The Weeping Willows

photo credit Ian Laidlaw

Website | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | YouTube | Spotify 

2021 CMAA ‘Golden Guitar’, Australian Folk Music and Music Victoria Award winners, The Weeping Willows (Laura Coates and Andrew Wrigglesworth) are a couple of old souls, steeped in Bluegrass tradition and draped in Gothic Americana imagery.  They regale their audiences with stories of sunshine and romance, God and The Devil, murder and decay.  That kind of description might make them sound like some carefully contrived concept-act but there’s something truly different about The Weeping Willows: they really mean it…

2017-2021 saw The Weeping Willows nominated for 10 x CMAA ‘Golden Guitar’ awards, 4 x Country Music Channel (CMC) awards, 2 x Australian Folk Music Awards (AFMAs), Live Act of the Year (Country) in the National Live Music Awards (NLMAs), performing at AmericanaFest (USA), Folk Alliance International (USA), Maverick Festival (UK), Port Fairy Folk Festival, Queenscliff Music Festival, Out On The Weekend and the Australian Americana Music Honours.  In recent years they have supported Lukas Nelson & POTR (USA), Hayes Carll (USA), Iris DeMent (USA), Eilen Jewell (USA) and Willie Watson (USA) and completed national and international tours in support of their sophomore album, Before Darkness Comes A-Callin’, which received four-star reviews in Rolling Stone, The Australian and The Music.  A Weeping Willows performance, whether live on location or caught on tape will always delight. 

John Sierra

Photo Credit: Flightless Bird Photography

KEEP UP WITH JOHN SIERRA

WEBSITE || INSTAGRAM || FACEBOOK || TWITTER || YOUTUBE

In his debut album, The Wonder, John Sierra invites listeners on a thoughtful journey into the emotional landscape of the heart. Rich with soaring harmonies, driving acoustic rhythms, and haunting melodies, The Wonder wades through a folk-inspired sound with songs that are unapologetically raw. Exploring heartache, healing, relationship, and working through regret, The Wonder is meant to be an experience for any who would listen.

First gripped by the jaunty rhythms and soul-searching lyrics of Billy Joel’s “River of Dreams”, John was drawn to story. He reflects, “I can still remember winding through a grove of pines as an eight-year old, mesmerized by the voice pouring through the car speakers. I didn’t know then that it was Joel’s lyrics I connected with. Even as a boy, I knew intimately the feelings and experiences he was describing.” That moment became a catalyst towards music and songwriting - a sense of joy and wonder that drew him towards poetry, music, and ultimately, songwriting.

His early twenties were categorized by smoky clubs and raging guitar amps, performing as an integral part of the alternative rock band, Attalus, signed to Facedown Records. This foray into the music scene set an incredible foundation for his music career. But, this season also marks a great recovery of heart for John. After shipwrecking almost everything beautiful in his life, he was careened into the realization he had lost himself along the way. Even the band had become a false identity. Through therapy, mental health, and a recovery of heart, he began to find the life he had always longed for…

And in that place, from that place, he began to write. To share the story of hope, forgiveness, healing, and restoration he experienced. Each of the songs on The Wonder stem from this season: from the recovery of a young man’s heart towards beauty, to exploring the roots of addiction and the power to overcome, to the active choice to push against regret towards a dream.

Alan Doyle

Photo Credit: Dave Howell

KEEP UP WITH ALAN DOYLE

Website | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter |  YouTube | Spotify

Alan Doyle, Canadian national treasure and unofficial ambassador of Newfoundland's rich musical traditions, will release a new EP, Back to the Harbour - a collection of songs to celebrate his love of folk music – on May 21. The album was produced by Joel Plaskett at The New Scotland Yard in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. Featured alongside Doyle on the album are Kendel Carson and Cory Tetford from his touring band, along with Plaskett himself.

Back to the Harbour features three original songs plus unique spins on three classics: "Back Home on the Island" by one of Newfoundland's most popular musical groups Wonderful Grand Band; "Let It Be Me" popularized by legendary duo The Everly Brothers; and the first single, the shanty "Leave Her Johnny."

"This shanty of a ship’s last day is one of the dozen or more songs I don't remember learning," Alan says of "Leave Her Johnny." "I realize this may seem odd to some, as in most parts of the world people have one or two songs they don't remember learning, like Happy Birthday or Silent Night. But in Newfoundland we have so many songs that are just part of our language. I doubt many from around here could tell you when they learned I'se The B'y or Lukey’s Boat. We just know them."

Back to the Harbour follows Rough Side Out, Doyle's chart-topping country album released last February, and Songs from Home, a collection of music from Doyle and an all-star lineup of Newfoundland artists, which was released in November. Doyle – the songwriter, producer, actor and author – is a 12-time JUNO Award nominee for his solo material and work with his iconic band Great Big Sea. In 2018, he was awarded the Order of Canada for his contributions to the musical traditions of Newfoundland and for his commitment to numerous charitable initiatives. His most recent book, All Together Now: A Newfoundlander's Light Tales for Heavy Times, was released in November 2020 and quickly became a national bestseller.

Lizzie Weber

Credit: Stephen Mitchell Gilbert

WEBSITE | FACEBOOK | TWITTER | INSTAGRAM | YOUTUBE | SPOTIFY

Born and raised in St. Louis and now based in the Pacific Northwest, Lizzie Weber began her journey as a songwriter living in Studio City, California, where she moved at twenty years old to pursue a career in acting. Two years after her move to Los Angeles, she found herself back in St. Louis writing, recording and producing her self-titled debut album as she pursued a degree in Journalism from Washington University.  

Lizzie’s roots in St. Louis provided her a grounded foundation where she developed strong values and sense of self - a self-awareness that enables her to write emotionally-charged music from a very vulnerable, personal place.

Following the success of her 2014 full-length debut, Lizzie appeared on the cover of the Riverfront Times as one of ‘six artists to watch in 2015.’ From there, Lizzie composed the music for the title track(“Vida Cafeinada”) of the documentary feature film Caffeinated. The song is sung in English and Spanish, and features lyrics written by her father, John Schranck. On their first father-daughter collaboration, they set out to write a song that would stand as a reflection of the agricultural and social underpinnings of that wonderful daily tradition.

In the fall of 2015, Lizzie produced and self-released her rendition of Nirvana’s “Heart-Shaped Box.” It was around that time that she met Grammy-award winning producer Sheldon Gomberg (Ben Harper, Ryan Adams, Rickie Lee Jones) and began work her song “Love Again” which was the product of another familial collaboration, this time with her elder brother, John Schranck Jr., who is responsible for the song’s lush, orchestral arrangements. The two began sending Sheldon iphone demos in November of 2015 with the intention of recording the song at his Carriage House Studios (LA) in January of 2016, a pit stop on her way to her new home in the Pacific Northwest.

After spending the last two years both in Seattle and on the island of Fidalgo, Lizzie traveled to Iceland in March of 2018 to collaborate with Academy Award-winning artist Marketa Irglova (The Swell Season/Once). Together, they produced and recorded two songs - "River" and "Free Floating” - released in November and described by Glide Magazine as "a quiet folk song with angelic harmonies and lush instrumentation that swells into a dramatic, beautiful soundscape.

Lizzie is proud to be releasing her latest single “How Does It Feel,” the title track off from her new three-song EP due out in January of 2021. An anthem of gratitude, “How Does It Feel” explores the meaning behind feeling ‘safe’ and finding strength in yourself with the support of loved ones. All three songs were written in isolation amid the early days of the shutdown due to the pandemic; accordingly, this theme is explored throughout all three songs and focuses on what can truly unite us all: empathy, and love. 

Market Junction

Photo credit: Jason Allison

WEBSITE | FACEBOOK | TWITTER | INSTAGRAM | YOUTUBE | SPOTIFY | PRESS MATERIALS

Market Junction. Not a place as the name implies but rather the name of a band that has engaged fans with their songs of love and loss since 2012 when they released their freshman effort, Heroes Have Gravestones.

In 2011, Matt Parrish gifted friend and fellow songcrafter Justin Lofton a vinyl pressing of Ray LaMontagne’s God Willin’ & The Creek Don’t Rise for his birthday and the fires of inspiration were ignited. The pair set out on a journey to create the kind of music they not only loved to listen to but music that they loved to play. Since those early days, the band soon expanded its lineup to include Taylor Hilyard on bass guitar and Michael Blattel on drums, sharing stages with Cory Morrow, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Jack Ingram, Radney Foster and more.

“We’ve done nothing the conventional way”, says Parrish.  “It’s taken us nine years to figure out who we are and what direction we want to take our careers,” adds Lofton.  The combination of lyrical prowess and Lofton’s fretboard mastery has resulted in a sound that is rooted in place and time, but that transcends both. While the band has found success in their beloved home state of Texas, they are ready to show the rest of the world what they can do. The wait will have been well worth it for Americana music fans across the country - Market Junction will release their latest LP, Burning Bridges, on August 7, 2020. This collection of songs tells one story, one of a young man learning about love and its consequences. Sometimes the heartbreak spurs the traveling, and other times the traveling is the cause of the heartbreak.  Either way, Burning Bridges will break your heart in the best kind of way, and have you reaching for the keys.