Chicago Farmer Shares New Song From ‘Quarter Past Tonight,’ Due Out Aug. 3

‘Quarter Past Tonight’ Live Album Art by Keith Berson Photography

Chicago Farmer Releases a Live Double Disc Album on Aug. 3
Quarter Past Tonight
Recorded at the Apollo Theater in Peoria, IL
During Two Nights of Sold Out Shows

“Chicago Farmer has a truly eclectic style that echoes Arlo Guthrie’s with a contemporary twist, and his storytelling is presented in clear syncopated cadence.” —Americana Highways: Song Premiere of “Dirtiest Uniforms”

BLOOMINGTON, IL — Some live albums are so good they become the recordings those artists are known for. Frampton Comes Alive and Cheap Trick at Budokan were monster hits and catapulted them to rock superstar status. Cody Diekhoff, too, has big hopes for his first live Chicago Farmer first live album, Quarter Past Tonight, a two-disc set to be independently released Aug. 3. “Folk superstar would be just fine,” Diekhoff says.

A touring musician for 20 years with a quarter century of writing songs under his belt, Diekhoff has seen the type size for his moniker grow steadily larger on festival posters over the years. He called his 21-song 2005 debut album About Time, and the same title would have fit for the new live album, recorded Dec. 1-2, two sold-out nights at the Apollo Theater in Peoria, IL in 2017. This is a solo record with Cody being the only performer, singing and playing guitar as well as harmonica as Chicago Farmer. Fans have requested a live album for years with a love for his stories and banter as much as his songs.

Chicago Farmer. Photo by Troy Phillips

“People for the longest time have been coming up to me at the merch table — ‘What do you have that’s just like what you just did on stage,’” Diekhoff says. “So after a long time of putting it off, I finally did it.”

Quarter Past Tonight is a celebration of a musical career in which he’s recorded five studio albums of Chicago Farmer music, criss-crossed the country playing thousands of shows, and shared stages with Robert Earl Keen, Todd Snider, Greg Brown, Greensky Bluegrass, The Wood Brothers, Elizabeth Cook, Wayne Hancock, Del McCoury, and Gene Ween — the last two on the same weekend. It also marks a milestone in his life, coming out just before his 40th birthday. “This is kind of my big tribute to me for sticking around this long,” he says.

Growing up in the tiny Illinois town of Delavan (born the same year Cheap Trick at Budokan was recorded), Diekhoff got the writing bug in high school, translating daydreams into stories. He thought of becoming an English teacher… but then he got a guitar. A friend’s father with a guitar introduced him to the timeless artistry of Hank Williams, and when he moved to Chicago after high school he went to the famed Old Town School of Folk Music to hone his harmonica skills and took a deep dive into work of John Prine and Steve Goodman, giants of the Chicago folk scene. Neil Young, John Fogerty, and Arlo Guthrie were among the other role models Diekhoff turned to as he launched his career.

The storytelling he does came early on, from having to fill a four-hour gig without repeating his songs, so he began crafting elaborate introductions to his songs. “In some cases, I guess the story of the song became more entertaining than some of the songs themselves, so people started reciting and requesting those as well,” he says.

Recorded, mixed, and mastered by Chris Harden of The I.V. Labs Studios in Chicago, Quarter Past Tonight offers a greatest-hits retrospective of his work with 32 tracks of stories and songs, including “Watch Doctor,” “Round Table,” and “Postcards” from his debut album, “Illinois Anthem” and “Assembly Line Blues” off of From a Small Town in Illinois [2006], “Weatherman” from Talk of Town [2007], “Workin’ On It” and “Backseat” from Backenforth, IL [2013], and “Rocco N’ Susie” and “Umbrella” from Midwest Side Stories [2016]. The album also features three new original Chicago Farmer songs — “Dirtiest Uniforms,” “$13 Beers,” and “I Need A Hit “— as well as a cover of Backyard Tire Fire’s “Good to Be.”

Quarter Past Tonight is about as authentic as they come. The first disc is the first night’s show, as presented, and disc two documents the second night just as it happened. What’s on those discs is about 98 percent of what he gave the audiences those nights. “We tried to keep it as real as we could,” he says, and that’s his approach to songwriting, too. “Now that I’m older, there’s way more honesty and realness that goes into my songs. Life has happened to me in the last decade, good and bad, and that’s what these songs are about.”

Todd Snider has called Chicago Farmer “the genuine heir to Arlo Guthrie and Ramblin’ Jack Elliot,” and he’s one of Pokey La Farge’s favorite singers. Accolades like that and the chance to record a double live album have Diekhoff feeling fortunate. He’s grateful for what he’s been able to do, for being able to make his daydreams come true, and yet he wants more, has unfulfilled ambitions and feels no relief from “the creativity bug.”

“My heroes all have their own chapter in the Great American Folk Book. Right now, I have a run-on sentence,” he says. “With this live album, I hope it will turn into a paragraph, and maybe a page, and who knows, maybe a chapter of my own. I’m a quarter century into it and feel my best adventures and songs are yet to come.”

Chicago Farmer 2018 Tour Dates
7/12 Thu – The Village Idiot – Maumee, OH
7/14 Sat – Acorn Theater – Three Oaks, MI
7/26 Thu – The Southgate House Revival Sanctuary – Newport, KY
7/27 Fri – Zanzabar – Louisville, KY
7/28 Sat – The Bootleg at Atomic Cowboy  – St. Louis, MO
8/2 Thu – SPACE (40th B-day Celebration) – Evanston, IL
8/3-4 Fri-Sat – Castle Theatre (40th B-day Celebration) – Bloomington, IL
8/9 Thu –  Codfish Hollow Barnstormers – Maquoketa, IA
8/10 Fri – The Washington – Burlington, IA
8/11 Sat – People Fest – Hillsboro, WI
8/15 Wed – Harmony By The Bay – Sturgeon Bay, WI
8/16 Thu – 3 Sheeps Brewing – Sheboygan, WI
8/17 Fri – Minocqua Brewing Co. – Minocqua, WI
8/18 Sat – Short Branch Saloon – Neenah, WI
8/22 Wed – Hi-Fi – Indianapolis, IN
8/23 Thu – Whispering Beard Folk Fest – Friendship, IN
8/31 Fri – Brewgrass Festival at Edgewater – Madison, WI
9/1 Sat – Shoe Fest – Manteno, IL
9/6 Thu – Woodlands Tavern – Columbus, OH
9/13 Thu – Raccoon Motel – Davenport, IA
9/14 Fri – Cavalier Theater – La Crosse, WI
9/15-16 Sat-Sun – Prairie Burn Music Festival – Hudson, WI
10/12-13 Fri-Sat –  Wander Down Music Festival – Makanda, IL

Quarter Past Tonight Track Listing:

Disc One

1. Dirtiest Uniforms   (4:52) [Previously Unreleased]
2. Round Table   (4:38)
3. Pulled Over On 29   (1:29)*
4. Anymore   (2:54)
5. Benefits   (1:23)*
6. Backseat   (7:57)
7. Assembly Line Blues   (3:23)
8. $13 Dollar Beers   (3:03) [Previously Unreleased]
9. Six Records   (1:00)*
10. Who On Earth   (4:42)
11. Fall   (4:05)
12. Illinois Anthem   (4:03)
13. Jon Stokes Prison Break Blues   (3:34)
14. People N’ Places   (10:56)
15. Good To Be   (3:27) [by Edward David Anderson & Backyard Tire Fire]
    
    Disc Two
16. I Need A Hit   (5:07) [Previously Unreleased]
17. Umbrella   (4:55)
18. We’re All Billy   (:48)*
19. Quarter Life Crisis   (2:17)*
20. Watch Doctor   (5:58)
21. Weatherman   (3:04)
22. Nostalgia & Folklore   (2:02)*
23. Postcards   (2:41)
24. Hats   (3:49)
25. Workin’ On It   (7:38)
26. Breaking Bad   (1:57)*
27. Rocco N’ Susie   (5:55)
28. Thank You’s   (:45)*
29. Victoria Walker   (5:13)
30. Farms & Factories   (4:22)
31. Won’t Let You Down   (5:04)
32. For Dad (Pool Song)   (8:04)
    
    All tracks FCC clean
    *Banter/Story
    
    Further information can be found at www.chicagofarmer.com, www.facebook.com/chicagofarmer, and twitter.com/chicagofarmer.

 

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Amanda Anne Platt & The Honeycutters New Album Out June 9, UK Tour Announced

Amanda Anne Platt & The Honeycutters New Album Out June 9
The album is now on pre-sale →  https://clg.lnk.to/Lj4Wo

ASHEVILLE, NC –“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.” That name, Amanda Anne Platt & The Honeycutters, is also the title of the band’s new album, which will be released by Organic Records June 9, 2017. “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.”

“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,” said Saul Davis: producer (Percy Sledge), manager (Gene Clark, Carla Olson, Phil Seymour).

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 says of the album, “I think it’s just about life and all that that entails. Including but not limited to death, strangers, birthdays, money, leaving, arriving, seasons, corruption, and love.”

Performing along with 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.

Amanda Anne Platt & The Honeycutters is the group’s third release on Organic Records, and fifth album. Assembling the same the same team as 2016’s On The Ropes, Balsam Range’s Tim Surrett steps in for the second time to co-produce this album along with Amanda. Its thirteen tracks were recorded, mixed, and mastered by Scott Barnett at Crossroads Studios in Arden, NC near the band’s hometown of Asheville, NC.

There is an empathetic and charming wit ingrained in Amanda’s songwriting. She has a knack for accessing a deep well of emotion and applying it to her story-telling, whether she is writing from her own experiences or immersing herself into the melody of emotions in another person’s life.

“Amanda Platt writes songs on par with Lucinda, Isbell, Lauderdale, Hank Sr. In my opinion, anyway.” said, WNCW’s Music Director Martin Anderson to No Depression.

In the lead off track, “Birthday Song,” Amanda writes with a gentle optimism, “Every time it gets colder I get another year older… I start looking for lines in the bathroom mirror… but when I lay down at night I swear I must have done something right… cause I’m still so damn glad to be here… I’ve been trying to love the questions, and keep on guessing.” Written just before her 30th birthday, Platt calls the song, “a summation of everything I learned in that decade.”

There is an easygoing warmth to the album, enhanced by the its refined arrangement and production; from the upbeat “Diamond in the Rough” to the poetic and observational “Eden” to the very personal, yet universal, “Brand New Start” to “Late Summer’s Child” (an ode to her favorite season) and “Rare Thing” (a song commissioned from Platt from a fan as a love song to his wife that ended up being included on the album. “Your mama said that it would never last… but these years go by so fast… and you’re the song I’m humming to myself as I’m counting the miles… you’re such a rare thing.”) One can feel it even in songs with a more solemn concept behind them like, like “Long Ride,” which speaks of living in the moment in the face of mortality.

Platt wrote “Learning How To Love Him” after hearing an acquaintance of hers talk about learning that her husband of 40+ years was terminally ill. She says, “What really struck me was how she described the tenderness that the news brought back to their relationship.” Amanda sings, “’I woke last night and I felt so afraid, I turned on the light and shook him awake and we stared at the ceiling, listening to the sink drip… I spent my whole life learning how to love him and I never loved him more than I do today.”

The successes of On The Ropes [2016] and Me Oh My [2015] have propelled Amanda Anne Platt and The Honeycutters onto the national scene and they have been featured on NPR’s World Cafe’s Sense of Place, NPR’s Mountain Stage, Nashville’s Music City Roots, and Folk Alley and they have performed at AmericanaFest, MerleFest, and IBMA. On The Ropes debuted at #39 on iTunes Top 40 Country Chart on release day and landed on a plethora of year end lists including placing #35 on the Top 100 Albums played on Americana Radio in 2016 and landing at #1 on Western North Carolina’s WNCW Radio’s Year End Listeners Poll of Top Albums of 2016!

On The Ropes hit #11 on the EuroAmericana Chart and The UK’s Julian Piper with Acoustic Magazine says, “Amanda Platt has one of those gorgeous heartache-drenched voices that brings to mind Loretta Lynn or Sheryl Crow.”

Amanda Anne Platt & The Honeycutters plan to tour extensively in US this year and will travel to Europe for the first time in the summer. They are excited to release Amanda Anne Platt & The Honeycutters to the world this spring!

Amanda Anne Platt and The Honeycutters on Tour
5/6 Sat – Green River Adventures – Saluda, NC
5/19 Fri – Birdfest – Pinewood, SC
5/20 Sat – Sunset Fest – Dandridge, TN
6/2 Fri – The Neighborhood Theater – Charlotte, NC ^ w/ Town Mountain
6/9-10 Fri-Sat – The Grey Eagle – Asheville, NC
6/17 Sat – The Ark – Ann Arbor, MI
6/21 Wed – Abilene Bar and Lounge – Rochester, NY
6/22 Thu – Sportsmen’s Tavern – Buffalo, NY
6/23 Fri – Cathedral Café – Fayetteville, WV
7/14 Fri – Variety Playhouse – Atlanta, GA * w/ Amy Ray Band (of The Indigo Girls)
7/19 Wed – Taos Mesa Brewing – El Prado, NM
7/21 Fri – Telluride Americana Music Fest & Songwriter Showcase at Sheridan Opera House – Telluride, CO
7/22-23 Sat-Sun – Mountain Rails Live – Alamosa, CO

UK DATES
8/4 Fri – Plough Arts Centre – Great Torrington
8/5 Sat – Tumbleweed at Seven Arts – Leeds
8/6 Sun – Saltburn Arts – Saltburn-by-the-Sea
8/8 Tue – Performing Arts Centre – Kilbarchan
8/9 Wed – Private function – Edinburgh
8/10 Thu – Fringe by The Sea – North Berwick
8/11 Fri – Eastgate Theatre – Peebles
8/12 Sat – Jumpin Hot Country Cantina at Acklington Village Hall – Acklington, Northumberland
8/13 Sun – Woodend Gallery – Scarborough
8/16 Wed – Green Note – London
8/17 Thu -Union Music Store at Con Club – Lewes
8/18 Fri – Square & Compass – Worth Matravers
8/19 Sat – Town Hall Live @ Kirton in Lindesy – Lincs
8/20 Sun – American Museum – Bath (afternoon)
More USA dates TBA!

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

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

 

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Jane Kramer’s ‘Carnival of Hopes’ Out Today! New Music Video

Jane Kramer Makes a Full Voiced Return to Her Roots with Mountain-made Second Solo Album,
Carnival of Hopes – Out TODAY Fri, Feb 26, 2016

ASHEVILLE, NC — Vocalist and songwriter Jane Kramer independently release her gutsy and ambrosial second solo album entitled Carnival of Hopes on Friday, February 26, 2016. With deep ties to the area, Carnival of Hopes boasts a sparkling cast of Ashevillian producers and players. Kramer’s longtime friend Adam Johnson of Sound Lab Studios, whose portfolio of clients includes such names as Alison Krauss and Yo Yo Ma, produced and engineered the album. You can now pick it up at iTune: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/carnival-of-hopes/id1071615103.

The ten-song album was recorded at the award-winning Sound Temple Studios in February of 2015, while she still lived on the other side of the country in Portland, Oregon. A few months later, after a four-year run spent writing and reflecting on the West Coast, Jane Kramer pulled up stakes and returned to Western North Carolina with a renewed energy to share her new music with the world. The sense of homecoming that rings through was a conscious effort, Kramer says. “I did that because Asheville is my dirt. It’s my home and my culture, musically and otherwise. I missed it and knew somewhere in my bones I would be coming back to stay soon,” she says.

Kramer is backed by Chris Rosser on piano and harmonium, Eliot Wadopian on upright bass and River Guerguerian on drums and percussion, the virtuoso trio that comprises Free Planet Radio, as well as master Georgia-based bluegrass musicians/ multi-instrumentalists, Pace Conner (steel string, high string and baritone guitars, ukulele, mandolin, and backing vocals) and Michael Evers (Dobro, banjo, mandolin, and backing vocals) who arranged the songs for recording and perform and tour with Kramer regularly. Virtuoso players, Nicky Sanders of Steep Canyon Rangers and Franklin Keel of Sirius B play orchestral fiddle and cello, respectively, on “Good Woman.” The New Orleans jazz-influenced “Why’d I Do That Blues,” features a horn section comprised of JP Furnas on trombone and Ben Hovey on trumpet.

Jane Kramer. Photo By Sandlin Gaither.

She credits her songwriting hero and mentor, Mary Gauthier, with helping her reach for, and express, everything she hoped to communicate with the album. Carnival of Hopes aches and soars with her connections to Appalachian balladry, a force she first encountered at Warren Wilson College and honed while performing with the Asheville-based all-female trio, the Barrel House Mamas, who helped reintroduce Americana music to the Blue Ridge Mountains a decade ago. However, it is as a solo artist where the power of Kramer’s songwriting and world-class vocals truly shine. The songs on the album were all penned by Kramer with the exception of one cover, “Down South,” written by Tom Petty.”

Kind Words About Carnival of Hopes

“Pulling from her roots as a mountain-made musician, she zeroes in on Americana elements like folksy instrumentation while giving her lyrics center stage… Kramer’s voice is so smooth it melts into her own guitar-playing and violin overlays.” —Elmore Magazine’s Savannah Davanzo
WATCH World Premier of Music Video for “Carnival of Hopes.”

The Bluegrass Situation premiered a stream of the title track here.

“Kramer’s vocal glides between sorghum-sweet low notes and a breathy upper register, maintaining a wink the whole time. But even with its moments of levity and meet-cute two-steps, Carnival of Hopes is sincere.”
—Mountain Xpress, Alli Marshall

“[Jane] embraces songwriting that runs through a gamut of emotions, with heartache, regret, fear, and hope resounding deeply in her lyrics, and each tune is delivered with a voice that only be described as one of the purest in modern Americana… Carnival of Hopes is a steady stream of beauty.”
—Blue Ridge Outdoors, Dave Stallard

“… you can tell Kramer is having fun singing these songs and that feeling endearingly transcends to the listener. Kramer’s vocals are soulful and textured allowing for a range of emotions to illustrate each beautifully poetic song.”
—That Music Mag, Jane Roser

“Jane Kramer says her new album Carnival of Hopes is about facing down inner demons while still clinging to ‘that tiny chirping of light in your bones that somehow keeps you tethered to keeping on.’ And if that sounds like the sort of perseverance Tom Petty writes about, well that might not be a coincidence… Jane Kramer Brings Appalachian Past Into Cover of Obscure Tom Petty Song”
—Ray Padgett, Cover Me Songs premiered “Down South.” Stream it here.

“Jane Kramer is writing and playing classic folk with mountain influences, her strong voice lilting through honest expressions of life, love and the human condition.” —Asheville Citizen Times, Carol Rifkin

“Enchanting and accessible song-crafting; country, honky tonk, blues.”
—Rapid River Magazine

“Well produced, highly melodic and beautifully accessible”
—Northern Sky, Allan Wilkinson

“Like the title implies, Carnival of Hopes presents a festival of emotions from a woman who is cognizant of the fact that life isn’t all sunshine and rainbows, but one who embraces hope, knowing that through hardship often comes something of beauty.” —The Daily Country, Tara Joan

“…this album has the feel of a country record from the late 1980s, similar to Patty Loveless or Kathy Mattea.” —WNC Magazine, Tim W. Jackson

“Jane Kramer makes gorgeous music. With sensual magnetism in her voice, honesty in her lyrics and elegance in her melodies, her songs cast a wonderful spell. Give this record a listen; you will be taken on a lovely ride deep into the mystical world of an artist on the rise.” —Mary Gauthier, American songwriter and performer

Learn more about Jane Kramer and her music at www.JaneKramer.net and stay up to date with news at www.facebook.com/janekramersongstress.

 

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Jane Kramer Releases Mountain-made Solo Album, Carnival of Hopes, Feb 26th

Vocalist & Songwriter Jane Kramer Makes a Full Voiced Return to Her Roots with Mountain-made Second Solo Album,
Carnival of Hopes – Due Out Feb 26, 2016

Produced and Engineered by Adam Johnson of Sound Lab Studios,
The album features backing band Free Planet Radio as well as guest appearances by Nicky Sanders of Steep Canyon Rangers and more

ASHEVILLE, NC — Vocalist and songwriter Jane Kramer is set to independently release her gutsy and ambrosial second solo album entitled Carnival of Hopes on Friday, February 26, 2016. Carnival of Hopes feels both celebratory and frank. It is filled with songs of regret and insight found after deep and gritty self-reflection. At its core, the album tells the story of facing down dark inner demons while still clinging to “that tiny chirping of light in your bones that somehow keeps you tethered to keeping on,” Kramer says.

Throughout the album, it is Kramer’s unvarnished honesty and searching, powerfully sweet and heartrending voice that carry the well-crafted and arranged songs and tie both elements of loss and healing cohesively together. “I’m not great at making stuff up,” she says, “so I sing what I lived and what I know, without any sugar or fluff.”

“Anyone who has stared down the barrel of themselves and their failures and fears and shipwrecked loves has scraped up against the bottom of their own capacity for hoping,” says Kramer, a social worker and musician by trade. “My carnival of hopes is busted and hideous and rusty and somehow still brave and sparkly,” she says, “like the image of the forgotten Ferris wheel printed on the disc – half taken over by trees and time, but still standing.”

With deep ties to the area, Carnival of Hopes, boasts a sparkling cast of Ashevillian producers and players. It was recorded at the award-winning Sound Temple Studios in Asheville in February of 2015, while she still lived on the other side of the country in Portland, Oregon. A few months later, after a four-year run spent writing and reflecting on the West Coast, Jane Kramer pulled up stakes and returned to Western North Carolina with a renewed energy to share her new music with the world.

Carnival of Hopes aches and soars with her connections to Appalachian balladry, a force she first encountered at Warren Wilson College and honed while performing with the Asheville-based all-female trio, the Barrel House Mamas, who helped reintroduce Americana music to the Blue Ridge Mountains a decade ago. However, it is as a solo artist where the power of Kramer’s songwriting and world-class vocals truly shine.

Kramer’s longtime friend Adam Johnson of Sound Lab Studios, whose portfolio of clients includes such names as Alison Krauss and Yo Yo Ma, produced and engineered the album. Kramer is backed by Chris Rosser on piano and harmonium, Eliot Wadopian on upright bass and River Guerguerian on drums and percussion, the virtuoso trio that comprises Free Planet Radio, and by master Georgia-based bluegrass musicians/ multi-instrumentalists, Pace Conner (steel string, high string and baritone guitars, ukulele, mandolin, and backing vocals) and Michael Evers (Dobro, banjo, mandolin, and backing vocals) who arranged the songs for recording and perform and tour with Kramer regularly.

Carnival of Hopes as an album is full of sometimes-searing flourishes on the complexities of Kramer’s modern life. The title track clearly encompasses that, she says.

Jane Kramer. Photo by Sandlin Gaither.

“In the song ‘Carnival of Hopes’ and on the record as a whole, I talk about letting things die and being honest about it: the notion that I am a good woman, ideas for my future and success, a big love, and even parts of myself dying and being reborn in the letting go” she says. “I talk about laying down my hammer but leaving the light on in the window. While these are heavy concepts, I feel the take-away feeling of the album is one of hope.”

 

On this deeply personal album, Kramer’s favorite track is the ballad, “Good Woman.” While she says she’s not one who fits that description, listeners might disagree after hearing the lilting but earnest passion and regret in her voice.

“Good Woman” is the song you write when your lover kicks you out of the house and you’re half drunk on cheap box wine in a crappy motel room staring at yourself in the mirror under the fluorescent bathroom light,” Jane says. “You can’t help but be honest then.”

“Aside from the sentiment, the contributions of virtuoso players, Nicky Sanders of Steep Canyon Rangers and Franklin Keel of Sirius B, also help make the song a favorite,” Kramer adds. They play orchestral fiddle and cello, respectively, on “Good Woman”.

Other songs on the album offer clear hints to Kramer’s unflinching self-examination and ability to convey heavy subject matter through utterly palatable and even catchy song-crafting. The New Orleans jazz-influenced “Why’d I Do That Blues,” (which features a horn section comprised of JP Furnas on trombone and Ben Hovey on trumpet), the classic country honky tonking sass of the opening track “Half Way Gone,” and the banjo-driven, uptempo modern-day spiritual “My Dusty Wings” all speak to a talented songwriter laying herself bare. She credits her songwriting hero and mentor, Mary Gauthier, with helping her reach for, and express, everything she hoped to communicate with the album.

The songs on the album were all penned by Kramer with the exception of one cover, “Down South,” written by Tom Petty. “This tune just sounds like the mountains.” Kramer says,”I’m a huge Petty fan and love the poignant simplicity of his writing. Additionally, and probably what was most important to me was the message of the song thematically, about returning home to the south and it’s little idiosyncrasies.”

The sense of homecoming that rings through was a conscious effort, Kramer says. “I did that because Asheville is my dirt. It’s my home and my culture, musically and otherwise. I missed it and knew somewhere in my bones I would be coming back to stay soon,” she says.

“I didn’t want to make an album that didn’t sound like home,” Kramer adds. “I wanted Asheville musicians and Appalachian instrumentation – that wistful, southern dobro sound that hurts your heart a little.” Carnival of Hopes is indeed a homecoming album, and will take listeners through the enchanting and accessible emotional landscape of a woman who has climbed the mountain of her own failures and fears and learned how to be at home with herself.

Album: Carnival of Hopes Track listing:

1. Half Way Gone  3:45
2. Carnival of Hopes  5:25
3. Your Ever~Green Heart  3:21
4. Good Woman  5:29
5. Down South (by Tom Petty) 3:30
6. Truck Stop Stars  4:31
7. Why’d I Do That Blues  2:38
8. Highways, Rivers & Scars  4:25
9. Truth Tellin’ Eyes  4:19
10. My Dusty Wings  2:57

Learn more about Jane Kramer and her music at www.JaneKramer.net and stay up to date with news at www.facebook.com/janekramersongstress.

 

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Levi Lowrey To Release Self-Titled Album Through Southern Ground Artists on Feb 25th

Levi Lowrey To Release Self-Titled Album Through Southern Ground Artists on Feb 25th
Produced by Zac Brown at Southern Ground Studios in Nashville

Singer/songwriter Levi Lowrey will release his sophomore album through Zac Brown’s Southern Ground Artists on February 25, 2014. Lowrey will offer a gratis download of the song “December Thirty-One” on December 31st for his fans at www.LeviLowrey.com.

The self-titled effort will showcase all original material and will feature Lowrey collaborating with a list of guest musicians that include Clay Cook (Zac Brown Band), fiddler Ross Holmes (Mumford & Sons/Cadillac Sky), Oliver Wood (The Wood Brothers) and acclaimed performer, producer and Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame inductee Mac McAnally. This new project was executive produced by Zac Brown along with co-producers Matt Mangano and Clay Cook. It was recorded from start to finish in just two weeks at Southern Ground Studios in Nashville, TN.

This new album proves that Lowrey has no intention of shedding his image as an honest, life-as-an-open-book songwriter. Despite his growing success, Lowrey announces just 15 seconds into the disc that he is still as confused and unsure of his place in the world as anyone else. On the opening cut “Picket Fences,” he sings, “I have tried and I’ve tried, but I ain’t never satisfied this hunger burnin’ in my soul.” With Lowrey’s heart laid bare from the first notes, the 14 tracks that follow are equally confessional. He explores his own mortality through the eyes of his daredevil children in “Trying Not To Die,” and he tries to reconcile his faith with his history of self-destructive behaviors on “I’ve Held the Devil’s Hand.”

Lowrey’s sincerity and unflinching willingness to tell his life’s story in public is what gives his music an honest edge. “You gotta get to that point where if it scares you too much, don’t write about it,” states Lowrey. “I’ve tried to say, ‘I’m going to scare myself and see what happens. Hopefully the fallout will be worth it.’ And you know what? It usually is.”

True to his reputation as a talented writer, Lowrey penned four of the 15 songs by himself on the self-titled album, co-wrote the other 10 original tracks, and included his version of Black Sabbath’s “War Pigs”. Each new story song offers brutally honest insights about life culled from his adventures in the real world. Lowrey is a happily married man who home schools his two children with his wife while working as a successful musician. On the other hand, he is a constant observer of the rough sides of life and he is not afraid to branch out and explore subjects that others might find too uncomfortable for casual conversation.

Lowrey toured extensively with Zac Brown Band to support his Southern Ground debut album, I Confess I Was A Fool. He wrote a No. 1 hit song and has several awards and nominations to his credit. Lowrey’s song “Colder Weather,” co-written with Zac Brown, was nominated for a CMA Song of the Year award and the cut went on to win the BMI Country Award for Top 50 Songs of the Year. Lowrey and Brown also co-wrote “The Wind,” from Brown’s No.1 Billboard album Uncaged, as well as the rollicking “Day For The Dead,” which is featured on Zac Brown Band’s recent project The Grohl Sessions Vol. 1.

Stay tuned to LeviLowrey.com for more information and tour dates. Also keep up-to-date at facebook.com/LeviLowrey and twitter.com/LeviLowrey.

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The Honeycutters Launch Kickstarter Campaign, CMT Show

The Honeycutters Launch Kickstarter Campaign
CMT’s Concrete Country Features The Honeycutters

 CLICK to Visit The Honeycutters’ Kickstarter Site!

The Honeycutters are thrilled to announce the launch of their Kickstarter campaign on Thursday, April 25, 2013 for a Spring 2014 album release! The band is fronted by vocalist and songwriter, Amanda Anne Platt and lead guitarist/ producer Peter James and includes Tal Taylor on mandolin, bassist Rick Cooper, and Josh Milligan on drums.

The Kickstarter campaign launches during this weekend’s MerleFest, where The Honeycutters are set to perform, and will run for forty days. The goal is set to raise $28,000, which will be earmarked for recording; the mixing & mastering of the album at the prestigious Echo Mountain Recording Studios in Asheville; album packaging design; album pressing; distribution; publicity and radio promotion. Supporters will receive an assortment of special gifts for pledging to the campaign including a day at the studio w/ The Honeycutters; handwritten lyrics booklets to accompany the album; house concerts featuring The Honeycutters; an invitation to a either a guitar workshop w/ Peter James or a songwriting workshop w/ Amanda Anne Platt; a special edition poster; pre-release copies of the album; stickers; digital downloads and more.

“We love playing music, being on the road, and meeting the people that make our lives as musicians possible,” Platt says. “We’re hoping that the release of this next record will afford us a greater opportunity for doing what we love–we want to bring more Honeycutters music into the world!”

Last year marked a successful year for The Honeycutters, with the release of their second album, When Bitter Met Sweet, which was also fan funded. The album released at MerleFest and was one of the top ten selling albums at MerleFest 2012. The band went on to sell out the Grey Eagle in Asheville for their official CD release party, and they performed at Strawberry Music Fest in California. Highlights for the band in 2012 included opening for Guy Clark in Nashville, TN and for Jim Lauderdale in New York City.

When Bitter Met Sweet remained on the Americana Radio Chart for 11 weeks after its June release where it reached #23. It  landed at #94 in the top 100 Americana releases for 2012 and placed #4 in WNCW’s Top 100 Albums of the same year. Regionally, it was the #2 record, right behind The Avett Brothers’ The Carpenter. Asheville’s Mountain Xpress reader’s poll selected The Honeycutters as “Best Local Americana Country Band” for the second year running. The group’s first release, Irene (2009) also received positive accolades like placing #32 on WNCW’s Top 100 Chart and a listing on Iaan Hughes’ No Depression Podcast’s Top Twenty of 2009.

The Honeycutters are currently featured in CMT’s Concrete Country series where they perform three original songs live in the heart of Downtown Nashville. Watch it here: http://www.cmtedge.com/2013/04/22/concrete-country-the-honeycutters/

For a free download of a sampler of The Honeycutters’ music, visit NoiseTrade: http://bit.ly/honeycuttersntm.

 CLICK to Visit The Honeycutters’ Kickstarter Site!

The Honeycutters on Tour:
Fri & Sat 4/26-27/13 MerleFest – Wilkesboro, NC
Fri & Sat 5/17-18/13 Isis Music Hall – Asheville, NC
Wed 5/29 The Berkeley Cafe – Raleigh, NC *w/ Zoe Muth & The Lost High Rollers
Thu 5/30 US National Whitewater Center – Charlotte, NC
Sat 6/1 Nelsonville Music Fest – Nelsonville, OH
Wed 6/5 Old St Francis Theater, Bend OR *
Thu 6/6 Kennedy School – Portland, OR *
Fri 6/7 Hotel Oregon – McMinnville, OR *
Sat 6/8 Treehouse Cafe – Bainbridge Island, WA
Sun 6/9 Crystal Ballroom – Portland, OR *
Tue 6/11 Oly Club Centralia – WA *
Wed 6/12 Edgefield – Troutdale, OR *
Thu 6/13 Sand Trap – Gearhart, OR *
Fri 6/14 Grand Lodge – Forest Grove, OR *
Sat 6/15 Conor Byrne Pub – Seattle, WA
Sun 6/16 Green Frog Acoustic Cafe – Bellingham, WA
Thu 6/27 Western Carolina U’s Summer Concert Series – Cullowhee, NC
Fri 6/28 High Rock Outfitters – Lexington, NC
Sat 6/29 Amanda Anne Platt solo opening for Jill Andrews (Barley’s Knoxville, ticketed show)
Wed 7/10 Eddies’ Attic – Decatur, GA w/ Rebecca Pronsky
Sat 7/20 Magnolia Music and Medicine Show – Eastman GA
Sat 8/10 Dead On The Creek Music Festival – Willits CA
Fri 8/23 Summer Tracks Series – Tryon NC
Sun 8/25 Music On The Lake, Blue Ridge Community College – Flat Rock, NC (  (duo show)
Sat 9/7 Bluegrass & Old Time Music Festival –  – Harmony PA
*as part of McMenamins Great American Northwest Music Tour

More information can be found at www.thehoneycutters.com

ABOUT THE HONEYCUTTERS
The Honeycutters are, at the heart, the musical collaboration of singer/songwriter Amanda Anne Platt and lead guitarist/ producer Peter James. While their sound has drawn comparisons to such artists as Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris or Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, Platt and James produce a refreshingly unique blend of Americana music that is comfortingly familiar while being entirely original. Whether performing as an acoustic duo or a full fledged Honky-Tonk five piece band, The Honeycutters leave smiles on the faces of the ears that they catch.

Like so many of country music’s great duos, Platt and James have a musical chemistry that can be felt throughout the songs they play, from the sounds of their guitars to their vocal harmonies. Perhaps this is why they are frequently mentioned along with the movement to “take country music back to its roots.” The Honeycutters are just doing what they know how to do: make music that feels as good to hear as it is to play.

 CLICK to Visit The Honeycutters’ Kickstarter Site!

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Tara Nevins has a new album in the works at Levon Helm Studios

Donna the Buffalo’s Tara Nevins has a new album in the works at Levon Helm Studios. The album is being produced by Larry Campbell who will also be performing on the album. The new album will be put out through Sugar Hill Records.

Multi-instrumentalist, Larry Campbell is the Producer of two Grammy winning albums with Levon Helm: Dirt Farmer and it’s followup album Electric Dirt. Campbell also toured with Bob Dylan for eight years. Since Larry’s departure from Bob Dylan’s band, he has continued to make guest appearances with various artists including Elvis Costello, Emmylou Harris and Rosanne Cash. He presently tours regularly with Levon Helm and Phil Lesh and hosts Midnight Rambles several times a month at his studio in Woodstock, NY. In 2008, Larry was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award for his instrumental work from the Americana Music Association.

Check out this video of Larry Campbell with Levon Helm joining in:

As one of the Donna the Buffalo‘s primary singers and songwriters, Tara Nevins is known for rich, mellow singing voice and socially conscious songwriting blended with her acoustic guitar, accordion, and fiddle playing. Nevins has become renowned in folk-rock circles across the country. To begin to understand Tara’s passion for music, one must first look to the Old-time musical community where Tara has spent over 20 years playing the fiddle. She is a regular at the  Mt Airy fiddlers’ convention where she has been known to play upwards of 27 hours of fiddle tunes in 3 days time!

Beyond her time with DTB, Tara has also spent years playing with the all-female Cajun/Old-time band, The Heartbeats. In 1999 Tara debuted her solo album, Mule to Ride. Her love of Zydeco is equally as influential. While evident in her accordion playing, she has also expressed her love of Louisiana culture by producing a documentary on the late Carlton Frank (Preston’s Frank uncle) in 2005. Nevins expanded her repertoire even furthur when In the summer of 2009 she went on the road with the Grateful Dead drummer Bill Kreutzmann’s BK3.  This year also marks the 20th year anniversary of the Finger Lakes GrassRoots Festival of Music and Dance in Trumansburg, NY; which DtB’s started towards the beginning of the band’s inception and are still the driving force behind.

Here’s a couple great videos with Nevins:

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