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FOR OFFICIAL TOUR DATES AND APPEARANCES FOR Indie and punk rock kids are discovering religion and kinship in bluegrass and country's three-chords-and-the-truth. They're dropping their Strats and SGs for mandolins and pedal steel and trading in angst-ridden vocals for sweet melodies and irony-free stories of real life. Axton Kincaid is one of these rock to roots transformations-- a modern country band that's been passed through the filter of Tom Waits, Neko Case and Calexico, while retaining the country tradition of three- and four-part harmonies and songs about misspent youth, D-I-V-O-R-C-E and the pleasures and pitfalls of drowning your sorrows. The band's first full-length CD, Songs from the Pine Room, was released in May 2007 by Free Dirt Records. "Red Lights," "Who's Gonna Pour My Whiskey When You're Gone?" and a moody cover of the Stone Roses' "I Wanna Be Adored" were hits in the blogosphere and spun nationally on AAA and Americana radio. The album received critical acclaim from NPR, American Songwriter, West Coast Performer, All Music Guide, SF Weekly, SF Bay Guardian, as well as press and radio in Belgium, Spain and the UK. While touring in support of the album, the band shared stages with BR-549, Camper Van Beethoven, the Mother Truckers, Eilen Jewell and Red Meat. Silver Dollars, Axton Kincaid's second Free Dirt release, updates the traditional bent of their debut with songs inspired by early '70s country-rock ("The Saddest Story"), Dolly-and-Porter style duets ("Spend Some Time with Me"), and the classic Nashville Sound--albeit with an underlying layer of noisy, distorted guitar ("Walking Papers"). With guest musicians on fiddle, pedal steel and piano, the record features some of the brightest stars in the Portland and San Francisco country and indie rock scenes, including Camilla Lincoln (the Whoreshoes), Katy Rexford (Burning Embers, Boz Scaggs) and Mac Martine (John Murry & Bob Frank). "Recalling moments of Freakwater and The Be Good Tanyas and armed with dazzling three-layer harmonies" -SF Bay Guardian "Tradition-minded songs and lovely lead vocals are embroidered by the band's unfussy musical interplay and the gorgeous close harmonies" -All Music Guide
"An unfiltered, honest and versatile sound" -West Coast Performer
SCOTT BENSON
BEOLACH
Beolach began at an impromptu session at the Celtic Colours Festival in 1998, and after a strong initial response has gone on to play festivals in North America and Europe. The group recorded their self-titled debut album in the summer of 2001 at Lakewind Sound in Point Aconi Cape Breton. The album features original compositions as well as the group's unique dynamic arrangements of their favorite traditional tunes.
Beolach has thrilled audiences with energetic performances, witty presentation, and their versatility as stepdancers. Cape Breton tunes are removed from their usual fiddle/piano context and presented with the energy of a young six-piece band. Although presenting these tunes in a contemporary style, Beolach maintains a respect and understanding of Cape Breton music.
CHUMBAWAMBA
DERRICK JENSEN
Rather than proposing easy answers, Jensen traces the roots of the culture's pathology and finds the places where they intertwine, revealing fresh and startling connections. The Culture of Make Believe (2002) examines the interrelationship between hate and economics. The book was a finalist for the 2003 J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize, which cited it as "a passionate and provocative meditation on the nexus of racism, genocide, environmental destruction and corporate malfeasance, where civilization meets its discontents." Arguing that contemporary culture is destined to collapse due to destruction of the planet, Jensen advocates "dismantling civilization"-- but not in a conventional sense. "One of the good things about... the culture being so ubiquitously destructive is that no matter where you look -- no matter what your gifts, no matter where your heart lies -- there's good and desperately important work to be done," he writes. "Know explosives? Take out a dam. Know how to love and accept children, how to teach them to love themselves, to think and feel for themselves? That's what you need to do." Jensen, a long-time activist who lives in Northern California, unflinchingly examines the culture's darkest corners while searching for a way forward. In A Language Older Than Words (2000), he draws on his own experience of childhood abuse to examine violence as a pathology that afflicts every life on the planet. This acclaimed book has been said to accomplish the rare feat of breaking and mending the reader's heart, as well as energizing the mind. His latest book, How Shall I Live My Life, is published by PM Press. (excerpts of Derrick Jensen's bio courtesy of www.americanswhotellthetruth.org) For more information and tour dates please visit the official site for Derrick Jensen.
POKEY LAFARGE & THE SOUTH CITY TREE
Pokey LaFarge was born in the heartland of America and took to the open roads at a young age, earning the key to the freedom by hitching rides and writing boxcar ballads that spun tales of a boy finding his way through this big wide-open country. He submerged himself with the most American of music and embraced himself in the beauty of the land while picking and strumming with down-home groups everywhere he went, falling in with traveling caravans of vaudeville poets and hell-raising bluegrass pickers alike. In true rambler fashion, LaFarge does not look back; he looks only forward on the next road ready approaching with his guitar in his hand and his voice ready to fly. His influence is deeply rooted in the heroes and misfits of yesterday; the long lost troubadours of country, the kings of swamp-drentched ragtime, and all the legendary bluesmen of the Cotton Kingdom. The result is a boiling pot of American cultures; a wonderfully fresh and quirky kind of pop music that combines delta-meets-appalachia song-writing with a big, big beat. Even though the songs were birthed in the hills and country towns of old America, donÕt call it old-timey; LaFarge is here to grace it into this modern and electric world. Along with his refreshing take on tradition, Pokey brings his irresistible charm and genuinely romantic outlook on, not only subjects such as the rivers and the land itself, but universal topics such as love, death, and real adventure. With a firm grasp on personal freedom and Shakespearean insight on humanity, Pokey remains one of the very few folks who consistently turn the abstract into a concrete reality.
Music is not just chords and notes and melody. To a person who truly loves music, it is a medium to celebrate this life. For Pokey, every show is a celebration Š juke-joint style Š where women twirl in their dresses and the fellas stomp their feet and clap their hands. To this day, Mr. LaFarge is still finding tranquility within the yellow highway lines playing up to two-hundred shows a year bringing his music to anyone young and old who is willing to listen.
MARY JANE LAMOND
On the North Shore of Cape Breton Island, the rich heritage of the region's Scottish settlers was kept alive through song. It was in Nova Scotia, visiting her grandparents throughout her youth, that Mary Jane Lamond fell in love with Scottish Gaelic traditions and song. While enrolled in Saint Francis Xavier University's Celtic Studies programme, Lamond released her first album, Bho Thir Nan Craobh, a collection of traditional material that introduced her unique singing voice and a then unknown fiddler named Ashley MacIsaac. The two talented Maritimers then collaborated on the award-winning radio smash "Sleepy Maggie". Mary Jane Lamond took time-honored Gaelic songs to the next level on Suas e!, which combined classic texts with contemporary pop sounds. The Globe & Mail praised it for its "refreshing balance between modern and ancient," and the album earned several Juno and East Coast Music Award nominations as well as a MuchMusic Global Groove Award for the video "Bog a 'Lochain." The success of Suas e! contributed to an explosion of interest in Celtic culture and Lamond took the songs on the road with a live band. Her experiences on the stage directly influenced the sound of Lan Duil. "I had the same philosophy, which is to pick a variety of songs in the tradition and work on different ways to arrange them," Lamond explains. On Lan Duil Lamond's spell-binding renditions of treasured Gaelic songs are fused with original arrangements using a variety of instruments, from the familiar fiddle and bagpipes to Indian tabla. Ultimately, it's a new style of world music that is unique to Mary Jane Lamond. Yet as the singer herself will tell you, it's the stories that matter. While Lan Duil soothes and stirs, it also chronicles Cape Breton's living Scottish Gaelic culture. The sounds of friends, family and local legends are heard throughout the album. Despite the important role her music plays in preserving Scottish Gaelic songs that would otherwise rarely be heard outside Cape Breton, Mary Jane Lamond says Lan Duil's primary purpose is to entertain. "This is a huge oral literary tradition that is being lost at an alarming rate," she says, "and I am involved with community things that help conserve it for younger people. But I'm also an interpreter, a singer and musician and in my music the challenge is to create something new and exciting that doesn't destroy the heart of it." Orain Ghaidhlig (Gaelic Songs of Cape Breton), focuses on the songs and poetry which are the cornerstone of this tradition. This recording remains true to the simple sharing of music that is the foundation of Gaelic culture -- from the engaging milling songs performed by a group of Cape Breton's finest traditional Gaelic singers to the lively old style fiddling of Joe Peter MacLean, a musician never before captured on recording. Recorded at the beautiful North River Church in Cape Breton, this enhanced cd also features visuals taken during the recording sessions.
Mary Jane Lamond makes timeless music for a modern age. Mary Jane Lamond continues to make a unique contribution to both world and pop music.
WENDY MACISAAC
Wendy MacIsaac is a fiddler/piano player/stepdancer from Creignish, Cape Breton, Canada. Wendy has been touring all over the world for the last ten years with Mary Jane Lamond, Ashley MacIsaac, Beolach (her current band) and as a solo performer. She has performed in Italy, Brazil, the UK, Ireland, Iceland, Eastern Europe and all over North America. Wendy's recordings include 'The Reel Thing' (1994), 'That's What You Get' (1996) and her latest album 'Timeline' (2003). Beolach has recorded a self-titled album (2001), and Wendy is featured prominently on the recordings of Mary Jane Lamond.
Wendy began performing at age 5 as a stepdancer. At age 12, she began fiddle lessons with Stan Chapman. By age fifteen, Wendy was playing dances all over Cape Breton Island and forming the sound that makes her so recognizable today. She soon began traveling further, to Boston, Detroit, and Toronto, to play for the popular Cape Breton dances in those areas. At this time, Wendy also developed a strong reputation as a piano player and has accompanied just about all of the Cape Breton fiddlers of her generation. In 1995 she began touring with the Cape Breton Summertime Revue and has made the road her second home ever since. Wendy has performed with the Chieftains, Capercaillie and Buddy MacMaster, to name a few. Her skills as a teacher are also in high demand at festivals worldwide, whether for fiddle, piano, or stepdancing; she is always happy to share her music and experience with others.
MOSTAR SEVDAH REUNION
NETHERS
Nethers have toured all over the USA, including a 3 week stint with Dungen in 2007, shortly followed by shows with the Decemberists, the Walkmen, and the National. Their live shows have been called "absolutely amazing" (Seeking Irony), and their studio recordings have been described as an even more impressive "startingly beautiful" (Washington Post). Check out their latest full-length album from the band here, released worldwide by Trade Root Music Group's label partner Izniz Recordings.
SHORTSTACK
Hailing from the United States capitol, Shortstack's roots can be traced back to Allentown, Pennsylvania - a city nestled between Philadelphia, the Appalachian coal belt, and the remains of Bethlehem Steel. It was here that schoolmates Scott Gursky and Adrian Carroll cut their teeth on punk rock in the local scene around them. Fast forward to 1999 when Adrian and Scott, broke and jobless, reunited in a move to a ramshackle house in D.C. Together they began discovering the country sounds of Chet Atkins, Merle Travis, and other early American artists, and soon began filling the house with their own songs about isolation, love, redemption, and wandering. After a few initial shows around town, Mike Pahn, a refugee from Memphis, joined the group to add an essential rhythm via stand-up bass to the groove Adrian and Scott had started. What they formed together was a brand of proto-rock-n-roll emanating from a time before Elvis - the tonality and execution of early rock-n-roll without the pompadours and all such gimmicks through which it is commonly filtered and fetishized. Fast-forward again to 2010. Shortstack is older and wiser. As with many bands that have lasted 10 years, they've moved to a new record label, and experienced a couple of lineup changes, with Burleigh Seaver joining in 2005 and bringing his talents on guitar and vocal harmonies. They've developed a significant, dedicated fanbase in the U.S. Mid-Atlantic region and well beyond. They've shared the stage with an incredibly wide variety of musicians. "We've played some crazy shows over the years," recalls Mike Pahn. "We've played with Calexico, The Cramps, Bob Log III, Hasil Adkins, and--I still don't know how this happened-- Getatchew Mekuria (widely known as one of the most important proponents of Ethio-jazz) and The Ex!" But most notably Shortstack has matured, they've celebrated milestones, and they've suffered losses. Quite simply, they've been experiencing life, and it's clearly affected their craft in a positive way on "Please Leave My Mind."
"We've definitely evolved as songwriters," says Carroll. "And it could be said that this album is about a period of loss and recovery. Yet at the same time it's a much more accessible album than our previous recordings. We put a lot more effort into vocals and focused more on stacked harmonies in the voices and the instruments." And while this album may slightly diverge from previous works, current Shortstack fans will surely be pleased, while new listeners are certain to be quickly won over. Carroll continues, "We're making music that's genuine and truly our own--we are not apeing or imitating--our music's a unique response to the vast array of sounds that have spoken to us. Our music exudes a certain nostalgia, yet isn't retro; it's earnest, yet not maudlin. Our music is our own, and I think that's readily clear when people see us live." It's this evolution and continued uniqueness that has facilitated a collection of songs that the band is absolutely thrilled with. "We feel so good about the way everything came out," adds Pahn. "This is our most rockin' record yet."
MICHAEL WHITE
THE WILDERS
The Wilders' playlist is peppered with original country, bluegrass, hillbilly songs, and fiddle tunes, and also includes many of the classic country favorites heard in the early days of the Grand Ol' Opry radio show. Songs by Hall of Famers Jimmie Rogers, Roy Acuff and the Carter Family are presented in a faithful yet original light. Anchored by the insurgent walking bass lines of Nate Gawron, the band resurrects 1940's and 50's honky-tonk heroes like Hank Williams and Lefty Frizzell, providing each tune with all the swinging electricity found in the originals without plugging in a single instrument. The finishing touch for the band's sound is produced by the slippery dobro, chugging clawhammer banjo and plunky mandolin of jack-of-all-trades, Phil Wade. While Sheldon and Ellis handle the bulk of the vocal chores, the whole group can sometimes be heard harmonizing on a beautiful old gospel tune. The band has burned up concerts and festivals across the nation and beyond, leaving delighted and exhausted crowds in their wake. They have made repeat appearances at the Walnut Valley Festival in Winfield Kansas, Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival in Ancramdale, New York, and debuted at such festivals as Wintergrass and Telluride in 2005. In the summer of 2002, the band was featured with singer/songwriter Iris DeMent on Garrison Keillor's "Prairie Home Companion" on National Public Radio. The band performed live at the Kennedy Center in the summer of 2004, and the video of this performance is archived online. In 2005, The Wilders were invited guests on Michael Jonathan's "Woodsongs Old-Time Radio Hour"; this show is also archived online. In addition, the band's recordings are regularly featured on numerous folk and bluegrass radio shows far and wide.
The Wilders are completely unique among bands playing old time country music. They know the importance of variety in their performances and always strive to give the crowd the best show they could ask for. They multiply their musical skills with a sheer will to give out the most energy they can -- and they do it all with honesty and a genuine enthusiasm for the music. For those who like country music, and even for those who don't know they do yet, The Wilders' show is not to be missed!
DOUG & TELISHA WILLIAMS
Honest grit mingled with a humble respect comes through in songs of redemption, struggle and sacrifice on their new record Rope Around my Heart. Doug and Telisha gathered a stellar group of musicians to lend their talents, including Darrell Scott, Dennis Crouch, Kenny Malone, Eamon McLoughlin and Becki Williams. The project was produced, recorded, mixed and mastered by Miles Wilkinson. "I'm excited about this record, it's very honest, almost raw," says Doug, "Some of these songs come from pretty shadowy places." Of course, it isn't all dark and depressing, "There are a couple of happy songs! Even a love song, and it's honest, too!" notes Telisha. Telisha's crystal-clear voice floats like a butterfly on a mountain breeze or thunders like a freight train coming down the track. Doug's guitar playing provides a perfect foundation for either. Telisha and Doug met in high school marching band and there hasn't been a time since then that they haven't been playing music together. She was the Majorette and he was the Drum Major. It sounds like something in a cheesy romance novel, but it's true! They soon started dating and Doug gave Telisha her first guitar and taught her some chords. They put together a band specifically to play at a school assembly. They learned a few more songs and became the typical high school band, playing some pop tunes, some classic rock, and some country-rock. Like many garage bands, backyard birthday parties and school dances were their specialty. Eventually the band broke up, but Doug and Telisha continued playing together. Doug says, "Back home in the basement, it was always just us, doing this folksy, country stuff." After high school Doug and Telisha went to different colleges. Though five hours apart, they continued to play a few gigs here and there as a duo. Both Doug and Telisha finished college and got 'normal' jobs, still playing music on the weekends. Eventually normal became less and less and their music became more and more the focus of their lives. As touring, writing, and recording picked up it became evident that there just wasn't enough time for the old 'normal' jobs anymore. Now fourteen years from that first high school assembly they have emerged with the passion and energy of a true calling. There is a strong sense of urgency and purpose. It was a partnership that was meant to be in more ways than one. Married and living in southwest Virginia, they tour constantly around the South and up into the North, crossing ever-widening boundaries with every step.
With their open, inviting personalities and intriguing stage presence, the duo is quickly growing their fan base. First timers at their live shows feel like old friends and part of the family after just a song or two. A single set of their music can bring audience members to their feet in applause, to their knees in prayer, and back to the bar to buy another beer.
TERENCE WINCH
Winch, the son of Irish immigrants, has also been part of Irish-American cultural life, both as musician and writer. Some of his poetry and other writing takes its subject matter from his upbringing in a Bronx immigrant neighborhood. His newest book, called Boy Drinkers, is a series of mostly narrative poems that center around religion and Winch's New York brand of Irish-Catholicism. His previous volume, a collection of non-fiction stories called That Special Place: New World Irish Stories, comes out of his experiences playing traditional Irish music with Celtic Thunder, a band he started with his brother Jesse in 1977 (Read more about Celtic Thunder in an official statement from Terrence Winch by clicking here). Many of the songs he wrote for Celtic Thunder recount the story of New York's Irish community: with "When New York Was Irish," "Saints (Hard New York Days)," and "The Irish Riviera" the best-known of them. Celtic Thunder's second album, The Light of Other Days, won the prestigious INDIE award for Best Celtic Album in 1988. Terence Winch's most recent music project is a CD that collects his best-known Irish compositions on one disk: When New York Was Irish: Songs & Tunes by Terence Winch. Winch has published four books of poems and two story collections. His work is included in more than 30 anthologies, including The Oxford Book of American Poetry and three Best American Poetry collections. His poems are also to be found in Poetry 180: A Turning Back to Poetry (Random House); The Book of Irish American Poetry from the 18th Century to the Present (Notre Dame); Saints of Hysteria: A Half-Century of Collaborative American Poetry (Soft Skull); Great American Prose Poems: From Poe to the Present (Scribner's); Poetry Daily: 366 Poems from the World's Most Popular Poetry Website (Sourcebooks); and From Totems to Hip-Hop: A Multicultural Anthology of Poetry Across the Americas (Thunder's Mouth). His work has appeared in The Paris Review, New American Writing, The New Republic, American Poetry Review, Arshile, Shiny, Verse, Western Humanities Review, Agni, The World, Hanging Loose, Crab Orchard Review, New Hibernia Review, Irish Music et al. Winch's poems have also appeared in such ezines as The Cortland Review and Poetry Daily, and have been highlighted several times on "The Writer's Almanac" radio program. Featured in a 1986 profile by Geoff Himes on National Public Radio's "All Things Considered," Winch was also the subject of a two-part interview with George Liston Seay on Public Radio International's "Dialogue" program in 1998. He has interviewed several leading Irish writers for the cable TV series The Writing Life, and was himself the subject of an interview with Roland Flint for the series in 1998. (For the entry on TW in The Encyclopedia of the Irish in America, see www.nd.edu/~ndr/issues/ndr10/winch/winch.html). TW has also written for The Washington Post, The Washingtonian, The Village Voice, The Wilson Quarterly, The Dictionary of Irish Literature, The Oxford Companion to American Poetry, and other books and publications.
Terence Winch has received an NEA Fellowship in poetry, as well as grants from the DC Commission on the Arts, the Maryland State Arts Commission, and the Fund for Poetry.
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