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Above credit: Krista Brayer

Above credit: Mar Joya

Theotis Taylor "Little Wooden Church"

ETHEREAL SINGER THEOTIS TAYLOR TO RELEASE LONG-LOST RECORDINGS ON BIG LEGAL MESS RECORDS (FAT POSSUM), OUT JUNE 29th

Theotis Taylor’s new album, ​Something Within Me​, will be the first time the world has heard a full length album from this legendary Georgian gospel singer and pianist. Something Within Me ​features newly discovered music of Theotis’ voice and piano that was recorded in 1979 alongside new studio accompaniment from Jimbo Mathus (Squirrel Nut Zippers), WIll Sexton (Amy LaVere), Liz Brasher, and more. Led by producer Bruce Watson and recorded at Delta-Sonic Sound in Memphis, the album captures the ethereal nature of Theotis’ unique style. The NY Times had this to say about his 1990 performance at Carnegie Hall: ​”Mr. Taylor, a pianist from Georgia, had a light touch on the piano that guided his harmonies from impressionistic clouds of sound to boogie-woogie figures. He sang in falsetto, floating blues-tinged melodies that had people in the audience shouting encouragement or murmuring in admiration.”

When Tim Duffy, founder of the nonprofit Music Maker Relief Foundation heard about Theotis Taylor from folklorist George Mitchell he immediately headed down to Fitzgerald, GA to meet Theotis. A friendship was forged and led to getting the original master tape of a long lost album of Theotis’. Big Legal Mess owner Bruce Watson had previously released two of Theotis’ songs as part of his Pitch Gusman Records Story compilation, and he jumped at the chance to do a full length album.

 

"Real music! Beautiful, uplifting music! This would've been lost in time forever, had it not been for the real people, who really took great care to re-recorded it, because they wanted the world to hear what love is like when love makes music!​" - Taj Mahal

 

“Brother Theotis Taylor’s music has become one of the most invigorating parts of my day. His energy, his unbridled spirit and his signature touch on the piano combine to create an entirely singular sound that resonates my body from head to toe.”​ - Phil Cook (Hiss Golden Messenger, Megafaun)

 

Theotis spent most of his life as a custodian, turpentine harvester, farm worker, and as the first black foreman of the City of Miami’s Parks and Recreation Department. Theotis played gospel music all his life and garnered recognition in the 1990s for his appearances at Carnegie Hall’s Folk Masters Series “There’s 12 Gates to the City”: Black Gospel Styles, the Apollo Theatre, and at the NAACP’s 90th Convention. Now in his 90s, Taylor preaches but is unable to play due to a tremble in his arm from many years of hard labor. He will still sing for his congregation if he can find a good person to handle the music. The right spirit can only come from the right person. “You’ve got to be anointed to do it right,” Taylor believes. “​Anointed. ​It’s got to come from above.”

 

Theotis Taylor - ​Something Within Me​ - Tracklist:

Side A

1. Appreciation
2. Fly Away To Be At Rest
3. Thank You Jesus
4. Tides of Life
5. God’s Unchanging Hand

Side B

1. Steal Away
2. Something Within Me
3. Little Wooden Church
4. Stand By Me
5. Our Father

DHARMASOUL CONCOCTS INTOXICATING BLUES/FUNK/SOUL/AMERICANA HARD GROOVE 2-PIECE

NEW BAND FROM JONAH TOLCHIN (10+ MILLION SPOTIFY SPINS) WILL PLAY PASTE SESSION MAY 2

The hard-grooving new band from singer/guitarist Jonah Tolchin and singer/drummer Kevin Clifford Dharmasoul will be on tour in the northeast through the spring as its debut album ‘Lightning Kid’ is readied for June 1 release. The band will also play a Paste Magazine session on May 2. Their dynamic sound has been compared to the Black Keys and The Wood Brothers.

Tolchin’s solo work on Yep Roc Records garnered 10+ million Spotify streams and found him sharing the stage with the likes of Greg Allman, Tony Joe White, and Justin Townes Earle.

Dave Alvin said, “Jonah Tolchin is one of my favorite artists working on the highways today. He is one of the very rare, totally honest performers in the often artificial world of contemporary music. Like my heroes Lightning Hopkins or Merle Haggard, Dharmasoul follows its own, unique path through American traditions and it's always worthwhile to follow them down that path.”

Meanwhile, Clifford’s musicianship expanded from time spent in New Orleans, including studying Jazz at Loyola. He has performed at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival with the Loyola Jazz Band and with Mikayla Braun.

Dharmasoul Tour Dates

April 18 – Methuselah – Pittsfield, MA
April 19 – Newburyport Brewery – Newburyport, MA
April 20 – Riverwalk Café – Nashua, NH
April 21 – Princeton Record Exchange – Princeton, NJ (Record Store Day)
April 22 – Dusk – Providence, RI
May 4 – Pete’s Candy Store – Brooklyn, NY
May 12 – Princeton Friends School – Princeton, NJ
May 19 – Progress Festival – Dublin, VA
May 26 – Hill Country BBQ – Washington, D.C.
May 31 – Boot & Saddle – Philadelphia, PA
June 4 – The Saint – Asbury Park, NJ
June 5 – Pete’s Candy Store – Brooklyn, NY
June 7 – Methuselah – Pittsfield, MA
June 10 – Dreamaway Lodge – Becket, MA
June 14 – Foam – Burlington, VT
June 15 – High Mowing School – Wilton, NH
June 16 – Lizard Lounge – Cambridge, MA
July 6 – Hill Country BBQ – New York, NY

Dom Flemons 'Black Cowboys' videos

Eric Andersen Songs Sung By Others

Kris Gruen - Coast & Refuge

KRIS GRUEN  - COAST & REFUGE

Open heartedness is featured prominently on Kris Gruen’s forthcoming album ‘Coast and Refuge” (out June 22, 2018). This is true in both the themes and the making of the album-- whether in writing about what it takes to keep a relationship or a friendship going-- or in the process of making art in a series of collaborations with new and old friends. It’s an album both about and created by partnerships where the sonic and thematic threads feel constant, equally at home in the old townships of Vermont where the new folk-artist lives, as it is in the new frontiers of Scandinavia, and the California coastline where much of it was written.

That open heartedness led Gruen to creating a cinematic record full of moments of grace and soaring dynamics, but filled with subtle shadings, turning points, and epiphanies. Sometimes it sounds like Gruen is telling a secret between friends, and sometimes he’s reaching epic, mountaintop anthems. The result draws comparisons to Matthew Perryman Jones, Pete Yorn, Elbow, Griffin House, Ryan Adams, and Peter Bjorn and John; in fact, the latter’s Peter Morén appears on the album as vocalist and co-writer of “Every Day and Night Now.”

Gruen and his collaborators pursued some deeply personal topics in these songs. He reflects, “It’s a very intimate process with someone you may not know well.” His first songwriting collaboration was with AM, a singer-songwriter who’s toured with Beck and Air, and Gruen learned that it helps to break down barriers. Gruen says, “AM made sure I was comfortable, got me some tea, and we talked about life. Then we had a connection to build off of. We went into the living room, set some instruments around the room, and he played some records that he was digging. You fall into a vibe. He had me writing on the periphery of my normal sound.” It all comes down to that connection with another human being, that “refuge.” The resulting song “You Say” is a quirky, jangly highlight of the record.

After a seven country European tour supporting Jesse Malin, another coast led him to write with Peter Morén, of Peter Bjorn & John. Gruen says, “We wrote together in an old movie theater turned into an on-again, off-again performance venue. Paint was peeling off the walls and there was an old piano in the corner. We talked about how that lust for life will always call you. He was incredibly generous.” The two paint a vivid image of an “old man wool suit torn from nights of dancing” as reflection turns to catharsis. The duet had special meaning for Gruen for another reason: he played PB&J’s song “Young Folks” for his eldest daughter every night when she was an infant.

Gruen continued to stretch his sound on the epic album openers “Body in Motion” and “What Brings You”. Weepies and Dan Wilson collaborator Brad Gordon co-wrote and produced four songs on the record, including these two. Gruen reflects “When you walk into Brad’s LA studio, it’s lined with old rugs, and hung over the rugs are every instrument under the sun, and he can play all of them. He really is an excellent musician, and what he creates has the soul of a band sound. There’s electricity in the room.”

On the two tracks, Brad plays upright bass, piano, glockenspiel, organ, trumpet, trombone, accordion, and other percussion. “Body in Motion” kicks off with an insistent beat and an expansive guitar sound, embracing the span of life’s experiences in a high-energy mode that will surely inspire crowd sing-alongs. The songs retain folk roots, but bring a contemporary urgency and a huge sound. “You can hear the physical exertion that it takes to make the music. There’s a hiss of real space. We would get through tightening up on song structure. When I would record my guitar part, he would record another instrument with me live, there by capturing a band-like sound.”

Gordon says, “Kris brought an infectious sense of discovery into each writing session. He knew he wanted to write about traveling and what it felt like to be inspired by the people and places he's seen.”

“Lions” is about the courage it takes to deal with change. “It’s about one’s relationship with them self, recognizing that it’s going to take a lot of positive energy to make a change in the world, and at first not looking for it from other people, but starting at home,” says Kris, and change also came with this song, and its insistent beat marks Kris’ most pop-directed sound on record to date, after exploring folk, rock, and indie rock on prior albums. “He took me out of my comfort zone,” remembers Gruen. Co-writer and producer Justin Gray shaped the sound. Gray has written and produced for artists ranging from Dirty Heads to James Bay and John Legend.

Gray said, "I loved working with Kris on our two songs ‘Tightrope’ and ‘Lions.’ His focus on getting the story of the song exactly right lyrically and melodically really helped us cut to the bone in making these records.”

Gray and Gruen teamed up with Gruen’s long time producer, Charles Newman, on “Tightrope”, whose rousing strings rise to find a couple reconciling. Gruen sings “Even if we never see eye to eye, I couldn’t love you more if I tried” about sharing a country life with his wife, where they balance organic farming and creating art. Gruen says, “It’s a struggle-- the work of keeping a marriage inspired, when both people are still committed to exploring their dream work. It’s a very taught line that’s created between us at times, trying to hold the family together when we are required to be in these places elsewhere”.

The subtext of living between the country and city appears on other songs as well, most notably “Big City”, which documents a range of diverse communities: familial, political, artistic, and among New Yorkers. It begins with guitar fingerpicking and moves into  programmed beats, sounding like a journey into the city. Of co-writer and producer Ramin Sakurai, Gruen says, “I was a fan-boy going into the session, because Sakurai was a member of a band I loved, Supreme Beings of Leisure.” Of the song, he says “It’s a conversation between me and my father [photographer Bob Gruen]. He is NYC to me.”

The elder Gruen is one of the most iconic rock photographers in the world. Kris recalls, “I was always drenched in punk rock energy as a kid hanging out with my dad. I saw the Ramones, Blondie, the New York Dolls as a kid, and hanging out with my dad meant staying awake for two and a half days straight”. It instilled a love of music in Kris early on.

His own life defines a simultaneous attraction and aversion to the music business. Moving to Vermont to embrace a slower lifestyle, he says, “There’s a truth about working with the earth that supersedes anything else, and a spirituality about being in a wilderness setting. The intelligence of an agrarian community is more intact in Vermont than almost any place I’ve ever been. People take the time to talk things through.” He puts the music he makes to the same test: is it “sustainable?”

Take for instance his collaboration on “Coming Down Around Me”, with filmmaker Melissa Miller Costanzo, Gruen returns to a timeless folk approach after being asked to compose a custom track for a key scene in the film. Costanzo says, "There was something about Kris Gruen’s voice that made me drop what I was holding. But seeing him perform actually changed me. His energy and vitality instantly took hold and I was lost in his rhythms. He was able to transform my words into something beautiful and I am forever grateful." The song appears in Costanzo’s  feature film “All These Small Moments” starring Molly Ringwald, Jemima Kirke, Brendan Meyer, Brian d'Arcy James and Harley Quinn Smith, premiering at Tribeca Film Festival this year.  

Producer Charles Newman (The Magnetic Fields, The Bones of J.R. Jones) takes the controls on “Coming Down Around Me”; as well as The Peter Morén duet “Everyday and Night Now”; and the album closer, “2008,” a beautifully nostalgic ballad co-written with Los Angeles based JimAndSam. Written in the band’s living room, the intimate song was recorded mostly live in Newman’s Brooklyn studio, as everyone converged on NYC amidst their tour schedules. He also produces the sunny, catchy “Young Hearts”; a duet co-written with fast-rising Finnish singer-songwriter Peppina and there again is that open heartedness that runs so deep through Gruen’s music.

Eric Andersen clips

Boston Globe feature (April 10, 2018)

Brooklyn Vegan item (March 23, 2018)

Pop Matters 8/10 review (March 30, 2018)

Pop Matters track premiere (March 26, 2018)

WFUV session (April 29, 2018)

NYC’S RADIO JAROCHO TEAM UP WITH SON JAROCHO MASTER ZENEN ZEFERINO FOR NEW ALBUM ‘RIOS DE NORTE Y SUR’ OUT MAY 11

NYC RELEASE SHOW TOGETHER MAY 10 AT JOE’S PUB

RADIO JAROCHO KICKED OFF 2018 WITH AN APPEARANCE ON VICE TV’S
“THE UNTITLED ACTION BRONSON SHOW” & AT PASTE MAGAZINE

NYC’s Radio Jarocho and master Zenen Zeferino have joined forces on ‘Rios de Norte y Sur,’ an album of son jarocho music out May 11. They’ll play together at an album release show at Joe’s Pub on May 10. (A combination of Spanish, Afro-Caribbean, and Mexican indigenous music, the rowdy, upbeat son jarocho is customarily played in the fandango, a community celebration where people gather to play, sing, and dance – it’s experiencing a recent revival.)

The band recently appeared on VICE TV’s “The Untitled Action Bronson Show” and have performed at the Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, Celebrate Brooklyn and with Spirit Family Reunion, David Wax Museum and Calexico. Radio Jarocho’s performances are rowdy, foot-stomping parties. ‘Rios de Norte y Sur’ is Radio Jarocho’s first album since 2012’s acclaimed “Café Café.”

Singer Julia del Palacio leads the band, providing the rhythm by dancing on a tarima (pallet). National Prize-winning jarana player and singer, Zenen Zeferino -- born to a celebrated family of traditional musicians of Afro-Mexican and indigenous descent in Veracruz – has long been a hero to Radio Jarocho. Rounding out the ensemble, Juan Carlos Marin and Carlos Cuestas supply vocals and play requinto, with Victor Murillo on bass and leona.

As a Mexican-American band based in NYC, Radio Jarocho absorbs other influences and non-traditional instrumentation (like double bass), taking son jarocho to new places while respecting its heritage. The poignant “El Misterio,” starts with a bass solo. A tribute to Zeferino’s brother (a rural-serving engineer of Veracruz who died recently) it’s also a metaphor for the destruction of the environment in the state. “Cascabel” illustrates the power of the rattlesnake, a frequent motif in son jarocho music and culture. Meanwhile, “Conga de San Benito” emphasizes the Afro-Caribbean influence on son jarocho, with lyrics about a venerated black saint.

NPR has praised Radio Jarocho’s “edgy attitude.” The New York Daily News’ Jim Farber said, “This New York-based band mine flinty traditional Mexican jarocho music, then fracture it through a modern sensibility of their own.”

Ruth Ungar of The Mammals said, “Radio Jarocho light up the room. They draw from the past but it’s all about this moment, this party, this heart swelling with joy and energy.”

‘Rios de Norte y Sur’ Track Listing:

1.     El Palomo
2.     El Misterio
3.     La Vieja
4.     Pajaro Cu
5.     Conga De San Benito
6.     Cotorritos
7.     Chiles Verdes
8.     Cascabel
9.     Balaju

Bonus track: “Julia Del Palacio”

Radio Jarocho Tour Dates:

April 17 - New York, NY - Edison Ballroom (NYC Children’s Theater Gala)
May 10 - New York, NY - Joe’s Pub
June 1 - Portsmouth, NH - 3S Artspace
June 2 - Portland, ME - Port City Music Hall
June 8 - Upper Jay, NY - Recovery Lounge, Upper Jay Art Center
June 15-16 - Flushing, NY - LeFrak Concert Hall

Radio Jarocho clips

Paste Magazine session (April 4, 2018):

Pop Matters album premiere (May 8, 2018)

NPR Alt.Latino video premiere & album review (May 11, 2018)