Two Bird Stone

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Two Bird Stone is a dynamic new band featuring some of Nashville’s and New York’s finest musicians. The band formed in 2019 and will release their first album, Hands & Knees, in September.

Liam Thomas Bailey’s original music is a heady mixture of roots-rock, bluegrass, and traditional Irish tunes. Before spinning off to form Two Bird Stone, Liam (fiddle, banjo, lead vocals) was a highly sought after Nashville studio and road musician; he also worked in commercial post-production with bandmate, Chad Kelly.

Liam and bandmate Judd Fuller (bass, mandolin, background vocals) traveled the world together for 11 years as members of Nashville country star Rodney Atkins’ touring band. Judd has also toured and performed with Peter Wolf from The J. Geils Band, Bo Diddley, Entrain, and Carly Simon.

Chad Kelly (accordion) is a two-time Emmy Award nominee who has composed original music for numerous award-winning and critically acclaimed films and documentaries. These include Escape Fire: The Fight to Rescue American Healthcare, an official selection of the 2012 Sundance Film Festival and distributed by Roadside Attractions, Starz Network’s The Big Bad Swim, ESPN Films’ The Zen of Bobby V, and the 30 For 30 feature "The Third Man." He has also composed for HBO Documentary Films’ Andrew Jenks, Room 335, The Alzheimer’s Project, and the five-time Emmy Award-winning film, The Real McCoy.

New York-based percussionist, composer, and educator Rohin Khemani rounded out the lineup. Known as an extremely versatile and eclectic musician, his sound can be heard on a wide variety of projects weaving through the worlds of jazz, world music, rock, folk, and electronica. Khemani was a founding member of Red Baraat and co-leads the band Surface to Air Trio with guitarist Jonathan Goldberger and bassist Jonti Siman. He has performed for audiences at some of the world’s most prestigious concert halls and festivals including Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, Sauti Za Busara in Zanzibar, Tanzania, The Monterey Jazz Festival, The London 2012 Olympic Games, and Peter Gabriel's WOMAD Festivals in the UK, Australia, and New Zealand.

Baby FuzZ

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Baby FuzZ, the alter ego of musical polymath Sterling Fox, is arguably one of the most interesting new acts in music. In 2017, Fox was peaking as one of the more successful songwriters in the pop music world, having written with the likes of Madonna, Max Martin, Lana Del Rey, and others. Abruptly, and shortly after the Trump election, he quit collaborative writing, moved to Canada, and disappeared from the music world completely. After a year of isolation in Montreal, Fox returned to the US and reemerged as Baby FuzZ, a bizarre paradigm of audiovisual glam rock and normcore. Throughout 2018, FuzZ dropped a myriad of singles and self produced music videos, gathering the attention of a small but loyal online cult fanbase. Described as “one of the most slept on acts in music” by Hillydilly, Baby FuzZ unapologetically jumps all over the genre map, with songs ranging from folk ballads to punk anthems and everything in between. As diverse as the music is, the lyrics are a singular and hyper self aware narrative with strong political and social undertones. In 2019, Baby FuzZ released his debut album Plastic Paradise independently and embarked on a 100 date diy tour around the US.

You get the sense that Baby FuzZ was just getting warmed up in 2019, with Plastic Paradise coming off as a death rattle of a previous life of overthought pop demos that had finally eaten itself alive with a sense of ennui. But if the debut was his first contact, 2020's new followup Welcome To The Future is sure to be Baby FuzZ's full blown alien invasion. It's a wild concept album amazingly relevant to a dystopian America currently in the throes of a pandemic. The bulk of the album was made in quarantine in Los Angeles, and to be sure, it's an absolutely expansive yet claustrophobic opus of bedroom glam rock. Ranging from the shameless cock rock anthem "Before Our Time" featuring LP,  to a faux incel mariachi jam called "Weekend Blues" to the ambient saxophone ballad "Acid Night" about dropping acid at a Dodgers game, Welcome To The Future is astoundingly diverse. Lyrically, it's an absolute masterclass in oddity, with FuzZ writing at times from the point of view of an orca, suburbanites named Kevin and Karen, and a cellphone. All in all, it's an immediate and compelling album with heavy doses of conservationism, disguised symbolism, and good old fashioned American absurdity. 

Garrett Owen

Photo credit: Melissa Laree Cunningham

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Texas-born Garrett Owen had a musical awakening at age 14 that manifested as an intense desire to learn guitar and an insatiable love for all things heavy metal. Eventually, he began exploring other genres, diligently saving his weekly allowance to afford mail-order CDs to satisfy his typical childhood curiosity. But, Owen’s childhood was anything but typical.

Instead of Little League and sleepovers, Owen’s earliest memories involve frequent trips across the Serengeti and backyard wildlife most of us only experience at our local zoos. The son of church-building missionaries, he grew up in Tanzania and Kenya, riding on the luggage rack of the family’s Nissan Patrol, with vast clear skies above him and gazelles running beside. After leaving Africa, the family completed a stint in Ecuador before Owen’s parents moved the family back to Texas. Life as he knew it became a difficult endeavor; rimmed with the sharp edges of reality in an unfamiliar place, his attempts to settle into a culture he didn’t understand resulted in distress and a suicide attempt - a far cry from the idyllic landscape of his upbringing.    

“Getting to the point where songs could even come out of me at all again took some time,” he remembers. However, Owen’s decision to step up to the mic at a songwriters’ night in Fort Worth changed his trajectory and reminded him that the goal of pursuing music was no longer at home on the backburner.

Now, the award-winning artist, who calls to mind legends like Paul Simon, Jackson Browne, Elliot Smith, and Jesse Winchester, is gearing up to release his second full-length album, Quiet Lives, on September 18th. Though he revisits familiar subject matter such as the push-pull of relationships, love, and loss, Quiet Lives is about growth, informed by the perspective gained from life experience. The diverse 10-track collection delves into more experimental musical territory, as Owen toyed with complex chord changes, melodic dissonance, and intriguing storylines.

“My relationship with technology and connection to nature are a new combination in my songwriting,” he says, as evidenced in the album’s lead single, “These Modern Times.” Its blend of folk-tinged finger-picking, synth-infused verses, and anthemic pop choruses illustrate the juxtaposition of old and new as he contemplates the ups and downs of our constant and instant access to digital information. “Hour In The Forest,” which begins as a dreamy folk-pop tune that explodes into searing, Queen-esque guitar rock in its second half, was inspired by two women - one, a potential love interest, the other the bearer of an unforgettable tattoo, while “No One To Save You” ventures into familiar territory as he revisits a past relationship that couldn’t withstand the pressures of life on the road. “I Must Be Evil,” a quirky tune wearing the uniform of a murder ballad, tells the story of vigilante justice. Owen even pays homage to the late great Waylon Jennings as he puts his unique and jazz-folk spin on Jennings’ 1977 tune “The Wurlitzer Prize (I Don’t Want To Get Over You).”

“At its core, all art is based on a ‘true story,’ and by true, I mean the version we carry in our head and heart - the one that can lift or crush your spirit with equal capacity,” the golden-voiced troubadour, who has shared stages with artists like Parker Millsap, Charlie Sexton, and Marty Stuart, explains. “Some suggest that your upbringing explains quirks of personality like my shyness, a tendency for introspection, and streaks of perfectionism. Maybe. I’m not so fatalistic as to believe our earliest experiences necessarily determine the arc of adult life, but my slightly foreign childhood never leaves my music or me. Everybody’s got a story to tell,” he adds. “I’m no different.”

G.E. Smith & LeRoy Bell

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Considering their prodigious respective careers, the upcoming release of legendary G.E. Smith and LeRoy Bell’s Stony Hill, sets the bar high. Between them, first-call blues/rock guitarist Smith and revered soul/R&B singer-songwriter Bell have crafted a uniquely compelling rock ‘n’ soul record that’s poised to attract all music loving audiences. Why the name Stony Hill? It signifies the struggle of ‘pushing that rock up the hill’ muses Bell. 

The collection chronicles an in depth look at where we stand as an American democracy without prejudice or presumption. LeRoy delves into the pulse of the American culture with his wise tone and delivers the eleven co-written songs with conviction. “I’ve been looking for a great singer for thirty years, at least – not just a good singer, but a great singer,” Smith recalled of first hearing Bell in 2018. “I said: ‘that’s the voice – that’s the one I’ve been looking for!’”

Perhaps best known for his decade as the distinctively ponytailed musical director for Saturday Night Live (for which he won an Emmy), Smith’s career has also included six years with Hall & Oates at the height of their multi-platinum powers; NET (never ending tour) with Bob Dylan and Rogers Waters. Smith also was sideman to David Bowie, Mick Jagger, and Tina Turner; He was the band leader for everything from the Rock ‘N Roll Hall of Fame Museum concert to Dylan’s 30th anniversary show at Madison Square Garden.

Meanwhile, Bell was carving out a career as a hit songwriter for the likes of Elton John, Jennifer Lopez, Teddy Pendergrass, and The Three Degrees, while also releasing records with duo Bell and James (including successful single “Livin’ It Up (Friday Night)”), and a string of solo albums. Today the leader of his own band, LeRoy Bell and His Only Friends, Bell earned legions of new fans as a finalist in the inaugural season of TV’s smash reality music competition The X Factor in 2011.

“It really intrigued me to do something that’s a little bit different and to bring my talent with his talent,” said Bell of his coming together with Smith. “[To] try to make something new; make something happen. And I think we accomplished that.”

Initially introduced by Smith’s wife, the duo discovered such instant chemistry that they began recording together almost immediately. Combining compositions from both artists, co-written tracks, and a couple of cover versions (the traditional ballad “Black Is the Color (of My True Love's Hair)” and Buffy Sainte-Marie’s “Cod’ine”), the resulting Stony Hill – also named for the street where Smith resides – is a robust ride through soulful, R&B-tinted blues rock characterized by emotive vocals, tastefully virtuosic play-for-the-song guitar, and a throughline emphasis on melody.

“What I love, for American music, is the combination of rock ‘n’ roll and R&B,” said Smith. “LeRoy writes really good songs with good hooks … [and] hey, you can dance to it!”

Lead single from the album, “America”, personifies the catchy yet clever tone throughout Stony Hill, sweetening its weightily nostalgic message with an irresistible hook. “When we played ‘America’ live … by the middle of the song – first time they’ve ever heard it – people are singing it with us,” marveled Smith. “And that’s always a good sign!”

Elsewhere, “Change is Coming”, “Take Cover”, (if you want to survive) eerily sets the tone of the divided, while projecting an ominous warning of the invisible war we are waging. “Under These Skies” continue a theme of strong insight into our hopes and fears while using swingable songs that also have something to say. “You don’t want to slap people in the face with stuff,” said Smith.  “But I think it’s important – especially right now, this year – that something gets said.” (When you get to a certain point, I can’t just write regular ‘love me do’ songs anymore!” Bell laughed.)

Smith’s cover of “Codine” speaks to the opioid epidemic and Art’s Sick is a smart, observant song on contemporary artists. Bell’s distinctive vocals and Smith’s stellar guitar work bring a fresh urgency to “Black is the Color”, a song with roots reaching back over 100 years which Smith has long included in his repertoire; while the organ-flecked “Let the Sunshine In” lends a throwback air of airy optimism.

Stony Hill was recorded in 2019 at Applewild Farm in Bridgehampton, N.Y., and mixed at Grand Street Recording in Brooklyn, with Smith handling both production and mixing duties. Former Free/Bad Company drummer Simon Kirke (a neighbor of Smith’s) contributed his famed feel to the album, which will be released this summer through BMG.

While the Smith-Bell collaboration is bi-coastal (Smith lives in Amagansett, N.Y.; Bell in Seattle), the duo has bonded over the writing and recording of Stony Hill, staying at each others’ homes while writing, recording, and playing their first couple of live shows last year. 

The Smith-Bell collaboration is bi-coastal (Smith lives in Amagansett, N.Y., Bell in Seattle.) “We both really enjoy playing music and having a good time,” Bell enthused. “And I think that’s what propelled this project.” Most importantly, they have sustainable synergy and will endure the toughest of times. Smith muses, “we plan to keep at it for a long time.”

Killer Whale

Photo Credit: Scott Lebell

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Somewhere between the rustic Louisiana bayou and dreamy California shores lies Killer Whale.

This is a band that entirely encompasses the beauty of laying back. They have a unique vision that subtly welcomes you into their colorful rhythms and rock n roll daydreams. They create a space that invites you in, tells you to make yourself at home, and hugs you as you walk in the door.

It’s been three years since New Orleans-based Killer Whale released their previous album, the sublime, sunbaked Casual Crush. The album garnered praise for mastermind Thomas Johnson’s keen ability to blend Southern R&B with a hint of California surf, thanks in part to a mix of melodic guitar riffs and heavenly vocals bested only by My Morning Jacket. Tastes Like Yesterday marks their long-awaited follow-up, due September 18th on the Mexico City-based label Devil In The Woods. 

“I’m not a perfectionist,” admits Johnson. “Yet I do want each new record to demonstrate some progression from what came before. I don’t necessarily want it to sound radically different, and I think Tastes Like Yesterday accomplishes that. I like the idea of each album hinting at what’s coming next without really being specific about that direction.”

Tastes Like Yesterday does fit that description. Though one can hear echoes of Casual Crush in the tracks “Comfortable” and “Slip Away,” the album finds Johnson’s muse immersing him in a very seductive, mellow soul. “I’m from Louisiana, and New Orleans culture and music have always been an influence on me, whether consciously or not,” Johnson says. When asked how he describes his music, Johnson lets out a laugh and tells me he calls it “Pontoon Soul”. The lead single “Comfortable” offers an example of this new genre; it’s swampy and murky, yet Johnson’s heavenly voice transcends, resulting in a song best described as drop-dead gorgeous.

Killer Whale, much like its creator, wanders between New Orleans, Austin, and San Francisco, bearing the melodic scars all that travel brings him. A mixture of genres, Killer Whale doesn’t subscribe to any one camp. Instead, it exudes them all.

It’s a sound kaleidoscope.

With that kind of concoction, it doesn’t seem too far-fetched to think that the songs would be a melee, an atonal mishmash that harkens back to the days of being different for different’s sake. Under the leadership of another musician, such might be the case, but Killer Whale melds everything together in the name of freaky good fun.

“For Tastes Like Yesterday, I did something I’ve never really done before, and that is to relinquish control of the production. I really must give credit to Grayson Converse of Spooky Mansion and my good friend and longtime creative partner Scott Sibley for adding the lovely touches that make Tastes Like Yesterday so special. Scott and Grayson came together with a lot of the production ideas, and I think they’ve really helped enhance Killer Whale’s sound, especially in terms of the individual song production.”

Indeed, Tastes Like Yesterday is a record dominated by Johnson’s singing. Whether it’s the dreamy funk of “High On Yo’ Love,” or the harmonic vocals of “Canopy,” or the crooning on the breezy “Slip Away,” Johnson’s voice is smooth, slick, and seductive. Johnson states “If there’s one big difference between this album and our previous releases, is that Scott, Grayson and I emphasized focusing on the drums, percussion, and keys with less emphasis on guitars. I’m extremely happy with how our efforts turned out.”

Sunny and warm, yet cool and seductive, Tastes Like Yesterday arrives September 18th. Let this album wrap its arms around you, allow you to embrace your new dance, and take you to some wonderful places deep within your mind.

Reuel

Photo courtesy of Tim Salaz

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Reuel’s wide-ranging talent as a pianist gives every note he plays a unique resonance. He has years of experience in the worlds of classical, pop, film scoring and electronic dance music, allowing him to move smoothly between genres. He may be based in Las Vegas, but Reuel’s true home is the mansion of music he’s created with his keyboards, compositions and thrilling performances.

Reuel, regularly performs for performance arts centers and has performed his crossover piano show “Reuel Live” at Aria, Wynn, Fashion Show Mall, The Venetian, Caesar’s Palace, Four Seasons, and many other popular destinations on The Strip. Reuel also performs internationally with tours in South America, Asia, French Polynesia, and Canada. 

This summer, he will travel to Turkey to perform as part of the Turkcell Platinum Istanbul Night Flight along with actor, director, and producer John Malkovich’s “The Music Critics Show”, Grammy-winner Yo-Yo Ma, and film score composer Joachim Horsley.

“My live shows are all over the place in style, size and structure,” Reuel explains. “I perform concerts of solo classical material, as well as solo pop piano with backing tracks. I have a five-piece pop band and a classically trained trio, with a cellist and violinist. We can play live, or augment the performance with produced backing tracks. I customize each show to what is needed, or affordable, for the venue or client. I’m continually adding more original music to my shows, along with creative arrangements of popular music. I’m always looking for ways to present my music in the biggest, most straightforward fashion.”

Reuel first caught the ears of the pop world in 2018 with album of iconic themes from Classical literature reimagined for solo piano, appropriately titled Classical. The album featured “‘Für Elise’ as You’ve Never Heard It” (Blogcritics) and rendition of “Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-Flat minor”.

He followed later that year with a holiday themed album First Snow, featuring the original title track “a delicate, haunting tune with sweet string arpeggiations and whispery, lush vocals” (- Parade Magazine) that “updates his classic piano training, creating an approachable take on sophisticated instrumental.”(- Popdust)

In 2019,  Reuel released Transformation (Lucky Hound Music), his sixth album that combines electronic dance tracks with piano melodies played in a classical style.

On the single “Polarized” the video finds Reuel, “giving his all as he delights us with this perfect blend of modern and classic, almost like Ludovico Einaudi and Pendulum teamed up and produced a song, this would be pretty much the result.” (-Vents Magazine)

Reuel ventures into the experimental world of Drum & Bass with “Polarized”: “I worked closely with electronic music producer Jordan Kolar to achieve the correct drums and sound design to successfully accompany an active lead piano melody.”

It also provided an opportunity for Reuel to revisit an unfinished melody creating the “perfect opportunity to turn this melody into a modern piano piece with added orchestral flare and sound design that invokes the vast beauty of nature” on the song “Earth Addictions.”

“Earth Addictions” has already reached over 100,000 plays on the official Apple Music playlist Classicaltronics. 

Reuel continues to expand his portfolio of original material and reimagined cover arrangements in 2020.  

Distant Cousins

Photo courtesy of Ehud Lanzin

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“It’s the sound of backroads and big dreams. It’s the sound of sing-a-long-ready choruses… Basically, it’s the sound of your new favorite band, Distant Cousins.” – Amoeba Music 

LA-based folk-pop trio Distant Cousins offers up a blend of music that, like the band name, suggests both deep connections and a wide variety of genres.

Each cousin brings his unique background to the group. Duvid grew up in the Middle East, on a small musical commune in Israel full of hippies and gypsies - owning only record players as appliances. Ami and Dov grew up on the East Coast, attending the same high school in New Jersey a few years apart. Ami is formally trained from Berklee and is forever a fan and student of bold and modern production values. Dov and Duvid come from the organic perspective of stripping a song down to its essentials—guitar and voice—to test its mettle. The blend of these two vantage points—cutting edge pop sonics with classic songcraft—is a thorough line that runs deeply through the Distant Cousins song catalog. 

Their original music reflects a fluid collaboration of three distinct songwriters, producers, and performers. In the studio, the cousins share various roles as producers, writers and musicians. At their live shows, however, roles are more delineated; Ami sings, plays bass, and handles looping responsibilities, Dov sings, plays drums, and acoustic guitar, and Duvid sings and is the maestro of a myriad of stringed instruments. Onstage, the band also augments its sound with “honorary cousins” as guest musicians.

To capture the essence of their live show, Distant Cousins entered Boulevard Studios in early 2020 to record an audio and video performance culminating into Here & Now, a live visual album and collection of acoustic and reimagined selections from their catalog (Distant Cousins EP, 2014; debut album Next of Kin, 2018, Jullian Records) and two new songs, “Here & Now” and “The Day.”

In keeping with tradition, the Cousins invited guests to accompany them: Los Angeles-based trio The Songbirds (featuring Gaby Moreno, Erica Canales and Dannielle DeAndrea) bring their own magic to “Mighty Love” while Lindsey Ray is featured on the first single and title track “Here & Now” available 5/8 on Jullian Records.

 Just as the title suggests, the single is about “recognizing how little we know of the future and appreciating the here and now,” says Cousin Dov. It was serendipitously written only 2 weeks prior to our current situation, but its message is timely. In fact, following her visit to Los Angeles to record in late-February, Lindsey returned home to Nashville to self-quarantine. And due to current travel restrictions and social distancing guidelines, the “Here & Now” video was recorded Zoom-style, making the song even more poignant.

Market Junction

Photo credit: Jason Allison

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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.

Natalie Schlabs

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Nashville-based singer/songwriter Natalie Schlabs writes songs that explore the complicated emotions and perspective-shifting moments that make up family relationships. Her music often blends sublime vocal harmonies with lyrics about the secret desires and difficulties of living life among loved ones.

Her first full-length album, Midnight With No Stars, was celebrated for its willingness to explore the personal. New Slang praised the album for revealing “a rugged truthfulness we often save for conversations with ourselves.” There’s a richness and clarity to Schlabs’ voice reminiscent of artists like Norah Jones and Jill Andrews, making her a popular choice for harmonizing background vocals and a frequent collaborator with other musicians on tour and in the studio. Her stunning duet with Irish-born artist Ben Glover, “Fall Apart,” features vocals that “ring and resound like a fork tapping crystal” and was chosen as a Song of the Week on The Bluegrass Situation. Schlabs’ introduction to Nashville music came through collaboration, singing background vocals for fellow Texan Ryan Culwell, and performing with Katie Herzig at Paste Studio NYC in 2018. “I think there’s something cool about the act of stepping into someone else’s sound and blending with it,” she explains. “It’s a challenge, and a kind of freedom, too.”

Like many other Nashville musicians, the West Texas native grew up singing in church, but unlike others the majority of her early musical experience s took place at home with family. Her three brothers were musicians—one a pianist, one a guitarist and drummer, and one guitarist and songwriter—her mom sang, and her grandfather, a guitarist and vocalist who performed classics, often invited the family to sing with him. “It was very normal for all of us to be together in a room, playing instruments and singing together,” she recalls. “My love for music comes from my family, and my love for family is often the substance of my songwriting.”

Breaking a bit from her country roots, Schlabs’ new album Don’t Look Too Close, set for release on Oct 9, 2020, steps into indie territory with a compelling mix of instrumentation laced with solo vocals that bloom into easy, delicate harmonies. Co - produced by Juan Solorzano and Zachary Dyke , with Caleb Hickman on saxophone and her husband Joshua Rogers on bass, the album swells and ebbs with elegant, absorbing shapes. The songs are moody, candid, and tender , each featuring Schlabs’ characteristically sleek vocals front-and-center, backed by charming instrumental moments that add form and depth to the melodies. “Juan’s got a great ear,” she says. “He created really original textures with layered guitar. That’s a big part of the sound of the record.”

Recorded the year of her 30th birthday and largely written while pregnant with her first child, the album naturally focuses on tension s between past and present. “I was thinking about how to raise a child, how to pass down values,” she reveals. “There’s a dismantling of what I thought I knew. What do I value in my life and where did those things come from? What do I want to share with my children and what do I want to spare them from?” The tracks on Don’t Look Too Close traverse the spectrum of feelings that tend to coincide with love, from bittersweet consideration of “the wilderness caused by depression or illness” in “See What I See,” to the haunting gentleness of “Ophelia,” written for a friend who lost her daughter. The title song “Don’t Look Too Close” addresses the everyday aches and pains people tend to hide from loved ones. “There were entire rooms of things my parents went through that I had no idea about,” she says. “And my kid will have no idea about a lot of things I experience.” The song reflects on love’s blindness, how “sometimes the ones you love will never know how much you love them.”

The album as a whole represents a place, a time, and a pocket of feelings that are as distinctly human as they are beautiful. “Growing up surrounded by family in the flatlands, there’s not a whole lot going on outside of the people,” she continues. “The climate is extreme, and isolation binds you to the people around you. Everyone’s in each other’s business, and you learn that love can go in many directions. Sometimes it’s about solidarity and sacrifice, sometimes it’s obsessive or painful. This record is about navigating those feelings within our closest relationships .”

Love Ghost

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Love Ghost is an L.A based rock band. Their new single "Let It All Burn" can be found on the official Spotify "New Noise" playlist, the Apple Music official "Breaking Hard Rock" and "Fresh Blood" playlists,  and many, many others. Rawckus Magazine writes: "There’s something cruelly superior about “Let It All Burn” and Love Ghost, a piercing edginess replete with vast primitive power. Love Ghost is a band to keep an eye on." From Staccatofy: "With robust frontman attitude and pipes, Love Ghost is a post-millennial band that is also making guitars matter again."

The band consists of Finnegan Bell (guitar and lead vocals), Ryan Stevens (bass and background vocals), Samson Young (drums and background vocals), Daniel Alcala (guitar), and Cory Batchler (keyboards). They are currently working on a new album with legendary producer Danny Saber (The Rolling Stones, U2, David Bowie, Marilyn Manson, etc.). In 2019 they toured Ireland (playing Whelan’s, Crane Lane and Roisin Dubh-amongst others), Japan (11 shows in Tokyo, Osaka, Kobe and Kyoto), and were one of the mainstage bands at Festivalfff in Ambato, Ecuador. Love Ghost has won numerous awards including Best Alternative Rock Band (Hollywood Music in Media Award), The Jean Luc Goddard Award (a yearly award from Cult Critic Magazine), and awards from over 30 film festivals around the world for their music videos. The band has opened for Buckcherry, Berlin, Smash Mouth, The Young Dubliners, The Tubes, Fuel, and Irish singer/songwriter Mundy.

The Matinée

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Every great story is like a long winding road, no matter where it leads, it has to start somewhere.

It’s been over a decade since singer Matt Layzell and guitarist Matt Rose spent a few hazy days writing songs in a rustic cabin in Desolation Sound on British Columbia’s wild Sunshine Coast. Since then, The Matinée has evolved from its humble origins, navigating their own route, to become a powerhouse roots- rock band with a following spread across North America.

The road-worn band – who were high school cohorts before their musical paths intertwined - also includes drummer Pete Lemon, guitarist Geoff Petrie, bassist Marcus Abramzik, and keyboardist Georges Couling.

Early on in their career they become familiar faces at every venue around their hometown of Vancouver, having honed their chops playing small clubs on self-booked nationwide tours. They have spent years cutting their teeth by playing anywhere they could, dropping sweat on stages ranging from prison gymnasiums to festival headline slots.

Things changed in 2013, when the group signed to Light Organ Records and released its debut album, We Swore We’d See the Sunrise. Recorded at the prestigious Armoury Studios with Grammy award-winning producer Steve Berlin (The Tragically Hip, Los Lobos, Matt Andersen), the record’s salt-of-the-earth rock sound made a splash on radio across North America .Their song Young & Lazy became a bonafide song of the summer and earned the outfit a string of prominent festival bookings across Canada and the U.S.A.

In 2015, they linked up with Mounties members Steve Bays (Hot Hot Heat) and Ryan Dahle (Limblifter,) who produced the 2015 EP Broken Arrows and helped to nurture the ensemble’s gritty rock influences. The result; the first single off the record, Temper Temper, hit #1 on the CBC Radio 3 national charts.

Wanting to return to their ‘roots’ the band sought out producer Jamie Candiloro (Ryan Adams, REM, Willie Nelson) for 2017’s Dancing On Your Grave. A heart- swelling collision of hook- infused rock and earthy Americana influences, the album garnered 3 singles (Figure It Out, Blood Alley, Dancing On Your Grave) and accompanying music videos that were all well- received and have kept the band busy with touring and festival appearances right up until now.

When not out on the road, The Matinée has spent much of the past year holed up in remote cabins, working on new material for their next release, and has started recording the first of these songs with Erik Nielsen and Grammy-winner Jim Scott (Tom Petty, Tedeschi Trucks). Expect new music from the band in early 2020.

Fay Wildhagen

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Much has happened since Fay WIldhagen (pronounced F-EYE) released her second album Borders in 2018, where she was nominated for Spellemann in the categories indie- and producer of the year. Since then, she has toured the country on sold-out club tours and played at most of the country's major festivals, including a magnificent performance during Øyafetivalen (NOR). It is the live songs of Fay really come to fruition and together with a stellar team of musicians new experiences are formed each time. It felt important for Fay to challenge the pop genre and age we are in. The result, Leave Me to the Moon (Live in Oslo), was recorded in Oslo Concert Hall in November 2019. The 12-inch is released on Record Store Day April 18 and digital Friday, April 24.

• Leave Me to the Moon (Live in Oslo) is an attempt to take back the music as I remembered it was for me in the beginning, playing band exercises in my mom's basement where we figured out how to play it together. I have for a long time felt an urge and a longing to get back together, and all it entails; playing in the same room, responding to each other's tone language, and thus breathing a life into the songs they otherwise only get in concert. 

• That's why I put together a band with a multitude of artistic qualities from different disciplines that didn't necessarily know each other before. In this way, we were all forced to lean forward, listen to each other and make room for each other's musical personalities. Freedom had a framework I had prepared, but with space and space for the musicians' free intuition and interpretation. The new arrangements have been stripped down to the core of the songs - in the quest to find just that.

For Fay, this project is about community, interaction, improvisation and play - while feeling as if everything is at stake. One of Fay's biggest role models, Ane Brun, also contributes to the album.

• The recording of "When I Let Go" is definitely seen as one of the highlights of my career so far, and it felt so surreal and big to have an artist with as much weight as Ane Brun. She gave the song something I didn't know it had.

Taylor Young Band

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Taylor Young was a touring drummer (Young Heart Attack, Polyphonic Spree), then started writing songs (The O’s), and now has a band full of friends from the Texas music scene: Toby Pipes (Deep Blue Something), Josh Hoover (Calhoun), Kenny Wayne (Leon Bridges). 

From power pop to new wave to country, Taylor Young Band brings a fresh look with their debut record Mercury Transit out March 6, 2020.

Ellen Starski

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In her new album Sara’s Half Finished Love Affair, Nashville-based artist and songwriter Ellen Starski showcases her songwriting range in an exceptional collection of beat-driven, imaginative, and narrative songs.  Starski is known for her magnetic personality, dynamic songwriting, emotive vocal style, and her music’s “keen ability to reach directly into our souls” (Take Effect Reviews). Sara’s Half Finished Love Affair introduces some darker, grungier elements as well as a bright, alternative pop sense to Starski’s characteristic mix of ethereal and earthy, new qualities she says developed from a shift in her songwriting method. Instead of finger-picking a melody on guitar as she composed, Starski wrote the songs on Sara’s Half Finished Love Affair a capella, stomping a rhythm with a boot and, in her words, leaving herself more room. “This was a totally different way of approaching songwriting for me, and it opened up a lot of doors for flexibility in pre-production, too.”  This looser, more intuitive songwriting process led to a truly fresh-sounding and cohesive album, that’s now in the process of production with Lucas Morton (Jordy Searcy, Jill Andrews) and Max Hoffman. 

A robust and natural undercurrent pulses beneath several of the songs in Sara’s Half Finished Love Affair, leaving space for Starski’s unique vocal melodies to drift and curl around the beats. In “Never Met a Ghost” the dragging, distant percussion makes a perfect foil to the breathy beauty of Starski’s voice. In “Satellite” there’s a quick, cyclical movement to the guitars and percussion that mirrors the lyrical content perfectly. “Follow my Lead” reminds us why we fell in love with Starski’s music in the first place: her compelling and dramatic voice is showcased at ease in this sparse, guitar-led lovesong.  “I’ve been searching for a certain sound my entire life, and I feel like I’m on my way to finding it with this album.” 

Her celebrated debut solo album, The Days When Peonies Prayed for the Ants, released May 2018, traces Starski’s autobiographical, geographical, and emotional journey from her origins in rural Reynoldsville, PA, where she began playing guitar at 19 and singing the blues in local bars, to her current career as a solo Americana artist in Nashville. Offering a rich mix of orchestra-backed Americana, delicate piano ballads, finger-plucked indie-folk, and beguiling pop, each song on Peonies features Starski’s dynamic and often surprising vocal delivery as well as her talent for emotionally-nuanced storytelling. The album’s title affirms Starski’s deep interest in Earth’s intricate connections, alluding to the symbiotic relationship between peony flowers and ants— separate species which rely on each other to grow. While Peonies is sonically influenced by the music of Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan, and the Alison Krauss/Robert Plant collaboration Raising Sand, Starski’s general musical influences span a wider spectrum, from Lilith-Fair-era feminist icons Amos and McLachlan to Tom Petty’s free-wheeling spirit and Aimee Mann’s lyrical focus.

Sara’s Half Finished Love Affair marks Starski’s first experience co-writing, a process she found both liberating and a bit difficult. Five different tracks on the new album were written with other artists, including her husband and father.  “It was liberating because there wasn’t as much pressure on me, but also it was a little hard to let go. Ultimately, it felt like a necessary step.”  As a confident performer and seasoned songwriter, Starski has the rare capacity to know exactly who she is and how to remain true to herself while also allowing herself to take risks, try new things, and grow as an artist. 

“It all comes back to freedom. This life is supposed to be free, and I feel like we are so restricted in so many ways right now. I want this album to make people feel free, & That’s just the damn truth.”

Alan Doyle

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There are few artists capable of appealing to music fans of all stripes, and Alan Doyle is one of them. From the moment he burst onto the scene in the early 1990s with his band Great Big Sea, Canadians fell in love with the pride of Petty Harbour, Newfoundland, whose boundless charisma and sense of humour was eclipsed only by his magnetic stage presence. His influence is now being heard in a new generation of artists as his solo work continues to endear him to roots music fans everywhere. That’s clearly evident on Alan’s new EP Rough Side Out, which finds him collaborating with Canadian country music superstars Dean Brody and Jess Moskaluke, while at the same time offering his own distinctive interpretation of contemporary country. The seeds for Rough Side Out were planted in 2012 when Brody asked Great Big Sea to record the song “It’s Friday” with him for the Platinum-selling album Dirt. For Alan, that was the moment he realized the door to the country music world was open for he and other east coast Celtic-leaning artists, and since then he’s warmly embraced building closer ties. “My personal journey with the whole thing has been very organic,” Alan says. “When my parents weren’t listening to traditional folk music, they were listening to country music on the radio. So, when I began creating my own musical identity, I was inspired by artists who were able to blend those two worlds.” The same could be said of the songwriting and production team on Rough Side Out, which includes Alan’s frequent collaborators Donovan Woods and Todd Clark. Both have been bringing a new sensibility to Nashville, in part due to their individual backgrounds within the Canadian independent music scene, making Rough Side Out a natural progression of their past work with Alan. “The songs on this record all have strong personal meaning to me,” he says. “I believe the best songwriters in any genre are the ones who can look in their own backyard and find something they want to sing about. In a way, that’s why I wanted to call this record Rough Side Out. It’s a Newfoundland expression I love and have used before that refers to clapboard that’s only sanded on one side. Houses in Newfoundland always have the rough side out because it holds the paint better, but it’s also a metaphor for who we are as people. Most of us have the rough side out— in the best possible way, of course.” Fittingly, the EP’s first single is a reunion with Dean Brody, “We Don’t Wanna Go Home,” a rousing ode to having the perfect night out at your favourite watering hole. It’s a theme that carries on from Rough Side Out’s opening track, “We’re Gonna Love Tonight,” a celebration of freedom that bears all the hallmarks of an Alan Doyle anthem aimed at bringing people together. And what country music excursion would be complete without a classic duet? That was the basic idea behind recording “What the Whiskey Won’t Do” with Jess Moskaluke, a thrilling first-time experience for Alan. “I’ve always wanted to do this kind of duet,” he says. “I’d written songs like that for other people but never for myself. I had the title in my back pocket for a while, and it was a case of just waiting until the right circumstances came along. And being such a fan of Jess, she was the perfect person to sing it with, mainly because her voice has so much more range than mine!” The song describes a couple turning to the bottle in order to get over each other and serves as a reminder of the dangers of overindulgence. Along with the EP’s other great ballad, “It’s OK,” “What the Whiskey Won’t Do” underscores Alan’s long-time work in support of addiction and mental health organizations. However, in a purely musical vein, Alan felt a lot of personal satisfaction in capturing a note-perfect cover of John Mellencamp’s “Paper in Fire,” led by his renowned fiddle player Kendel Carson. “I think in some ways that song really tied the whole project together,” Alan says. “First off, it’s a song I’ve always loved and always wanted to record. But to do it justice, you really need the right players, and the people we had for these sessions could absolutely nail it. The song also shows the change in how country music is perceived. I think if Mellencamp released The Lonesome Jubilee today, it would be regarded as a country album.” Listening habits have indeed changed dramatically and looking back it’s incredible how the humble group of Newfoundlanders who formed Great Big Sea—with a simple goal of bringing their modern take on the music of their home province to mainstream ears—made such an indelible mark on a national scale. But with songs like “When I’m Up (I Can’t Get Down),” “Ordinary Day,” and their cover of R.E.M.’s “It’s The End Of The World As We Know It” now ingrained upon the Canadian consciousness, there can be no disputing Great Big Sea’s status as one of the country’s most influential bands of the past three decades. Now as we enter a new decade of music, the notion of genres feels even more antiquated. Connecting with as many listeners as possible continues to be Alan’s top priority, and he cheekily admits he tried to stack the deck in his favour with the EP’s final track “I Gotta Go.” It’s a tailor-made concert staple if there ever was, containing the soon-to-be immortal line, “20 songs if they love me, only 18 if they don’t.” At this point, it would be hard to find any Alan Doyle fan who would choose to leave a show until he’s expended every ounce of energy on stage. Ultimately, Rough Side Out is an Alan Doyle record, which remains a category all its own.

Tanya Donelly

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Tanya Donelly and the Parkington Sisters is a collection of covers from Grammy-nominated, singer/songwriter and founding member of three of the most influential and successful bands of the post-punk era, Tanya Donelly (Breeders, Throwing Muses, Belly), available 8/14 on American Laundromat Records.

"When Joe from American Laundromat asked if I’d be interested in doing a covers album, I was hesitant, mainly because most of the songs I truly love are already perfect in their original form,” says Donelly. “But then I had the idea to ask the brilliant Parkington Sisters to be the band for this project, to bring their gorgeous sound and spirit, and make it something cohesive and centered.”

Joining Tanya on the album are The Parkington Sisters (Rose, Sarah, Ariel), their sister Lydia Parkington (cello), Matthias Bossi (drum, percussion) and Jon Evans (bass, percussion) who also recorded and mixed the album.

Of the choice cuts covered, Donelly explains, “These are some of the most honest, moving, beautiful, unfiltered, true and cool songs that have ever been written, in my opinion. And those same adjectives apply to the Parkington Sisters as well."

Slow Dakota

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Slow Dakota is the recording project of PJ Sauerteig. Despite his prolific output, Sauerteig is a very reclusive musician; he has never toured and has only ever played a handful of live shows.  

His music is known for blending baroque pop, folk, classical, and electronic influences like Vangelis and Sufjan Stevens. Sauerteig often employs "spoken word" interludes, and his lyrics fixate on myth, rural folklore, and fairy tale. In 2016, he was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. 

Raised in the cornfields of Indiana, Sauerteig began releasing music as Slow Dakota from his Columbia University dorm room in 2012. As an undergraduate, Sauerteig pursued Creative Writing and Psychology, and quietly released his first few albums: Our Indian Boy (2012), Bürstner and the Baby (2013), and The Junior EP (2015). While at Columbia, Sauerteig also founded a small record label, Massif Records, to release his own music, and the music of close friends – including the critically acclaimed Margaux.   

Sauerteig first gained recognition with The Ascension of Slow Dakota (2016) – a haunted, cerebral blend of folk, classical, and spoken word. Shortly after, Sauerteig matriculated to NYU School of Law, where he released a pair of EP's (Rumspringa and Suite for Voice and Ukulele), and a handful of standalone singles (including the poppy Gardener in Rain and trauma-soaked Doom). By day, Sauerteig remained a full-time law student. He worked with PEN America for 1st Amendment freedoms and worked to end solitary confinement at Rikers Island.  

This year, Sauerteig is preparing to release his fourth album – Tornado Mass for Voice & Synthesizer.  Mass is an hour + of music Sauerteig has been tweaking since 2017. He enlisted longtime producer, Sahil Ansari, and legendary engineer, Greg Calbi, to flesh out songs straddling folk (Nick Drake, Sufjan Stevens), electronic (Arcade Fire, Genesis), and classical (Steve Reich, Wendy Carlos). Sauerteig will release the album on Massif Records.

Matt Lovell

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BY MATT LOVELL:

I often tell stories by first explaining how they end.  Somehow the destination of a tale creates something like a center of gravity to draw all the details of the past towards the final point.

The story told in these songs has had several endings and several beginnings, a natural byproduct when a project spans the course of so many years.  I started writing this record in 2012, which means it will be nearly eight years old on the day it is released.

In these years of writing and recording, I have gathered quite a wild palette of paints.  In a way, Nobody Cries Today has actually been my teacher.  As I have written these songs, each of them has been like a tiny rowboat to get me from one day to the next.

These songs have witnessed me in the years that I was in the throes of trying to find acceptance for myself and for the world I’m living in.  As a gay man of southern origin, this proved to be a tall order.  

These songs have also helped me to explore things like zest for life, discontent, hunger, truth, and hope.  

All but one of these songs were recorded in 2016—just months before I nearly lost my life in a shooting.  On January 20, 2017, I was shot in the chest by a sixteen-year-old who was attempting to steal my car.  Miraculously, I lived.

This moment in my life created my new center of gravity and re-ordered my whole view and understanding of everything I’ve experienced in this lifetime.

Many people who experience an acute trauma go through somewhat of a euphoric period immediately after the incident occurs, and this was definitely my experience.  Call it a spiritual awakening, or the result of adrenaline and endorphins gone wild, or even just the natural result of a near-death story with a happy ending.  Whatever it was, this event threw me into a span of six months where it felt as if I was on a honeymoon with myself.  The level of peace I felt was something I had never touched before.  I wrote profusely, I gardened, I brought new life and vigor to my musical ventures, and I made peace with complicated friendships.  More than anything, I found a level of great self-acceptance, and this created space for me to begin to learn how to live this life.  

It was a golden age for me.

This era ended abruptly when PTSD showed up unexpectedly one day—about six months after I was shot.  It was—no doubt—the most difficult time I’ve ever faced.  It made me question just about everything.  For months, my entire consciousness felt as if it had been turned upside down, and I couldn’t find a way to articulate the horrors I was experiencing.  This kind of trauma is a knot you can only untangle with slow and patient work, and with the help of saints.  (Thankfully, I know a lot of saints.)

I’m now on the other side of that long nighttime, and I’m so excited to sing these nine songs again—for anyone who will listen.  Nobody Cries Today contains every bit of earnestness, desire, and love that I have to give.  These are songs that have brought me so much joy and healing over the years.

Palette Food & Juice

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Palette was born into a community and mentality where low waste and resourcefulness was a main focus. Much of this revolved around food --how they grew it, how they ate it, how they were able to preserve it. Practicing what their great-grandparents, grandparents and those who lived this way well before them, kept their families fed for generations. These values fuel the Palette mission. Their goal is to share that knowledge through every visit and meal eaten at Palette. To have their food and staff, create a daily opportunity to awaken an existing or new consciousness to health, wellness, and a responsibility to the Earth.

SHELLY PEIKEN

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Shelly Peiken has been a prolific, behind-the-scenes force in the music business for more than two decades. She is best known for penning culturally resonant, female-empowerment anthems such as Christina Aguilera’s No. 1 hit, “What a Girl Wants” and Meredith Brooks’ smash, “Bitch.” Shelly’s songs have appeared in hundreds of films and TV shows including “What Women Want,” “The Blind Side,” “Music Of The Heart,” “Orange Is The New Black,” “30 Rock,” “Glee,” “Smash” and many more.

Shelly earned a GRAMMY Nomination for the audio version of Confessions Of A Serial Songwriter, a humorous pop culture memoir about her journey from young girl falling under the spell of magical songs to writing hits of her own.

Now the #1 songwriter is venturing into uncharted territory and making an album of her own. It will include “Bitch 2.0” (produced by Eve Nelson), a cinematic re-interpretation of the GRAMMY Award winning pop song first brought to light in 1997 by Meredith Brooks and “What A Girl Wants 2.0” right in time for the 20th birthday of the first No. 1 song of the millennium. The album will also include a handful of Shelly's other recognizable chart-toppers as well as some personal favorites that you'll get to hear for the first time. She hopes you’ll enjoy the album as much as she enjoyed finally making it.

Shelly is a founding member of SONA (Songwriters of North America) a creators’ rights advocacy organization that has been making a name for itself preserving the value of songs and songwriters in a new music marketplace.