SINGING ALONG AS A FAN IN CONCERT CROWD GIVES JULIE RHODES IMPETUS TO GET UP ON STAGE AFTER LIFE-CHANGING CONVERSATION

SINGING ALONG AS A FAN IN CONCERT CROWD GIVES JULIE RHODES IMPETUS TO GET UP ON STAGE AFTER LIFE-CHANGING CONVERSATION

Julie Rhodes wasn’t singing along to get anyone’s attention. She was swept up in the songs of Yep Roc Records artist Jonah Tolchin at a house show in Providence, RI and sang along. When support artist Dan Blakesleee approached her after the set to tell her that he’d heard her stunning voice and to ask if she was an artist, she admitted to him that she was just a fan. He challenged her to write her first song, which she did on the drive from Providence back to Somerville. Julie recalls, “When I got home, I recorded it on my phone and sent it to Jonah and Dan the next day with the message, ‘thanks for the inspiration.’ The two of them listened to the song out loud in a Staples. Jonah reached out immediately. He was really impressed and encouraged me to keep going.” In fact, he went one step further, mentoring her as a musician.

After hearing the second song she wrote, Tolchin began to mentor her,, at first having her guest on his sets and later producing her debut album ‘Bound To Meet The Devil.’ Tolchin says, “Julie Rhodes is the future of soulful music. She holds in her heart, mind, and vocal chords what the world needs to hear. I think that it will mark the first chapter of an awe-inspiring career for her.”

In under two years, that journey has taken her to the FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, AL, to record debut album as well to the stages of CMJ and Brooklyn’s Baby’s All Right. Pop Matters recently hailed the LP as “the arrival of a significant new Americana/blues talent.”

CITY WINERY TO HOST LEAD BELLY FEST DECEMBER 8 WITH WALTER TROUT, TOM CHAPIN & JON COBERT, DANA FUCHS, AND MORE

CONCERT TRIBUTE TO LEAD BELLY PREVIEWS FEB 4, 2016 CARNEGIE HALL EXTRAVAGANZA

CHARITY CONCERT TO RAISE FUNDS FOR NYC’S ASSOCIATION TO BENEFIT CHILDREN (ABC), PROJECT ALS, AND SHOOTING STAR CHASE

“The stars came out to pay tribute in an incredible ensemble of talent. ‘Lead Belly Fest’ was, more than just a concert – it was a happening: without doubt one of the most diverse and authentic productions that this venerable hall has witnessed in many a year…” - The London Times

Lead Belly Fest will make its American debut after a sold out show at Royal Albert Hall this summer as Walter Trout, Dana Fuchs, Sari, Ali Isabella, and Tom Chapin & Jon Cobert take the City Winery stage December 8 to pay tribute to the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer. This show will preview a larger concert at Carnegie Hall, which will take place in 2016. Click here for a playlist of artists performing at City Winery’s Lead Belly Fest.

+ Revitalized after a liver transplant, the “high octane” (UNCUT) Walter Trout is a veteran of Canned Heat and John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers. Guitar World premiered his new song “Almost Gone” from his recent release ‘Battle Scars.’ Trout previously performed at Royal Albert Hall’s inaugural Lead Belly Fest this summer.

+ Tom Chapin and Jon Cobert will perform together. The NY Times has called three-time GRAMMY winner Chapin “one of the great personalities in contemporary folk music,” continuing, “Warm spirit, infectious humor, and sensitive satiric songs.” Jon Cobert has recorded and played with John Lennon, Bruce Springsteen, Jackson Browne, and Al Green.

+ Just 19 years of age, Ali Isabella has already captivated the world, with singles in the top 20 on both the Hotdisc chart in the UK and on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Sales Chart. She reached #1 on the Billboard Country Hot Single Sales chart as well, appearing on FOX 5 Morning TV show Good Day New York and on FUSE News TV and opening at Wembley Arena in London for Reba McEntire and Lonestar.

+ New Yorker Dana Fuchs’ latest album ‘Songs From the Road’ was recorded at NYC’s Highline Ballroom. A live show by the Dana Fuchs Band is an assault on all the senses. UK’s Classic Rock Magazine, who famously declared Dana’s voice as “juke-joint dirty and illicit, evoking Janis Joplin, Mick Jagger and a cigarette butt bobbing in a glass of bourbon.”

+ New York Blues Hall of Fame singer and songwriter Sari is a tornado with blues in her blood. She took the international blues scene by storm as the powerhouse lead vocalist for Blues Hall of Fame guitarist Joe Louis Walker. Sari has appeared on CONAN. Most notable is her work on “Toast to Freedom” for Amnesty International, where she collaborated with many musical legends including Warren Haynes, Levon Helm, Keb Mo’, Taj Mahal, Marianne Faithful, Rosanne Cash, Donald Fagan, Eric Burdon, and Carly Simon.

Inspired by Lead Belly’s love of children, proceeds from the concert will go to NYC’s Association to Benefit Children (ABC). The Association to Benefit Children (ABC) is dedicated to bringing joy and warmth to disadvantaged children and their families through compassionate, sustainable, comprehensive and integrated services, designed to permanently break the cycles of abuse, neglect, sickness and homelessness.

ABC’s humane and innovative programs today include early childhood education for infants, toddlers and preschoolers, educational advocacy, housing assistance, mental health services, family support and preservation, crisis intervention, therapeutic out-of-school and summer day camp programs, youth leadership development and mentoring.

Project A.L.S. was founded in 1998, as a non-profit 501(c)3, when Jenifer Estess, a 35-year-old New York theater and film producer, was diagnosed with ALS. Told at the time of diagnosis to “max out her credit cards and eat junk food,” Jenifer instead committed her efforts to making a difference for people with ALS—and producing treatments and a cure.

Project A.L.S. identifies and funds the most promising scientific research that will lead to the first effective treatments and a cure for ALS. The new paradigm for brain disease research, Project A.L.S. recruits the world’s best scientists and doctors to work together rationally and aggressively toward a better understanding of the ALS disease process and, in parallel, better therapeutic strategies.

Shooting Star Chase is a leading children’s hospice charity caring for babies, children and young people with life-limiting conditions, and their families. Whether lives are measured in days, weeks, months or years, Shooting Star is there to make every moment count. It supports families from diagnosis to end of life and throughout bereavement with a range of nursing, practical, emotional and medical care.

WHO: Walter Trout, Tom Chapin & Jon Cobert, Dana Fuchs, Sari, Ali Isabella

WHAT: Lead Belly Fest at City Winery

WHEN: 10pm, December 8, 2015

WHERE: City Winery, 155 Varick St, NYC

TICKETS: $22-30 via City Winery or here

Lead Belly Fest at Carnegie Hall photos

 Above: Lead Belly, courtesy Lead Belly: A Life In Pictures

above: Lead Belly, photo by Van Fisher

  Lead Belly, courtesy Lead Belly: A Life In Pictures

Eric Burdon (of the Animals), credit: Marianna Burdon

Tom Paley (of the New Lost City Ramblers) and Ben Paley at Royal Albert Hall

Above: Dom Flemons, Credit: Michael Weintrob

Above: Ali Isabella

Above: Guy Davis, credit: Joe Rosen 

Above: John Davis, credit: John Halpern

Above: Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Credit: Greg Logan

 

Above: Walter Trout

 Above: Dana Fuchs

Above:  Dana Fuchs

Above: Sari

Above: Edgar Winter

Above: Marky Ramone, by Martin Bonetto

Above: Josh White, Jr.

Julie Rhodes "In Your Garden" postable track

Leland Sundries "Radiator Sabotage" single

STUNNING NEW VOCALIST TRAVELS TO MUSCLE SHOALS TO CUT DEBUT ‘BOUND TO MEET THE DEVIL’ OUT FEB 26

SPOONER OLDHAM, SARA WATKINS, GREG LEISZ, AND YEP ROC ARTIST JONAH TOLCHIN AMONG GUESTS ON REMARKABLE DEBUT ALBUM

‘Bound To Meet the Devil’ (February 26, 2016) marks the arrival of a powerhouse new vocalist on the Americana scene: Julie Rhodes. Just two years ago, she hadn’t yet graced the stage, though she was an ardent fan and working at an ice cream parlor. Yep Roc Records artist Jonah Tolchin heard her singing along to one of his songs in the audience; after the show, they talked and Tolchin was shocked to learn that Julie wasn’t (yet) an artist with the vocal talents that she possessed. Less than a year later, Tochin was co-producing and playing guitar on ‘Bound To Meet the Devil.’

Already, she’s earned a northeast fanbase, has performed at venues like NYC’s Baby’s All Right, and has played CMJ. Counting Crows’ Adam Duritz said, “Get ready to be amazed by Julie Rhodes.”

Recorded in her native New England as well as at FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, AL, the 11-song full-length studio LP also includes heavy hitters such as Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Spooner Oldham, Nickel Creek's Sara Watkins, and Greg Leisz (Paul Westerberg, Dave Alvin, Lucinda Williams). It was mixed by Grammy Award-winner Sheldon Gomberg and mastered by 1809 Studios.

The resulting album has an immediate, visceral impact from first listen onwards, bearing the influences of singers like Irma Thomas, Shovels & Rope, Etta James, and Bonnie Raitt. The longing of album opener “In Your Garden” to her knowing vocals over the Muscle Shoals groove of “Collector Man.” The band provides ample support behind her, from the relaxed behind-the-beat “Hey Stranger” to the pure soul of “Hurricane.” Though the writing is uniformly strong, one of the album’s highlights is a spine-tingling cover of Son House’s “Grinnin’ In Your Face.”

Look out for concert announcements coming soon.

Julie Rhodes photos and album art

Above credit: Roberto Terrones, click for high res

Above credit: Roberto Terrones, click for high res

Above credit: Roberto Terrones, click for high res

Above credit: Roberto Terrones, click for high res

Above credit: Roberto Terrones, click for high res