends and the other begins.
 

To make his debut album, In Times Like These, noted activist, author, documentary filmmaker and theologian Rev. Osagyefo Sekou went back to his Southern home searching for his family’s musical roots in the deep Arkansas blues and gospel traditions. Produced by six-time Grammy nominated Luther Dickinson of the North Mississippi Allstars, featuring Luther’s brother Cody Dickinson, and supported by Thirty Tigers, Rev. Sekou’s debut solo album is a new vision for what Southern blues and rock can mean today. In Times Like These is drenched with the sweat and tears of the Mississippi River, the great tributary that ties so much of the South together. The album’s sonic landscape captures the toil of Southern field hands, the guttural cry of chain gangs, the vibrancy of contemporary street protest, backwoods juke joints, and shotgun churches—all saturated with Pentecostal sacred steel and soul legacy.  

In Times Like These’s opening song, “Resist,” begins with a rousing speech given by Rev. Sekou at a rally in Ferguson, Missouri, protesting the murder of Michael Brown. Upon hearing about Brown’s death, Sekou immediately returned to his hometown of St. Louis, MO, taking to the streets in a series of protests and interfaith demonstrations that led to his being arrested multiple times. “Resist” surrounds the listener with the spirit and passion of righteous protest. The images of Ferguson’s protests are burned into Sekou’s mind even today, and led to his moving cover of Bob Marley’s classic, “Burnin’ and Lootin’,” which captures the feeling of the riots. “In Times Like These”—the album’s title track—confronts the sense of helplessness that many feel in this current political moment.  Carried by congas and explosive steel guitar, the song moves around the central line “In times like this, ain’t no one going to save us, we’re the ones we’ve been waiting for.”

In many ways, Shame, the new album from 27-year-old Nashville Americana songwriter & multi-instrumentalist Rachel Baiman, is an exploration of growing up female in America. “I wasn't necessarily trying to write songs that would be easy to listen to”, Baiman says of the project, “I wanted to write about reality, in all of it's terror and beauty.” From the title track about abortion politics, to love, sex, and abuse in relationships, to classism and inequality in her re-write of Andy Irvine's working class anthem “Never Tire of the Road,” the album is ambitious in its scope, yet remains cohesive through Baiman's personal perspective. Despite the serious subject matter, the overall feeling of the album remains light, with the tongue-in-cheek “Getting Ready to Start (Getting Ready)” and feel-good anthem “Let them Go To Heaven”. A departure from her stripped-down work with progressive folk duo 10 String Symphony, Shame is lush and varied in instrumentation and musical texture. Inspired in equal parts by John Hartford and Courtney Barnett, Baiman's influences span a wide range, but years spent playing traditional music shine through in the album’s firmly rooted sound. For recording and production, Baiman turned to the talents of Mandolin Orange's Andrew Marlin. “At the time that I was writing the music for this record, I was listening to all North Carolina-made albums, including Mandolin Orange and the album Andrew produced for Josh Oliver (Oliver is also featured heavily on Shame)." Shortly after reaching out to Marlin, Baiman traveled to Chapel Hill, NC for three intensive days in the studio. "The energy was amazing," Baiman says. "It became clear that we were making something really special that needed to be finished.” 

Added to the musical intensity was the context of the material they were recording  - namely, how the songwriting on Shame sits within the current American political climate. "I think what is happening in the country right now has really shifted my career priorities, and brought the folk music community together. We are all suddenly seeing our purpose come into focus, and feeling a renewed responsibility to be a voice of unity and resistance.” In addition to the release of her new solo album, Baiman is the co-founder of a new political group called Folk Fights Back, a musician-led national organization that puts together benefit concerts and awareness events in response to the Trump administration.    

Baiman is no newcomer to activism. Raised in Chicago by a radical economist and a social worker, she was surrounded by social justice issues her entire life. “If I wanted to rebel against my parents I could have become a finance banker or a corporate lawyer” she says of her childhood. While her classmates went to church or temple on Sunday mornings, Baiman attended the Ethical Humanist Society of Greater Chicago, a non-religious community formed around discussions of morality and current events. “That was always a tough one to explain at school” she says with a laugh.   

As a teenager, Baiman found music to be a welcome escape from worrying about global politics. “I often found the constant discussion of seemingly unsolvable problems to be intense and overwhelming, and when I moved to Nashville to pursue music it felt like something positive, beautiful, and productive that I could put into the world. Now that I've had some years to devote to music,”--Baiman has been recording and touring internationally for the past 4 years with 10 String Symphony, and has played fiddle for numerous other artists including Kacey Musgraves and Winnipeg folk band Oh My Darling--“I find it hard to escape from the values that I grew up with, and I feel compelled to write politically, to speak out about things that I've experienced or seen. Songwriting is a unique opportunity to do that, because it avails a more emotional vehicle for discussion. I love the political tradition of folk music, from Woody Guthrie to Tupac, and my hope is that this record adds another voice to it.” 

It’s a dark little bar, named after Guy Clark’s bass player, that’s tucked into a lost corner of Brooklyn’s Williamsburg neighborhood. The band’s crammed up on the stage, nearly spilling into the audience, and young couples are two-stepping around the edges. With a nightly lineup of the best young honky-tonk bands in the US coming through, Skinny Dennis has become the center of New York’s burgeoning roots country scene, and Zephaniah OHora–his hair slicked back, all decked out in black–is leading this new community. OHora’s encyclopedic knowledge and burning love for old country music glows triumphantly throughout his new album This Highway (set for release June 9th, 2017), which frames his original songs right in the crossroads of a golden era in the music: the meeting of the Bakersfield and Nashville Sounds of the 1960s. This blend of New-York-City-meets-Merle-Haggard songwriting means that  OHora’s songs feel deeply personal even while presented through the smooth sound of a bygone era.  

Perhaps it’s a credit to his ability to imagine himself in any place or time. OHora is originally from New Hampshire, where he grew up playing music for worship meetings at his church. These evangelical meetings centered around improvisational music, intense prayer, and even speaking in tongues. “It was kind of like a cult, although I didn’t realize it at the time”, he says with a laugh. Leaving the church, OHora walked a winding path through his early 20s. “I experimented with psychedelics at the time, and after you have that first life changing trip, everything seems to take on a more surrealistic nature.” Listening to the LSD-inspired “Way Down in my Soul”, you can almost envision OHora floating through a 70’s country love affair.

Coming in early June, the Blue Ox Music Festival returns with an all-star lineup of roots, Americana, and country artists. Nestled amongst the dense, sun-speckled pine forests of Eau Claire, Wisconsin, Blue Ox Music Festival welcomes thousands of roots music fans and musicians each June to the heart of Paul Bunyan country. Hosted each year by progressive Americana band Pert Near Sandstone, Blue Ox showcases the complex fabric that is American roots music, bringing some of the genre’s best artists to an intimate natural space. Featuring late-night jams, lots of dancing, camping, and an amazing lineup of artists, Blue Ox is a powerful new voice on the national music festival scene!

Tickets are available now at a special introdcutory rate, but will increase on April 27! For more ticket info, go to www.blueoxmusicfestival.com

The full lineup for the 2017 Blue Ox Music Festival is as follows: Punch Brothers, Greensky Bluegrass, Drive-By Truckers, Railroad Earth, Sam Bush Band, The Infamous Stringdusters, Son Volt, Horseshoes & Hand Grenades, Grateful Ball, Keller & The Keels, Jeff Austin Band, The Travelin’ McCourys, Dead Man Winter feat. Dave Simonett of Trampled by Turtles, The Steeldrivers, Split Lip Rayfield, Willie Watson, Fruition, Henhouse Prowlers, Rumpke Mountain Boys, Billy Strings, Colter Wall, Trout Steak Revival, Dead Horses, White Iron Band, Them Coulee Boys, Evergreen Grass Band, Joseph Huber, and Laska.
 
“We are excited for year three of the Blue Ox Music Festival,” says Jim Bischel, the festival's executive director. “Between the lineup, improvements and additions to our festival venue, and the incredible fans we have, it is going to be a fantastic year. We can’t wait until June!”

MerleFest, presented by Window World, has wrapped up its 30th year, closing out with a raise-the-roof acoustic performance from Zac Brown Band. Early estimates show that from its start on Thursday, April 27, to its close on Sunday, April 30, aggregate participation over the festival’s four days exceeded 80,000 participants. MerleFest, held on the campus of Wilkes Community College, is the primary fundraiser for the WCC Foundation, funding scholarships, capital projects and other educational needs.

From the Watson Stage, Zac Brown talked about growing up coming to MerleFest and watching his musical idols on stage, artists he saw as almost superheroes. He spoke of what a privilege it is to be in the “Batcave” with them now, meaning the festival. He also spoke nostalgically of how he used to lie in the grass field at MerleFest listening to all the music as a young man, and how happy he was that, even though he didn’t get to do that anymore, everyone else at MerleFest could still enjoy these moments at the festival.

Over 100 incredible performers contributed to the success of this year’s festival, nearly all of whom had performed in previous years and were invited back to be part of the 30th celebration. These artists included Zac Brown Band, Transatlantic Sessions hosted by Jerry Douglas and Aly Bain featuring James Taylor, The Avett Brothers, Béla Fleck, Marty Stuart & His Fabulous Superlatives, Del McCoury Band, Leftover Salmon, Sam Bush Band, The Earls of Leicester featuring Jerry Douglas, Peter Rowan, Steep Canyon Rangers, Natalie MacMaster and Donnell Leahy, Jorma Kaukonen, Sarah Jarosz, Jim Lauderdale and many more.

Every year, music fans experience what has become known as “MerleFest Moments” – special groupings of performances, jam sessions and events that get the whole festival talking and add to the festival’s rich history.

Thursday night’s MerleFest Moment came from bluegrass pioneer Del McCoury. Even though he was reportedly suffering from laryngitis and was planning not to sing, he was carried away by the emotion of the moment onstage and sang his entire set in his uniquely powerful voice. The Avett Brothers were wildly anticipated Thursday night and took the stage with an explosive performance that echoed across the grounds. Their cover of Doc Watson’s “Country Blues” went from a close-quarters fiddle and banjo duet into a wonderful extended jam.

Friday afternoon, MerleFest was buzzing with excitement for folk-rock legend James Taylor, who was scheduled to perform with The Transatlantic Sessions Tour hosted by Jerry Douglas and Aly Bain. Taylor opened his set with his hit song “Carolina on my Mind,” joking, “I might as well get this out of the way!” Aside from James Taylor, the Transatlantic Sessions set was an unexpected delight for many MerleFest attendees, featuring a parade of some of the best Celtic musicians in the United Kingdom. Earlier on Friday, programming ranged from Sierra Hull’s quietly sublime mandolin and bass duet with bassist Ethan Jodziewicz to Wayne Henderson’s blazingly fast bluegrass twang, featuring 12-year old flatpicking guitar prodigy Presley Barker.

On Saturday, the Avett Brothers returned for an especially powerful set on the Hillside Stage entirely made up of songs from Doc Watson, a key influence to their music. "We feel Doc's presence here, even three years after his death, and he's everywhere in our music," said Scott Avett. The Avett Brothers invited Doc Watson’s brother, David Watson, to the stage for a special introduction. "I was 15 the first time I came to MerleFest. It doesn't feel different now. The authenticity seems to stay here," said Seth Avett. Other surprises of the day included Sarah Jarosz’s hard-edged cover of Prince's "When Doves Cry" complete with stunning bass solo from bassist Jeff Picker. Late in the evening, Ireland’s I Draw Slow showed their love for the region with a rousing Appalachian stringband tune on the Dance Stage that had people spinning and twirling. Closing out the Watson Stage on Saturday night, Donna the Buffalo was joined by Béla Fleck, Sam Bush, and young bluegrass mandolin powerhouse Chris Henry for their all-star Saturday night jam.

Sunday at MerleFest opened to more beautiful sunny weather. Sunday’s programming sponsor was Lowes Foods. On the Watson Stage, The Kruger Brothers mastered the difficult combination of bluegrass and classical music, premiering their “Roan Mountain Suite” with The Kontras Quartet, and in a virtuosic turn, brought the group together on Sting’s "Fields of Gold." Natalie MacMaster & Donnell Leahy, two of Canada's best fiddlers, brought out four of their young children for a rousing round of fiddle and step-dancing that had the MerleFest crowd on their feet for their first of three standing ovations for the family. Toward the end of his set, country and roots music star Marty Stuart paused to remember Doc Watson, who he “missed with all his heart,” dedicating a beautiful hymn to Doc. Closing out the evening and the festival, Zac Brown Band presented a special all-acoustic set, just guitars, bass and fiddle, including songs off his upcoming album, “Welcome Home.”

MerleFest has always been known for discovering emerging talent in American roots music. From Old Crow Medicine Show to Gillian Welch and the Avett Brothers to Tift Merritt, careers blossom from breakout performances on MerleFest stages. The 2017 MerleFest lineup continues this trend, presenting breakout and up-and-coming artists like Megan Nash, Front Country, Lydia Luce, 10 String Symphony, Mountain Heart, Locust Honey, Ken Tizzard and more.

The great MerleFest tradition of The Hillside Album Hour, hosted by The Waybacks, returned with guest vocalist Celia Woodsmith (of Della Mae). MerleFest's bucolic Hillside Stage filled out with crowds for the unveiling of the classic album, “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart’s Club Band” by The Beatles. After the triumphant opening, Woodsmith grooved to “Getting Better,” and later Sam Bush and guests joined The Waybacks for cuts like “Within or Without You” and “Lovely Rita.”

The Midnight Jam, hosted by Mipso and sponsored by The Bluegrass Situation, is always a source for one-of-a-kind moments and unexpected surprises. Opening with Mipso’s Americana bluegrass roots, Sierra Hull and Peter Rowan sang a beautiful duet on the classic Doc Watson song “What Does the Deep Sea Say.” Jim Lauderdale put together a wonderful set of Ralph Stanley songs that compelled Peter Rowan to run back to the stage to join him on harmony vocals for the song “White Dove.” Surprising the whole crowd, Mipso had invited four brass musicians to start up an impromptu parade through the crowd playing “When the Saints Come Marching In,” ending in an old-time stringband jam with Sierra Hull, Mipso and Front Country.

MerleFest continues to celebrate the life and music of Doc and Merle Watson because the legacy of their music is the artistic center of the festival. Musician, composer and storyteller T. Michael Coleman joined Doc and Merle to tour the world and help create countless Grammy-nominated and Grammy-awarded recordings. Coleman has joined the festival in its mission to keep Doc and Merle at the heart of MerleFest. His popular annual Saturday “Memories of Doc & Merle” set is part of that mission.

The Chris Austin Songwriting Contest on Friday, known for discovering the finest aspiring songwriters, brought a new group of talent to the festival. Winning bluegrass songwriter Linda Jean Stokley from Kentucky, Nashville country songwriter Mary Bragg, and more performed their award-winning songs on the Cabin Stage on Friday evening.

The Band Competition, another point of discovery for great new artists, brought together 12 bands of various ages and genres on Saturday at MerleFest. The Trailblazers, an emerging progressive bluegrass band from North Carolina picked up the first place prize, an honor they can add to their already accomplished career for such young pickers, including opening spots for Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder and Blue Highway.

In addition to promoting "traditional plus" music, a term coined by Doc Watson to describe the wide variety of musical genres and styles celebrated at MerleFest, the festival also featured heritage crafts demonstrations, instrument picking lessons and jam sessions, dancing, and music education workshops.

“We’ve had an incredible weekend!” exclaimed Festival Director Ted Hagaman. “With over 100 artists on 13 stages over the four days, we again feel we succeeded in providing a quality and successful event for all involved. Preliminary numbers show we attracted thousands of fans from all over the world. We appreciate their support. This event could not happen without the work and dedication of our 4,000-plus volunteers and the many great safety and service agencies in Northwestern North Carolina. We’re already looking forward to MerleFest 2018.”

Following a national publicity campaign for his 2017 album, No Rain No Rose, Portland Americana and folk songwriter John Craigie will be opening for iconic folk-rocker Jack Johnson on Johnson’s upcoming Summer 2017 Tour. The two met in Hawaii when Johnson came to Craigie’s show and fell in love with his mix of wry folk songwriting and stand-up comedy. After a few days together on the North Shore, Johnson invited Craigie on tour. The two are both storytellers, bringing personal observations and close friends and community into their music. “I always respected him as a musician,” Craigie says, “but it was nice to get a chance to get to know the real Jack. Now I have the opportunity to join him and his band on their west coast tour this summer. These will be, hands down, the biggest venues and crowds I’ve ever played for. And another chance to hang out with Jack." The Englewood shows are unique, the doors are open an hour and a half before the show, so Craigie is joining Jack Johnson’s band to play a set on the Village Green Acoustic Stage as the crowds come in.

As Portland-based Americana songwriter John Craigie says, “It is the job of the folksinger to present someone to the audience that is relatable. Music is not about making you feel better. It’s about making you feel that you’re not alone.” With the songs on his January 2017 release, No Rain, No Rose, Craigie does just that—brings together talented friends like Gregory Alan Isakov, The Shook Twins, and members of Fruition and Trout Steak Revival, beneath the umbrella of his cozy, well-crafted songs.

John Craigie’s life in Portland is the impetus for much of the material on No Rain, No Rose, which has the same easy and down-to-earth feel of the old Victorian home where Craigie gathered to record with his community: Gregory Alan Isakov, The Shook Twins, and Tyler Thompson and Jay Cobb Anderson of Fruition. Even the title of the album, No Rain, No Rose is an ode to Portland. “I took it from an old Buddhist saying ‘No Mud, No Lotus’, which basically means, you need the bad things to make the good things.  I changed it to reflect my rainy city of roses,” says Craigie.

The album’s also inspired by the folk torch bearers of the sixties and seventies and attempts to follow in the era’s footsteps. Especially, Craigie strives for the quality of the informal recording style of that era that more closely mirrors his heart as a performer. On No Rain, No Rose, Craigie left the tape rolling in between takes, capturing the banter and jokes between close friends just as the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band did on their album, Will the Circle Be Unbroken. “On that album you have a group bringing a bunch of outside musicians in the studio to help them create a sound that is larger than what they could create on their own.  The loose sound on this album is inspired by that record immensely,” says Craigie.

In a world of polished pop songs and hyper-production, the organic brush of Craigie’s pick against the strings and the unity within Portland’s rich roots music family makes No Rain, No Rose blush with lifelike warmth.

It’s at about five minutes and thirty seconds into the second track (“Meet Me At the Creek”) on the debut LP, Turmoil & Tinfoil, from Nashville bluegrass iconoclast Billy Strings that you start to see his intense vision for American roots music. It’s right after a jagged, spiraling solo from Billy’s mandolinist Drew Matulich, when Billy’s guitar starts aggressively stacking power chords and suddenly leaps into a screaming acoustic guitar solo that twists its way through a dark-Cthulhu bluegrass jam. This vision is echoed in the hallucinatory album art, and in “Spinning,” a spoken-word track that recounts a psychedelic-fueled dreamscape. Billy Strings plays hard and he lives hard, picking so fast and intensely that he’s known to break multiple strings per song, and basing the songs he writes on the hard lives he grew up around in the abandoned rural communities of America. At the same time, he’s one of the most beloved young bluegrass guitarists today within the bluegrass community, and his front porch in East Nashville is constantly filled up with Nashville’s best roots musicians just picking up a storm. That’s how he can balance blazingly-intense, mind-expanding musical explorations with straight-up traditional bluegrass: he doesn’t see them as being any different. They both have the same white-hot core: a realization that the best way to be taken seriously in music is to blow people’s minds.

The tricky part of making the new album, Turmoil & Tinfoil, was translating Billy Strings’ incendiary live show into the studio. Many bands have fallen flat capturing the energy of live performances, and very few bands play live with the kind of ferocity that Billy generates, whether performing with icons like Del McCoury, David Grisman, Sam Bush, Hot Rize, or tearing down the roof at any myriad of roots festivals across the US, all of which earned him massive word-of-mouth buzz leading into this new full-length album. Returning to his home state of Michigan, Billy enlisted acoustic roots wizard Glenn Brown (Greensky Bluegrass) as producer, and centered the music around his new band, featuring Matulich on mandolin with banjo prodigy Billy Failing and much-loved Nashville bassist Brad Tucker. Rich with special guests, Turmoil & Tinfoil shows off Billy’s East Nashville community of picking friends, among them Miss Tess, Molly Tuttle, John Mailander, Shad Cobb and Peter Madcat Ruth. Of special note is a virtuosic duet between Billy and bluegrass guitarist Bryan Sutton on “Salty Sheep” that shows the speed, precision, and creative craftsmanship of bluegrass when it’s done right. Rounding out the album, Billy’s father Terry Barber joins him on a newly-written bluegrass song, “These Memories of You.” As Billy says, “I grew up pickin' and singing with my Dad and I remember falling in love with not just a specific song, but just the way that real mountain bluegrass harmony sounds. The high vocal part soars above the lead and there's really nothing better than singing with someone and having that harmony lock into place.

Billy Strings came to the tradition honestly, a fourth-generation musician who grew up playing this music with friends and understanding that bluegrass jamming was a means to build a community and to make connections. But at the same time, he’s come up in a modern world, in modern times, and doesn’t see the music as a relic. Instead, he’s infused it with the heavy metal and punk that he also grew up with, embellished the songs with deep references to psychedelic adventuring, and based everything he does on his undeniable virtuosity as one of the most fire-breathing guitarists in American roots music today.

Turmoil & Tinfoil Track List:

1. On The Line
2. Meet Me at the Creek
3. All of Tomorrow
4. While I'm Waiting Here
5. Living Like an Animal
6. Turmoil & Tinfoil
7. Salty Sheep
8. Spinning
9. Dealing Despair
10. Pyramid Country
11. Doin' Things Right
12. These Memories of You
13. 107

On September 1st, Nashville-based alt-country rocker Becky Warren, who is gearing up for her second run in a year with the Indigo Girls, will unleash a deluxe version of her stunning debut album, War Surplus, featuring four additional and previously unreleased tracks.

War Surplus is a tale of two intertwined characters--June, who has given up hope of ever falling in love, and Scott, the self-deprecating and charming military man who changes her mind. “When June and Scott meet, they fall in love, and he deploys to Iraq," Warren explains. "Scott returns from war with PTSD and the story illustrates the pair’s struggle, as they ultimately part ways. It’s not a political album," she adds. "It’s about humanity, about the struggles of these two people."

Warren enlisted Nashville heavyweights including guitarist and pedal-steel player Paul Niehaus (Calexico, Iron & Wine, Justin Townes Earle, Bobby Bare, Jr.), drummer Dillon Napier (Margo Price), and Adam Wakefield (The Voice) to round out the album's sound, which received high praise from NPR's All Things Considered, Noisey's Robert Chistgau, Juli Thanki at The Tennessean, and grabbed a spot on The Bitter Southerner's Best of 2016.

"Becky Warren's album War Surplus is a classic whiskey-soaked, honky-tonk, girl-meets-boy story in 12 songs. Except this story is girl meets boy, boy deploys, boy comes home with PTSD which, soaked in whiskey, tears apart their marriage, which is also something of a classic in the veterans community." - All Things Considered

"[War Surplus] is remarkable. A deadly accurate picture of a story that’s become all too familiar after more than a decade of a never-ending war." - Bitter Southerner

Becky Warren Tour Dates*:

8/25/17 Door Auditorium, Fish Creek, WI

8/26/17 Big Top, Bayfield, WI

8/27/17 The Pabst, Milwaukee, WI

8/29/17 Minnesota Zoo, Apple Valley, MN

8/30/17 Minnesota Zoo, Apple Valley, MN

9/2/17 Crossroads KC, Kansas City, MO

9/3/17 Chautauqua, Boulder, CO

*Supporting Indigo Girls

Nashville-based alt-country rocker Becky Warren, just begun a tour with folk icons Indigo Girls! The tour kicks off in Fish Creek, Wisconsin and ends on September 3rd in Boulder, Colorado with stops in Milwaukee, the greater Minneapolis area, and Kansas City, Missouri planned in between. Warren is also gearing up for the deluxe reissue of her stunning debut album, War Surplus, featuring four additional and previously unreleased tracks, on September 1st.

War Surplus is a tale of two intertwined characters June, who has given up hope of ever falling in love, and Scott, the self-deprecating and charming military man who changes her mind. “When June and Scott meet, they fall in love, and he deploys to Iraq," Warren explains. "Scott returns from war with PTSD and the story illustrates the pair’s struggle, as they ultimately part ways. It’s not a political album," she adds. "It’s about humanity, about the struggles of these two people."

Warren enlisted Nashville heavyweights including guitarist and pedal-steel player Paul Niehaus (Calexico, Iron & Wine, Justin Townes Earle, Bobby Bare, Jr.), drummer Dillon Napier (Margo Price), and Adam Wakefield (The Voice) to round out the album's sound, which received high praise from NPR's All Things Considered, Noisey's Robert Chistgau, Juli Thanki at The Tennessean, and grabbed a spot on The Bitter Southerner's Best of 2016.

"Becky Warren's album War Surplus is a classic whiskey-soaked, honky-tonk, girl-meets-boy story in 12 songs. Except this story is girl meets boy, boy deploys, boy comes home with PTSD which, soaked in whiskey, tears apart their marriage, which is also something of a classic in the veterans community." - All Things Considered

"[War Surplus] is remarkable. A deadly accurate picture of a story that’s become all too familiar after more than a decade of a never-ending war." - Bitter Southerner

Becky Warren Tour Dates:

8/25/17 Door Auditorium, Fish Creek, WI

8/26/17 Big Top, Bayfield, WI

8/27/17 The Pabst, Milwaukee, WI

8/29/17 Minnesota Zoo, Apple Valley, MN

8/30/17 Minnesota Zoo, Apple Valley, MN

9/2/17 Crossroads KC, Kansas City, MO

9/3/17 Chautauqua, Boulder, CO

On October 13th, longtime Pokey LaFarge sideman Ryan Koenig will take his long-anticipated step onto the center stage with the release of his debut album, Two Different Worlds, via St. Louis label Big Muddy Records.

With powerfully emotive vocal performances backed by lush and intricately woven arrangements, the album's tracks tell stories of real people and real places, but are mixed with components of fantasy--and they are anything but predictable. Though the music itself is steeped in an old tradition, Koenig is not after nostalgia. The instrumentation places the songs in a modern context and the songs were written with a very real awareness of the present time; Koenig reflects upon gentrification, mortality and the dichotomy of romance and violence, which are interspersed throughout classic country tales of heartbreak and longing. Two Different Worlds is tastefully layered with some of the strongest musical voices in roots music that Missouri has to offer, with contributions from John Horton (The Bottle Rockets), Gary Hunt, Jr. (Son Volt), various members of Pokey LaFarge’s backing band, and a host of Big Muddy Records regulars including Jack Grelle and Koenig’s wife, Kellie Everett (The Hooten Hallers). This multitude of talent coalesces into a colorful palette that brings his rich and textured vision of country music to life.

Koenig’s journey with music began in basements across the midwest as the singer and guitar player for garage-punk group The Vultures. Twelve years later, the charming spotlight-stealer, affectionately known to Pokey LaFarge's expansive fanbase as "Cowboy Ryan," is internationally known--from wielding searing harmonica solos in LaFarge’s band, to backing Jack White on his Grammy-nominated album Blunderbuss, to achieving hometown-hero status with solo work and membership in impeccable St. Louis blues/roots group Rum Drum Ramblers,  Koenig's star power potential is undeniable.

Ryan Koenig is inseparable from his music; though his songs are an exaggerated scrapbook of his life, which has been enriched through his travels in Pokey LaFarge’s band, Two Different Worlds points to a new horizon, one where Koenig is front and center sharing his explosively musical worldview.

Billy Strings plays hard and he lives hard, picking so fast and intensely that he’s known to break multiple strings per song, and basing the songs he writes on the hard lives he grew up around in the abandoned rural communities of America. His new album, Turmoil & Tinfoil, taps into a deep vein of psychedelia in Americana, referencing everything from the Dead to Sturgill Simpson, but all underlaid by Billy’s undeniable virtuosity and his knowledge of the roots of American music. He’s one of the most beloved young bluegrass guitarists today within the bluegrass community, and his front porch in East Nashville is constantly filled up with Nashville’s best roots musicians just picking up a storm.

The tricky part of making the new album, Turmoil & Tinfoil, was translating Billy Strings’ incendiary live show into the studio. Returning to his home state of Michigan, Billy enlisted acoustic roots wizard Glenn Brown (Greensky Bluegrass) as producer, and centered the music around his new band, featuring Drew Matulich on mandolin with banjo prodigy Billy Failing and much-loved Nashville bassist Brad Tucker. Rich with special guests, Turmoil & Tinfoil shows off Billy’s East Nashville community of picking friends, among them Miss Tess, Molly Tuttle, John Mailander, Shad Cobb and Peter Madcat Ruth. Of special note is a virtuosic duet between Billy and bluegrass guitarist Bryan Sutton on “Salty Sheep” that shows the speed, precision, and creative craftsmanship of bluegrass when it’s done right.

Billy Strings & Whiskey Shivers Tour Dates
Thursday September 14 - Durham, NC - WUNC Back Porch
Friday, September 15th - Asheville, NC - Downtown After Five
Sunday, September 17th - Richmond, VA - The Broadberry
Tuesday, September 19th - Baltimore, MD - The 8x10
Wednesday, September 20th - Washington DC - Black Cat
Thursday September 21st - Philadelphia, PA - Boot & Saddle
Friday, September 22nd - Brooklyn, NY - Rough Trade
Saturday, September 23rd - Lenox, MA - Lenox Apple Squeeze
Sunday, September 24th - Boston, MA - Great Scott
Monday, September 25th - Burlington, VT - Higher Ground Showcase Lounge
Wednesday, September 27th - Buffalo, NY - Buffalo Iron Works
Thursday, September 28th - Columbus, OH - Woodlands Tavern
Friday, September 29th - Louisville, KY - Zanzabar
Saturday, September 30th - Gatlinburg, TN - Sugarlands Mountain Fest
Sunday, October 1st - Charleston, SC - The Pour House
Tuesday, October 10th - Detroit, MI - Otus Supply
Wednesday, October 11th - Indianapolis, IN - The HiFi
Thursday, October 12th - Milwaukee, WI - Back Room at colectivo
Friday, October 13th - Chicago, IL - Shubas
Friday, October 14th - Chicago, IL - Shubas
Sunday, October 15th - St. Paul, MN - Turf
Wednesday, October 25th - Seattle, WA - Tractor Tavern
Thursday, October 26th - Bend, OR - Volcanic Theatre Pub
Friday, October 27th - Eugene, OR - WOW Hall
Saturday, October 28th - Portland, OR - Revolution Hall
Tuesday, October 31st - San Francisco, CA - Bottom of the Hill
Wednesday, November 1st - Los Angeles, CA - The Echo
Friday, November 3rd - San Diego, CA - Soda Bar
Saturday, November 4th  - Phoenix, AZ - Last Exit Live
Saturday, November 5th - Albuquerque, NM - The Dirty Bourbon

Billy Strings plays hard and he lives hard, picking so fast and intensely that he’s known to break multiple strings per song, and basing the songs he writes on the hard lives he grew up around in the abandoned rural communities of America. His new album, Turmoil & Tinfoil, taps into a deep vein of psychedelia in Americana, referencing everything from the Dead to Sturgill Simpson, but all underlaid by Billy’s undeniable virtuosity and his knowledge of the roots of American music. He’s one of the most beloved young bluegrass guitarists today within the bluegrass community, and his front porch in East Nashville is constantly filled up with Nashville’s best roots musicians just picking up a storm.

The tricky part of making the new album, Turmoil & Tinfoil, was translating Billy Strings’ incendiary live show into the studio. Returning to his home state of Michigan, Billy enlisted acoustic roots wizard Glenn Brown (Greensky Bluegrass) as producer, and centered the music around his new band, featuring Drew Matulich on mandolin with banjo prodigy Billy Failing and much-loved Nashville bassist Brad Tucker. Rich with special guests, Turmoil & Tinfoil shows off Billy’s East Nashville community of picking friends, among them Miss Tess, Molly Tuttle, John Mailander, Shad Cobb and Peter Madcat Ruth. Of special note is a virtuosic duet between Billy and bluegrass guitarist Bryan Sutton on “Salty Sheep” that shows the speed, precision, and creative craftsmanship of bluegrass when it’s done right.

Billy Strings & Whiskey Shivers Tour Dates
Tuesday, October 10th - Detroit, MI - Otus Supply
Wednesday, October 11th - Indianapolis, IN - The HiFi
Thursday, October 12th - Milwaukee, WI - Back Room at colectivo
Friday, October 13th - Chicago, IL - Shubas
Friday, October 14th - Chicago, IL - Shubas
Sunday, October 15th - St. Paul, MN - Turf
Wednesday, October 25th - Seattle, WA - Tractor Tavern
Thursday, October 26th - Bend, OR - Volcanic Theatre Pub
Friday, October 27th - Eugene, OR - WOW Hall
Saturday, October 28th - Portland, OR - Revolution Hall
Tuesday, October 31st - San Francisco, CA - Bottom of the Hill
Wednesday, November 1st - Los Angeles, CA - The Echo
Friday, November 3rd - San Diego, CA - Soda Bar
Saturday, November 4th - Phoenix, AZ - Last Exit Live
Saturday, November 5th - Albuquerque, NM - The Dirty Bourbon

It’s no secret that great art comes from the margins. From those who are either pushed to create from inner forces, or who create to show they deserve to be recognized. Los Angeles-based street singer, guitarist, and roots music revolutionary Sunny War has always been an outsider, always felt the drive to define her place in the world through music and songwriting. As a young black girl growing up in Nashville, she searched for her own roots, looking first to the blues she heard from her mother’s boyfriend, and learning from a local guitarist. Moving to Los Angeles in her teens, she searched for herself in the LA punk scene, playing house shows with FIDLAR, and shoplifting DVDs from big box stores to trade at Amoeba Records for 80s punk albums. But here too she found herself on the outside, working to bridge her foundation in country blues and American roots guitar traditions with the punk scene she called home. She first made her name with this work, bringing a wickedly virtuosic touch on the fingerstyle guitar that sprang from her own self-discoveries on the instrument. But her restless spirit, a byproduct of growing up semi-nomadic with a single mother, led her to Venice Beach, California, where she’s been grinding the pavement for some years now, making a name for her prodigious guitar work and incisive songwriting, which touches on everything from police violence to alcoholism to love found and lost. Her new album, With the Sun, out February 2, 2018 on Hen House Studios, is the culmination of years of burning curiosity as an artist, the result of many wandered paths to find some new way to speak her heart. For the first time, she’s writing songs first and crafting the guitar work second, focusing on her own poetry and trying to tell her own story. She’s an outsider artist in the truest sense, living on the margins of the establishment and fueled only by her own creative genius.

To help achieve With the Sun’s larger vision, Sunny War turned to the ragtag group of Venice Beach musicians she’s fallen in with, mainly members of psych folk band Insects vs Robot, including percussionist Micah Nelson, fiddler Nikita Sorokin, and guitarist Milo Gonzalez. Produced by Harlan Steinberger at Hen House Studios in Venice Beach, which also doubled as the record label, the new album pushes and pulls between cleverly arranged orchestration and the DIY aesthetic that remains as Sunny’s throwback to her punk roots. For an artist with so many different influences, the album is remarkably cohesive, choosing to focus on Sunny’s songwriting and intricate guitar work. As an artist, Sunny borrows ideas and patterns at will from across the canon of American music. Her influences range from Elliott Smith, Black Flag, Joan Armatrading, and Tracy Chapman, to Robert Johnson (“To Love You” is her homage to Johnson’s “They’re Red Hot”), Elmore James, and Bessie Smith. “I feel like I am a blues guitarist, but I don't think I'm a blues artist,” Sunny explains. “I only use the scales and techniques that I know and the only time I was trained in music was on blues guitar. I really love Elizabeth Cotton and Mississippi John Hurt. I still like to listen to them to feel that there's nothing wrong with me playing the way I play.”

So much of what Sunny War does on her new album, With the Sun, is based on creating a new sounds from existing patterns. That’s why it’s difficult for her or the listener to pin down the influences behind each song. She’ll refer to some songs as bluesy, to others as mountain music, to some as punk, when they all sound like one thing: Sunny War. She’s a singular artist, driven by her own vision and compelled to write what she knows first. As she sings on the album, “It’s my life, gotta live it.” And this is her music.

Americana originals Leftover Salmon announce their new album, Something Higher, coming May 4, 2018. With the bands newer members taking more of a lead on songwriting, and Leftover Salmon's continued focus on groove-based song building, the new album has new sounds, new ideas, and a fresh take on the genre.

For any band to thrive on the road for twenty-five years, there needs to be a constant source of renewal, a fresh spring of creativity at the center of the music that brings each member back for more. For Leftover Salmon, one of the original purveyors of Americana, this source came first from the American roots music traditions they came up with: bluegrass picking, Cajun two-stepping, the country blues. For twenty-five years–over the course of their rise to become one of the biggest bands on the roots music circuit today, with legions of fans and routinely sold-out shows–Leftover Salmon have picked up many more influences. Much of this comes from the interactions between the founding members’ roots and the newer band members, who bring refreshingly different influences and ideas to the songwriting process. With their new album, Something Higher, due out May 4, 2018 on LoS Records, Leftover Salmon taps into everything from horn-blasting R&B to reverb-drenched desert noir, from the cosmic roots music sound they helped create to neo-New Orleans-meets-Appalachia liquefaction. There’s an unmistakable evolution to Leftover Salmon’s sound, and Something Higher has an edge to it that feels entirely new.

The Texas songwriter tradition casts a long shadow today, and Austin-based Americana roots juggernauts Wood & Wire can easily rattle off a list of songwriters that inspire them, from Willie Nelson to James McMurtry and everyone in between. But ask them about what it is about Texas that brought us so many great songwriters, and they stop cold. That’s because they don’t romanticize Texas’ culture or its past; they’re too busy working their asses off making new music, writing new songs. This isn’t a land made for quiet reflection, it’s a land made for hard work. Respect for honest labor is a central theme in Wood & Wire’s new album, North of Despair (out April 13, 2018 on Blue Corn Music), with songs populated by people like songwriter Tony Kamel’s own grandfather, who built the family’s hunting lodge in Llano, Texas with his own two hands. The characters on the album live large, and aren’t afraid to share their opinions about the modern world. This kind of vivid, haunting songwriting focused on lives spent deep in the countryside is a hallmark of Texas songwriting. But it’s the melding of this hard country songwriting with high-octane bluegrass instrumentation that makes for Wood & Wire’s signature sound. Artists like John Hartford have trod this ground before, blending great songs, bluegrass virtuosity, and a strong sense of place, and Wood & Wire aim to pave the way for Austin’s roots scene, bursting out of the giant expanses of the state with a fully-fledged vision for a new Texan sound. On North of Despair, they bring the ferocity of their live shows to the studio, whipping through barn-burning anthems about hard people in hard times.

WOOD & WIRE UPCOMING DATES

WOOD & WIRE AT SXSW:
Wed March 14 at 8pm - Official Showcase at Cooper's BBQ
(Atomic Music Group Showcase)
Sat March 17, time tbd - “East Side Double Wide” Showcase at Latchkey
(Sponsored by The Bluegrass Situation)

Sat March 24 - Dallas, TX - Six Springs Tavern
Fri/Sat April 13/14 - Las Vegas, NV - Vegas Bender Jamboree
Fri April 20 - Hill Country BBQ - Washington DC
Sat April 21 - Chapel Hill, NC - Local 506
Thur April 26 - Galveston, TX - Old Quarter Acoustic Cafe

Sat April 28 - Austin, TX - The Historic Scoot Inn
ALBUM RELEASE SHOW

The Texas songwriter tradition casts a long shadow today, and Austin-based Americana roots juggernauts Wood & Wire can easily rattle off a list of songwriters that inspire them, from Willie Nelson to James McMurtry and everyone in between. But ask them about what it is about Texas that brought us so many great songwriters, and they stop cold. That’s because they don’t romanticize Texas’ culture or its past; they’re too busy working their asses off making new music, writing new songs. This isn’t a land made for quiet reflection, it’s a land made for hard work. Respect for honest labor is a central theme in Wood & Wire’s new album, North of Despair (out April 13, 2018 on Blue Corn Music), with songs populated by people like songwriter Tony Kamel’s own grandfather, who built the family’s hunting lodge in Llano, Texas with his own two hands. The characters on the album live large, and aren’t afraid to share their opinions about the modern world. This kind of vivid, haunting songwriting focused on lives spent deep in the countryside is a hallmark of Texas songwriting. But it’s the melding of this hard country songwriting with high-octane bluegrass instrumentation that makes for Wood & Wire’s signature sound. Artists like John Hartford have trod this ground before, blending great songs, bluegrass virtuosity, and a strong sense of place, and Wood & Wire aim to pave the way for Austin’s roots scene, bursting out of the giant expanses of the state with a fully-fledged vision for a new Texan sound. On North of Despair, they bring the ferocity of their live shows to the studio, whipping through barn-burning anthems about hard people in hard times.

Wood & Wire could have returned to Nashville to record North of Despair, but the pull of home was too strong, so they headed out to Dripping Springs, just outside Austin in the Texas Hill Country. Holing up at renowned studio The Zone, they cut the tracks mostly live to tape, with minimal editing. Touring hard for the past three years helped solidify the songs, and you can feel the impromptu joy in each track. Bassist Dom Fisher lends a buoyancy to the music that mixes racing bluegrass bass lines with the backbeat of a great country bass player. A highlight of the group is the interplay between mandolinist Billy Bright and banjo player Trevor Smith, both of whom seem to delight in pugilistic bouts that romp through the songs, as much country-funk as it is Monroe & Scruggs. Though Kamel is the lead singer and songwriter, each band member contributes compositions and songwriting to the new album, a key feature of Wood & Wire’s democratic nature. Bright’s “Summertime Rolls” propels a fire-breathing mandolin line, but he takes a more philosophical stance on “As Good As It Gets.” Fisher’s co-write with Texas songwriter Robin Bernard’s “Texas” has all the balletic grace of a Western à la Townes Van Zandt. Kamel taps not only into his family’s history in Texas, but also his love for the beautiful natural environments of the state; in “Awake in the Wake” he references the sound of cypress trees breaking apart during a thousand year flood.

A life in music can be full of extremes, both high and low, but Wood & Wire have learned to take it all in stride. With the support of loved ones, they persevere along the middle path, "south of rich, north of despair," as they sing on the title track. Never ones to shy away from hard work, Wood & Wire rely on their humble acoustic instruments and their own hands to make music meant to last. As Kamel sings “I ain’t trying to be the kingpin, I’m just trying to make a living.”

There’s a playfulness to the best old country songwriting, a kind of delight in turning a phrase, in surprising a listener. It’s a trick that Colorado Americana songwriter Jackson Emmer learned early on playing noisy bars in Aspen. Inspired equally by Tom Waits and Townes Van Zandt, Emmer weaves the kind of bittersweet, barroom ballads that Nashville songwriters used to fight over in the 70s. And if he understands the subtle humor of this old style of songwriting, it’s because he’s truly a student of American roots music. Emmer cut his teeth early on with Sam Moss, known for his American primitive guitar work, in the Appalachian old-time duo The Howling Kettles, and he’s studied everything from Guy Clark to Bob Wills. “In mainstream country today,” Emmer explains, “you stretch a sad feeling out for a whole song in a Disneyland kind of way. Classic country had these stories that pivot on small moments and little details. It comes out of nowhere. You think something’s going to go down smooth, but then there’s a sudden right hook.” On his new album, Jukebox, Emmer spins tales of love gone wrong around quick surprises and sucker punches, dancing like Roger Miller and stinging like John Prine. His voice has a bit of gravel in it, like a refurbished bar that still has a hint of cigarette smoke from years past, and his guitar shifts between electric chicken pickin’ and John Hurt fingerstyle. There’s an ease to Emmer’s music that comes from the joy he feels playing and writing great songs, and this ease draws the listener in, allowing them to see themselves in his songs.

It took a couple of tries to get Jukebox recorded, as Jackson Emmer was moving from Asheville, NC to Carbondale, CO. The key became bringing on a host of friends and recording at home. “I felt there was added life to be brought to the music when you had good company to record it with you,” Emmer says. “I had friends over and we recorded the whole thing in the living room and the bedroom.” The songs feel well lived-in, and the vibe is relaxed throughout; Emmer’s learned to avoid putting on airs, and this record is his way of making music just the way he likes it. Over the past years, he’s been moving around looking for home, going to college in Vermont, setting up in Asheville, but in the end, Carbondale called him back again. “Colorado is my home, this is what I sound like,” he says. “It’s tied to the mountains, the forests; it’s tied to the land. It’s inescapable so maybe embracing it is the real way to go. You don’t know where you’re from until you leave.” Writing songs over the past ten years, Emmer perfected his craft in Colorado bars where folks didn’t have many demands beyond “make us dance, make us happy.” The musical freedom let Emmer experiment with his songwriting, fine-tuning his songs to sneak up unawares on the listener.

To bring the final sound of the album together, Jackson Emmer looked up the recording engineer behind Guy Clark’s three last albums, Chris Latham, and recruited him to mix and master Jukebox. It’s this kind of reverence for the past and gleeful interest in the future that makes Emmer a fascinating artist. He’s not looking to recreate a bygone era, but to learn how to make music that compelling again.

Northwest Folklife is proud to announce the full schedule for the 2018 Northwest Folklife Festival, presented by Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, and scheduled for May 25-28, 2018 (Memorial Day Weekend). For 47 years, the Northwest Folklife Festival has been Seattle’s traditional kick-off to summer, bringing up to 250,000 people to the grounds of Seattle Center in the heart of the city. For all these years, Northwest Folklife has been committed to keeping the festival open with access for all, no tickets and no gates. After the call was sounded last year to keep the Northwest Folklife Festival on solid footing with community support and donations, Northwest Folklife is looking to continue this support at the festival, asking a suggested donation of $10 per person or $20 per family per day. For the people, by the people, the Northwest Folklife Festival welcomes all.

VISIT WWW.NWFOLKLIFE.ORG/2018-FESTIVAL-SCHEDULE
FOR THE FULL SCHEDULE

The Northwest Folklife Festival is the largest community powered festival in the nation, and with over 5,000 performers and 26 stages, you’re sure to discover something new each day. Fueled by the Pacific Northwest’s rich cultural traditions, the Northwest Folklife Festival is a great place to find out more about your neighbors and to share traditions and cultures with the people that make our region such a compelling and beautiful place to live.

The full schedule for the 2018 Northwest Folklife Festival is up online and is interactive, but it’s still a lot to go through! Here’s a quick guide to some of the new highlights and discoveries at Folklife this year!

Leftover Salmon are presenting a very special CD release show in the intimate eTown Hall theater in Boulder, CO. To be sure that all their fans can participate, they're working with Relix to host a multi-camera HD livestream of the show via Facebook. Tune in at 7:30 pm MT (that's 6:30 pm PST and 9:30pm EST) to watch the show!

Performing with Phil Lesh & The Terrapin Family Band, Leftover Salmon have sold out the legendary Red Rocks Amphitheater in Morrison, CO. Their all-star show at Red Rocks takes of tomorrow night, Saturday May 5, at 5pm.

Americana songwriter CoCo O’Connor is poised to release her new album, This Ol’ War, on June 8, 2018, and she’s embarked on a PledgeMusic campaign with a special message. CoCo’s PledgeMusic has two goals: 1) to help bring in funds to cover the CD and Vinyl replications costs of the new album, and 2) to contribute financial help and visibility to the work of the Saint Francis Wolf Sanctuary. In the memory of Coco’s two beloved wolf hybrid dogs, Titus and Seluh, whom she raised on her 10-acre homestead outside Santa Fe, New Mexico, CoCo will contribute a generous portion of the proceeds from her PledgeMusic campaign to the sanctuary. Wolves and wolfdogs are difficult animals to keep as pets, which leads many of them to be abandoned or subjected to abuse. The Saint Francis Wolf Sanctuary (SFWS) was founded in Montgomery, Texas, and rescues wolves and wolfdogs from across the US, providing a loving home to the animals for the remainder of their lives. In 2019, SFWS must build a new sanctuary that will enable them to double their capacity and expand their animal enclosures, facilities, and educational outreach. CoCo is helping SFWS achieve their dream sanctuary!

http://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/thisolwar

Recorded in Nashville with producer Parker Cason, This Ol’ War marks CoCo O’Connor’s return to the Nashville music world after some years spent building a home and family in Santa Fe and the American Southwest. Set for release on June 8, 2018, This Ol’ War has already garnered powerful reviews with more coming in! Though CoCo refuses to fit the sharp songwriter outlines that rule in both Santa Fe and Nashville, she brings pieces of both cultures back-and-forth to each town, creating a vision that’s wholly her own. For now, CoCo’s got the mountains and she’s got the big sky above.

Cliff Westfall writes songs about heartache, loss, addiction… you know, funny songs. Or he can turn on a dime and dive headlong into a sentimental weeper. The Kentucky native delivers with a mixture of wit and bravado that, for Westfall, is central to what country music is all about. On his new album, Baby You Win, to be released July 13, 2018, he’s assembled a crew of some of New York’s best musicians to explore a new idea of Americana, drawing inspiration from sources often forgotten by the current country scene.

Today Cliff Westfall debuts the lead single, "More and More," off his new album. He's just returned from MerleFest, where this song placed in the finals of the Chris Austin Songwriting Contest!

LISTEN TO "MORE AND MORE"

The songs on Baby You Win are bitingly acerbic, dependent on the twisty puns, bittersweet humor, and turns of phrase that used to define country music. Westfall’s a true son of Kentucky and an honest student of the genre, but refuses to be constrained by its definitions. He cites Chuck Berry as his favorite lyricist, arguing that some of Berry’s songs were much closer to their country cousins than lines of race and genre might have suggested. This is Americana outside the box, made by an artist gleefully rifling through the dusty record bins of American roots music and converting them into something new.

For any band to thrive on the road for nearly thirty years, there needs to be a constant source of renewal, a fresh spring of creativity at the center of the music that brings each member back for more. For Leftover Salmon, one of the great purveyors of Americana, this source came first from the American roots music traditions they came up with: bluegrass picking, Cajun two-stepping, the country blues. For all these years–over the course of their rise to become one of the biggest bands on the roots music circuit today, with legions of fans and routinely sold-out shows–Leftover Salmon have picked up many more influences. Much of this comes from the interactions between the founding members’ roots and the newer band members, who bring refreshingly different influences and ideas to the songwriting process. With their new album, Something Higher, out now on LoS Records, Leftover Salmon taps into everything from horn-blasting R&B to reverb-drenched desert noir, from the cosmic roots music sound they helped create to neo-New Orleans-meets-Appalachia liquefaction. There’s an unmistakable evolution to Leftover Salmon’s sound, and Something Higher has an edge to it that feels entirely new.

6/7 - The Hive - Sandpoint, ID ... w/ Dodgy Mountain Men
6/8 - Great Northern Bar - Whitefish, MT ... w/ Moonshine Mountain
6/9 - Silver Cloud Campout - Haugan, MT
6/22-23 - Telluride Bluegrass - Telluride, CO
6/28 - ROMP - Owensboro, KY
6/29 - Kate Wolf Music Festival - Laytonville, CA
7/1 - Ivy Ballroom at the Surf Hotel - Buena Vista
7/2 - Center for the Arts - Crested Butte, CO
7/20 - Peach Fest - Scranton, PA
7/21-22 - Northwest String Summit - North Plains, OR
7/27-28 - Floyd Fest - Floyd, VA
8/10-11 - Fish Out of Water Festival - Taos, NM
8/17 - Smokin' Seafood Bluegrass Fest - Garresttsville, OH
8/18 - Hoxeyville Music Festival - Wellston, MI
8/30 - Flying Monkey - Plymouth, NH
8/31 - The Cabot - Beverly, MA
9/1 - Rhythm & Roots Festival - Charleston, RI
9/2 - Blues, Brews, & BBQ - Huntsville, UT
9/13 - Brooklyn Bowl - Brooklyn, NY
9/14 - Wormtown Music Festival - Greenfield, MA
9/15 - Infinity Hall - Norfolk, CT
9/16 - Brighton Music Hall - Boston, MA
9/21 - Tabernacle - Atlanta, GA ... w/ Infamous String Dusters, Horseshoes & Hand Grenades
9/22 - Pisgah Brewing Co - Black Mountain, NC
9/23 - Sing Out Loud Fest - Ponte Vedra, FL
9/27 - Adventure Grass Festival - Oak Hill, WV
9/28 - The State Theatre - Falls Church, VA
9/30 - Mann Center for the Arts - Philadelphia, PA
10/2 - Rex Theater - Pittsburgh, PA
10/4 - Madison Theater - Covington, KY ... w/ Rumpke Mountain Boys
10/5 - Vogue - Indianapolis, IN ... w/ Rumpke Mountain Boys
10/6 - Park West - Chicago, IL ... w/ Amy Helm
10/7 - 3rd & Lindsley - Nashville, TN

It’s not that Toronto’s The Slocan Ramblers are old-fashioned, it’s that they’re making bluegrass that harkens back to an older need. They’re not here for the concert halls, they’re not here for the flash and glitz of the music industry, they’re here to grind out the hottest tunes they can, picking fast and furious through traditional and original pieces, and they’re here to sing their songs to hardworn people looking for release. They came out of Toronto’s gritty bluegrass scene, playing late-night bars to rowdy crowds in a city once known for its industrial pigmeat industry. The dust in banjo player Frank Evans’ voice fits perfectly into an older world of bluegrass that still remembers its roots in working class communities. They’re more Louvin Brothers than Ricky Skaggs, and some of this comes for their long-term interest in and respect for old-time Appalachian traditions. Evans moves back and forth between clawhammer and Scruggs-style banjo, while mandolinist Adrian Gross has the speed and aggression of Big Mon himself in his playing. Thundering bassist Alastair Whitehead has a softer voice than Evans, but with a hint of world-weary wistfulness. Guitarist Darryl Poulsen’s as steady as rolling train, shoveling coal into the red-hot furnace of racing bluegrass tempos. These four young men are at the top of their game, each of them powerful enough in the genre to move these old sounds in fascinating new directions. On their new album, Queen City Jubilee, out June 15, 2018, The Slocan Ramblers mix original and traditional songs with instrumental tunes, tapping the old vein of Appalachian music that first inspired so many early bluegrass bands, but also looking to the softer side of folk and Americana for its complex, interwoven songcraft.

To make their new album, Queen City Jubilee, titled after an old nickname for Toronto, The Slocan Ramblers retreated to Canadian engineer Andrew Collins’ studio in an old warehouse in Toronto’s West End, and worked closely with long-time mentor Chris Coole (The Lonesome Ace String Band) to hone their live-off-the-floor sound. The studio was near a chocolate factory in Toronto, so at least it smelled nice, and rumors abounded that Drake had a secret studio in the same building. That’s Toronto, where industrial history rubs shoulders with high-fashion, and nobody cares as long as there’s music to dance to and good beer to drink. Maybe that’s why the city’s embraced bluegrass so much. “There’s tons of venues presenting bluegrass here,” Evans says. “You could see it seven nights a week. Toronto’s got world class talent too, and we didn’t even realize it when we were coming up.” Encouraged by Coole, Evans started attending famed Appalachian stringband festival Clifftop as a kid, and he began to incorporate the rough-and-tumble world of Appalachian old-time music, known for rowdy all-night jams and square dance tunes played for 30 minutes straight on one chord, into the band’s bluegrass roots. “The old-time community is so fun,” Evans explains, “it’s what drives the scene. The music is good, but the hang is great.” The Slocan Ramblers have internalized that hang, that up-all-night raucousness that they learned firsthand, and blaze a new path with Queen City Jubilee. They don’t see the divides in the music, they’re just looking to write songs and play tunes that make people want to stay up all night dancing.

The Slocan Ramblers are On Tour Now

June 15 - Richland, WA - Emerald of Siam
June 20 - Bend, OR - Pickin' and Paddlin'
June 21 - Lincoln City, OR - Regatta Park
June 22 - Eugene, OR - Wildcraft Cider Works
June 23 - Seattle, WA - Tractor Tavern
June 24 - Portland, OR - Doug Fir Lounge

The Rails' newest release Other People is out via Nashville's Thirty Tigers. Comprised of Kami Thompson (daughter of Linda and Richard Thompson) and James Walbourne (who has performed with the likes of the Pretenders and Ray Davies), The Rails' newest release is a record rooted in change: both musical and circumstantial. It would have been easy for The Rails to have picked up where they left off in the wake of their acclaimed 2014 album Fair Warning. And, had they done just that, who would have held it against them? Within months of its release, the debut set of songs by the duo comprised of Kami Thompson and James Walbourne had harvested myriad rave reviews and sundry other accolades, among them Mojo’s Folk Album of the Year award and the prize for Best Newcomer at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards. But for a duo brought together by serendipity – they first met during sessions for an album by Kami’s mother Linda Thompson – there was never any doubt that the way forward was to stay open to the vagaries of chance and embrace new possibilities. Three years later, they’re back with an album that emphatically vindicates the pair’s restless curiosity.

For James, a ubiquitous presence on lead guitar for artists such as The Pretenders, Edwyn Collins and Ray Davies, it was time to inject a bit of voltage into the group he formed with Kami after they became an item in 2011. “With the first album,” explains Kami, “We decided to make a 70s sounding folk-rock record, but this time, we focused our energies on addressing what was happening around us.” In doing so, it became impossible to ignore the other changes that have swept through their immediate and wider environment. One of the earliest songs written for the record was The Cally. Both inspired by and written on the Caledonian Road, which connects Holloway to Kings Cross, the album’s reflective opening salvo took shape after James’ grandfather Sidney Walbourne told him about his drinking companions at The Cally pub, echoes of a pre-gentrified London in which the local boozer paid host to almost every kind of transaction imaginable. The song, which appeared fully formed in James’ head as he found himself walking along the eponymous thoroughfare, also served as a tender memorial to Sidney, who passed away soon after, aged 92.

In the wake of Sidney’s death, James and Kami found themselves pondering whether there was a place for them in the rapidly transforming city where James had spent all of his life. “Part of it was just working out if we could actually afford to live here anymore, which is crazy, you know? But that was just a small symptom of a much bigger tragedy, that’s really heartbreaking.” It’s a tragedy the pair confront head on in 'Brick and Mortar', which sees James’ mourning the desecration of “old Soho”, in particular, Denmark Street, epicenter of the 60s beat boom and, for James, scene of many a teenage afternoon spent soaking up the ambience of its world-famous guitar shops. On the plaintive 'Leaving The Land' – perhaps the most readily recognizable sonic link between The Rails’ first album and this one – Kami delivers one of her most affecting vocals to date. “In some ways, it’s a companion piece to Brick and Mortar,” she explains, “It’s one thing to see your favorite shops razed to the ground, but actually so much of what’s happening is tantamount to social cleansing. In Camden, you’re seeing entire estates pulled down and it’s not being replaced by social housing. It’s being replaced by luxury apartments.”

For James, the contradictions of this new era of austerity are confusing. “You’re surrounded by Keep Calm And Carry On imagery, which is somehow supposed to instill the idea that in tough times, people dig in and discover their sense of community. But sometimes, it’s hard to find evidence of that.” In trying to make sense of that contradiction, Kami and James found themselves writing the album’s title track, a cathartic sigh of exasperation which might just as easily be directed at tax-evading pop stars as the seated commuter too busy staring at his phone to notice the pregnant woman standing next to him. Here and elsewhere, The Rails’ second album is one which lays itself open to the stormy weather of life, be it when addressing the desultory self-justifications of an abusive husband in the broodingly poignant 'Dark Times', or the everyday ups and downs of James and Kami’s own relationship in 'Drowned In Blue'.

“I think we both felt that the music had to complement what was happening in the words, this time around,” says James. “And that determined the way we were going to make this record.” Key to that process was finding the right producer. At the very top of James’ wish-list was Tennessee-based producer Ray Kennedy, who had impressed him with the “off-the-scale psychedelic country treatment” he meted out on Steve Earle’s benchmark 2000 album Transcendental Blues: “To my amazement, Ray said he’d be up for it. We travelled to his studio, knowing that we had seven days to nail it.” The pressure of the deadline audibly brought out the best in the players assembled to tease out Kami and James’ vision for the songs – a vision which they described to Kennedy as “folk-rock on steroids.” The synergy summoned by the players is abundant throughout Other People, be it Late Surrender, which seems to locate a perfect equidistant point between Roy Orbison and Lucinda Williams, or the yearning desolation of Kami’s vocal on 'Mansion Of Happiness'.

“It was just a dream, really,” beams James. “Our drummer Cody Dickinson [North Mississippi Allstars, son of Big Star producer Jim Dickinson] worked with us on the first album, and we knew we wanted him back for this one. He’s the archetypal Southern gentleman – and y’know, whatever record you’re making, you know you’re gonna need someone who is incapable of being an arsehole!” Augmenting the line-up this time around was former Son Volt bassist and old friend Jim Boquist. With the core band in place, Ray Kennedy steered The Rails through a series of performances in which the only brief was to retain a sense of power, presence and intimacy.

Threaded throughout the whole thing, of course, are the psychically attuned harmonies that have become something of a calling card for Kami and James. In Kami, you can hear something of the lineage that she wears so lightly, in particular the same well of sublime world-weariness that her mother Linda Thompson plumbed both on her solo albums and her records with Richard Thompson. It’s a lineage most outside musicians might have been abashed about entering, but you only need to hear James play to realize that’s never been an issue. Described by Nick Hornby as “an unearthly cross between James Burton, Peter Green, and Richard Thompson”, Other People showcases some of James’s most inspired performances to date. “I think we were all just so relaxed,” he explains, “We wrote a lot before we entered the studio, so we knew the songs so well that it was just a matter of honoring the material.”

For both Kami and James, however, the real moment of payback comes when they get to take these songs on the road. “We’re both very excited about getting to play these songs with an actual band,” says Kami. “It’s just a matter of figuring out how that would work, because rehearsals alone are grounds for divorce, aren’t they?” James emits a rueful laugh. “We’re really quite horrible to each other! She’s like, ‘Just play the fucking chord, will you?’ And I’m like, ‘Well, I will if you can just warm up your fucking voice!’ That’s another reason why it’s good to be touring with a band. They can prize us apart from each other if they need to.”

As part of their release, The Rails will be touring North America, both with the Pretenders and solo. 

Mon 2 July       Nashville TN - Ryman Auditorium *
Tue 3 July        Louisville KY - Palace Theatre *
Thu 5 July        Covington KY - Octave +
Fri 6 July          Cincinatti OH - Taft Theatre *
Sat 7 July         Northfield OH - Hard Rock Live *
Sun 8 July        Indianapolis IN - Murat Theatre *
Tue 10 July       Milwaukee WI - Riverside Theater *
Wed 11 July      Grand Rapids MI - 20 Monroe Live *
Mon 16 July      Minneapolis MN - The State Theater *
Wed 18 July      St Louis MO - Peabody Opera House *
Thu 19 July       Des Moines IA - Stephens Auditorium *
Mon 23 July      Los Angeles CA - Moroccan Lounge +
Wed 25  July     New York NY - Mercury Lounge +

+ Rails headline show
* main support to The Pretenders

Musical trailblazers Hazel Dickens & Alice Gerrard are revered today as pioneering women in bluegrass, two artists whose musical partnership directly inspired future innovators like Naomi Judd, Emmylou Harris, Tim O’Brien and Hot Rize, and even Bob Dylan. But in Baltimore and Washington, DC in the 1960s, they were just two women with prodigious musical talent and a shared love for the old songs of the Appalachian countryside. Sharing their music at jam sessions, the two discovered a musical kinship that brought them both far from their original roots–Alice from her original home in Seattle and Hazel from her childhood roots in West Virginia. Moving beyond the conventional bluegrass instrumentation and repertoire, Hazel and Alice’s roving curiosity gobbled up songs from all corners of the US, from crusty country ballads to old stringband songs. They fused it all together into a sound that was wholly their own, as innovative as bluegrass had always been, and as raw and authentic as the mountain home the songs first came from. The pure joy that Hazel and Alice found playing together is perfectly captured on a set of newly unearthed recordings, Sing Me Back Home: The DC Tapes, 1965-1969, out September 21 on Free Dirt Records. All but one of the songs have never before been commercially released by the duo. Sourced from Alice's private archive and digitized with help from the Southern Folklife Collection at UNC Chapel Hill, the recordings invite us to witness the creative process of these towering figures—just two voices and a handful of instruments working out arrangements at home. Across 19 tracks, the duo sings the classic country of The Carter Family, The Louvin Brothers, and Jimmie Rodgers; contemporary hits of the 1960s penned by Dolly Parton and Merle Haggard; and barn-burning traditional standards. Sing Me Back Home is a raw, unfiltered listen to Hazel & Alice at the height of their collaborative energy.

Americana roots duo Courtney Hartman (Della Mae) & Taylor Ashton (Fish & Bird) are releasing their first album, Been on Your Side, on August 31, 2018, and will be touring Colorado from August 31 - September 9. Partnering with Colorado’s The Music District, Hartman and Ashton have developed a new perspective on touring that’s aimed at giving back to Hartman’s home state. As part of The Music District’s deTour initiative, which works with artists to bring them out to underserved communities in Colorado, Hartman and Ashton will be touring elder care facilities and bringing their blend of acoustic roots music to elder audiences. Crossing eight cities statewide, Hartman and Ashton will team up with Fort Collins-based senior care music specialist, Hanna Doreen Brown, to create music in interactive and loving spaces with these elderly communities. This deTour aims to call attention to the people that have woven the fabric that we call home, people with stories that have yet to be told and whose stories are too often neglected. These are our grandmothers and grandfathers. Hartman, Ashton, and Brown will engage in group and one-on-one music making sessions, documenting their process with video and audio recordings along the way. Culminating each day with shows in the community, they hope to raise awareness and visibility for these often overlooked and invaluable members of our social fabric.

“deTour was created to explore non-traditional models in touring,” says Kyle James Hauser of The Music District, “but also to interact with communities in a more meaningful way than just rolling in for soundcheck.” This spirit of interaction will be key to Courtney Hartman & Taylor Ashton’s performances, and Ashton has actually worked with elderly communities using music to help with memory loss. Hartman and Ashton will also be working with the Wish of a Lifetime organization to work with one particular elder songwriter to help him finish his songs. Some of the venues that Hartman & Ashton will visit on their deTour of Colorado include The Courtyard of Loveland in Loveland, CO; Beehive Homes in Pagosa Springs; Prospect Park Living Center in Estes Park, CO; Cliffview Assisted Living in Grand Lake, CO.

Courtney Hartman & Taylor Ashton Tour Dates Open to the Public:

8/31 - Salina, CO - Salina Schoolhouse

9/2 - Pagosa Springs, CO - Four Corners Folk Festival

9/5 - Colorado Springs, CO - Ivywild Barrel Room

9/6 - Estes, CO - Estes Performs Presents

9/7 - Grand Lake, CO - Cliffview Assisted Living

9/8 - Denver, CO - Swallow Hill Daniels Hall

9/9 - Fort Collins, CO - Old Town House Concerts

National Tour for Album Release

09/21 - Cambridge, MA - Club Passim

09/26 - Hamden, CT - Best Video Film & Cultural Center

09/27 - Northampton, MA - The Parlor Room

09/28 - Westport, MA - Dedee Shattuck Art Gallery

10/03 - New York, NY - Rockwood Music Hall Stage 2

Congratulations to Austin bluegrass and Americana band Wood & Wire for their Grammy nomination today for Best Bluegrass Album! “North of Despair” came out in April of this year to rave reviews for its blending of bluegrass virtuosity and Texas songwriting tradition.

The Texas songwriter tradition casts a long shadow today, and Austin-based Americana roots juggernauts Wood & Wire can easily rattle off a list of songwriters that inspire them, from Willie Nelson to James McMurtry and everyone in between. But ask them about what it is about Texas that brought us so many great songwriters, and they stop cold. That’s because they don’t romanticize Texas’ culture or its past; they’re too busy working their asses off making new music, writing new songs. This isn’t a land made for quiet reflection, it’s a land made for hard work. Respect for honest labor is a central theme in Wood & Wire’s new album, North of Despair (out April 13, 2018 on Blue Corn Music), with songs populated by people like songwriter Tony Kamel’s own grandfather, who built the family’s hunting lodge in Llano, Texas with his own two hands. The characters on the album live large, and aren’t afraid to share their opinions about the modern world. This kind of vivid, haunting songwriting focused on lives spent deep in the countryside is a hallmark of Texas songwriting. But it’s the melding of this hard country songwriting with high-octane bluegrass instrumentation that makes for Wood & Wire’s signature sound. Artists like John Hartford have trod this ground before, blending great songs, bluegrass virtuosity, and a strong sense of place, and Wood & Wire aim to pave the way for Austin’s roots scene, bursting out of the giant expanses of the state with a fully-fledged vision for a new Texan sound. On North of Despair, they bring the ferocity of their live shows to the studio, whipping through barn-burning anthems about hard people in hard times.

Pickathon returns to the woods outside Portland, Oregon from August 2-4, 2019, with an initial lineup to be released January 21. Pickathon has built a reputation over the last twenty years as the best festival experience, combing groundbreaking programming focused on discovery, sustainable ethics, and a lineup that pushes the boundaries of genre. This vision is clear in Pickathon’s initial lineup, which brings together key headliners like Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats (Rateliff’s first time playing Pickathon and he’ll be bringing two different bands), Khruangbin, Mandolin Orange, Tyler Childers, Lucius, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Fruit Bats, and Mountain Man with a voraciously broad cast of other performers like well-loved Americana outsiders Caamp, Lambchop, and H.C. McEntire, doom metal band YOB, North African desert blues artist Mdou Moctar, new supergroup Bonny Light Horseman, Northwest indie royalty Damien Jurado, Laura Veirs, and Courtney Marie Andrews, returning favorite Julia Jacklin, psych soul outfit The Marías, Polaris prize winner Lido Pimienta, Congolese experimentalists Jupiter & Okwess, and word-of-mouth newer artists like Sudan Archives, Miya Folick, B Boys, The Beths, and Black Belt Eagle Scout, among many others.

The initial lineup shows the kind of deep curation and wide-ranging musical interests that have made Pickathon a key tastemaker event in the American music scene. It’s a lineup based on discovery, not draw, a diverse lineup intended to represent the best contemporary snapshot of music across more than a dozen genres. With many artists requesting to return each year, Pickathon has become a kind of pilgrimage for artists looking to renew themselves at a well of creative inspiration. Walking onto the festival grounds at Pendarvis Farm in the small town of Happy Valley, OR, you can see what draws artists back year after year. Pickathon is a riot for the eyes, a festival that takes a holistic view to the music. Each stage is visually spectacular, from the woven branches that make a towering shell of the Woods stage to award-worthy architecture of the Treeline stage, using renewable resources in a different array each year. The Mt. Hood Stage, the mainstage of Pickathon, was ringed with living gardens in 2018, and the festival makes use of rustic, picturesque existing buildings like the late-night-raging Galaxy Barn, or the interview-focused Lucky Barn. Each artist’s sets are curated specifically to each stage and the timing of the festival meticulously planned, all to inspire the artists to new heights and historic performances. An army of over 600 videographers and audio specialists record Pickathon, pushing for a spread of nearly 200 videos that will be released between festivals. It’s a wildly ambitious project that involves so many people because each person has come to realize that Pickathon represents our best vision for how music and community come together.

“Our secret,” explains festival founder Zale Schoenborn. “is that we continue to double down on choices that only make sense when your primary focus is to make the best experience possible, even when it sometimes conflicts with maximizing profits. We made a conscious choice some years back to limit our attendance to favor the comfort of our attendees over finding new ways to maximize how many people we can jam into Pendarvis Farm. Entering our 21st year, Pickathon remains inspired to innovate new ways to create the best festival experience.”

Tickets On Sale Now: pickathon.com/tickets

Allison de Groot & Tatiana Hargreaves’ self-titled debut album is a powerful opening statement. The record, due out March 22nd on Free Dirt Records, showcases the spectacular musicianship of two artists on the leading edge of a generation of old-time players who are questioning old narratives, and acknowledging the diversity that has always existed in the genre. Allison de Groot, known for her intricate clawhammer banjo work with Molsky’s Mountain Drifters, joins forces with powerhouse fiddler Tatiana Hargreaves (Gillian Welch, Laurie Lewis) to create a sound that is adventurous, masterful, and original, while never losing sight of what makes the music endure.

“We are both drawn to the same types of tunes,” says Hargreaves. “Ones you can really get lost in, that catch your ear in a different sort of way. We also improvise through them in the same way—taking elements from the source recording that stand out as bizarre, or perhaps even accidental, and exaggerating them.” The album draws tunes from sources reaching to Mississippi, Missouri, and the Arkansas Ozarks, in addition to the Appalachian stringband music in which Hargreaves and de Groot are grounded.

Though both musicians are known primarily for their world-class instrumental work, this album also showcases their proficient vocals. Hargreaves’ plaintive delivery of bluegrass pioneer Alice Gerrard’s “Beaufort County Jail” renders an already chilling song even more gutwrenching, and the duo’s playful harmonies on The Poplin Family’s “I Don’t Want to Get Married” are pure joy. The record also includes American fiddle and banjo songs from lesser-known African American duo Nathan Frazier & Frank Patterson, centenarian Arkansas fiddler Violet Hensley, contemporary master tunesmith Judy Hyman (The Horse Flies), and John Hatcher, whom the duo call “the 1930s avant-garde fiddler of Mississippi.”

While de Groot and Hargreaves are committed to reflecting contemporary conversations around race, gender and class in their repertoire choices and liner notes, they are adamant that this is not what makes them unique among young roots musicians. “We are part of a generation that is questioning our roles within systems of power and in regards to old-time music--questioning our place and privilege within a music that is based in working class, largely rural, southern America: Black, Indigenous and white,” they say. And with a pronoun-tweaked rendition of the Blue Sky Boys’ “Who Wouldn’t Be Lonely,” the duo also acknowledges that queer musicians have always been a part of the fabric of the old-time community too--whether or not they’ve always been able, as Hargreaves is, to claim that identity publicly.

With this record, de Groot and Hargreaves have immersed themselves in the depths of a centuries-old art form–the interlocking propulsion of Appalachian fiddle and banjo duets–and emerged with a contemporary aesthetic and vision. This is the music they play in their own voices, offered with recognition of the voices that came before voices that haven’t always gotten the appreciation they deserve. This new album is a fresh, celebratory collaboration between two of the most accomplished old-time musicians of their generation.

For 50 years, the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, known to Fest-goers as simply Jazz Fest, has brought the sights, sounds, and tastes of the Big Easy to millions of festival goers. In celebration of Jazz Fest’s golden anniversary, venerable record label Smithsonian Folkways is proud to present a comprehensive box set of live recordings from the festival’s past. The five discs in Jazz Fest: The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival present the sounds of the festival as you’d hear them while wandering across the 145 acres of the New Orleans Fair Grounds Race Track in the Gentilly neighborhood.

Though the festival attracts some of the biggest rock stars on the planet, the focus of this ambitious new box set is on the roots of Louisiana music, which comprise the vast majority of the festival’s bookings, from Jazz to Bounce, Zydeco to Gospel, Brass Bands to R&B. Carefully selected from countless hours of live recordings, the box set includes unreleased material spanning the years 1974 to 2016 and features key moments with celebrated artists like Trombone Shorty, Irma Thomas, Big Freedia, Professor Longhair, The Neville Brothers, Allen Toussaint (solo and in a duet with Bonnie Raitt), Dr. John, Kermit Ruffins, Terence Blanchard, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Champion Jack Dupree, and Buckwheat Zydeco, among many others. The music is accompanied by a 135-page book, filled with exclusive photographs drawn from the archives of the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation, The Historic New Orleans Collection and independent photographers, as well as historical essays by journalist Keith Spera and author Karen Celestan, a retrospective of the music heard at Jazz Fest by Robert H. Cataliotti, and in-depth notes by Jeff Place and Huib Schippers of Smithsonian Folkways, New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation archivist Rachel Lyons, WWOZ’s Dave Ankers, and Jon Pareles of the New York Times.

“We are simply delighted with this collaboration,” says Smithsonian Folkways director and curator Huib Schippers. “It immediately made sense to us as soon as we started discussing it. There is a compelling and beautiful synergy between the first fifty years of an iconic music festival and a 70-year old record label committed to documenting and celebrating this country’s sound legacy and keeping it available in perpetuity, in whatever format, for a listenership of 230 million and growing. We are so pleased that we can bring some of the amazing sounds and sights and impressions from New Orleans to new and familiar audiences.”

The box set starts with the song “Indian Red,” sung here by The Golden Eagles, a song traditionally sung at the opening of iconic Mardi Gras Indian parades and gatherings. And it ends, as the festival did for many years, with a rousing version of “Amazing Grace.” Between these bookends, five albums of music, taken from WWOZ radio recordings and live stage recordings, bring us some of the best Louisiana artists to ever grace the stage. Each track was selected by a committee of individuals who know the 50 year history of the festival intimately. The set recreates the joy and spirited energy of Jazz Fest, placing each listener on the grounds of the festival, walking between stages, discovering new music and great moments. Most of these recordings have never been released commercially and sparkle with life. Jazz Fest: The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival is an immersive experience, both for listeners discovering the festival for the first time and for some of the millions who’ve been there in person.

Musical genres roll and flow across the Fair Grounds at Jazz Fest, and the varied arrangements of the discs showcase this musical diversity. Disc One strolls through the powerful jazz offerings at the festival, with a festive jam from New Orleans saxophonist Donald Harrison Jr and a racing traditional jazz tribute to Louis Armstrong from Kermit Ruffins, plus boogie-woogie piano from Champion Jack Dupree. Discs Two and Three guide the listener through Jazz Fest’s many ties to New Orleans blues, soul, and R&B, from the legendary Allen Toussaint to definitive soul singer Irma Thomas, with detours to virtuoso guitarist Snooks Eaglin, and New Orleans soul natives Dixie Cups. Highlights include the great Dr. John on “Litanie des Saints,” and a remarkably spirited cover of “My Bucket’s Got A Hole In It” from Preservation Hall Jazz Band. Gospel deep dives come in Disc Three with a powerful performance of “Old Rugged Cross” from Irma Thomas, and inspired sets by the Zion Harmonizers and Johnson Extension. Disc Four brings the listener to the Cajun and Zydeco Fais-Do-Do stage, with sets from Buckwheat Zydeco, Boozoo Chavis, The Savoy Family Cajun Band, and Beausoleil, before moving to the mainstage and major live sets from The Neville Brothers and Allen Toussaint & Bonnie Raitt. Disc Five is the most genre-smashing selection, with mainstage sets including a surprising cover of “Take the ‘A’ Train” from blues guitarist Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown, and a burning “Fire on the Bayou” from The funky Meters. As a city that’s always birthed new American music forms, New Orleans’ hip-hop is paid homage to here with a blazing set from Bounce ambassador Big Freedia.

To thrive for fifty years, any festival needs to learn how to fight and survive, and some of the story of this box set speaks to these battles for cultural survival. The indelible impact of Hurricane Katrina, which shook the festival itself and almost led to its cancellation, echoes through these selections. New Orleans singer John Boutté’s impassioned reworking of the song “Louisiana 1927” is one of the most powerful moments in the set, and, to this day, in the festival’s history. Sonny Landreth’s “Blue Tarp Blues” speaks to the devastation of Katrina as well. Beyond Katrina, it’s been a fight to keep the festival going so long with so many cultural changes and the economic pressures on festivals today. The foundational vision of Jazz Fest that has helped it endure so long is a boundless love for the music and people of New Orleans and Louisiana. It seems like a simple idea for a festival’s core mission, but Jazz Fest’s embrace of little known but locally celebrated musical geniuses like Professor Longhair or Dr. John is still radically out of step with the profit-driven world of big music festivals. Though later years have seen huge headliners on the main stage, there’s a humility to everyone who performs at Jazz Fest, no matter how famous, a recognition that New Orleans is the birthplace of American music.

Jazz Fest: The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival was created by The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation, utilizing its Archive and with the assistance of the Jazz & Heritage radio station WWOZ; the production was made possible through the generous support of The Helis Foundation, a Louisiana family foundation dedicated to increasing access to the arts. The Helis Foundation has pledged to donate copies of the box set to every branch of New Orleans Public Library, ensuring all citizens of New Orleans can access this unparalleled collection.

The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival presented by Shell is a co-production of Festival Productions Louisiana, LLC. (a wholly owned subsidiary of Festival Productions, Inc.-New Orleans) and AEG Louisiana Production, LLC. (a subsidiary of AEG Presents).

Pickathon announces new additions to an already stacked lineup, bringing a true American musical legend, Phil Lesh, into the fold. A founding member of the Grateful Dead, Lesh not only influenced multiple generations of artists, but created and defined a new American songbook, at once inspired by the roots of the music that came before and open to psychedelic new horizons. Lesh will be performing two days at Pickathon as Phil Lesh & The Terrapin Family Band. Also announced is a very special set from The Richard Swift Hex Band, featuring an all-star list of collaborators backed by a dream band led by Foxygen’s Jonathan Rado, Dr. Dog’s Eric Slick, and members of Pure Bathing Culture, in addition to many special guests.

Aside from this year’s headliners, like Phil Lesh & The Terrapin Family Band, Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats, Khruangbin, Mandolin Orange, and Tyler Childers, Pickathon operates also as a discovery engine. Festival director Zale Schoenborn and Pickathon co-producer Terry Groves know full well that many of the bands booked at the festival have only a small draw in the surrounding area of Portland, Oregon, but Pickathon’s predicated on the need for new inspiration, new sounds, and new ideas in music and culture. Each year, Pickathon reaches out to a wide collection of tastemakers in many genres, asking each to recommend the bands that they feel are the most innovative and most contemporary. This philosophy of booking has proven itself time and again, first with bringing on artists early in their career right before they break (like Sturgill Simpson, Margo Price, Shakey Graves, Lake Street Dive, The Avett Brothers, The War & Treaty, Kevin Morby, Future Islands, Leon Bridges, Daniel Norgren, DakhaBrakha, Billy Strings, and Courtney Barnett), and then with the inspiration shared between like-minded artists across genres. It’s commonplace to see artists wandering backstage between sets, soaking up new ideas from new bands that they’re also discovering, and pushing their booking agents to come back to Pickathon as much as possible, looking for this inspiration

Folk music in Appalachia is usually a family affair, handed down from father to son, mother to daughter, shared via backyard parties, kitchen jam sessions, or old-time fiddler conventions. For breakout Americana star Dori Freeman, this is the world she grew up in, singing old songs with her father Scott Freeman and her grandfather Willard Gayheart. It was in this spirit that all three of them gathered in the frame shop that Willard owns near Galax, Virginia, along with producer Teddy Thompson, New York recording engineer and producer Ed Haber (Linda Thompson, WNYC), and Dori’s husband Nick Falk, to record an album of Willard’s originals and favorite songs. The resulting album, At Home in the Blue Ridge, coming May 24, 2019 on Blue Hens Music, is Willard Gayheart’s first solo album, an “about time!” moment in his 87 years. Over two days, the family gathered to play Willard’s songs, crowding around mics and recording everything live. When a customer came into the shop looking for a frame or one of Willard’s original pencil drawings (he’s an internationally renowned pencil artist known for his bucolic drawings of the region), Willard would get up from the recording to go help them out. This isn’t music made for stages, or made for commerce, it’s music made for family, for sharing a common experience. “It was a special thing to get to do,” Dori explains. “I’ve been picking with him and my dad for a long time, since I was a teenager, but hadn’t recorded anything like that with both of them. Plus it was great to get to work with a lot of originals that he had written over the years.”

For 50 years, the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, known to Fest-goers as simply Jazz Fest, has brought the sights, sounds, and tastes of the Big Easy to millions of festival goers. In celebration of Jazz Fest’s golden anniversary, venerable record label Smithsonian Folkways is proud to present a comprehensive box set of live recordings from the festival’s past. The five discs in Jazz Fest: The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival present the sounds of the festival as you’d hear them while wandering across the 145 acres of the New Orleans Fair Grounds Race Track in the Gentilly neighborhood.

Though the festival attracts some of the biggest rock stars on the planet, the focus of this ambitious new box set is on the roots of Louisiana music, which comprise the vast majority of the festival’s bookings, from Jazz to Bounce, Zydeco to Gospel, Brass Bands to R&B. Carefully selected from countless hours of live recordings, the box set includes unreleased material spanning the years 1974 to 2016 and features key moments with celebrated artists like Trombone Shorty, Irma Thomas, Big Freedia, Professor Longhair, The Neville Brothers, Allen Toussaint (solo and in a duet with Bonnie Raitt), Dr. John, Kermit Ruffins, Terence Blanchard, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Champion Jack Dupree, and Buckwheat Zydeco, among many others. The music is accompanied by a 135-page book, filled with exclusive photographs drawn from the archives of the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation, The Historic New Orleans Collection and independent photographers, as well as historical essays by journalist Keith Spera and author Karen Celestan, a retrospective of the music heard at Jazz Fest by Robert H. Cataliotti, and in-depth notes by Jeff Place and Huib Schippers of Smithsonian Folkways, New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation archivist Rachel Lyons, WWOZ’s Dave Ankers, and Jon Pareles of the New York Times.

For the past twenty years, Hackensaw Boys have been a hard-touring force of nature in the American roots music world, bringing a punk ferocity to their stringband base and a powerful sensitivity to their ballad roots. Operating more as a collective than a band, Hackensaw Boys were around before the O Brother craze kickstarted Americana, back in the old alt-country days. With all this history, it shook up bandleader and lead singer David Sickmen when long-time band member Ferd Moyse let him know that he was leaving the band in 2018. Sickmen’s a man who survived throat surgery to save his voice and endured any number of hardships over two decades on the road, but nothing hits harder than a crisis of faith for a man who’s used his own indomitable will to push past every obstacle. “I realized as a 50-year-old man,” Sickmen says, “I’m too far gone to stop. I’ve waited too long to have another career. I did a lot of soul searching, trying to figure out what Hackensaw Boys even is at this point with all the people that have come and gone through it.” Sickmen realized Hackensaw Boys was more of an ethos, a mission statement to raise a little hell, encourage a more peaceful world, and bring the music back to its roots in a working-class American vernacular.

Sickmen formed up a brand-new band – Beau Dodson (“charismo”, percussion), Chris Stevens (bass), Caleb Powers (fiddle, Banjo, Mandolin, Vocals) – drawing from no shortage of talent in the group’s pool of musical friends and compatriots. Keeping their roots close to home in Lynchburg, VA, Hackensaw Boys have a new EP, A Fireproof House of Sunshine, coming out on June 21, 2019 with their label Free Dirt Records. The EP’s title nods to Sickmen’s fiery new purpose, and his wish to build something that endures. “I always thought that our story was about all the people that have come and gone from the band,” Sickmen says, “but I think now the story’s more about a band that just wants to keep developing. It’s not about the past 20 years we put in, it’s more about the next 20 years we want to put in.”

“Last night was not the best night, but it wasn’t the worst night either,” admits Nathan Earle. His wife, Juliet Howard, hums in agreement. Though the two create powerhouse Americana Soul and shimmering indie roots music as part of Portland, Oregon’s The Get Ahead, they’re not recalling a so-so show at a local venue. Instead, Nathan and Juliet are transitioning to parenthood with the often-insomnious reality of caring for their five-week-old daughter. Along with longtime friend Sean Farrell and couple Danny and Angie Johnson, The Get Ahead are about as tight-knit as it gets. Comprised of two married couples, multiple long-term friendships, and now a baby, they consider each other more than just friends. “We have really become a family band,” says Nathan. Their newest record, Deepest Light, will be released on April 26 via Jullian Records.

Formed in 2012 with a shared love of old soul, gospel, and R&B music and the simple desire to make music that got Portland audiences up and dancing, The Get Ahead have evolved into a more cohesive ensemble focused on working collaboratively to find new ways to bring out their core influences. A turning point came in 2017 when acclaimed neo-soul artist Son Little, one of the band’s musical heroes, produced their EP 'Mind is a Mountain.' “We were over the moon because we loved his first record so much,” says Nathan. With a fresh jolt of confidence following the EP, the band embarked on writing tracks for Deepest Light, looking to synthesize their new music with the spirit of family and togetherness. 

2018 and 2019 have brought a lot of changes to The Get Ahead. Their work has continued to grow and transform, relationships have intensified, and the world has undergone dramatic social upheavals. Deepest Light, and especially the album’s cover image, is a testament to these transitions. “When we took that photo, we didn’t intend for it to be the cover photo. A girlfriend of mine is a photographer, and I went to take some creative maternity shots,” says Juliet. However, the image immediately struck a nerve with the band. “The image really reflects our values in that we believe this is a time for women,” says Nathan. “Seeing it reminded us that it’s time for a rebirth. A rebirth of creativity. I think it’s important that we show images of creation and of the feminine form right now, especially considering what’s going on in the political climate.”

Deepest Light’s resulting album cover features a pregnant Juliet in a smokey, fern-dotted forest. She is shrouded in a halo of light, calling to mind the divine feminine. The band decided to place the image on the cover in part due to the fact that it mimics pertinent themes that course throughout the record: the celebration of life, creation, healing, and the importance of keeping open hearts. However, political motives also uphold their decision. “We’re all for empowerment. We have two women and three feminist men in the band,” says Juliet. “As a society, we’re okay seeing images of violence and horror and all these awful things. But we don’t often celebrate or acknowledge the divine feminine, or pregnancy and birth, which is how we’re all here. It’s this creative and powerful thing.” On their upcoming album, The Get Ahead aren’t shying away from celebrating the strength and power of women and family. Instead, they’re placing it front and center. 

Phil Lesh & the Terrapin Family Band will be doing a deep dive double set for three hours to close out Friday night on the Woods Stage. Nathaniel Rateliff is bringing his full band The Night Sweats for a set of recent material Saturday and then closing out Sunday with a whole other band of friends to play acoustic roots versions of his earliest material!

Pickathon carefully curates each set at the festival, and they design the stages to have a kind of larger narrative and magical heft. That heft pushes artists to great creative heights. I've seen it myself at the festival and talking to the founders, I started to understand their larger vision, which is pretty groundbreaking in terms of the festival world. They'll expend any effort, and push beyond the possible just to get the kind of performance that can change you. Sounds like hype, but I've been there and been changed, plus I can tell you that things get pretty wild on Pickathon stages!

It's a big schedule and a big lineup, but I picked out a few things that got me really excited:
-Turkish psych rockers Altin Gün and Houston experimentalists Khruangbin on the main Mt Hood stage, ringed with a living garden
-NW doom metal heroes YOB opening for Nathaniel Rateliff's acoustic band on the Woods Stage, which is made of branches and nestled deep in the woods
-Mississippi hill country bluesman Cedric Burnside burning up Pickathon's roadhouse, the Galaxy Barn
-folk supergroup Bonny Light Horseman (Anais Mitchell + Eric of Fruit Bats) amidst the award-winning architecture of the Treeline Stage
-late night space-outs in the neon drenched goodness of the Starlight Stage with futurist jazz leader Makaya McCraven and N. African guitar god Mdou Moctar
-in-depth interviews on the Lucky Barn stage with Nashville's Lambchop and Portland's own Laura Veirs

The most essential music is conceived by real human beings: ordinary, anonymous, often poor—people who stood up and joined together to fight injustice and institutional oppression. This is the story of Working-Class Heroes: A History of Struggle and Song, a collection of American working class, pre-World War II folk songs revived by Mat Callahan & Yvonne Moore. Inspired by the legendary American songbook Hard Hitting Songs for Hard-Hit People, Callahan and Moore compiled this set of songs with renewed focus on the individuals who wrote them, and the causes they held dear. The duo present 20 songs here, written both by folk canon heavyweights (Woody Guthrie) and lesser-known but equally gifted songwriters (Sarah Ogan Gunning, Ella May Wiggins).

Recorded in a mostly stripped-down style, the pair perform this music as it was intended to be—the way you would hear it on a picket line or at a hootenanny. Beautiful and emotionally arresting, the album is a collection of stories as much as songs—stories of the women and men who (sometimes literally) gave their lives to emancipate the working class. Working-Class Heroes, coming June 7, 2019 via Free Dirt Records and PM Press, is an immersive experience, brimming with hard-truth insights still resonant today.

Both Mat Callahan and Yvonne Moore come from rich backgrounds as folk singers and songwriters. Mat Callahan’s roots in San Francisco connected him with larger intellectual communities, and he’s known as an author as well as a musician for his writing on intellectual property and Bay Area political movements. Swiss artist Yvonne Moore is a renowned bandleader, known for her work as co-founder and treasurer of the Association “Art in History and Politics.” Though both Callahan and Moore regularly perform together with various projects, it was Moore’s exploration of the songs of Sarah Ogan Gunning that first led to the making of Working Class Heroes. Gunning was a “discovery” of the 1960s folk revival, a labor songwriter born in Kentucky coal country who grew up around the ravages of big companies. Though Alan Lomax and Woody Guthrie were both fans of hers, she never got the credit she was due for being such a powerful voice for the people. Looking into Gunning’s songwriting through the lens of the 200 labor songs collected in the American songbook Hard Hitting Songs for Hard-Hit People, Moore and Callahan found other key artists, including Gunning’s more famous siblings Aunt Molly Jackson and Jim Garland, but also other songwriters like Ella May Wiggins and John Handcox. Studying these songs and working on new ways to present them has led Moore and Callahan to showcase some of the original songwriters who put their very lives on the line with their activism.

Working Class Heroes delivers a deathblow to the myth that so-called political songs of the twentieth century were all written by intellectuals and outside agitators in New York. Many, like Ella May Wiggins, were literally murdered by the bosses. Others, like Sarah Ogan Gunning, watched their children starve to death and their husbands die of black lung, only to rise up singing against the system that caused so much misery. Their heroism resulted not from their being different from their fellow workers but from being the same. That such heroism would arise from such stricken conditions is the real poetic meaning of these songs.

We all know that when it comes to booking festivals, sexism is unfortunately alive and well. According to a 2018 Pitchfork investigation featuring a sampling of 20 American music festivals, it was revealed that, on average, only 19% of festival performers were female or non-binary. An additional 11% were bands with at least one female or non-binary member. That means that an average of 70% of solo performers or bands at American music festivals last year were all-male.

The facts are depressing, but not surprising. Women have long had to fight for their place on the stage, no matter the quality of their work. A lack of representation not only forces women into the shadows, it makes it so it becomes impossible for women to continue pursuing music. That's why this year, I'm proud to be working with Pickathon.

Mindful of gender disparity in festivals, 2019's Pickathon will feature 44% female/non-binary artists. However, unlike other festivals that simply constitute having a woman or non-binary band member in the background as celebrating female/non-binary artists, Pickathon only considers acts non-male centric if a band features a woman or non-binary person front and center. If Pickathon were to interpret their data as other festivals do, this percentage would surely be higher. After all, talent is never gendered.

A sampling of female/non-binary artists performing at this year's Pickathon

Sudan Archives

Inspired by the swirling rhythms of Sudanese and African fiddlers, Sudan Archives adapted this inspiration to a free-flowing style of loops on the violin, creating a persona, a startlingly unique sound, and a dreamlike vision of digital Africa, the dusty streets pinging with ringtones and neon flashes.

Black Belt Eagle Scout

A queer, indigenous artist from Washington, now living in Portland, Black Belt Eagle Scout’s Katherine Paul crafts aching bedroom pop with a rock n’ roll bend. Growing up just outside of Anacortes at the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community reservation, Paul combines influences from her culture with the Riot Grrrl and grunge she discovered as a teen.

Julia Jacklin

Australian singer-songwriter Julia Jacklin creates poignant indie rock that touches upon feminist themes, heartbreak, and self-preservation. Painful at times, her most recent album, Crushing, marks the dissolution and aftermath of a broken relationship. With playfully sardonic lyrics paired with heavy themes, Julia Jacklin writes songs for the hopeful romantic.

Pickathon (August 1-4, 2019) is excited to announce the premiere of the Pickathon All-Access Streaming Pass, enabling the world to intimately experience all of the special moments at what Pitchfork called “the most unique music festival” in the U.S.

Sit back in the comfort of home and enjoy the highest quality and most engaging live festival content being produced today. This year an experienced film crew of over 600 people is gearing up to set the bar even higher.

Trailer for Pickathon All Access Streaming Pass

The All-Access Streaming Pass experience is accessible from Pickathon’s homepage and will allow viewers to navigate between four live stage channels: Mt. Hood/Starlight, Woods, Galaxy Barn, and Treeline. If you missed something earlier in the festival you can continuously replay any moment from the previous days until Monday, August 5th.

There will be countless historic performances over the weekend from the 60+ artists and the Pickathon All Access Pass is an innovative solution to enable viewers to witness all of these magical moments no matter when and where they occur, from roots artist Tyler Childers dropping his new album live on Friday, August 2, to Americana sweethearts Mandolin Orange holding court from the Starlight Stage on Saturday, August 3, and Nigerian dream-band Ibibio Sound Machine shutting the whole festival down late Sunday night in the Galaxy Barn.

The fun starts on Jerry Garcia’s birthday, Thursday, August 1, with Phil Lesh, a founding member of The Grateful Dead, who will be playing an extended two hour set on the Mt Hood Stage with Phil Lesh & The Terrapin Family Band. He will follow this up with a not-to-be-missed three hour set on the fabled Woods Stage on Saturday from 9pm-Midnight PST.

It may not be the full immersion VR experience that was portrayed in the “Pickathon” episode of IFC’s Portlandia a few years back, but it’s definitely the closest thing to being there yourself (no helmets or drones required). The live streaming experience will be powered by FITE, the leading digital platform, offering more than 1,000 events per year to a global audience.

Early Bird Pricing (until the end of the day, July 31) is $19.99 for the full weekend (Thurs-Sun). After July 31, the pricing is $29.99 for the full weekend.

Viewers can access Pickathon’s All Access Streaming Pass here:

http://Pickathon.com/Stream

Today the Earl Scruggs Center and WNCW are proud to announce the inaugural Earl Scruggs Music Festival, coming September 4-5, 2020 to Tryon International Equestrian Center in Mill Spring, NC. Celebrating the legacy of an American music legend, the Earl Scruggs Music Festival will bring together artists from bluegrass, Americana, blues, and many other roots music genres to celebrate the pioneering vision of Earl Scruggs. Few other artists in American history have had such an impact as Scruggs. His work in 1946/47 with Bill Monroe & the Blue Grass Boys and later with Flatt and Scruggs helped create an entire genre of music. His banjo playing was so fresh and different for the time that it was christened the “Scruggs style” of banjo and is still the most prominent banjo performance style in the world. The Earl Scruggs Music Festival will pay homage to Scruggs’ groundbreaking vision in the setting of the Tryon International Equestrian Center in Mill Spring, NC, a short distance from Scruggs’ birth region and the home of the Earl Scruggs Center in Shelby, NC. The Festival will be a benefit for the Earl Scruggs Center and Isothermal Community College.

The initial festival lineup, announced today at the International Bluegrass Music Association’s annual conference in Raleigh, North Carolina, consists of Marty Stuart and His Fabulous Superlatives, Jerry Douglas, Alison Brown, Dom Flemons, Radney Foster, The Barefoot Movement, Darin and Brooke Aldridge, The Po Ramblin Boys, and Unspoken Tradition. More artists, both national and North Carolina-based, will be added over the coming months. The festival will feature over 20 artists and three stages in a beautiful setting at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Camping, lodging, restaurants, and other amenities will be available onsite at the Tryon International Equestrian Center.

For over twenty years, Philadelphia’s Seamus Egan blazed a new trail for Irish music in America. At the head of the supergroup Solas, he toured the world and pushed the music in new directions, incorporating complex arrangements, stunning virtuosity, and elements of global and Americana music. His work defined Irish music for multiple generations and set a benchmark that still hasn’t been matched. As a composer, Egan put his stamp on film soundtracks, symphonic collaborations, and, most famously, co-wrote Sarah McLachlan’s smash hit, “I Will Remember You.” But what happens when a trailblazer needs to take a step back? Egan found himself asking that question when confronted with two major life changes: his band Solas went on hiatus, opening up more time for his own music making, and he moved from his long-time home in Philadelphia to rural Vermont. “Both things coalesced not by design,” Egan says, “but they came together at the same time. I liked the symmetry of it.” Holed up in his Vermont cabin, Egan finally had time to go through tunes and melodies he’d composed over the years.

Inspired by this time alone with his music, he enlisted close friends and collaborators to make a new album of entirely instrumental music, Early Bright, to be released January 17, 2020. Throughout, the goal of Egan’s new work was to reweave the threads of the Irish roots music he knows so well with a more compositional perspective, drawing from classical influences like Bach, Segovia, Icelandic composer Jóhann Jóhannsson, and modern composers like Meredith Monk and Philip Glass. Early Bright marks Seamus Egan’s first solo album in twenty-three years, following on the heels of his groundbreaking 1996 instrumental album When Juniper Sleeps.

Che Apalache was nominated for a Grammy award this morning in the Best Folk Album category for their 2019 album, Rearrange My Heart. The album was produced by legendary roots musician Béla Fleck and has been garnering national press from NPR, World Cafe, Rolling Stone, American Songwriter, Paste Magazine, Billboard Pride, and many more. This is the second Grammy nomination for their label Free Dirt Records after 2017's Julian Lage & Chris Eldridge nomination. For a small independent label and a band that is debuting on the national scene, this is a remarkable victory. It's even more impressive when factoring in Che Apalache's uncompromising message of support for the hundreds of thousands of Latin American immigrants hoping to enter the United States in 2019. Che Apalache's most recent music video for their lead single "The Dreamer" featured undocumented activist and DACA recipient Moises Serrano of North Carolina. With DACA and US immigration in the news every single day, Che Apalache are determined to lend a voice to the many whose lives are affected by these harsh policies.

The Earl Scruggs Music Festival is proud to announce new additions to the festival lineup for the upcoming 2020 festival: The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Jim Lauderdale, Chatham County Line, and the Earls of Leicester.

Touring for over fifty years, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band remains one of the most accomplished bands in American roots music. Grammy award-winning Americana star Jim Lauderdale recorded his seminal 1979 album with Roland White in Earl Scruggs’ basement in Tennessee. Much loved and hard touring Chatham County Line represents Scruggs’ North Carolina heritage, and the inclusion of the Earls of Leicester is a nod to their roots as a Flatt & Scruggs supergroup tribute band.

These artists will join the initial lineup announcement for the Earl Scruggs Music Festival including Marty Stuart and His Fabulous Superlatives, Jerry Douglas, Alison Brown, Dom Flemons, Radney Foster, The Barefoot Movement, Darin and Brooke Aldridge, The Po Ramblin Boys, and Unspoken Tradition. Each of these artists will perform over the festival’s two days at Tryon International Equestrian Center, located in Mill Spring, NC.

After-hours festivities will take place on the festival grounds following the main stage performances on Friday and Saturday evenings. These events require a separate ticket and space is limited-- these tickets will be available soon.  General tickets are available now, as are reservations for tent and RV camping. 

The Earl Scruggs Music Festival is also announcing their full festival team, starting with JT Scruggs, Earl’s nephew, as Festival Director.

“The Earl Scruggs Music Festival is very special to me and I’m honored to have a part in it,” says JT Scruggs. “I believe that this event will allow us to continue to promote the Earl Scruggs Center and help us to continue providing wonderful exhibitions and programs. Most importantly, this festival will help us to honor the life and incredible legacy of Earl Scruggs in a major way.”

JT will be joined by co-Assistant Festival Directors Mary Beth Martin, Executive Director of the Earl Scruggs Center, and David Kester of WNCW.

“We are bringing some incredible Americana and bluegrass artists to the festival, many of whom personally knew Earl Scruggs. All of them were influenced by him and his music in some way” says Martin, “This community and part of the state has a long history of producing great musicians and appreciating good music, so we want to celebrate that tradition with the inaugural Earl Scruggs Music Festival.”

The directors will be joining Artistic Director and Festival Consultant Steve Johnson, a well-known manager and agent in North Carolina. Also joining the team is Social Media Manager Maggie Rainwater of HoosierDevil, whose grandfather played in the Foggy Mountain Boys with Earl Scruggs!

Returning to Pendarvis Farm in Happy Valley, Oregon, Pickathon (July 30 - August 2, 2020) will look and feel completely different. At Pickathon 2020 you’ll find new stages, new artists, a new festival site, and a new way of looking at music festivals that ties everything closer to nature. In a radical departure from other music festivals, as daytime and nighttime roll across the grounds at Pickathon each of these periods will awaken different stages and moods. Pickathon is also expanding its festival programming well beyond the music on each stage. The Wellness program will feature teachers and artists focused on improving public health and providing a space for calm and reflection at the festival. Pickathon’s acclaimed comedy, poetry, and spoken word offerings will return, as well as its innovative children’s programming, including a school for young trackers. Pickathon’s ambitious vinyl DJ program returns as well, bringing vinyl-spinning DJs to each stage in between performer sets and a DJs dancehall to the grounds. In 2020, Pickathon is moving to be even more sustainable and more focused on the beauty of the grounds of Pendarvis Farm. You’ll still find Pickathon’s pioneering commitment to environmental sustainability, and Pickathon still operates as a discovery engine, breaking new artists before anyone else and delighting in bringing artists of all genres together onstage to inspire each other.

With so much happening at Pickathon, we want you to find your own path through the festival. That’s why we’re announcing our lineup and programming gradually this year through our newsletters and social media, rather than dropping it all at once. Starting February 25, we’ll announce new artists and new programming at Pickathon twice a week in our newsletters and continually through our social media. 

We’re also announcing more RV and car camping spots at 10am on Saturday, February 22!

Pickathon’s all about exploration, and we want you to wander the forest pathways of the festival, stumbling on to a stage you’ve never seen, an artist you’ve never heard, an art installation that blows your mind, or a new craft beer you’ve never tasted. At Pickathon 2020, it’s up to you to Pick Your Path.

With every independent music venue in Seattle currently closed due to COVID-19 social distancing, we are looking at the immediate end of music in Seattle in one month. Seattle already has some of the highest rents in the nation and without any kind of assistance for live music venues and no income coming in, these rents will end live music as we know it. Favorite venues have already decided to shut their doors permanently, though they're not announcing it publicly yet, and we estimate that the majority of Seattle music venues will close permanently within the month without help beyond the Paycheck Protection Program . The newly formed Washington Nightlife & Music Association (WANMA) has put together a Five Step Plan to help save our music and we're asking you to reach out to your representative to help!

The music industry in Seattle directly creates tens of thousands of jobs, generating over a billion dollars in sales and millions in earnings. It is estimated that the industry in Seattle generates $90 million annually in state and local sales and B&O taxes. Independent venues play a critical role in this music industry. Collectively, the 25 independent venues making up the Washington Nightlife & Music Association alone produce an average of more than 4,500 events annually, meaning more than 20,000 individuals cross their stages over the course of a year. Closures of these venues would not only have a huge impact on the city’s cultural landscape but on the tourism, hotel, and brewing industries in Seattle, on thousands of gig workers, and of course on production staff and venue staff.

Seattle music venues aren’t the only ones hurting right now. This is a nationwide problem and will only get worse the longer music venues are closed nationally. Independently-owned event and live music venues, along with the entire arts and cultural sector, are deeply impacted by the clearly necessary restrictions on public gatherings. Like many small businesses, venues are run on very slim margins. Independent venues have high expenses during closure and continue to rack up expenses including rent on large spaces, taxes, rental of sound equipment, which is often not owned directly, and insurance. Many venues carry equipment debt and renovation debt as well. Most independent venues aren’t able to ask for direct audience support. Venues often work with outside ticketing companies, and as venues cancelled shows, that money was automatically returned to ticket buyers. There wasn’t an opportunity to ask patrons if they would be willing to forgo the refunds to support the venue through this time. Tours and events are booked out ahead of time, often six months or more. While some businesses like bars could potentially open the day the mandatory closures are lifted, venues would still need weeks if not months to book artists and sell tickets before beginning to see any incoming revenue. Selling tickets for summer dates is not possible as few people are buying tickets without knowing how long this will all last.

Independent venues play a critical role in the music and arts landscape, but as for-profit arts businesses, they are often outside of efforts to support non-profit arts and cultural organizations (who are also in need of help). That’s why WANMA is asking you to contact your local representative to let them know that independent venues need immediate help.

More Information about WANMA’s Five Step Plan:

VENUES NEED DIRECT CASH ASSISTANCE - As economic stimulus and relief develops, small business support must include direct cash assistance, not loans, to cover lost expenses including rent, insurance, utilities, etc. that are greater than PPP loan assistance.

RENT FORGIVENESS & REDUCTIONS - Independent performance venues are by necessity, large spaces. Rents are high and deferment alone will mean crushing debt for venues.  

FINANCIAL PAYMENTS & EXTENDED ASSISTANCE FOR THE WORKFORCE - Venue have a sizeable workforce and stakeholders that will need financial assistance: employees, contract workers, touring musicians, local musicians, touring event support crew, booking agents, managers, owners, etc… all are getting crushed by the work stoppages. These stoppages will likely go much longer for this industry than some other sectors. There needs to be financial assistance not only to keep the industry infrastructure in place but for these people to afford basic living needs until calendars are booked and shows are happening.

TAX RELIEF - Venues need tax relief now and once they open again. Live music brings sizable tax revenue in the form of B & O tax, admission revenue tax, in addition to the taxes generated by its draw for the tourism industry.

INSURANCE RELIEF & REVISIONS - Venues need assistance working with insurance companies to pause insurance payments and coverage without losing continued coverage on reopening.

As we fight COVID-19 together, the power of music to bring hope, foster community, and encourage mental health is more resonant than ever. With this in mind, Pickathon is excited to present A Concert A Day starting April 8, an initiative to help musicians and artist communities through the Recording Academy’s MUSICARES® organization. During this time of hardship, with so many artists unable to tour and so many people stuck at home, Pickathon is opening the vaults to premiere one full concert a day for 60 days, streaming for free on Facebook, Amazon Music’s Twitch channel, and on YouTube. All donations received will go to MusiCares COVID-19 Relief Fund.

Featured artists currently confirmed include Drive By Truckers, Margo Price, Jeff Tweedy, Mac DeMarco, Tyler Childers, Charles Bradley, Tank and the Bangas,Thee Oh Sees, People Under the Stairs, Damien Jurado, The Lone Bellow, Ex Hex, Foxygen, Andrew Bird, Brownout, Divine Fits, Dakhabrakha, Vieux Farka Toure, Willie Watson, and many more!

Each day for the next 60 days, starting April 8, Pickathon Presents A Concert A Day will premiere a full recorded concert from past festivals. Featuring renowned artists across many genres giving career-best performances, these concerts from Pickathons past will stream with unprecedented direct support from the Recording Academy, Amazon Music, and YouTube. At the A Concert A Day Facebook Event, the Recording Academy will host each concert premiere daily, joined either by the performing artist or a renowned journalist. The host will answer fan questions live and comment on the performance. Amazon Music will stream the concert through its channel on Twitch, and the concerts will also premiere on Pickathon’s YouTube channel and be featured as part of YouTube’s Stay Home #WithMe initiative. After reaching out for help, Pickathon was overwhelmed by the response, welcoming the support of partners like the Recording Academy, Amazon Music, BandsinTown, Bandcamp, and YouTube who collaborated in one common effort to support A Concert A Day. All donations received during the livestream will go directly to MusiCares COVID-10 Relief Fund to help musicians in need.

Pickathon Presents A Concert A Day Week 1 Schedule:

Wed, April 8 - Drive by Truckers (Mt. Hood Stage, 2017)

Thurs, April 9 - Ex Hex (Treeline Stage, 2015)

Fri, April 10 - Tyler Childers (Woods, 2019)

Sat, April 11 - Charles Bradley (Mt. Hood Stage, 2017)

Sun, April 12 - Tank & The Bangas (Woods Stage, 2017)

Mon, April 13 - Damien Jurado (Lucky Barn, 2019)

Tues, April 14 - People Under the Stairs (Woods Stage, 2014)

Wed, April 15 - DakhaBrakha (Mt. Hood, 2018)

Never before presented in full, these live concerts come from Pickathon’s extensive vault of content. Filmed in multi-camera HD by an army of audiovisual specialists each year, they’re part of Pickathon’s movement from an annual festival to a year-round content creation company driven by some of the most creative minds in Portland, Oregon and the Pacific Northwest. Stages at Pickathon are planned like independent films, with architects and visual artists creating one-of-a-kind experiences that drive the artists to career best performances which are rendered in multi-camera HD and subsequently released year round.

Championing artists, fostering community, and innovating new ways of experiencing and discovering music have been the cornerstone of Pickathon’s identity for over 20 years. Now is the time to band together in support of touring musicians, to spread hope, and to enjoy A Concert A Day.

It’s hard to imagine a time when the brilliant guitar playing and Appalachian roots of Doc Watson weren’t a part of the American musical fabric. A famed artist in his day and a continuing influence on American music, Watson happened into the music industry much by accident, “discovered” by noted folklorist Ralph Rinzler in the early 1960s when he was mainly playing rockabilly tunes on the electric guitar near his home in tiny Deep Gap, North Carolina. Rinzler convinced Watson that audiences around the country were interested in the older music of Appalachia, and the nation soon fell in love with his heartfelt, powerful singing and his inimitable acoustic guitar playing. He inspired countless people to pick up the guitar and learn to flatpick the old melodies, much of this encouragement coming in person after performances. It was at the first of these shows in New York, really Watson’s first time headlining a show in the city (the previous time he’d played there he was one of two guitarists in Clarence Ashley’s band), that we get to hear this old music played by Watson and his fiddling father-in-law, Gaither Carlton. These live recordings from 1962 are to be released May 29, 2020, by Smithsonian Folkways as Doc Watson and Gaither Carlton on CD, digital, and vinyl. Most of these tracks have never been released before, and the recordings capture two masters at the height of their power, reveling in an audience that was there to listen, not just to drink and dance. It’s a moment where the rural Appalachian world of North Carolina came face to face with the urban New York world of young people desperate to learn folk music and to learn more about the Southern traditions they’d been discovering. These recordings show two very different worlds coming together, buoyed by Watson’s charming personality and his willingness to teach all who would learn.

This week of Pickathon's A Concert A Day brings us GRAMMY winners and nominees (Margo Price, Andrew Bird). We've also got performances from Brownout (side-project from members of the GRAMMY winning latin-funk orchestra Grupo Fantasma), whose latest album, Berlin Sessions, just dropped in March and was produced by Steve Berlin of Los Lobos. We also get to see celebrated Americana and rock favorites The Lone Bellow  and Thee Oh Sees,  and The Oh Hellos, in their respective 2013 and 2016 Pickathon visits. Finally, some fun facts: the Coen Brothers have always had an ear and eye for music (and along with T-Bone Burnett, helped thrust the mainstream folk/country revival of recent years into the mainstream), and this week's schedule sees a double-bill of actor-musicians with ties to the Oscar-winning filmmakers!  Willie Watson (co-founder of Old Crow Medicine Show) played "The Kid" in The Ballad of Buster Scruggs while Andrew Bird is slated to appear in the upcoming season of FX's TV adaptation of Fargo.

With partnership from The Recording Academy, A Concert A Day brings 60 concerts from Pickathon over 60 days, premiering each day at 1:00 pm (Pacific Time) on Facebook, Twitch (via Amazon Music), and YouTube. All donations go directly to MusiCares COVID-19 Relief Fund. Thanks to Amazon Music, Wayfinder Beer, Danner, and Aurora Elixir.

Links to all streams

On Monday, the fourth week of A Concert A Day kicks off with Miya Folick, one of the most memorable sets of Pickathon 2019. The L.A. dark pop balladeer, known for her soaring vocals and unmitigated on-stage energy, once used Tinder to put together her band. Monday’s stream of Folick’s Woods Stage performance will be hosted by Paste Magazine’s Ellen Johnson. Acclaimed roots-gospel duo The War and Treaty (Michael Trotter Jr. and Tanya Blount-Trotter)  also played the Woods Stage in 2018. That set, streaming on Thursday, comes after the couple performed at the 2020 GRAMMYs. And continuing in our tradition of cinematic connections, you can also see Tanya’s performance of “His Eye Is on The Sparrow” with Lauren Hill in Sister Act 2, in what has since become one of the most memorable musical moments in film of the 1990s.  We also have a historic Pickathon performance from J. Mascis’ Dinosaur Jr. The alternative rock legends graced the Mt. Hood Stage in 2017 with their grungy, jangly, mesozoic wall of sound for a performance that has gone down in the annals of Pickathon history. Week Four also brings us sets from D.C. rock and roll dreamcasters Priests, scruffy psych-rock duo (and Richard Swift discovery) Foxygen, and Lauren Morrow, one of Americana music’s most daring and exciting voices. Closing out the week is Valerie June’s 2014 performance at the festival. June draws from the deep wells of American roots music, but her virtuosic roots-country filled with ragtime and blues is a genre all her own and her 2014 Woods Stage set built a whole new world for everyone there. Don’t miss your chance to see it!

With partnership from The Recording Academy, A Concert A Day brings 60 concerts from Pickathon over 60 days, premiering each day at 1:00 pm (Pacific Time) on Facebook, Twitch (via Amazon Music), and YouTube. All donations go directly to MusiCares COVID-19 Relief Fund. Thanks to Amazon Music, Wayfinder Beer, Brew Dr. Kombucha, and Klean Kanteen.

                                                    LINKS TO ALL STREAMS

WEEK 4: April 27-May 3

Monday: Miya Folick
L.A. dark pop balladeer in her 2019 Woods Stage performance.
Tuesday: Priests
D.C. rock and roll dreamcasters in their 2017 Mt. Hood Stage performance.
Wednesday: Dinosaur Jr.
The grungy, jangly, mesozoic wall of sound in their 2017 Mt. Hood Stage performance.
Thursday: The War and Treaty
The 2020 GRAMMY performers in their 2018 Woods Stage performance.
Friday: Foxygen
Scruffy psych-rock duo in their 2014 Galaxy Barn performance.
Saturday: Lauren Morrow
Americana daredevil in her 2019 Lucky Barn performance.
Sunday: Valerie June
The virtuosic roots music alchemist in her 2014 Woods Stage performance.

The inaugural Earl Scruggs Music Festival, scheduled for September 4-5, 2020 in Mill Spring, North Carolina, is still moving forward in these uncertain times. Festivals everywhere have been hard hit by a summer of cancellations and an atmosphere of uncertainty, but we all will need to gather again soon. In the meantime, the Earl Scruggs Music Festival is proud to present A Month of Mondays, a series of lively livestreamed interviews between the festival’s artistic director Steve Johnson of SJ21 Music and select performers from the festival. The interviews will stream at 8pm EDT each Monday from May moving into June and will be livestreamed via the festival’s Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/earlscruggsfest/

Week Eight of A Concert A Day is here and North Carolina is giving us three of the best artists they have to offer, with honky tonk-infused Appalachian Bluegrass pickers Town Mountain, acclaimed roots duo Mandolin Orange, and folk rock water diviners Hiss Golden Messenger each representing the Tar Heel State on Pickathon stages Monday, Friday, and Saturday respectively. We’ll also see art pop expressionist Ezra Furman, South Carolina Americana mainstays Shovels & Rope, and Swedish post-punk fusion reactors Viagra Boys in their 2019 Galaxy Barn performance. Finally, to close out the week, we’ll get to see Americana’s marquee monarch Courtney Marie Andrews in her stunning 2019 Treeline Stage performance on Sunday afternoon.

With partnership from The Recording Academy, A Concert A Day brings a previously unreleased concert from Pickathon, premiering each day at 1:00pm Pacific (4:00pm Eastern) on Facebook (across Pickathon, The Recording Academy, artist and partner pages), Instagram, Amazon Music’s Twitch channel, and YouTube. All donations go directly to MusiCares COVID-19 Relief Fund, matched dollar for dollar by Spotify up to a collective $10 million through the Spotify COVID-19 Music Relief Project.

WEEK 8: May 25-31

Monday: Town Mountain
Tuesday: Ezra Furman
Wednesday: Shovels & Rope
Thursday: Viagra Boys
Friday: Mandolin Orange
Saturday: Hiss Golden Messenger
Sunday: Courtney Marie Andrews

The Earl Scruggs Music Festival announces today that the inaugural festival will be postponed until September 3-4, 2021. This debut festival, focused on the rich legacy of American musical icon Earl Scruggs, will be held at the Tryon International Equestrian Center in Mill Spring, NC, from September 3-4, 2021 and will feature the complete 2020 line-up.

It was a difficult decision to postpone the festival, but the health and safety of festival artists, attendees, vendors, sponsors, and community is top priority for festival organizers. The unpredictability of COVID-19 has rendered live events and venues the first to close and the last to reopen.

“We were so excited to be a part of the first festival to celebrate the legacy of Earl Scruggs,” says Dave Wilson of North Carolina band Chatham County Line.  “We stand behind the Earl Scruggs Music Festival’s decision 100% and look forward to seeing all you music fans at the Tryon Equestrian Center in Mill Spring, NC come September 2021. To the DeLorean!”

Tickets purchased for the 2020 festival will transfer to the 2021 festival with the complete lineup returning next year. Since The Earl Scruggs Music Festival is a fundraiser for Isothermal Community College and the Earl Scruggs Center, ticket holders can also convert their festival purchase to a donation to help support the festival’s transition to next year.

Please contact [email protected] to donate your ticket to the festival. If neither of these options are possible, please contact [email protected] by June 30,2020 for a refund. We all want to gather again, and we will, but for now we need to keep our communities safe.

“While it’s disappointing to have to wait until 2021 for the Earl Scruggs Music Festival, I know it’s going to be an incredible celebration of the legendary Earl Scruggs,” says bluegrass icon Alison Brown.“As they say, the best things are worth waiting for.  I’m looking forward to it already.”

With the festival postponed, The Earl Scruggs Music Festival has developed a new way to stay in touch with fans and to support the legacy of Earl Scruggs: a livestreamed weekly interview series called “A Month of Mondays.” Led by artistic director Steve Johnson, these interviews focus on festival performers and run from 8-8:30pm EDT every Monday on the festival’s Facebook page. “We are excited to offer the Month of Monday series as a way to stay connected with the artists and fans during this time of social distancing,” says Johnson. “We have several guests coming up in the next few weeks including Jerry Douglas, Alison Brown, and many more artists who will be part of the festival!”

We’re on the ninth week of Pickathon’s A Concert A Day and we’re rolling right into June with a ton of momentum thanks to all the donations that have been pouring in for MusiCares COVID-19 Relief Fund! We’ve got a special lineup this week as well, with Americana eclecticists Rising Appalachia who just laid down a great Tiny Desk Concert at NPR. Lido Pimienta is a Polaris prize winning hero of Canadian music and her Lucky Barn interview is for real. The audience interaction from that show is intense and she actually called out someone in the audience; it was a powerful teaching moment. Montreal’s Patrick Watson is another much-loved Canadian artist, and Marco Benevento’s piano rock brings back some great memories from way back at Pickathon 2013. Last year we had the great pleasure of hosting an absolute legend of American music, Phil Lesh and the Terrapin Family Band. He put in a truly epic two hour set on the Woods Stage that we are VERY happy to be sharing with you next Friday. Headed by Snarky Puppy’s multi-Grammy–winning percussion duo, Ghost-Note brought some cutting edge jazz to Pickathon in 2017, and we’ll round out the weekend with indie Americana favorites CAAMP.

With partnership from The Recording Academy, A Concert A Day brings a previously unreleased concert from Pickathon, premiering each day at 1:00pm Pacific (4:00pm Eastern) on Facebook (across Pickathon, The Recording Academy, artist and partner pages), Instagram, Amazon Music’s Twitch channel, and YouTube. All donations go directly to MusiCares COVID-19 Relief Fund, matched dollar for dollar by Spotify up to a collective $10 million through the Spotify COVID-19 Music Relief Project

At 6:30 PM EST on Sunday, July 12th, Down Home NC, Equality NC, Mijente, Poder NC, and RuralOrganizing.org will host a digital concert to launch a voter turnout campaign in the battleground state of North Carolina.

The online event will be a musical representation of the diverse communities of North Carolina and will feature hosts Joe Troop of Che Apalache and Shana Tucker and performances from The Hamiltones, Tatiana Hargreaves and Reed Stutz, Los Guanajatenses, Shirlette Ammons, Alexis Raeana Jones, and Javier Montano.

What: VoteNC.org Launch Party

When: 6:30-8:00pm Sunday, July 12th

Where: VoteNC.org/party

Who: The Hamiltones, Joe Troop with Tatiana Hargreaves and Reed Stutz, Los Guanajatenses, Shirlette Ammons, Alexis Raeana Jones, and Javier Montano.

About the Musical Performances

Grammy-nominated multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter Joe Troop (frontman of “latingrass” sensation Che Apalache) will be co-hosting the event with Shana Tucker. His musical set will feature original bilingual material about Queer Equality, Immigrant Justice, and the power of rural communities.  He will be joined by powerhouse fiddler Tatiana Hargreaves and bluegrass singer Reed Stutz, two young stars of the Appalachian string band scene.

With a deep respect for lyrical storytelling, cellist/singer-songwriter Shana Tucker delivers a unique voice through her self-described genre of ChamberSoul™. Shana’s performance of “America the Beautiful” and “We Shall Overcome” provided a soundtrack to the recent removal of the Confederate statue on the grounds of the North Carolina Capitol building.

Alexis Raeana Jones, a proud member of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina, was raised in rural Robeson County. Her singing previously earned her an invitation to Los Angeles for the television competition “American Idol.” Currently, her days are filled with youth organizing in her home community with a focus on conservation and environmental justice.

The band Los Guanajuatenses, originates from Guanajuato, Mexico. This group was formed by 13 musicians from a town called San Pedro Tenango in 1999. Their music is heard on Hispanic radio stations throughout North Carolina. With their authentic style, they are a favorite among the many Mexican immigrants that call North Carolina home.

The three men who comprise soul star Anthony Hamilton’s background singers, The Hamiltones, have become known entities in their own right through an infectious series of viral video performances. Not since Perri have background soul singers become as instantly recognizable to the general public as these three exceptionally talented young men from Charlotte, North Carolina.

Shirlette Ammons is a Mt Olive-native and Durham, NC- based poet and musician who also directs a youth arts program that offers arts everyday after school to hundreds of young artists in Carrboro, Chapel Hill, and surrounding areas.

Javier Montano is an up-and-coming 21-year-old singer-songwriter from Greenville, NC with Mexican roots. A rising star on the Latinx music scene, he showcases his passionate singing with a tumbado quartet he formed with other young musicians from Eastern NC. 

Pickathon has always been built for the digital age, with an army of audiovisual specialists, high-tech equipment, and a commitment to film not only every stage and performance, but secret video stages and extra performances each year. When Pickathon realized that the 2020 festival would have to be postponed due to COVID, they pivoted immediately and opened up their extensive vaults of content for a 100+ day fundraiser for MusiCares. A Concert A Day brought never-before-seen festival performances to live streamed audiences and raised $200,000, including Spofity’s matching contributions, for MusiCares COVID-19 Relief Fundraiser. With millions of viewers and bands including Tyler Childers, Drive-By Truckers, Lake Street Dive, Blind Boys of Alabama, Phil Lesh and Terrapin Family Band, Jeff Tweedy, Tanks & The Bangas, Andrew Bird, Margo Price, Nathaniel Rateliff, and many more.

“During these challenging times when our community was prevented from gathering together in person, A Concert A Day ended up being an amazing journey to virtually connect and raise significant money for artists in need,” said festival founder and director Zale Schoenborn. “We’re looking forward to going out in style over our festival weekend!”

Pickathon will wrap up their A Concert A Day initiative with a star-studded 12+ hour livestream of past Pickathon concerts and original shorts from July 31 to August 2nd. The goal is to raise $60,000 more over the weekend for MusiCares COVID-19 Relief Fundraiser, and Spotify has agreed to keep matching donations. Drive By Truckers, who started the livestreaming series, will wrap it up Sunday night, and Pickathon At Home will include video greetings from artists slated to play at Pickathon 2020, surprise guests, a special video for ticket holders, and exclusive merch. Pickathon At Home will stream on Facebook via Pickathon and the Recording Academy / GRAMMYs, and on Pickathon’s YouTube, Twitch, and Instagram.

We can’t gather together this year, so Pickathon is bringing their eclectic lineup to your house instead for Pickathon At Home. Running July 31 to August 2, 2020 (original festival dates), starting at 4pm PDT each day, Pickathon At Home will feature high-def, multi-camera livestreamed sets from past festivals by all-star artists, exclusive merch, and a place to gather across social media for the many Pickathon fans missing live music right now. Pickathon At Home will wrap up Pickathon’s successful A Concert A Day fundraiser for MusiCares which has already raised $200,000 with Spotify’s matching and will have an additional goal of $60,000 over the weekend!

Friday, July 31 - 4:00 - 8:30pm PDT

Wolf People // Garrett T. Capps // Bee Bee Sea // Steve Gunn

Saturday, August 1 - 4:00 - 7:30pm PDT

Revel in Dimes // Dan Deacon // Khruangbin

Sunday, August 2 - 4:00 - 7:30pm PDT

Dom Flemons // Moon Duo // Drive-By Truckers

Pickathon has always been built for the digital age, with an army of audiovisual specialists, high-tech equipment, and a commitment to film not only every stage and performance, but secret video stages and extra performances each year. When Pickathon realized that the 2020 festival would have to be postponed due to COVID, they pivoted immediately and opened up their extensive vaults of content for a 100+ day fundraiser for MusiCares. A Concert A Day brought never-before-seen festival performances to live streamed audiences and raised $200,000, including Spofity’s matching contributions, for MusiCares COVID-19 Relief Fundraiser.

“During these challenging times when we are not able to gather in person, A Concert A Day helped fill the void by virtually connecting us through performance and raising money for MusiCares,” said festival founder and director Zale Schoenborn. “Pickathon at Home will be a fitting grand finale that allows us to spend Pickathon weekend together, virtually enjoy music we all love, and raise money for artists in need!”

Pickathon will wrap up their A Concert A Day initiative with a star-studded 12+ hour livestream of past Pickathon concerts and original shorts from July 31 to August 20. The goal is to raise $60,000 more over the weekend for MusiCares COVID-19 Relief Fundraiser, and Spotify has agreed to keep matching donations. Drive By Truckers, who started the livestreaming series, will wrap it up Sunday night, and Pickathon At Home will include video greetings from artists slated to play at Pickathon 2020, surprise guests, a special video for ticket holders, and exclusive merch. Pickathon At Home will stream on Facebook via Pickathon and the Recording Academy / GRAMMYs, and on Pickathon’s YouTube, Twitch, and Instagram. 

As a result of one of the most disturbing eras of blatant American racism in a generation, Black musicians and industry veterans are holding a conversation to accelerate racial equity in Americana, one of our nation’s most essential musical genres. On Thursday, August 20th, at 1 PM PDT/4 PM EST, Black Equity in Americana: A Conversation will occur. The live Zoom panel streaming on Facebook via the Americana Music Association’s Facebook page will feature an honest, restorative dialogue featuring a group of Americana music’s top Black artists and creative professionals.

https://www.facebook.com/AmericanaMusicAssociation

The panelists scheduled diversely represent Black experiences and future expectations across Black culture in Americana music:

Adia Victoria – Gothic Blues Artist 

Jason Galaz – Muddy Roots Music Festival Organizer 

Kamara Thomas – Acclaimed Singer/Songwriter/Storyteller 

Lilli Lewis – Artist, Louisiana Red Hot Records General Manager and Head of A&R 

Rev. Sekou – Musician, Theologian, and Activist

The discussion will be moderated by seasoned freelance music journalist Marcus K. Dowling. In the past year, the Washington, DC native’s words have been published by Bitter Southerner, The Boot, Vibe, Mixmag, Water and Music, the Washington City Paper, and countless others.

The August 20th livestreamed panel is aimed at advocating for a more significant presence for Black artists and industry leaders as stakeholders more broadly represented in Americana’s present and future. For nearly three centuries, Americana music has celebrated the soulful, multi-ethnic, and communal essence of the American experience. However, throughout the country’s -- and by extension -- the genre’s history, minimal representation of Black artists has been a constant. Given that gospel, blues, and soul are intrinsic to Americana as a musical genre, this has too long been a problematic issue and must be remedied.

A dynamic group of well-respected, Black, and activist-minded Americana musicians and professionals will discuss methods for enacting systemic change bearing sustainable impact. The first of what will likely be numerous conversations, this impacting moment sets the table for an exciting future.

A follow-up panel on Black Equity in Americana has also been scheduled for the Americana Music Association’s Thriving Roots Conference September 16-18, 2020.

Marcus K. Dowling, Moderator 

Marcus K. Dowling is a journalist, broadcaster, and entrepreneur. In the past ten years, he has aided creative entrepreneurs in the arts and entertainment industries in earning over $25 million in gross revenue. As a writer he regularly contributes to the likes of Bitter Southerner, VICE, Pitchfork, Complex, Bandcamp, Mixmag, ESPN's Undefeated, Medium's LEVEL, and more.

Adia Victoria, Panelist

Adia (UH-DEE-YUH) Victoria is a poet, blues artist and southern folklorist from South Carolina. Her latest album Silences was produced by Aaron Dessner and is available on Atlantic Records. She mostly tries to mind her own business. 

Jason Galaz, Panelist

Jason Galaz, a California transplant living in Nashville, Tennessee. Host of boutique music festivals across the U.S. and Europe with focus on DIY ethos and independent music in between genres. Also a member of the National Association of Hispanic Realtors, an organization dedicated to sustainable advancement of Hispanic homeownership. 

Kamara Thomas, Panelist

Kamara Thomas is a singer, songspeller, mythology fanatic, and multi-disciplinary storyteller based in Durham, NC. She will release her new album Tularosa: An American Dreamtime in 2021. Kamara was named one of the “14 Artists Proving Black Americana is Real” by Paste Magazine and she is currently spearheading "Country Soul Songbook," an artist-driven performance and documentary project spotlighting underrepresented voices in Country and Americana music.

Lilli Lewis, Panelist

Known in New Orleans as the “Folk Rock Diva,” Lilli Lewis is the Chief Operating Officer for Marketing, Merchandising, Licensing and Distribution firm, SunRea Enterprises, LLC. Three time recipient of OffBeat Magazine’s “Record Label of the Year” while General Manager and A&R Head for New Orleans’ long-standing Louisiana Red Hot Records, she is also Community Radio Show Co-host for “The Internal Weather Report” on 102.3 FM, WHIV New Orleans and a guest writer for OffBeat Magazine. Trained as opera singer and classical pianist, Lilli has enjoyed life as a DIYer in the music industry as composer, producer and performing artist for over 20 years.

Rev. Sekou, Panelist

Raised in the rural Arkansas Delta, Rev. Sekou is the Interim Executive Director of Worker Interfaith Network in Memphis—focusing on supporting low-wage workers. Rev. was a Visiting Scholar at Stanford University’s Martin Luther King Education and Research Institute at the time of Michael Brown Jr.’s killing, and traveled to Ferguson in mid-August 2014 on behalf of the Fellowship of Reconciliation (the country’s oldest interfaith peace organization) to organize alongside local and national groups. Rev. Sekou has written two collections of essays— Urbansouls: Meditations on Youth, Hip Hop, and Religion and Gods, Gays, and Guns: Essays on Religion and the Future of Democracy. He has written widely on the 2011 killing of Mark Duggan by British police and the subsequent London riots, and is the author of the forthcoming Riot Music: Race, Hip Hop and the Meaning of the London Riots (Hamilton Books). With the Deep Abiding Love Project, he has helped train over ten thousand clergy and activists in militant nonviolent civil disobedience through the United States. He spent six weeks on the ground in Charlottesville, Virginia, training clergy in response to the Unite the Right rally. Rev. Sekou has released three albums—The Revolution Has Come (2016), In Times Likes Theses (2017), and When We Fight, We Win: Live in Memphis (2019). He has toured the world and delivered “one of the most rousing Tiny Desk concerts,” according to Bob Boilen of NPR.

This past Sunday, Grammy nominated bluegrass musician Joe Troop joined protesters outside Postmaster General Louis Dejoy's Greensboro, NC. home with his banjo and played his song titled "A Plea to the US Government to Fully Fund the Postal Service."

Video of the event was captured on Twitter and quickly racked up almost 20,000 views.

The United States Postal Service is one of the government’s oldest and most reliable entities - and that’s especially true in rural America. This summer, RuralOrganizing.org launched a campaign that has generated over 427,000 signatures calling for action to save the Postal Service, nearly 50,000 petition signatures demanding an investigation into the Trump slowdown at USPS, and 30,000 letters to members of the Senate. "A Plea to the US Government to Fully Fund the Postal Service,” written by Joe Troop, was commissioned by RuralOrganizing.org as part of this campaign.

The following is a statement from Joe Troop:

I wrote this song in April and now, four months later, we’re still waiting on the Senate to take action.

Staging a protest in front of the most exclusive country club, outside Postmaster General Louis DeJoy’s Greensboro home, in defense of the Postal Service is exactly what we should be doing right now. The richest people in our country are trying to usurp our Democracy.

Funding the United States Postal Service  is not a red or blue issue. It is an American issue. But the postal service has been made a pawn in a political parade. We don’t have to agree on everything, but we do need to come together around certain issues and the post office is one of them.

The following is a statement from Matt Hildreth, Executive Director of RuralOrganizing.org.

The Postal Service has long been a lifeline for rural communities because it delivers to the most rural and remote parts of the country, often on behalf of the private delivery companies who don’t want to risk their profit margins by providing service to everyone.

Every member of Congress, but especially those representing rural states and districts, should be demanding full funding for the post office—especially in light of this year’s election. But instead, we’re going to see which of those members put their loyalty to Trump ahead of their constituents— again.

Even before the pandemic, the rural health system was already in trouble. Now, Trump is threatening another one of rural America’s most reliable lifelines.

The outpouring of support for the RuralOrganizing.org campaign to save the Postal Service sends a clear message: the Senate must act now.

The following are the lyrics to Joe Troop’s song titled,  “A Plea to the US Government to Fully Fund the Postal Service”

I’m waiting by the mailbox, they say a check is coming soon

1200 bucks to ease the pain and pay a bill or two

But no more aid will come my way, unless I take a stand.

The US Postal Service direly needs a helping hand.

Oh won’t you heed this message, won’t you hear my mournful cry

It’s hard to keep your wits about with all this death and dying

But harder times will come our way, on this you can rely

Unless we learn to not be fooled by awful dreadful lies.

Our government is doing a disservice to us all.

To not deliver us the mail should be against the law!

So many men and women out risking their poor lives

Delivering goods to our front doors despite these troubled times

They make the rounds to bring us mail, they work come rain or shine

and now it seems the government is leaving them behind.

I too have lost my livelihood, I’m struggling day by day

Ole Uncle Sam won’t bail me out, while corporate crooks are saved

In times like these it’s fair to say we’ll need new ways to vote

But if the Postal Service dies, my friends, that’s all she wrote.

They’re well aware of what’s to come and chose to do us wrong.

If the US Postal Service dies, our right to vote is gone.

It’s time for us to make demands, before it is too late.

So, fully fund the US Postal Service for God’s sake!

When COVID forced the organizers of the first ever Earl Scruggs Music Festival to postpone the event to 2021, they figured there was nothing they could do. But following successful drive-in concerts in the US and Europe, and a well received first drive-in concert with Darin & Brooke Aldridge, we’re proud to announce that we can bring some of the magic of the Earl Scruggs Music Festival to live audiences on Saturday, September 5. The concert is part of WNCW’s “Summer Outback Opry” concerts and will be held “out back” of The Foundation Performing Arts Center on Isothermal Community College’s campus in Spindale, North Carolina.

Festival artists Chatham County Line, Dom Flemons, and Anna Lynch will perform live with social distancing on stage, and the audience will be cozy in their own cars, separated by at least ten feet of distance. Artists will be amplified from the stage, and admission will be per-vehicle, with a limited number allowed to maintain social distancing. There will be no concessions on site, and attendees will be encouraged to pack a picnic or pick up food from Spindale’s local restaurants. Drone footage from WNCW’s previous Outback Opry drive-in concert shows the feasibility of this kind of event given the large parking lot behind the College’s performing arts center.

"The Scruggs Festival Team is really appreciative of WNCW and Isothermal Community College for making this event happen on what would have been day 2 of our festival this year, had we not had to reschedule,” says Artistic Director Steve Johnson. “We’re really grateful that all the artists have been so accommodating and understanding and that Chatham County Line, Dom, and Anna could help bring a little of next year's festival through the time machine for this year."

It’s an innovative solution for a hard problem, and might even be a path forward for festivals looking to bring live music back, if only for one evening. “We were really excited to be invited to the first annual Earl Scruggs Festival this year,” says Dave Wilson of Chatham County Line, “and will lament its delay yet celebrate its intent with our performance at the Sept 5th WNCW Outback Opry Drive-In Concert. For the young musician, Earl Scruggs represents the pinnacle of musical achievement, a musician that through practice, determination and imagination escaped the boundaries of his instrument and forged an entirely new sound.”

Tickets and more information about WNCW’s Summer Outback Opry are available at foundationshows.org. Information about the Earl Scruggs Music Festival is available at earlscruggsmusicfestival.com.

The inaugural Earl Scruggs Music Festival is now scheduled for September 4-5, 2021.

At 6:30 PM EST on Sunday, October 18th, Advance Carolina, Down Home NC, Equality NC, Mijente, Poder NC Action, and RuralOrganizing.org will host a digital concert to launch a voter turnout campaign in the battleground state of North Carolina. The online event will be a musical representation of the diverse communities of North Carolina and will feature hosts Joe Troop of Che Apalache and Shana Tucker and performances from The Hamiltones, Alexa Rose, Lakota John, Vivica C. Coxx, Diali Keba Cissokho, Javier Montano.

It’s not that Jordan Tice is living on the fringes of Nashville, holed up during quarantine in a little house in Madison, Tennessee. It’s that he’s living in a Nashville that’s based more on the community roots of the music than on the glitz of country stars in secluded recording studios. He’s living in a Nashville that’s moved even beyond East Nashville’s underground Americana scene to a more free-wheeling house session community based in Madison. Late night cosmic Americana picking parties at Dee’s Country Cocktail Lounge, or back porch sessions within spitting distance of John Hartford’s cottage next to the lazy Cumberland River, it all lends a spontaneity to the music that’s based on the joy of invention and creativity and less on finger-busting virtuosity. Tice is a collaborator by nature, known for his work with groundbreaking progressive stringband Hawktail (featuring Brittany Haas and Paul Kowert of the Punch Brothers), but his new album, Motivational Speakeasy (coming September 25, 2020), is a solo affair, just Tice and his beloved and well-worn Collings guitar. Hawktail’s music showcases Tice’s remarkable instrumental skill, and here his guitar work is as crisp and intricate as ever, informed by everything from classical ragtime to psychedelic newgrass. Produced by close friend Kenneth Pattengale of The Milk Carton Kids, the focus of the recording was on finding the heart of Tice’s original songs and instrumentals, and showcasing his deep explorations into American fingerstyle guitar, nodding to purveyors such as Leo Kottke, John Fahey, Mississippi John Hurt, Norman Blake, and David Bromberg.

John Hartford remains a touchstone for Tice, and you can hear much of his influence on the new album, from the talking blues of “Walkin’,” which Tice wrote while wandering New York waiting for a flight to Finland, or the dark, existential humor of “Creation’s Done,” which imagines a vanished creator’s note to his creations left behind on his fridge. “Bachelorette Party” sounds at first like a Hartford instrumental romp, but the simple feel of this piece belies much deeper structural conceptions, reflecting Tice’s belief that something can seem simple yet still be made with great craft. Tice, like Hartford, loves to play with familiar forms of American roots music. “Artists like Hartford or Norman Blake chose to look beyond the idiomatic elements of the music,” Tice explains, “and tap into where those things came from. They aligned themselves with the lineage and personalities behind the music. They learned from literal examples, but they were working more off abstractions that they absorbed into their own work, creating something entirely new.” Both Hartford and Blake were always creatively their own people, beholden to no expectations and infused with a kind of existential irreverence. These are examples that Tice works to uphold, or as he says, it’s about “experimenting to find ways that you can express yourself in a way that adds up to yourself.”

Happy to announce that Washington DC's own Jake Blount has just won the Steve Martin Banjo Prize, more accurately called the "Steve Martin Prize for Excellence in Banjo & Bluegrass." Hosted by the FreshGrass Foundation, Steve Martin's Banjo Prize has now expanded to five awardees this year with a total of $50,000 divided between them. Jake is the second Black artist to receive the Banjo Prize after Rhiannon Giddens, and his win comes with the reminder that the Banjo is first and foremost an African and African-American instrument. Jake's new album foregrounded Black and Indigenous stories in Appalachian music, pulling forth centuries of pain and anger that had been coded into the music. Spider Tales is an especially relevant album of banjo and fiddle-based folk music for our time.

Jake Blount had this to say: "I've known about the Steve Martin Banjo Prize since I stumbled upon previous recipient Noam Pikelny's work at the beginning of my slow voyage from rock music to bluegrass and old-time. In the intervening years I saw it go to seemingly untouchable musical talents, including my inspiring friends Rhiannon Giddens and Victor Furtado, and my respect for the committee and the prize only deepened. I'm not sure I'll ever feel like I can match the technical skill or musical vision of the other awardees I so admire, but I can say I'm profoundly touched to know that the banjo legends and respected industry professionals on the award committee even know I exist. That they found my music deserving of such recognition means more than I can say."

In the summer of 2020, Mary Chapin Carpenter and Emily Barker were due to be on the road together touring throughout the United States. Obviously, that did not happen. They have however, both separately released brand new, critically acclaimed albums!

During their time touring together over the past few years, the two have become close friends and on Wednesday 28th October 11am Eastern, you can join them in conversation as they talk about their new albums, where they're finding inspiration in 2020, as well as there'll be a couple of songs played live and the opportunity to ask a question yourself. ​Go to INSTAGRAM @americanafest to listen in.

Mary Chapin said about Emily

“As Emily’s tour mate for over two years, I had the opportunity to observe her enchanting the audience every night with her songs, her singing and her stellar musicianship. Now, with her new album, she takes the listener to beautiful, deeper places that will cement her standing as one of acoustic/Americana music’s most original and gifted artists.” ​Mary Chapin Carpenter

Emily said about Mary Chapin

“I’ve had the honour of opening shows and singing harmonies with Mary Chapin Carpenter on extensive tours throughout the USA and UK in the past few years. It is beautiful to witness how deeply her audience connect with her songs - as if they are treasured friends who’ve seen them through life’s changing seasons. Her new album, The Dirt and The Stars, is a stunning record, full of healing and beauty and when I put it on, I am transported to a stage, stood beside Mary Chapin, singing a harmony and looking out at a crowd enraptured by the power of her storytelling.” ​ Emily Barker

Coming February 26, 2021, Los Angeles soul singer Chris Pierce’s new album, American Silence, has already gathered critical acclaim from NPR and Rolling Stone! Ann Powers at NPR wrote twice about the power of Chris’ debut single and title track and its effect on her in 2020, saying it’s “…the song white allies need to hear because it so beautifully says that loving protest songs isn’t enough.” Rolling Stone praised the single as well, saying that Pierce “channels Richie Havens and Bob Dylan... It’s the sound of everyone who’s hungry for change, steadying themselves and marching toward a common goal.” Have a listen below and happy to answer any questions or put you in touch with Chris directly about the new album!

Internationally acclaimed singer/songwriter Chris Pierce stands by the notion that music can cut through the isolated and static feelings for those of us worn down by the chaos of everyday life. He calls out to unite us under one sonic roof to speak up, sing out, rise up and resist with the offering of his new 21st century Americana freedom and justice album titled “American Silence” to be released on February 26, 2021. On the forthcoming LP, Pierce channels legendary justice and freedom songwriters. With sparse acoustic instrumentation and unmistakable soulfully passionate vocals, Pierce creates an authentic sound all his own removed from time or trend.

The full-length LP, “American Silence” soulfully spins original songs about a wide range of issues including justice, oppression, homelessness, black self-love, racism, mass incarceration, Immigrant Transcontinental Railroad workforce, Native American boarding schools, and a tribute to the American statesman and civil rights leader, John Lewis. The self produced album was recorded during a socially distanced session at Boulevard Recording in Los Angeles, California with only Pierce and the studio owner/engineer Clay Blair in attendance. Lead vocals, acoustic guitar, harmonica and background choir parts on the album were performed by Pierce.

Vivian Leva & Riley Calcagno’s self-titled record is old-soul roots music to its core. Though both just out of college, the duo’s musical talents extend far beyond their years. Produced by GRAMMY-winning Cajun roots heavyweight Joel Savoy at his Louisiana studio, Vivian Leva & Riley Calcagno (coming March 12, 2021 on Free Dirt Records) is not some soulless collection of songs imitating previous masters of American music. Rather, the pair has responded to one of the darkest eras in American history with an album of stunning breadth and originality. With mass protests, fires raging near their current home in the Pacific Northwest, and no prospect of touring anytime soon, it’s an aptly biting, bittersweet group of songs for an uncertain time. Yet, Leva and Calcagno balance this with a sense of optimism—a notion that at our most vulnerable we might emerge better humans because of it all, perhaps beginning with our own intimate relationships. The eleven tracks elegantly reprise the deep threads of old-time and classic country present throughout Leva’s debut album—she did grow up in rural Appalachia outside Lexington, Virginia, the daughter of celebrated old-time musicians, after all. However, the pair fluidly meld this traditional backbone with fresh iconic melodies, expanded production, and the tightly wound vocal harmonies of indie folk. It’s an artistic statement made from this moment but built to last.

It’s always illuminating to ask an artist how they understand music, but Eli West’s perspective is nothing short of ground-breaking. A trained designer, he sees music architecturally, visualizing his compositions spatially. It’s a highly unusual way to think about music, tied to his verdant natural world of the Pacific Northwest. On his new album, Tapered Point of Stone, due out April 23, 2021, West lays out original songs and tunes like houses built by hand, weaving their melodies into the setting of acoustic roots music that first inspired him. Recorded in 2020, just before everything shut down, the album brings together West’s favored quartet of musicians: Andrew Marlin (Mandolin Orange) on mandolin, Christian Sedelmeyer (Jerry Douglas) on fiddle, himself on mandolin, guitar, and banjo, and Clint Mullican (Mandolin Orange) on bass. This is the third album this quartet has built, including solo albums for Marlin and Sedelmeyer, and at this point they operate on a near-magical wavelength. As both a noted arranger, songwriter, performer, and composer, West has been crafting a Northwest-centric roots music aesthetic through earlier collaborations with Cahalen Morrison and John Reischman, and recordings with Bill Frisell and Dori Freeman. Tapered Point of Stone showcases West’s collaborative nature. “My identity as a musician is as much about collaboration as anything,” West explains. “I’m a second born, that might be part of it? Whether music is about communication or community, the sum is bigger than the parts.”

This ethos comes from West’s passion for bluegrass, where collaborative music making is the norm. West approaches his influences more from a John Hartford perspective than Bill Monroe, however. Whereas Monroe was about the flashy virtuosity and competitiveness of the individual, Hartford was about crafting beautiful and tuneful melodies for community: playing together, not showing off. Exposed to the joy of this music for the first time at a Matt Flinner and David Grier house concert, West says “what drew me in was the level of communication. It was a new language.” This shared language has taken West across the world, touring the UK, Scandinavia, Australia, and Europe, and has provided an endless source of inspiration, enabling him to craft a career built in combination with others. It also put him in touch with a world built by hand, away from the constant buzz of our digital society. “There’s a precedent to the music,” he says, “but it’s also young. Maybe it falls in a spot where there’s enough tradition and enough opportunity at the same time.”

The inaugural Earl Scruggs Music Festival to be hosted at Tryon International Equestrian Center & Resort (TIEC) has been rescheduled from September 3-4, 2021 to September 2-3, 2022 because of the uncertainty of hosting indoor festivals this summer due to the pandemic. With public safety as the primary focus, festival organizers from the Earl Scruggs Center in Shelby, NC, and Isothermal Community College are apprehensive about moving forward with planning due to the uncertainty of COVID restrictions that may still be in place in early September.

“While we are hopeful that indoor festivals will be allowed by September this year, no one is sure yet and we don’t want to risk having to dilute the festival experience for our patrons or reduce attendance because of COVID,” said JT Scruggs, Festival Director and Member Emeritus of the Earl Scruggs Center Board of Directors. “After carefully considering the pros and cons, our committee decided that the best decision was to wait until 2022.”

Celebrating the life and music of the legendary musician Earl Scruggs, the two-day festival will include multiple Bluegrass and Americana bands to perform over the holiday weekend, all of whom were influenced by the late Earl Scruggs’ talent and legacy. Changes to the 2022 lineup will be announced soon.

“We are so thankful to have such loyal ticket holders and appreciate them hanging in there with us until we can produce the festival that we have our hearts set on to give Earl the tribute he deserves,” added Scruggs. “We know it will be worth the wait.”

The Earl Scruggs Music Festival was originally scheduled for Labor Day weekend in 2020 but was rescheduled to Labor Day weekend in 2021 like most events last year. Tickets purchased for either year’s event will automatically roll over to the 2022 festival. As an added thank you to those attending the 2022 festival, current ticket holders can also enjoy additional benefits from the festival partners including the Earl Scruggs Center, WNCW 88.7FM, and TIEC. For a complete list of options, please visit EarlScruggsMusicFestival.com.

Happy Again isn’t exactly happy. But the delightfully deadpan new album from roots mainstays Bill and the Belles is full of life, humor, and tongue-in-cheek explorations of love and loss. Out May 21, 2021 on Ditty Boom Records (distribution and promotion by Free Dirt Service Co.), Happy Again marks a new chapter for the group by featuring eleven all-original songs penned by founding member Kris Truelsen. There’s no dancing around it: this album is about his divorce. But the group has a knack for saying sad things with a bit of an ironic smirk, pairing painful topics with a sense of release and relief. Anyone who’s been to one of their shows can attest that you leave feeling lighter and refreshed. The band often jokes that their setlists appear mournful and angry, but if you don’t listen to the words, you wouldn’t know it. “One of the darkest times of my life turned out to be one of the most creative,” says Truelsen. “I realized, ‘My life is chaos. I need to write about this shit.’” This personal loss turned out to be a creative boon for the band. Many of the songs were cranked out in just a few months, two were even written the night before they were recorded. This raw songcraft, along with the deft production touch of Teddy Thompson, son of Linda and Richard Thompson, who encouraged using only first or second takes, gives Happy Again an emotional punch that deepens with each listen.

Vivian Leva & Riley Calcagno just released a new video of their song, “On the Line.” Bluegrass Pride premiered the video and had some key things to say: “If there’s any single emotion that could have defined 2021, yearning would probably be pretty close to the top of the list… Which is what makes the recent release of Vivian Leva & Riley Calcagno’s self-titled debut album all the more prescient. Filled with bittersweet songs about love across a distance, each of the songs strikes a little truer now than it may have in another year."

Vivian Leva & Riley Calcagno’s self-titled record is old-soul roots music to its core. Though both just out of college, the duo’s musical talents extend far beyond their years. Produced by GRAMMY-winning Cajun roots heavyweight Joel Savoy at his Louisiana studio, Vivian Leva & Riley Calcagno (out March 12, 2021 on Free Dirt Records) is not some soulless collection of songs imitating previous masters of American music. Rather, the pair has responded to one of the darkest eras in American history with an album of stunning breadth and originality. With mass protests, fires raging near their current home in the Pacific Northwest, and no prospect of touring anytime soon, it’s an aptly biting, bittersweet group of songs for an uncertain time. Yet, Leva and Calcagno balance this with a sense of optimism—a notion that at our most vulnerable we might emerge better humans because of it all, perhaps beginning with our own intimate relationships. The eleven tracks elegantly reprise the deep threads of old-time and classic country present throughout Leva’s debut album—she did grow up in rural Appalachia outside Lexington, Virginia, the daughter of celebrated old-time musicians, after all. However, the pair fluidly meld this traditional backbone with fresh iconic melodies, expanded production, and the tightly wound vocal harmonies of indie folk. It’s an artistic statement made from this moment but built to last.

Happy Again isn’t exactly happy. But the delightfully deadpan new album from roots mainstays Bill and the Belles is full of life, humor, and tongue-in-cheek explorations of love and loss. Out May 21, 2021 on Ditty Boom Records (distribution and promotion by Free Dirt Service Co.), Happy Again marks a new chapter for the group by featuring eleven all-original songs penned by founding member Kris Truelsen. There’s no dancing around it: this album is about his divorce. But the group has a knack for saying sad things with a bit of an ironic smirk, pairing painful topics with a sense of release and relief. Anyone who’s been to one of their shows can attest that you leave feeling lighter and refreshed. The band often jokes that their setlists appear mournful and angry, but if you don’t listen to the words, you wouldn’t know it. “One of the darkest times of my life turned out to be one of the most creative,” says Truelsen. “I realized, ‘My life is chaos. I need to write about this shit.’” This personal loss turned out to be a creative boon for the band. Many of the songs were cranked out in just a few months, two were even written the night before they were recorded. This raw songcraft, along with the deft production touch of Teddy Thompson, son of Linda and Richard Thompson, who encouraged using only first or second takes, gives Happy Again an emotional punch that deepens with each listen.

The core of Happy Again is the foundational Bill and the Belles quartet sound featuring Truelsen on guitar, fiddler Kalia Yeagle, bassist Andrew Small, and banjo/banjo-uke player Helena Hunt, recently replaced by Aidan VanSuetendael. The album is also gently supported by Nick Falk on electric guitar and percussion and Don Eanes on piano and B3 Hammond. Early fans of the band were hooked by their singing, and Happy Again continues to deliver stellar vocal trio arrangements, honed by Yeagle, that nod toward groups like the Ronettes and The Shangri-Las. ​The band began as a project to explore the sounds between rural and urban music, between vaudeville and down home roots, but they’ve arrived somewhere wholly their own. They revel in the in-between: deeply engaged with the stringband tradition and eager to stretch those influences to contemporary settings. Happy Again is the latest chapter of that ongoing story: what happens when a stringband from East Tennessee lays down a session at Motown. It’s a welcome evolution that feels familiar and timeless.

Hearing Ric Robertson for the first time, you’ll be forgiven if John Prine is the first name that comes to mind. Robertson’s voice has the same soft Southern burr as Prine’s, the same Zen acceptance of humanity’s failings, and, most importantly, the same sense of playfulness in the music. There’s a bit of Willie Nelson in there too, not just from all the smoke in the air, but from the colliding elements of jazz, funk, and country. Robertson’s an American original, pulling influences from the greats that came before, but wholly responsible for creating his own creative universe. When he's not writing songs or playing music, his polymath personality fills time learning claymation, filmmaking, building puppets, learning pedal steel... He’s relentlessly creative, the musician’s musician, as testified by the fact that he’s continuously in-demand as a touring bandmate, playing with everyone from Rhiannon Giddens to The Wood Brothers. His new album, Carolina Child, coming July 30 on Free Dirt Records, is Robertson’s break-out moment, a fully-fledged multiverse of madcap ideas and creative anarchy. The album was produced by Dan Molad of Lucius, and features Jess Wolfe and Holly Laessig from Lucius plus a whole host of Robertson’s friends, colleagues, and picking partners, drawn from all over the US: Dori Freeman and Nick Falk from Galax, VA, Gina Leslie from New Orleans, Sam Fribush of Greensboro, NC, Alex Hargreaves (Steve Martin, Kacey Musgraves) and Eddie Barbash (Jon Batiste) from Brooklyn, Oliver Wood of The Wood Brothers, Kai Welch, Logan Ledger, and Nate Leath (Sierra Ferrel) from Nashville. A guest list this large and varied is a testament to Robertson’s easygoing musicianship. He’s as comfortable backing up another artist onstage as he is leading his own band, and throughout he anchors his creativity in a sense of playful collaboration. “I just love music and I try to remain a student of it,” he says. “That’s where the playfulness comes in. I’m never going to master this, I’ll always be learning.” Humble words for an artist with an almost preternatural sense of the song, a gift for songwriting that brings him close to the legacy of Prine or Van Zandt, a songwriter who can shine a light on the harder edges of our humanity without losing sight of our hopefulness.

New single out today across all platforms from New Orleans’ Ric Robertson featuring Lucius. It’s from his upcoming album, Carolina Child, coming July 30, 2021 on Free Dirt Records. Robertson used to be in Lucius back in the day and the new album was produced by Dan Molad from the band. “Getting Over Our Love” is a sweet slice of psych Americana.

With a new president, vaccines rolling out, and massive cultural changes underway, most of us are looking for a moment just to breathe. But not Joe Troop. As the GRAMMY-nominated bandleader for Che Apalache, Troop didn’t stop even for a second as COVID ravaged a whole year’s worth of performance dates. Instead he took to the rural roads of North Carolina and the American South, pushing to get out the vote among rural progressives and interviewing those most affected by Trump’s horrific policies. After a year learning direct action from stalwart progressive organizers, he’s channeling that energy into his first proper solo album. Borrowed Time, out August 20 on Free Dirt Records, may feature big names like Béla Fleck (who produced Che Apalache’s GRAMMY-nominated album), Abigail Washburn, Tim O’Brien, and Charlie Hunter, but the powerful songwriting speaks for itself and is designed to push listeners out of their comfort zones. This is the kind of activism that got Pete Seeger blacklisted, and Troop’s no stranger to controversy, having been chased off stages and threatened for his radical songs. But as an openly gay man growing up playing bluegrass in the South, Troop never had a choice, he had to stand up for what he believed in, no matter the consequences. With Borrowed Time, Troop is doing much more than just bringing together a group of great musicians to embody songs of protest, he’s building on his community of activists and organizers to tell his own story and the stories of those whose voices have been pushed down.

New song up now for GRAMMY nominated Joe Troop of Che Apalache. “Red, White & Blues” (feat. Tim O’Brien) is Joe’s homage to the difficult legacy of America. Folk Radio UK premiered the song today for 4th of July and Joe’s got some interesting thoughts on the holiday:

“The 4th of July is really odd. People celebrate the independence of a nation while gorging on grilled sausages and decking themselves out in a bunch of patriotic trash produced in China. It’s very similar to a sporting event, but with a far greater impact on collective identity. Nonetheless, younger generations’ disinterest in celebrating is noteworthy. There’s a major zeitgeist shift in the US right now, and the declaration of Juneteenth as a federal holiday has placed the convergence of nationalism and white identity under the microscope. Not surprisingly, Dixie’s death growl grows ever more deafening.”

With a new president, vaccines rolling out, and massive cultural changes underway, most of us are looking for a moment just to breathe. But not Joe Troop. As the GRAMMY-nominated bandleader for Che Apalache, Troop didn’t stop even for a second as COVID ravaged a whole year’s worth of performance dates. Instead he took to the rural roads of North Carolina and the American South, pushing to get out the vote among rural progressives and interviewing those most affected by Trump’s horrific policies. After a year learning direct action from stalwart progressive organizers, he’s channeling that energy into his first proper solo album. Borrowed Time, out August 20 on Free Dirt Records, may feature big names like Béla Fleck (who produced Che Apalache’s GRAMMY-nominated album), Abigail Washburn, Tim O’Brien, and Charlie Hunter, but the powerful songwriting speaks for itself and is designed to push listeners out of their comfort zones. This is the kind of activism that got Pete Seeger blacklisted, and Troop’s no stranger to controversy, having been chased off stages and threatened for his radical songs. But as an openly gay man growing up playing bluegrass in the South, Troop never had a choice, he had to stand up for what he believed in, no matter the consequences. With Borrowed Time, Troop is doing much more than just bringing together a group of great musicians to embody songs of protest, he’s building on his community of activists and organizers to tell his own story and the stories of those whose voices have been pushed down.

Smithsonian Folkways Recordings is proud to release new, never-before-heard recordings from the great Bahamian guitar legend and otherworldly talent Joseph Spence (1910-1984) coming July 16, 2021. Recorded by renowned recording engineer, documentarian, and producer Peter Siegel in 1965 in New York City and the Bahamas, Encore: Unheard Recordings of Bahamian Guitar and Singing offers a look at a grandmaster at work, at the height of his powers and recorded with expert equipment. The album also includes two entirely new songs that Spence had never recorded before and new settings of Spence classics! A brilliantly virtuosic guitarist who influenced everyone from Richard Thompson to The Grateful Dead, Ry Cooder, and Taj Mahal, Joseph Spence was infused with the spirit of improvisation. As he sang, lyrics tumbled over exclamations, swaying between guttural interjections and fast-rhyming patter. Though he came up among the fishermen of the Bahamas, singing briny vocal harmonies with them late into the night, his music was wholly his own, and so original that it has inspired multiple generations ever since he was first discovered in the late 1950s. And yet despite the dazzling craft in his music, Spence was an artist who also loved to play. “There’s a playfulness to his music, that’s who he was!” Siegel explains. “Having met him and known him, he was like that. He’d get fascinated by something and have a unique thing to say about it.”

GRAMMY-nominated artist Joe Troop’s new album is coming August 20 on Free Dirt Records and Rolling Stone has the premiere on his first music video for the album. It’s for his song “Mercy for Migrants,” featuring roots music stars Béla Fleck & Abigail Washburn. The song is Troop’s plea for empathy for those trying to cross the US border searching for a better life. The song and video were inspired by the haunting site of a cross in the desert marking the death of a 16 year old boy that Troop came upon while walking the desert to place water for migrants. “Human struggle is human struggle, and the idea of having families and children walking through this Sonoran desert,” Troop says, “when you step foot in it, it takes on new meaning because you see just how terrible that would be.”

With a new president, vaccines rolling out, and massive cultural changes underway, most of us are looking for a moment just to breathe. But not Joe Troop. As the GRAMMY-nominated bandleader for Che Apalache, Troop didn’t stop even for a second as COVID ravaged a whole year’s worth of performance dates. Instead he took to the rural roads of North Carolina and the American South, pushing to get out the vote among rural progressives and interviewing those most affected by Trump’s horrific policies. After a year learning direct action from stalwart progressive organizers, he’s channeling that energy into his first proper solo album. Borrowed Time, out August 20 on Free Dirt Records, may feature big names like Béla Fleck (who produced Che Apalache’s GRAMMY-nominated album), Abigail Washburn, Tim O’Brien, and Charlie Hunter, but the powerful songwriting speaks for itself and is designed to push listeners out of their comfort zones. This is the kind of activism that got Pete Seeger blacklisted, and Troop’s no stranger to controversy, having been chased off stages and threatened for his radical songs. But as an openly gay man growing up playing bluegrass in the South, Troop never had a choice, he had to stand up for what he believed in, no matter the consequences. With Borrowed Time, Troop is doing much more than just bringing together a group of great musicians to embody songs of protest, he’s building on his community of activists and organizers to tell his own story and the stories of those whose voices have been pushed down.

Michigan’s Laurel Premo is known for her experimental work recrafting the roots of music from Appalachia, Scandinavia, and the British Isles. She’s just announced a new album of sparkling guitar (and lap guitar) instrumentals, both original and taken from older sources. In the vein of John Fahey, he’s reworking these melodies into a new sound, electrifying the old traditions. Check out her first single, “Jericho", from the album, Golden Loam, releasing October 8, 2021.

Michigan-based multi-instrumentalist Laurel Premo’s latest solo album, Golden Loam, out October 8, 2021, presents original and traditional music voiced on finger-style electric guitar and lap steel. Perhaps by its most honest classification “roots guitar,” the sonic vocabulary of Golden Loam is informed by guitar’s antecedents in American traditions - fiddle and banjo, the rhythms, melody and intonation therein, as well as that music’s relationship to movement. Glowing, droning, tugging, scraping, revolving, Premo bears renewed electric dirt, the golden loam layered by centuries of folk.

Following The Iron Trios (2019), Premo’s sophomore release builds on the dark roots world she arranged, with seeking, untethered delivery and a masterful use of space, on a dynamic wave of warm, gritty sustain. Laurel’s vocals on two pieces ‘Hop High’ and ‘I Am A Pilgrim’ are traditional calls beaconing the guitar’s response, and fold in timberly like additional instrumental lines sustaining the drone. Golden Loam was self produced and recorded during the pandemic lockdown of summer/fall 2020. The majority of the record is solo performance, but two featured collaborators are woven in to this embodied rhythmic collection. Percussive dancer Nic Gareiss (Michigan) appears on tracks 5 & 9, and bones player Eric Breton (Quebec) on track 3.

Laurel Premo has been writing, arranging music and touring since 2009 with vocal and instrumental roots acts. She is internationally known from her duo Red Tail Ring.

American guitarist Norman Blake is one of the great unsung heroes of 20th century folk music. Over the course of his long career, he’s been at the forefront of multiple revivals of American roots music, from his time in the late 60s and 70s as the house guitarist for Johnny Cash and his playing on Bob Dylan’s Nashville Skyline, to his work creating newgrass with the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and in the 2000s reinventing bluegrass for a new generation with T Bone Burnett on the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack. Even with the glitz, glamor, and prestige, including nine Grammy nominations, Blake has held steadfast to the idea that the music should remain as humble as his own aspirations. And though he’s recently undergone a kind of personal renaissance–releasing five albums in the last ten years for the same label, Plectrafone Records–he’s done this work entirely by hand, recording in and around his rural home in the hinterlands of Georgia.

For now, Blake seems content to amble the backroads of his musical memory, using obscure histories for new songs or pulling forth old chestnuts he hasn’t been able to stop singing in all the long years. His new album for venerable record label Smithsonian Folkways, Day by Day, due out October 22, 2021, is an album of favorite folk songs and a few originals done in single take recordings. On guitar and on banjo, Blake showcases the instrumental mastery that’s won him four generations of fans, never playing for speed or virtuosity, but always treating the source material with the greatest respect.

Acclaimed roots musician Jake Blount is heading back out on the road, starting with the International Bluegrass Music Association’s upcoming conference and festival in Raleigh, North Carolina! Jake will be joining bluegrass legends Béla Fleck, Michael Cleveland, Sierra Hull, The Del McCoury Band, Steep Canyon Rangers, Yonder Mountain String Band, Jerry Douglas, and many more. He’s playing the IBMA Bluegrass Live! powered by PNC StreetFest October 1 and is being presented by Bluegrass Pride.

Fresh off a powerhouse set at Newport Folk Festival, Jake Blount is back on the road passing through Connecticut, New York, Rhode Island, DC, West Virginia, Ohio, Michigan, and Illinois. More info below and happy to send along Jake’s most recent album, Spider Tales, which came out during COVID in 2020 via Free Dirt Records. Drawn from the lost Black and Indigenous histories of Appalachian roots music, Blount's timely vision on this album showcased not only these lost voices, but the rage and anger that was encoded into the music early on and has remained ever since. It was, simply put, one of the most powerful explorations of American roots music in 2020, chosen as one of the Best Albums of 2020 by The New Yorker, NPR, Bandcamp, WNYC's The Takeaway, Folk Alley, Country Queer, Out Smart, The Vinyl District, PopMatters, Songlines, and more. Blount also received the Steve Martin Banjo Prize in 2020 in recognition in part of the power of his album!

Friday, October 1
Jake Blount @ IBMA Bluegrass Live! powered by PNC
Raleigh, NC

Thursday, October 14
Jake Blount @ Cafe Nine
New Haven, CT

Friday, October 15
Jake Blount @ Cafe Wha
New York, NY

Saturday, October 16
Jake Blount @ Common Fence Music
Portsmouth, RI

Sunday, October 17
Jake Blount @ Kennedy Center Performances for Young Audiences
Washington, DC

Monday, October 18
Jake Blount @ Purple Fiddle
Thomas, WV

Tuesday, October 19
Jake Blount @ Rambling House
Columbus, OH

Wednesday, October 20
Jake Blount @ The G.A.R. Hall
Peninsula, OH

Thursday, October 21
Jake Blount @ Ten Pound Fiddle
East Lansing, MI

Friday, October 22
Jake Blount @ C-U Folk and Roots Festival
Urbana, IL

Sunday, October 24
Jake Blount @ Reggie's Music Joint
Chicago, IL

New Orleans artist Ric Robertson has just released the new music video for his song “Anna Rose,” from his acclaimed 2021 album, Carolina Child, on Free Dirt Records (NPR praised his “poetic storytelling”). The video is the result of Ric’s friendship with legendary glass artists Clinton Roman and Arik Krunk. For the past year or so, Ric’s been traveling to Eugene, Oregon, one of the epicenters for borosilicate glass artists and pipe culture, and spending time playing music and collaborating at Arik and Clinton’s home studios. During long nights of psychedelic adventures, Ric and Clinton decided to try their hand at stop motion animation with Clinton’s borosilicate glass art, likely a first. The result is a remarkable video showcasing two artists in action and at play.

Thanks to the pioneering work of glass artists like Bob Snodgrass in Eugene in the 80s and 90s, borosilicate glass has gone beyond the original usage of the material in the medium of pipemaking. Snodgrass still lives in Eugene, and has now inspired several generations of glass blowers. One early Snodgrass devotee was Arik Krunk, an artist who developed a friendship with Clinton around 1995. At that time Clinton was making incredibly ornate stone-carved pipes and Arik was working with glass. Arik taught Clinton much about the medium of glass, and Clinton taught Arik much about artistic concepts. Early borosilicate pipes (mostly Snodgrass pipes) were mostly bought, sold, and appreciated at Grateful Dead shows in parking lots across America, and like most glass artists, Clinton and Arik had a particular affinity for the music of Jerry Garcia and the Dead.

Borosilicate glass, or Boro, is a special type of glass which is more durable than traditional soft glass and is often used to make glass pipes; many of the best borosilicate flameworkers are primarily pipemakers. Clinton, Krunk and other glass artists like them have developed their own unique styles as artists. Inspired by various Indigenous cultures and Egyptian art traditions, Clinton’s glass art has easily transcended its origin, bringing new sculptural ideas to the work, and his pipes are today in high demand among collectors of glass art and appreciators of contemporary psychedelia. Recently, Clinton’s home studio in Blue River, Oregon burned to the ground due to wildfire, and the borosilicate glass community has been gathering around to support him in the rebuilding process.

Clinton’s work with Ric is his most recent work to date and helped bring him back to glass after the shock of losing his studio. In addition to being a fun collaboration, together Clinton and Ric used this video as a way to experiment with stop motion animation in borosilicate glass. Clinton and Ric used glass frit, basically glass fragments used to bond glass and for decorative effect, to make a glittering landscape for the video. The glass figurine made to represent the Anna Rose character was small enough that, rather than firing the figure in a kiln, Clinton was able to use a hand torch to bend and pose the figure. The video is a first of its kind and a testament to the joy of artistic collaboration. 

New song out today from octogenarian Norman Blake, a legend of American music. "Time" is pretty special, I think it's kind of Norman's thesis statement for his new album Day by Day, coming Oct 22 on Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. It's got a deep biblical feel to it, basically it's his musings on time and his long love of the American past. Have a listen and more info on the album below. The new song is out now across all streaming platforms. Folk Radio UK just covered the album with this great, in-depth review and said that the song “Time” in particular, “should be made compulsory listening for the young.” I love that quote haha!

American guitarist Norman Blake is one of the great unsung heroes of 20th century folk music. Over the course of his long career, he’s been at the forefront of multiple revivals of American roots music, from his time in the late 60s and 70s as the house guitarist for Johnny Cash and his playing on Bob Dylan’s Nashville Skyline, to his work creating newgrass with the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and in the 2000s reinventing bluegrass for a new generation with T Bone Burnett on the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack. Even with the glitz, glamor, and prestige, including nine Grammy nominations, Blake has held steadfast to the idea that the music should remain as humble as his own aspirations. And though he’s recently undergone a kind of personal renaissance–releasing five albums in the last ten years for the same label, Plectrafone Records–he’s done this work entirely by hand, recording in and around his rural home in the hinterlands of Georgia.

For now, Blake seems content to amble the backroads of his musical memory, using obscure histories for new songs or pulling forth old chestnuts he hasn’t been able to stop singing in all the long years. His new album for venerable record label Smithsonian Folkways, Day by Day, due out October 22, 2021, is an album of favorite folk songs and a few originals done in single take recordings. On guitar and on banjo, Blake showcases the instrumental mastery that’s won him four generations of fans, never playing for speed or virtuosity, but always treating the source material with the greatest respect.

For the past year and a half, GRAMMY nominated artist Joe Troop has been tirelessly traveling the backroads of America documenting injustice among communities throughout North Carolina, the Pacific Northwest, and along the US/Mexico border. With a new album, Borrowed Time, released August 20 on Free Dirt Records, Joe’s still moving, working to shine a light on voices yet unheard. Part of Joe’s drive comes from the inspiration he takes from his mentors, especially the legendary union organizer and songwriter Baldemar Velásquez, founder of the Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC). That inspiration has come full circle now with the first episode of a planned documentary series on Velásquez’s life released today. Working together with tastemaker videographers GemsonVHS and Indigenous-led Iximché Media, and funded partially by a grant from UNC Chapel Hill, Troop and the filmmakers visited Baldemar at his headquarters in Ohio, interviewing him about his early influences and life on the front lines, and working with archival footage. The first episode of this series features an interview between Joe and Baldemar in Toledo, Ohio as well as old footage of Baldemar singing at union meetings and getting pushed around physically in the field. Joe and Baldemar speak about Baldemar’s childhood on the road with his migrant family, and the toll that organizing and activism can have on those fighting for justice and how music can help see people through. The episode also features Joe and Baldemar performing traditional songs together at The Holland Theater in Bellefontaine, Ohio.

“Becoming friends and playing music with my mentor Baldemar Velásquez has revolutionized my understanding of music’s role in mobilizing people,” Joe explains. “In this cluttered world it has become increasingly difficult to identify the real luminaries, and I am deeply honored to help spread awareness of this legendary organizer.” Working closely with Nashville videographer Anthony Simpkins of GemsonVHS and Roderico Y. Diaz and Emily Rhyne of Iximché Media, Joe and Baldemar explored the importance of organizing and the interaction between protest and music, an intersection that Baldemar knows well. “I’d compare him to Woody Guthrie or Pete Seeger,” Anthony explains. “In fact, Baldemar worked with Seeger and performed with him on stage! It was incredible working with a 70 year old activist like Baldemar who still has the energy of a 20 year old with the motivation to change the world. From Baldemar, I learned how to use music in a way that changes people’s hearts and minds. You don’t have to be cynical, you can work towards real tactile, physical goals. Each day is a new day and the work never stops, that’s his concept. Each day you just work a little more and a little more until you have had a whole lifetime, like he’s had, to make real change.”

Baldemar Velásquez is an organizing luminary known for founding the Farm Labor Organizing Committee, going head-to-head in support of migrant workers, and fighting back against exploitative corporations. Velásquez was born to a migrant family in Rio Grande, Texas. Growing up, his family would travel to Ohio for work, as Baldemar relates in the episode, the wheels of the trucks lulling him and his siblings to sleep. In a powerful sequence, Baldemar relates the racism and discrimination they saw traveling through rural American in the 1950s, and the challenges of moving seasonally from Texas to the frozen lands of Ohio and living in a one-room shanty house for migrant workers. Throughout the challenges, Baldemar had music, his mother’s love for singing that she transferred to him. “I grew up singing my mom’s songs in the field picking crops!” Baldemar says. “Now, I use music to pick for justice. Working with Joe and the documentary team is like a perfect storm.”

Incensed by the injustices suffered by his family and other farmworkers, Baldemar founded the Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC) in 1967. Under his leadership FLOC has set international precedents in labor history, including being the first union to negotiate multi-party collective bargaining agreements, and the first to represent H2A international guestworkers under a labor agreement. Baldemar is an internationally recognized leader in the farmworker and immigrants rights movements. His commitment to justice and human dignity have led to recognition by many labor, government, academic, and progressive organizations, including a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Fellowship (Genius Grant), a Development of People Award by the Campaign for Human Development of the U.S. Catholic Conference, an Aguila Azteca Award by the Government of México, and several Honorary Doctorates from Bowling Green State University, Bluffton University, and University of Toledo. In 2009 Baldemar was elected to the AFL-CIO Executive Council.

Further episodes of this documentary series will air in coming months on GemsonVHS’ popular YouTube account.

https://www.youtube.com/c/GemsOnVHS

It’s not many artists that can say that they’ve written songs in Antarctica, but for Joey Capoccia of Olympia, Washington Americana band The Pine Hearts, the South Pole was just another place to stop and look for inspiration. Working as a carpenter for the National Science Foundation, Capoccia holed up in the South Pole Station’s greenhouse to write the song “Wouldn’t You Know” on The Pine Hearts’ new album, Lost Love Songs, coming February 18, 2022. Traveling and songwriting are two constants in his life, with other songs written while playing with friends on Kauai, or traveling through California’s wine country, or rolling around in Nashville. “It’s probably true of a lot of songwriters,” Capoccia says, “that you need to be in a tiny quiet place to write a song. So, while traveling, you end up in these tiny nooks or crannies you find, a closet, a beach, wherever you can go to get away from people and hash the songs out.” On Lost Love Songs, Capoccia brings together the punk DIY songwriting aesthetic of Olympia, Washington with a lush strain of Pacific Northwest Americana and bluegrass. His songs call to mind lost times with old friends, moonshine passed around a campfire, and late night jam sessions afterhours at festivals. It’s music made by three friends for a rainbound Northwest community looking for reasons to dance.

Recorded in the tiny rural Oregon town of Enterprise, The Pine Hearts worked closely with maverick Americana artist Bart Budwig to produce the album. The core trio of Capoccia on guitar, Derek McSwain on mandolin, and Dean Shakked on bass was joined by banjo player and erstwhile Pine Heart Lob Strilla and fiddler Bevin Foley (of Trout Steak Revival) to make a well rounded ensemble for the recording. Though Enterprise is home to a surprisingly rich world of roots music, The Pine Hearts had been touring through the area for years, playing a little cowboy bar called The Range Rider. Hearing stories about the album’s recording, you get the impression that the week of recording passed quickly, with after-work swims in the local lake and picking parties on the side. That’s The Pine Hearts ethos: music as an excuse to travel and travel as fuel for their creative fire. It might be because they all hail from Olympia, Washington, a small city known for its insular DIY scene. While punk musicians in town came up with revered local label K Records, music was largely made for the local community, rather than made to be toured outside of the area. Capoccia founded an underground punk band, The Pasties, and remembers well his favorite gigs at the time: playing under the bridge in town for an impromptu crowd of friends and fans, singing so hard and for so long that he started tasting blood in the back of his throat. While Capoccia came out of the punk scene, mandolinist McSwain came straight out of Olympia’s bluegrass community, long fueled by the Wintergrass festival and by expat communities of North Carolina Tarheels in little logging towns tucked into the woods. Bassist Shakked adapted quickly to bluegrass bass, though he came from Olympia’s metal world before joining The Pine Hearts. Each member of the group came from a different background, but they all came together to represent a new kind of Northwest music, something original in nature but that harkens back to a shared past.

With Lost Love Songs, The Pine Hearts are making roots music for dancing, using travels throughout the world to find little moments of time to write something new, to try out a new idea. If natural themes keep popping up in the music, mentions of verdant forests or windswept ocean, the natural beauty of their home is surely to blame. “Do I write songs about nature because I live in Olympia,” muses Capoccia, “or do I live in Olympia because I like nature?” Either way, the result is that their music echoes with the dense tangle of Northwest rainforest, rings beneath the eaves of Washington's Cascade Mountains.

It’s not many artists that can say that they’ve written songs in Antarctica, but for Joey Capoccia of Olympia, Washington Americana band The Pine Hearts, the South Pole was just another place to stop and look for inspiration. Working as a carpenter for the National Science Foundation, Capoccia holed up in the South Pole Station’s greenhouse to write the song “Wouldn’t You Know” on The Pine Hearts’ new album, Lost Love Songs, coming February 18, 2022.

Traveling and songwriting are two constants in his life, with other songs written while playing with friends on Kauai, or traveling through California’s wine country, or rolling around in Nashville. “It’s probably true of a lot of songwriters,” Capoccia says, “that you need to be in a tiny quiet place to write a song. So, while traveling, you end up in these tiny nooks or crannies you find, a closet, a beach, wherever you can go to get away from people and hash the songs out.” On Lost Love Songs, Capoccia brings together the punk DIY songwriting aesthetic of Olympia, Washington with a lush strain of Pacific Northwest Americana and bluegrass. His songs call to mind lost times with old friends, moonshine passed around a campfire, and late night jam sessions afterhours at festivals. It’s music made by three friends for a rainbound Northwest community looking for reasons to dance.

Blues isn’t just twelve bars and a hard luck story. On his debut record, Hard Times and a Woman (coming April 15, 2022), guitarist and songwriter Justin Golden showcases the full breadth of the genre and its downstream influences, everything from country blues to Americana, soul, indie roots and beyond. Golden was raised on the Virginia coast and is steeped in the distinctive, fingerpicked Piedmont blues of the central part of the state. He’s studied country blues and can name any number of influences from Blind Boy Fuller to Taj Mahal, but his key inspirations have always come from the indie guitar realm, specifically friends like Phil Cook and Jo Roddy Walston, with a little Hiss Golden Messenger, Daniel Norgren, and Bon Iver mixed in and maybe a hint of James Taylor.

Recording his new album in the midst of the vibrant Richmond, VA scene, producer Chip Hale helped craft lush arrangements with Richmond artists around Golden’s classic Americana songwriting sensibilities. Fuzzed out guitar, keys, and harmonica meld with his deft fingerpicking and slow burning grooves. Across twelve tracks, Golden lays out a caution: be wary when things start going too well. The lyrics of Hard Times and a Woman reference winning (and then losing) it all, heartbreak, and the harsh realities of being Black in America. On his sparkling debut, Justin Golden arrives fully formed as a guitarist and a songwriter. It’s not just that he can move so fluidly between musical genres, it’s that he understands that the blues underpins nearly every American genre, and he hears the blues wherever he goes.

Album Pre-Order

It’s not many artists that can say that they’ve written songs in Antarctica, but for Joey Capoccia of Olympia, Washington Americana band The Pine Hearts, the South Pole was just another place to stop and look for inspiration. Working as a carpenter for the National Science Foundation, Capoccia holed up in the South Pole Station’s greenhouse to write the song “Wouldn’t You Know” on The Pine Hearts’ new album, Lost Love Songs, released today. Traveling and songwriting are two constants in his life, with other songs written while playing with friends on Kauai, or traveling through California’s wine country, or rolling around in Nashville. “It’s probably true of a lot of songwriters,” Capoccia says, “that you need to be in a tiny quiet place to write a song. So, while traveling, you end up in these tiny nooks or crannies you find, a closet, a beach, wherever you can go to get away from people and hash the songs out.” On Lost Love Songs, Capoccia brings together the punk DIY songwriting aesthetic of Olympia, Washington with a lush strain of Pacific Northwest Americana and bluegrass. His songs call to mind lost times with old friends, moonshine passed around a campfire, and late night jam sessions afterhours at festivals. It’s music made by three friends for a rainbound Northwest community looking for reasons to dance.

Recorded in the tiny rural Oregon town of Enterprise, The Pine Hearts worked closely with maverick Americana artist Bart Budwig to produce the album. The core trio of Capoccia on guitar, Derek McSwain on mandolin, and Dean Shakked on bass was joined by banjo player and erstwhile Pine Heart Lob Strilla and fiddler Bevin Foley (of Trout Steak Revival) to make a well rounded ensemble for the recording. Though Enterprise is home to a surprisingly rich world of roots music, The Pine Hearts had been touring through the area for years, playing a little cowboy bar called The Range Rider. Hearing stories about the album’s recording, you get the impression that the week of recording passed quickly, with after-work swims in the local lake and picking parties on the side. That’s The Pine Hearts ethos: music as an excuse to travel and travel as fuel for their creative fire. It might be because they all hail from Olympia, Washington, a small city known for its insular DIY scene. While punk musicians in town came up with revered local label K Records, music was largely made for the local community, rather than made to be toured outside of the area. Capoccia founded an underground punk band, The Pasties, and remembers well his favorite gigs at the time: playing under the bridge in town for an impromptu crowd of friends and fans, singing so hard and for so long that he started tasting blood in the back of his throat. While Capoccia came out of the punk scene, mandolinist McSwain came straight out of Olympia’s bluegrass community, long fueled by the Wintergrass festival and by expat communities of North Carolina Tarheels in little logging towns tucked into the woods. Bassist Shakked adapted quickly to bluegrass bass, though he came from Olympia’s metal world before joining The Pine Hearts. Each member of the group came from a different background, but they all came together to represent a new kind of Northwest music, something original in nature but that harkens back to a shared past.

With Lost Love Songs, The Pine Hearts are making roots music for dancing, using travels throughout the world to find little moments of time to write something new, to try out a new idea. If natural themes keep popping up in the music, mentions of verdant forests or windswept ocean, the natural beauty of their home is surely to blame. “Do I write songs about nature because I live in Olympia,” muses Capoccia, “or do I live in Olympia because I like nature?” Either way, the result is that their music echoes with the dense tangle of Northwest rainforest, rings beneath the eaves of Washington's Cascade Mountains.

Fort Worth will be the epicenter of a historic live music festival when award-winning artists from across the country convene for the Fort Worth African American Roots Music Festival (FWAAMFest) on March 19, 2022. It is the only major city festival in the nation focused on the genres of old-time, jug band, early blues and jazz music that is Black-led and showcases Black performers. Produced by Decolonizing the Music Room, a nonprofit that works to center Black, Brown, Indigenous, and Asian voices in music education and related fields, the event will be hosted at Southside Preservation Hall from noon-10 p.m.

“There are few old-time music festivals in our region of the country,” said Brandi Waller-Pace, Founder and Executive Director of Decolonizing the Music Room. “Typically, you have to travel quite a distance to experience this type of music; especially to hear the caliber of artists who are performing at this event.”

Headliners at FWAAMFest include Grammy award-winning musician Justin Robinson and JUNO-nominated artist Kaia Kater, as well as Steve Martin Banjo Prize recipient Jake Blount - who claimed top honors at the prestigious Appalachian String Band Music Festival and whose research has been shared at the Smithsonian Institution and Yale University.

Event organizer Waller-Pace was able to attract such top-tier musicians to perform at FWAAMFest because they share her vision and commitment to expand awareness about the Black roots of old-time music. The sound of old-time music is considered by many to be quintessentially American, yet the extensive Black influence - from the creation of the banjo and fiddle traditions to the roots of social dances performed alongside the music - is not widely talked about.

“We have been there since the beginning of this music, yet there is little to no representation in the large music festivals that cater to this genre,” said Waller-Pace. “We aim to change that.”

FWAAMFest premiered online in 2021. Waller-Pace envisioned the event placing Fort Worth in the vanguard bringing awareness to the oft-forgotten presence of blackness in this piece of America’s musical history.

“I have a passion for music making, racial equity and highlighting marginalized and erased narratives,” said Waller-Pace. “Creating our own spaces is really valuable, when we look at the history of places where Black people could safely go and accessibility. Now we have something in our city that provides more accessibility. For a community that says it wants to be more inclusive, celebrating music with accurate representation of the contributions by Black people is key.”

As a first-of-its-kind festival, FWAAMFest will broaden the local music scene in Fort Worth. It can also impact tourism and the local economy by becoming a landmark event for the traditional music community. Well-known old-time festivals in other regions have a history of drawing visitors from across the country.

The event is open to the public. Tickets are $40 per-person and include access to all scheduled performances. The complete festival lineup is available online. A link to purchase tickets can be found at www.fwaamusicfest.com.

When singer, fiddler, songwriter, and composer Lily Henley set out to make an album of Sephardic Jewish ballads set to new melodies, she was looking for her own way to interpret a tradition that she saw as critically endangered. With Oras Dezaoradas, to be released on May 6, 2022 on Lior Éditions, Henley wanted to highlight the Ladino language, a threatened tongue that fuses old Spanish with Hebrew, Arabic, and Turkish elements and is spoken by less than 100,000 people in the world today. What she didn’t expect was to find herself directly connected to centuries of women spread across a forced global diaspora. Expelled from Spain on penalty of death by the Spanish Inquisition in the 15th century, Sephardic Jews kept their culture alive as they moved throughout North Africa and the Ottoman empire. These old ballads, some dating back to the expulsion, carry the hopes and dreams, the daily worries, and existential thoughts of the Sephardic people. In setting these songs to newly composed melodies, Henley brings new life to the words of these songs and to the independent female characters in them and directly inserts herself into the tradition in a transformative way, including writing three original Ladino songs of her own. “There are so few young musicians in this song tradition,” Henley explains, “and, to me, doing an album of the old melodies, re-recording what people have already recorded, didn’t make me excited. This feels inspiring because I'm creating music that feels really authentic and original to me and I’m adding to this tradition that is very endangered.”

Known for her expressive songwriting, gifted fiddling, and ability to bring together American and Jewish traditions, the spark for Lily Henley’s new album Oras Dezaoradas, came from melodic compositions she had been working on for an upcoming solo album of original material. Building new melodies inspired by American folk traditions unexpectedly dovetailed with Henley’s work with Sephardic song traditions and texts. She came to realize that the traditional Sephardic songs she had been singing for years could meld perfectly with the tunes she was writing. “Some of the lyrics I was playing around with from Sephardic songs just fell into the music so organically that I can barely remember writing most of the melodies,” she says. “I was always hoping I’d find a new voice like this. It took a lot of time for me to feel like it was a valid voice.” Invited by Sephardic community leader and head of record label Lior éditions, François Azar, Henley traveled to Paris to record her new album, embraced by the Sephardic community in the City of Light, the largest Sephardic community in Europe. She was joined by fellow fiddler Duncan Wickel and bassist Haggai Cohen Milo (himself half Sephardic). “We recorded Oras Dezaoradas in Montreuil, outside Paris, at this beautiful studio,” Henley says. “It was very special because François was there, another person who could really understand these lyrics and this culture. He was sitting in the control room helping keep the emotion of the music centered around these stories.”

Coupled with Henley’s compositions, the songs on Oras Dezaoradas sparkle with life. Drawn from living sources, old archives, and medieval love poems, the songs are part of Sephardic women’s vocal traditions across many countries. Since, historically, women weren’t allowed to participate in Sephardic liturgical singing, these folk songs became a place for Sephardic women to pour their lives into song. “There is a very strong female hand in the creation of these songs,” Henley says. “Much of the music was kept alive and added to by women, and in doing so they were really going against standard gender roles.” While women in the Western ballad canon can usually only find agency through murdering wayward lovers, the women in Sephardic songs display a powerful independence and the songs are full of discussions between lovers, young daughters seeking advice from mothers, complaints about daily life, and grief from young women left widowed by war. The melodies of these songs were fluid, usually adapted from surrounding musical traditions in the diaspora. For Henley, this presented a chance to craft new melodies inspired by her own work and travels and to add to the tradition in the same way Sephardic women have done for centuries. It’s a remarkable bit of songcraft from Henley, indicative of the deep immersion she’s had in Ladino song, to the point that new songs roll off her tongue as easily as the ancient ones.

With Oras Dezaoradas, American roots musician Lily Henley has achieved a remarkable feat. She’s brought new life to centuries-old songs and shown that the heart of women has remained the same across hundreds of years. These ballads of the Sephardim sound as modern today as when they were written thanks to Henley’s creative compositional settings, and her original songs could have fit into a salon gathering in the Ottoman Empire just as easily. There’s a tendency to view non-European cultures as exotic, which is something that Henley bristles against and a key reason for her work to re-contextualize this music and to show its relevance. “There’s nothing exotic about these stories,” she says. “Things are only exotic as long as you don’t understand them or as long as they don’t feel connected to you. The way I’ve connected to these stories is through music that feels familiar to me, and hopefully will feel somewhat familiar to people listening as well.”

Swedish Americana singer Jesper Lindell’s second album, Twilights (coming March 18, 2022), is a creative tour de force, a compelling mix of blue-eyed soul and down-to-earth classic rock, a timeless sound coming anew from Scandinavia. During two years of setbacks – weathering label issues, a pandemic, cancelled tours, and a kidney disease to boot – Jesper and his band had little else to do but write and record music. The result is a remarkable new album recorded in their own studio in Brunnsvik, outside of Ludvika, Sweden. The record is produced by Lindell and Björn Pettersson, but is at its core a collaborative effort from the heart and soul of the whole band. This was fundamental to the recording sessions from the get-go – to encourage ideas and influences from all six members of the band. As the cherry on top, the album has three luminous guest singers: Swedish singer Klara Söderberg, one half of sister-duo First Aid Kit; French rockstar Theo Lawrence; and American singer Amy Helm, daughter of The Band’s Levon Helm. Though Twilights is inspired by legends like The Band and Van Morrison, the point has never been to copy or even imitate, but to listen and learn. To emulate an attitude, more than anything, and to follow their example in the creative process.

Other important sources of inspiration are not as obvious, musically speaking, but equally as logical. Local Ludvika rock hero Moneybrother – along with other Swedish giants such as Soundtrack Of Our Lives, Mando Diao, Atomic Swing, The Hives, The Ark, and The Creeps – all recorded their best and most timeless albums as unfiltered tributes to the American and British artists, songs and albums they loved. Lindell and his band follow the same Swedish tradition with the same unaffected attitude. Like alchemy, they turn this love and inspiration into pure auditory gold. Take the opening track “Westcoast Rain” and place it on one of Van The Man’s 70s records, and it would fit right in except for how it sounds so utterly contemporary. Or skip to “Dance”, a wholly irresistible duet with Theo Lawrence and a life-affirming tribute to both New Orleans Rhythm & Blues and Doug Sahm. “Twilight” is the one cover on the record, as well as the title source. A practically obscure track plucked from The Band’s 77 release Islands, it’s an elegant nod to the masters made no less so by Amy Helm’s luminous guest appearance.

We’re happy to announce that Pickathon is officially returning in 2022! We’ll be back at our beloved Pendarvis Farm from August 4 to August 7 this year.

Tickets will go on sale tomorrow, Wednesday March 9 at 9am Pacific. The 2022 lineup announcement will come later in the month.

A New Pickathon for a New World! That’s what we’re promising in 2022. The world sure feels different today and we’re facing unprecedented challenges everywhere we turn. Pickathon has always been a leader in responding to a changing environment. Our innovations in programming and site design have made this possible, and we’ve always strived to create the best festival experience possible. In an era of unprecedented climate change and urbanization, we can’t pretend that this won’t transform Pickathon and many other festivals. We led the charge for green music festivals, pioneering the modern “zero waste festival” by eliminating single use containers. And this was just the beginning of our work. In the past year, we’ve already created a first-of-its-kind live streaming platform, FRQNCY, to keep artists and fans together remotely. But to bring Pickathon back in 2022, we needed to rethink everything. And we did!

In 2022, we’re embracing Pendarvis Farm and nestling into the forests, fields, and meadows of this unique site like never before. We’ve collaborated with local designers to create an experience that maintains the intimacy and connectedness between the audience and the performers while responding closely to the cycles of the day. When the sun is high in the sky, you’ll discover new forested music stages, set under the natural shade of the evergreen trees of the Pacific Northwest. As the sun sets, you’ll move to meadows with sweeping vistas of Mt Hood to enjoy open air programming on stages that come alive at night. There will be other changes for sure, and of course all the little innovations at Pickathon that we all take for granted (will return: glorious outdoor showers with water recycling, unprecedented bicycle access from Portland to the fest, stages built as lush, living gardens, and food vendors drawn from the best that Portland’s famous culinary scene has to offer).

Bluegrass music is nothing short of catharsis for The Slocan Ramblers. On their new album Up the Hill and Through the Fog (coming June 10, 2022), the all-star Canadian roots ensemble channels the past two years of loss into a surprisingly joyous collection of twelve songs intended to uplift and help make sense of the world. Though the past few years have brought the group accolades–their 2019 album was nominated for a Juno Award and the band earned the Momentum Band of the Year Award from the International Bluegrass Music Association in 2020–that same momentum was abruptly halted by the pandemic’s brutal impact on live music. Over the next year, bandmates Adrian Gross and Darryl Poulsen both lost close family members and their bassist decided to step back to spend more time at home. They channeled these tumultuous changes into some of their most honest and direct compositions yet. Up the Hill and Through the Fog showcases the breadth of their varied influences while staying true to their roots in the rough and tumble bluegrass scene of Toronto’s no-nonsense bars and dancehalls. From Frank Evans’ classic, dusty vocals, to John Hartford-inspired lyrical musings, it’s all buttressed by impeccable musicianship, and emotionally raw songwriting from the three core members. This is roots music without pretension, art powerful enough to cut through the fog of the past two years and chart a more hopeful course forward.

Though everyone in The Slocan Ramblers looks to bluegrass as their north star, they also agreed that this album should push the envelope of the genre as far as possible. Aside from the one blistering Tom Petty cover, “A Mind With A Heart of Its Own,” every song and instrumental composition on the album is original and the band turned to producer Chris Stringer (Timber Timbre, New Country Rehab) to move their sound from a live-in-the-studio approach to more complex arrangements. As Adrian says, “Stringer has a great ear for getting big sounds and great performances, and his bizarre sense of humor was perfectly suited to keeping it light and creative in the studio.” With fine-tuned, blistering instrumental maneuvering and soaring vocals, the ensemble makes these high energy tracks sound effortless, a testament to their craft and dedication. Perhaps their most forward-thinking song, “I Don’t Know,” channels songwriter Frank’s wide influences: Jim Croce, The Osborne Brothers, and Jerry Reed. It’s bluegrass at its core, but they’re blending in pop influences, writing an elemental hit song on all acoustic instruments. Of course, with all this creative studio work, the goal was always to have fun, take risks, and see what felt right in the moment. As Frank says about the album’s final song, “Bring Me Down Low,” “Originally it had a tightly arranged ending, but when we were getting warmed up in the studio we were so excited to play with one another that we couldn’t bring ourselves to end the jam.”

Aside from the trauma of pandemic upheaval that surrounds this album, both Adrian and Darryl suffered deaths close to them, Darryl losing his brother and Adrian losing his father. They each turned to songwriting to process their grief. It was a process organic to the music itself, as bluegrass songs have always held the most personal heartaches. You’d think a song about grief this deep would be slow and haunting, but Darryl’s song “You Said Goodbye” rolls at high velocity through a major key. It’s that cognitive dissonance between the joyous sound of the music and the heart-wrenching lyrics of personal loss that’s always been at the heart of bluegrass. It’s always been music made by people in pain, and it’s made to uplift and move beyond that hurt, not to wallow. You can hear the same sentiment in Adrian’s “The River Roaming Song,” written after his father’s passing. “Every day, I would take a folding chair down to the riverside,” he says, “sit with my feet in the water and play and write music, all along trying to accept what had happened. Looking back at these lyrics, I was wrestling with the change that’s always constant: the flowing of the river, the seasons turning, people passing.”

Though the subject matter on The Slocan Ramblers’ new album touches on hard subjects and pushes towards catharsis, the band has always been about craft first and foremost. Getting together to cut the album in Toronto in early 2021, they all realized that they’d each spent their individual quarantines woodshedding like crazy on their instruments. This attention to mastery is palpable on the album. As they spin through dizzying instrumentals and meticulously built songs, they keep the sense of joy and camaraderie that’s kept them sane through all of life’s challenges.

Traditional music is not static; it shifts with the times, uncovering new meanings in old words, new ways of talking about the communal pathways that led us to where we are today. For master musicians Allison de Groot & Tatiana Hargreaves, traditional stringband music is a way to interpret our uncertain times, to draw artistic inspiration and power from the sources of meaning in their lives. History, family, literature, live performance, and environmental instability all manifest in the sounds, feelings, and sensations that permeate their new album, Hurricane Clarice (out now from Free Dirt Records). Recording last year in the midst of a global pandemic and during an unprecedented heat wave that saw the city of Portland, Oregon burning under 120 degree heat, these two master musicians found themselves turning to their own communities, to their families, to bring that support into the music. In fact, it was producer Phil Cook (Megafaun, Hiss Golden Messenger) who suggested the two weave their own family histories into the project by including audio recordings of each of their own grandmothers. The album became a direct infusion of centuries of matrilineal folk wisdom, a fiery breath of apocalyptic grandmother energy. And yet the beauty of Allison de Groot & Tatiana Hargreaves’ music is that they’re using these old sounds to speak to something new, to speak to a dying world.

Pickathon has announced the full lineup for the upcoming 2022 festival, running August 4-7 at Pendarvis Farm in Happy Valley, Oregon, just outside Portland. As a deep curation festival, Pickathon’s lineup reflects new movements in music, including cutting-edge jazz from British artists Sons of Kemet, Nubya Garcia and American jazz icon Nate Smith; fast rising indie artists like Goth Babe, Faye Webster, Sampa the Great and Quantic; and popular podcasts like Chapo Trap House and The Archive Project. With an unparalleled level of love from musicians who’ve played Pickathon, returning artists include Valerie June, Built to Spill, Hurray for the Riff Raff, Cedric Burnside (recent Grammy winner), and more. Specializing in breaking new artists early, Pickathon is looking forward to presenting up-and-comers like Canadian country singer Bella White, San Diego soul band Thee Sacred Souls, indie songwriters Lomelda and Inner Wave, Eastern Oregon cowboy singer Margo Cilker, experimentalists L’Rain and Emma-Jean Thackray, and hip-hop fast-movers Armand Hammer, among many others.

LISTEN TO THE LINEUP ON SPOTIFY

Returning to Pendarvis Farm, Pickathon has plans to reboot the design of the festival in 2022, aiming to create a new Pickathon for a new world. Always a pioneer in environmental sustainability, Pickathon will use the topography and natural setting of the site to design and build a series of neighborhoods that nestle deeper into the grounds of Pendarvis Farm. When the sun is high in the sky, festival goers will discover new forested music stages set under the natural shade of the evergreen trees of the Pacific Northwest. As the sun sets, they’ll move to meadows with sweeping vistas of Mt Hood to enjoy open air programming on stages that come alive at night. Favorite stages like the Woods will return, but other stages will be new or updated giving a fresh perspective on the beloved festival grounds.

WATCH LIVE PERFORMANCES ON YOUTUBE

“It’s amazing to feel the energy of the community coming together,” says Zale Schoenborn, Pickathon founder and director. “This is going to be the best Pickathon ever, between the new design, the lineup, and everything we’ve got planned! We’ve always dreamed about bringing together a decentralized, deep cut, genre-agnostic lineup like this. It took us a while to build all these connections to these different worlds, but it’s paying off now. The two years off because of COVID gave us the space to dream up the Pickathon we always imagined, and the outpouring of support from the community was the energy we needed to make it possible.”

Tickets are on sale now for Pickathon 2022 and selling at an unprecedented rate. In a time of great upheaval and massive social divide, it’s clear that people want to gather together again more than ever. Pickathon 2022 will present a new kind of music festival and a new way to celebrate as a community.

PICKATHON 2022 FULL LINEUP

Valerie June

Goth Babe

Sons of Kemet

Faye Webster

Built to Spill

Nate Smith + KINFOLK

Hurray for the Riff Raff

Sampa The Great

Nubya Garcia

Chapo Trap House

Quantic

Armand Hammer

Lomelda

Cedric Burnside

Mike and the Moonpies

Inner Wave

L'Rain

Pearl Charles

Cassandra Jenkins

Yasmin Williams

TV Priest

Thee Sacred Souls

Feufollet

Emma-Jean Thackray

Guerilla Toss

FEELS

S.G. Goodman

Frankie and the Witch Fingers

Margo Cilker

billy woods

ELUCID

Deeper

Hannah Cohen

Jake Xerxes Fussell

The Archive Project

Zephaniah OHora

Sweeping Promises

Frank Fairfield & Meredith Axelrod

Riley Downing

Garcia Peoples

Automatic

Michael Rault

Gabe Lee

Bella White

Rosali

Vivian Leva & Riley Calcagno

David Nance

Tempers

Operator Music Band

Rachel Baiman

Off Book

Tobacco City

Kassi Valazza

The Onlies

Rebel Records is proud to announce a new album from pioneering American roots musician Peter Rowan. Rowan’s second album for Rebel, Calling You From My Mountain features star turns from Shawn Camp, Billy Strings, Molly Tuttle, Lindsay Lou, and more, and original and traditional songs from Rowan and his band. Today, Rebel is releasing the first single off the new album, “The Song That Made Hank Williams Dance” featuring Shawn Camp. Rowan had this to say about the single, “This chorus appeared to me in a dream one glorious April at my tin-roofed Texas casita. Singer, songwriter, guitar picker Shawn Camp hails from Alabama as did Hank Williams. Shawn, he’s a natural for this song. And a big inspiration! We had some fun!”

“Peter Rowan is a true roots original,” says Mark Freeman, Rebel Records’ owner. “While his musical curiosity has taken him on many fun and fascinating adventures across many different genres, bluegrass is the foundation and starting point for those trips. Building on the momentum of his previous bluegrass release, Carter Stanley’s Eyes, we at Rebel are thrilled to be working with Peter again as he delivers another collection of powerful material, both new and old!”

For over six decades, GRAMMY-award winning artist Peter Rowan has been at the forefront of acoustic American music, inspiring generations of new musicians and working creatively with the roots of bluegrass, newgrass, Americana, country rock, jazz, even reggae, Hawaiian, and Tejano music. A relentlessly curious, brilliant songwriter, Rowan’s had the kind of career that would give him ample opportunity to kick back and rest on his laurels now, but his new album, Calling You From My Mountain (coming June 24 on Rebel Records), shows that Rowan’s voice is as vital as ever, fueled by the history of our great traditions and excited for their future. Guest spots on the album from friends like Billy Strings, Shawn Camp, Molly Tuttle, Lindsay Lou, and Mark Howard, not to mention Rowan’s multi-generational band, show that Rowan’s inspiration transcends age. For these past sixty+ years, Rowan’s been a musical sponge, soaking up ideas and influences from his many travels and his roving search for new traditions, using these sounds to create new songs and new musical genres at will. Though the genesis for Rowan’s new album came from Hank Williams’ Luke the Drifter personality and Rowan’s idea of writing new songs for this character, he quickly spun in other connections, like his longtime interest in Tibetan music and his Buddhist beliefs and practices, or his love of other American roots legends like Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Guy Clark, Bill Monroe, and Tex Logan (all of whom Rowan’s played and performed with). Throughout, the music sounds like Rowan himself, a modern day California dharma bum, a man as nourished by a metaphysical interest in the mysteries of the physical universe as he is by the intricacies of handcrafted music making.

Calling You From My Mountain began as a tribute album or homage to Peter Rowan’s favorite Hank Williams LP. “When I left Nashville in 1990,” Rowan explains, “the only country music album I had, besides one Ernest Tubb record, was Hank Williams Sings Luke the Drifter. So, I listened to that all the time on my little turntable, and I just loved that Hank had an alternate ego who was himself but the sentimental-songs-with-a-message side.” Rowan wrote an entire album of songs inspired by Luke the Drifter, but before he could travel to Nashville to record it, the pandemic hit and plans changed. Instead, Rowan stayed at home, looking out over the California coastal landscape and canyons around him, just playing and trying out old favorite songs. As singing the old songs brought forth ideas for new songs, Rowan built the groundwork for his new album and managed to keep some of Luke the Drifter’s spirit alive. “I included one of the songs I wrote from the Luke the Drifter album, “Dream of Heaven.” By doing that, I started to find my own voice again as to what I really wanted to say on this record. The companion song to that is “The Red, the White and the Blue”, where I wrote “I remember, I remember, I remember you / The red, the white and the blue” which to me is like a Carter Family type of approach with Molly Tuttle singing the harmony and playing banjo and Shawn Camp on guitar. With Rowan’s characteristic thoughtfulness, he transforms a patriotic refrain into a subtle and heartfelt anti-war statement.

Opening with Woody Guthrie’s “New York Town” (as learned from Guthrie’s friend Ramblin’ Jack Elliott), it’s clear that Rowan still wears his love of classic bluegrass on his sleeve, but he retains his uncanny ability to marry bluegrass with the farthest reaches of the world. “From My Mountain (Calling You)” was inspired by Rowan’s long friendship with famed Tibetan singer Yungchen Lhamo and centers on the shared love of the freedom of mountain landscapes in both Appalachian and Tibetan folk music. “Light at the End of the World” echoes the sound of bluegrass gospel, but trains that spiritual power on Rowan’s heartbreaking memories of visiting the Hiroshima Memorial while performing in Japan in the 1970s. Even a song like “A Winning Hand,” which Rowan wrote in Nashville in the 90s, may seem like a straightforward country song but instead reminds Rowan of his time on tour in Ireland, ocean waves crashing under a Sligo dawn. As someone who’s criss-crossed the globe looking for new musical inspiration, Rowan’s musical landscapes have always been global in nature.

Talking to Rowan now is a dizzying ride through American musical history. At times it feels like he’s done it all, jamming with groundbreaking free jazz players in Boston in the 60s because they had the best weed, hanging with Jim Kweskin at the Lyman Family compound, tracking down the great Tejano accordionist Flaco Jimenez among the cantinas of San Antonio, calming raucous festival crowds with Lhamo’s Buddhist chants, or touring with Lightnin’ Hopkins, Sonny Terry, and Brownie McGhee. Throughout, Rowan retains his early roots in bluegrass and his love for the great Bill Monroe who he rightfully recognizes as another musically voracious soul. “Bluegrass accepted me first as a cultural pilgrim,” Rowan says. “I’m still the pilgrim, interpreting my experience through music. And the richness is the collaboration with people from really any culture. Musicians are transcultural, you know.”

As one of Monroe’s Blue Grass Boys, Rowan’s in a unique place to evaluate the master’s musical intentions, and after all these years he’s beginning to understand what Monroe saw in him. “I think as a man in his 50s looking at a 22 year old kid, he saw me,” Rowan says, “he saw who I was before I did. He’d always yell at me on stage ‘Sing it like Pete Rowan!’ He always wanted the individuality to come out.” Now, Rowan’s in a similar position that Monroe was when he took Rowan on. That’s why it matters that Rowan’s new album features young roots music luminaries like Tuttle and Strings and Rowan’s own band features younger players like Chris Henry on mandolin, Max Wareham on banjo, Julian Pinelli on fiddle, and Eric Thorin on acoustic bass. “I’ve got a young band, it’s fabulous,” Rowan exclaims. “They’re bursting with ideas. They’re in their years of inspiration. They’re really quick learners and their ears are wide open because this generation is built on everything we did, dare I say, all those years ago.”

For any great artist, live performance is the heart of their love for the music, and for Peter Rowan, the pandemic’s kept him back from the kind of live music making that he thrives on and that defines bluegrass and its many offshoots. With stages opening up again, the real meaning of his new album is becoming clear. “The joy of playing live music again calls for raising our voices from the mountain tops,” he clarifies. Rowan’s still up on his mountain, still living a life looking to the celestial heavens and wondering, and when he calls us to come and learn, we’d do well to listen.

Pickathon just added the hottest band around to the 2022 Lineup - Wet Leg. With a debut album lauded by virtually every press outlet there is, number one in the UK and Australia, and climbing the US Top 200 Billboard chart, this UK indie rock duo from the Isle of Wight are the main breakout story of 2022. NPR called their songs “loopy, addictive”, and The New York Times said they’ve “ascended as quickly and unexpectedly as any in recent pop history.” Pitchfork said “their debut is the sound of two women stoking mutiny from a slow descent into madness.” Lots of praise from around the world, and Wet Leg are sure to bring quite a party to the gentle forests of Happy Valley, Oregon, come August 4-7.

Pickathon also announced the legendary rapper GZA, who will be performing with his live band The Phunky Nomads. It’ll be amazing to have an original Wu-Tang Clan member onstage at Pickathon bringing the heat.

Additional artists added to the Pickathon lineup include Philly hardcore band Soul Glo, bluegrass tradionalists The Po’ Ramblin’ Boys, and New Orleans Mardi Gras Indian troupe 79rs Gang, who recently collaborated with Win Butler of Arcade Fire.

These new artists join already announced headliners like Sons of Kemet, Nubya Garcia, fast rising indie artists like Goth Babe, Faye Webster, Sampa the Great and Quantic; and popular podcasts like Chapo Trap House and The Archive Project. With an unparalleled level of love from musicians who’ve played Pickathon, returning artists include Valerie June, Built to Spill, Hurray for the Riff Raff, and more.

ABOUT PICKATHON

The Pacific Northwest’s premier experiential music festival, Pickathon has been delighting audiences and challenging festival expectations for over 20 years. Set on the rustic Pendarvis Farm in the aptly named Happy Valley, Oregon, just outside Portland, Pickathon takes an approach to festival creation that’s more in line with independent filmmaking. Lineups are curated with up-and-coming artists to fall in love with; stages are carefully designed to create beautiful settings that draw you in. The food at Pickathon is a celebration of Portland’s food culture, featuring local breweries and wineries. Creating a holistic festival culture, Pickathon also offers spoken word poetry, stand-up comedy, literary readings, a full-range of kids’ programming, wellness events, art installations, and much more. Pickathon is a pioneer in zero-waste environmentalism at festivals, leading the way for other festivals to practice a new level of sustainability. Pickathon is the very definition of quantity over quality, preferring to create a smaller, more intimate festival setting to explore the best of the Northwest. 

Lily Henley’s new album Oras Dezaoradas is out today! Dialoguing with centuries of Sephardic Jewish women across a global forced diaspora, Henley’s re-writing and re-working old Sephardic ballads in the endangered Ladino language, uncovering a heritage of fiercely independent women that kept these traditions alive over the years. She’s also writing new songs in Ladino, keeping the tradition fresh.

When singer, fiddler, songwriter, and composer Lily Henley set out to make an album of Sephardic Jewish ballads set to new melodies, she was looking for her own way to interpret a tradition that she saw as critically endangered. With Oras Dezaoradas, to be released on May 6, 2022 on Lior Éditions, Henley wanted to highlight the Ladino language, a threatened tongue that fuses old Spanish with Hebrew, Arabic, and Turkish elements and is spoken by less than 100,000 people in the world today. What she didn’t expect was to find herself directly connected to centuries of women spread across a forced global diaspora. Expelled from Spain on penalty of death by the Spanish Inquisition in the 15th century, Sephardic Jews kept their culture alive as they moved throughout North Africa and the Ottoman empire. These old ballads, some dating back to the expulsion, carry the hopes and dreams, the daily worries, and existential thoughts of the Sephardic people. In setting these songs to newly composed melodies, Henley brings new life to the words of these songs and to the independent female characters in them and directly inserts herself into the tradition in a transformative way, including writing three original Ladino songs of her own. “There are so few young musicians in this song tradition,” Henley explains, “and, to me, doing an album of the old melodies, re-recording what people have already recorded, didn’t make me excited. This feels inspiring because I'm creating music that feels really authentic and original to me and I’m adding to this tradition that is very endangered.”

Known for her expressive songwriting, gifted fiddling, and ability to bring together American and Jewish traditions, the spark for Lily Henley’s new album Oras Dezaoradas, came from melodic compositions she had been working on for an upcoming solo album of original material. Building new melodies inspired by American folk traditions unexpectedly dovetailed with Henley’s work with Sephardic song traditions and texts. She came to realize that the traditional Sephardic songs she had been singing for years could meld perfectly with the tunes she was writing. “Some of the lyrics I was playing around with from Sephardic songs just fell into the music so organically that I can barely remember writing most of the melodies,” she says. “I was always hoping I’d find a new voice like this. It took a lot of time for me to feel like it was a valid voice.” Invited by Sephardic community leader and head of record label Lior éditions, François Azar, Henley traveled to Paris to record her new album, embraced by the Sephardic community in the City of Light, the largest Sephardic community in Europe. She was joined by fellow fiddler Duncan Wickel and bassist Haggai Cohen Milo (himself half Sephardic). “We recorded Oras Dezaoradas in Montreuil, outside Paris, at this beautiful studio,” Henley says. “It was very special because François was there, another person who could really understand these lyrics and this culture. He was sitting in the control room helping keep the emotion of the music centered around these stories.”

Canadian folk duo Mama’s Broke have spent the past eight years in a near-constant state of transience, pounding the transatlantic tour trail. They've brought their dark, fiery folk-without-borders sound to major festivals and DIY punk houses alike, absorbing traditions from their maritime home in Eastern Canada all the way to Ireland and Indonesia. Nowhere is the duo's art-in-motion approach more apparent than on their long-awaited sophomore record Narrow Line (coming May 13, 2022 on Free Dirt Records); it's the sound of nowhere in particular, yet woven with a rich synthesis of influences that knows no borders. The eleven songs on Narrow Line burrow deeply, with close harmony duets, commanding vocals, and poignant contemplations on cycles of life, including birth and death. Tinges of Americana stand side-by-side with the ghosts of Eastern European fiddle tunes and ancient a cappella ballad singing, melding into an unusually accessible dark-folk sound. A careful listen of Narrow Line invokes an ephemeral sense of place—whether real or imagined—inviting us to take comfort in the infinite possibilities of life, whether or not we ever choose to settle down.

For over six decades, GRAMMY-award winning artist Peter Rowan has been at the forefront of acoustic American music, inspiring generations of new musicians and working creatively with the roots of bluegrass, newgrass, Americana, country rock, jazz, even reggae, Hawaiian, and Tejano music. A relentlessly curious, brilliant songwriter, Rowan’s had the kind of career that would give him ample opportunity to kick back and rest on his laurels now, but his new album, Calling You From My Mountain (coming June 24 on Rebel Records), shows that Rowan’s voice is as vital as ever, fueled by the history of our great traditions and excited for their future. Guest spots on the album from friends like Billy Strings, Shawn Camp, Molly Tuttle, Lindsay Lou, and Mark Howard, not to mention Rowan’s multi-generational band, show that Rowan’s inspiration transcends age. For these past sixty+ years, Rowan’s been a musical sponge, soaking up ideas and influences from his many travels and his roving search for new traditions, using these sounds to create new songs and new musical genres at will. Though the genesis for Rowan’s new album came from Hank Williams’ Luke the Drifter personality and Rowan’s idea of writing new songs for this character, he quickly spun in other connections, like his longtime interest in Tibetan music and his Buddhist beliefs and practices, or his love of other American roots legends like Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Guy Clark, Bill Monroe, and Tex Logan (all of whom Rowan’s played and performed with). Throughout, the music sounds like Rowan himself, a modern day California dharma bum, a man as nourished by a metaphysical interest in the mysteries of the physical universe as he is by the intricacies of handcrafted music making. 

Calling You From My Mountain began as a tribute album or homage to Peter Rowan’s favorite Hank Williams LP. “When I left Nashville in 1990,” Rowan explains, “the only country music album I had, besides one Ernest Tubb record, was Hank Williams Sings Luke the Drifter. So, I listened to that all the time on my little turntable, and I just loved that Hank had an alternate ego who was himself but the sentimental-songs-with-a-message side.” Rowan wrote an entire album of songs inspired by Luke the Drifter, but before he could travel to Nashville to record it, the pandemic hit and plans changed. Instead, Rowan stayed at home, looking out over the California coastal landscape and canyons around him, just playing and trying out old favorite songs. As singing the old songs brought forth ideas for new songs, Rowan built the groundwork for his new album and managed to keep some of Luke the Drifter’s spirit alive. “I included one of the songs I wrote from the Luke the Drifter album, “Dream of Heaven.” By doing that, I started to find my own voice again as to what I really wanted to say on this record. The companion song to that is “The Red, the White and the Blue”, where I wrote “I remember, I remember, I remember you / The red, the white and the blue” which to me is like a Carter Family type of approach with Molly Tuttle singing the harmony and playing banjo and Shawn Camp on guitar. With Rowan’s characteristic thoughtfulness, he transforms a patriotic refrain into a subtle and heartfelt anti-war statement.

Opening with Woody Guthrie’s “New York Town” (as learned from Guthrie’s friend Ramblin’ Jack Elliott), it’s clear that Rowan still wears his love of classic bluegrass on his sleeve, but he retains his uncanny ability to marry bluegrass with the farthest reaches of the world. “From My Mountain (Calling You)” was inspired by Rowan’s long friendship with famed Tibetan singer Yungchen Lhamo and centers on the shared love of the freedom of mountain landscapes in both Appalachian and Tibetan folk music. “Light at the End of the World” echoes the sound of bluegrass gospel, but trains that spiritual power on Rowan’s heartbreaking memories of visiting the Hiroshima Memorial while performing in Japan in the 1970s. Even a song like “A Winning Hand,” which Rowan wrote in Nashville in the 90s, may seem like a straightforward country song but instead reminds Rowan of his time on tour in Ireland, ocean waves crashing under a Sligo dawn. As someone who’s criss-crossed the globe looking for new musical inspiration, Rowan’s musical landscapes have always been global in nature.

Talking to Rowan now is a dizzying ride through American musical history. At times it feels like he’s done it all, jamming with groundbreaking free jazz players in Boston in the 60s because they had the best weed, hanging with Jim Kweskin at the Lyman Family compound, tracking down the great Tejano accordionist Flaco Jimenez among the cantinas of San Antonio, calming raucous festival crowds with Lhamo’s Buddhist chants, or touring with Lightnin’ Hopkins, Sonny Terry, and Brownie McGhee. Throughout, Rowan retains his early roots in bluegrass and his love for the great Bill Monroe who he rightfully recognizes as another musically voracious soul. “Bluegrass accepted me first as a cultural pilgrim,” Rowan says. “I’m still the pilgrim, interpreting my experience through music. And the richness is the collaboration with people from really any culture. Musicians are transcultural, you know.”

As one of Monroe’s Blue Grass Boys, Rowan’s in a unique place to evaluate the master’s musical intentions, and after all these years he’s beginning to understand what Monroe saw in him. “I think as a man in his 50s looking at a 22 year old kid, he saw me,” Rowans says, “he saw who I was before I did. He’d always yell at me on stage ‘Sing it like Pete Rowan!’ He always wanted the individuality to come out.” Now, Rowan’s in a similar position that Monroe was when he took Rowan on. That’s why it matters that Rowan’s new album features young roots music luminaries like Tuttle and Strings and Rowan’s own band features younger players like Chris Henry on mandolin, Max Wareham on banjo, Julian Pinelli on fiddle, and Eric Thorin on acoustic bass. “I’ve got a young band, it’s fabulous,” Rowan exclaims. “They’re bursting with ideas. They’re in their years of inspiration. They’re really quick learners and their ears are wide open because this generation is built on everything we did, dare I say, all those years ago.”

For any great artist, live performance is the heart of their love for the music, and for Peter Rowan, the pandemic’s kept him back from the kind of live music making that he thrives on and that defines bluegrass and its many offshoots. With stages opening up again, the real meaning of his new album is becoming clear. “The joy of playing live music again calls for raising our voices from the mountain tops,” he clarifies. Rowan’s still up on his mountain, still living a life looking to the celestial heavens and wondering, and when he calls us to come and learn, we’d do well to listen.

Bluegrass music is nothing short of catharsis for The Slocan Ramblers. On their new album Up the Hill and Through the Fog (coming June 10, 2022), the all-star Canadian roots ensemble channels the past two years of loss into a surprisingly joyous collection of twelve songs intended to uplift and help make sense of the world. Though the past few years have brought the group accolades–their 2019 album was nominated for a Juno Award and the band earned the Momentum Band of the Year Award from the International Bluegrass Music Association in 2020–that same momentum was abruptly halted by the pandemic’s brutal impact on live music. Over the next year, bandmates Adrian Gross and Darryl Poulsen both lost close family members and their bassist decided to step back to spend more time at home. They channeled these tumultuous changes into some of their most honest and direct compositions yet. Up the Hill and Through the Fog showcases the breadth of their varied influences while staying true to their roots in the rough and tumble bluegrass scene of Toronto’s no-nonsense bars and dancehalls. From Frank Evans’ classic, dusty vocals, to John Hartford-inspired lyrical musings, it’s all buttressed by impeccable musicianship, and emotionally raw songwriting from the three core members. This is roots music without pretension, art powerful enough to cut through the fog of the past two years and chart a more hopeful course forward.

New single out this week from the great Peter Rowan! It’s the title track from his upcoming album and features two Americana heavyweights as well: Molly Tuttle and Lindsay Lou. It’s a cosmic song inspired by his longterm interest in Tibetan music and culture and his friendship with the Tibetan singer Yungchen Lhamo. “This song appeared from infinite space,” Peter explained in the Wide Open Country premiere. Have a listen!

For over six decades, GRAMMY-award winning artist Peter Rowan has been at the forefront of acoustic American music, inspiring generations of new musicians and working creatively with the roots of bluegrass, newgrass, Americana, country rock, jazz, even reggae, Hawaiian, and Tejano music. A relentlessly curious, brilliant songwriter, Rowan’s had the kind of career that would give him ample opportunity to kick back and rest on his laurels now, but his new album, Calling You From My Mountain (coming June 24 on Rebel Records), shows that Rowan’s voice is as vital as ever, fueled by the history of our great traditions and excited for their future. Guest spots on the album from friends like Billy Strings, Shawn Camp, Molly Tuttle, Lindsay Lou, and Mark Howard, not to mention Rowan’s multi-generational band, show that Rowan’s inspiration transcends age. For these past sixty+ years, Rowan’s been a musical sponge, soaking up ideas and influences from his many travels and his roving search for new traditions, using these sounds to create new songs and new musical genres at will. Though the genesis for Rowan’s new album came from Hank Williams’ Luke the Drifter personality and Rowan’s idea of writing new songs for this character, he quickly spun in other connections, like his longtime interest in Tibetan music and his Buddhist beliefs and practices, or his love of other American roots legends like Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Guy Clark, Bill Monroe, and Tex Logan (all of whom Rowan’s played and performed with). Throughout, the music sounds like Rowan himself, a modern day California dharma bum, a man as nourished by a metaphysical interest in the mysteries of the physical universe as he is by the intricacies of handcrafted music making.!

For over six decades, GRAMMY-award winning artist Peter Rowan has been at the forefront of acoustic American music, inspiring generations of new musicians and working creatively with the roots of bluegrass, newgrass, Americana, country rock, jazz, even reggae, Hawaiian, and Tejano music. A relentlessly curious, brilliant songwriter, Rowan’s had the kind of career that would give him ample opportunity to kick back and rest on his laurels now, but his new album, Calling You From My Mountain (coming June 24 on Rebel Records), shows that Rowan’s voice is as vital as ever, fueled by the history of our great traditions and excited for their future. Guest spots on the album from friends like Billy Strings, Shawn Camp, Molly Tuttle, Lindsay Lou, and Mark Howard, not to mention Rowan’s multi-generational band, show that Rowan’s inspiration transcends age. For these past sixty+ years, Rowan’s been a musical sponge, soaking up ideas and influences from his many travels and his roving search for new traditions, using these sounds to create new songs and new musical genres at will. Though the genesis for Rowan’s new album came from Hank Williams’ Luke the Drifter personality and Rowan’s idea of writing new songs for this character, he quickly spun in other connections, like his longtime interest in Tibetan music and his Buddhist beliefs and practices, or his love of other American roots legends like Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Guy Clark, Bill Monroe, and Tex Logan (all of whom Rowan’s played and performed with). Throughout, the music sounds like Rowan himself, a modern day California dharma bum, a man as nourished by a metaphysical interest in the mysteries of the physical universe as he is by the intricacies of handcrafted music making.

Calling You From My Mountain began as a tribute album or homage to Peter Rowan’s favorite Hank Williams LP. “When I left Nashville in 1990,” Rowan explains, “the only country music album I had, besides one Ernest Tubb record, was Hank Williams Sings Luke the Drifter. So, I listened to that all the time on my little turntable, and I just loved that Hank had an alternate ego who was himself but the sentimental-songs-with-a-message side.” Rowan wrote an entire album of songs inspired by Luke the Drifter, but before he could travel to Nashville to record it, the pandemic hit and plans changed. Instead, Rowan stayed at home, looking out over the California coastal landscape and canyons around him, just playing and trying out old favorite songs. As singing the old songs brought forth ideas for new songs, Rowan built the groundwork for his new album and managed to keep some of Luke the Drifter’s spirit alive. “I included one of the songs I wrote from the Luke the Drifter album, “Dream of Heaven.” By doing that, I started to find my own voice again as to what I really wanted to say on this record. The companion song to that is “The Red, the White and the Blue”, where I wrote “I remember, I remember, I remember you / The red, the white and the blue” which to me is like a Carter Family type of approach with Molly Tuttle singing the harmony and playing banjo and Shawn Camp on guitar. With Rowan’s characteristic thoughtfulness, he transforms a patriotic refrain into a subtle and heartfelt anti-war statement.

Talking to Rowan now is a dizzying ride through American musical history. At times it feels like he’s done it all, jamming with groundbreaking free jazz players in Boston in the 60s because they had the best weed, hanging with Jim Kweskin at the Lyman Family compound, tracking down the great Tejano accordionist Flaco Jimenez among the cantinas of San Antonio, calming raucous festival crowds with Lhamo’s Buddhist chants, or touring with Lightnin’ Hopkins, Sonny Terry, and Brownie McGhee. Throughout, Rowan retains his early roots in bluegrass and his love for the great Bill Monroe who he rightfully recognizes as another musically voracious soul. “Bluegrass accepted me first as a cultural pilgrim,” Rowan says. “I’m still the pilgrim, interpreting my experience through music. And the richness is the collaboration with people from really any culture. Musicians are transcultural, you know.”

As one of Monroe’s Blue Grass Boys, Rowan’s in a unique place to evaluate the master’s musical intentions, and after all these years he’s beginning to understand what Monroe saw in him. “I think as a man in his 50s looking at a 22 year old kid, he saw me,” Rowans says, “he saw who I was before I did. He’d always yell at me on stage ‘Sing it like Pete Rowan!’ He always wanted the individuality to come out.” Now, Rowan’s in a similar position that Monroe was when he took Rowan on. That’s why it matters that Rowan’s new album features young roots music luminaries like Tuttle and Strings and Rowan’s own band features younger players like Chris Henry on mandolin, Max Wareham on banjo, Julian Pinelli on fiddle, and Eric Thorin on acoustic bass. “I’ve got a young band, it’s fabulous,” Rowan exclaims. “They’re bursting with ideas. They’re in their years of inspiration. They’re really quick learners and their ears are wide open because this generation is built on everything we did, dare I say, all those years ago.”

If you reach Appalachian singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Martha Spencer, it’ll be from the top of her mountain in Virginia, likely when she’s out walking in the woods. Spencer grew up nestled into hills as old as time. Raised in mountain music (she grew up in the famed Whitetop Mountain Band, which dates back to the 1940s), Spencer channels the old sounds, but she can just as easily create new sounds from her worldly travels. Half of the songs on her new album, Wonderland, coming September 2, 2022, are newly written, showcasing songwriting influences from classic icons like Dolly Parton and Hazel Dickens & Alice Gerrard to modern underground Nashville songwriters like Lillie Mae. Her second solo album, Wonderland comes on the heels of Spencer’s acclaimed self-titled 2018 album that saw rave reviews from Rolling Stone Magazine (“both traditional and timeless”), No Depression (“an invaluable resource”), and more. On Wonderland, new songs rub shoulders with traditional songs; universal ideas, themes, and tropes fluidly passing back and forth. It’s a testament to Spencer’s clever ear for turning a phrase, the kind of gift that used to make country singers famous. In Spencer’s hands, the songs shine with a humble beating heart, speaking the truths of her small mountain community, while telling the stories of the music and the people she grew up with, the kind of people who put “rags over riches, joy over judgment, love over all,” in her words.

Like many artists, Spencer found herself at home a lot more than normally planned during the pandemic. “I was longing for travel,” she says, “and I think that reflects within the album as well.” Missing friends, she invited musical guests from near and far, some of them artists she’s wanted to record with for a while, like Richmond gospel masters The Legendary Ingramettes or the great Alice Gerrard or Native Americana guitarist Cary Morin. Spencer loves to bridge communities and bring Appalachian music to new audiences, and some of these collaborations, like the Ingramettes and Morin, came from her work with cultural organizations like the Virginia Folklife Program and Music Maker Foundation. Other folks invited to record on the album were long-time friends and collaborators like honky-tonk singer Luke Bell, bluegrass fiddler Billy Hurt Jr., Appalachian trio The Blue Ridge Girls, or Cajun fiddler Joel Savoy. The rough hewn vocals of longtime friend Kyle Dean Smith of Grayson County are an Appalachian delight on the album. Being able to make music with friends was an escape for Spencer, and in fact the title song of the album, Wonderland, comes from this idea. “That song was first inspired,” says Spencer, “by someone commenting on me living in my own little wonderland on the mountain with the wildlife, woods, music, dancing and little creative projects I like to do.” Wonderland is about doing your own thing, an especially salient point for women in Appalachia.

The pandemic’s been hard on everyone, but for Martha Spencer it was difficult to see the small community that she grew up in hit hard by the isolation. Now that music is starting to come back into the town, now that square dances and stringband jams are starting up again, she’s turned her gaze back to the larger world, hoping to get back to the international travel she enjoys. She’s already got tours planned for Canada, Australia, and Germany in the Fall. As an Appalachian artist who comes from such a rich lineage of the music, Spencer’s in demand globally and was used to soaking up new sounds and ideas everywhere she rambled. “I know folks have been through a lot in the last few years,” she says, “and I personally have lost some very important people to me. I see music sometimes as a place to escape some of the sorrows and tragedies and find some joy in a moment of beauty or magic in life: the fantasy, the mystery, and the mystical still alive, a sense of home and place, and yet longing for adventure and travel at the same time.”

If you reach Appalachian singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Martha Spencer, it’ll be from the top of her mountain in Virginia, likely when she’s out walking in the woods. Spencer grew up nestled into hills as old as time. Raised in mountain music (she grew up in the famed Whitetop Mountain Band, which dates back to the 1940s), Spencer channels the old sounds, but she can just as easily create new sounds from her worldly travels. Half of the songs on her new album, Wonderland, coming September 2, 2022, are newly written, showcasing songwriting influences from classic icons like Dolly Parton and Hazel Dickens & Alice Gerrard to modern underground Nashville songwriters like Lillie Mae. Her second solo album, Wonderland comes on the heels of Spencer’s acclaimed self-titled 2018 album that saw rave reviews from Rolling Stone Magazine (“both traditional and timeless”), No Depression (“an invaluable resource”), and more. On Wonderland, new songs rub shoulders with traditional songs; universal ideas, themes, and tropes fluidly passing back and forth. It’s a testament to Spencer’s clever ear for turning a phrase, the kind of gift that used to make country singers famous. In Spencer’s hands, the songs shine with a humble beating heart, speaking the truths of her small mountain community, while telling the stories of the music and the people she grew up with, the kind of people who put “rags over riches, joy over judgment, love over all,” in her words.

Like many artists, Spencer found herself at home a lot more than normally planned during the pandemic. “I was longing for travel,” she says, “and I think that reflects within the album as well.” Missing friends, she invited musical guests from near and far, some of them artists she’s wanted to record with for a while, like Richmond gospel masters The Legendary Ingramettes or the great Alice Gerrard or Native Americana guitarist Cary Morin. Spencer loves to bridge communities and bring Appalachian music to new audiences, and some of these collaborations, like the Ingramettes and Morin, came from her work with cultural organizations like the Virginia Folklife Program and Music Maker Foundation. Other folks invited to record on the album were long-time friends and collaborators like honky-tonk singer Luke Bell, bluegrass fiddler Billy Hurt Jr., Appalachian trio The Blue Ridge Girls, or Cajun fiddler Joel Savoy. The rough hewn vocals of longtime friend Kyle Dean Smith of Grayson County are an Appalachian delight on the album. Being able to make music with friends was an escape for Spencer, and in fact the title song of the album, Wonderland, comes from this idea. “That song was first inspired,” says Spencer, “by someone commenting on me living in my own little wonderland on the mountain with the wildlife, woods, music, dancing and little creative projects I like to do.” Wonderland is about doing your own thing, an especially salient point for women in Appalachia.

Women passed Appalachian music down from generation to generation, many never getting any outside credit for their work, and Spencer herself comes from a long line of musical matriarchs. When writing or choosing material for the album, Spencer wanted to emphasize and push forward songs that featured powerful women, countering that old English ballad trope of women being driven to an early grave because of their men. These are songs of home and community, but also of darker things like ghosts and hauntings. In Appalachian music, hope and despair, life and death have always intertwined as thoroughly as kudzu vines. The lead single, “Enchantress,” was inspired by Spencer’s love of old horror movies and Halloween, while “Creekfield Woman,” written by local brothers Greg and Herb Yates, tells the story of a local ghost that frightened Spencer when she was a child. Some of these hauntings are playful to Spencer, but there’s an undercurrent here of something deeper. It’s a spiritual sense and wisdom that you get from studying the music of long dead ancestors. “Someone’s story isn’t over after they are gone,” Spencer explains. “It keeps being sung, finding justice and staying alive through a story in song.”

The pandemic’s been hard on everyone, but for Martha Spencer it was difficult to see the small community that she grew up in hit hard by the isolation. Now that music is starting to come back into the town, now that square dances and stringband jams are starting up again, she’s turned her gaze back to the larger world, hoping to get back to the international travel she enjoys. She’s already got tours planned for Canada, Australia, and Germany in the Fall. As an Appalachian artist who comes from such a rich lineage of the music, Spencer’s in demand globally and was used to soaking up new sounds and ideas everywhere she rambled. “I know folks have been through a lot in the last few years,” she says, “and I personally have lost some very important people to me. I see music sometimes as a place to escape some of the sorrows and tragedies and find some joy in a moment of beauty or magic in life: the fantasy, the mystery, and the mystical still alive, a sense of home and place, and yet longing for adventure and travel at the same time.”

For the past fifteen years, The Hooten Hallers have been crisscrossing the country as inveterate road warriors, bringing their peculiar vision of Americana–a fiery rock and roll fever dream birthed in Missouri’s fertile musical heartland. They’ve put so many miles into the road that they’ve burned through multiple tour vans and left twisted metal and frayed rubber strewn across the road behind them. With their aptly named new album, Back In Business Again, the trio roar back on to the international stage with ten incendiary new original songs drawn from their many travels and inspired by the hardships that all touring musicians have faced throughout a seemingly never-ending pandemic. There’s hope in these new songs, but tinges of madness too, driven by the raw drumming of Andy Rehm, the infernal growl and swirling guitars of John Randall, and the low rolling baritone and bass saxophones of Kellie Everett. The Hooten Hallers have always been musical colliders, smashing together everything from pre-war jazz to Chicago blues with jaunts around New Orleans and garage rock explorations with hints of anti-racist punk and Oi!. It’s Morphine meets ZZ Top along St. Louis’ Mississippi waterfront. Produced by bassist Dominic Davis (Jack White, Greensky Bluegrass), Back In Business Again takes a match to The Hooten Hallers’ fuse and explodes the renegade power trio to the edge and back again, one vigorous, swinging, perfectly peculiar song at a time.

Recorded in St. Louis at Native Sound, Back In Business Again has a fierce hometown spirit. The Hooten Hallers have survived some of their hardest times over the past few years thanks to the support of their Missouri communities. Native Sound sits right above The Whiskey Ring, a beloved watering hole for locals and the bar where Everett got married. Between sessions, the band would retreat to the bar for a well earned drink with friends and family. St. Louis itself has always been an inspiration to the band, a city as influential to American music as New Orleans but with an oft unheralded history. As Everett says, “St. Louis was a pretty big hub for blues, ragtime, early jazz, and country; there was a lot of mixing of musical styles with the different people immigrating and settling there. Missouri has an important musical past and it continues to be relevant.” This celebration of overlooked Midwestern musical history is a key part of The Hooten Hallers’ ethos. As Rehm puts it, “we are not ashamed to be from a flyover state, we’re not trying to be part of the homogenous monoculture of popular music.” It’s one of the reasons that they like to travel far from the beaten path when touring. “We find the special things outside of the urban zones,” Rehm says. “We go places a lot of bands don’t go, and you find the real ones when you get off the interstate. We’ve met a lot of lifelong friends in these smaller towns that people might talk shit about or have never heard of.”

Though The Hooten Hallers are known for their incendiary live shows on the road, time in the studio and help from their producer gave them the space to expand their sound a bit. Historically, Rehm has always performed as a standing drummer, out of necessity adapting a technique from punk bands like The Ramones to move hi-hat rhythms to the floor tom, but on the new album and on stage he’s sitting down and expanding the sound of his once stripped-back drum set. Likewise, Everett was able to expand her brass sounds with new arrangements and additional horn parts, and Randall was able to bring in further ranging influences to his guitar playing, everyone from MC5, AC/DC, Bo Diddley, Lightnin’ Hopkins, and The Stooges. The blues has always been a core influence on the band, and that’s still clearly evident here, though Randall’s quick to point out that they don’t fit in with most modern blues bands. Producer Davis came to the band through Everett’s husband Ryan Koenig (who plays harmonica on the album) and his time with Pokey Lafarge and Jack White’s Third Man Records. Davis is from Detroit and is a key part of White’s sound, so he brought some Motor City vibes to the new recording through his bass playing and his tasteful ear for the urban Midwest roots of Americana. Though the studio gave everyone the chance to spread their wings a bit, it’s clear that the band’s managed to keep much of the energy they bring to their live shows, a difficult task.

Bubbling beneath the rip-roaring surface of the new album are all-original songs of outsider Americana delight, from tall tales about near-mythological characters, to a eulogy commemorating the demise of 15 years worth of tour vans, to heartfelt blues, thoughtful love songs, and well beyond. Each band member contributed songs equally, and some were clearly drawn from specific experiences, like “Cat Scrap” written by Randall for the nighttime misadventures of his cat. “Vankiller” is a tongue-in-cheek ode to the many tour vans the band has blown through over the years, as Everett says. “We’ve had some wild vehicular incidents over the years. We’ve lost whole wheels on the interstate; we had a horrifying rollover in a blizzard in Montana. We’ve put a lot of miles on a lot of vehicles.” The title track is perhaps the closest to the theme of the album: coming out on the other side of a desperate or difficult situation. As Randall explains “it’s a feel good song about shaking off the dust and finding joy where there previously was none. It’s about getting your groove back.” Listening to the howls and growls of The Hooten Hallers’ new album, to the burning sax lines and punk-heavy drumming, you’ll hear the pure joy of a band reveling in their newfound groove.

A suite for Indigenous resistance, the new album from Wabanaki bassist, composer, and songwriter Mali Obomsawin flies in the face of Western tropes that insist Indigenous cultures are monolithic, trapped in time. Instead, Obomsawin highlights centuries of clever adaptation and resistance that have fueled the art and culture of Wabanaki people. Written as a compositional suite, the album Sweet Tooth, coming October 28, 2022 on Out of Your Head Records, blends Wabanaki stories and songs passed down in Obomsawin’s own family with tunes addressing contemporary Indigenous life, colonization, continuity, love and rage. It’s at once intimately personal, featuring field recordings of relatives at Odanak First Nation, but also conveys a larger story of the Wabanaki people, stretching across the domain of their confederacy from Eastern Canada to Southern New England. In three movements, Obomsawin’s powerful compositions honor the Indigenous ability to shape great art from the harshest fires of colonialism. The compositions reveal threads that bind together blues, jazz, hymns, folk songs, and Native cultures, and foreground the breadth and continuity of Indigenous contributions to these genres. “​​Telling Indigenous stories through the language of jazz is not a new phenomenon,” Obomsawin explains. “My people have had to innovate endlessly to get our stories heard - learning to express ourselves in French, English, Abenaki… but sometimes words fail us, and we must use sound. Sweet Tooth is a testament to this.” Sweet Tooth is a celebration of Indigenous innovation, and an ingeniously envisioned debut for this composer-bandleader.

The first album of West African ekonting music, Ears of the People: Ekonting Songs from Senegal and Gambia is a testament to the endurance of music and tradition across the gulf of centuries and some of the most brutal history imaginable. It’s also a showcase for living traditions in West Africa, and for the wealth of stories and beauty that a humble, handmade instrument can hold. Though it's generally acknowledged today that the American banjo came originally from Africa and should be considered an African instrument, for many years the question remained as to what African instrument exactly was the source of the banjo? Scholars, including Pete Seeger, pointed to instruments like the Wolof xalam or the Mandinka ngoni as possible antecedents, but it took the work of pioneering Gambian ethnomusicologist Daniel Laemou-Ahuma Jatta (who also wrote the album's foreword) to show the Senegalese and Gambian ekonting (also spelled “akonting”) as a particularly likely source. In the evening, after work, Jatta’s father played this three-stringed, gourd instrument popular among the Jola people.

What’s remarkable about this recording is just how alive and vital the ekonting’s music is today in Senegal and Gambia. The songs on this album, taken from recordings in Senegal made by ethnomusicologist Scott Linford of nine ekonting players, are full of life. Many of the songs are inspired by the rivalries and clashes between West African wrestlers, but other songs speak of life and love, or of the tribulations of violence and conflict. Despite being separated over centuries from its New World progeny, the West African ekonting’s unique strumming position (one finger strikes down on a longer string while the thumb follows after on a shorter string) is still today one of the most popular banjo strumming techniques, known as “clawhammer.” Just as the banjo today tells a uniquely American story in our own voices, the West African ekonting tells the story of the Jola of Senegal and Gambia today, as they live their lives.

Yet with all this history, the Jola of Senegal and Gambia don't think of the ekonting primarily as an ancestor to an American tradition, but instead as a living tradition in its own right. The ekonting is for entertainment, for courtship, for local wrestling matches, and for telling local stories. It’s a folk instrument, after all, made by hand for the people who will enjoy it most. For that reason, it’s been rare to find many recordings of ekonting music. Work in the past decade or so first brought the ekonting to light and connected American musicians to the instrument, including banjo legends Bela Fleck and Rhiannon Giddens, who played with ekonting players in Gambia. Ears of the People: Ekonting Songs from Senegal and Gambia, however, is the first full album of ekonting music for a Western label and it’s an enlightening examination of the instrument’s role in West Africa.

Recorded in the Casamance borderlands region of southern Senegal, near to Gambia and Guinea-Bissau, in 2019 by Linford in village squares, adobe houses, and improvised studios, these nine ekonting players present a cross-section of Senegalese society. Players like 71 year old Abdoulaye Diallo, equally knowledgeable about both Islam and the Jola indigenous religion, whose songs move between personal and political storytelling. “Every song has a significance,” he says. “There is the song, but then there is the story behind the song.” Jules Diatta leads a band called Sijam Bukan from his house in the village of Mlomp and performs songs that accompany Jola wrestling matches, especially the processionals that let the wrestlers strut their way through the village with a parade of supporters. The virtuosic Adama Sambou has toured Europe and is a prolific composer, writing many songs from his home, while ekonting legend Jeandum Djibalen was one of the first ekonting players to professionalize the instrument, moving it from the rice fields to the concert halls. Elisa Diedhiou is one of the few women to play the ekonting, and the first to perform as a professional ekonting player. “People look at me like I’m crazy,” she says. “A woman with an ekonting! But when I go to Mlomp or Oussouye, lots of people come to see me play and all the old ladies say ‘Bravo! Bravo!’”

The songs from these musicians range through a wide diversity of subjects, reflecting the lived experiences of the singers. Songs here reflect on a hard day’s work in the fields, gathering around with palm wine. Or they celebrate local wrestlers with lyrics full of vocables and popular shout outs. Some songs are pleas for friendship and peaceful understanding, and others are about the effects of war and regional violence, including a harrowing account of a roadside bombing. Songs tackle subjects like premature death of a husband, dream girls, latchkey kids, men’s initiation ceremonies… The topics are as varied as the people themselves and Linford’s brilliant and extensive liner notes bring these stories to life, including translations of some lyrics.

The last song of the album, “Ayinga Bañiil Dane Dibuke Ban” from Abdoulaye Diallo, ponders the future of the ekonting in metaphorical terms. “It is our responsibility to take care of it,” he sings. For centuries, Africans and African-Americans have treasured this family of instruments, rebuilding them in a new world under the harsh yoke of slavery, or writing new songs for them today in a corner of southern Senegal. This is the real testament here, that a humble acoustic instrument made from a gourd, three strings, and animal hide, can hold the hopes of so many people across so many worlds.

Free Dirt Records is proud to announce the self-titled debut album from new roots music supergroup Mighty Poplar. Bringing together Andrew Marlin from Watchhouse, Noam Pikelny and Chris Eldridge from Punch Brothers, Greg Garrison (Leftover Salmon), and Alex Hargreaves (Billy Strings), Mighty Poplar was formed as a vehicle for these artists to explore their love of improvisation through straight ahead bluegrass.

Mighty Poplar’s first single, “Up on the Divide,” was released today. It’s a beautiful song from the pen of cowboy poet and songwriter Martha Scanlan:

https://youtu.be/lF6Dg3LiiL0

PRE-ORDER/STREAM 1ST SINGLE

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At its heart, bluegrass music is about what happens when you commit to the moment. The joy of improvisation keeps the music fresh, and the fun of crafting ideas on the fly keeps the musicians on their toes. This true spirit of bluegrass infuses the self-titled record from Mighty Poplar, coming March 31, 2023 on Free Dirt Records. Regarded as some of the finest players of their generation, the playing is never showy and always in service of the song. Though Pikelny, Eldridge, Garrison all knew each other from their early work with Punch Brothers, impromptu backstage jams with Marlin at festivals across the country were the key that unlocked the project. A lifelong song collector, Marlin selected and sang lead on most of the songs here, bringing classics as well as deep cuts from greats like Hazel Dickens & Alice Gerrard, John Hartford, Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, and Norman Blake. Throughout, the songs and tunes are as immediate and emotionally impactful as the playing is tasteful. Gathered knee-to-knee in a rural studio outside Nashville, the collaborative 10-track album emerged organically over a few days. “It felt so special and effortless; it didn’t take work,” says Eldridge, “other than the work and effort we’ve put in the rest of our lives.” With their debut album, Mighty Poplar has captured the fierce and playful energy of an all-night jam between old friends who just happen to be grandmasters of the music.

Speaking to the band, it’s clear that each player joined out of pure excitement to play music with each other. “I’m convinced Alex Hargreaves only knows how to play the perfect notes at the perfect times,” muses Eldridge. Pikelny speaks highly about Marlin’s innate musicality: “We listen to a lot of Watchhouse at our house. Supporting a singer and songwriter of Andrew’s caliber is about the most rewarding thing I get to do, so I leapt at the opportunity to collaborate when Greg first pitched the idea for this project.” Marlin talks up the other players' instrumental virtuosity. “When I think about it from a player’s perspective, I didn’t feel like I belonged in this group; I haven’t spent my life trying to improve my chops. I’ve been more of a song gatherer,” a humble Marlin admits. That last point is key here, as it focused the approach to the new album on an appreciation for the roots of bluegrass and for the songs especially. Inspired by the 1980s albums of The Bluegrass Album Band, which united some of that era’s best bluegrass players, Mighty Poplar sought to emulate the fun and spontaneity of those inspirational recordings. “My love for the sound and feel of those Bluegrass Album Band records–the energy, the undeniable chemistry, the subtle virtuosity–led me to imagine what that might look like in our collective gumbo of today’s bluegrass,” says Garrison. “We grew up on those records,” Eldridge continues. “We loved the idea of musicians banding together for a special project where you explore your common influences.” But don’t mistake Mighty Poplar for a tribute record; the band aimed to find their own arrangements and deliver fresh takes on the songs. In Eldridge’s words: “It’s an homage to where we came from, without it being a recreation of an earlier era.”

The songs and tunes on Mighty Poplar run through the history of bluegrass from the earliest Appalachian string bands (“Grey Eagle”) to the more recent, “Up on the Divide,” from Montana bard Martha Scanlan and a reworking of Uncle Dave Macon’s “Lovin’ Babe” by songwriter Kristin Andreassen. Each song was carefully selected; “Even in a karaoke bar these songs would stand up,” jokes Pikelny. Marlin worked to pick out songs that were also evocative of a time and a specific geography. “Each song feels like it was written from a very personal place,” Marlin says. “‘North Country Blues’ - you feel that from Dylan. You’re there outside the mill with him reminiscing about the glory days of the steel industry.” One of the most surprising tracks on the album is Marlin’s eloquent and careful reimagination of Leonard Cohen’s “Story of Isaac.”  “Cohen’s version was so heavy,” says Marlin. “The first time I ever heard him sing that tune I felt like I’d just survived falling down a hill. For our version, I tried to take this really serious heavy subject and put it to some not-quite-as-heavy music.” Marlin jokes that’s the spirit of bluegrass. “You take sad songs and make them sound a little happier, and you’ve got yourself a Stanley Brothers album all of a sudden.”

With the songs decided, Marlin suggested recording at a studio in the woods outside of Nashville called The Tractor Shed. A literal converted tractor shed, the warmth of the studio was the perfect setting to capture the live feel of the music. “The songs really came into their own in front of the mics,” Pikelny explains. “A lot of first or second exploratory ideas made it onto the record, as opposed to having an idea being thrown out and having weeks of refining and tweaking. I love catching that initial energy and spark. It means that things won’t always be squeaky clean, but I’ll take that lightning in a bottle over perfection.” Fueling the interplay between each artist, these improvisational adventures built a structure for new interpretations of the songs. “You’re constantly in dialogue with the moment,” Eldridge says. “It’s the ripples, man,” Marlin echoes. “You hear someone have a powerful idea and it subtly ripples through the band.” But it was the groove that was most important to everyone. As Marlin explains, “I’ve never played in a bluegrass setting where the groove was so undeniable. The songs just unfolded because the playing wasn’t something to think about.”

Mighty Poplar’s debut shows a level of curiosity and engagement that’s only found at the highest echelons of music making. What distinguishes them from the members' full time endeavors in bands like Punch Brothers or Watchhouse is that this band "is a chance to play real deal bluegrass,” says Eldridge. Pikelny agrees, adding that “in some ways this album is biographical for each one of us. It was an opportunity to play the music that we love at our core, and the music that has informed what we do in our other long-standing projects.” Ultimately, there was a kind of joy and relief in coming back to their roots in celebration and camaraderie. “There’s a reunion element to this,” he says, “which is ridiculous because it was the first time all five of us were in the same room. But the ease in which it came together felt like we were getting the band back together.”

MIGHTY POPLAR ON TOUR 2023

Monday, May 8, 2023

Boulder, CO - Fox Theater

Tuesday, May 9, 2023

Fort Collins, CO - Washington's

Wednesday, May 10, 2023

Denver, CO - Globe Hall

Friday, May 12, 2023

Phoenix, AZ - MIM Music Theater

Saturday, May 13, 2023

Aztec, AZ - Tico Time Bluegrass Festival

Monday, May 15, 2023

Pioneertown, CA - Pappy & Harriet's

Tuesday, May 16, 2023

Solana Beach, CA - Belly Up Tavern

Wednesday, May 17, 2023

Santa Barbara, CA - Lobero Theatre

Thursday, May 18, 2023

Los Angeles, CA - Pico Union Project

Saturday, May 20, 2023

Felton, CA - Felton Music Hall

Sunday, May 21, 2023

Grass Valley, CA - The Center for the Arts

Monday, May 22, 2023

Berkeley, CA - Freight & Salvage

Tuesday, May 23, 2023

Seattle, WA - Neptune Theatre

Thursday, May 25, 2023

Portland, OR - Aladdin Theater

Smithsonian Folkways Recordings has just released the groundbreaking new album Ears of the People: Ekonting Songs from Senegal and The Gambia that represents the first full length representation of the West African ekonting. Considered the key ancestor of the American banjo, the ekonting is alive and well in West Africa, telling the stories of the artists who love it today. And yet it still exhibits some of the same or similar playing techniques as the American banjo, separated by centuries and some of the worst history in the world.

The first album of West African ekonting music, Ears of the People: Ekonting Songs from Senegal and Gambia is a testament to the endurance of music and tradition across the gulf of centuries and some of the most brutal history imaginable. It’s also a showcase for living traditions in West Africa, and for the wealth of stories and beauty that a humble, handmade instrument can hold. Though it's generally acknowledged today that the American banjo came originally from Africa and should be considered an African instrument, for many years the question remained as to what African instrument exactly was the source of the banjo? Scholars, including Pete Seeger, pointed to instruments like the Wolof xalam or the Mandinka ngoni as possible antecedents, but it took the work of pioneering Gambian ethnomusicologist Daniel Laemou-Ahuma Jatta (who also wrote the album's foreword) to show the Senegalese and Gambian ekonting (also spelled “akonting”) as a particularly likely source. In the evening, after work, Jatta’s father played this three-stringed, gourd instrument popular among the Jola people. 

What’s remarkable about this recording is just how alive and vital the ekonting’s music is today in Senegal and Gambia. The songs on this album, taken from recordings in Senegal made by ethnomusicologist Scott Linford of nine ekonting players, are full of life. Many of the songs are inspired by the rivalries and clashes between West African wrestlers, but other songs speak of life and love, or of the tribulations of violence and conflict. Despite being separated over centuries from its New World progeny, the West African ekonting’s unique strumming position (one finger strikes down on a longer string while the thumb follows after on a shorter string) is still today one of the most popular banjo strumming techniques, known as “clawhammer.” Just as the banjo today tells a uniquely American story in our own voices, the West African ekonting tells the story of the Jola of Senegal and Gambia today, as they live their lives.

Yet with all this history, the Jola of Senegal and Gambia don't think of the ekonting primarily as an ancestor to an American tradition, but instead as a living tradition in its own right. The ekonting is for entertainment, for courtship, for local wrestling matches, and for telling local stories. It’s a folk instrument, after all, made by hand for the people who will enjoy it most. For that reason, it’s been rare to find many recordings of ekonting music. Work in the past decade or so first brought the ekonting to light and connected American musicians to the instrument, including banjo legends Bela Fleck and Rhiannon Giddens, who played with ekonting players in Gambia. Ears of the People: Ekonting Songs from Senegal and Gambia, however, is the first full album of ekonting music for a Western label and it’s an enlightening examination of the instrument’s role in West Africa.

Oceans flow through the center of Cinder Well’s music. With her new album, Cadence, Amelia Baker’s experimental folk project drifts between two far-flung seas: the hazy California coast where she grew up, and the wind-torn swells of Western Ireland that she’s come to love. Due out April 21, 2023 on Free Dirt Records, the album’s name refers to the cycles of our turbulent lives, to the uncertain tides that push us forward and back. Recorded at Hen House Studios, just blocks from the famed Venice Beach Boardwalk in Los Angeles, the songs of Cadence search for a sense of grounding and a feeling of home. Though California’s beaches are the backdrop of this album, Irish influences emerge as well. The folklore of the old ways still looms in her mind, now tinged with the kind of growth that comes from returning to your roots.

Check out the first single, “Two Heads, Grey Mare”, inspired by folklore stories of the Irish selkie and filmed in England’s Peak District. Cormac MacDiarmada of Lankum put the eerie string arrangement together!

With Cadence, Baker expands Cinder Well’s sound to include percussion as well as trance electric guitar and expansive string parts courtesy of Cormac MacDiarmada of Lankum. While there are still hints of the doom folk that Cinder Well is known for, Cadence balances heavy lyrics with a more expansive sound that nods to LA’s mythical Laurel Canyon years. “So much of my music has been made far from home,” Baker says. “There was something about recording in California that felt cathartic.” Caught between two worlds, Cadence is about recapturing the rhythms of life after a time of deep isolation, about finding balance amongst uncertainty.

CINDER WELL 2023 TOUR DATES

USA

FEB 23 - Los Angeles, CA - Masonic Lodge at Hollywood Forever (supporting Anna Mieke)

FEB 24 - Parkfield, CA - Middle Ridge Studio Launch Party

EU

MAY 13 - Uppsala, SE - Uppsala Konsert & Kongress

IE

MAY 18 - Kilkenny, IE - Cleere’s

MAY 19 - Dublin, IE - The Cobblestone

MAY 20 - Dublin, IE - The Cobblestone

MAY 26 - Cork, IE - Coughlan’s

MAY 27 - Waterford, IE - Phil Grimes

UK

SEPT 2 - End of the Road Festival

At its heart, bluegrass music is about what happens when you commit to the moment. The joy of improvisation keeps the music fresh, and the fun of crafting ideas on the fly keeps the musicians on their toes. This true spirit of bluegrass infuses the self-titled record from Mighty Poplar, a new all-star roots project featuring Andrew Marlin of Watchhouse, Noam Pikelny and Chris Eldridge of Punch Brothers, bassist Greg Garrison (Leftover Salmon) and fiddler Alex Hargreaves (Billy Strings) coming March 31, 2023 on Free Dirt Records. Regarded as some of the finest players of their generation, the playing is never showy and always in service of the song. Though Pikelny, Eldridge, Garrison all knew each other from their early work with Punch Brothers, impromptu backstage jams with Marlin at festivals across the country were the key that unlocked the project. A lifelong song collector, Marlin selected and sang lead on most of the songs here, bringing classics as well as deep cuts from greats like Hazel Dickens & Alice Gerrard, John Hartford, Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, and Norman Blake. Throughout, the songs and tunes are as immediate and emotionally impactful as the playing is tasteful. Gathered knee-to-knee in a rural studio outside Nashville, the collaborative 10-track album emerged organically over a few days. “It felt so special and effortless; it didn’t take work,” says Eldridge, “other than the work and effort we’ve put in the rest of our lives.” With their debut album, Mighty Poplar has captured the fierce and playful energy of an all-night jam between old friends who just happen to be grandmasters of the music.

Speaking to the band, it’s clear that each player joined out of pure excitement to play music with each other. “I’m convinced Alex Hargreaves only knows how to play the perfect notes at the perfect times,” muses Eldridge. Pikelny speaks highly about Marlin’s innate musicality: “We listen to a lot of Watchhouse at our house. Supporting a singer and songwriter of Andrew’s caliber is about the most rewarding thing I get to do, so I leapt at the opportunity to collaborate when Greg first pitched the idea for this project.” Marlin talks up the other players' instrumental virtuosity. “When I think about it from a player’s perspective, I didn’t feel like I belonged in this group; I haven’t spent my life trying to improve my chops. I’ve been more of a song gatherer,” a humble Marlin admits. That last point is key here, as it focused the approach to the new album on an appreciation for the roots of bluegrass and for the songs especially. Inspired by the 1980s albums of The Bluegrass Album Band, which united some of that era’s best bluegrass players, Mighty Poplar sought to emulate the fun and spontaneity of those inspirational recordings. “My love for the sound and feel of those Bluegrass Album Band records–the energy, the undeniable chemistry, the subtle virtuosity–led me to imagine what that might look like in our collective gumbo of today’s bluegrass,” says Garrison. “We grew up on those records,” Eldridge continues. “We loved the idea of musicians banding together for a special project where you explore your common influences.” But don’t mistake Mighty Poplar for a tribute record; the band aimed to find their own arrangements and deliver fresh takes on the songs. In Eldridge’s words: “It’s an homage to where we came from, without it being a recreation of an earlier era."

The songs and tunes on Mighty Poplar run through the history of bluegrass from the earliest Appalachian string bands (“Grey Eagle”) to the more recent, “Up on the Divide,” from Montana bard Martha Scanlan and a reworking of Uncle Dave Macon’s “Lovin’ Babe” by songwriter Kristin Andreassen. Each song was carefully selected; “Even in a karaoke bar these songs would stand up,” jokes Pikelny. Marlin worked to pick out songs that were also evocative of a time and a specific geography. “Each song feels like it was written from a very personal place,” Marlin says. “‘North Country Blues’ - you feel that from Dylan. You’re there outside the mill with him reminiscing about the glory days of the steel industry.” One of the most surprising tracks on the album is Marlin’s eloquent and careful reimagination of Leonard Cohen’s “Story of Isaac.”  “Cohen’s version was so heavy,” says Marlin. “The first time I ever heard him sing that tune I felt like I’d just survived falling down a hill. For our version, I tried to take this really serious heavy subject and put it to some not-quite-as-heavy music.” Marlin jokes that’s the spirit of bluegrass. “You take sad songs and make them sound a little happier, and you’ve got yourself a Stanley Brothers album all of a sudden.”

With the songs decided, Marlin suggested recording at a studio in the woods outside of Nashville called The Tractor Shed. A literal converted tractor shed, the warmth of the studio was the perfect setting to capture the live feel of the music. “The songs really came into their own in front of the mics,” Pikelny explains. “A lot of first or second exploratory ideas made it onto the record, as opposed to having an idea being thrown out and having weeks of refining and tweaking. I love catching that initial energy and spark. It means that things won’t always be squeaky clean, but I’ll take that lightning in a bottle over perfection.” Fueling the interplay between each artist, these improvisational adventures built a structure for new interpretations of the songs. “You’re constantly in dialogue with the moment,” Eldridge says. “It’s the ripples, man,” Marlin echoes. “You hear someone have a powerful idea and it subtly ripples through the band.” But it was the groove that was most important to everyone. As Marlin explains, “I’ve never played in a bluegrass setting where the groove was so undeniable. The songs just unfolded because the playing wasn’t something to think about.”

Mighty Poplar’s debut shows a level of curiosity and engagement that’s only found at the highest echelons of music making. What distinguishes them from the members' full time endeavors in bands like Punch Brothers or Watchhouse is that this band "is a chance to play real deal bluegrass,” says Eldridge. Pikelny agrees, adding that “in some ways this album is biographical for each one of us. It was an opportunity to play the music that we love at our core, and the music that has informed what we do in our other long-standing projects.” Ultimately, there was a kind of joy and relief in coming back to their roots in celebration and camaraderie. “There’s a reunion element to this,” he says, “which is ridiculous because it was the first time all five of us were in the same room. But the ease in which it came together felt like we were getting the band back together.”

A powerful new voice of Southeast Africa, Malawian singer and songwriter Keturah announces her debut self-titled album, coming May 19, 2023 on Hen House Studios. A well known celebrity in her own country, Keturah traveled to America for the first time to record her album in Venice Beach, Los Angeles, featuring members of the Playing for Change Band. Playing for Change is also debuting the music video for Keturah’s first single, “Kwanumkwanu”, which they recorded live at Mark’s Park. “Kwanumkwanu” is based on an African proverb that says “However far the stream flows, it never forgets its source.” Keturah wrote this song about people who travel far from home and forget their roots. “You can go wherever you want,” she says, “but always remember where you come from.”

UPDATE: Malawi was devastated by a massive tropical cyclone this week. With hundreds dead and many homes lost to flooding, our hearts are with Keturah and Malawian people. All proceeds from downloads and streams of Keturah’s first single will be donated to the Jacaranda Foundation, a Malawian cultural center and school for orphans that is helping with aid during this difficult time in Malawi. Here’s the donation link:

DONATE TO JACARANDA FOUNDATION

At its heart, bluegrass music is about what happens when you commit to the moment. The joy of improvisation keeps the music fresh, and the fun of crafting ideas on the fly keeps the musicians on their toes. This true spirit of bluegrass infuses the self-titled record from Mighty Poplar, a new all-star roots project featuring Andrew Marlin of Watchhouse, Noam Pikelny and Chris Eldridge of Punch Brothers, bassist Greg Garrison (Leftover Salmon) and fiddler Alex Hargreaves (Billy Strings) coming March 31, 2023 on Free Dirt Records. Regarded as some of the finest players of their generation, the playing is never showy and always in service of the song. Though Pikelny, Eldridge, Garrison all knew each other from their early work with Punch Brothers, impromptu backstage jams with Marlin at festivals across the country were the key that unlocked the project. A lifelong song collector, Marlin selected and sang lead on most of the songs here, bringing classics as well as deep cuts from greats like Hazel Dickens & Alice Gerrard, John Hartford, Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, and Norman Blake. Throughout, the songs and tunes are as immediate and emotionally impactful as the playing is tasteful. Gathered knee-to-knee in a rural studio outside Nashville, the collaborative 10-track album emerged organically over a few days. “It felt so special and effortless; it didn’t take work,” says Eldridge, “other than the work and effort we’ve put in the rest of our lives.” With their debut album, Mighty Poplar has captured the fierce and playful energy of an all-night jam between old friends who just happen to be grandmasters of the music.

With recent press acclaims coming from NPR, Paste Magazine, WNYC, and many more media outlets, Cinder Well is releasing the third single, “A Scorched Lament”, from her upcoming album, Cadence, on Free Dirt Records (due out April 21, 2023). The single features a brand-new and haunting music video from Cinder Well shot by Irish videographer Ruth Clinton of the band Landless. The song itself is a meditation on the impending massive changes of our times from the voice of a blackbird, a commonly featured messenger character in traditional folklore.

Roots duo Allison de Groot & Tatiana Hargreaves have just released an EP of hot outtakes from their critically acclaimed 2022 album, Hurricane Clarice, on Free Dirt Records. Produced by Phil Cook, the album was recorded as if for a live performance, so some of the duo's favorite tunes didn't make the final set, namely these three!

In Their Own Words:
When we recorded Hurricane Clarice, one of our main goals was to try and get as close to the feeling we have on stage when we perform together. Rather than do multiple takes of a tune back to back, our producer Phil Cook had the idea to play sets in the studio each day, just like in a live performance. Each day we would start with a set of seven to eight tunes and just play through the whole thing, only stopping to re-tune in between tunings. Afterwards, we would take a short break and play the same set in reverse order. We had two main sets we would play through twice each day – one for high tunings and one for low tunings. Some repertoire we knew we wanted to include on the album, but we also swapped out different tunes each set to keep it fresh and see what would happen. By the end of our time in the studio, we had 28 tunes and songs to choose from, only nine of which made it onto the album. The tunes in this outtakes release are some of our favorite additional tunes that we played.

The tunes in this outtakes release are some of our favorite additional tunes that we played. Sunnyside and The Snowstorm we did two takes of on different days, choosing the Saturday takes for both of them. Featherbed we just played once in our ‘A tunes’ setlist on the last day of recording. We learned Sunnyside from various sources, primarily the Vernon Solomon recording on the County Sales Texas Hoedown album, but also from several jam recordings of Terry Morris (you may notice some Terry Morris licks in the fiddle part). The Snowstorm we learned from a field recording of Darley Fulks from Wolfe County, Kentucky recorded by John Harrod. With “The Snowstorm”, we imagine it as Fulks’ creative response to Vivaldi’s Four Seasons – full of drama and intrigue. Next to Wolfe County is Magoffin County, the home of John Morgan Salyer. His tune Featherbed is one of our favorites to play together and we joyously play it for almost 5 minutes.

With his new album, Let All Who Will, acclaimed Los Angeles singer and songwriter Chris Pierce delivers a powerful set of songs that amplify unheralded voices and aim to bring us together across the bitter trenches that divide us. Pierce’s new album is a follow-up to his critically acclaimed 2021 acoustic album, American Silence, which was heralded as a masterpiece of protest folk songwriting by folks at NPR, Rolling Stone, and many more. Co-produced by Niko Bolas (Neil Young, The Mavericks) and Dave Resnik (Sonia Dada, Mavis Staples), Let All Who Will was recorded in Hollywood, CA at the legendary Sunset Sound. The new album is packed with intense storytelling, intuitive spontaneity, and powerful performances that capture a vivid snapshot of the kinship at the sessions, all supporting Pierce’s unmistakable and soulfully dynamic vocals.

It’s clear from his songwriting that Chris Pierce holds a strong belief that songs can cut through the isolated and static feelings of individuals worn down by the uncertainty of everyday life. Songs can unite us under one sonic roof to feel something together, be it pain, sorrow, frustration, joy, hope, or freedom. But though Pierce believes in the unifying power of music, Let All Who Will (coming September 1, 2023 on Friends at Work / Downtown Distribution) does not flinch away from the harsh realities of being Black in America. Rather, it focuses a blistering lens on historical and modern injustice, trusting the audience to understand that justice and compassion show the only way forward for our nation.

Los Angeles' own Chris Pierce, acclaimed singer and songwriter in his own vein of Americana Soul, has been asked to be open the legendary Neil Young's first tour back from COVID this July 2023. "It’s an incredibly sacred honor to be asked to open Neil Young’s upcoming tour," Pierce says. "I’ve been a lifelong fan, and this moment is very personal to me, knowing that Neil dealt with a childhood illness and overcame adversity in such an incredible way, sharing his music all over the world and touching so many hearts. I too, have overcome adversity, going deaf at 15 years old, scratching and clawing my way back for years. I’m looking forward to a soulful and venerable experience."

Pierce has a new album, Let All Who Will, coming September 1, 2023 and a brand-new single out now, "Tulsa Town." The new single shines a light on the terrible history of the Tulsa Race Massacre just over a hundred years later, pointing towards injustice in our modern day as well.

Pierce's 2021 album, American Silence, was universally acclaimed, gathering praise from NPR, Rolling Stone, No Depression, SiriusXM, World Cafe, and many more.

Neil Young + Chris Pierce

On Sale Wednesday 6/14 at 10amPT (below)

07-01 Los Angeles, CA - John Anson Ford

07-02 Los Angeles, CA - John Anson Ford

07-04 Los Angeles, CA - John Anson Ford

07-05 Los Angeles, CA - John Anson Ford

07-07 Santa Barbara, CA - Santa Barbara Bowl

On Sale Monday 6/12 at 10amPT (below)

07-08 Paso Robles, CA - Vina Robles Amphitheatre

07-11 San Diego, CA - The Shell

07-13 Los Angeles, CA - The Greek Theatre

07-15 Berkeley, CA - The Greek

07-17 Bend, OR - Hayden Homes Amphitheater

07-18 Ridgefield, WA - RV Inn Style Resorts Amphitheater

07-20 Auburn, WA - White River Amphitheatre

07-23 Napa, CA - Oxbow RiverStage

Los Angeles' own Chris Pierce, acclaimed singer and songwriter in his own vein of Americana Soul, has been asked to be open the legendary Neil Young's first tour back from COVID this July 2023. "It’s an incredibly sacred honor to be asked to open Neil Young’s upcoming tour," Pierce says. "I’ve been a lifelong fan, and this moment is very personal to me, knowing that Neil dealt with a childhood illness and overcame adversity in such an incredible way, sharing his music all over the world and touching so many hearts. I too, have overcome adversity, going deaf at 15 years old, scratching and clawing my way back for years. I’m looking forward to a soulful and venerable experience."

Pierce has a new album, Let All Who Will, coming September 1, 2023 and a brand-new single out now, "Tulsa Town." The new single shines a light on the terrible history of the Tulsa Race Massacre just over a hundred years later, pointing towards injustice in our modern day as well.

Pierce's 2021 album, American Silence, was universally acclaimed, gathering praise from NPR, Rolling Stone, No Depression, SiriusXM, World Cafe, and many more.

Neil Young + Chris Pierce

On Sale Wednesday 6/14 at 10amPT (below)

07-01 Los Angeles, CA - John Anson Ford

07-02 Los Angeles, CA - John Anson Ford

07-04 Los Angeles, CA - John Anson Ford

07-05 Los Angeles, CA - John Anson Ford

07-07 Santa Barbara, CA - Santa Barbara Bowl

On Sale Monday 6/12 at 10amPT (below)

07-08 Paso Robles, CA - Vina Robles Amphitheatre

07-11 San Diego, CA - The Shell

07-13 Los Angeles, CA - The Greek Theatre

07-15 Berkeley, CA - The Greek

07-17 Bend, OR - Hayden Homes Amphitheater

07-18 Ridgefield, WA - RV Inn Style Resorts Amphitheater

07-20 Auburn, WA - White River Amphitheatre

07-23 Napa, CA - Oxbow RiverStage

Still on tour opening for Neil Young to thousands of fans every night, Chris Pierce is living the dream of every songwriter! But home looms ever large in his mind, and with his new single released today, he's looking at the importance of home through the lens of welcome and forgiveness.

Here's what Chris has to say about the single, "Home": "The feeling of being home means something different to anyone you ask.  For some folks, it’s a memory of a place that no longer physically exists.  For others, it’s a place of refuge that can be found in the sacred depths of the heart.  This song “Home” is about a pathway to a feeling of being welcomed and celebrated in a space for your spirit and full journey, not just the good parts…all of it.  “Home” is also about forgiveness.  Forgiving yourself and those in your life who have may not be on the path that you laid out for them.  It’s about letting loved ones back into your heart after life’s challenges.  The groove and rhythm of “Home” have the celebratory feel of a rite of passage where the soul and spirit are elevated."

With his new album, Let All Who Will, acclaimed Los Angeles singer and songwriter Chris Pierce delivers a powerful set of songs that amplify unheralded voices and aim to bring us together across the bitter trenches that divide us. Pierce’s new album is a follow-up to his critically acclaimed 2021 acoustic album, American Silence, which was heralded as a masterpiece of protest folk songwriting by folks at NPR, Rolling Stone, and many more. Co-produced by Niko Bolas (Neil Young, The Mavericks) and Dave Resnik (Sonia Dada, Mavis Staples), Let All Who Will was recorded in Hollywood, CA at the legendary Sunset Sound. The new album is packed with intense storytelling, intuitive spontaneity, and powerful performances that capture a vivid snapshot of the kinship at the sessions, all supporting Pierce’s unmistakable and soulfully dynamic vocals. It’s clear from his songwriting that Chris Pierce holds a strong belief that songs can cut through the isolated and static feelings of individuals worn down by the uncertainty of everyday life. Songs can unite us under one sonic roof to feel something together, be it pain, sorrow, frustration, joy, hope, or freedom. But though Pierce believes in the unifying power of music, Let All Who Will (coming September 1, 2023 on Friends at Work / Downtown Distribution) does not flinch away from the harsh realities of being Black in America. Rather, it focuses a blistering lens on historical and modern injustice, trusting the audience to understand that justice and compassion show the only way forward for our nation.

Born and raised in Los Angeles, Chris Pierce is a much loved artist in the city, known for his cross-genre work, his many collaborations, and his soul-drenched vocals that pay homage to the true roots of Americana. In making his new album, Let All Who Will, Pierce was able to draw from an incredible array of Los Angeles musicians, each wanting to be part of his sonic magic. The album features an all-star personnel list including Doug Pettibone (Lucinda Williams, Ray LaMontagne), Sunny War, Michael Jerome (Richard Thompson, Blind Boys of Alabama), Kaveh Rastegar (John Legend, Bruce Springsteen), Kelvin Holly (Little Richard, Peggi Young), Deron Johnson (Miles Davis, Seal), Dave Palmer (Joe Henry, Susan Tedeschi), Maiya Sykes (Macy Gray, Postmodern Jukebox), Jessica Childress (Aloe Blacc, Rod Stewart), Charles Jones (Jennifer Hudson, Joy Oladokun), and Ginger Murphy (Kamasi Washington, Kendrick Lamar).

With Let All Who Will, Chris Pierce brings together two key strains of American music: Protest Folk and Blues & Soul. It’s the same combination that underpins the music of the American civil rights movement, from Harry Belafonte to Odetta to Paul Robeson to Josh White, but Pierce isn’t afraid to update the sound for modern times, informed by the many great rock and indie artists he’s worked with in Los Angeles and beyond. On the song “Sidney Poitier,” Pierce calls out the civil rights era directly, commemorating the passing of a great American hero. Pierce’s vision is arguably strongest on the album’s standout track, the deeply powerful “Tulsa Town.” Written to commemorate the 100 year anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre, a shocking, historical act of mass murder that targeted a thriving Black community in Oklahoma. Over a swaying, waltz beat, Pierce bitterly decries “Well Tulsa Town is burning down / Ashes falling to the ground / if you build it up, they’ll break it down.” On “Mr. McMartin,” Pierce reminisces on the many years of social change that a humble street sweeper might have seen, trying to decide whether real change is finally or coming or not. With “Meet Me at the Bottom,” he offers up a place for us all to come together and rise up. It may be at the bottom, but we don’t have to climb to the top alone. On lead single “45 Jukebox”, Pierce looks at the difficult art of songwriting, and the change it can bring to our own lives.

It’s the rare songwriter that is willing to take a chance on telling a story that uncovers hard realities, but Chris Pierce sees his songs not only as a way to find the truth, but as a way to bring us together around that very truth. It’s a brave idea, and one that’s born fruit for Pierce as he’s seen his national and international career rise following acclaimed albums and performances. To see Pierce on stage is to be welcomed into his world with open arms, to engage in conversation on how to make everyone’s world better. With Let All Who Will, Pierce’s songs examine the essentials of the human condition: resilience, growth, emotion, aspiration, conflict, and mortality.

Chris Pierce on Tour

Mammoth Lakes, CA

Rock 'n' Rye

September 3, 2023

Baker City, OR

Churchill

September 5, 2023

Portland, OR

Mississippi Studios

September 6, 2023

Coos Bay, OR

Music on the Bay

September 7, 2023

Bellingham, WA

Mount Baker Theater

September 9, 2023

Seattle, WA

Tractor Tavern

September 10, 2023

Franklin, TN

Mountain Stage

September 23, 2023

Santa Maria, CA

Presqu'ile Winery

October 27, 2023

'LET ALL WHO WILL' TOUR

San Pedro, CA

The Grand Annex

November 3, 2023

Monkton, MD

Manor Mill

November 7, 2023

​Saratoga Springs, NY

​Caffe Lena

November 8, 2023

Portsmouth, NH

Press Room

November 9, 2023

New York, NY

Symphony Space

​November 10, 2023

Bluegrass supergroup Mighty Poplar has clinched the nomination for Best Bluegrass Album from the 2023 GRAMMY Awards! Featuring Andrew Marlin of Watchhouse, Chris "Critter" Eldridge and Noam Pikelny of Punch Brothers, Greg Garrison of Leftover Salmon, and Alex Hargreaves of Billy Strings' band, this powerhouse of pickers wowed audience with a boldly innovative and passionately curious debut album. Drawn together at informal jams at bluegrass festivals, each member of Mighty Poplar gloried in the pure joy of creation and improvisation that's at the heart of true bluegrass.

"It's an honor to receive this recognition in the bluegrass category," says Jonathan Een Newton of Free Dirt Records. "Mighty Poplar began as a passion project between friends who grew up with previous supergroups like the Bluegrass Album Band. The stripped down, straight ahead feel of their debut record has clearly resonated with folks. I'm so proud of the team we put together to shepherd this release into the world." Free Dirt Records has previously received GRAMMY nominations for Che Apalache ("Best Folk Album" nomination in 2020) and Julian Lage & Chris Eldridge ("Best Contemporary Instrumental Album" in 2018).

Fresh off a "Best Bluegrass Album" GRAMMY Nomination, Mighty Poplar is headed out on the road in Winter 2024. Bringing together Andrew Marlin from Watchhouse, Noam Pikelny and Chris Eldridge from Punch Brothers, and Greg Garrison (Leftover Salmon), Mighty Poplar was formed as a vehicle for these artists to explore their love of improvisation through bluegrass. Legendary bluegrass fiddler Stuart Duncan will be joining them on tour!

Thursday, February 15, 2024
Vilar PAC - Beaver Creek, CO

Friday, February 16, 2024
Ogden Theater - Denver, CO

Saturday, February 17, 2024
Riverwalk Center - Breckenridge, CO

Sunday, February 18, 2024
Washington's - Fort Collins, CO

Tuesday, February 20, 2024
Treefort Music Hall - Boise, ID

Wednesday, February 21, 2024
Revolution Hall - Portland, OR

Friday, February 23 - Saturday February 24, 2024
WinterGrass Music Festival - Bellevue, WA

Mighty Poplar’s debut shows a level of curiosity and engagement that’s only found at the highest echelons of music making. What distinguishes them from the members' full-time endeavors in bands like Punch Brothers or Watchhouse is that this band "is a chance to play real deal bluegrass,” says Eldridge. Pikelny agrees, adding that “in some ways this album is biographical for each one of us. It was an opportunity to play the music that we love at our core, and the music that has informed what we do in our other long-standing projects.” Ultimately, there was a kind of joy and relief in coming back to their roots in celebration and camaraderie. “There’s a reunion element to this,” he says, “which is ridiculous because it was the first time all five of us were in the same room. But the ease in which it came together felt like we were getting the band back together.”

Mighty Poplar, an all-star bluegrass ensemble, has been honored with a nomination for Best Bluegrass Album at this year's Grammy Awards. Comprising some of the most talented musicians in the genre, the group brings together Andrew Marlin of Watchhouse, Noam Pikelny and Chris Eldridge of Punch Brothers, Greg Garrison of Leftover Salmon, and Alex Hargreaves, known for his work with Billy Strings.

Their self-titled debut album, released on March 31st, 2023, is a testament to the band's mastery of bluegrass music and its rich traditions. Recorded in a rural studio outside Nashville, the album captures the essence of bluegrass with a collection of songs ranging from early Appalachian string band tunes to contemporary compositions.

The nomination recognizes Mighty Poplar's commitment to the roots of bluegrass while infusing their music with a fresh, modern sensibility. The album includes reimagined classics from icons such as Hazel Dickens & Alice Gerrard, John Hartford, Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, and Norman Blake, showcasing the band's versatility and deep respect for the genre.

Mighty Poplar's album has been praised for its authentic sound, a product of the members' spontaneous and collaborative recording process. The Grammy nomination highlights not only their individual talents but also their collective chemistry, proving that they are more than the sum of their parts.

The Grammy Awards, known for recognizing the best in music, will be held on February 4th, 2024. Mighty Poplar's nomination places them among the elite in the bluegrass genre, celebrating their significant contribution to the musical landscape.

Oceans flow through the center of Cinder Well’s music. "Cadence," the new album from Amelia Baker’s experimental folk project, drifts between two far-flung seas: the hazy California coast where she grew up, and the wind-torn swells of Western Ireland that she’s come to love. Due out April 21, 2023, on Free Dirt Records, the album’s name refers to the cycles of our turbulent lives, to the uncertain tides that push us forward and back. Recorded at Hen House Studios, just blocks from the famed Venice Beach Boardwalk in Los Angeles, the songs of "Cadence" search for a sense of grounding and a feeling of home. Though California’s beaches are the backdrop of this album, Irish influences emerge as well. The folklore of the old ways still looms in her mind, now tinged with the kind of growth that comes from returning to your roots. With "Cadence," Baker expands Cinder Well’s sound to include percussion as well as trance electric guitar and expansive string parts courtesy of Cormac MacDiarmada of Lankum. While there are still hints of the doom folk that Cinder Well is known for, "Cadence" balances heavy lyrics with a more expansive sound that nods to LA’s mythical Laurel Canyon years. “So much of my music has been made far from home,” Baker says. “There was something about recording in California that felt cathartic.” Caught between two worlds, "Cadence" is about recapturing the rhythms of life after a time of deep isolation, about finding balance amongst uncertainty.

Cinder Well’s acclaimed previous album, "No Summer," was a love letter to her new adopted home in Western Ireland’s County Clare. But as the pandemic descended and cut her off from America with a long period of intense quarantine, she knew it was time to return home. Traveling back to her hometown on the central coast of California, she took the time and space to hone a creativity that had been blunted by isolation. Natural imagery, always a key source of inspiration for Cinder Well’s songwriting, appears again in songs resplendent with images of moonlit caves, edgy cliffs, dark purple sunsets, birds, and shadows. Plants growing out of cracks in rocks in the song "Well on Fire" symbolize resilience, and the cold Atlantic wind in "Gone the Holding" embodies the hardness of consequence. “These songs have a feeling of being lost in the woods, but writing from that place,” Baker explains. “They were written in a process of getting unstuck.”

While reconnecting with home and the sea, and resurrecting her childhood interest in surfing, Baker also focused on songwriting more deeply, determined to break through the creative block she felt. She experimented with electric guitar and worked on new tunings inspired by UK folk guitarist Nic Jones, adapting the music to her own voice using down-tuned instruments. She pored over the 90s New Age classic "The Artist’s Way," and wrote "Overgrown," her first song in the last ten years in a major key. A chance connection with Venice Beach recording engineer Harlan Steinberger’s Hen House Studios provided the perfect opportunity to record in Los Angeles, a place she’d always dreamed of making an album. In another moment of serendipity, an old high school friend, Phillip Rogers (Haley Heynderickx), joined her on drums and collaborated on arrangements. Contributing musicians include bassist Neal Heppleston (Jim Ghedi), violist Jake Falby, and Cormac MacDiarmada (Lankum), whose evocative and lush string parts allow Cinder Well’s transcendental voice to soar more than ever before. Heavy yet hopeful, "Cadence" moves beyond the minimalism of Cinder Well’s previous album. It is expansive, bringing brighter color and higher peaks to her songs, perhaps a reflection of the world outside the studio. “It’s so wild,” she says, “you’re in the quiet sanctuary of the studio behind thick wooden doors, then you walk outside and it’s the chaos of Venice Beach.” Driving down the coast along the beautifully scenic Highway 1, Cinder Well sang along to Joni Mitchell’s "Court and Spark" to warm up for the recording sessions, then settled into a calming space that allowed her to explore new directions for her music.

The feeling of being suspended between two worlds is subtly, yet profoundly, woven throughout "Cadence." “I was continuously trying to reconcile having homes in two places,” Baker says. “I was trying to hold both of those parts of me.” "Cadence" is an album torn between home and a new land you’ve come to love. It’s about finding acceptance in the ever-changing tides, and reclaiming your creativity during a time of great personal strife. Splitting her time now between two West Coasts (Ireland and California), she reflects that “the ocean is my home base no matter where I am.” Perhaps it’s not a coincidence that she opens "Cadence" with a song about selkies—seals that turn human on land. More than simply a folk legend, the shapeshifting selkies are a befitting metaphor for Cinder Well herself: a songwriter tied to the ebb and flow of the ocean’s tides, whether they be half a world apart or a few steps from her home.

Coming May 3, 2024, this new album coming from anarcho labels PM Press and Free Dirt Records resurrects the lost history of the Wobblies' labor battles during the Spokane Free Speech fights of 1909. Surrounded by strike-busting Salvation Army bands paid for by the bosses, the International Workers of the World nicknamed them "Starvation Army" bands and fought back with their own IWW Brass Band. Lampooning and satirizing the religious imagery and jingoism of the scabs in the Salvation Army, the IWW Brass Band's songs would set the template for using folk song as a form of protest. This forgotten history has uncomfortable parables with today's modern world, and much to say about the power of creative protest.

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There is still power in a union and its songs. Starvation Army: Band Music No. 1 - Songs of the IWW and the Salvation Army resurrects the IWW’s forgotten brass band repertoire. These songs helped the “Wobblies” prevail in the infamous Spokane Free Speech Fight of 1910, where protestors battled for the right to organize against bad pay and corrupt bosses. In response, the companies hired the local Salvation Army band (nicknamed “starvation” by the workers) to drown out their protests. Fighting back, J.H. Walsh’s IWW Brass Band waged sonic war with note-for-note parodies of these popular songs in a battle of the bands. Eventually the “Wobblies” won the public’s sympathy and helped overturn the ruling that made public protest illegal, in no small part through their music. This collection, performed by the Brass Band of Columbus together with New York Democratic Socialist choir Sing in Solidarity, features songs from the IWW’s Little Red Songbook, including those composed by the legendary Joe Hill, a surreal piece by the eclectic classical composer Charles Ives, as well as old Christian hymns paired with satirical lyrics. It’s a landmark revival of a forgotten thread of protest music and what conductor and project creator Chris David Westover-Muñoz says he hopes will renew the labor singing tradition.

Acclaimed singer-songwriter and musician, Kaia Kater, unveils "In Montreal," the latest single from her highly anticipated album, Strange Medicine, set to release on May 17, 2024, via Free Dirt Records. Following the success of her previous singles, "Fédon" featuring Taj Mahal and "The Internet," Kater continues to enchant listeners with her profound storytelling and musical prowess.

"In Montreal" serves as a vibrant homage to Kater’s hometown, capturing the essence of its rich musical heritage and the personal connection she shares with the city. Inspired by the bleakness of the 2021 winter, Kater crafts an upbeat narrative that mirrors the feelings of a lost poet amidst the backdrop of Montreal's storied streets, paying tribute to legendary local artists like Leonard Cohen and Kate & Anna McGarrigle.

Kaia Kater describes "In Montreal" as a "reflection on the gravitational pull of my hometown, Montreal." She elaborates, "It now feels like ghosts of my former selves haunt the city. I wanted to write an upbeat song about a poet feeling lost and aimless, tectonic plates stacked in their sink—a nod to Leonard Cohen, Kate & Anna McGarrigle, and all the other incredible songwriters of Montreal."

Strange Medicine opens with a haunting narrative about women persecuted as witches in 17th century Salem, symbolizing a journey through oppression and the resilience of women and marginalized communities throughout history. The album is a personal exploration and a dialogue with these historical figures, reflecting Kater’s growth as an artist and individual.

After her celebrated 2018 album, Grenades, and a stint at film school to learn composition, Kater has delved deeper into her songwriting craft. This forthcoming album marks her most personal and revolutionary work to date, blending influences from minimalist composition, jazz, and film scores to create a rich and diverse soundscape.

Produced in collaboration with Joe Grass (Elisapie, The Barr Brothers), Strange Medicine features contributions from close friends and colleagues, including Aoife O’Donovan, Allison Russell, and the legendary Taj Mahal, providing a lush backdrop to Kater’s introspective lyrics.

Kater’s latest project transcends the confines of Americana, offering a Black Feminist perspective on a genre that has historically marginalized Black women's voices. It’s a celebration of self-identity and empowerment, inspired by Lucille Clifton’s poem "won’t you celebrate with me."

As Kaia Kater gears up for the release of Strange Medicine, "In Montreal" stands as a testament to her innovative spirit and the enduring allure of her musical roots. The single is now available on all major streaming platforms, including Spotify, where fans can also enjoy her previous releases.

About Kaia Kater: Kaia Kater is a Grenadian-Canadian singer-songwriter renowned for her unique blend of folk and Americana. A banjoist and storyteller, Kater’s music delves into themes of identity, migration, and social justice, making her one of the most compelling voices of her generation.

Kaia Kater’s music is available for streaming on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/5rbv19FUmbvYZ9ANnIh8wl?si=1H7lYcQSSIWQxz…

Watch "In Montreal" on YouTube: https://youtu.be/PZMft0_9Dng