Head For The Hills’ New Music Video Debuted on Relix.com

Head For The Hills’ New Music Video Debuted on Relix.com
WATCH “Take Me Back”→ http://bit.ly/14ZMEns

Colorado quartet, Head for the Hills’ first official music video featuring their song “Take Me Back” from their studio new album Blue Ruin has been debuted on Relix.com. Written in the great tradition of sunny sounding bluegrass songs with morose lyrics, “Take Me Back” is about being born at the wrong time. Breakneck fiddle work plays counterpoint to a probing look at loss of innocence and longing for days past in this modern bluegrass tour de force.

“Effortlessly matches integrity against innovation.”
–CMT Edge, Brian T. Atkinson

“Blue Ruin starts with the song ‘Take Me Back’… real, smooth catchy… bluegrass-most just.”
–The Horn

“‘Take Me Back’… an easygoing, rambling ballad steeped in traditional bluegrass.”
–Westword

“The opening cut, ‘Take Me Back,’ is reminiscent of an early Country Gazette-style offering, particularly with respect to the rhythm style and vocal arrangement.”
–Prescription Bluegrass

Head for the Hills. Photo by Marc Leverette.

Head for the Hills has a simple but continuing dilemma they can’t seem to resolve. Specialists have been hired to no avail and the predicament persists: how does one describe the multifarious music of Head for the Hills? Among the top contenders are catchy turns of phrase like post-bluegrass, progressive string music, modern acoustic noir, and bluegrass bricolage. “On top of modern string music,” (Bluegrass Today), “Cutting edge,” (Drew Emmitt) or “Best in Colorado Bluegrass” (Westword Showcase Readers Poll).

Strip away the artful descriptors and you have a forward thinking group of {mostly} acoustic musicians drawing on eclectic influences, tastes and styles. They didn’t grow up immersed in bluegrass music but came to it later in life, with each other. The result is a sound based in bluegrass that reaches into indie rock, jazz, hip hop, world and folk to stitch together fresh songs that bridge the divide between past and future acoustic music. Think Meta-fictional sea shanties. Pop-infused newgrass murder ballads and urbane lyricism. Twang and punch. Blue Ruin finds Head for the Hills inspired by love and misery and comic books.

Summer tour highlights for Head for the Hills have included performances at RockyGrass, Northwest String Summit, the band’s debut in Alaska for Salmonstock Music Festival. They also hosted a ‘Blue Ruin’ album release block party in the streets of Denver, CO with Breckenridge Brewery.

H4TH also collaborated on a custom craft beer with Odell Brewing Company (Ft. Collins, CO) named ‘Head for the Hills – Colorado Amber Ale’ and also was voted “Best in Bluegrass” for the fourth consecutive year by the Denver Westword Magazine via a reader’s based poll.

Head for the Hills is Adam Kinghorn on Guitar and vocals, Joe Lessard on violin and vocals, Matt Loewen on upright bass and vocals and Mike Chappell on acoustic and electric mandolins.

Kind Words about Blue Ruin:

“Sheer exuberance” –The Bluegrass Situation, Lee Zimmerman

“The guys put a fresh spin on string music… Highly recommended.” —  Daily News, Pittsburgh, Jeffrey Sisk

“Head for the Hills uses misdirection like a veteran magician on Blue Ruin… a surreal, heady and innovative fusion of styles.” –Westword

Stay tuned for more about the new release on the band’s website and social networks. www.headforthehillsmusic.com. For the most up-to-date list of tour dates, click here.

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Afropop Band, Zansa, Release New Music Video “Mi Wa”

Album Release Celebration at Isis Music Hall in Asheville on Sat 9/7
Zansa CD Release Brings Cultural Music to the Mountains

Afropop band Zansa is releasing their debut album Djansa, with a live performance at Isis Restaurant & Music Hall on Saturday, September 7, 2013. More details about the show are here: http://bit.ly/17hTGGc.  Senegalese griot musician Diali Cissokho and his band Kaira Ba will be opening the show. Robust and rhythmic, melodic and smooth, the music of Zansa presents a dynamic synthesis of centuries’ old West African songs and modern instrumentation. Zansa is a Nouchi slang word meaning “blend,” and the group’s debut album, Djansa, meaning “dance,” delivers a dance party vibe with a folkloric storyline.

Based in Asheville, NC, Zansa is led by Adama Dembele (lead vocals, djembe, and percussion), a 33rd generation musician from Ivory Coast, whose ancestry is recognized throughout West Africa as the House of the Djembe. Along with Dembele, Zansa is Patrick Fitzsimons on guitar and vocals; Sean Mason on the drumset; Ryan Reardon and bass and vocals; and Matt Williams on violins, guitar, and vocals.

Djansa is being released nationally online (iTunes, Amazon, CD Baby) and in select record stores on September 10, 2013, with performances throughout the Southeast to follow. Pre-order Djansa on iTunes and immediately receive “Mi Wa” single for free.

Stay tuned towww.zansamusic.com for more information.

“Mi Wa” Lyrics and Translation:

Mi Wa: A love song, about love near and far, and love lost and found.

ROUGH TRANSLATION:
Light of my heart, light of my life.
Even if I leave, far away from you.
You still know without you my life doesn’t make sense.
With your love you make me happy, my natural beauty.

You’re my love, you’re my joy.
You spoiled my life with your choice.
You know without you baby my life doesn’t make sense.
Your love just makes me happy, my natural beauty.

LYRICS:

Eh, eh eh eh, mi wa, mi wa gnoh…

Lumière de mon coeur, lumière de ma vie.
Meme si moi je vie, loin de ta presense.
Tu sais bien que sans toi chèrie
Ma vie na plus de sèance, a ton amour,
Vient me rend heureux ma beaute naturelle

Eh, eh eh eh, mi wa, mi wa gnoh…

Oh toi mon amour, oh toi ma joie due
Tu a gache ma vie, par un notre choix
Tu sais bien que sans toi chèri
Ma vie na plus de sans, a ton amour
Viens me rend heuruex ma beaute naturelle

“Eh, eh eh eh…”

Oh l’enfant, “Allez yako”

Zansa
“Mi Wa”
Recorded by Matt Williams at The Eagle Room, Weaverville, NC
Produced by Matt Williams and Ryan Reardon
From the album Djansa
©2013 Zansa Music

Music Video recorded and produced by Dark Energy Pictures.

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Chris Jones and The Night Drivers’ Release ‘Lonely Comes Easy’ Aug 27th Through Rebel Records

Chris Jones and The Night Drivers’ Release ‘Lonely Comes Easy’
Aug 27th Through Rebel Records
Now Available on iTunes–> http://bit.ly/1aM4W2R

Featuring Guest Musicians Claire Lynch, Sierra Hull, Jeremy Garrett & more

“A haunting, silky-smooth CD by some of the best players in bluegrass! Chris Jones’ voice is there with the great masters, and the Night Drivers should no longer be driving at night, but playing music 24/7.”
–Steve Martin

“When I first heard Chris Jones over 25 years ago he became one of my favorite singers, and he continues to have one of the most distinctive and best voices in music, period. It’s like fine wine for the ears.”
— Jim Lauderdale

When Chris Jones and the Night Drivers woke up at the beginning of 2013, they were startled to learn that their recording of “Final Farewell” had topped Bluegrass Today’s first-ever annual bluegrass radio airplay chart.  To others, though, it came as no surprise.  Though the quartet’s “low lonesome”-singing front man founded the group back in the mid-1990s, it’s more recent years that have earned them a growing reputation for their signature sound, distinctive stage presence and deep connection to every corner of the bluegrass world.  And now, with the release of Lonely Comes Easy, the first all-new collection since 2009’s Cloud Of Dust and the first for Rebel Records in over a decade, Chris Jones and the Night Drivers are poised to cross into the ranks of the music’s most respected artists.

With two award-winning songwriters in the group—Jones and co-writer John Pennell scored the IBMA’s Song of the Year award in 2007 for “Fork In The Road,” while bassist Jon Weisberger earned the organization’s first Songwriter of the Year trophy in 2012—it’s only natural that Lonely Comes Easy is filled with the group’s own material.  Two songs, including the title track, comes from Jones’ pen, while he and Weisberger collaborated on two songs and brought in Chris Stuart, yet another Song of the Year winner, for a story of love that transcends family differences (“You’re My Family Now”). And, in a move that’s increasingly rare in the bluegrass world, the band tackles not one, but two original instrumentals—mandolin player Mark Stoffel’s “Swine Flu In Union County,” and banjo whiz Ned Luberecki’s “Don’t Blink.”

Other co-writers are a small but select group, including the legendary Tom T. and Dixie Hall (“Where I Am,” written with Chris) and popular contemporary bluegrass and country singer/songwriter Lisa Shaffer, whose “Barn Burner,” written with Weisberger, provided the inspiration for the album’s cover photo. Homages to Doc Watson (“Wake Up, Little Maggie”), Jones favorite Charley Pride (“Too Late To Say I’m Sorry”) and Ralph Stanley (“A Few More Years,” lifted from an earlier, out-of-print Jones album) round out the song list, together with the Night Drivers’ most recent #1 hit, a ‘grassy remake of country trucker classic “Wolf Creek Pass.”

Similarly, only a few guest musicians appear on the project: resonator guitarist Ivan Rosenberg, former bandmember Jeremy Garrett (Infamous Stringdusters) and IBMA Momentum Award Vocalist of the Year Emily Bankester (The Bankesters) turn up on two songs apiece, while harmonica maestro Buddy Greene supplies some mournful harmonica on “Wake Up Little Maggie” and Sierra Hull and two-time IBMA Female Vocalist of the Year Claire Lynch cheerfully tackle the role of female chorus on “Wolf Creek Pass.”

Though it’s thoroughly contemporary, Lonely Comes Easy stays squarely in the bluegrass groove, reflecting the quartet’s appreciation for the ability of earlier masters to bring their own, unique voices—and creative twists—to the style while honoring its traditions.  And while there’s plenty of room for the classic themes of lost love and hard times, Chris and the rest of the band serve up plenty of the deft, subtle—and, occasionally, not so subtle—humor that has brought them growing acclaim as live performers.

Thanks to Chris and Ned’s roles as on-air talent for SiriusXM’s Bluegrass Junction continent-wide satellite radio channel, the Night Drivers have enjoyed a broad and growing audience that knows—and appreciates them—as personalities and, to use the classic bluegrass phrase, radio friends.  Now, with the release of Lonely Comes Easy, Chris Jones and the Night Drivers have served notice that they’re among the strongest contemporary artists that the music has to offer as well.

Track Listing ~ Lonely Comes Easy:
1} If That Was Love 2:55
2} Lonely Comes Easy 3:39 (with Emily Bankester)
3} You’re My Family Now 2:52 (with Ivan Rosenberg)
4} Wake Up Little Maggie 2:42 (with Buddy Greene)
5} Don’t Blink 3:16 (with Jeremy Garrett)
6} One Who’s Coming After Me 2:33
7} Where I Am 2:36
8} Too Hard to Say I’m Sorry 2:56
9} Barn Burner 2:54
10} Then I Close My Eyes 3:28 (with Darrin Vincent, Ivan Rosenberg & Emily Bankester)
11} Swine Flu in Union County 4:05
12} A Few More Years* 3:15 (with Sally Jones, Irl Hees, Ron Block & Dan Tyminski)
13} Wolf Creek Pass (with Claire Lynch & Sierra Hull on vocals and Jeremy Garrett) 6:15
*BONUS TRACK

Lonely Comes Easy was produced by Chris Jones and Recorded and mixed by Ben Surratt at The Rec Room Studio, Nashville, TN. “A Few More Years” recorded by Tom T. Hall at Top Dog Studios, Franklin, TN; Mixed by Rich Adler. Additional overdub recording by Mark Stoffel and Ivan Rosenberg Mastered by Yes Master, Nashville, TN.

Chris Jones & The Night Drivers Perform This Fall:
8/31-9/01 Mammoth Lakes, CA – Mammoth Bluegrass Festival
9/11 Nashville, TN – The Station Inn
9/14 Glenmont, OH – Mohican Bluegrass Festival
9/21 Breinigsville, PA – Micro Bluegrass and Brews Festival
10/11 Norris, TN – Tennessee Fall Homecoming
10/12-10/13 Roseland, VA – The Festy Experience
10/18 Carterville, IL – O’Neil Auditorium

For more information, please visit: www.chrisjonesgrass.com/chris-jones-the-night-drivers/

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Jeff Austin Adds Dates To Summer Tour

Jeff Austin Adds Dates To Summer Tour

Mandolinist, vocalist and songwriter Jeff Austin is on tour this summer with various friends while not on the road with Yonder Mountain String Band. This weekend Jeff Austin & Friends (Allie Kral, Danny Barnes and Eric Thorin) play Friday August 23rd in Jackson Hole, WY and Sunday, August 25th at NedFest in Colorado.

As Jeff heads towards the eastern part of the country, he will join forces with The Here and Now, featuring banjoist Danny Barnes and Larry & Jenny Keel on guitar and bass. This special late summer tour starts in the midwest near Chicago and loops through The Midwest before heading heading south and then over to over to Oklahoma.

More details have emerged for Jeff Austin & The Here and Now’s sets at the Mumford and Sons Gentlemen of the Road Troy Stopover Downtown Street Festival in Ohio with a daytime set on the Market Street Stage and late-night set at Elks Lodge on Friday, August 30th and a late-night set on Saturday, August 31st at the Market Street Stage. For more about the GOTD

Jeff Austin on Tour:

Jeff Austin & Friends
Featuring Allie Kral, Danny Barnes and Eric Thorin
8/23 Fri – Jackson Hole Live – Jackson Hole, WY*
8/25 Sun – NedFest – Nederland, Co*

Jeff Austin and The Here & Now
The Here & Now Features Danny Barnes and Larry and Jenny Keel
8/28 Wed – Durty Nellie’s – Palatine, IL
8/29 Thu – The Bluebird – Bloomington, IN
8/30 Fri – Mumford and Sons Gentlemen of the Road Troy Stopover Downtown Street Festival – Troy, OH
4:30pm-5:30pm @ Market Street Stage & 11:45pm-2:00am @ Elks Lodge
8/31 Sat – Mumford and Sons Gentlemen of the Road Troy Stopover Downtown Street Festival – Troy, OH
12:00am-1:00am @ Market Street Stage
9/1 Sun – Diamonds in Upper Highlands- Louisville, KY
9/2 Mon – Avondale Brewing Co. – Birmingham, AL
9/4 Wed – Old Rock House – St. Louis, MO
9/5 Thu – The Shrine – Tulsa, OK *Austin & Barnes duo show
9/6 Fri – Cottonwood Flats – Mumford and Sons Gentlemen of the Road – Guthrie, OK
9/7 Sat – Cottonwood Flats – Mumford and Sons Gentlemen of the Road – Guthrie, OK

Take a look at JeffAustin.com for further information and to download a free EP of Jeff Austin & The Here and Now.

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Town Mountain is up for Three IBMA Momentum Awards: Performance , Vocalist (Robert Greer) and Fiddler (Bobby Britt)!

Huge congratulations to all of the 2013 IBMA Award nominees!

Dreamspider Publicity is excited to announce that Town Mountain is up for three Momentum Awards: Performance (Town Mountain) , Vocalist (Robert Greer) and fiddler (Bobby Britt)!

Town Mountain. Photo by Jason Beverly.

Also, big congratulations to Town Mountain’s booking agent Martha Stracener Dantzic with Quicksilver Productions for being nominated for a momentum award for new industry professional!

Read more about all of the nominees for this year here: https://bluegrasstoday.com/2013-ibma-award-nominees/

The categories Town Mountain is nominated for include:
Performance, Vocalist (Momentum Awards) – Robert Greer, Town Mountain
Performance, Band (Momentum Awards) – Town Mountain
Performance, Instrumentalist (Momentum Awards) – Bobby Britt, Town Mountain

Town Mountain Featuring Robert Greer on Vocals:

“Rollicking straight-ahead fare, proto-rock, neo-trad country and jaunty boho picking”
–Jewly Hight, Nashville Scene

“Town Mountain… I’ve known these boys, seems like, forever..and I like ’em. They pick and sing with a passion you don’t find much these days, it’s refreshing and real good.  Put the cd in the truck, hit the parkway or some other good riding road, roll the windows down, and play it loud. PS. Watch out for the lawdog.” –John Roten, WPEK/WMXF

“A stone gem” –Mike Greenblatt, Aquarian Weekly

Highlights included the twisted waltz refrain within the title tune to the band’s recent album Leave the Bottle, the fierce fiddle and mandolin square-offs that sparked Four Miles and the Western slant of a new Robbie Fulks song, Long I Ride.”
–Walter Tunis, Kentucky.com in an review of The Festival of Bluegrass

Town Mountain Featuring Bobby Britt on Fiddle — “Four Miles”:

The Momentum Awards focus on artists and business people who are in the early years of their careers in bluegrass music. Five artists will receive performance awards, while three industry awards will go to key contributors in the bluegrass business. The Momentum Awards are not to be confused with the long-standing IBMA Awards, which are the gold standard for peer-recognized excellence in bluegrass music. The Momentum Awards will acknowledge something undeniable about bluegrass music—that many of its most dynamic artists and entrepreneurs are young or relatively new to the genre, and there are perhaps more artists playing bluegrass or bluegrass-related music than at any time in decades. IBMA looks forward to recognizing the best of them.

IBMA Momentum Awards are intended to encourage professionalism in bluegrass music among every generation.

Tickets to the IBMA Awards Show on Thursday, September 26 in Raleigh are still available at www.ibma.org. or by calling 888-GET-IBMA!

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Leftover Salmon Releases 2nd Single Through Breckenridge Brewery: “Thornpipe” Featuring Casey Dreissen

Leftover Salmon Releases 2nd Single Through Breckenridge Brewery:
“Thornpipe” Featuring Casey Dreissen

Because Handcrafted Music Deserves Handcrafted Beer.

Thornpipe Artwork by Jeff Wood

Thornpipe is Available This August Through Breck Brew Download Cards
Accompanied with an Artist Series Coaster and Contests

Bringing new meaning to the practice of catch and release, Breckenridge Brewery of Colorado and bluegrass band Leftover Salmon have caught up with each other to launch the second release in a series of four original songs. The new music is being pre-released exclusively within Breckenridge Brewery’s 12-pack Sampler Packs through October. Each of four song download codes is provided on Artist Series coasters, specially created by four well-known artists from the “Rock Art” community and packaged inside the Sampler Packs.

The second song available is “Thornpipe,” which Andy Thorn wrote years ago, but he believed it was missing something. While attending the Old Settler’s Music Festival in Austin in April, the group hooked up with Casey Driessen who added the missing component – sounds from his fiddle. Sound engineer Mario Casillio was able to set up a makeshift studio in the back of the band’s bus, and as Thorn remembers, “Casey was kind enough to spend a bit of his afternoon laying down some hot fiddlin’.”

“In music you’ve got your hornpipes and your jigs, but this tune is a ‘Thornpipe,’” continued Thorn. “It’s a pretty simple banjo tune with a few twists and turns to have fun with.”

Renowned poster artist Jeff Wood of Zen Mystic Studio created the artwork for “Thornpipe.”

“My art is heavily steeped in psychedelia, so when approached about the LoS Breckenridge coaster project, swirling images started dancing through my head,” said Wood. “‘Thornpipe’ is a great bluegrass tune and I envisioned a group of salmon forming a mandala spinning inside a ring of thorns. Mandalas have been used through the ages as a meditation and contemplation tool for the artist and the viewer. My hopes were that when one looks at the coaster image they will become lost in the image and, with beer in hand, it will take them to a more peaceful Colorado state of mind.”

The second Artist Series song download coasters will begin shipping in specially marked Breckenridge Brewery 12-pack Sampler Packs in mid-August. Every download that is retrieved enters that person in a drawing. The grand prize is a trip for two to Colorado for a VIP experience at Leftover Salmon’s Thanksgiving shows, with a behind-the-scenes Breckenridge Brewery tour and a band meet-and-greet. Other prizes include a band-autographed acoustic guitar made by Andrew White Guitars, which builds Vince Herman his guitars; a set of four Artist Series coaster posters, framed and signed by the band; and weekly online poster giveaways.

Gary Houston, Jeff Wood, Nate Duval and Tyler Stout each crafted their artwork with inspiration from Leftover Salmon’s new music and Breckenridge Brewery’s beers. In addition to the coasters, each artist is printing a limited run of 100 screen print posters that are numbered and signed. The posters are available through weekly giveaways on both Breckenridge Brewery’s and Leftover Salmon’s Facebook and Instagram pages. They also will be given away at special events in select bars in cities where the band is touring.

About Breckenridge Brewery
Breckenridge Brewery was founded in 1990 in Breckenridge, Colorado. In the past two decades Breckenridge Brewery has grown from a small 3,000-barrels-a-year brewpub to one of the most successful craft beer and restaurant companies in the nation. It now handcrafts more than 52,000 barrels of fresh beer annually and owns and operates five brewpubs and ale houses in the state of Colorado. For more information visit www.breckbrew.com.
For complete information visit http://www.breckbrew.com/LeftoverSalmon or follow on Facebook, http://www.facebook.com/BreckenridgeBrewery.

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Afropop Band, Zansa, Releases Debut Album at Isis on Sat 9/7

Afropop Band, Zansa, Releases Debut Album at Isis 9/7
Zansa CD Release Brings Cultural Music to the Mountains

Afropop band Zansa is releasing their debut album Djansa, with a live performance at Isis Restaurant & Music Hall on Saturday, September 7, 2013. Senegalese griot musician Diali Cissokho and his band Kaira Ba will be opening the show and their will be African inspired dinner specials created by Chef Mike Mahoney.

Robust and rhythmic, melodic and smooth, the music of Zansa presents a dynamic synthesis of centuries’ old West African songs and modern instrumentation. Zansa is a Nouchi slang word meaning “blend,” and the group’s debut album, Djansa, meaning “dance,” delivers a dance party vibe with a folkloric storyline. Check out their high energy live-footage video announcing the show –>

Based in Asheville, NC, Zansa is led by Adama Dembele (lead vocals, djembe, and percussion), a 33rd generation musician from Ivory Coast, whose ancestry is recognized throughout West Africa as the House of the Djembe. Since the 12th century, oral storytelling musicians/historians known as griots have carried forth the Dembele name and recognition as masters of the djembe. Today, drummers from across West Africa still study under the Dembele family in the Ivory Coast. Adama moved to the United States in 2008 and has since performed alongside other West African-influenced bands, including Afromotive and Toubab Krewe. Zansa is Dembele’s debut outfit, offering songs that are influenced by modern Zouglou beats and traditional African stories, sung in French, Bambara and Baoule dialects, as well as English.

The album, Djansa, marries Adama’s West African drumming traditions with modern instrumentation and song forms. While the djembe drives the rhythmic component, the violin plays a unique role as a lead melodic instrument, echoing the soku, a one-string predecessor that originated in Mali. Electric guitar, bass, percussion, and drum set lend familiarity to foreign sounds. “Many of the songs are from old stories I grew up with, such as the legend of Donsson, the hunter,” says Adama. “We sing about love and celebration, respect and understanding, and we play hard.” This cultural and sonic mix offers an original take on the authentic music of West Africa.

Along with Dembele, Zansa is Patrick Fitzsimons on guitar and vocals; Sean Mason on the drumset; Ryan Reardon and bass and vocals; and Matt Williams on violins, guitar, and vocals. Djansa is being released nationally online (iTunes, Amazon, CD Baby) and in select record stores on September 10, 2013, with performances throughout the Southeast to follow.

Pre-order Djansa on iTunes on Aug 13 and immediately receive “Mi Wa” single for free. Keep an eye out for the debut of the “Mi Wa” music video the same day.

Stay tuned to www.zansamusic.com for more information and links to pre-order the album.

SHOW DETAILS AT A GLANCE:
Zansa Album Release Show @ Isis Music Hall
Saturday, September 7, 2013
Diali Cissokho & Kaira Ba open the show

Doors 8pm, Show 9pm; Ages 18+; $8 adv, $10 dos
African inspired dinner specials created by Chef Mike Mahoney
828-575-2737
743 Haywood Road Asheville, NC 28806
http://isisasheville.com/events/zansa-cd-release-party-with-diali-cissokho-kaira-ba/

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The Believers on Tour this Summer and Fall ~ Select Shows with Donna the Buffalo

The Believers on Tour This Summer and Fall

Select Shows with Donna the Buffalo

THE BELIEVERS’ lead singer/songwriters Craig Aspen and Cynthia Frazzini met in Seattle and began a serious love affair with old school Country, Soul and Roots music. Their musical journey began playing a unique brand of music that has since earned them praise from contemporaries Buddy Miller, Jim Lauderdale and BBC Radio’s Bob Harris, who declared them as simply, “Brilliant.”

The Believers have released three albums and are presently touring in support of their Motown-esque new single, “Gimme Some Love.”

When asked to describe their music, Craig and Cynthia don’t miss a beat saying,  “We’re a rock band with a country problem.”  Britain’s Rock n Reel Magazine recently wrote that THE BELIEVERS are “What Johnny Cash and The Tennessee Three might’ve sounded like if they’d jammed with The White Stripes.”

The new single ‘Gimme Some Love’ is their first new recording in five years and was produced by Donna The Buffalo’s Jeb Puryear. The Believers’ Craig Aspen also directed Donna The Buffalo’s most recent video “I Love My Tribe” which debuted on CMT to much praise.

The Believers and Donna the Buffalo are on tour together this summer:
July 27 Spokane, WA
July 28 Seattle, WA
July 29 Portland, OR
July 30 Eugene, OR
August 1 Los Angeles, CA
August 2 Pioneer Town, CA
August 3 San Francisco, CA
August 4 Santa Cruz, CA
August 5 Chico, CA
August 9 Denver, CO

BELIEVERS only:
August 27 Nashville, TN
Sept 11 New York, NY
Sept 12 Washington DC
Sept 14 Delaplane, VA
Sept 15 Annapolis, MD (w/Donna the Buffalo)
Sept 27 Nashville, TN

See www.thebelieversUSA.com for details

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Sam Lewis & Scott McMahan Perform at Isis Music Hall on Thu 8/29

Sam Lewis & Scott McMahan Perform at Isis Music Hall on Thu 8/29

Sam Lewis  @ Isis Restaurant & Music Hall
Also performing is Scott McMahan
Thursday, August 29, 2013

Doors 8pm, Show 9pm; $8 adv/ $10 dos
Limited seating, dinner reservations recommended
828-575-2737
743 Haywood Road Asheville, NC 28806
www.isisasheville.com

Since his successful debut of his self-titled album, Sam Lewis has been busy crafting songs the next one. A soulful songwriter, Sam sings with raw emotion, inviting you into his life and love stories; he has a way of touching deep into the heart of listeners with his straight-forward and captivating music. “There’s so much soul pouring out of this guy’s pores you could bathe in it. It’s like hearing Al Green for the first time,” writes No Depression’s Grant Britt.

Sam debuted four new songs on Daytrotter.com this July. To listen in to the new tunes, please visit -> http://bit.ly/18S1S55.

 

Six years of constant writing, performing and touring have become the nexus of Lewis’ music. In March of 2012, Sam released his self-titled debut with the help of co-producer Matt Urmy, Sam has woven ten songs into a conversation, between himself, the band, and his listeners. Urmy, himself an accomplished singer/songwriter, assembled a group made up of Nashville’s top session and touring players, including guitarist Kenny Vaughan, keyboard player Reggie Bradley Smith, Derek Mixon on drums and bass player Dave Jacques. Making a surprise appearance on the album is soul chanteuse Jonell Mosser, providing backing vocals on “I’m A River”.

Music was one of the few constants in Sam’s life. His family never stayed anywhere for long, which meant that friendships were forged between himself and the music he absorbed, from Roy Orbison to Van Morrison to Willie Nelson. The influence of Ray Charles can be felt from the first note to the last beat, making Sam’s debut a complimentary companion to Charles’ own,  two-volume Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music. Leaving home as soon as the opportunity arrived, Sam landed in Knoxville, and later Nashville.

Sam has spent hours, in fact years, collecting and arranging the relationships and experiences he has forged. To the average person, they seem like an amalgamation of time and happenstance, but to him, they are the moral of the story. “I never once felt, in this whole process that someone just kind of pointed. No one took me by the hand, but almost every single one of these connections were very personal. I was introduced to these people that helped make this record. These are gonna be people that I’m going to know the rest of my life.” Lewis has drawn us a clear picture of where he’s going, and thankfully, he has invited us along for the ride.

“Sounding a bit like James Taylor, but bluesier and more country … often about human flaws, weaknesses, and some of the facets of love.” –Tom Geddie, Buddy Magazine

“The complete artist is one that everyone should be reminded of from time to time – the one who writes, sings, performs and handles every aspect of the form of expression found in music. And this is where you find Sam Lewis, blending a mix of country and soul in a manner such as Van Morrison or Ray Charles. He has a story to tell that is relevant to all” –Travis Swann, Mufreesboro Post

“The realness … instantaneously creates a link between Lewis and other famous singer/songwriters like Amos Lee, John Prine and Henry McCullough.” –Greenberry Taylor, Fishbowl Records

For more about Sam Lewis, please visit: samlewistunes.com

 

***     ***     ***

More about Scott McMahan:
Scott McMahan blurs the lines between Soul & Folk. Honest and direct – he sings of longing, loss, and the hope of redemption. His warm, gritty baritone is at times weary and emotion-laced, bringing to mind artists like Otis Redding and Van Morrison.

“Somewhere within Scott McMahan’s wounded, tender voice there’s a tremor that makes women want to take him home, make him some stew, smooth the worry from his brow and put him to bed. His soulful, self-effacing songs are about long drives home when you’d really hoped to stay the night; they’re about unanswered phone calls, and love too-long unreciprocated.” –Metro Pulse

For more about Scott McMahan, please visit: www.facebook.com/scottmcmahansongs

 

 

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