On The Rise In Americana & Folk Radio: Chicago Farmer’s ‘Flyover Country’ Featuring The Band of Heathens

Chicago Farmer’s Flyover Country Featuring The Band of Heathens
Is Making Waves on the Americana And Folk Radio Charts

Currently at #18 on the Americana Radio Albums Chart
#9 on the NACC Folk Radio Chart

“All In One Place” is at #33 on the AMA Radio Singles Chart

Available now at → https://chicagofarmer.hearnow.com/flyover-country 

BLOOMINGTON, IL — Illinois-based Cody “Chicago Farmer” Diekhof paired up with Texas’ The Band of Heathens for Flyover Country, independently released February 7. With DJs across the country spinning many of the songs from the album, it is climbing up the Americana and Folk radio charts in an increasingly competitive landscape. In the past few  weeks the album shot up to #18 after debuting at #33 on the Americana Radio Albums Chart and is currently at #9 on the NACC Folk Radio Chart.

The current single, “All In One Place,” is a humorous look at the sad truth about making money in the music business is on the rise and currently at #33 on the Americana Singles Chart. American Songwriter Magazine says, “This tale of high hopes and low returns [is] an outlaw country number that resounds with heart and humor.”

Chicago Farmer is known for his clever and heartfelt songwriting and unique voice. Through all the songs on Flyover Country — and most Chicago Farmer songs, for that matter —runs a common thread, a love and respect for regular folks, those who might be overlooked and underappreciated. He is a champion of the Midwest and the working class. “A lot of my friends are just getting by day-to-day,” Diekhoff said. “We keep at it, we keep working hard. Hopefully, eventually, things will turn around.”

Kind Words about Chicago Farmer & Flyover Country

“a continuation of what the Delavan, Illinois, native does best — clever and heartfelt songwriting that looks at the fabric of the Midwest.”
—Chicago Sun Times, Mary Houlihan

“… with Flyover Country, his sixth solo effort to date, he opts to make a bigger noise, thanks to an album that finds this midwest native teaming with the formidable Texas ensemble, Band of Heathens. The music still retains its intimacy and introspection, but given the Heathens’ backing there’s also an added sense of grit and determination…  Consequently, the possibility of wider recognition becomes a more likely possibility with Flyover Country, a set of freewheeling songs clearly spawned from a populist perspective.”
—Goldmine, Lee Zimmerman

“His trademark appeal is his ability to sing about the regular person, the working person, in a relatable way… No doubt, Chicago Farmer has a serious outlook, but he wants listeners to have fun listening to these tales, spike with humor in places and this time around, bolstered by a terrific band.”
—Elmore Magazine, Jim Hynes

“Chicago Farmer has spent the last two decades writing and performing as a solo artist, but in The Band of Heathens… Diehkoff found natural collaborators.”
—American Songwriter, Matt Wallock

“This album shows both Diekhoff’s ability to spin a tale and to write songs that get people to sing along. It also shows how well he is able to evoke emotions – whether it’s a song that makes you laugh or a song that hits you right in the heart. Beyond all that, you realize that his is a style that will endure in a world where music has seemingly become disposable.”
––Americana Highways, Gary Schwind

Putting his solo troubadour days behind him (after a run of solo dates opening for Todd Snider in January), at least for a while, with Flyover Country’s release, Diekhoff is on the road with a band, performing as Chicago Farmer and The Fieldnotes which includes Jaik Willis, Cody Jensen, & Cosmic Charlie Harris.

Chicago Farmer Tour Dates

All Shows with The Full Band, The Fieldnotes, Unless Otherwise Noted:
2/27 Thu – Natalie’s Coal Fired Pizza – Worthington, OH
2/28 Fri – Southgate House – Newport, KY
2/29 Sat – Duke’s Indy – Indianapolis, IN
3/6 Fri – Redstone Room @ River Music Experience – Davenport, IA
3/7 Sat – Vaudeville Mews – Des Moines, IA
3/8 Sun – World Theater – Kearney, NE
3/12 Thu – Magic Rat – Fort Collins, CO
3/13 Fri – The Walnut Room – Denver, CO
3/14 Sat – Western Jubilee – Colorado Springs, CO
3/27 Fri – Inside Out – Gilman, IL *solo show
4/2 Thu – Music Box Supper Club – Cleveland, OH
4/3 Fri – Sportsmens Tavern – Buffalo, NY
4/4 Sat – Moondogs Pittsburgh, PA
4/6 Mon – Woodsongs Radio Hour – Lexington, KY
4/10 Fri – Founders Brewing Co – Grand Rapids, MI
4/11 Sat – The Livery – Harbor, MI
4/16 Thu – Rose Music Hall – Columbia, MO
4/17 Fri – Kenny’s Westside Pub – Peoria, IL
4/18 Sat – The Venue – Aurora, IL
4/23 Thu – Crossroads Music Fest Seymour, IN
4/24-25 Fri-Sat – Rose Bowl Tavern – Urbana, IL
5/21 Thu – The Ark – Ann Arbor, MI
5/22-5/24 Fri-Sun – Summer Camp Music Festival – Chillicothe, IL
6/5 Fri – Knuckleheads – Kansas City, MO
6/6 Sat – Brew Skies Music Festival – Hannibal, MO
5/28-29 Thu-Fri – John Hartford Memorial Fest – Bean Blossom, IN
6/19 Fri – Moccasin Creek Festival – Effingham, IL
6/27 Sat – Private Event – Wilmington, IL
8/7 Fri – Rock the Farm @ Mackinaw Valley Winery – Mackinaw, IL
8/8 Sat – People Fest – Hillsboro, WI

Further information and tour dates can be found at www.chicagofarmer.com, www.facebook.com/chicagofarmer, instagram.com/chicagofarmermusic, and twitter.com/chicagofarmer.

 

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Chicago Farmer’s ‘Flyover Country’ Features The Band Of Heathens – 2nd Single Out Today – Outlaw Country w/ Heart & Humor

Putting the Poetry in Motion,
Chicago Farmer Joins Forces with The Band of Heathens
New Album, Flyover Country  – Due Out Feb 7, 2020
Recorded at The Finishing School in Austin, Texas

2nd Single “All In One Place” Out Now →   chicagofarmer.hearnow.com/all-in-one-place

“Chicago Farmer’s ‘All In One Place’ Is Outlaw Country with Heart and Humor”
—American Songwriter “All In One Place” Song Premiere

BLOOMINGTON, IL — For recording artists, albums can be like children — it’s hard to go on record choosing one as a favorite. But Cody “Chicago Farmer” Diekhoff doesn’t hesitate to designate his forthcoming release, Flyover Country, as his “golden child.” 

Chicago Farmer is known for his clever and heartfelt songwriting and unique voice. Todd Snider exclaims, “Chicago Farmer is my brother; if you like me, you’ll love him,” and Pokey LaFarge says“Chicago Farmer represents the best qualities of Midwestern U.S.A. His lyrics, his stories and his heart are true… Definitely one of my favorite singers out there today.”

Flyover Country features The Band of Heathens and was recorded at the Heathens studio, The Finishing School, in Austin TX with Gordy Quist and Ed Jurdi serving as co-producers alongside Diekhoff.

Jurdi says, “Cody (Chicago Farmer) came in with a stellar batch of songs and really had a good vision for what he wanted the album to be. The material really takes a look at the kaleidoscopic fabric of the Midwest. Chicago Farmer writes and sings in a truly authentic voice about the people that inhabit the spaces that America’s hopes and dreams have been built upon. Always the underdog, sometimes overlooked, but never to be forgotten.”

“I think it’s my best work so far and definitely the one that I put the most into,” Diekhoff said of the 10-song album, due out Feb. 7. This is Chicago Farmer’s first studio album in four years and it will be available on CD and vinyl, as well as digital & streaming services.

The 2nd single, “All In One Place,” is out now and starting to hit Americana reporting radio stations American Songwriter premiered the song and calls, “This tale of high hopes and low returns” an “outlaw country number that resounds with heart and humor.” 

“I knew as I was writing these songs that they called for another direction — and a band. A band that was tight, had soul, and knew how to make records,” Diekhoff said about Flyover Country, his sixth full-length studio album. “I’ll always be a folksinger, but you can’t just keep doing the same thing over and over. I decided it’s time to throw some fuel on this fire and get it going. For me, it’s all about the poetry and playing with a band is about putting the poetry in motion a little differently.”

Fans of Chicago Farmer will already know at least a couple of the songs on Flyover Country if they’ve seen a show in the past couple years. In fact, Diekhoff’s talking-blues tribute to hardworking, unsung, everyday heroes, “Dirtiest Uniform,” and his country-folk singalong anthem extolling the virtues of intimate live music shows and cheap beer over corporate arena concerts, “$13 Beers,” are among the highlights on 2019’s double-disc live release, Quarter Past Tonight.

Flyover Country Track Listing
Indiana Line 3:51
Flyover Country 4:59
Mother Nature’s Daughter 3:01
$13 Beers 3:17
Collars 5:23 
All In One Place 2:51
Deer In The Sky 3:23
Ramblin’ Man 4:44
Dirtiest Uniforms 4:43
The Village Revisited 6:56

Diekhoff and the Heathens cover a lot of musical territory on Flyover Country. 

The album opens with “Indiana Line,” a country-tinged rootsy raveup, a tale of a desperate drive down the road to redemption with great, growling slide guitar work. This track was released towards the end of 2019 as the album’s first single. Americana Highways premiered it, writing, “With an ominous western intro, ‘Indiana Line’ builds up to a foot stompin,’ thumpin’ instant singalong. This bodes very well for Chicago Farmer’s Flyover Country. The harmonies with The Band of Heathens are irresistible, and the style is absolute contagion.”

The title track is a languid waltz with a shuffling beat and jangly guitar, an ode to the people of the rural heartland, his people, putting Diekhoff’s high vibrato to great use. A brisker waltz beat propels “Collars,” another tribute to small-town folks, this one inspired by a young soldier who didn’t come home from Iraq.

Harmonica and baritone guitar drive “Deer in the Sky,” an uptempo folk-rock number about the benefits of flying over driving (you can drink beer on a plane and you’ll never hit a deer). Things get downright raucous on a couple songs, with Diekhoff’s grunge-rock roots coming out on “Mother Nature’s Daughter,” an environmental protest song, while the guitars go to town on “All in One Place,” a humorous look at the sad truth about making money in the music business.

Diekhoff pays tribute to Hank Williams with the album’s sole cover, Williams’ “Ramblin’ Man,” while also honoring Kenny Forbes, a friend’s father who introduced a young Diekhoff to the music of Hank Williams, setting him off on his musical quest as a folksinger. “Ramblin’ Man” starts with a stripped-down presentation but by the final verse it explodes with intensity.

The album ends with “The Village Revisited,” a sprawling, gospel-tinged song about the importance of community that recalls Creedence Clearwater Revival’s take on “Midnight Special” at times and at the end sounds like a party has broken out in the studio.

Through all the songs on Flyover Country — and most Chicago Farmer songs, for that matter —runs a common thread, a love and respect for regular folks, those who might be overlooked and underappreciated.

“A lot of my friends are just getting by day-to-day,” Diekhoff said. “We keep at it, we keep working hard. Hopefully, eventually, things will turn around.”

When Flyover Country comes out in February, Diekhoff will put his solo troubadour days behind him, at least for a while. He’ll hit the road with a band, performing as Chicago Farmer and the Fieldnotes which includes Jaik Willis, Cody Jensen, & Cosmic Charlie Harris.

Chicago Farmer Solo Supporting Todd Snider:
1/15 Wed – The Lyric – Oxford, MS
1/16 Thu – Vinyl Music Hall – Pensacola, FL
1/21 Tue – Key West Theater – Key West, FL
1/23 Thu – The Funky Biscuit – Boca Raton, FL
1/24 Fri – Centro Asturiano de Tampa – Tampa, FL
1/25 Sat – Ponte Vedra Concert Hall – Ponte Vedra Beach, FL
1/26 Sun – Iron City Bham – Birmingham, AL
1/29 Wed – Georgia Theater – Athens, GA
1/30 Thu – Victory North – Savannah, GA
1/31 Fri – Charleston Music Hall – Charleston, SC
2/1 Sat – Rocky Mount Mills – Rocky Mount, NC

Winter Shows Featuring Chicago Farmer & The Fieldnotes:
2/7 Fri – The Bootleg – St. Louis, MO
2/8 Sat –  The Eagle’s Theater – Olney, IL
2/9 Sun – Stellar Cellar – Effingham, IL
2/14 Fri – Castle Theatre – Bloomington, IL
2/15 Sat – Fitzgerald’s Nightclub – Berwyn, IL
2/16 Sun – Anodyne Coffee – Milwaukee, WI
2/20 Thu – Pearl Street Brewery – LaCrosse, WI
2/21 Fri – The Turf Club –  St Paul, MN
2/22 Sat – The Outer Edge – Appleton, WI
2/28 Fri – Southgate House – Newport, KY
2/29 Sat – Duke’s INDY – Indianapolis, IN
3/6 Fri – Redstone Room – Davenport, IA
3/7 Sat – Vaudeville Mews – Des Moines, IA
3/8 Sun – World Theater – Kearney, NE
3/12 Thu – Magic Rat – Fort Collins, CO
3/13 Fri – Walnut Room – Denver, CO
3/14 Sat – Western Jubilee – Colorado Springs, CO

Further information and tour dates can be found at www.chicagofarmer.com, www.facebook.com/chicagofarmer, instagram.com/chicagofarmermusic, and twitter.com/chicagofarmer.

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OUT TODAY: Reed Foehl Releases ‘Lucky Enough’ Recorded w/ Band of Heathens

Reed Foehl Releases 5th Studio Album, Lucky Enough, Feb 1, 2019

Recorded in Austin, TX with The Band of Heathens
Co-Produced by Reed Foehl with Gordy Quist and Ed Jurdi

Available Now On All Outlets to Stream and Purchase → http://hyperurl.co/3xm6td

POWNAL, VT — With the Feb. 1, 2019, release of Reed Foehl’s fifth solo album, Lucky Enough, fans will get a dose of powerful medicine, a cathartic collection of 10 songs that Foehl recorded with help from a mighty musical force, The Band of Heathens, at their Finishing School studio in Austin, Texas. It’s an album that will undoubtedly solidify his standing as one of the most compelling and vital Americana artists around.

On Lucky Enough, Foehl touches on a range of Americana styles, all with emotionally charged lyrics and can’t-get-out-of-your-head choruses, from somber folk elegies and gospel-tinged tunes to barroom country singalongs and jaunty calypso-flavored, country-infused pop. These are deeply personal songs for Foehl, and while they were written during some dark days, there’s a sense of optimism and gratitude, an overriding feeling that the hope outshines the heartbreak.

Lucky Enough is dedicated to the memory of Foehl’s mother — “the Queen of Everything” — and a keen sense of loss flavors the album. But there’s also a sense of hope, of forward momentum, change and a celebration of love, including not just the romantic variety but the kind a guy has for the oldest of old friends. For Foehl, creating Lucky Enough with The Band of Heathens has been a cathartic process. “If I can help myself, maybe I can help others,” he says. “You’ve got to keep moving forward. I think that’s the important thing. Live to fight another day.”

What People Are Saying:

“Certain songwriters have an innate gift for infectious songs that just linger for days on end. Reed Foehl is one of them. Each song on his fifth album, Lucky Enough, tells a story in his quietly understated way that somehow results in powerful imagery and emotions… This is as good as songwriting gets. Foehl’s lyrics are often astonishing and his relaxed, comforting approach works wonders.” —Glide, Jim Hynes

“His voice—smooth, companionable, and flavoured with a touch of palatable wisdom—is the first thing one is likely to notice. But the songs are masterfully constructed, some poetic and symbolic, most situational explorations brought to fruition with elegantly nuanced instrumentation… ‘Stealing Starlight’ and ‘American Miles’—both expansive, grandly produced three-minute epics, worthy entertainment for listeners who appreciate Josh Ritter, Fleet Foxes, or Vance Joy.” —Fervor Coulee, Donald Teplyske

The Bluegrass Situation premiered “Stealing Starlight”

“Reed Foehl’s excellent album Lucky Enough takes the listener on an existential journey to fill life’s holes. Written at an impossibly difficult time in Foehl’s life, while he was caring for his mother who was battling cancer, Foehl would be understood for writing a melancholy record. Lucky Enough ducks expectation. It does not feel melancholy. It feels settled. Not resigned, but at peace with life’s challenges and tribulations.” —The Marinade with Jason Earle, Listen in to a Podcast Interview

“Reed has the ability to transport the soul, a true master. One of the great songwriters of our time.” —Gregory Alan Isakov. Isakov co-wrote the debut track, “American Miles,” a road song that was inspired by traveling and the great american landscape. Glide Magazine premiered “American Miles”

“Reed Foehl is like a brother to me, we’ve traveled a lot of miles on the road together, and I don’t think they make better singer-songwriters than him.” —Todd Snider  

“He starts out with the gentle strumming ‘Stealing Starlight’ and the quiet acoustics of ‘American Miles,’ which just excels into the beautiful landscape that Reed paints with his words. He begins to pick the tempo up with the steady rhythm of ‘If It Rains’ and ‘He’s On An Island,’ but sandwiched in-between is the piano ballad ‘Carousel Horses.’ Reed Foehl finishes up his new album with the pop/folk tone of ‘Wish I Knew’ and wonderfully, emotion-filled ‘Color Me In.’” —JP’s Music Blog, Jim Pasinski

“I fell for this album just a few moments into its first track, ‘Stealing Starlight.’ There is something so sad and yet oddly comforting in Reed Foehl’s vocal delivery that worked on me immediately and pulled me in, so that I wanted to pay closer attention to every word, to see what this voice had to tell me.” –
—Michael’s Music Log, Michael Doherty

“Reed Foehl is a familiar voice in the wilderness calling you home.  His songs are part New England Folklore, told around an old wood stove in the midst of a winter’s blizzard and part Southern Charm, warm and inviting, like the spring breeze that welcome the magnolia blossoms.” —Ed Jurdi, The Band of Heathens

“Reed’s songs hit you in the heart, and everything else falls away” —Anais Mitchell

Reed Foehl. Photo By Kate Drew Miller

More About Reed Foehl & Lucky Enough:

Foehl certainly took an unexpected route in getting to Lucky Enough. Then again, he says, “I’ve always done things very unconventionally.”

A New England native who had long lived in Colorado, Foehl was making a big move, heading to Nashville to continue his craft as an artist and a songwriter. That made sense after co-writing the leadoff song (“Fly”) with up-and-coming country singer/songwriter Brent Cobb on Lee Ann Womack’s 2014 GRAMMY nominated album, The Way I’m Livin’.

On the way, he got a call from his mother, Linda. She had lymphoma, and she needed him. He didn’t hesitate, ditching his fully loaded car in Nashville and flying straight home to Massachusetts. “It put in perspective what life’s about,” he says. “This was important, definitely more than any of these records I’ve made.”

While he cared for his mother, Foehl kept at his songwriting, thanks to the sponsorship of a longtime friend and hockey teammate. Keeping the creative flames burning was vital. “It’s not just what I do, it’s who I am. I’m writing songs so people can hear them and so I can be OK. That’s really the gist of it,” he says.

After Foehl lost his mother in July 2017, he knew he had to keep moving forward and started thinking about recording an album. Although he launched his solo career with the release of Spark in 2001, he played in bands for years, notably fronting Acoustic Junction and then as a charter member of Great American Taxi. For his fifth solo album, he thought, why not go into the studio with a full-fledged band? “With all my records. I like to take leaps and chances and want to try different things,” he says. “I said, ‘What about doing it with The Band of Heathens?’”

Foehl had toured as an opener with The Band of Heathens, and he knew and loved their tones and sound and how they worked together. The Heathens, for their part, had really hit it off with Foehl on tour and were primed to help him make an album. “We really dug his stuff and felt like it would be a good match,” said Ed Jurdi, who co-produced Lucky Enough with Foehl and fellow Heathen Gordy Quist, with both Jurdi and Quist adding guitars and vocals on the album. “What I felt our job was, was to put him in a position where he could do his thing, just really make him comfortable. The record is about Reed and his songs, so how do we elevate that by adding what we can do? The idea as a producer is to both create a record the artist likes and making an album that the artist didn’t know they could make.”

The great thing about the Heathens, Foehl says, is they always knew when to hold back and when to let it rip, deftly embellishing the 10 songs on Lucky Enough. “They are very much chameleon-like,” Foehl said of the Heathens, “capable and talented enough to adapt and play any style of music.”

Foehl’s solo career has been bookended by loss, losing his father, Billy, in 2001 around the time Spark came out and then his mother preceding Lucky Enough, with three albums in between — 2007’s Stoned Beautiful, 2009’s Once an Ocean and 2014’s Lost in the West. Growing up in Dover, Mass., his parents were a huge influence for Foehl, filling the house with John Prine music and playing for decades together in a bluegrass/country band called The Centre Streeters. His parents encouraged him in his musical passion, regularly taking him to Boston, where he cut his teeth as a performer, busking at the Faneuil Hall Marketplace at the tender age of 11.

Lucky Enough Track Listing
1. Stealing Starlight (3:33)
2. American Miles (3:22)
3. If It Rains (4:48)
4. Takes a Long Time to Make Old Friends (3:18)
5. Carousel Horses (3:00)
6. He’s on an Island (3:26)
7. Running Out of You (3:46)
8. Wish I Knew (2:36)
9. Hello My Dear (4:12)
10. Color Me In (3:28)

Reed Foehl – lead vocals and acoustic guitar
Gordy Quist – guitars, background vocals
Ed Jurdi – guitars, background vocals
Trevor Nealon – keyboards, background vocals
Jesse Wilson – bass guitar, background vocals
Richard Millsap – drums, background vocals
Geoff Queen – pedal steel

Engineered and mixed by Steve Christensen
Mastered by Fred Kevorkian
Green Mountain Records

Reed Foehl On Tour Supporting Todd Snider!
3/13 Wed – The Gramercy Theatre – New York, NY
3/14 Thu – Ardmore Music Hall – Ardmore, PA
3/15 Fri – The Sinclair – Cambridge, MA
3/17 Sun – Infinity Music Hall & Bistro – Hartford, CT
3/18 Mon – The Birchmere – Alexandria, VA
3/20 Wed- The Beacon Theater – Hopewell, VA
3/22 Fri – Lincoln Theater – Raleigh, NC
3/23 Sat – The Ramkat – Winston-Salem, NC
3/24 Sun – The Orange Peel – Asheville, NC
5/2 Thu – The Jefferson Theater – Charlottesville, VA
5/3 Fri – The Rex Theater – Pittsburgh, PA
5/4 Sat – Rams Head On Stage – Annapolis, MD

For more information and updates, please visit www.reedfoehlmusic.com, www.facebook.com/ReedFoehl, www.twitter.com/reedfoehl, and www.instagram.com/reedfoehl.

 

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Reed Foehl Shares Song From ‘Lucky Enough,’ Recorded with Band of Heathens, Due Out Feb 1

Reed Foehl To Release 5th Studio Album, Lucky Enough, Feb 1, 2019

Recorded in Austin, TX with The Band of Heathens
Co-Produced by Reed Foehl with Gordy Quist and Ed Jurdi

On Tour with Todd Snider in March!

POWNAL, VT — With the Feb. 1, 2019, release of Reed Foehl’s fifth solo album, Lucky Enough, fans will get a dose of powerful medicine, a cathartic collection of 10 songs that Foehl recorded with help from a mighty musical force, The Band of Heathens, at their Finishing School studio in Austin, Texas. It’s an album that will undoubtedly solidify his standing as one of the most compelling and vital Americana artists around.

Other artists have long sung the praises of Foehl. As fellow songwriter Gregory Alan Isakov notes, “Reed has the ability to transport the soul, a true master. One of the great songwriters of our time.”

Isakov co-wrote the debut track, “American Miles,” a road song that was inspired by traveling and the great american landscape. Glide Magazine premiered the song and writes, “…the vocals in the beginning immediately conjure images of staring out the window of a car as it cruises along a lonesome highway at sunrise. Foehl keeps the instrumentation sparse, letting a lightly picked acoustic and the quiet thumb of a drum create the groove while the occasional flourish of a piano and a tambourine. His vocals have a dreamy folk quality that reflects the quietly reflective lyrics.”

Listen to “American Miles”→ http://bit.ly/AmericanMiles_GlidePremiere.

Todd Snider, whom Foehl will be touring with in March 2019, says, “Reed Foehl is like a brother to me. We’ve had a lot of miles on the road together, and I don’t think they make better singer-songwriters than him.”

Ed Jurdi of The Band of Heathens, a fellow native of Massachusetts, was downright poetic in his expression of admiration for Foehl, “Reed Foehl is a familiar voice in the wilderness calling you home. His songs are part New England folklore, told around an old wood stove in the midst of a winter’s blizzard and part Southern charm, warm and inviting, like the spring breeze that welcome the magnolia blossoms.”

On Lucky Enough, Foehl touches on a range of Americana styles, all with emotionally charged lyrics and can’t-get-out-of-your-head choruses, from somber folk elegies (“Stealing Starlight” and “American Miles”)  and gospel-tinged tunes (“Carousel Horses”) to barroom country singalongs (“Long Time to Make Old Friends”) and jaunty calypso-flavored, country-infused pop (“Wish I Knew”). These are deeply personal songs for Foehl, and while they were written during some dark days, there’s a sense of optimism and gratitude, an overriding feeling that the hope outshines the heartbreak.

The uncannily cinematic album takes its title from the chorus of “If It Rains,” on its surface a Dust Bowl ballad about persistence in the face of the vagaries of nature. “If it don’t shed a tear, we wait ’til next year, heartbroken but lucky enough,” Foehl sings in the unforgettably melodic chorus. With the final verse, it’s clear the song digs deeper than drought when he sings, in a voice worn and weary but warm:

“With the cold came the snow

On our favorite place to go

I carved the slated path

Just thought you should know

And built a wooden bench

Then laid it in cement

Out of love and in memory of.”

Foehl certainly took an unexpected route in getting to Lucky Enough. Then again, he says, “I’ve always done things very unconventionally.”

A New England native who had long lived in Colorado, Foehl was making a big move, heading to Nashville to continue his craft as an artist and a songwriter. That made sense after co-writing the leadoff song (“Fly”) with up-and-coming country singer/songwriter Brent Cobb on Lee Ann Womack’s 2014 GRAMMY nominated album, The Way I’m Livin’.

On the way, he got a call from his mother, Linda. She had lymphoma, and she needed him. He didn’t hesitate, ditching his fully loaded car in Nashville and flying straight home to Massachusetts. “It put in perspective what life’s about,” he says. “This was important, definitely more than any of these records I’ve made.”

While he cared for his mother, Foehl kept at his songwriting, thanks to the sponsorship of a longtime friend and hockey teammate. Keeping the creative flames burning was vital. “It’s not just what I do, it’s who I am. I’m writing songs so people can hear them and so I can be OK. That’s really the gist of it,” he says.

After Foehl lost his mother in July 2017, he knew he had to keep moving forward and started thinking about recording an album. Although he launched his solo career with the release of Spark in 2001, he played in bands for years, notably fronting Acoustic Junction and then as a charter member of Great American Taxi. For his fifth solo album, he thought, why not go into the studio with a full-fledged band? “With all my records. I like to take leaps and chances and want to try different things,” he says. “I said, ‘What about doing it with The Band of Heathens?’”

Foehl had toured as an opener with The Band of Heathens, and he knew and loved their tones and sound and how they worked together. And The Heathens had just opened their own studio in Austin, christening it by recording an update of the entire landmark Ray Charles album, A Message from the People. “These guys are really good,” Foehl says. “If I hire them, it’s a built in sound. They’ve been playing together forever.”

The Heathens, for their part, had really hit it off with Foehl on tour and were primed to help him make an album. “We really dug his stuff and felt like it would be a good match,” said Ed Jurdi, who co-produced Lucky Enough with Foehl and fellow Heathen Gordy Quist, with both Jurdi and Quist adding guitars and vocals on the album. “What I felt our job was, was to put him in a position where he could do his thing, just really make him comfortable. The record is about Reed and his songs, so how do we elevate that by adding what we can do? The idea as a producer is to both create a record the artist likes and making an album that the artist didn’t know they could make.”

The great thing about the Heathens, Foehl says, is they always knew when to hold back and when to let it rip, deftly embellishing the 10 songs on Lucky Enough. “They are very much chameleon-like,” Foehl said of the Heathens, “capable and talented enough to adapt and play any style of music.”

Quist even pitched in on the writing of “Wish I Knew,” helping Foehl take the song in a direction he would never have thought to go. Musically, it playfully moves along at a frisky pace, while lyrically Foehl wrestles with some of the life’s big questions:

“If the choices were just black and white

I’d a half a chance to get things right

How to make it through the dark of night

Only wish I wish I knew”

In addition to Quist and Jurdi, the other Heathens playing on the album include Trevor Nealon (keyboards), Jesse Wilson (bass guitar), and Richard Millsap, (who played drums as well as electric guitar), along with Geoff Queen on pedal steel. Lucky Enough, which will be released on Green Mountain Records, was engineered and mixed by Steve Christensen and mastered by Fred Kevorkian.

Foehl’s solo career has been bookended by loss, losing his father, Billy, in 2001 around the time Spark came out and then his mother preceding Lucky Enough, with three albums in between — 2007’s Stoned Beautiful, 2009’s Once an Ocean and 2014’s Lost in the West. Growing up in Dover, Mass., his parents were a huge influence for Foehl, filling the house with John Prine music and playing for decades together in a bluegrass/country band called The Centre Streeters. His parents encouraged him in his musical passion, regularly taking him to Boston, where he cut his teeth as a performer, busking at the Faneuil Hall Marketplace at the tender age of 11.

Lucky Enough is dedicated to the memory of Foehl’s mother — “the Queen of Everything” — and a keen sense of loss flavors the album. But there’s also a sense of hope, of forward momentum, change and a celebration of love, including not just the romantic variety but the kind a guy has for the oldest of old friends. For Foehl, creating Lucky Enough with The Band of Heathens has been a cathartic process. “If I can help myself, maybe I can help others,” he says. “You’ve got to keep moving forward. I think that’s the important thing. Live to fight another day.”

Reed Foel Holiday Shows This December with Gregory Alan Isakov
12/22-22 Fri-Sat – Gold Hill Inn, Boulder, CO

Reed Foehl
Photo by Kate Drew Miller

Reed Foehl On Tour Supporting Todd Snider March 2019!
3/13 Wed – The Gramercy Theatre – New York, NY
3/14 Thu – Ardmore Music Hall – Ardmore, PA
3/15 Fri – The Sinclair – Cambridge, MA
3/17 Sun – Infinity Music Hall & Bistro – Hartford, CT
3/18 The Birchmere – Alexandria, VA
3/20 Wed- The Beacon Theater – Hopewell, VA
3/22 Fri – Lincoln Theater – Raleigh, NC
3/23 Sat – The Ramkat – Winston-Salem, NC
3/24 Sun – The Orange Peel – Asheville, NC

Lucky Enough Track Listing
1. Stealing Starlight (3:33)
2. American Miles (3:22)
3. If It Rains (4:48)
4. Takes a Long Time to Make Old Friends (3:18)
5. Carousel Horses (3:00)
6. He’s on an Island (3:26)
7. Running Out of You (3:46)
8. Wish I Knew (2:36)
9. Hello My Dear (4:12)
10. Color Me In (3:28)

Reed Foehl – lead vocals and acoustic guitar
Gordy Quist – guitars, background vocals
Ed Jurdi – guitars, background vocals
Trevor Nealon – keyboards, background vocals
Jesse Wilson – bass guitar, background vocals
Richard Millsap – drums, background vocals
Geoff Queen – pedal steel

For more information and updates, please visit www.reedfoehlmusic.com, www.facebook.com/ReedFoehl, www.twitter.com/reedfoehl, and www.instagram.com/reedfoehl.

 

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Amy McCarley To Release MECO, Co-produced by Kenny Vaughan & George Bradfute, on Feb 8

Amy McCarley To Release MECO, Her 3rd Album, February 8, 2019
Co-produced by Kenny Vaughan & George Bradfute

Kenny Vaughan & Chris Scruggs Join McCarley on the Entire Album
Featuring special guests:
Pat Alger, Marty Stuart, Kenny Lovelace, Harry Stinson, and George Bradfute

“The sound quality on ‘High Wire,’ like the rest of the album, is clear, spacious and uncluttered… McCarley’s voice rings out like a sultry blues nightclub singer, as the music spins a country waltz on the high wire.”
—Americana Highways premiered the first single, “High Wire”

“High Wire” Available Now → http://radi.al/AmyMcCarleyHighWire

HUNTSVILLE, AL —  With poignant and thought provoking lyrics, Amy McCarley finds balance in a new perspective with MECO, her 3rd studio album due out February 8, 2019. After collaborating in writing new songs with Bluebird Cafe round-mate and Nashville Songwriters Hall of Famer, Pat Alger, McCarley returned to the studio with esteemed colleagues, co-producers Kenny Vaughan & George Bradfute to work on MECO, her highly anticipated follow up to 2014’s Jet Engines. MECO was recorded and mixed by Bradfute in his Tone Chaparral Studios in Madison, Tennessee and mastered by Jim DeMain at Yes Master Studios in Nashville.

A rhythm section all in himself, multi-instrumentalist Chris Scruggs lent his talents not only on drums, percussion, and bass, but also steel guitar. Alongside special guests Marty Stuart, Pat Alger, Kenny Lovelace, and Harry Stinson — the future is bright for fans of Amy McCarley.

Uniquely relatable, this northern Alabama native’s music is embraced by Americana fans across the country and abroad. Vaughan says, “I think all of her songs come from a personal experience. Each song is about something she’s gone through, which is good because it gives her a little edge on the delivery. The emotional content kinda comes through in there.”

MECO, an acronym borrowed from the Space Shuttle program that stands for Main Engine Cut Off, occurred for the shuttle when onboard propulsion systems were disengaged at an altitude where velocity could be maintained by the power of an innate force at work in the universe with periodic adjustments from the vehicle. The album traces McCarley’s experience of what it’s been like leaving life as a NASA contractor to pursue a career in music.

McCarley explains the inspiration behind the album, “Similar to shuttle missions, the trajectory of my path has been defined by how well I have been able to develop personal strength as an artist to the point where the possibility of connecting with the enormous collaborative power of other worldly talent exists. It has taken everything I have plus the guiding unseen hands of time and chance together with support from some incredibly talented generous souls in order for this album to be made and on its way to listeners.”

She says in an interview with Wide Open Country, “It’s taught me to be grateful for every opportunity and all the talented people I’ve had the good fortune to work with on this project. It’s taught me to do my best and then let go of the need for the outcome to be a certain way. Of course, that doesn’t mean I don’t forget and need to relearn all this over and over. I’ve certainly not graduated from the school of life!”

Her sultry voice was lauded by No Depression as “a nuanced instrument” and her drive and determination to continue charging forward is readily apparent on MECO with a blazing backing band to accent in instrumentation what her emotion filled vocals bring forth in each song.

This is McCarley’s second album working with Vaughan (Marty Stuart & His Fabulous Superlatives, The Pretenders, Lana Del Rey, et al) and Bradfute (Webb Wilder, Planet Rockers, et al) at the helm since she left the NASA contracting world in 2013. Both also accompany her in performance on MECO, with Vaughan taking the lead on electric and playing acoustic guitar on the entire album and Bradfute performing on slide guitar, fiddle, mandolin, and other strings.

McCarley says, “What Kenny brings to this whole project as producer and lead guitarist cannot be overstated. Together with a stellar assembled cast —including mighty partner in crime, co-producer / engineer / studio owner, George Bradfute— his influence and signature sound took this album to a place I never would have known to go on my own that I feel so fortunate to be able to share with the world.”

The ten tracks of all original material feature McCarley’s yearning vocals, acoustic guitar, and harmonica. Alger, who co-wrote half of the songs on MECO says of McCarley, “Super, super intense guitar style. And I was so fascinated by it. Everything she did was real. Super intense. She’s just a different kind of performer.”

Throughout the album there are songs of determination and revelation (“A Clue”), perseverance after despair (“Clarksdale Blues”), and cathartic release in a new perspective (“Everything Changed,” “Happy,” “Farewell Paradise”). There are melodies of joyful triumph (“High Wire”), gratitude (”Days”), and a song about finding meaning amidst uncertainty (“Never Can Tell”). Some are plaintive in nature (“How You Do,”)  while others are breezy lighthearted observations on universal topics (“Ain’t Life Funny”).

Based in Huntsville, Alabama, McCarley toured over 200 dates in support of her second album, Jet Engines, and is expecting to tour throughout 2019 with MECO. McCarley has made many festival appearances including Maverick Festival, Kerrville Folk Festival, Kate Wolf Music Festival, W.C. Handy Music Festival, 30A Songwriters Festival, EarleFest, Rocket City Summer Fest and Panoply Arts Festival, as well as unofficial showcases at Folk Alliance International, SXSW, and AmericanaFest. She has performed as an opening act and toured with a variety of performers including Marty Stuart & His Fabulous Superlatives, Ronnie Milsap, John Hiatt, Kenny Vaughan Trio, Pat Alger, Doyle Bramhall II, Kim Richey, Webb Wilder, Kevin Gordon, Claire Lynch, Lilly Hiatt, Delta Rae, Edwin McCain, and The Grahams.

MECO Track Listing & Credits:
1. A Clue (4:41)*
2. Clarksdale Blues (4:18)*
3. Everything Changed (5:28)
4. High Wire (4:20)
5. Days (3:13)*
6. Never Can Tell (2:39)
7. How You Do (4:32)
8. Happy (4:12)*
9. Ain’t Life Funny (3:04)*
10. Farewell Paradise (3:57)

Amy McCarley — vocals, acoustic guitar (all), harmonica (7)
Kenny Vaughan — electric guitar, acoustic guitar (all)
Chris Scruggs — drums, percussion, and bass (all), steel guitar (5,10), backing vocals (10)
George Bradfute — slide guitar (2), fiddle (6), viola and cello (7), fiddle and mandolin (8)
Pat Alger — acoustic guitar (5)
Marty Stuart — mandolin (6)
Kenny Lovelace — fiddle (9)
Harry Stinson — backing vocals (10)

Producers — Kenny Vaughan & George Bradfute
Audio & mix engineer — George Bradfute (Tone Chaparral)
Mastering engineer — Jim DeMain (Yes Master Studios)

*Indicates a song written by Amy McCarley & Pat Alger

© 2019 McCarley Publishing (BMI) & Algerhythms (ASCAP)
All other songs written by Amy McCarley © 2019 McCarley Publishing

For more information, please visit  www.amymccarley.com, www.facebook.com/amymccarleymusic, www.twitter.com/amymccarley,  www.instagram.com/amymccarleymusic.

 

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Amanda Anne Platt & The Honeycutters, Country Roots Album Released Today on Organic Records

Amanda Anne Platt & The Honeycutters New Album
Out June 9 on Organic Records
Country Roots Band from Asheville, North Carolina

Stream or purchase today at all outlets –> https://clg.lnk.to/Lj4Wo

“’Learning How To Love Him’ is a prime example of the new intimacy Platt shares with her audience. Her voice, rising and falling above a simple, spare guitar line, is on display in a way it never has been before.” –Elena See
LISTEN to the song premiere on NPR’s Folk Alley

“A coming-of-age song of sorts, ‘Diamond in the Rough’ is a rock-tinged, rootsy track”–Amy McCarthy
LISTEN to the Song Premiere on The Boot

ASHEVILLE, NC — Amanda Anne Platt & The Honeycutters new self-titled album is out today, June 9, on Organic Records. “We’re switching things up a little. After four albums I’ve decided to step out and start using my own name. It’s something that a lot of people have encouraged me to do over the years, and I guess that 2017 just felt right.” says Amanda. “We’re keeping The Honeycutters too because we don’t want to confuse people… really, we’ve always been Amanda Anne Platt & The Honeycutters. I think I’ve just gotten to a place where I feel comfortable enough to be in the spotlight.”

Based in Asheville, North Carolina, Amanda is a storyteller by nature with an incredible band backing her. Performing along with Amanda Anne Platt, The Honeycutters are Matt Smith on pedal steel and Stratocaster, Rick Cooper on bass, Josh Milligan on drums and harmony vocals, and Evan Martin on keys and Telecaster. Lyrically driven, the songs on Amanda Anne Platt & The Honeycutters blend the band’s old-school country roots attitude with their shared influences of rock and folk.

Amanda Anne Platt & The Honeycutters will tour extensively in US this year and are traveling to Europe for the first time this summer. Tour dates and more information at www.TheHoneycutters.com.

Critical Acclaim for Amanda Anne Platt & The Honeycutters:

“Writing with a maturity that belies her early thirties age, Amanda pens tunes about a couple with a 40-year relationship, reflections of a spouse with a terminally ill husband, break-up, strangers, leaving, the music industry, and, of course, love. Platt is as good a songwriter as anyone with an Americana label by their name and that includes Isbell and Lucinda to name just two of them… You will need to listen repeatedly as the album is lengthy and Platt’s lyrics are so damn real and relatable on so many levels.”
—Elmore, Jim Hynes

“They… deliver a feisty, witty, hard-knock life realism on their records and this eponymous release, their fifth, is like the continuation of a classic serial novel you just can’t put down… My favorite track is ‘Eden’ and I must have listened to it at least five times because it’s just bloody brilliant, cheeky and slightly heart-wrenching all at once: ‘Don’t keep a TV ’cause the news is always bad and it teaches us to want all the things we’ll never have’ and then the storyteller asks to be let ‘back inside that garden, I won’t eat anything that’s fallen from that goddamn tree.’ —That Mag, Jane Roser

“Platt can find a tune and express it exquisitely with a distinctive voice and a sympathetic band… Her wonderful lyrics seem to be an assessment of the people and circumstances that surround her to find the good bits.”
—Americana Music Show, Tony Ives

“Platt opens with the reflective ‘Birthday Song’, warmed in among other things, tasty piano the album is immediately up and running on greased wheels. Blending country with folk and country pop you have Americana music with a capital ‘A’ and it is good!” —Flying Shoes Review (UK), Maurice Hope

“Platt sings like she means it on this country-tinged folk album, and whether or not her nuanced lyrics are drawn directly from real life, they sure sound as if they are… Platt’s vocals convey joy and tenderness and her band provide amiable backup. At its best, this music is on a par with Lucinda Williams’s, which is saying a lot.” —The Morton Report, Jeff Burger

“There is, as with the two before, an easygoing warmth to the album, and a certain kind of knowing. The kind from that comes from being a keen and empathetic observer. From the upbeat ‘Diamond in the Rough’ to the poetic ‘Eden’ to the solemn ‘Long Ride,’ Platt and her band flesh out all that’s real and been missing in country music for lo these many years.”  —No Depression, Amos Perrine

“a gem of an album… The collection combines sharp and emotive songwriting with crisp production values. A successful blend of country roots and honky-tonk, but with a defining Appalachian twist. Above it all hovers Platt’s voice – laconic, sultry, pitch perfect and ultimately charming.” —Listening Through The Lens, Rob Dickens

“Amanda Anne is one of the best songwriters I have ever heard – and I have been listening carefully to music for about 55 years. She writes with her heart and her brain and her observations on life, love and other matters of importance are sparkling …
Her songs get into your blood and become a part of you.”
—letter from David Whittaker who commissioned the song “Rare Thing” for his wife Holly

“Amanda is so good it’s ridiculous. I don’t even know what words to use. Her singing, songwriting and presence is unmatched in Americana, Country, Pop… Simply breathtaking.” — Saul Davis: producer (Percy Sledge), manager (Gene Clark, Carla Olson, Phil Seymour).

Amanda Anne Platt & The Honeycutters Track Listing

1. Birthday Song 4:15
2. Long Ride 3:47
3. What We’ve Got 4:46
4. Diamond In The Rough 4:37
5. Eden 5:33
6. The Guitar Case 4:18
7. Learning How To Love Him 4:17
8. Brand New Start 3:14
9. Late Summer’s Child 3:57
10. The Good Guys (Dick Tracy) 4:38
11. Rare Thing 4:43
12. The Things We Call Home 2:39
13. The Road 2:40

Produced by Amanda Anne Platt and Tim Surrett

Mixing and Mastering by Recording Engineer Scott Barnett at Crossroads Studios in Arden, NC

Stream or purchase Amanda Anne Platt & The Honeycutters here →  https://clg.lnk.to/Lj4Wo

More information at www.TheHoneycutters.com, www.facebook.com/Honeycutters, and www.twitter.com/thehoneycutters.

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Dala Performs at Isis Music Hall on Fri, March 22nd

Dala Performs at Isis Music Hall & Restaurant on March 22nd
Moses Atwood opens the show!
828-575-2737
743 Haywood Rd. Asheville, NC 28806

Tickets: www.isisasheville.com/events/dala/
$10 advance / $15 at the door; 9pm
Tablets of 4 are available with dinner reservations (limited).
Ample seating is available first come first serve.

“…the angels of folk music. Ethereal, eloquent and downright beautiful, the music they create is faultlessly performed.” – Exclaim!

On their fifth studio record, Best Day, DALA’s central message is as simple as it is compelling; if you’re unwilling to celebrate the impermanence of life as well as its constants in equal measure, you’re cheating yourself.

It’s a sentiment the Toronto-based duo of Amanda Walther and Sheila Carabine express concisely on the album’s title track, Best Day, and a reflection of the way they look at both their individual lives and their musical partnership. “Life is short,” Walther says. “You don’t know how long you have with the people you love, so you need to live every moment to the fullest, which isn’t a bad thing to be reminded of frequently.”

That’s an assertion Dala underline beautifully by bracketing Best Day with ‘Life on Earth’ and ‘Still Life’; two songs that encourage listeners to view their lives as masterpieces in the making, regardless of the materials they’re given to work with.

Put bluntly, you have to experience winter to enjoy the spring, a point driven home by the freezing weather Dala find waiting for them upon returning to Canada after a run of California shows in February 2012. It is the coldest day of the year thus far, but neither seems to mind. “We push each other to enjoy every moment, regardless, and we take great delight in where we are right now,” Carabine says.

Dala have every reason to do so. Since the release of their debut, This Moment is a Flash (2005), the response from fans and critics alike to their insightful brand of acoustic pop has been uniformly enthusiastic. Their 2009 release, Everyone is Someone, received critical acclaim in the EU as well as in North America, with The Irish Post lauding it as the Album of the Year, and National Public Radio’s ‘Folk Alley’ calling ‘Horses’ one of the Top Ten folk songs of 2009. In Canada, Everyone is Someone garnered Dala their fifth Canadian Folk Music Award (CFMA) nomination and a Toronto Independent Music Award for Best Folk Group. Additionally, their 2010 live CD/DVD, Girls From The North Country, won the pair a 2010 CFMA for Vocal Group of the Year, a JUNO nomination for Roots and Traditional Album of the Year: Group and was broadcast repeatedly by PBS outlets throughout North America.

Characterized by Carabine and Walther’s signature harmonies, and underpinned by relatively sparse accompaniment from piano, acoustic guitar, ukulele and only minimal drums, the result is surprisingly lush, particularly on tracks featuring string arrangements by Chris Bilton, Asher Lenz and cellist, Kevin Fox, such as ‘Not Alone’ and ‘Great Escape’.

Some records you have to spin multiple times to feel close to and to be inspired by the sentiments they express. With Best Day, it takes one listen – if that. Best Day was released June 2012 on Campus Records/Universal in Canada, and Compass Records in the U.S.

Official Video for “Life on Earth”

www.dalagirls.com
www.facebook.com/Dalaband
www.youtube.com/dalamusic

      

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Dana and Susan Robinson join with Free Planet Radio this week for Asheville-area shows with NEW Album “American Hornpipe”

Dana and Susan Robinson are two guitar-playing, banjo-frailing, fiddle-sawing, and harmony-singing interpreters of the American experience. Their unique blend of contemporary songwriting and traditional Appalachian music bring to their performances a deep understanding of America’s musical heritage.

Celebrating the release of their new album, American Hornpipe, Dana and Susan Robinson will perform with world music trio Free Planet Radio (River Guerguerian, Eliot Wadopian, Chris Rosser) at select shows for their album release.  American Hornpipe is a melting pot of Appalachian, British, and African influences, full of earthy grooves, elegant melodies, stories of heroes, ne’er do-wells, and cautionary tales.

Catch them for one of their CD release shows in the Asheville area: 10/24 at Duckpond Pottery, 10/26 at White Horse Black Mountain, 10/27 at Madison County Arts Center

The title itself summons up the essence of this collection: “American Hornpipe”, a simple English dance tune, brought across the oceans like so many other articles of folklore, now fleshed out upon the rich tapestry of contemporary American culture.

The genius of a Dana and Susan Robinson performance lies in their ability to capture the imagination of their audience, evoking a transformative experience that touches on the deepest humanity. They can make the audience howl with laughter or hush with poignant reflection as they take them on a journey across America and convey the mystery and wonder of the places they visit.

From performing at Carnegie Hall to their music being featured in Ken Burn’s PBS documentaries Dana and Susan Robinson have been playing their trademark brand of “new-time, old-time music” for nearly twenty years.

What the Press is Saying About “American Hornpipe”

“It’s grooves like these that instantly put a smile on my face!” – Martin Anderson WNCW Spindale, NC

“American Hornpipe is awash in pleasures: Susan’s singing an unaccompanied ‘Fair & Tender Ladies,’ Dana’s New England-inflected fiddle and mandolin, Eliot Wadopian’s tone-perfect acoustic bass, River Guerguerian’s iron-clad grasp of how to use percussion to accentuate folk music. And the songs, not least of them Florida cowboy poet Hank Mattson’s (with Dana’s tune) ‘When This Old Hat Was New,’ not to mention the opener ‘Who Killed Cock Robin?’ with Susan’s hardboiled-detective vocal and the unsettling ghost-of-Fairport-Convention arrangement.” —Rambles

“The couple’s captivating version of the well-known ‘Who Killed Cock Robin’ sets the stage beautifully for the other songs to follow on the album. Among them is Dana’s original, ‘The Invitation,’ that invites listeners to ‘get unplugged and get recharged.’” —The Laurel of Asheville

“Rooted in time-honored old-time music, the Robinsons have branched out a bit, putting a slightly contemporary spin on many of the tunes on ‘American Hornpipe’. Some of the album is comprised of traditional old-time songs re-imagined into something fresh; music that is comfortable yet unexplored, like discovering a new trail in a forest you’ve traversed many times before. The original songs on the album feature a variety of songwriters, and throughout ‘American Hornpipe’, the world-music sounds of River Guerguerian’s Free Planet Radio join the Robinson’s string band sensibilities…This is a fun, heartfelt and unique piece of work.” — Brent Fleury, Bold Life

“Love the rhythmic drive, and your fresh take on old chestnuts.” – Keith Weston WUNC Chapel Hill, NC

Acoustic Music Scene listed American Hornpipe in one of the top new albums of Sept 2012!

“mesmerising throughout” —GetReadyToRock.com

www.robinsongs.com/american-hornpipe.html

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Galen Kipar Project, Whetherman and Taylor Martin’s Engine Perform Thurs, Dec 8th at The Grey Eagle

Galen Kipar Project. – 9p
Whetherman – 8p
And…
Taylor Martin’s Engine – 10:30p

Thursday December 8, 2011
Grey Eagle
185 Clingman Ave.
Asheville, NC 28801
8pm, Donation w/ $7 min.
http://www.thegreyeagle.com

Effortlessly crafting a fusion of folk, classical, jazz, and blues, the Galen Kipar Project has been hailed as “complex yet accessible” and “cohesive and poignant” with “experimental folk masterpieces.” Based in Asheville, GKP released their fourth album The Scenic Route in 2010 which features the unique sonorous sound that has become the band’s trademark. “In Asheville, fans call his act a ‘small-scale symphony.’ It’s probably more like chamber folk/pop, sometimes reminiscent of Adrian Belew’s quieter moods,” says The Roanoke Times writer Tad Dickens.  Joining vocalist Galen Kipar on guitars & harmonica is Lyndsay Pruett on violin & vocals, Aaron Ballance on dobro and Rob Parks on bass.

Galen Kipar is currently writing new music and in the pre-production phase of the next album. The WCGazzette writes, “Kipar says ripples of his trout-tinted soul will continue to be felt in the band’s upcoming release. ‘It will be accessible, with catchy hooks,’ he says of the album. ‘[But] it will also be complex enough that a fan will be able to listen to it and still come back and hear something new. That’s always been our goal.'”

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Whetherman is the mellow music project of Nicholas Williams, a 27 year-old unsigned singer/songwriter out of the Midwest, who has been heavily influenced by folk musicians such as Paul Simon, Van Morrison, Nick Drake and Neil Young. This emerging artist is becoming increasingly well-known for his distinct voice, a creative blend of crooning and soaring melodic qualities that has become the staple …for Whetherman’s music. His songs are comforting and gentle on the ears, providing depth and landscape with insightful lyrics and beautiful texture in supporting instrumentals.

Since June of 2007, Williams has released four full length albums: “Bull” (2007), “The Great Lull” (2008), “Nooks and Crannies” (2010) and most recently, “Wind in the Trees” (2011). The first two works were under a distribution deal backed by Adorable Records, an independent label based outside of Detroit, MI, which Williams remained signed with until 2009. Williams then chose to be independent, booking all festivals, tour dates, merchandising, managing artwork and continuing to record every album on his own dollar and time.

After a move to the Southeast and releasing the third Whetherman title, Williams has since found a local group of diversely talented musicians of up to nine different performers to share the stage with, called “The Steady Melodies”. The ensemble is mostly made up of University of North Florida Musical/Jazz Studies alumni, and worldly influenced musicians. Currently, The Steady Melodies are comprised of: JP Salvat (Percussion), Dan Evans (Mandolin, Guitar), Alex Hayward (Drums), Rachel Murray (Vocals), Angel Garcia (Keys), Adam Mantovani (Bass), Milan Algood (Drums), Austin Johnson (Bass) and Lyndsay Pruett (Fiddle).

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Taylor Martin brings you music with a beating heart. Gritty, real and powerful, his new band Taylor Martin’s Engine is filled with music born of genuine experience painted true and honest with raw and uncommon sincerity. This is music as it should be. This is music for those who wish to be moved. Engine. A word that despite many uses is almost always tied to motion. Taylor’s music and writings are also in the business of motion. Unconcerned with the fickle demands of fashion this Engine is as timeless and dynamic as the word itself. Featuring Jon Stickley on guitar, Lydsay Pruett on Fiddle, Ricky Cooper on Bass, and Taylor Martin on rhythm guitar.

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Chapel Hill Folk Band, Mandolin Orange, Plays the Emerald Lounge on Saturday, April 30th

Mandolin Orange
w/ Maggie & Her Mistakes
Saturday, April 30, 2011
The Emerald Lounge

$5, doors 9pm, show 10pm
(828) 232-4372
112 North Lexington Avenue
Asheville, NC 28801
emeraldlounge.com

***

Mandolin Orange is a Chapel Hill, NC-based duo led by songwriter Andrew Marlin and instrumentalist Emily Frantz, who ornament lyric- and harmony-focused tunes with acoustic and electric guitars, fiddle and mandolin. The duo’s understated instrumentation draws on bluegrass and rock-and-roll alike, keeping Marlin’s dark lyrical themes at the forefront of their folk-country sound. Together they deliver a sound that’s uniquely their own yet satisfyingly familiar, and were recently recognized by Rosanne Cash to be “very exciting young people making great music”. Since releasing their debut full length ‘Quiet Little Room’ in May 2010, the duo has shared bills with Chatham County Line, the Steep Canyon Rangers and Abigail Washburn, and has performed at notable festivals such as Shakori Hills Grassroots, Beaufort Music Festival, and Albino Skunk Festival (SC).

Mandolin Orange is currently touring throughout the southeast in advance of their second full-length release, and working on its finishing touches in the meantime. On some tour dates the duo is joined by their recently added rhythm section, made up of Jeff Crawford on bass (formerly of Roman Candle, SpencerAcuff) and James Wallace on drums and organ (formerly of Max Indian, The Old Ceremony). The majority of the forthcoming album was recorded in a cabin in Franklin, NC with Jeff and James in December 2010, while the rest was completed at Crawford’s Arbor Ridge Studios in Chapel Hill. The album is not yet named, and is set to release in early fall of 2011.

The duo’s first album ‘Quiet Little Room’ released in May 2010 and was self-produced, recorded and engineered by Marlin and Frantz at Rubber Room Studios in Chapel Hill. The intimate and sparse style of the tracks met critical acclaim in several reviews. Independent Weekly’s Rick Cornell states that “all across the record is the sound of voices and instruments in the dark, finding light.” In a review for swampland.com, James Clementine confidently likens the album’s harmonies to those of Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris. Muzzle of Bees noted that their “focus moves from the instrumentation to the melody and ethos of songs … a little bit grassy, a little bit country-folk, a little bit something else.” Both North Carolina natives, Marlin’s rural upbringing and Frantz’s roots in bluegrass fiddle and harmony serve as the basis for the duo’s more explorative style. Quiet Little Room reflects the influence of traditional music on their original material, which edges into southern gothic with poignant, sometimes foreboding lyrics centered on themes of the natural world.

Mandolin Orange’s current work retains the intimacy, open space and focus established in their first album, but explores new musical territories through both Marlin’s songwriting and the addition of a full rhythm section. The band’s evolving sound reflects the eclectic musical environment of Chapel Hill, and their engaging performances are packing houses throughout North Carolina and beyond. With festivals booked for summer and Fall 2011 and an appetite for expansive touring, the second album release is sure to take this lyrical Americana act into new territory.

Find out more at mandolinorange.com, facebook.com/mandolinorange and twitter.com/mandolinorange

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