Head For The Hills Announce New Album, Tour Dates

Head For The Hills Announce New Album, Tour Dates
‘Blue Ruin’ Due Out July 9, 2013

Head for the Hills is pleased to announce the upcoming release of their third studio album, Blue Ruin, on July 9, 2013. They are in the midst of their Spring Tour in which they opened for both Yonder Mountain String Band and Leftover Salmon. They’ll perform two nights at The Bluebird Theater this weekend in Denver then travel up the west coast. This summer brings them to a variety of festivals including RockyGrass, Northwest String Summit, 4 Peaks Music Festival, Salmonstock, and the return of their music festival, Pickin’ on the Poudre at the historic Mishawaka Amphitheatre, where they’ll be performing music from the new release… think Meta-fictional sea shanties, pop-infused newgrass murder ballads and urbane lyricism, twang and punch.

On Blue Ruin, Head for the Hills fuses bluegrass, jazz, hip-hop and indie rock into songs inspired by love and misery and comic books. It was recorded and mixed in Fort Collins, Colorado at Swingfingers Studios with ace engineer and banjoist Aaron Youngberg (Hit and Run, Martha Scanlan, Cahalen Morrison and Eli West). Blue Ruin features guest musicians: resophonic guitarist Andy Hall (The Infamous Stringdusters), cellist Kathleen Starr, electric pianist James Thomas, trumpeter Gabe Mervine (The Motet), vocalist Erin Youngberg (Uncle Earl), and Youngberg on banjo and pedal steel. Head For The Hills is Adam Kinghorn on guitar, Michael Chappell on mandolin, Joe Lessard on fiddle, and Matt Loewen bass.

Renowned screen print artist Timothy Doyle (NASA, Lucas Films, Muse, The Black Keys, The Campaign to Re-Elect Barack Obama) created the stunning cover art, which brings to life themes and characters from within the record. Grammy Award-winning mastering engineer David Glasser rounds out the production team.

Stay tuned for more about the new release on the band’s website and social networks.  More information can be found about Blue Ruin at www.headforthehillsmusic.com/blueruin/.

For a sneak peak at the album, watch this fun Blue Ruin Preview Video and stream the song “Take Me Back.”

H4TH Tour Dates
Wed 4/24  – Midtown Ballroom – Bend, OR *
Fri-Sat 4/26-27  – Bluebird Theater – Denver, CO
Tue 4/30 – Mystic Hot Springs – Monroe, UT
Wed 5/1 – Sail Inn – Tempe, AZ
Thu 5/2 – The Green Room – Flagstaff, AZ
Fri 5/3 – The Mint – Los Angeles, CA
Sat 5/4 – Winston’s – San Diego, CA
Sun 5/5 – Ramona Bluegrass Festival – Ramona, CA
Tue 5/7 – SoHo – Santa Barbara, CA
Wed 5/8 – Moe’s Alley – Santa Cruz, CA
Thu 5/9 – Harlows – Sacramento, CA
Fri 5/10 – Hopmonk Tavern – Novato, CA
Sat 5/11 – Crystal Bay Club & Casino – Crystal Bay, NV
Sat 5/18 – Mishawaka Amphitheatre – Pickin’ on the Poudre – Bellvue, CO
Fri 6/21 – 4 Peaks Music Festival – Bend, OR ^
Sun 7/7 – Bluegrass in Paradise – Crested Butte, CO –
Thu-Sun 7/18-21 Northwest String Summit – North Plains, OR #
Sun 7/28 – RockyGrass – Lyons, CO ~
Fri 8/2-4 – Salmonstock – Ninilchik, AK /

* = with special guests Drew Emmitt Trio, Mosey West
^ = with Greensky Bluegrass, March 4th Marching Band and more
– = with Sam Bush Band, Drew Emmitt & The Paradise All Star Band-Featuring Sam Bush, Aoife O’Donovan, and more
# =  with Yonder Mountain String Band, Leftover Salmon, David Grisman Bluegrass Experience and more
~ = with Del McCoury Band, Jerry Douglas & Friends, Carolina Chocolate Drops and more
/ = with Trampled By Turtles, Larry Keel & Natural Bridge and more

For tickets and tour information – click here.

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Songs Of Water will be performing at LEAF this Fall!

LEAF Set Times and Stages:

10/20 9:00pm @ Eden Hall
10/21 6:30pm @ Roots Family Stage
10/21 11:30pm @ Eden Hall

For more information on The Lake Eden Arts Festival in Black Mountain, NC please visit theleaf.org

www.songsofwater.com

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Much like the earthly element from which they draw their name, the story of Songs Of Water ebbs and flows, pulsing with life, beauty and energy. Beginning in 2002, Songs Of Water started as a loose community of friends centered on writing and experimenting with different sounds and instrumentation. Most of the music was off-the-cuff improvisation that later grew and matured into completed composition.

That attention to the natural flow and feel of music even extended to the make-up of the group itself, as the membership rose to as many as ten and fell to as little as three, depending on the needs of the music. Stephen Roach (vocals, guitar, hammered dulcimer, mandolin, percussion, tenor banjo) revels in the “cross pollination” found within the band’s members and their individual talents. “One of the unique qualities about the band is that most of our backgrounds are very different than one another.”

Luke Skaggs (violin, guitar, lap steel, percussion, backing vocals) and Molly Skaggs (vocals, accordian, banjo) grew up with bluegrass in their blood, thanks to Ricky Skaggs being their dad. Roach’s own heritage came from his father and from his cousin, acclaimed bluegrass guitarist Tony Rice.

Marta Richardson (violin) and Sarah Stephens (cello, vocals) are both classically trained musicians who have played in symphonies. The line-up is completed by Jason Windsor (classical, acoustic & baritone guitar, mandolin), Greg Willette (bass guitar, acoustic guitar), and Michael Pritchard (drums, percussion, hammered dulcimer, acoustic guitar).

So what ultimately binds this collective of extraordinary musicians together? According to Roach, “we discovered it was really fun to play this sort of cinematic, explorative music in a live setting. It flies so contrary to what you hear in most live music settings. The music pulls you into a deeper, perhaps even spiritual experience.”

Shutter 16 goes on to say, “Songs of Water’s musical range, not only instrumentally but vocally as well, is an elaborate production of many skilled musicians. If Hollywood decides to revisit Last of the Mohican’s or another similar tale as they look for more stories they can just reshoot in IMAX 3D, I fully expect SoW to be the featured sound-track artist as Linkin Park was to Transformers. Songs of Water is not something to miss.”

Their newest release, “The Sea Has Spoken,” is a true collaboration of all members, arrangements with textures woven together by everyone in the band. Their focus on mostly instrumental music comes from the power that sound without words wields over all of us. By leaving aside traditional lyrics, Songs Of Water’s music encompasses the listener, leading them to reconsider music, life and exploration anew. Their music becomes an interactive canvas, inviting all who hear to joy in the act of creation corporately.

“The band’s music feels primitive but forward-thinking, exotic yet familiar; it creates a complete narrative in the listener’s mind with rarely a word sung. Essentially, their music is transportive,”says Ryan Snyder with Shuffle Magazine. Alli Marshal with the Mountain Xpresssays, “The whole record ebbs and flows with graceful gestures, sweeping strokes of light and dark, complex layering and effortless playing… the collection as a whole is so engaging that, surely, to see the musicians in action would only add to the experience.”

Ultimately, the impetus for the band’s existence is the desire to share that transcendent experience with others. The members of Songs Of Water stumbled onto a new form of expression that connected with audiences, spurring them on to further innovations. Hungry to engage even more, they are now pursuing this path to see where the road might lead. As Roach puts it, “Water can be a peaceful stream or it can be a violent tsunami. Our music has that same tendency from moment to moment. It may be a contemplative classical guitar one moment or a raging orchestra of percussion the next.”

And thus flows Songs Of Water, roaming wide and far to pull its listeners in with tendrils of music and beauty.

“Although listeners will hear more than 30 instruments on the new album — from dun duns to doumbeks — the songs still ring familiar. Traditional sounds from the hammered dulcimer, banjo, and acoustic guitar reflect North Carolina’s musical roots. All the musicians credit their North Carolina heritage for influencing their music.”–
Carole Perkins – Our State Magazine
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www.songsofwater.com
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youtube.com/songsofwater

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Steel-Pannist Jonathan Scales is touring around his album release with a few shows opening up for classically trained pop cellist Ben Sollee this June!

I am thrilled to announce jazz/ rock Steel-Pannist Jonathan Scales is touring around his album release with a few shows opening up for classically trained pop cellist Ben Sollee this June!

Ben Sollee is a genre-bending cellist and vocalist who released his new album “Inclusions” on May 10th. Armed with a cello, Sollee is canvassing the country, sometimes by bicycle, imploring folks to rediscover the connections between music, art, film, dance, their community, and personal relationships. American Songwriter states, “Inclusions is a thoughtful and thoroughly imaginative album about what a huge and complicated undertaking it is to truly relate to other human beings, what with all our mismatches in expectations and differences in background, experience and belief.”

Jonathan Scales has been called a “…rising star of the steel drums…” by Traps Magazine, while Pan on the Net refers to him as “the Real Deal” and having “A Thelonius Monk-like attitude with a Mozart creativity that works.”  When Steel Talks sums it up with, “At the end of the day, Scales is going to be a major play in rewriting the books on steelpan music outside of the box.” Like Sollee, Scales is also touring around a new release “Character Farm & Other Short Stories” which features guest appearances by Jeff Coffin (of Dave Matthews Band/Bela Fleck & the Flecktones), Yonrico Scott & Kofi Burbridge (of Derek Trucks Band), and fiddle virtuoso Casey Driessen. “Through the album’s countless turns, Scales manages to blend in the very particular sound of steel pan seamlessly with everything from a flute, horn and saxophone to the oft-accompanying electric guitar, all while showing off the easily stereotyped instrument in a new light,” declares Exclaim.CA.

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Jonathan Scales and his Fourchestra will be opening for Sollee on:

Friday, June 3 ~ Old Rock House ~ St. Louis, MO
Saturday, June 4 ~ White Rabbit Cabaret ~ Indianapolis, IN
Sunday, June 5 ~ 20th Century Theater ~ Cincinnati, OH

Click the Pics to Get the Albums Today:

Ben Sollee Inclusions

Jonathan Scales Character Farm and Other Short Stories

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