Tuesday, December 22, 2015
Friday, December 18, 2015
LEAD BELLY FEST AT CARNEGIE HALL FEBRUARY 4, 2016
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PERFORMERS TO HONOR LONG-TIME NEW YORKER & ROCK
& ROLL HALL OF FAME INDUCTEE LEAD BELLY TO INCLUDE 5-TIME GRAMMY WINNER BUDDY
GUY; ERIC BURDON OF THE ANIMALS; & MANY MORE
CONCERT PROCEEDS GO TO NON-PROFITS THE ASSOCIATION TO
BENEFIT CHILDREN AND PROJECT ALS
“No Lead Belly, no
Beatles.” – George Harrison
“Lead Belly wasn’t an
influence, he was the influence.” – Van Morrison
Lead Belly Fest presents its first US performance at Carnegie Hall on
February 4, 2016, a multi-artist, immersive tribute featuring five-time GRAMMY
Award winner Buddy Guy and Eric Burdon (the Animals), among others.
Lead Belly gave his final performance in 1949 at Carnegie Hall shortly before
he died of ALS on 6th December of that year. Tom Paley of the New
Lost City Ramblers performed at that 1949 concert and is the last man alive to
have played with Lead Belly. Paley will return to the Stern Auditorium /
Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall February 4.
Other performers include three-time GRAMMY winner Tom Chapin; Blues
Music Award nominee Nick Moss with Michael Ledbetter, who is Lead Belly’s first
cousin twice removed; two-time British Blues Award winner Laurence Jones; Josh
White, Jr., (son of legendary folk singer Josh White who sang at Lead Belly’s
funeral); Hot 100 Singles charting artist Ali Isabella, the “high-octane”
(UNCUT) Walter Trout; NYC Blues Hall of Famer Sari Schorr; NYC’s very own Dana Fuchs; and
NYC folk and blues artist and Village Voice cover story subject Jerron “Blind
Boy” Paxton; all playing with a house band led by Jon Cobert.
Lead Belly Fest sold out Royal Albert Hall this past June in a concert
headlined by Van Morrison and received rave reviews:
“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
A commemorative plaque to celebrate the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer’s
longtime residence at 414 E. 10th Street, which became a hub of the folk
revival, will be unveiled by a special guest at a ceremony to be announced in January.
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.
Tickets go on sale today and start at $40 at carnegiehall.org,
CarnegieCharge 212-247-7800, Box Office at 57th and Seventh.
Thursday, December 10, 2015
Monday, December 7, 2015
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.”
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.”
Monday, November 30, 2015
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.
Tuesday, November 24, 2015
Monday, November 23, 2015
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.
‘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.
Thursday, November 19, 2015
Julie Rhodes photos and album art
Above credit: Roberto Terrones, click for high res
Above credit: Roberto Terrones, click for high res
BLUES FOR CHRISTMAS: A FESTIVAL OF THE BLUES AND THE HOLIDAYS TAKES PLACE DECEMBER 12 AT ROULETTE FEATURING POPA CHUBBY, MICHAEL HILL’S BLUES MOB WITH SPECIAL GUEST VERNON REID, JEFFREY GAINES, JESSE TERRY
Brooklyn Music Shop will present Blues for Christmas: A Festival of the Blues and the Holidays December 12 at Roulette. Here’s a playlist of the artists performing.
+ NYC native guitar wild man Popa Chubby, who recently celebrated his twenty-fifth anniversary as a performer. An imposing figure with a shaven head, tattooed arms, a goatee and a performance style he describes as “the Stooges meets Buddy Guy, Motörhead meets Muddy Waters, and Jimi Hendrix meets Robert Johnson.”
+ Michael Hill is a 2011 inductee into the New York Blues Hall of Fame as a Master Blues Artist. Living Blues Magazine says, “Mixing blues, funk, soul and pop stylings with lyrics that reflect urban life, Hill has produced an atmospheric and evocative statement rife with social consciousness and personal angst. An admirable contribution to modern blues by one of its most talented songwriters and guitarists.” New York rock legend Vernon Reid of Living Colour and the Black Rock Coalition will perform as a special guest.
+ Of Jeffrey Gaines, Paste said, “Gaines possesses a raspy, soulful voice and a knack for soul-searching, gut-check lyrics.” He has also earned praise from Rolling Stone, Billboard, Associated Press, Washington Post, and more.
+ Jesse Terry has appeared at Bonnaroo and the Philadelphia Folk Festival and is a singer/songwriter with an uncanny ability to weave tales of travel and homecoming, of sorrow and of redemption, into songs that are simultaneously timeless and fresh. Terry’s music reflects an amalgam of influences, from Nashville to Laurel Canyon. His melodic and lyrically-driven Americana fits naturally on a playlist between cuts from Josh Ritter, Jackson Browne, Ryan Adams and Neil Young.
WHO: Popa Chubby, Michael Hill's Blues Mob, Jeffrey Gaines & Jesse Terry, and special guest Vernon Reid
WHAT: Blues For Christmas: A Festival of Blues and the Holidays
WHEN: Saturday, Dec. 12, 2015, 7:30 p.m.
WHERE: Roulette Theater, 509 Atlantic Avenue, Brooklyn (@ 3rd Ave.)
TICKETS: $35, http://www.brownpapertickets.
+ NYC native guitar wild man Popa Chubby, who recently celebrated his twenty-fifth anniversary as a performer. An imposing figure with a shaven head, tattooed arms, a goatee and a performance style he describes as “the Stooges meets Buddy Guy, Motörhead meets Muddy Waters, and Jimi Hendrix meets Robert Johnson.”
+ Michael Hill is a 2011 inductee into the New York Blues Hall of Fame as a Master Blues Artist. Living Blues Magazine says, “Mixing blues, funk, soul and pop stylings with lyrics that reflect urban life, Hill has produced an atmospheric and evocative statement rife with social consciousness and personal angst. An admirable contribution to modern blues by one of its most talented songwriters and guitarists.” New York rock legend Vernon Reid of Living Colour and the Black Rock Coalition will perform as a special guest.
+ Of Jeffrey Gaines, Paste said, “Gaines possesses a raspy, soulful voice and a knack for soul-searching, gut-check lyrics.” He has also earned praise from Rolling Stone, Billboard, Associated Press, Washington Post, and more.
+ Jesse Terry has appeared at Bonnaroo and the Philadelphia Folk Festival and is a singer/songwriter with an uncanny ability to weave tales of travel and homecoming, of sorrow and of redemption, into songs that are simultaneously timeless and fresh. Terry’s music reflects an amalgam of influences, from Nashville to Laurel Canyon. His melodic and lyrically-driven Americana fits naturally on a playlist between cuts from Josh Ritter, Jackson Browne, Ryan Adams and Neil Young.
WHO: Popa Chubby, Michael Hill's Blues Mob, Jeffrey Gaines & Jesse Terry, and special guest Vernon Reid
WHAT: Blues For Christmas: A Festival of Blues and the Holidays
WHEN: Saturday, Dec. 12, 2015, 7:30 p.m.
WHERE: Roulette Theater, 509 Atlantic Avenue, Brooklyn (@ 3rd Ave.)
TICKETS: $35, http://www.brownpapertickets.
Blues For Christmas artist photos
Above: Jeffrey Gaines (Click for high res)
Above: Michael Hill's Blues Mob
Wednesday, November 18, 2015
Kingsley Flood 'The Good Fight' Artwork
Tuesday, November 17, 2015
KCRW ADDS BRIAN CARPENTER & THE CONFESSIONS AS STEREOGUM, OTHERS RAVE
KCRW has added Brian Carpenter & the Confessions’ debut album ‘The
Far End of the World’ on the heels of press and blog raves. The band has
also released its debut music video, filmed in the Mojave Desert and
directed by Dan Huiting (Pitchfork.TV):
Here’s what we’re reading:
“Bound to become a big name… dignified darkness.”
- Chris Deville, Stereogum, September 2, 2015
“Noir-ish Americana.”
- Linda Laban, Village Voice, October 30, 2015
“Dark, introspective territory with some Southwestern twinges.”
- Chris Steffen, All Music, September 30, 2015
“Haunted-twang tales of loss and woe drawing on chamber pop, sea shanties, and old-timey folk in their most haunting representations, all shrouded in a cinematic melange of strings, theremin, organ, and nyckelharpa.”
- Shaun Brady, XPN.org The Key, November 10, 2015
“Stunning... avant-noir”
- Adrien Begrand, Pop Matters, September 10, 2015
“A fitting soundtrack to an episode of True Detective or a David Lynch film.”
- UTNE Reader, September 24, 2015
Bostonians: the band will play Great Scott on December 2, 2015.
Here’s what we’re reading:
“Bound to become a big name… dignified darkness.”
- Chris Deville, Stereogum, September 2, 2015
“Noir-ish Americana.”
- Linda Laban, Village Voice, October 30, 2015
“Dark, introspective territory with some Southwestern twinges.”
- Chris Steffen, All Music, September 30, 2015
“Haunted-twang tales of loss and woe drawing on chamber pop, sea shanties, and old-timey folk in their most haunting representations, all shrouded in a cinematic melange of strings, theremin, organ, and nyckelharpa.”
- Shaun Brady, XPN.org The Key, November 10, 2015
“Stunning... avant-noir”
- Adrien Begrand, Pop Matters, September 10, 2015
“A fitting soundtrack to an episode of True Detective or a David Lynch film.”
- UTNE Reader, September 24, 2015
Bostonians: the band will play Great Scott on December 2, 2015.
Monday, November 16, 2015
STARBUCKS PICKS IRONING BOARD SAM’S ‘SUPER SPIRIT’ FOR IN-STORE PLAY NATIONWIDE
RAVES COME IN FOR SOUL MAN’S BIG LEGAL MESS RECORDS DEBUT
Starbucks has confirmed in-store airplay for Ironing Board Sam’s new album ‘Super Spirit,’ his first on Fat Possum subsidiary Big Legal Mess. Meanwhile, TIME Magazine posted a feature and photo spread on Ironing Board Sam and fellow Music Maker Relief Foundation artists.
‘Super Spirit’ has earned widespread acclaim:
“Soulful… Sam possesses the kind of weathered, soul-drenched voice that only a seasoned R&B veteran has these days.”
- Bart Bealmear, Dangerous Minds, September 21, 2015
“Rollicking.”
- Chris Steffen, All Music, August 31, 2015
“Kicking funk… A singer of maximum force, he also pulls down interplanetary love to share with his fellow creatures here… Cosmic vibrations float off the stage and swirl around the room, until they land inside of all those present, only to ferment and explode in fragments of beaming lights buried deep within the brain. If that sounds far out, then it should. This is music powered by the super spirit—and then some. Groove now and forever keep your psyche turned on.”
- Bill Bentley, Morton Report, November 6, 2015
“Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings. Bettye Lavette. Charles Bradley & His Extraordinaires… With his brand new album, Super Spirit, releasing today on Big Legal Mess Records, soul and blues legend Ironing Board Sam joins the illustrious list of artists.”
- Rhonda Nicole, SoulTrain, October 2, 2015
“Wildman… A Sam appearance is a dazzling event… Watching his performances is like watching Little Richard and Screamin' Jay Hawkins in a battle for possession of the same body… Even though his latest, Super Spirit, is a studio record, it has the same energy and wildness as his live performances… Sam's sound is rough-hewn soul and blues held together, or more often than not, torn asunder by his extraterrestrial piano figures… Sam is in fine shape here, taking on all comers and laying 'em out, his spirit and his skills stronger than ever.”
- Grant Britt, No Depression, September 30, 2015
“A consummate showman, blues legend Ironing Board Sam has been entertaining audiences for decades with his mad scientist approach… Sam's music is a treat for the eyes as much as it is for the ears.”
- UTNE Reader, September 15, 2015
“Legend… perhaps his finest album yet.”
- Shane Handler, Glide, September 28, 2015
“It's safe to say that Sammie Moore, aka Ironing Board Sam, is back.”
- Chris Shaw, Memphis Flyer, September 22, 2015
Here’s the postable track “Baby You Got It."
Buy link on CD or LP.
Starbucks has confirmed in-store airplay for Ironing Board Sam’s new album ‘Super Spirit,’ his first on Fat Possum subsidiary Big Legal Mess. Meanwhile, TIME Magazine posted a feature and photo spread on Ironing Board Sam and fellow Music Maker Relief Foundation artists.
‘Super Spirit’ has earned widespread acclaim:
“Soulful… Sam possesses the kind of weathered, soul-drenched voice that only a seasoned R&B veteran has these days.”
- Bart Bealmear, Dangerous Minds, September 21, 2015
“Rollicking.”
- Chris Steffen, All Music, August 31, 2015
“Kicking funk… A singer of maximum force, he also pulls down interplanetary love to share with his fellow creatures here… Cosmic vibrations float off the stage and swirl around the room, until they land inside of all those present, only to ferment and explode in fragments of beaming lights buried deep within the brain. If that sounds far out, then it should. This is music powered by the super spirit—and then some. Groove now and forever keep your psyche turned on.”
- Bill Bentley, Morton Report, November 6, 2015
“Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings. Bettye Lavette. Charles Bradley & His Extraordinaires… With his brand new album, Super Spirit, releasing today on Big Legal Mess Records, soul and blues legend Ironing Board Sam joins the illustrious list of artists.”
- Rhonda Nicole, SoulTrain, October 2, 2015
“Wildman… A Sam appearance is a dazzling event… Watching his performances is like watching Little Richard and Screamin' Jay Hawkins in a battle for possession of the same body… Even though his latest, Super Spirit, is a studio record, it has the same energy and wildness as his live performances… Sam's sound is rough-hewn soul and blues held together, or more often than not, torn asunder by his extraterrestrial piano figures… Sam is in fine shape here, taking on all comers and laying 'em out, his spirit and his skills stronger than ever.”
- Grant Britt, No Depression, September 30, 2015
“A consummate showman, blues legend Ironing Board Sam has been entertaining audiences for decades with his mad scientist approach… Sam's music is a treat for the eyes as much as it is for the ears.”
- UTNE Reader, September 15, 2015
“Legend… perhaps his finest album yet.”
- Shane Handler, Glide, September 28, 2015
“It's safe to say that Sammie Moore, aka Ironing Board Sam, is back.”
- Chris Shaw, Memphis Flyer, September 22, 2015
Here’s the postable track “Baby You Got It."
Buy link on CD or LP.
Thursday, November 12, 2015
“’PORTRAITS OF SOUTHERN BLUES MUSICIANS PROVE THAT BLUES IS NOT DEAD’ HEADLINES PIECE IN TIME ON MAKER RELIEF FOUNDATION’S DEBUT PHOTOGRAPHY EXHIBIT”
HILLSBOROUGH, N.C. – TIME’s dedicated photography column “Lightbox” has recently published a piece on Our Living Past, a new photography exhibition by Tim Duffy and the Music Maker Relief Foundation, which features platinum portraits of Music Maker Partner Artists.
Highlighting Music Maker as a hub for cultural preservation, artists such as Ironing Board Sam, Sharon Jones, and Taj Mahal are among the collective of musicians included in the Lightbox piece and showcased in Our Living Past. The exhibition itself was produced through collaboration with long-time publisher Steven Albahari of 21st Editions and was also sponsored by Cathead Vodka, a dedicated supporter of Music Maker artists. Debuting in the Atrium of the Hartfield Jackson Airport in Atlanta, GA November 22nd, Our Living Past has been booked to travel on through 2017.
The exhibition features original portraits of traditional Southern musicians, whose careers have been reignited through their work with Music Maker. The images were captured by Duffy himself and give a glimpse into the rich historical narrative and vital culture of southern traditional music. Duffy’s life work, to preserve this culture, now takes on a tangible form through Our Living Past, and the importance of such a work is already gaining recognition. A recent headline from a piece published in TIME reads “These Portraits of Southern Blues Musicians Prove That Blues Is Not Dead.” The article stresses how Duffy’s work is recontextualizing the narrative in which blues musicians are often discussed.
After a remarkable 20th year anniversary celebration with nods from the Wall Street Journal, PBS News Hour, NPR Weekend Edition, CBS Evening News and many more, this collection of platinum prints has been curated and produced to continue preserving and sharing the stories of Music Maker artists for the next 20 years.
“Tim Duffy is a modern-day Edward Curtis as it relates to the Blues,” said publisher Steve Albahari. “A photographer whose art embodies a classic approach and sensibility, a musician from early on, and a producer of some 200 albums by musicians he supports and even resurrects, Tim has woven his artistic and creative assets into an organization with philanthropic objectives and ideals, second to none.”
Albahari says he leapt at the chance to work with Duffy, making the decision to sponsor and produce Our Living Past in just hours. He went on to praise the exhibit, calling this effort to preserve the history of these traditions one of the highlights of his career.
Our Living Past Tour Dates:
Atlanta International Airport, Atlanta, GA - November 2015 – January 2016
Appleton Museum of Art, Ocala, FL - April 2016 – June 2016
Clifton Center, Louisville, KY - August 2016 – October 2016
Norton Center for the Arts, Danville, KY - September 2016 – January 2017
Henderson Fine Arts Center, Henderson, KY - January 2017 – March 2017
Janice Mason Art Museum, Cadiz, KY - January 2017- March 2017
Kentucky Folk Art Center, Morehead, KY - March 2017 – May 2017
Downtown Arts Center in Lexington, KY - March 2017 – May 2017
For more information on Our Living Past: A Platinum Portrait of Music Maker, click here.
Thursday, November 5, 2015
PINEY GIR RELEASES BRIGHT, BOLD POP ALBUM 'MR. HYDE'S WILD RIDE' IN AMERICA FEBRUARY 19 ON GREYDAY RECORDS
Indie-pop musician Piney Gir is gearing up for the American release of
'mR. hYDE'S wILD rIDE,' an album that finds the UK-based singer
exploring everything from psychedelic pop to British folk to '90s
grunge. The songs are bright and bold, glued together by the melodies
Piney has been writing since her days in the American Midwest. Already
released in the U.K., where Piney has lived for more than a decade, the
"undeniably charming" album (The Sun) will bring its "sweet, 60s pop"
(Uncut) to American stores on February 19th, courtesy of Greyday Records.
Piney was raised in a religious household, where her fundamentalist parents didn't allow their daughter to listen to popular music until the age of 14. Growing up in rural Kansas certainly left a mark on her earlier albums, with outlets like NPR noting the similarities to country artists like Tammy Wynette and Patsy Cline. On 'mR. hYDE'S wILD rIDE,' though, she steers her ship into more pop-influenced waters. Piney gets a little help from her friends, too, with Stereolab drummer Andy Ramsey lending both his percussion and his studio to the recording process. Band members of Gaz Coombes and Emiliana Torrini also chipped in, adding shimmering keyboards, distorted guitars, chirping harmonies and even marimba to Piney's songs. The result is a record that sounds both retro and futuristic, taking the listeners on -- ahem -- a wild ride over the course of 12 songs.
The fuzzy, buzzing "Gold Rules" — one of the album's kickoff singles — nods to the harmonized alt-pop of the Breeders. In the song's music video, Piney whips up a batch of miniature desserts before jumping onstage to perform with a band full of stringed marionettes. It's a sugar-sweet and utterly unique clip, two descriptors that also apply to mR. hYDE'S wILD rIDE as a whole.
Already released in the U.K., where Piney has lived for more than a decade, Mr. Hyde's Wild Ride is the sound of a songwriter making multiple genres her own.
Piney was raised in a religious household, where her fundamentalist parents didn't allow their daughter to listen to popular music until the age of 14. Growing up in rural Kansas certainly left a mark on her earlier albums, with outlets like NPR noting the similarities to country artists like Tammy Wynette and Patsy Cline. On 'mR. hYDE'S wILD rIDE,' though, she steers her ship into more pop-influenced waters. Piney gets a little help from her friends, too, with Stereolab drummer Andy Ramsey lending both his percussion and his studio to the recording process. Band members of Gaz Coombes and Emiliana Torrini also chipped in, adding shimmering keyboards, distorted guitars, chirping harmonies and even marimba to Piney's songs. The result is a record that sounds both retro and futuristic, taking the listeners on -- ahem -- a wild ride over the course of 12 songs.
The fuzzy, buzzing "Gold Rules" — one of the album's kickoff singles — nods to the harmonized alt-pop of the Breeders. In the song's music video, Piney whips up a batch of miniature desserts before jumping onstage to perform with a band full of stringed marionettes. It's a sugar-sweet and utterly unique clip, two descriptors that also apply to mR. hYDE'S wILD rIDE as a whole.
Already released in the U.K., where Piney has lived for more than a decade, Mr. Hyde's Wild Ride is the sound of a songwriter making multiple genres her own.
Wednesday, November 4, 2015
Noted blues scholar and harmonica player publishes first novel
For immediate release
Contact: Adam Gussow
Phone: 845-664-8602
Email: asgussow@aol.com
Modern Blues Harmonica Presents Busker's Holiday
Modern Blues Harmonica is pleased to announce the publication of Busker’s Holiday, a taut, sexy first novel about the summer busking scene in Europe and a pair of wild-hearted young men who make a pitch for fame and glory, finding a girl or two along the way.
Adam Gussow, the author, is an associate professor of English and Southern Studies at the University of Mississippi. Gussow has published three previous books on the blues, including Mister Satan’s Apprentice (1998), an award-winning memoir about his years as a Harlem street musician.
Set in the late 1980s, Busker’s Holiday is the story of McKay Chernoff, a Columbia University grad student with a harmonica in his pocket and a blues band in his background. Desolate and despairing after a disastrous romantic breakup, McKay decides to fly off to Paris and reinvent himself as a street performer.
What follows is an epic summer voyage into the busking life, propelled by the mad exploits of Billy Lee Grant, a fearless young guitar shredder whose Memphis-to-Mississippi pedigree and Dylanesque surrealism make him, when he explodes into view, precisely the partner McKay has been yearning for.
Burning like a latter-day Dean Moriarty, Bill goads McKay into a sun-drenched, all-night bender, stoked by wine, women, mushrooms, and trains, that careens down out of Avignon and across the French Riviera. What happens next—in Florence, Solingen, Amsterdam, Paris—is a story of purgatory, redemption, and love regained. Hope, in a word, as a modern troubadour returns from his wanderings, reborn.
For more information on Busker’s Holiday and a photo of the author as a reckless young street performer, visit the website:
http://www.
# # #
About the author:
Adam Gussow, born in New York City and raised twenty-five miles upriver, has been living in Oxford, Mississippi since 2002, where he teaches at Ole Miss and performs with his current duo, The Blues Doctors. He is best-known musically for his longtime partnership with guitarist Sterling “Mr. Satan” Magee as the duo Satan and Adam. He has contributed more than 500 blues harmonica teaching and performance videos to YouTube—his debut music video, “Crossroads Blues,” has 700,000 views—and his website, ModernBluesHarmonica.com, is popular with beginners and pros alike.
Gussow has published three previous books on the blues: Mister Satan’s Apprentice: A Blues Memoir (1998); Seems Like Murder Here: Southern Violence and the Blues Tradition (2002); and Journeyman’s Road: Modern Blues Lives From Faulkner’s Mississippi to Post-9/11 New York (2007). He has just completed a scholarly monograph entitled Beyond the Crossroads: The Devil and the Blues Tradition.
# # #
Praise for Busker’s Holiday
“In Gussow’s…lively road novel, an American grad student spends a wild few weeks as a street musician in Europe….a five-week odyssey, a wild, jazzy tale that includes rollicking musical performances, running from the cops, drunken debauchery, and a diverse array of colorful characters…. Gussow’s tale is a fast-paced, enjoyable one, with the harmonica blues angle putting a unique spin on the European trip narrative. It is a nostalgic story but thankfully unsentimental, as rigorous detail and descriptions bring the story to life in explosive ways. McKay on the street in Paris drinking Heineken while playing “Sweet Home Chicago” is certainly cool, yet Gussow outdoes himself with the novel’s revolving cast of unique characters, whose crazy times and back stories are endlessly entertaining. The novel is about the trip of a lifetime, going to Europe to forget everything, but it’s also a story of friendship, helped tremendously by Gussow’s ear for music and dialogue. A strongly written, cool novel about being young, bluesy, and free on a vagabond adventure in Europe.” –Kirkus Reviews
“Why would anyone be surprised that Adam Gussow had such a fantastic novel in him? For decades, his impeccable harp-playing has demonstrated the depth of his soul. His scholarly writing offers keen insight into all manner of American aesthetics. That he has rounded up such a roguish cast of characters and unleashed them abroad for shenanigans of the best kind only confirms the range of his talents.”--Tom Williams, author of Among the Wild Mulattos & Other Tales and Don’t Start Me Talkin’
"Busker's Holiday is strung between espressos and bluesy harmonica poetry, a linguistic tour-de-force dancing like rain drops on the Paris streets."-- Paul Maher, Jr., author of Kerouac: The Definitive Biography and Burning Furiously Beautiful: The True Story of Jack Kerouac's On the Road
“Adam Gussow writes like he plays the harmonica: with great precision and fluidity, and with a flawless ear for melody. With Busker’s Holiday, he takes the reader with on an emotional and musical journey from the Ivory Tower of US academia to the dirty, sexy and no-holds-barred streets of late 1980s Europe. It’s an exciting and fast-paced novel that not only keeps you enthralled, but (speaking as a professional musician and former busker myself) really rings true. Gussow gets it right. He evokes the transformative power of the blues in a way few are able to do. Sex, drugs, rock and roll, Dante, Kerouac, Hemingway, Robert Johnson and Muddy Waters all in one short novel. Remarkable!”—Ron Sunshine, New York bandleader
“A rocking guttersnipe’s lament across Europe, one that stings and swings. A lively coming-of-age tale, inspired by Kerouac and Magic Dick.”—R. J. Smith, author of The One: The Life and Music of James Brown
Book facts:
Busker’s Holiday
Publisher: Modern Blues Harmonica / BookBaby
Print: ISBN 978-0996712408, $14.95, 216 pages, 5.5” x 8.5”, trade paperback
eBook: ISBN 978-0996712415, $5.99
Pub date: October 15, 2015
Print version vailable at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Powell’s Books.
E-book available at iBooks, Amazon (Kindle), B&N (Nook), Kobo, and more
Contact: Adam Gussow
Phone: 845-664-8602
Email: asgussow@aol.com
Modern Blues Harmonica Presents Busker's Holiday
Modern Blues Harmonica is pleased to announce the publication of Busker’s Holiday, a taut, sexy first novel about the summer busking scene in Europe and a pair of wild-hearted young men who make a pitch for fame and glory, finding a girl or two along the way.
Adam Gussow, the author, is an associate professor of English and Southern Studies at the University of Mississippi. Gussow has published three previous books on the blues, including Mister Satan’s Apprentice (1998), an award-winning memoir about his years as a Harlem street musician.
Set in the late 1980s, Busker’s Holiday is the story of McKay Chernoff, a Columbia University grad student with a harmonica in his pocket and a blues band in his background. Desolate and despairing after a disastrous romantic breakup, McKay decides to fly off to Paris and reinvent himself as a street performer.
What follows is an epic summer voyage into the busking life, propelled by the mad exploits of Billy Lee Grant, a fearless young guitar shredder whose Memphis-to-Mississippi pedigree and Dylanesque surrealism make him, when he explodes into view, precisely the partner McKay has been yearning for.
Burning like a latter-day Dean Moriarty, Bill goads McKay into a sun-drenched, all-night bender, stoked by wine, women, mushrooms, and trains, that careens down out of Avignon and across the French Riviera. What happens next—in Florence, Solingen, Amsterdam, Paris—is a story of purgatory, redemption, and love regained. Hope, in a word, as a modern troubadour returns from his wanderings, reborn.
For more information on Busker’s Holiday and a photo of the author as a reckless young street performer, visit the website:
http://www.
# # #
About the author:
Adam Gussow, born in New York City and raised twenty-five miles upriver, has been living in Oxford, Mississippi since 2002, where he teaches at Ole Miss and performs with his current duo, The Blues Doctors. He is best-known musically for his longtime partnership with guitarist Sterling “Mr. Satan” Magee as the duo Satan and Adam. He has contributed more than 500 blues harmonica teaching and performance videos to YouTube—his debut music video, “Crossroads Blues,” has 700,000 views—and his website, ModernBluesHarmonica.com, is popular with beginners and pros alike.
Gussow has published three previous books on the blues: Mister Satan’s Apprentice: A Blues Memoir (1998); Seems Like Murder Here: Southern Violence and the Blues Tradition (2002); and Journeyman’s Road: Modern Blues Lives From Faulkner’s Mississippi to Post-9/11 New York (2007). He has just completed a scholarly monograph entitled Beyond the Crossroads: The Devil and the Blues Tradition.
# # #
Praise for Busker’s Holiday
“In Gussow’s…lively road novel, an American grad student spends a wild few weeks as a street musician in Europe….a five-week odyssey, a wild, jazzy tale that includes rollicking musical performances, running from the cops, drunken debauchery, and a diverse array of colorful characters…. Gussow’s tale is a fast-paced, enjoyable one, with the harmonica blues angle putting a unique spin on the European trip narrative. It is a nostalgic story but thankfully unsentimental, as rigorous detail and descriptions bring the story to life in explosive ways. McKay on the street in Paris drinking Heineken while playing “Sweet Home Chicago” is certainly cool, yet Gussow outdoes himself with the novel’s revolving cast of unique characters, whose crazy times and back stories are endlessly entertaining. The novel is about the trip of a lifetime, going to Europe to forget everything, but it’s also a story of friendship, helped tremendously by Gussow’s ear for music and dialogue. A strongly written, cool novel about being young, bluesy, and free on a vagabond adventure in Europe.” –Kirkus Reviews
“Why would anyone be surprised that Adam Gussow had such a fantastic novel in him? For decades, his impeccable harp-playing has demonstrated the depth of his soul. His scholarly writing offers keen insight into all manner of American aesthetics. That he has rounded up such a roguish cast of characters and unleashed them abroad for shenanigans of the best kind only confirms the range of his talents.”--Tom Williams, author of Among the Wild Mulattos & Other Tales and Don’t Start Me Talkin’
"Busker's Holiday is strung between espressos and bluesy harmonica poetry, a linguistic tour-de-force dancing like rain drops on the Paris streets."-- Paul Maher, Jr., author of Kerouac: The Definitive Biography and Burning Furiously Beautiful: The True Story of Jack Kerouac's On the Road
“Adam Gussow writes like he plays the harmonica: with great precision and fluidity, and with a flawless ear for melody. With Busker’s Holiday, he takes the reader with on an emotional and musical journey from the Ivory Tower of US academia to the dirty, sexy and no-holds-barred streets of late 1980s Europe. It’s an exciting and fast-paced novel that not only keeps you enthralled, but (speaking as a professional musician and former busker myself) really rings true. Gussow gets it right. He evokes the transformative power of the blues in a way few are able to do. Sex, drugs, rock and roll, Dante, Kerouac, Hemingway, Robert Johnson and Muddy Waters all in one short novel. Remarkable!”—Ron Sunshine, New York bandleader
“A rocking guttersnipe’s lament across Europe, one that stings and swings. A lively coming-of-age tale, inspired by Kerouac and Magic Dick.”—R. J. Smith, author of The One: The Life and Music of James Brown
Book facts:
Busker’s Holiday
Publisher: Modern Blues Harmonica / BookBaby
Print: ISBN 978-0996712408, $14.95, 216 pages, 5.5” x 8.5”, trade paperback
eBook: ISBN 978-0996712415, $5.99
Pub date: October 15, 2015
Print version vailable at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Powell’s Books.
E-book available at iBooks, Amazon (Kindle), B&N (Nook), Kobo, and more
Thursday, October 29, 2015
KINGSLEY FLOOD ANNOUNCES LARGEST HEADLINING SHOWS TO DATE, NOVEMBER 20 EP ‘THE GOOD FIGHT’
Following a packed and sweaty set at Americana Fest, Kingsley Flood is
capping off its ambitious and productive year with its largest capacity
NYC and DC shows to date and a third EP release with ‘The Good Fight’
out November 20. The three EPs total thirteen songs released in 2015 and the band is also preparing for a 2016 full-length release.
Bandleader Naseem Khuri continues to explore themes of individual and societal change in our cities, and his own tendencies to talk a big game and take little action; ‘The Good Fight’ deepens that exploration, narrowing the focus on the band’s hometowns of Boston and Washington, DC and pushing the band to some of its most epic music to date.” Driven by tremolo’d guitar, the title track examines Khuri’s reluctant acceptance of an evolving city and its gentrification. “We ought to get mad, we ought to save our souls, but the new guy’s got what I need.” He doesn’t let up on “On My Mind,” crying outrage at injustice while shouting “I can write a check from this couch and yet I can’t reach my pen.” The spaghetti western guitar line of “Change You” introduces sharply observed stories from a Boston bar Khuri visited all too often, where the regulars talk about their big plans and leave it at that. The store owner at the center of the anthemic, alt.country “Good Old Wind” rejects the “new wind blowing” into the town where Khuri grew up near Boston.
Kingsley Flood has earned widespread praise:
“Foot-stomping folk rock and their signature high energy.” – Rolling Stone
“Kingsley Flood is the kind of hard-rocking folk-punk band that makes you want to dance with the person standing next to you and then punch them in the face. In a totally good way.” - Esquire
"Great live show." – NPR
Kingsley Flood Fall Tour Dates
November 20 – Cambridge, MA - The Sinclair
November 21 – Brooklyn, NY – Rough Trade
December 3 – New Haven, CT - Café Nine
December 4 – Washington, D.C. – U Street Music Hall
December 5 – Philadelphia, PA – Boot & Saddle
December 17 – Atlanta, GA – The Earl (with Bombadil)
December 18 – Charlotte, NC – Evening Muse (with Bombadil)
December 19 – Carrboro, NC – Cat’s Cradle (with Bombadil)
‘The Good Fight’ EP Track List
1. Good Old Wind
2. Change You
3. On My Mind
4. The Good Fight
Bandleader Naseem Khuri continues to explore themes of individual and societal change in our cities, and his own tendencies to talk a big game and take little action; ‘The Good Fight’ deepens that exploration, narrowing the focus on the band’s hometowns of Boston and Washington, DC and pushing the band to some of its most epic music to date.” Driven by tremolo’d guitar, the title track examines Khuri’s reluctant acceptance of an evolving city and its gentrification. “We ought to get mad, we ought to save our souls, but the new guy’s got what I need.” He doesn’t let up on “On My Mind,” crying outrage at injustice while shouting “I can write a check from this couch and yet I can’t reach my pen.” The spaghetti western guitar line of “Change You” introduces sharply observed stories from a Boston bar Khuri visited all too often, where the regulars talk about their big plans and leave it at that. The store owner at the center of the anthemic, alt.country “Good Old Wind” rejects the “new wind blowing” into the town where Khuri grew up near Boston.
Kingsley Flood has earned widespread praise:
“Foot-stomping folk rock and their signature high energy.” – Rolling Stone
“Kingsley Flood is the kind of hard-rocking folk-punk band that makes you want to dance with the person standing next to you and then punch them in the face. In a totally good way.” - Esquire
"Great live show." – NPR
Kingsley Flood Fall Tour Dates
November 20 – Cambridge, MA - The Sinclair
November 21 – Brooklyn, NY – Rough Trade
December 3 – New Haven, CT - Café Nine
December 4 – Washington, D.C. – U Street Music Hall
December 5 – Philadelphia, PA – Boot & Saddle
December 17 – Atlanta, GA – The Earl (with Bombadil)
December 18 – Charlotte, NC – Evening Muse (with Bombadil)
December 19 – Carrboro, NC – Cat’s Cradle (with Bombadil)
‘The Good Fight’ EP Track List
1. Good Old Wind
2. Change You
3. On My Mind
4. The Good Fight
Wednesday, October 28, 2015
Lead Belly bio
"No Lead Belly, no Beatles." - George Harrison
Huddie
Ledbetter, better known to the music world as “Lead Belly” was born
January 20, 1889, in Mooringsport, Louisiana (near Shreveport). Lead
Belly was the only child of Wesley and Sally Ledbetter. Lead Belly first
tried his hand at playing music when he was only two yearsold. As a
young man he was introduced to the guitar by his uncle Terrell Ledbetter
and from that moment on he was transfixed by the guitar. He mastered
that instrument and just about any instrument helaid his hands on, later
learning to read music and to play the accordion, mandolin and piano.
It has been said that one day Lead Belly witnessed a Mexican guitarist
playing the twelve string guitar which struck hisinterest in mastering
the unusual instrument.
After the 8th grade, he quit school and, by the time he was 14 yearsold, he was a popular musician and singer in the weekend “sukey jumps” and “juke joints.” He later became known as the king of the twelve-string guitar and his Stella brand guitar became his ticket to life and to his freedom.
This love of music led him to leave his father’s farm at an early age to pursue his music. Huddie traveled the southwest playing his guitar and working as a laborer when he had to. He was and incredible strong man and was renowned for for picking 1,000lbs of cotton a day.
Lead Belly once said, "When I play, the women would come around to listen and their men would get angry." In 1918, he fought and killed a man in Dallas and was sentenced to thirty years in the state prison in Huntsville, Texas. In 1925, he wrote a song asking Governor Pat Neff for a pardon. Neff, who had promised at his election
never to pardon a prisoner. Incredibly, Neff broke his promise and set
Lead Belly free. Back on the road with many new songs he had learned or
written at Huntsville, Huddie again found enthusiastic audiences throughout the south. But, as the center of admiring crowds, he was again the target of envy and jealousy. In 1930, after a fight at a party, which was normal in the Jim Crow south he was sentenced to another prison term, this time in the infamous Angola Farm prison plantation in Louisiana. In a way, this was a stroke of luck, because he was discovered there by folklorists John and his son Alan Lomax, who were recording prison songs for the Library of Congress.
John Lomax and his son Alan later brought Lead Belly to New York where he played on college campuses like Harvard, Princeton, Yale, and NYU. Shortly thereafter Lead Belly relocated to New York, where he forged a reputation on the folk circuit, making personal appearances, recording
for a variety of labels and doing radio work. He was received with
great acclaim. The New York Herald Tribune greeted his arrival with an
article under the headline “Lomax Arrives with Lead Belly, Negro Minstrel.” In 1935, he married Martha Promise, with whom he would live until his death.
In
the early ‘40s he performed with Josh White, Sonny Terry, Brownie
McGhee and Woody Guthrie, often hosting sessions in his apartment on E.
10th
Street; often, he would play for the children in Tompkins Square Park.
He would also babysit and perform for his nephew. He performed as such
distinguished venues as Carnegie Hall, Town Hall, and the Village
Vanguard as well as hosting the WNYC radio show Folk Songs of America,
all while wearing his trademark suit, handkerchief, and bow tie.
In 1948, Lead Belly cut what would later become known as his Last Sessions. His songs could not be put into one category. He wrote children’s songs, field songs, ballads, square dance songs, prison songs, folk songs, and blues.
Lead
Belly enjoyed national recognition as a blues and folk musician and
singer. Lead Belly felt his music and talent were gifts from God.
During a European of 1949 Lead Belly fell ill and tests revealed that he was suffering from ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. This disease destroyed all the muscles in his bodygiving him little opportunity to play the guitar without pain.
Prior
to his death at Bellevue Hospital on December 6,1949, Lead Belly played
at a show at Carnegie Hall which was organized by Pete Seeger. On the
bill were Woodie Guthrie and Tom Paley. Lead Belly sang “Goodnight,
Irene”. This was his last ever live performance.
Lead Belly never got to fully enjoy the fruits ofhis
music. Lead Belly's song catalog consisted of well over 500 songs: most
famous were Midnight Special, Goodnight Irene, Rock Island Line, Pick a
Bale of Cotton and Take This Hammer.
After Lead Belly’s death, the Weavers, featuring Pete Seeger, recorded their version of “GoodNight, Irene” which went to number 1 on the charts. That song sold a million copies.
Lead Belly’s music has had an unparalleled influence on some of the greatest musicians of all time. Artists like The Beatles, Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton, Little Richard, John Fogerty, Roger Daltrey and Van Morrison have all expressed their reverence of Lead Belly’s music.
As Van Morrison said: “Lead Belly wasn’t an influence, he was the influence.”
Lead Belly is remembered not only as a musical giant but a legend in his own right throughout the world. Inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1988, they describe him as:
“Huddie Ledbetter, better known to the
world as “Lead Belly,” survived a life that included brutalizing poverty
and long stretches in prison to become an emblematic folk singer and
musician.”
Tuesday, October 27, 2015
GUITAR PLAYER SPOTLIGHTS TED DROZDOWSKI’S SCISSORMEN IN FEATURE AS MUSIC CITY ROOTS AIRS PERFORMANCE ON PSYCH-ROOTS BAND
HEADS UP TO PHILLY & DC: BAND TOURING NORTHEAST IN NOVEMBER
Nashville psychedelic-roots band Ted Drozdowski’s Scissormen is the subject of a Guitar Player feature and will perform on syndicated radio show Music City Roots on October 28. The band will also launch a northeast tour in November, including stops in Philly and D.C.
“Psychedelic juke joint… great songs, a sense of mystery, and the concept of a record as a work of art in and of itself… The guitarist and his Scissormen put on take-no-prisoners shows.”
- Michael Ross, Guitar Player, December, 2015
“So damn enthralling… Rooted in the deepest of blues yet explores the outer edges of the cosmos.”
- Sean L. Maloney, Nashville Scene, August 13, 2015
“Blues-drenched, sometimes psychedelic.”
- Ed Symkus, Boston Globe, July 30, 2015
“The gnarliest album recorded in a tent that you'll hear all day.”
- Chris Steffen, All Music, July 23, 2015
“Staggering guitar skills.”
- Chuck Armstrong, Diffuser.FM, April 20, 2015
“Raw garage rock.”
- Adrien Begrand, Pop Matters, June 29, 2015
“Furious blues… Slide guitar wizard… There’s his hobby of using just about anything and everything available to him for playing slide guitar, including forks, knives, bottles and pistols…”
- Pollstar, August 6, 2015
“singular music vision… It's his strongest, most satisfying work to date... Forward-looking, yet anchored firmly in its roots, 'Love & Life' reinforces the status of Ted Drozdowski's Scissormen as one of the most outstanding bands on the scene."
- Melanie Young, Living Blues, August, 2015
“Drozdowski’s Scissormen cut through the bullshit… Contemporary cosmic blues drenched in reverb and the dark bayou demons that inhabit each day… Love & Life isn’t your typical virtuoso release. It’s the fulcrum wherein Drozdowski pairs his devotion to a music whose roots run deeper than democracy.”
- 80/100, Mike Jurkovic, Elmore Magazine, August 4, 2015
“A very deep groove.”
- Lee Zimmerman, Pop Matters, July 28, 2015
Ted Drozdowski’s Scissormen Tour Dates
October 28 – Franklin, TN – Music City Roots
November 5 – Falls Church, VA – JV’s Restaurant
November 6 – Linden, NJ – Robin’s Nest Rhythm and Blues
November 7 – Philadelphia, PA – The Twisted Tail
December 4 – Nashville, TN – The Family Wash
January 29 – Franklin, TN – Gray’s On Main
January 30 – Marietta, GA – Darwin’s
Nashville psychedelic-roots band Ted Drozdowski’s Scissormen is the subject of a Guitar Player feature and will perform on syndicated radio show Music City Roots on October 28. The band will also launch a northeast tour in November, including stops in Philly and D.C.
“Psychedelic juke joint… great songs, a sense of mystery, and the concept of a record as a work of art in and of itself… The guitarist and his Scissormen put on take-no-prisoners shows.”
- Michael Ross, Guitar Player, December, 2015
“So damn enthralling… Rooted in the deepest of blues yet explores the outer edges of the cosmos.”
- Sean L. Maloney, Nashville Scene, August 13, 2015
“Blues-drenched, sometimes psychedelic.”
- Ed Symkus, Boston Globe, July 30, 2015
“The gnarliest album recorded in a tent that you'll hear all day.”
- Chris Steffen, All Music, July 23, 2015
“Staggering guitar skills.”
- Chuck Armstrong, Diffuser.FM, April 20, 2015
“Raw garage rock.”
- Adrien Begrand, Pop Matters, June 29, 2015
“Furious blues… Slide guitar wizard… There’s his hobby of using just about anything and everything available to him for playing slide guitar, including forks, knives, bottles and pistols…”
- Pollstar, August 6, 2015
“singular music vision… It's his strongest, most satisfying work to date... Forward-looking, yet anchored firmly in its roots, 'Love & Life' reinforces the status of Ted Drozdowski's Scissormen as one of the most outstanding bands on the scene."
- Melanie Young, Living Blues, August, 2015
“Drozdowski’s Scissormen cut through the bullshit… Contemporary cosmic blues drenched in reverb and the dark bayou demons that inhabit each day… Love & Life isn’t your typical virtuoso release. It’s the fulcrum wherein Drozdowski pairs his devotion to a music whose roots run deeper than democracy.”
- 80/100, Mike Jurkovic, Elmore Magazine, August 4, 2015
“A very deep groove.”
- Lee Zimmerman, Pop Matters, July 28, 2015
Ted Drozdowski’s Scissormen Tour Dates
October 28 – Franklin, TN – Music City Roots
November 5 – Falls Church, VA – JV’s Restaurant
November 6 – Linden, NJ – Robin’s Nest Rhythm and Blues
November 7 – Philadelphia, PA – The Twisted Tail
December 4 – Nashville, TN – The Family Wash
January 29 – Franklin, TN – Gray’s On Main
January 30 – Marietta, GA – Darwin’s
Monday, October 19, 2015
Kingsley Flood bios
KINGSLEY FLOOD SHORTER BIO
Kingsley Flood is
a Boston and Washington, DC - based sextet with a "Billy Bragg-like
folk-punk sound" (Washington Post). They have played the main stage at
the Newport Folk Festival, have been featured on the History Channel,
opened for Josh Ritter, Grace Potter, Lucius, Langhorne Slim and have
been been covered by NPR, New York Times, Esquire Magazine, Wall Street
Journal, American Songwriter, among others. This year they have
released two EPs and are releasing a third this fall.
KINGSLEY FLOOD LONGER BIO
With “signature high energy” (Rolling Stone) and a live show that “could thrill Folsom Prison in ‘58 or CBGB in ‘76” (Boston Herald), Boston and Washington D.C.-based Kingsley Flood began 2015 with lofty goals: release three EPs. The ambitious volume of output recognizes that the music business has changed and moved on from the era of the traditional album cycle. It also represents a shift in leader Naseem Khuri’s songwriting, channeling his personal journey as a Palestinian-American trying hard to do good and repeatedly coming up short.
Since their breakout set opening the Newport Folk Festival in 2013, Kingsley Flood has opened tour dates for Lucius and Josh Ritter; earned raves from AV Club, Paste, Rolling Stone, Billboard, NY Times; played a session for Esquire; and premiered a video with NPR Music.
To The Wolves continues songwriter Naseem Khuri’s obsession with stagnation in our lives, and exploring why things don’t change. While January’s To The Fire EP chronicles his own experience as a wide-eyed son of immigrants wanting to change the world, To The Wolves suggests greater change is harder when we can’t even change ourselves.
The title track looks at the big dreams and small circumstances of an outsider on the inside. "Blind" finds him back home plotting an escape, but this too is a dream that never manages to leave his bedroom. "All Night Dynamite" asks just how much choice we have in our choices, a theme carried over to "Salt of the Sea," where a child sees in his own path a mirror of his father's.
To The Wolves continues Kingsley Flood's ongoing collaboration with producer Paul Kolderie (Pixies, Radiohead, Morphine) and 1867 Recording Studio, the onetime Masonic temple in Chelsea, MA where To the Fire was created. The results showcase the band's signature and wide-ranging dynamics, from the scorched-earth guitar riff anchoring the title track to the contrasting plaintive violin and hard rock release of the deceptively upbeat “Blind,” the frenetic punk drive of “All Night Dynamite” and the pensive intimacy of “Salt of the Sea.”
BRIAN CARPENTER & THE CONFESSIONS MAKE NYC DEBUT IN SUPPORT OF FIRST ALBUM, SOUTHWESTERN NOIR-FLAVORED 'THE FAR END OF THE WORLD'
October 30th show at Rockwood Music Hall promises left-of-center gothic roots music, "dignified darkness" (Stereogum)
Brian Carpenter & the Confessions will make their New York City debut on Friday, October 30th, with a 9 p.m. show at Rockwood Music Hall. The performance arrives just after the release of the band's debut album, The Far End of the World, a nocturnal, nuanced record that "plumbs the darker depths of Americana" (Pop Matters).
Recorded in the band's native Massachusetts and mixed in Tucson by Craig Schumacher (Calexico, Iron & Wine, Neko Case), The Far End of the World finds Carpenter creating his own, left-of-center brand of folk-noir. It's alternately haunting and beautiful, filling with the swoon of orchestral strings, the dusty pluck of acoustic guitars, the honk of an occasional harmonica, and songs rooted in both mood and melody. Tying everything together is frontman Carpenter, a songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who leads his "unpredictable, fascinating band" (Utne Reader) with a baritone voice reminiscent of the band Low. Already known for his work in the jazz, indie rock and avant-garde worlds, Carpenter takes a stark turn on 'The Far End of the World.'
Exuding "a dignified darkness" (Stereogum) similar to the acclaimed soundtracks from David Lynch films, Brian Carpenter & the Confessions' live show is every bit as unique as the band's debut record, combining the jazz, Americana and indie-rock genres with the avant-garde approach of a frontman who's always marched to the beat of his own drum.
Carpenter has previously collaborated with Carla Kihlstedt (Tin Hat, Rabbit Rabbit), Marc Ribot, Colin Stetson (Arcade Fire, Bon Iver), Harvey Pekar, Brian Dewan (Neutral Milk Hotel), Martin Bisi (Sonic Youth, Swans, Foetus), and Carson Ellis (The Decemberists).
WHO: Brian Carpenter & the Confessions
WHAT: Debut NYC performance
WHERE: Rockwood Music Hall, Stage 1. 196 Allen St., New York, NY, 10002.
WHEN: Friday, October 30th. 9 p.m.
TICKETS: Free show, with pass-the-hat donations accepted
Brian Carpenter & the Confessions will make their New York City debut on Friday, October 30th, with a 9 p.m. show at Rockwood Music Hall. The performance arrives just after the release of the band's debut album, The Far End of the World, a nocturnal, nuanced record that "plumbs the darker depths of Americana" (Pop Matters).
Recorded in the band's native Massachusetts and mixed in Tucson by Craig Schumacher (Calexico, Iron & Wine, Neko Case), The Far End of the World finds Carpenter creating his own, left-of-center brand of folk-noir. It's alternately haunting and beautiful, filling with the swoon of orchestral strings, the dusty pluck of acoustic guitars, the honk of an occasional harmonica, and songs rooted in both mood and melody. Tying everything together is frontman Carpenter, a songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who leads his "unpredictable, fascinating band" (Utne Reader) with a baritone voice reminiscent of the band Low. Already known for his work in the jazz, indie rock and avant-garde worlds, Carpenter takes a stark turn on 'The Far End of the World.'
Exuding "a dignified darkness" (Stereogum) similar to the acclaimed soundtracks from David Lynch films, Brian Carpenter & the Confessions' live show is every bit as unique as the band's debut record, combining the jazz, Americana and indie-rock genres with the avant-garde approach of a frontman who's always marched to the beat of his own drum.
Carpenter has previously collaborated with Carla Kihlstedt (Tin Hat, Rabbit Rabbit), Marc Ribot, Colin Stetson (Arcade Fire, Bon Iver), Harvey Pekar, Brian Dewan (Neutral Milk Hotel), Martin Bisi (Sonic Youth, Swans, Foetus), and Carson Ellis (The Decemberists).
WHO: Brian Carpenter & the Confessions
WHAT: Debut NYC performance
WHERE: Rockwood Music Hall, Stage 1. 196 Allen St., New York, NY, 10002.
WHEN: Friday, October 30th. 9 p.m.
TICKETS: Free show, with pass-the-hat donations accepted
Thursday, October 15, 2015
Piney Gir - Mr Hyde’s Wild Ride
"Sweet 60's pop from Kansas Chameleon"
- UNCUT ****
"Undeniably charming"
- THE SUN ***
"Varying emotions and mutations are part of her unexpected strength"
- MOJO ***
"Exuberant, bursts with joy, divine and sometimes mournful"
Q Magazine Top Pick
Piney Gir - Mr Hyde’s Wild Ride
We present “Mr Hyde’s Wild Ride” – twelve top pop stories about a young woman coming to terms
with the hope and regret that accompanies love and loss. Piney's easy way with melody belies an
album of new and different shades to albums past. Change is in the air, and the characters that
populate these songs seem ready to tell it like it is, like Dorothy Parker’s snappy comebacks, as
surprising to them as to us.
Being Piney Gir, she can't resist the perkiness of a finely-honed, heavenly tune on opener Gold
Rules, even as the song celebrates unreachable riches and glibly states the fact, “you can’t take it
with you anyway.” First single, Keep It Together deftly channels 60s beat pop and Stereolab all at
the same time, a lover's lament laced with urgency and optimism, piped-in directly from her spaceage,
bachelorette pad.
Other stand-out earworms include Tilt A Whirl, a piece of fairground philosophy that dates back to
childhood years when Piney would accompany her grandmother on something akin to the Waltzer.
As the song spins, with Farfisas swirling round life's ups and downs "like a shooting star or a hope
combustible..." become metaphors among the lights and sounds. Mouse Of A Ghost fuzzes up like
Pineys-in-Toyland channelling her inner riot grrl, with boxy guitar blasts that remind us all that you
can rock just as hard, if not harder, in a gingham dress.
As ever Piney's pulled together a stellar band, with members of Gaz Coombes and Emiliana Torrini's
touring band jumping in on guitar, bass and drums alongside The Smith Brothers & regular
collaborator Garo Nahoulakian takes a seat in the producer’s chair. Andy Ramsay of Stereolab
makes an appearance on drums; the bulk of the album was recorded in his South London studio.
The rest was whipped-up in Piney’s little Hackney Studio, small and perfectly formed like a musical
toy box, chock-full of space echo, marimba, omnichord and pocket piano, which combine to create
a euphoric indie-starshine. Think Yoshimi-era Flaming Lips alongside sparkling tableaux of Mercury
Rev., the tunefulness of Grandaddy and riff-led counter-melodies like The Pixies.
After a decade spent in the UK it feels like Piney's finally made England hers by rediscovering
America, re-imagined from London's rainy streets, channelling her inner Jekyll and Mister Hyde,
“because there’s two sides to everything, right?” These tunes beautifully stitch together English
folk, American pop, mariachi moments, trail songs and baroque beats. Sometimes it's like an alternative
musical history of a storybook amusement park ride. And need we mention, it's a wild ride
you're gonna love...
- UNCUT ****
"Undeniably charming"
- THE SUN ***
"Varying emotions and mutations are part of her unexpected strength"
- MOJO ***
"Exuberant, bursts with joy, divine and sometimes mournful"
Q Magazine Top Pick
Piney Gir - Mr Hyde’s Wild Ride
We present “Mr Hyde’s Wild Ride” – twelve top pop stories about a young woman coming to terms
with the hope and regret that accompanies love and loss. Piney's easy way with melody belies an
album of new and different shades to albums past. Change is in the air, and the characters that
populate these songs seem ready to tell it like it is, like Dorothy Parker’s snappy comebacks, as
surprising to them as to us.
Being Piney Gir, she can't resist the perkiness of a finely-honed, heavenly tune on opener Gold
Rules, even as the song celebrates unreachable riches and glibly states the fact, “you can’t take it
with you anyway.” First single, Keep It Together deftly channels 60s beat pop and Stereolab all at
the same time, a lover's lament laced with urgency and optimism, piped-in directly from her spaceage,
bachelorette pad.
Other stand-out earworms include Tilt A Whirl, a piece of fairground philosophy that dates back to
childhood years when Piney would accompany her grandmother on something akin to the Waltzer.
As the song spins, with Farfisas swirling round life's ups and downs "like a shooting star or a hope
combustible..." become metaphors among the lights and sounds. Mouse Of A Ghost fuzzes up like
Pineys-in-Toyland channelling her inner riot grrl, with boxy guitar blasts that remind us all that you
can rock just as hard, if not harder, in a gingham dress.
As ever Piney's pulled together a stellar band, with members of Gaz Coombes and Emiliana Torrini's
touring band jumping in on guitar, bass and drums alongside The Smith Brothers & regular
collaborator Garo Nahoulakian takes a seat in the producer’s chair. Andy Ramsay of Stereolab
makes an appearance on drums; the bulk of the album was recorded in his South London studio.
The rest was whipped-up in Piney’s little Hackney Studio, small and perfectly formed like a musical
toy box, chock-full of space echo, marimba, omnichord and pocket piano, which combine to create
a euphoric indie-starshine. Think Yoshimi-era Flaming Lips alongside sparkling tableaux of Mercury
Rev., the tunefulness of Grandaddy and riff-led counter-melodies like The Pixies.
After a decade spent in the UK it feels like Piney's finally made England hers by rediscovering
America, re-imagined from London's rainy streets, channelling her inner Jekyll and Mister Hyde,
“because there’s two sides to everything, right?” These tunes beautifully stitch together English
folk, American pop, mariachi moments, trail songs and baroque beats. Sometimes it's like an alternative
musical history of a storybook amusement park ride. And need we mention, it's a wild ride
you're gonna love...
Tuesday, October 13, 2015
Piney Gir bio
Piney Gir hails from the American Midwest, home of wide-open plains with sunflowers that go on
as far as the Earth curves. The “you’re not in Kansas anymore” jokes never wear thin, because
Piney embraces her heritage bringing it with her to the UK, where she’s lived in London for over a
decade now (yes she does have a sparkly red shoe collection & yes she wears a lot of gingham).
Piney was raised to fear God, like a lot of kids in the Bible-belt she wasn’t taught about Darwin in
schools, she memorised Bible verses and chapters every week... It was this religious upbringing
that spurred her into rock ‘n’ roll. “All we like sheep have gone astray...” Isaiah 53:6.
All teenagers rebel, but Piney had a lot to rebel against and so she went through a series of
extremes on an epic journey to figure out what’s what and who the heck she actually is. She was a
bit of a Laura Palmer, with a mysterious double life burbling underneath her wholesome persona.
After lots of phases, from pop to goth, hippy, rocker, hip-hopper, metaller, psychedelic traveller,
straight-edger, grunger, raver, country rocker, folky lady, funkadelic, electro-girl, jazz lover, mod,
rockabilly quiff-wearer... she finally settled on ‘everything’ as a genre for herself. Because the
conclusion that Piney came to was that she didn’t need to be categorised and that maybe not
being categorised could be her niche. “If you appreciate many types of music, why only limit
yourself to one thing all the time? So much inspires me!” she says. But there is a Piney Sound: it’s
perfectly-formed indie-pop with tuneful riffs and Piney’s lovely voice unifying it all. With that lyrical
rhyme/reason that you can’t quite put your finger on; it’s pleasing, charming and poetic.
Piney Gir thanks the church for her early music education – she went to one of those Pentecostal
churches with speaking in tongues and fainting – music was a big part of the Sunday ritual and
there was a lot of drama in the sermons. She also thanks her glamorous Aunt Mary for the piano
lessons without whom she would have never learned her scales... she then took up the drums and
studied them for 10 years going to University to major in music. Her drums were nicked from her
ghetto apartment, and so she changed her major to voice (which nobody can steal). Never really
having the voice for Verdi, she moved to London after uni to see what she could see. It never
occurred to her that she might sing in a band and write songs, but she knew she liked singing and
writing songs (she was 9 when she wrote her first song).
When she moved to London she worked in a cocktail bar & took some classes at St. Martins
mainly to meet people & find new ways of expressing herself, and it was then she joined a synth
pop duo called Vic Twenty... Vic Twenty released a single on a Mute label and toured UK and
Europe with synth-pop legendary duo Erasure. Vic Twenty split up and thus Piney Gir the solo
artist was born and this is Piney’s discography so far...
“Peakahokahoo” Piney Gir - Truck Records 2004
“Hold Your Horses” The Piney Gir Country Roadshow - Truck Records 2006
“The Yearling” Piney Gir - Hotel Records 2009
“Jesus Wept” The Piney Gir Country Roadshow - Damaged Goods 2010
“Geronimo!” Piney Gir – Damaged Goods 2011
“Mr Hyde’s Wild Ride” – Damaged Goods 2015
Piney has toured the UK and Europe extensively playing big festivals, small stages, toilet venues,
night clubs, gay bars, art galleries, theatres, churches and pop-up shops. She even did her first
tour of America, having played CMJ Festival and South By Southwest. She did 2 national radio
sessions for NPR, including a gig at the esteemed Mountain Stage, which was a real milestone for
her. “It’s nice to feel welcomed by your homeland,” says Piney. She will be playing a few select UK
festivals and touring Mr. Hyde's Wild Ride spring/summer 2015.
"A new Piney Gir album is always a reason to celebrate on The Other Woman. Angela
Penhaligon has one of the best voices and is one of the finest songwriters in the
business."
Ruth Barnes, The Other Woman, Amazing Radio
UNCUT **** - Sweet 60's pop from Kansas Chameleon
THE SUN *** - Undeniably charming
MOJO *** - Varying emotions and mutations are part of her unexpected strength
GUARDIAN *** - A retro delight
It’s pretty impossible to actively dislike Piney Gir, what with her pretty prom frocks, feisty
attitude and general chirpiness all forming the background to her perky country-tinged pop
This Is Fake DIY
Exuberant, bursts with joy, divine and sometimes mournful
Q Magazine top picks
Sandy Posey twinned with Dolly Parton with exceptionally good lyricism. If Jesus were to
hear it, he’d surely approve.
Shindig
Instantly grabs you by the scruff of your neck and leaves you a toe-tapping, line-dancing
maniac
Narc Magazine
The type of open-hearted pop that has you clutching your knees with glee
Drowned In Sound
Piney is a born entertainer, all dainty dress swirls and extravagant accordion flourishes
The Fly
as far as the Earth curves. The “you’re not in Kansas anymore” jokes never wear thin, because
Piney embraces her heritage bringing it with her to the UK, where she’s lived in London for over a
decade now (yes she does have a sparkly red shoe collection & yes she wears a lot of gingham).
Piney was raised to fear God, like a lot of kids in the Bible-belt she wasn’t taught about Darwin in
schools, she memorised Bible verses and chapters every week... It was this religious upbringing
that spurred her into rock ‘n’ roll. “All we like sheep have gone astray...” Isaiah 53:6.
All teenagers rebel, but Piney had a lot to rebel against and so she went through a series of
extremes on an epic journey to figure out what’s what and who the heck she actually is. She was a
bit of a Laura Palmer, with a mysterious double life burbling underneath her wholesome persona.
After lots of phases, from pop to goth, hippy, rocker, hip-hopper, metaller, psychedelic traveller,
straight-edger, grunger, raver, country rocker, folky lady, funkadelic, electro-girl, jazz lover, mod,
rockabilly quiff-wearer... she finally settled on ‘everything’ as a genre for herself. Because the
conclusion that Piney came to was that she didn’t need to be categorised and that maybe not
being categorised could be her niche. “If you appreciate many types of music, why only limit
yourself to one thing all the time? So much inspires me!” she says. But there is a Piney Sound: it’s
perfectly-formed indie-pop with tuneful riffs and Piney’s lovely voice unifying it all. With that lyrical
rhyme/reason that you can’t quite put your finger on; it’s pleasing, charming and poetic.
Piney Gir thanks the church for her early music education – she went to one of those Pentecostal
churches with speaking in tongues and fainting – music was a big part of the Sunday ritual and
there was a lot of drama in the sermons. She also thanks her glamorous Aunt Mary for the piano
lessons without whom she would have never learned her scales... she then took up the drums and
studied them for 10 years going to University to major in music. Her drums were nicked from her
ghetto apartment, and so she changed her major to voice (which nobody can steal). Never really
having the voice for Verdi, she moved to London after uni to see what she could see. It never
occurred to her that she might sing in a band and write songs, but she knew she liked singing and
writing songs (she was 9 when she wrote her first song).
When she moved to London she worked in a cocktail bar & took some classes at St. Martins
mainly to meet people & find new ways of expressing herself, and it was then she joined a synth
pop duo called Vic Twenty... Vic Twenty released a single on a Mute label and toured UK and
Europe with synth-pop legendary duo Erasure. Vic Twenty split up and thus Piney Gir the solo
artist was born and this is Piney’s discography so far...
“Peakahokahoo” Piney Gir - Truck Records 2004
“Hold Your Horses” The Piney Gir Country Roadshow - Truck Records 2006
“The Yearling” Piney Gir - Hotel Records 2009
“Jesus Wept” The Piney Gir Country Roadshow - Damaged Goods 2010
“Geronimo!” Piney Gir – Damaged Goods 2011
“Mr Hyde’s Wild Ride” – Damaged Goods 2015
Piney has toured the UK and Europe extensively playing big festivals, small stages, toilet venues,
night clubs, gay bars, art galleries, theatres, churches and pop-up shops. She even did her first
tour of America, having played CMJ Festival and South By Southwest. She did 2 national radio
sessions for NPR, including a gig at the esteemed Mountain Stage, which was a real milestone for
her. “It’s nice to feel welcomed by your homeland,” says Piney. She will be playing a few select UK
festivals and touring Mr. Hyde's Wild Ride spring/summer 2015.
"A new Piney Gir album is always a reason to celebrate on The Other Woman. Angela
Penhaligon has one of the best voices and is one of the finest songwriters in the
business."
Ruth Barnes, The Other Woman, Amazing Radio
UNCUT **** - Sweet 60's pop from Kansas Chameleon
THE SUN *** - Undeniably charming
MOJO *** - Varying emotions and mutations are part of her unexpected strength
GUARDIAN *** - A retro delight
It’s pretty impossible to actively dislike Piney Gir, what with her pretty prom frocks, feisty
attitude and general chirpiness all forming the background to her perky country-tinged pop
This Is Fake DIY
Exuberant, bursts with joy, divine and sometimes mournful
Q Magazine top picks
Sandy Posey twinned with Dolly Parton with exceptionally good lyricism. If Jesus were to
hear it, he’d surely approve.
Shindig
Instantly grabs you by the scruff of your neck and leaves you a toe-tapping, line-dancing
maniac
Narc Magazine
The type of open-hearted pop that has you clutching your knees with glee
Drowned In Sound
Piney is a born entertainer, all dainty dress swirls and extravagant accordion flourishes
The Fly
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