Sunday, September 29, 2024

Alash

ALASH are masters of Tuvan throat singing (xöömei), a remarkable technique for singing multiple pitches at the same time. What distinguishes this trio from earlier generations of Tuvan throat singers is the subtle infusion of modern influences into their traditional music. One can find complex harmonies, western instruments, and contemporary song forms in Alash’s music, but its overall sound and spirit remain decidedly Tuvan.
Trained in traditional Tuvan music since childhood, the Alash musicians studied at Kyzyl Arts College just as Tuva was beginning to open up to the West. They formed a traditional ensemble and won multiple awards for traditional throat singing
in international xöömei competitions, both as an ensemble and as individuals. At the same time, they paid close attention to new trends coming out of the West. They have borrowed newideas that mesh well with the sound and feel of traditional
Tuvan music, but they have never sacrificed the integrity of their own heritage in an effort to make their music more hip.

Sunday, October 13, 2024

Kelly Hunt

On the walls of any local used music shop there hangs a gallery of mysteries. Picked up and handed down across the decades, each instrument contains the imprints and stories of those who have played it before, most of which remain untold. For New Orleans-based songwriter Kelly Hunt, the most intriguing of these stories is the origin of her anonymous calfskin tenor banjo. “I really wasn’t looking for it,” she says, “but I opened up the case and found a note saying, ‘This banjo was played by a man named Ira Tamm in his dog and pony show from 1920 to 1935.’ It was unlike any banjo I’d ever heard…so warm and mellow, with an almost harp-like quality to it, very soulful”—apt words for the Memphis native’s debut album, Even The Sparrow, which was released in May 2019 and nominated for the International Folk Music Awards “2019 Album of the Year.”
The daughter of an opera singer and a saxophonist, Hunt was raised in Memphis, TN amidst a motley mélange of musical influences ranging from Rachmaninov to Joni Mitchell to Mississippi John Hurt. She grew up singing in choirs, poring over poetry books, and writing her own music as a matter of course, first on piano then 5-string banjo. After being introduced to the banjo in college while studying French and visual arts, Hunt began to develop her own improvised style of playing, combining old-time picking styles with the percussive origins of the instrument. After college, Hunt embarked on a rambling path through career pursuits in farming, French breadmaking, and visual arts, ultimately landing in Kansas City, where she would go on to write and record her debut album, Even the Sparrow.

Sunday, November 17, 2024

Moonfruits

Moonfruits—led by Ottawa-based partners Alex Millaire and Kaitlin Milroy—craft contemporary folk, organically alternating between French and English, that addresses our collective humanity with heart, wit, and wonder. This Stingray Rising Star, SOCAN, and Trille Or award-winning group has toured their transportive live show across Canada, the US, France, Belgium, and Germany.
Moonfruits’ lushly orchestrated sophomore album, Salt (2022), is a 12-song suite that explores what it means to the band to live, dream, and raise a child in an era of climate change and deepening inequality. It tells the stories of their families and the kinds of communities they hope to help build.

Sunday, December 8, 2024

The Rough & Tumble

The Rough & Tumble, a dynamic duo comprised of Mallory Graham and Scott Tyler, have been captivating audiences with their unique blend of dumpster-folk and thrift store-Americana for over a decade. The Pennsylvania-born Graham and Central California’s Tyler have a knack for weaving together elements of joy, sorrow, comedy, and drama in their music, leaving audiences on the edge of their seats. In May 2023, the band released Only This Far, a 12-song collection drawing from the highs and lows of their lived experiences over all those years.
With a smorgasbord of eclectic instruments and a stunning blend of harmonious vocals, the band has crafted a work of profound emotional depth with this new album. The songs are a symphony of raw, unbridled emotion, weaving together tales of love, loss, and longing with a deft touch that could only be crafted by these two songwriters who have quite literally lived on the road for the better part of a decade. It’s a true testament to the band’s unwavering dedication to their craft.

Sunday, January 12, 2025

Peter Mulvey

Peter Mulvey has been a songwriter, road-dog, raconteur and almost-poet since before he can remember. Raised working-class Catholic on the Northwest side of Milwaukee, he took a semester in Ireland, and immediately began cutting classes to busk on Grafton Street in Dublin and hitchhike through the country, finding whatever gigs he could. Back stateside, he spent a couple years gigging in the Midwest before lighting out for Boston, where he returned to busking (this time in the subway) and coffeehouses. Small shows led to larger shows, which eventually led to regional and then national and international touring. The wheels have not stopped since.
Nineteen records, an illustrated book, thousands of live performances, a TEDx talk, a decades-long association with the National Youth Science Camp, opening for luminaries such as Ani DiFranco, Emmylou Harris, and Chuck Prophet, appearances on NPR, an annual autumn tour by bicycle, emceeing festivals, hosting his own boutique festival (the Lamplighter Sessions, in Boston and Wisconsin)… Mulvey never stops. He has built his life’s work on collaboration and an instinct for the eclectic and the vital. He folds everything he encounters into his work: poetry, social justice, scientific literacy, & a deeply abiding humanism are all on plain display in his art.

Sunday, February 9, 2025

Nigel Wearne

Nigel Wearne saunters after dark in the music of the night, blending blues, jazz and Americana-noir. Hailing from Gunditjmara country in the deep south of Australia, he’s a guitarist and multi-instrumentalist with diverse influences such as Nick Cave, Tom Waits and Rickie Lee Jones. A deep thinker and truth seeker with a penchant for all things peculiar, he sings of human frailty, grace and the cosmos; songwriting that cuts to the bone.
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Nigel has toured Australia, New Zealand, the US, UK and Canada and he’s had a huge past 12 months… in 2023 alone he toured the US three times, the UK twice and played a bunch of festivals including MerleFest (USA), AmericanaFest (USA), Cambridge Folk Festival (UK), Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion (USA), Mile of Music (USA) and Old Settler’s Music Festival (USA). 2024 has seen a UK winter tour and Official Showcases at UK Americana Music Week and Your Roots Are Showing (Ireland), with a return to the US later this year.

Sunday, March 30, 2025

Damn Tall Buildings

Witty & engaging, Damn Tall Buildings’ energizing music finds beauty and glory in the mundane workaday struggle of everyday life: time keeps passing and the seasons come and go, you scroll too much, you smoke too much, you lose yourself, only to sit with yourself & find yourself again, you laugh with your friends, and you look out the window & dream about what else might be out there. It all keeps coming around. You carry on, intent on flourishing and thriving. This is what Damn Tall Buildings sings about, what they seek to share with their audience.
In their early days, Damn Tall Buildings didn’t rehearse – they busked. Now, whether live or on record, the trio still radiates the energy of a crew of best friends playing bluegrass on the street. Anchoring that energy is their instrumental chops, their strong songwriting, and their varied influences that stretch beyond bluegrass, even beyond American roots music altogether. Whether sharing lead vocals and instrumental solos or blending their voices into high-spirited harmony, Damn Tall Buildings is a tight unit that contains more than the sum of its parts.

Sunday, April 6, 2025

ISMAY

There’s music you hear and there’s music you see, the best kind achieves both. ISMAY creates music that is a tapestry of alternative American roots full of alt-country textures and lush folk songs that transport you straight to the land where they were written – deeply rooted in the heart of Sonoma Mountain. It is music that transcends tradition and blurs boundaries, embodying the sound of the New American West.

Driven by singer/songwriter Avery Hellman, ISMAY released their debut full length album Songs of Sonoma Mountain in 2020, to widespread acclaim. It was named one of the 10 best Albums in the Bay Area and garnered features in American Songwriter, No Depression, Sonoma Magazine, and more. Their sophomore album, DESERT PAVEMENT (1/26/24) was produced by Andrew Marlin of Watchhouse and recorded at the famed Echo Mountain Recording studio in Asheville, NC. It is a brilliant representation of ISMAY’s unique sound, its songs evoking the landscapes and lifestyles of rural northern California, where Avery spent most of their 20s working the land on the family’s ranch. “The perspective of my songwriting is very rooted in ranch life,” says Avery. “I didn’t know what sound I was creating at first, but I knew I was writing songs that made me curious. That was the most important thing to me. I’m not trying to copy anybody else or take a predetermined path with my music. I’m just trying to be me, whatever that may be.” In other words, it’s ISMAY’s kind of music, owing more to geography than genre. With Desert Pavement, ISMAY paves a path toward a new horizon, filling the journey with songs about the sights, sounds, and singular characters found way out west.

Sunday, May 18, 2025

Martyn Joseph

Martyn Joseph is a completely unique and mind-blowing artist. Take everything you think you know about singer songwriters and rip it up. For one man and a guitar he creates a performance with a huge far-reaching sound that is energetic, compelling, and passionate. Be it to two hundred people or twenty thousand, he blows the crowd away night after night.

2023 is Martyn’s 41st year in the business, and started with him being part of BBC Radio 2’s “21st Century Folk “ project, wiuth his song “Albert’s Place” and included appearances on BBC Breakfast TV, the Jeremy Vine and Ken bruce shows on BBC RAdio along wiuth radio 4’s World at One.

Sunday, May 19, 2024

An Evening with Hiroya Tsukamoto

Hiroya is a one-of-a-kind guitarist and composer. Born and raised in Kyoto, Japan and in 2000, he received a scholarship to Berklee College of Music and came to the US. Since then, he has been performing internationally including United Nations, Blue Note in New York Japanese National Television. Hiroya released six albums. Most recently, he won 2nd place in International Finger Style Guitar Championship in 2022.

Sunday, Feb 11, 2024

An Evening with Crys Matthews

A troubadour of truth, Nashville resident Crys Matthews is among the brightest stars of the new generation of social justice music-makers. An award-winning, prolific lyricist and composer, Matthews blends Americana, folk, blues, and bluegrass into a bold, complex performance steeped in traditional melodies punctuated by honest, original lyrics. She is made for these times. Of Matthews, ASCAP VP & Creative Director Eric Philbrook says, “By wrapping honest emotions around her socially conscious messages and dynamically delivering them with a warm heart and a strong voice, she lifts our spirits just when we need it most in these troubled times.” Justin Hiltner of Bluegrass Situation adds, her gift is a “reminder of what beauty can occur when we bridge those divides.” Her hope-fueled, love-filled, social-justice album called Changemakers was released March 26, 2021, and the title track was named the International Folk Music Association’s “Song of the Year” in May of 2022.

Sunday, Dec 10, 2023

An Evening with Spencer LaJoye

Spencer LaJoye is a folk/pop singer songwriter, violinist, and vocal loop artist in Boston, MA, who believes everyone is made of the good stuff. A 2021 Kerrville New Folk Songwriting Competition winner, LaJoye (luh-JOY) makes music to tell the truth and return to their body as a queer person in recovery from American Christian evangelicalism. Delivering Broadway-esque melodies accompanied by a weathered dreadnought, their performances are equal parts confident quirk and elegant storytelling.

Spencer LaJoye is a folk/pop singer songwriter, violinist, and vocal loop artist in Boston, MA, who believes everyone is made of the good stuff. A 2021 Kerrville New Folk Songwriting Competition winner, LaJoye (luh-JOY) makes music to tell the truth and return to their body as a queer person in recovery from American Christian evangelicalism. Delivering Broadway-esque melodies accompanied by a weathered dreadnought, their performances are equal parts confident quirk and elegant storytelling.